EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Experiments were also tried in experimental diagnosis of rabies by 

 means of direct inoculation through the occipital foramen. This 

 method gave good results and is considered satisfactory and unobjec- 

 tionable, except for possible accident which might result from the 

 sudden movement of the animal. 



The author undertook a series of experiments on rabbits for the pur- 

 pose of determining the effect of bile upon rabies virus. The active 

 virus and bile were taken from rabbits just dead of rabies, mixed in 

 equal parts, and inoculated in the subdural region. The results of 

 these experiments indicate that pathological bile renders the incuba- 

 tion period of rabies longer, and in certain cases neutralizes the virus, 

 while normal bile has a similar though much weaker action. 



Hemorrhagic septicaemia of ducks and chickens, A. Rabieaux 

 {Jour. JL'd Vet. ef Zootech., 5. ser.. ^{1900). pp. 120-11^0, Jig. 7).— An 

 epizootic occurrence of this disease was observed in November. 1899, 

 among a number of poultr}^ establishments in one neighborhood. The 

 ducks and chickens were receiving at the time as food grain and 

 potatoes. The outbreak of the disease was sudden, 86 cases having 

 developed within 14 hours, of which 18 were among ducks and 18 

 among chickens. Sixteen of the ducks and 11 of the chickens suc- 

 cumbed to the disease. An autopsy made upon some of the dead birds 

 showed little or no pericardial exudate. There were numerous con- 

 fluent ecchymoses upon the heart and the mucous membrane of the 

 small intestine was thickened and much congested. The contents of 

 the intestine were bloody. The clinical symptoms were not constant 

 nor well marked. As a rule, the progress of the disease was so rapid 

 that the symptoms were not observed. In some instances the author 

 observed a staggering gait in the birds shortly before death. The 

 pathogenic organism of tliis disease was an ovoid bacterium which 

 resembled that of chicken cholera, but was slightly larger. The 

 organism was found in abundance in the blood, liver, spleen, bone 

 marrow, and intestinal contents. AVhen examined fresh, the organism 

 appeared to be a coccus or diplococcus with active brownian move- 

 ments. It was readily stained with Kiihne blue or carbolized thionin. 

 After being stained, the organism appeared in the form of a bacillus 

 with rounded ends. 



The organism is aerobic and can be cultivated easily upon all the 

 ordinary media at a temperature of from 35 to 38° C, except upon 

 potato. In artificial media and in contact with the air, an attenuation 

 of the organism progresses rapidly with a complete loss of its virulence 

 in from 15 to 30 days. The organism has only a slight resisting power 

 to desiccation or to the ordinary antiseptic reagents. It is very sus- 

 ceptible to heat and is destroyed by exposure for 6 minutes to a tem- 

 perature of 55 to 56° C. Cultures of the organism in bouillon heated 

 to 60° C. and then filtered lose all their virulence, but the filtrate con- 



