682 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



Cyanogenesis under digestive conditions, S. J. M. Auld (Jour. Agr. Sci. 

 [EfLuJand], 5 {1913), No. 4, PP- 409-~W1 ; al)s. in Intemat. Inst. Agr. [Rome}, 

 Mo. Bui. Agr. Intel, and Plant Diseases, 4. {1913), No. 12, pp. 1878-1880).— 

 " Under digestive couditions cyanogenesis is likely to be inhibited by acids and 

 alkalis, digestive juices, cellulose, glucose, and molasses, salt, and many other 

 feeding stuff constituents and adjuncts. Ovs^ing to the time the food remains in 

 the digestive tract before coming to the true stomach or the acid secreting por- 

 tion of the stomach, normal inhibition is caused by the alkaline character of 

 the salivary juices. This is likely to be the chief cause of the innocuous 

 character of linseed cake. 



" In the case of sheep fed with linseed cake shortly before being killed small 

 amounts of hydrocyanic acid were to be found, chiefly in the rumen. Cyano- 

 genetic feeding stuffs are most likely to be poisonous when fed with acid- 

 containing or acid-producing foodstuffs, or where the hydrocyanic acid is pre- 

 formed, as in the case of an improperly made linseed gruel. The small quan- 

 tities of hydrocyanic acid normally produced from cyanogenetic feeding stuffs 

 may possibly have a strongly beneficial action." 

 A bibliography of 15 titles is appended. 



Investigations in regard to the relation of pseudoaiithrax bacilli to an- 

 thrax bacilli with the precipitation method, W. Pfeilee and L. Deescheb 

 {Ztschr. Infektionskrank. u. Hyg. Eausticre, 13 {1913), No. 7, pp. 391-401).— 

 It has been shown by others that a specific reaction can be obtained with non- 

 specific extracts prepared from material containing pseudoanthrax bacilli. 

 With the object of determining what relationship exists between anthrax and 

 pseudoanthrax bacilli from the serological standpoint, and especially with re- 

 gard to the application of the results obtained to actual practice, experiments 

 were made with anthrax bacilli, pseudoanthrax bacilli {Bacillus anthraooides) , 

 and a strain of B. mes&ntericus. 



The reactions obtained with the extracts of pseudoanthrax strains and spe- 

 cific anthrax serum were in some cases weaker and in other cases stronger 

 than those obtained with true anthrax extracts. Some of the pseudo extracts 

 seemed to give a more marked reaction when used in a greater dilution than 

 the anthrax extracts. The experiments seem to show that it is hard to dis- 

 tinguish between real anthrax organisms and pseudoanthrax. 



The meiostagmin and epiphanin reactions in the diagnosis of carcinoma, 

 W. H. BuBMEiSTEE {Jour. Inffict. Diseases, 12 {1913), No. 3, pp. 459-471, figs. 

 16). — "A decidedly negative meiostagmin reaction is of more value than a posi- 

 tive one and may be considered of some weight in ruling out carcinoma. A 

 moderately or even strongly positive reaction is not necessarily indicative of 

 malignant tumor. 



"The epiphanin reaction is valueless in the diagnosis of malignant tumors. 

 The range of error determined by the blind titrations in a measure also explains 

 the results obtained by other workers who have employed this reaction in the 

 diagnosis of diseases other than carcinoma." 



A note on some experiments performed with a view to fijiding out the 

 period before symptoms during which the saliva of an animal incubating 

 rabies is infective, J. A. Ceuickshank and R. E. Weight {Indian Jour. Med. 

 Research, 1 {1914), No. S, pp. 532-535).— " It is difficult to infect rabbits and 

 guinea pigs either intramuscularly or subdurally with the saliva of dogs or 

 guinea pigs in the presymptomatic stage of rabies. In one case the saliva of a 

 dog was infective 3 days before the animal showed symptoms. Even when 

 the symptoms of rabies have manifested themselves it is still difficult to demon- 

 strate the infectivity of saliva experimentally. This suggests that the bites 

 of rabid dogs, even under optimum conditions for infection, may not infect 



