THE BACTERIA IN CONTAGIOUS MALADIES. 173 
exist between the bacteria of glanders and of 
charbon, we recall the fact that Bédoin, having 
mixed some powdered borax (two grammes) with 
the blood of a glandered horse, has found the 
bacteria completely motionless at the end of two 
hours. These results correspond with those which 
Decroix, veterinarian of the army, has obtained 
by treating horses attacked with charbon with 
boracic acid. 
Ulcerative Endocarditis. —In this affection, it is 
well settled to-day that the cardiac walls and, 
above all, the valves are covered with parasitic 
masses. Some think that the malady is due to the 
introduction of these parasites into the interior 
of the tissues; others, on the contrary, like Hiller, 
deny that the bacteria bear any causal relation 
with the lesions of ulcerative endocarditis. Ger- 
ber and Birsch-Hirschfeld have recently made an 
observation which is a complete refutation of the 
ideas supported by Hiller. They have found at 
the autopsy some hemorrhagic foci disseminated 
in various organs, the greater number of which 
contained some particular corpuscles belonging to 
the class of the bacteria. 
Relapsing Fever.—In 1868, Otto Obermeier 
discovered in the blood of the sick attacked with 
recurrent fever certain bacteria, called by Cohn 
Spirochete Obermeiert. These organisms are only 
found during the febrile paroxysm; after the ac- 
cess of fever they disappear, but often they are 
