212 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [November, 



in the spleen. The organisms develop rapidly at the ordinary temperature, 

 thriving on all the usual culture media. They are bacilli with i^ounded ends, 

 and somewhat thicker in the middle than towards the extremities. They 

 gi^ow luxvu'iantly in sterilized water from the Seine. Fed to guinea pigs, 

 pure cultures produce intestinal inflammation and necrosis, the stomach itself 

 iDeing affected. The lesions are more marked where the gastric contents are 

 rendered alkaline. Intraperitonial injections cause death in two or three days 

 with peritonitis, pleuritis and pericarditis. The liver is afl^ected in these ani- 

 mals, necrosis with colonies of bacilli being found in the portal areas. All 

 these lesions in the experimental cases furnished pure cultures of the bacillus. 

 From these facts and the absence of the bacillus in the fasces of healthy men, 

 Chantemese and Widal feel justified in claiming specific properties for this 

 bacillus. In commenting on this paper the Medical Nexvs says that, although 

 the observations made are too few in number to bring absolute proof, they are 

 of interest as being the first in which so much has been accomplished. Nu- 

 merous other investigators have described micro-organisms in dysentery, but 

 none, up to this time, have succeeded in cultivating them. {^Science., Sept. 8, 

 1888.) 



o 



Cholera. — Sir Joseph Fayer,* in a lecture at the Medical Society of Lon- 

 don, says that, ' we seem to be warranted in stating the following to be facts 

 with reference to the disease : — i . That cholera has been present in India from 

 the earliest times, that isolated cases occur in almost all countries. 2. That 

 cholera is always present, not only in certain parts of India, but elsewhere, 

 and that in India outside these areas its prevalence varies in different years 

 and according to the season of the year. 3. That cholera does not attack all 

 places within an epidemic area. 4. Meteorological changes produce sudden 

 alterations in the action and intensity of outbreak. 5. That the rate and di- 

 rection of an epidemic are not influenced by facilities of communication or by 

 the greatest streams of human traffic — the opening of the Red Sea rovite, for 

 example, not having increased its diffusion. 6. That the cases are more fre- 

 quent and more severe at the commencement than in the continuance of an 

 outbreak. 7. That hygienic measures afford the greatest security, but are 

 not an all powerful safeguard against cholera ; local insanitary conditions and 

 impure water favor its incidence and increase its intensity ; that it is import- 

 ant to check all diarrhoea in times of cholera prevalence. 8. That cordons 

 and quarantine have utterly failed to prevent the spread of cholera, but on the 

 contrary have done harm. 9. That to enter an area over which cholera is 

 present, or to travel within that area, is especially dangerous to a new-comer, 

 while residents, whose circumstances of living are favorable, have a better 

 chance of escape. 10. That removal is the best course when cholera attacks 

 a regiment or other body of men. 11. That attendants on the sick have not 

 suffered more than others. 12. That impure water, irritating articles of diet, 

 unripe fruit, and saline aperients are liable, during cholera prevalence, to 

 bring on diarrhoea and the disease. 13. That fatigue, exhaustion, fear, and 

 anxiety are powerful predisposing causes. 14. Many circumstances attending 

 the outbreak of the disease and the pathological conditions then developed 

 seem opposed to a specific poison as being the cause of the disease. 15. Hav- 

 ing suffered from cholera gives no immunity from recurrence of the disease. 



^o 



Saccharine or Tar Sugar.— Dr. O. A. Kennedy states! that tar sugar, 

 the extract from coal tar products, which is estimated to have 380 times the 



* Lancet, May 19, 1888. \ American Practitioner, vol. vi, p. 167. 



