VETERINARY MEDICINE. 583 



were compared with the bovine type of tubercle bacillus obtained from the 

 Institute of Infectious Diseases at Berlin. All of the cultures were first ex- 

 amined to see whether there were any atypical strains among them. In addi- 

 tion, the Theobald Smith acid curve was noted. The latter method is recom- 

 mended on account of its simplicity and accuracy. 



In all, 110 rabbits were vaccinated with the human strain. Sixty-seven of 

 these received subcutaneously 0.001 gm. of ])ure cultures. No animal died 

 from tuberculosis but 16 died spontaneously from coccidiosis and a few from 

 penumonia and a rabbit disease. In 40 per cent of the cases on autopsy 

 submiliary to pinhead size tubercles were present in the lungs. In the animals 

 which were killed at a later date evidences of healing were often seen. No 

 tuberculosis of the glands or kidneys (which- is often noted in the group of 

 rabbits treated with the bovine culture) was ever seen in the animals treated 

 with the human cultures. 



Three pure cultures obtained by the antiformin method gave the character- 

 istics of the human tubercle bacillus, but when injected they had no effect upon 

 the lungs of rabbits and consequently it is concluded that antiformin injures the 

 tubercle-producing powers of the organism. 



Several pages are devoted to the variability factor and the frequency which 

 the bovine type of organism is detected in the sputum of man when affected 

 with tuberculosis. 



The specific paratuberculous enteritis of cattle in America, K. F. Meyer 

 {Jour. Med. Research, 29 {1913), No. 2, pp. 147-189, pi. i).— "The paratuber- 

 culous enteritis found in America is identical wnth the disease of I^uropean 

 countries. By intravenous inoculations with material from the mesenteric 

 lymph nodes, the disease has been reproduced in young calves (30, 92, and 96 

 days of age). The incubation time was from 4 to 8 months. One animal died 

 from the disease 12 months after the infection. Feeding experiments were not 

 successful. The natural infection probably takes place in the early days of 

 life by contact with infected mothers or surroundings. The possibility of an 

 infection in certain pastures, where B. paratuhcrculosis leads a sjiprophytic 

 life, can not be denied, and is probably of importance for the infection in 

 adults. B. paratuherculosis can be cultivated on solid and liquid culture media 

 containing glycerin extracts of acid-fast bacilli, particularly tubercle bacilli of 

 B. pJilei. Six strains have so far been isolated. The growth is slow and only 

 possible at body temperature. A culture medium consisting of equal parts of 

 tuberculin and bouillon, with 2 per cent agar and 1 per cent serum, is the best 

 for primary isolations. The use of antiformin should be limited to contami- 

 nated material. 



" The bacterioscopic examination of feces and rectal scrapings is only of 

 diagnostic value in about 40 per cent of the cases in the advanced stages of the 

 disease. Avian tuberculin is an unreliable reagent for paratuherculosis. Tara- 

 tuberculin,' and perhaps some of the serum tests, may prove in the future to 

 be more reliable. B. paratuherculosis is, in certain respects, related to differ- 

 ent representatives of the acid-fast group of bacteria." 



A bibliography of 33 titles is appended. 



The persistence of the bacillus of infectious abortion in the tissues of 

 animals, W. E. Cotton {Amer. Vet. Rev., U {1913), No. 3, pp. 307-318) .—The 

 conclusions drawn from this paper, presented at the fiftieth annual meeting of 

 the American Veterinary Medical Association in New York, September, 1913, 

 are as follows : 



"The bacillus of infectious abortion, or at least the strains with which the 

 experiment station has worked, may, and in most cases does, persist in the 

 udders of cows that have aborted for years and possibly for the balance of 



