October 21, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



385 



kidneys ; at this stage he began, to vomit and went 

 into collapse and broke out into a cold and clammy 

 sweat, remaining this way for two hours. 



He continued to swell for 12 hours, when it 

 stopped, and it was 48 hours before the swelling 

 began to leave and six weeks after the bite the 

 patient still complains of soreness in Ms legs and 

 some pain around his heart, yet he is able to re- 

 sume Ms work on the farm. 



Also, since writing the above, an article 

 has appeared in the Journal of the American 

 Medical Association for January 8, 1921, 

 page 99, by Dr. D. J. Lewis of San Juan, 

 Coahuila, Mexico, entitled " Black Spider 

 Poisoning; a . Report of Four Cases." In 

 this article he briefly describes the cases of 

 three men, aged respectively 31, 32, and 33 

 years, and of one woman, aged 28, all of whom 

 were bitten while asleep in bed at night. Dr. 

 Lewis states that gauze wet with saturated 

 solution of magnesium sulphate kept on the 

 bitten area " relieves the pain, reduces the 

 swelling and prevents the progress of the 

 disease." He also gave iodine, calomel and 

 magnesium sulphate internally, but he does 

 not state in what doses. The patients were 

 able to resume work in from five to ten days. 

 Albert M. Reese 



West Vikginia Universitt 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



PREVALENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF FUNGI 

 INTERNAL OF SEED CORN 



The importance of root, stalk and ear rot 

 fungi in decreasing yields of field corn has 

 received considerable attention in recent 

 years on the part of investigators. Results of 

 investigations so far reported indicate more 

 or less agreement in the various disease 

 symptoms manifested. However, some differ- 

 ence of opinion exists concerning the im- 

 portance of the causal organisms. The speci- 

 fic determination of the fungi has not been 

 fully emphasized nor the method by which 

 they are carried in the seed. 



The following account presents in part the 

 results of our investigations in determining 

 the species of fungi associated with seed corn. 



Our studies were initiated to ascertain the 

 losses and prevalence of infection in Delaware 

 and the importance of the seed in carrying 

 infection. While our observations and studies 

 have been confined principally to the corn 

 crop in this state we feel that careful in- 

 vestigations will reveal the presence and im- 

 portance of the same pathogenes in other 

 states but no doubt in varying degrees of 

 prevalence. 



Disinfection experiments followed by cul- 

 tures soon indicated to us that certain para- 

 sitic fungi were carrying internal of the ker- 

 nel and that a brief surface sterilizing with a 

 strong disinfectant, followed by proper cul- 

 ture methods proved an efficient means of 

 determining the amount of such internal in- 

 fection. 



We have found that an efficient test for 

 determining the presence of fungi internal of 

 seed corn and one which at the same time 

 readily permits of the identification of the 

 fungi, is carried out by disinfecting and 

 planting the kernels or crushed kernels in 

 sterile culture medium in Petri dishes. Fif- 

 teen or more kernels are disinfected in a 

 test tube 150 X 20 mm. for one minute in a 

 solution of 50 per cent, alcohol containing 1 

 gram of bichloride of mercury in each liter. 

 Following this treatment the kernels are 

 washed in the same tube with two successive 

 washings with 20 e.c, each of sterile water 

 and immediately ten kernels are removed 

 aseptically with sterile forceps and placed 

 with germ side down on 20 c.c, of nutrient 

 glucose agar in a sterile culture dish. Fur- 

 ther, five of the remaining kernels are each 

 placed in a sterile culture dish and with a 

 sterile scalpel the point of the kernel which 

 is the portion that contains most of the in- 

 ternal infection is cut off one sixth to one 

 fifth inch from the end; then with a strong 

 sterile forceps each point is placed in the mouth 

 of a heavy -walled tube (it requires a strong 

 tube and strong forceps, as crushing is not 

 easy) 150 X 20 mm. containing 10 c.c, of 

 sterile nutrient glucose agar medium at 

 43° C; the point is thoroughly crushed and 

 shaken down into the medium, then well 



