1916] 
Emic—Yerast Fuxar 299 
under different moisture conditions may explain the irregu- 
larity of the symptoms, as well as the occurrence of the 
disease under what may appear to be identical conditions. 
Many horses died as a result of eating mouldy baled hay, 
and as soon as this hay was eliminated the deaths ceased. 
Forage-poisoning, therefore, seems to be an auto-intoxica- 
tion, due to certain chemical poisons or toxins formed by 
organismal activity. 
Ruhl (714), in a summary of the new theories concerning 
the etiology of pellagra, pointed out that investigators ex- 
plain the casual relation of a corn diet to pellagra by four 
different physiological processes. However, these theories 
are inadequate, and serious objections are given to each. 
In this résumé we find that pellagra epidemics occur among 
people who have eaten corn that has been previously steamed, 
whereas persons in the same vicinity who have not eaten 
corn so treated were apparently not affected. It may be 
pointed out here that the steaming of corn before grinding 
will introduce conditions of moisture that favor the de- 
velopment of fungi, particularly Rhizopus nigricans and cer- 
tain species of Aspergillus. In a moist condition the corn 
will become infected with fungi in a few days time; and 
after the corn has been dried, this fungous growth would 
no doubt pass unnoticed by the Italian peasants. 
In the consideration of eryptocoeci, we do not find indica- 
tions of toxic substances produced by these organisms. Ga- 
leotti and Pentimalli (’10) investigated the action of yeast 
toxin on the tissues of higher animals with three cultures 
of eryptococci obtained from tumors. The injection of the 
filtrate from liquid cultures or the injection of dead cultures 
gave negative results. However, the injection of living 
cells of certain cryptococci have proved fatal to rabbits, 
guinea-pigs, and dogs; and the organism seemed to show a 
selective action for the kidneys, the spleen, and the lungs. 
Loeb, Moore, and Fleisher (’13) were unable to find an 
extracellular toxin in cultures of the yeast-like fungus ob- 
tained from a carcinoma tissue. Death of the animals in this 
latter case was due to the rapid multiplication of yeast 
