VETERINAEY MEDICINE. 579 



a time. A decrease was again noted from 2 to 4 weeks after the last vaccina- 

 tion and appeared practically normal after weeks to 2 months. A complement 

 fixation with the sera of the vaccinated horses was obtained from the seventh 

 to the ninth day after the first vaccination and they continued to give positive 

 fixations from 2 to 3 months after the last vaccination. These serological re- 

 sults appeared only in the animals which gave no reaction to the oiihthalmic 

 test, while the blood of those vaccinated horses which gave a positive reaction 

 to the eye test continued to give a positive fixation until they had been de- 

 stroyed and proved to be affected with the disease. The same condition was 

 observed in the animals which had been artificially infected with glanders. 



*' The serological results from these investigations appear to have a great 

 significance with reference to the imnnmity produced by the injection of dead 

 glanders bacilli. The fact that the demonstration of the presence of immune 

 bodies in the vaccination horses ceased entirely in 2 or 3 months from the last 

 vaccinated would indicate that after the lapse of such a time the animals have 

 very little or no immunity against the disease. This is further substantiated 

 also by the agglutination value of the sera returning to the normal level. . . . 



"The results obtained by these investigations appear to be suflBcient to 

 demonstrate the unsatisfactory results of this method of immunization. Of 

 the immunized animals, 3 contracted the disease from natural exposure, which 

 is a large proportion when it is considered that all animals were aged and 

 kept most of the time during the exposure out of doors. On the other hand, 

 the fact that of the 2 check animals only one contracted the disease is addi- 

 tional evidence of the moderate character of the exposure, which further sug- 

 gests the ineffectiveness of the immunization. In artificial infections of the 

 vaccinated animals they showed no resistance whatsoever, as both vaccinated 

 horses promptly developed an acute form of the disease from touching the 

 Schneiderian membrane with a platinum loop, which has been touched to a 

 growth of glanders bacilli. Thus for the present It seems advisable to abstain 

 from immunizing horses by this method, as a practice of this kind may do 

 more harm than good. Owners having horses which are supposedly immu- 

 nized would naturally become careless, thinking their animals were resistant to 

 the disease, and thus even a better opportunity would be offered for the propa- 

 gation of the disease than if the horses were not vaccinated. Furthermore, the 

 fact that the blood of vaccinated animals can not be utilized for serum tests 

 for 2 or 3 months after the injections is also a great disadvantage in the 

 eradication of the disease. 



"As a result of this preliminary work it appears that the control and eradi- 

 cation of glanders must still be dei)endent upon the concentration of our efforts 

 in eliminating infected horses and the adoption of proper precautions against 

 the introduction of infected animals into stables free from the disease." 



About the curative action of mallein in continuous but not specific secre- 

 tion of the nose, Isnard (Abs. m Berlin. Tierdrztl. WcJinschr., 29 (1913), No. 

 2.'f, p. Ji38). — After giving one or two injections of mallein subcutaneously to 

 subjects, the flow stopped in about one month postinjectlon. 



Some bacteriological and environmental factors in the pneumonias of 

 lower animals with special reference to the guinea pig, T. Smith (Jour. Med. 

 Research, 29 (1913), Xo. 2, pp. 291-323, pis. 3, figs. 2).— "The guinea pig is the 

 host of 2 pneumonia-producing bacteria: (a) A minute motile bacillus, origi- 

 nally (but imperfectly) described by Tartakowsky, rediscovered and inde- 

 pendently named by 3 workers subsequently, and redescribed in 1910 by 

 M'Gowan as the cause of canine distemper (Bacillus hroncJiisepticus). It was 

 encountered by Mallory in his studies on pertussis. It has been under observa- 



