300 3Janual of Veterinary 31lcrobiology. 



in virulence like the well defined microbes of other 

 diseases. Fol and Babes have each described micro- 

 cocci which they were able to cultivate in bouillon, 

 and with which cultures they believed that they trans- 

 mitted rabies. Babes also describes a short bacillus. 

 Mottet and Protopopoff isolated from the brain very 

 fine bacteria, cultures of which in bouillon, according 

 to these authors, gave the typical disease. 



Action of 2)hysical and chemical agents. — The viru- 

 lence of an emulsion of the spinal cord of a rabid 

 animal is dissipated when heated twenty-four hours 

 at 45°, one hour at 50°, and half an hour in steam at 

 100°. 



It resists a temperature of — 20° for thirty hours at 

 least. It is destroyed by fourteen hours exposure at 

 37° to solar light. Desiccation in the air rapidly di- 

 minishes its virulence and destroys it in a few days. 



Virulence is retained in cadavers for several weeks 

 if decomposition is prevented, but it is destroyed by 

 putrefaction. Under the influence of 1 to 1000 sub- 

 limate solution, 2 or 5 per cent solution of perman- 

 ganate of potash, or 50 per cent alcohol, the virus is 

 quickly impaired; 15 percent alcohol, on the other 

 hand, preserves it intact for seven days at least. 

 Even a large dose of the emulsion proves inoffensive 

 when it has been rendered either acid or alkaline. 

 Perfectly neutral glycerin (30 B) preserves its patho- 

 genic power in a perfect manner. 



Experimental inoculations. — With the exception of 

 some individuals which are naturally insusceptible, 

 the majority of the mammalia contract rabies when 

 inoculated. 



The species used in the laboratories are the rab- 



