VETEEINABY MEDICHfTB. 283 



Tubercle bacilli in tbe circulating blood in surgical tuberculosis, M. 

 Kbabbel (Deut. Ztscfir. Chirurg., 120 {1913), No. 3-4, pp. 370-378; ahs. in Jour. 

 Amer. Med. Assoc, 60 (1913), No. 9, p. 705). — Eighteen patients having surgical 

 tuberculosis were examined for the presence of tubercle bacilli in the blood, 

 and in 12 of the cases the organisms were found. Five subjects having tuber- 

 culous lymph nodes showed positive in one case, and positive results were 

 obtained in 1 out of 4 cases having tuberculosis of the mucosa, skin, or tendon 

 sheaths. 



Report on the results of a chemical investigation [of the tubercle bacil- 

 lus], A. Harden (Roy. Com. Tuberculosis, Final Rpt., pt. 2, 6 {1913), pp. 3^). — 

 This details the results of an investigation instituted at the request of the 

 Royal Commission on Human and Animal Tuberculosis for the purpose of 

 ascertaining whether it is possible by chemical means to differentiate between 

 the human and bovine types of bacilli. The viruses employed were of bovine, 

 porcine, and human origin. 



Part 1 of the work deals with the changes produced by growing the bacilli in 

 glycerol veal broth. The determinations made after filtering oft the bacterial 

 growth, which was weighed, were total nitrogen, nitrogen nonprecipitable by 

 tannic acid, nitrogen nonprecipitable by phosphotungstic acid, free and saline 

 ammonia, ammonia liberated by hydrolysis with hydrochloric acid, acidity of 

 the medium to phenolphthalein in the cold and at the boiling point, acids sol- 

 uble in ether, and the amount of glycerol present. 



From this part of the investigation it was concluded that " no definite physio- 

 logical difference has been detected between tubercle bacilli of different origins. 

 Such differences as exist between the amounts of action exerted on glycerol beef 

 broth by different cultures are probably to be attributed to differences between 

 the weights of organisms formed, the times of incubation, and individual char- 

 acteristics of the strains. When Bacillus tu'berculosis is cultivated on glycerol 

 broth, the proteins of the broth undergo hydrolysis to a considerable extent. 

 Glycerol is partially removed by oxidation. There is no evidence that con- 

 sumption of glycerol is directly related either to weight of culture obtained or 

 to change in acidity. The initial fall in the acidity of the medium is largely 

 due to the removal of the acids soluble in ether (lactic acid, etc.). Further 

 important factors in producing change in acidity are the production and re- 

 moval of ammonia (free and saline) and the digestion of the proteins." 



Part 2 is devoted to a study of the relation of the ash and phosphoric oxid 

 present in tubercle bacilli of different origins. The conclusion is reached that 

 it is impossible to characterize tubercle bacilli of different origins by the 

 amount or compositon of the ash, or the phosphoric acid which they contain. 

 See also other notes (E. S. R., 10, p. 1016; 13, p. 994; 14, p. 69S). 



Hypersensitiveness to tuberculo-protein and to tuberculin, C. R. Austrian 

 {Bui. Johns Hopkins Hosp., 24 {1913), No. 267, pp. I4I-W ; ahs. in Jour. 

 Amer. Med. Assoc, 60 {1913), No. 21, p. 1665). — The experiments confirm other 

 already demonstrated facts that "(1) a protein substance can be obtained by 

 the extraction of tubercle bacilli with water, and with it animals can be 

 actively sensitized; (2) that a refractory condition to this protein can be 

 produced; and (3) that the hypersensitive condition is transmitted from mother 

 to young. [The author's] experiments establish further that active sensitization 

 induced by treatment with this protein may be as regular in its development and 

 as intense in its manifestation as is that produced by treatment with other 

 proteins. Passive homologous and heterologous hypersensitiveness can oc- 

 casionally be produced with the blood or with the serum of an actively sensitized 

 animal. The material transmission of the hypersensitiveness does not take 

 place through the milk. The regularity with which maximum hypersensitive- 



