698 ABSTRACTS 



The following subjects are considered: hospital care, chicken pox, 

 epidemic parotitis, measles, German measles, whooping cough, diph- 

 theria and scarlet fever. — R. M. T. 



Chronic General Infection with the Bacillus pyocyaneus. Leonard 



Freeman. Annals of Surgery, 1916, 64, 195-202. 



The case reported is one of extreme chronicity with typical neural- 

 gic pains followed by paresis and muscular atrophy, and is of special 

 interest because of the absence of the B. pyocyaneus in the blood and 

 its presence in the bile; the absence of any discoverable point of infec- 

 tion, unless possibly the teeth; recovery through drainage of the gall- 

 bladder and the use of an autogenous vaccine; the occurrence of cir- 

 rhosis of the liver (and its apparent disappearance since the recovery 

 of the patient); the presence of ascites and pleural effusion, both of 

 which promptly disappeared. — T. L. H. 



The Bactericidal and Protozoacidal Activity of Emetin Hydrochloride in 

 Vitro. John A. Kolmer and Allen J. Smith. Jour. Infect. Dis- 

 eases, 1916, 18, 247-265. 



Emetin possesses bactericidal properties but prolonged contact is 

 required. A 5 per cent solution failed to kill B. typhi in 15 min- 

 utes and a 2 per cent solution required 45 minutes to kill various bac- 

 teria from a case of pyorrhea. On the whole the effect was about 

 equal to that of phenol in corresponding dilutions. Emetin proved 

 to have some trypanocidal properties but these were less active than 

 its amebacidal action. — P. B. H, 



The Bactericidal and Protozoacidal Effect of Emetin Hydrochloride in 

 Vivo. John A. Kolmer and Allen J. Smith. Jour. Infect. Dis- 

 eases, 1916, 18, 266-276. 



In studying the bactericidal action of emetin on Staph, aureus, B. 

 tetanus and B. anthracis, the authors found that the drug, adminis- 

 tered intravenously, exerted a slight influence or none on the first named 

 organism (infection in rabbits), and, when administered intraperitone- 

 ally to mice exerted no inhibitory action upon the other two. Admin- 

 istered intravenously to white rats, however, it exerted a slight germi- 

 cidal influence upon T. equiperdum and T. lewisi. The authors con- 

 clude that the improvement or cure of pyorrhea alveolaris by emetin 

 is to be attributed solely to its amebacidal action.— P. B. H. 



Experimental Cholera-Carriers. Otto Schobl. Jour. Infect. Dis- 

 eases, 1916, 18, 307-314. 



The investigation was undertaken to ascertain whether animals 

 could be made carriers of cholera vibrios. Inoculations were made 

 into the gall-bladder, stomach, small intestine, blood stream and ser- 

 ous cavity; also by feeding. After direct inoculation into the gall- 

 bladder, stomach and small intestine the organisms were found in the 



