VKTKRINARY MEDICINE. 1183 



VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



Veterinary materia medica and therapeutics, K. Winslow (Netv York, 190S, 

 6. ciL, rcr. and ciil.. pp. VI 1 1+S.j'.)). — A sixth revised edition of tliis worlv of 

 wliich tliat part of the text treating of the physiological action of drugs has 

 been almost couipletely rewritten on the basis of recent pharmacological in- 

 vestigations. 



Further studies upon anaphylaxis, M. J. Rosenau aud J. F. Anderson (Pub. 

 Jlctiltli and Mar. JIo.sp. i^crv. U. ti., Uijg. Lab. Bid .',5, pp. 65; ahfi. in Jour. Med. 

 Research, 19 {1908), No. 1, pp. 31-66; Bid. Inst. Pasteur, 6 {190S), No. IS, pp. 

 827-829). — "The period of incubation of serum anaphylaxis is about 7 days in 

 guinea pigs sensitized in the brain and about 9 days in guinea pigs sensitized 

 subcutaneously. It also appears that the sensitization comes on somewhat 

 gradually. . . . The sensitizing principle is gradually influenced by heat. It 

 disappears almost entirely when horse serum is heated to 100° C. for 1 hour. 

 . . . The .toxic principle in horse serum is gradually destroyed by heat. . . . 

 The toxicity of horse serum does not appear to diminish with the age of the 

 serum. . . . 



" The si)ecific nature of anaphylaxis is further shown by various experiments. 

 . . . A substance known as ' anaphylactin ' is pi'esent in the blood serum of 

 sensitized guinea pigs. This substance is not present during the period of 

 incubation. We have been unable to demonstrate the presence of anaphylactin 

 in the l)lood serum of man, the monkey, aud the cat. . . . We believe that these 

 morphological alterations do not explain the mechanism of anaphylaxis. It is 

 probable that the mechanism will not be unraveled until further light is shed 

 upon the chemistry of protein metabolism. . . . The repeated injection of small 

 amounts of horse serum sensitizes guinea pigs. Repeated injections of large 

 amoimts render guinea pigs partially iunnune. . . . We suggest a possible rela- 

 tion between the toxemias of ])regnancy and anaphylaxis." 



Investigations of the leucocytes and lymphoid tissue of invertebrates, 

 M. KoLLMANN {Ann. Sei. Nat. Zool., 9. ser., S {1908), No. l-.'i, pp. 1-6). — The 

 investigations are reported in three parts. Part 1 is devoted to a review of 

 the literature and to important questions of technicpie. In part 2 details are 

 given of the results of studies in the various groups while in part 3 is found a 

 synthetic review of the investigation and the conclusions therefrom. A biblio- 

 graphical list is given. 



Further notes on rat leprosy and on the fate of human and rat lepra 

 bacilli in flies, W. K. Whkkky (.Jour. Infer. Diseases, .'> (1908), No. J, pp. ,107- 

 ol'i). — Whilt! (Migaged in plague work in California the author made careful 

 search for leprosy in rats in view of the possibility of blood-sucking insects 

 playing .some role in the transmission of the disease. Out of 0..3()1 rats dis- 

 sected during a jieriod of 4 months in the summer of lOOS, 20 were found 

 infected with lei)rosy. Tliere is said to Ite no evidence, however, that human 

 leprosy and rat leprosy are identical or that human beings need fear infection 

 from leper rats. 



Experiments were made in which flies in the larval and adult .stages were 

 fed upon the carcass of a lv\irr va\. I'.oth stages were found to ingest the 

 bacilli in enormous numbers. The liacilli did not ai)pear to multiply in the 

 flies {i'allipliora vomitorin, Lueilia e(rs(ir. and Miisca donieslica) as they were 

 <!i'ar of liacilli in less than -IS hours. 



I.arviP of V. vomitorin lu'avily infested did not ai>pear to be cajtable of devel- 

 oping further than the nym|»lial stage. "A fly caught on the face of a human 

 leper was found to be infested with lepei'-like bacilli. These were few in uuui- 



