ABSTRACTS 131 



The Bacterial Flora of Infected Gun Shot Wounds. — Louis A. LaGarde. 



The Military Surgeon— 1916, 38, 1-6. 



This article is written for the benefit of the military surgeon rather 

 than for the bacteriologist, but reviews some of the bacteriological 

 work that has been done on wounds in the present war. Thus Flem- 

 ing examined 127 wounds and found that the B. Welchii was present 

 in 103, Bacillus tetanus in 22, and streptococci in 102 during the first 

 week. Gudgeon, Gardner, and Bawtree found that of 100 wounds all 

 were infected, 99 with various combinations of aerobic and anaerobic 

 bacteria, and one with a pure culture of B. Welchii. The article points 

 out that with regard to the bacteriology of gun shot wounds, investigation 

 during the present world war has so far resulted in no new bacteriologi- 

 cal data.— E. B. V. 



Practical Points in the Prevention of Asiatic Cholera. Allan J. Mc- 

 Laughlin, The Military Surgeon, 1916, 38, 22-29. 

 McLaughlin quotes literature showing that presumably healthy 

 individuals have been proven to harbor cholera vibrios in dejecta for 

 periods ranging from 10 days to 69 days, and that Gaffky reported a 

 case who was a carrier for 6 months. The carrier question has there- 

 fore become one of the most important factors in any endeavor to stamp 

 out cholera or prevent the entrance of the disease. These long time 

 carriers make a farce of the ordinary 5 day quarantine detention with- 

 out stool examination. Instead of this, the present method is to 

 examine the stools of all contacts or suspects. In view of the fact 

 that prompt diagnosis is essential, and to avoid time consuming ma- 

 nipulations where large numbers of people are to be examined, the fol- 

 lowing simple method is recommended: Plate on agar after primary 

 inoculation in peptone enriching media, and test individual suspicious 

 colonies by a macroscopic agglutination on a glass slide, using a very 

 powerful cholera immune serum, which will agglutinate cholera in 

 dilution of 1-4000. This serum may be used in dilution of 1-200 and 

 in this strength will give prompt agglutination with cholera but not 

 with other organisms. Goldberger's enriching solutions, an alkaline 

 egg peptone and on alkaline meat infusion peptone are mentioned 

 with the statement that laboratory tests indicate that they restrain 

 the growth of ordinary faecal bacteria while promoting the growth of 

 cholera vibrios, but that these media have not yet been tested in actual 

 field work.— E. B. V. 



PHYSIOLOGY OF BACTERIA 



Effect of Natural Low Temperature on Certain Fungi and Bacteria. 

 H. E. Bartram. (J. Agr. Res., 1916, 5, 651-655.) 

 Dried cultures of certain molds, Actinomycetes, and bacteria proper 

 were exposed to outdoor conditions at temperatures sometimes as 

 low as — 30°C. More than half of the molds survived for four months 

 under these conditions, but most of the bacteria died. Control cul- 



