ABSTRACTS 465 



a frank, outspoken croupous pneumonia." Cultures from the blood, 

 and from the sputum yielded B. typhi, but the organism was not found 

 in the stools or the urine. — L. W. F. 



The Mode of Infection in Pulmonary Distomiasis. Koan Nakagawa. 



Jour. Infect. Diseases, 1916, 18, 131-141, Pis. II-IV. 



The author reports on the distribution, origin and means of infec- 

 tion in the case of the distomiasis observed in Formosa. It is shown 

 that at least two species of crabs found in Formosa and Japan proper 

 contain in the liver or gills large numbers of encysted larvae, and that 

 the number of infested crabs in any district is roughly proportional 

 to the number of cases of distoma infection. Dogs were successfully 

 infected as a result of eating liver or lungs of infested crabs. In the 

 final host it was shown that the encysted larvae, after entering the 

 intestines, reach the abdominal cavity by perforating the intestinal 

 wall near the jejunum. They then penetrate the diaphragm and 

 pleura and finally pierce the lung parenchyma. Here they develop 

 and lay eggs which are discharged with other degenerative tissue prod- 

 ucts through the trachea. — P. B. H. 



The Reactions between Bacteria and Animal Tissues under Conditions 

 of Artificial Cultivation. II. Bactericidal Action in Tissue Cultures. 

 H. F. Smyth. Jour. Exp. Med., 1916, 3, 265-274. 

 In a previous paper the author described an original method for 

 studying the action of tissue cultures in vitro when inoculated with 

 living pathogenic bacteria. In the present experiments chick embryo 

 tissues were grown in a mixture of equal parts of plasma and Ringer 

 solution. It was found that chicken plasma exerts a marked bacteri- 

 cidal action on B. typhi and on B. diphtheriae but is less marked with 

 B. dysenteriae, and sKght, if present at all, with B. coli. Chick tissues, 

 particularly splenic tissue, counteract this action. The migrating 

 white cells from splenic cultures have a distinctly bactericidal influence 

 on all organisms tested except B. coli. 



Ibidem. III. The Action of Bacterial Vaccines on Tissue Cidtures 

 in Vitro. H. F. Smyth. Jour. Exp. Med., 1916, 3, 275-291. 

 In plasma tissue cultures in vitro with tissue containing lymphatic 

 elements the changes characteristic of early tubercle formation may 

 be seen when such cultures contain masses of tubercle bacilli. — B. W. 



Experiments with Poliomyelitis in the Rabbit. M. J. Rosenau and 

 L. C. Havens. Jour. Exp. Med., 1916, 23, 461^74. 

 The poliomyelitic virus obtained from an experimental monkey 

 was passed through eight generations in rabbits with no apparent 

 change in virulence. It is filterable and is virulent only for young 

 rabbits. Even in these only about 40 per cent succumb. Inocula- 

 tions were made intracranially, intravenously, into the sheath of the 

 sciatic nerve and by placing the virus upon the uninjured nasal mucosa. 



