VETERINARY MEDICINE. 283 



of the abortion bacillus in the milk of a cow that had aborted 14 days pre- 

 viously. In the second case in which the bacillus was proved to be present 

 in milk the animal had aborted 6 months previously. In the third case abortion 

 had occurred 13 mouths previously. To the naked eye there was no alteration 

 in the appearance of the milk, and no abnormalities were discoverable by clinical 

 examination, either in the udder or in the associated glands. The authors 

 therefore conclude that either the bacillus is able to pass through the udder 

 without producing lesions at all, or that the lesions are so slight as to be 

 unrecognizable clinically. 



In order to determine whether the bacillus is responsible for lesions in the 

 udder or changes in the milk and for how long injected bacilli may be excreted 

 with the milk, experiments were ma(Je in which bacilli were injected into the 

 udders. An agar culture of the bacillus made into an emulsion with 2 cc. of 

 salt solution was injected into the right halves of the udders of 2 goats, the 

 udders and milk of which were perfectly normal. Examinations of the milk 

 showed that abortion bacilli were excreted therein for a period of from 3 to 

 5 months after the injection and that for about 8 weeks the number excreted 

 hardly varied. Bacilli were never obtained from milk withdrawn from the left 

 halves of the udders. During the whole of the period covered by the experi- 

 ment there was no visible alteration either in the udders or in the milk. 



A second series of experiments was undertaken in which 2 goats were 

 inoculated subcutanoously with 10 cc. of an emulsion of the bacillus in salt solu- 

 tion, and a third intravenously with the same quantity of an emulsion of about 

 half the density. The tables -given by the authors show that abortion bacilli 

 were being excreted in tlie milk of 2 of the goats (one infected subcutaneously 

 and one intravenously) 24 hours after infection. The flumber of organisn>s 

 present varied a little but was on the whole fairly constant, and the excretion 

 of bacilli had not ceased S weeks after the commencement of the experiments. 

 In the case of the other goat inoculated subcutaneously the bacillus was not 

 found in the milk 24 hours after inoculation, and it was only found on the 4 

 following days, after which examinations constantly gave negative results. 

 No abnormalities were discoverable either in the milk or in the glands, and the 

 leucocyte content did not vary beyond the limits obtained before the com- 

 mencement of the experiments. 



Experiments on the destruction of the virus of foot-and-mouth disease in 

 manure, F. Loeffler (Berlin. Tierdrztl. Wchnschr., 29 (191S), No. 7, pp. 

 113-115: abs. in Jour Compar. Path, and Ther., 26 (1913), No. 1, pp. 53, 5.'i).— 

 The author has found that in manure heaps the temperature rapidly rises to 

 fiO and even 70° C. a few centimeters below the surface. Thus it appears to 

 be certain that the virus of foot-and-mouth disease, which is destroyed on 

 exposure to a temperature of 50° for 12 hours, could not retain its vitality in 

 manure Leaps for even a few days, and that it will only be necessary to cover 

 a heap of infective manure with normal manure or straw for a few days in 

 order to destroy the whole of the virus contained in it. 



In conducting experiments along this line a mixture of fresh and 24-hour-old 

 dung from cattle and pigs was laid on a layer of straw and packed somewhat 

 tightly. The lymph used in the experiments was obtained fresh and diluted 

 1: 20 with salt solution, after which it was passed through filters. The filtrate 

 was placed in test tubes in quantities of 15 cc, the tubes being sealed and 

 inclosed in tin cases. In addition control tubes were kept and the feet were 

 cut from an infected pig which had lesions on all Its feet, and wrapped in 

 gauze. For the purpose of registering the temperature maximum thermome- 

 ters were used which were also inclosed in metal cases. The thermometers, 

 tubes of lymph, and feet were placed in the manure at the following heights 



