1896.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL 129 



until recently, because of failure to reproduce the disease 

 by inoculation with a pure culture of the bacillus. 



Although this demonstration is of such recent date, 

 protective inoculations against this disease have long 

 been successfully practiced. For this purpose serum ob- 

 tained from the lunj^s of an animal recently dead has 

 been employed this having been proved by experiment 

 to be infectious material, although the exact nature of 

 the infectious agent present in it was not determined. 



In the Bulletin of the Central Society of Veterinary 

 Medicine of May 24, 1894, M. Robcis reports the results 

 of inoculations made wit hcultures of Arloing's Pne^imo- 

 bacillus liquefaciens ^oui.sf, and with injections of pulmon- 

 ary serum. His statistics with reference to the last- 

 mentioned "legal" inoculations he has obtained from offi- 

 cial documents relating to the Department of the Seine. 



The total number of infected localities in this depart- 

 ment during the years 1885 to 1891 was 1,253; total 

 number of contaminated animals, 18,356 ; total number 

 inoculated, 18,359 ; total number of deaths prior to inocu- 

 lation' 1,753 ; total number of deaths after inoculation, 

 2,741 ; total number of deaths due to the inoculation, 94; 

 total percentage of mortality, 22-8 per cent. After dis- 

 cu.ssing these and other statistics Robcis arrives at the 

 conclusion that Arloing's method of preventive inocula- 

 tions with cultures of the PneiDnobacillus liquefaciens 

 bovis gives better results than the legal method with se- 

 rum from an infected animal, the total loss among ani- 

 mals exposed to contagion not being over twelve to four- 

 teen per cent. 



In the infectious disease of cattle known under the 

 names of "black leg," "quarter evil," or symptomatic 

 anthrax, protective inoculations have also been practiced 

 with success. The disease prevails during the summer 

 months in various parts of Europe, and to some extent in 

 the United States. It is characterized by the appearance 



