HOWAED, SEPTEMBER 10, 1896. 43 



and cause putrefaction of the tissues, and for tliis reason no odor was 

 present. ITe includes in his paper a dilTerential diagnosis between 

 foul brood and pickled brood. 



In foul brood, he says that the brood is attacked at all ages, from 

 two to three days after hatching until after it is capped, and that as 

 much brood dies before the feeding of pollen as afterwards; that the 

 brood is attacked by the putrefactive germs from the air, causing 

 rapid decomposition, resulting in a ropy brownish mass that gives ofl' 

 a very foul odor; that the cappings of the sealed cells are usually 

 ruptured by the gases generated within the cell, and that the larvae 

 are found m a shapeless mass lying on the lower side-wall of the cell 

 and closely adhering to it. Furthermore, he says that when gelatin 

 alid potato are inoculated with a culture of Bacillus alvei, growth at 

 once takes place, forming a viscid ropy liciuid which gives off an 

 oli'ensive odor resembling foul brood, and when such cultures are 

 exposed to putrefactive germs a growth of such bacteria takes place. 



In pickled brood, on the other hand, he says that the brood is 

 attacked only after the pollen is mixed with the liquid food, and it 

 dies usually just before reaching the pupal stage, but that it may 

 pass into tliis stage and be sealed before being overcome by death. 

 No brood, he argues, dies before the age of feeding mi:!^ed food arrives. 

 Being in this acid or pickled condition, the brood is not attacked by 

 putrefactive germs, and, therefore, no decomposition takes place. 

 There is a watery condition of the brood. The larvae may be of a hght 

 brown color, but generally are white, and no odor is present. The 

 capping is not ruptured in the brood that is sealed. The brood has a 

 swollen appearance, does not stick to the cell wall, and often does not 

 lose its shape. Furthermore, he argues that if brood is placed in a 

 medium of sweetened water in which starch or wheat bran is mixed, 

 and placed in a moist chamber %vithin a dark room, growth of the 

 fungus takes place and covers the surface of the medium. The 

 medium becomes acid, and when such a culture is exposed to the air 

 putrefactive germs do not attack it. 



In this paper the following points are observed : 



1. Howard used the term "pickled brood" for a disorder which 

 was clearly diil'erent from "foul brood." 



2. He gave a brief but fairly satisfactory description of the gross 

 symptoms of the condition. 



3. He claims that the disease is a specific infectious one. 



4. He declares that the cause of the disease is a fungus which he 

 isolated from larvae dead of the disease and to wliich he gave the 

 name ^ ' Asi^ergiUus imllini." 



5. The experimental data by wliich he was supposed to have 

 proven that Aspergillus poUini is the cause of the pickled brood. 



