38 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY (Feb 
days. In these cases, the local edema observed by Yer- 
sin, did not occur. They point out the interest attaching 
to infection through so insignificant a wound and with- 
out local lesions. According to Yersin, an infiltration of 
watery edema can be observed in a few hours, about the 
point of inoculation. The autopsy shows the infiltration 
to be made up of a yellowish gelatinous exudation. The 
spleen and liver are enlarged, the former often present- 
ing an appearance, much like an eruption of miliary tu- 
bercles. Sometimes there is universal swelling of the lym- 
phatic glands. Bacilli are found in the blood and in all 
the internal organs. Very often there are eruptions dur- 
ing life, and upon the inner abdominal walls there are 
petechie and occasional hemorrhages. The intestine is 
hyperemic, the adrenals congested. There are often se- 
ro-sanguinolent effusions into the serous cavities. 
Klein found the intra-peritoneal injection of the bacillus 
into guinea-pigs,of diagnostic value, producing in twenty- 
four to forty-eight hours a thick, cloudy peritoneal exu- 
date, rich in leucocytes and containing characteristic 
chains of the plague bacillus. Animals fed upon cultures 
or upon the flesh of other animals dead of the disease, be- 
came ill and died with typical symptoms. When Klein 
inoculated animals with the dust of dwelling houses in 
which the disease had occurred, some died of tetanus, one 
from plague. Many rats and mice in which examina- 
tions showed the characteristic bacilli, died spontaneous- 
ly in Hong-Kong. Yersin showed that flies also die of 
the disease. Macerating and crushing a fly in bouillon, 
he not, only succeeded in obtaining the bacillus from the 
medium, but infected an animal with it. Nuttall in re- 
viewing Yersin’s fly experiment, found the statement true, 
and showed that flies fed with the cadavers of plague in- 
fected mice, died in a variable lengthof time. Large num- 
bers of plague bacilli were found in their intestines. He 
also found that bed-bugs allowed to prey upon infected 
