780 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



If goat blood corpuscles and goat hemolysins are used as the hemolyiic system, 

 the amount of serum employed in the titration must be reduced. 



Another contribution to the infection of man with cultures of hog ery- 

 sipelas bacteria, A. Krieger {Berlin. Tierdrstl. Wchnschr., 29 (1913), No. 16, 

 pp. 2S9, 290). — A description of a case in which the leg of a man accidentally 

 came in contact with the needle point of a hypodermic syringe filled with erysip- 

 elas vaccine. Following the healing of the part, the upper portion of the arm 

 became involved. 



Malta fever, with special reference to its diag'nosis and control in goats, 

 J. R. MoHLEK and A. Eichhoen {U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Anim. Indus. Rpt. 1911, 

 pp. 119-136, pis 4/ Circ. 215, pp. 119-136, pis. 4)- — -A- general account is given 

 of Malta fever, including its occurrence in Texas and New Mexico ; etiology 

 of the disease with a discussion of the tenacity and pathogenicity of the causa- 

 tive organism (Micrococcus melitensis) ; anatomical changes; symptoms; course 

 and prognosis; diagnosis; and prevention and treatment. 



The investigations show that the complement-fixation test can be utilized in 

 the diagnosis of this disease, and, since the agglutination test is not always 

 reliable for such purposes, that it is an important adjunct in the diagnosis of 

 the disease. 



The authors have experimented on infected goats with a vaccine prepared 

 along the lines of antityphoid vaccine, the goats being treated 4 times at inter- 

 vals of one week with such vaccine containing increasing numbers of killed 

 bacilli. The practical value of the vaccine treatment is said to be very doubt- 

 ful, inasmuch as it will be almost impossible to isolate strictly all animals 

 giving a positive seinim reaction and subject them to a vaccine treatment. Thus 

 it appears that the hygienic and preventive measures are of far greater value 

 in the control and possible eradication of the disease. " The control of the dis- 

 ease in a herd could be best accomplished by subjecting the blood serum of 

 all animals to the combined agglutination and complement-fixation tests and 

 destroying all reacting animals. . . . 



" No thorough investigations have yet been undertaken as to the extent of 

 Malta fever among the goats of Texas, New Mexico, and possibly in other 

 States, and until this is determined it is impossible to decide upon a definite 

 line of procedure for the control and eradication of the disease." 



Paralysis in horses and in cows due to the ingestion of fodder, J. A. 

 GiLRUTH (Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, n. ser., 25 {191S), No. 2, pp. 201-220).— 

 This paper relates to a form of progressive paralysis in cattle, characterized 

 primarily by an inability to ingest food, absence of rumination, more or less 

 rapid emaciation, and early death, which for many years has been observed in 

 Victoria, South Australia, and certain districts in Tasmania. Although ap- 

 parently little observed in Victoria, the disease appears to be fairly common in 

 South Australia, often assuming the character of a severe epidemic. 



Feeding experiments with fodder consisting apparently of ordinary chaffed 

 oaten hay with the addition of a slight percentage of oats and bran demon- 

 strated the presence of some element which was the cause of the fatal results, 

 although the nature of this element was not determined. The author concludes 

 that it is due to some plant which horses are able to avoid while it is growing 

 naturally, although even then many cattle can not or do not avoid it, and which 

 even the horse does not detect when mixed with other ripe or dried plants, 

 especially if chaffed and mixed. Whatever its origin, the essential cause of 

 the paralysis is evidently some powerful poison of certain cells in the central 

 nervous system. 



Immunization tests in tetanus, J. R. Mohleb and A. Bichhobn ( U. S. Dept. 

 Agr., Bur. Anim. Indus. Rpt. 1911, pp. 1S5-194). — The purpose of these experi- 



