260 ABSTRACTS 



Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Henry C. Michie, Jr. and Houston 



H. Parsons. Medical Record, 1916, 89, 266. 



A comprehensive investigation of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, 

 which includes a resume of all work done upon the disease as well as an 

 account of the results of an extensive research on the fever as it occurs 

 in the Bitter Root Valley, Montana. The report gives in detail the 

 history, geographical distribution, etiology, symptoms, pathology, diag- 

 nosis, treatment, prophylaxis, prognosis, and epidemiology of the 

 disease.— M. W. C. 



Remarks on B. Welchii in the Stools of Pellagrins. W. H. Holmes. 



Arch. Int. Med., 1916, 17, 453-458. 



In a study of the stools of pellagrins an abnormally large number of 

 organisms of the B. Welchii group have been found. These organisms 

 are able to produce diarrhea in the presence of a high carbohydrate 

 diet, which can be cured by the substitution of a protein diet. Since 

 he believes that pellagra is caused by a high carbohydrate diet, the 

 writer suggests a further investigation of the r61e of B. Welchii in this 

 disease. — G. H. R. 



The Treatment of Infections of Accessory Sinus. A. M. MacWhinnie. 



New York Med. Journ., 1916, 103, 213. 



Theoretically, the treatment of ethmoiditis should consist in the ad- 

 ministration of an autogeneous vaccine made from all types of bacteria 

 isolated. In most cases these vary in number from three to five. The 

 use of such a vaccine has met with marvelous results in a few cases, 

 but the average of successful treatments is 30 per cent. 



The author recommends a system of cleansing to be used in con- 

 junction with the application of his suction piunp. — M. W. C. 



Salvarsan in Primary Syphilis. Alexander A. Uhle and Wm. H. 



Mackinney. New York Med. Jour., 1916, 103, 6. 



Treatment of primary syphilis with salvarsan is most successful in 

 cases in which a diagnosis is established sufficiently early to allow 

 prompt administration of the drug. The earliest positive diagnosis of 

 syphilis can be made by examination by dark field illumination of the 

 expressed serum of a suspected sore. A Wassermann reaction is not 

 positive until the seventh to fourteenth day after the appearance of the 

 chancre. The Wassermann reaction is of value in the diagnosis of 

 syphilis, as a positive reaction means the onset of systemic syphilis, 

 while a negative reaction, for practical purposes, means a local infection 

 only.— M. W. C. 



The Prompt Cure of Gonorrhea. George A. Wyeth. New York Med. 



Jour., 1916, 103, 244. 



Treatment with a 0.25 to 0.5 per cent solution of protargol, if begTm 

 within twenty-four hours after the appearance of a purulent discharge, 



