1919] 



VETEKINAEY MEDICINE. 577 



dysentery, strangles, red fever of swine, infectious septicemia, hog cholera, 

 and rinderpest. The serotherapy of snalce bites and of wounds is also con- 

 sidered. 



Experimental gas gangrene. The protection by antiserum and antiserum 

 mixtures, M. Nevin (Jour. Infect. Diseases, 25 {1919), No. 2, pp. 178-188).— 

 The experiments reported were planned to show (1) the relative value of 

 Bacillus tcelchii antitoxin and perfringens antimicrobial serum in the treat- 

 ment of gas gangrene, (2) the value of various antiserums both singly and 

 combined against edematous exudates produced by the inoculatioii of several 

 anaerobic organisms, and (3) the protective value of various antiserums both 

 singly and combined against mixed anaerobic infections. The experiments 

 were conducted upon guinea pigs, the general plan being to inoculate the 

 animal subeutaneously with the antitoxin or antiserum, and four days later 

 intramuscularly with two minimal lethal doses of a living culture of the organ- 

 ism to be tested or with edematous fluid collected from animals inoculated with 

 different combinations of anaerobes. The conclusions drawn from the study are 

 summarized as follows : 



"When Vibrion septique and B. edematiens {B. bellonensis) are present in 

 mixed infections the prophylactic use of the specific serums, even when 

 diluted by another serum, is effective. 



"Neither the B. welcTui antitoxin nor the B. loelcJiii (perfringens) anti- 

 microljial serum is of any practical value in the prophylaxis of gas gangrene 

 caused by a mixed infection due to several anaerobic bacilli, such as is com- 

 monly found in war wounds today. No accurate investigations of the amount 

 of antitoxin contained in the antiperfringens (B. welchii) serum were made, 

 and it is therefore impossible to say whether the protection afforded in pure 

 B. loelchii infections by the antimicrobial serum was due to the antitoxic 

 principle contained in it, or to other antibodies present, or to a combination of 

 the two. Further studies will be necessary to determine whether a serum of 

 the highest potency can be produced by the inoculation of a sterile filtrate, 

 producing a strict antitoxin, or by the inoculation of whole cultures, producing 

 an antimicrobial serum." 



The bactericidal action of the whole blood of rabbits following inoculations 

 of pneumococcus bacterins, G. D. Heist and S. Solis-Cohen (Jour. Immunol., 

 Jf {1019), Xo. Jj, pp. 147-I66). — This is a continuation of the experiments on the 

 bactericidal powers of whole blood previously noted (E. S. R., 40, p. 286), the 

 immediate and practical object being to determine whether the test can be 

 made use of in determining the efficiency of prophylatic inoculations of pneu- 

 mococci, especially of type III. The work reported consisted of two phases, 

 the first concerning the virulence of the pneumococci and the relation such 

 virulence bears to their ability to grow in whole blood, and the second concern- 

 ing the antibodies present in the blood to be examined and their action on the 

 pneumococci. 



The earlier conclusions in regard to the bactericidal activity of whole blood 

 in vitro were confirmed. It was found that increasing the virulence of pneu- 

 mococci for rabbits increased their ability to grow in rabbit blood in vitro, the 

 mathematical expression of the ability of a strain of pneumococci to grow In 

 the blood of normal rabbits in vitro thus serving as an expression of the viru- 

 lence of the strain for rabbits. 



The test for the bactericidal activity on pneumococci of the whole blood of 

 inoculated rabbits was found to be a more sensitive index of the extent of im- 

 munity present as regards types I, II, and III than is the agglutination test, 

 and to have an approximately quantitative value. The prodviction by suitable 

 inoculations of specific bactericidal activity in the blood of rabbits for pneumo- 



