412 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 926 



that has been done in the attempt to protect 

 animals against infectious abortion. Many 

 experiments are reviewed in this article which 

 are not to be found in the general literature 

 of abortion. Many of these are scattered 

 through Danish veterinary journals and many 

 others are here published for the first time. 

 The results of the experiments given indicate 

 that there is some hope of producing im- 

 munity by means of vaccines or serums. 

 There is, however, need of many long contin- 

 ued and carefully planned experiments to 

 prove this. The insidious nature of the 

 disease makes it very difficult to obtain crucial 

 evidence. The above cited paper is an excel- 

 lent summary of the work so far done in this 

 direction. 



Not the least interesting phase of the study 

 of infectious abortion is that which has re- 

 cently appeared from the laboratory of Dr. 

 Theobald Smith." In these papers Smith and 

 Fabyan have clearly demonstrated a fact which 

 has been overlooked by previous students of 

 this subject, viz., that the abortion bacillus is 

 able to cause marked pathological lesions in 

 guinea-pigs and other laboratory animals. 

 Further, these lesions are by no means con- 

 fined to the reproductive organs, but affect in 

 particular, the spleen, liver, bones, lungs, 

 lymph-nodes and kidneys. The lesions are not 

 unlike those produced by tuberculosis. In a 

 few cases death ensued after some weeks, in 

 others the animals appeared to recover and 

 maintain a general good health. No external 

 symptoms, other than a slight loss in weight, 

 were present in the majority of cases. In 

 some instances paralysis of the hind quarters 

 was noted. Occasional cases of blindness 

 and the enlargement of the lymph nodes were 

 other symptoms. 



The interest in the disease is increased by 

 the fact pointed out by Smith and later by the 



" Smith, Theobald, and Fabyan, Marshall 

 ' ' Ueber die Pathogens Wirkung des Bacillus abor 

 tus Bang," Central, f. BaM. usw., I., Orig. Bd. 61 

 pp. 549-556, January, 1912. Fabyan, Marshall 

 "A Contribution to the Pathogenesis of B. abor- 

 tus Bang," Jour. Med. Eesearch, Vol. XXVI., 

 pp. 441-489, July, 1912. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture" that the 

 abortion bacillus occurs in the milk of in- 

 fected cows and that the injection of such 

 milk into healthy guinea-pigs will produce 

 lesions similar to those noted above. Further, 

 it is possible to recover the abortion bacilli 

 from animals inoculated with such milk. 



The fact that a large portion of dairy milk 

 contains the abortion bacilli and the further 

 fact that in cattle the most common means 

 of infection is through the alimentary canal 

 make it at least suggestive that this organism 

 may be an etiological factor in certain human 

 infections. 



Frank M. Surface 



Kentucky Expekiment Station, 

 Lexington, Kt. 



SPECIAL ASTICLES 



THE EFFECTS OF ALKALOIDS ON THE DEVELOP- 

 MENT OF FISH (FUNDULUS) EMBRYOS 



In previous experiments it was found that 

 a large number of neutral salts and many 

 anesthetics, including alcohols, when applied 

 to Fundulus embryos, in concentrations 

 slightly below the fatal dose, produce abnor- 

 malities in the eyes. The most striking of 

 these abnormalities is the presence of one 

 median eye instead of the usual eyes, a con- 

 dition known as cyclopia. In some embryos 

 but one eye is present and is lateral, as in the 

 normal fish, a defect designated as monoph- 

 thalmia asymmetrica. 



Considering the variety of the " poisons " 

 used, one might suspect that the Fundulus 

 embryo reacts to all poisons by developing de- 

 fects in the eyes, provided the right concen- 

 tration of the harmful substances is found. 

 To determine this, it is not necessary to try 

 an infinite number of concentrations of the 

 reagent, since I found that the concentrations 

 producing cyclopia were the highest concen- 

 trations in which the embryos could live. It 

 is only necessary to determine the lethal dose, 

 and then make a finely graduated series just 

 below this limit. In this way I have tried out 



"Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, Circular No. 198, March, 1912. 



