EDITORIAL. 107 



Another important announcement made at this international con- 

 gress was a report by Arloint^- to the effect that he had succeeded in 

 inmumizing- cattle against tuberculosis by inoculation with attenuated 

 cultures of tubercle bacilli. The results obtained by von Behring-, 

 jVIcFadyean, Pearson, and others, previously noted," are thus sub- 

 stantially corroborated. 



It will be remembered that von Behring's method consisted in pro- 

 ducing- a mild form of tuberculosis in cattle by inoculation w4th an 

 attenuated culture of the bacilli. The best results were obtained from 

 the use of bacilli of human origin which had been cultivated on arti- 

 ficial nutrient media for a number of years. It was found preferable 

 to apply this method of immunization to yoimg cattle from live to 

 seven months old, which received intravenously one milligram of a 

 serum culture and four weeks later twenty-five milligrams of the same 

 culture. The first inoculation usually produced a slight elevation of 

 temperature, some loss in weight, and a susceptibility to tuberculin. 

 The symptoms soon disappeared, however, and the animals were then 

 found to be highly resistant to inoculation with large quantities of 

 virulent tubercle bacilli. 



Various modifications of this method have been employed by von 

 Behi'ing and other investigators, but the results obtained in Germany, 

 the United States, and France agree in indicating that a high resisting 

 power or practical immunity may be produced in cattle by this method. 



The biennial meeting of the American Pomological Society at Boston 

 was the occasion of the formation of a new scientific organization by 

 the horticulturists in attendance, and within the society several new 

 matters of general importance were considered. Among these were 

 the packing of fruit under Government supervision, such as is exer- 

 cised in Canada; the scoring of fruit according to a definite scale of 

 points, for which no satisfactory l)asis has yet been devised; and the 

 nomenclature of new varieties. 



Two important steps have recentl}" been taken by the society which 

 should tend to simplify the nomenclature of fruits b\" preventing the 

 further duplication of names and the renaming of old varieties. These 

 are the establishment of an ad interim committee on the examination 

 of new fruits, and the adoption of a new code to govern the naming of 

 fruits, the latter provided by a special conmiittee on the revision of 

 the rules of nomenclature which was appointed four years ago. 

 While this action will not prevent confusion and fraud in variety 

 names on the part of unscrupulous persons, it will guard against 

 miintentional mistakes by providing a practical means for entering 

 supposedly new varieties. 



« E. S. K., 14, i>p. 39:5, 4H5, 609. 



