360 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Oct. 



of nephritis. The urine should be more frequentl}^ exam- 

 ined, especially after sickness. 



BACTERIOLOGY. 



Black Death. — Kitasato has ascertained that the "black 

 death" is due to a bacillus which causes a septicaemia at- 

 tacking- the lymphatic system, the spleen, and mig-ht there- 

 fore easil}^ be confounded with anthrax. The bacillus is 

 rounded at the ends, colors with the usual aniline dyes, 

 more deeply stains at the end than in the middle ; may be 

 found in the blood, occurs in man, mice, rats and swine, 

 and may be contracted by eating- the diseased flesh of such 

 animals. 



Excretion of Micro-Organism. — Biedl and R. Kruas 

 record their experiments into the excretion of micro-or- 

 ganism by the g-landular org-ans. Previously they have 

 shown that micro org-anisms present in the blood are ex- 

 creted by normal kidneys, the urine being- free from al- 

 bumen or blood. They thus conclude that micro-org-an- 

 isms can pass throug-h healthy blood vessels. They have 

 now investig-ated the functions of the liver and submax- 

 illary gland in this respect, cultures of the staph3dococcus 

 being- injected into the blood. Almost all authors ag-ree 

 that the liver can excrete micro-org-anisms, but no cer- 

 tainty exists as to the manner of the excretion. In the 

 first set of experiments the g-all bladder was opened with 

 the usual precautions immediately after death. They 

 found neg-ative results in two out of four experiments, but 

 this method is not adequate. In another series of experi- 

 ments the bile was inocculated directly into the nutrient 

 media, a cannula having- been placed in the bile passag-es. 

 In the case of the submaxillary g-land a cannual was placed 

 in the duct, and the same method followed. In all of the 

 three cases the staphylococcus was obtained fromthebile, 

 but the results were always neg-ative in five cases where 

 the submaxillary secretion was investig-ated. The micro- 

 org-anisms were shown to be cautiously excretedin the bile 



