590 EXPERIMENT STATION RECOED. 



and tue subcutaneous injection of carbolic acid. It is shown that while the 

 disease has been known in Europe for more than a century it was not recog- 

 nized in the United States until about 1875, since which time it has become 

 common in many parts of the country and is increasing in prevalence in New 

 England. The rapid spread of the disease that may take place when it once 

 breaks out in a flock is shown by a diagram illustrating its occurrence in the 

 case of a Massachusetts epidemic. 



In the first of 2 preliminary inoculation experiments reported eight 10-months 

 old fowls were employed ; 4 were held as checks and 4 were subcutaneously in- 

 oculated on March 29 with 5 cc. of a 96-hour bouillon culture of the bacillus. 

 Twenty-three hours later 2 of the checks and 1 of the inoculated fowls were 

 subcutaneously injected with 2 cc. and 1 of the inoculated fowls with 3 cc. of a 

 5 per cent solution of carbolic acid. The result was that the 2 inoculated fowls 

 into which carbolic acid had not been injected died, 1 on April 11 and the other 

 on April 17, while the other 6 remained healthy. 



In the second exijeriment 2 of the 6 fowls used were held as checks, while on 

 April 13 5 cc. of a 96-hour bouillon culture was put into the crops of the other 

 4 by means of long, sterile glass pipettes. Two of the infected fowls were in- 

 jected with a 5 per cent solution of carbolic acid, 1 being given 3 cc. 20 hours 

 after being inoculated, while the other, commencing in 1 hour after the inocu- 

 lation, received daily injections of 3 cc. for 6 days followed by daily injections 

 of 4 cc. for 7 days. As a result 1 of the inoculated, untreated fowls suc- 

 cumbed to the disease on April 18 ; the other became very sick on April 19 but 

 recovered, while the 2 check fowls and the 2 treated with carbolic acid re- 

 mained healthy. The temperatures of the fowls used in the 2 experiments are 

 showTi in diagrammatic form. 



Attention is called to the fact that while 46 cc. of a 5 per cent carbolic acid 

 solution was injected into a fowl within 13 days, so far as could be ascertained 

 its health was not impaired and the only pathological condition brought about in 

 the injected fowls was a slight greening and drying of the skin at the site of 

 introduction of the carbolic acid. It is stated that experiments conducted at 

 the Rhode Island Station show the fowl-cholera bacillus to be destroyed by 1 

 per cent solution of carbolic acid in 15 minutes but not by a 0.9 per cent solution 

 and that a 0.5 per cent solution kills the organism in 4 hours. The clinical 

 features by which the disease may l)e recognized by poultrymen and directions 

 for dealing with it follow. The author strongly advises against keeping a 

 large number of fowls together in a single flock unless there be at hand some 

 immediate means for dividing the yards if cholera or any other similar infectious 

 disease appears. 



Amoeba meleagridis, T. Smith (Science, n. ser., 32 {1910), No. 82-^, pp. 509- 

 512). — This is a polemical article with reference to that of Cole. Hadley, and 

 Kirkpatrick (E. S. R., 24, p. 187) in which the author presents evidence to show 

 why A. meleagridis and Coccidinm iencUum should not be regarded as identical. 

 He states that there is " ample evidence to show that enterohepatitis may run 

 its course in a flock without the presence of a single coccidium cyst to suggest 

 coccidiosis. It is evident that coccidiosis among birds has been frequently seen 

 during the past 30 years, but without involvement of the liver." 



Amoeba ir eleagridis, L. J. Cole and P. B. Hadley {Science, n. ser., 32 {1910), 

 No. 83Jf, pp. 9 IS, 919).— A reply to the above. 



- Paralysis in the ostrich, W. Robertson (Jour. Compar. Path, and Ther., 23 

 (1910), No. 2, pp. 182-1S9, figs. 4). — The author finds the causal organism of this 

 affection to be a short rod, fairly regular in shape, that stains with the ordinary 

 anilin dyes but not by Gram's method. He is convinced that contaminated food 

 and water is the common if not the only source of infection. 



