480 EXPERlMEK^T Sl^AllOK RECORD. 



of fat is due to the summation of individual reactions between body cells and 

 effective particles." 



Contributions to the diagnosis of anthrax by the Ascoli precipitation 

 method, T. Oscander {Beitvdye zur Diagnose des Mil zbra tides mittels der 

 PrdzipitationsmetUode nach Ascoli. Inaug. Diss,, Ticrarztl. Hochsch. Stuttgart, 

 1912; als. in Centhl. Bakt. [etc.l, 1. AM., Ref., 55 {1012), No. 6, pp. 164, 165).— 

 In these experiments artificially infected guinea pigs and rabbits, and the or- 

 gans from naturally infected animals which died from anthrax or were slaugh- 

 tered were used. In addition, the organs of a pig found to be affected with 

 anthrax after slaughter were examined. 



The reaction is considered specific for anthrax. It is obtained instantly with 

 extracts made from the spleen, heart, liver, kidney, and the small intestines, 

 but was sluggish with extracts made from the stomach or large intestines. 

 In only one case, that of the pig mentioned above, were negative results 

 obtained. 



The various methods of preparing the extract, i. e., from fresh or putrefied 

 material by boiling or with the aid of chloroform, had no effect upon the out- 

 come of the reaction. Extracts prepared from the lungs or muscles had a 

 peculiar opalescence. The conservation of the pathologic material with alcohol, 

 glycerin, and formaldehyde, and then drying at 120° C. did not seem to affect 

 the reaction. With extracts of organs which were buried for 32 days a posi- 

 tive reaction was obtained even when milk of lime or petroleum was poured 

 over the cadaver. 



For carrying out the test a fresh and highly potent serum is deemed always 

 necessary. 



About the fluctuations of the agglutination titer in glanders, I. K. Pavxo- 

 viCH (K Voprosu ob Aggliutinatsii pri Sapte u LosJifldei. Inaug. Diss., Vet. 

 Inst. Kharkof, 1912, pp. 128; abs. in Centhl. Bakt. [etc.], 1. Abt., Ref., 55 {1912), 

 No. 16, pp. Jf87, 488). — The agglutinations obtained with the same serum but 

 with various strains of the glanders bacillus were very different. The or- 

 ganism cultivated rapidly on an artificial medium showed the strongest aggluti- 

 nation. For preparing the emulsion used in the test, the most efficient agent 

 seemed to be Konew's antiglanders vaccine. This preparation is not very 

 virulent and consequently is of less danger to the investigator using it. Its 

 titer also remains very constant. The emulsion, which was kept in a flask 

 wrapped up in a few pieces of dark paper, did not vary within 3 months' time. 

 As the emulsion is vei*y dense, it clouds the tests, and when judging macro- 

 scopically it shows a titer lower than really exists. 



In the examination of samples of blood which were taken from diseased 

 horses at rest, and sound horses which were immunized with killed glanders 

 bacilli, i. e., those which were still affected with glanders or had gone through 

 the cycle of the disease, no variation in the titer was noted for several days. 

 The titer of the blood from horses whose organisms contained no living virus 

 did not vary when the animals were driven hard, or following the subcutaneous 

 introduction of arecolin, caffein, spirits of camphor, or oil of turpentine. 

 Horses harboring living virus were affected by the above-named factors. A 

 blood with a high agglutination titer did not always give a positive complement 

 fixation reaction. 



The tests do not verify the findings of other authors that the agglutination 

 titer of the blood of glandered horses rises directly after infection and then 

 falls again, as an increase in the titer was noted only with those horses which 

 were convalescing. The criteria set down by Schtitz and Miessner are deemed 

 liable to lead one into error. 



