VETERINARY SCIENCE AND PRACTICE. 609 



From the peritoneal cavity of animals treated with normal serum an exudate was 

 taken 3 minutes after inoculation with staphylococci, and it was found that all of 

 the micro-organisms had been surrounded by large mononuclear leucocytes; a few 

 polynuclear cells had assisted in this process. It appears from these experiments 

 that staphylococcus serum exercises a stimulating influence upon the multiplication 

 of the leucocytes. 



An attempt to explain tlie purpose and action of intermediary bodies, 

 H. Z.ANGGER {Centhl. Bali. u. Par., ]. AbL, Orig., 34 {1903), No. 5, pp. 4'28-437).—A. 

 study of toxins showed that these substances ordinarily react slowly in comparison 

 with chemical reactions. Notes are given on toxins and various other substances 

 obtjiined from the blood serum and various tissues. The author calls attention to the 

 importance of the agglutinins and precipitins in the study of immunity. The simi- 

 larity of intermediary bodies and ferments is shown by comparison of their various 

 properties in detail. 



On the question whether tetanolysin forms a nontoxic product in combina- 

 tion with the proteids of the serum of egg- albumin, P. T. MtJLLER ( Centhl. Bakt. 

 u. Far., 1. AbL, Orig., 34 {1903), No. 6, pp. 567-573) .—The experiments reported in 

 this article were made with the serum of horses and steers. The results obtained 

 indicate that precipitated and dissolved albumins, even in large doses, fail to exercise 

 a pronounced check upon the development of tetanus. The alcoholic extract of the 

 serum, however, showed a strong antihemolytic power. It appears, therefore, that 

 the property antagonistic to tetanus is not precipitated in the albumins, but remains 

 soluble in alcohol, and is therefore necessarily different from the serum proteids. 



The author concludes, therefore, that the control of hemolysis and the apparent 

 antitoxic action observed in the treatment of tetanus are not truly antitoxic, but 

 pseudo-antitoxic phenomena due to physical and chemical processes brought about 

 during the solution and distribution of the bodies concerned in the development and 

 control of the disease. 



A bacterial toxin with acute action, R. Kraus {Centbl. Bakt. u. Par., 1. Abt., 

 Orig., 34 {1903), No. 6, pp. 488-496). — Experiments were made with cholera vibrio 

 obtained in 1899. The experimental animals were rabbits. It was found in experi- 

 ments with this toxin that death was produced in rabbits within 24 hours after intra- 

 venous inoculation in moderate doses. The toxin exercised a hemolytic and other 

 injurious actions which proved rapidly fatal in all cases. 



It is concluded as a result of these experiments that evidence is thus obtained for 

 the existence of a bacterial toxin which acts in a rapid manner without a period of 

 incubation, and in that respect resembles snake virus. An antitoxin which operates 

 in neutralizing this toxin exists in the normal blood serum of certain animals. This 

 antitoxin, however, exercises its neutralizing action at a comparatively slow rate. 



The action of bacteria upon the hemoglobin of the blood, M. Labbe {Arch. 

 Med. Exper. et Anat. Path., Paris, 1. ser., 15 {1903), No. 3, pp. 364-378).— A study was 

 made of the changes produced in the blood of laboratory animals during infection 

 with various organisms, such as anthrax bacillus, cholera bacillus, diphtheria bacil- 

 lus, etc. The changes in the blood were studied by means of a spectroscope. The 

 various micro-organisms with which the author experimented are classified in differ- 

 ent groups according to the effect which they were found to exercise upon the hemo- 

 globin. 



It was found that the slight irritation and transformation of hemoglobin into 

 methemoglobin are due to the action of bacterial secretions, and these phenomena 

 should not be confused with the intense irritation of oxyhemoglobin, which is 

 directly connected with the life of the micro-organisms. 



An attempt at a new theory of bacteriology, A. P. Fokker {VersueJi einer 

 neuen Bakterienlehre. 21ie Hague: Nederlandsche Boek- en Steendrukkerij, 1902, pp. 50, 



