806 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 101.3 



one case did a normal bird (as shown by macro- 

 scopical examination at autopsy) exhibit an ag- 

 glutination titre over 1:50 and this bird had been 

 subjected to infection. All of the birds showing 

 lesions on post-mortem examination gave a titre as 

 high as 1:100. 



JANUARY 2, 1914 



Pathology 

 A Comparative Study of the Intestinal Flora of 

 White Bats Kept on Experimental and on Ordi- 

 nary Mixed Diets: Leo F. Eettger and George 



D. HORTON. 



The investigation extended over a period of al- 

 most one year, and was carried on in connection 

 with the pure protein nutrition experiments of Os- 

 borne and Mendel. The feces of 22 rats were ex- 

 amined, 17 of the rats receiving the experimental 

 diets consisting essentially of purified animal or 

 vegetable protein, protein-free milk, starch and 

 lard. The remaining 5 rats received ordinary 

 mixed food consisting of sunflower seeds, carrots, 

 dog-bread, meat, etc. 



A change in the intestinal flora became apparent 

 very soon after the rats were transferred from the 

 ordinary to the special diets. The flora became 

 more simplified, very few types being found after 

 the first three or four days, as a rule. An increase 

 in the number of Gram-positive organisms from 

 35-50 per cent, to 85-100 per cent, was frequently 

 observed. There was no appreciable difference in 

 the results, in so far as the individual proteins 

 were concerned, with the exception of Zein. Al- 

 though they were present in the feces of the stock- 

 room rats in relatively large numbers, two organ- 

 isms which are a part of, or closely related to, the 

 acidophilus group of bacteria, were frequently 

 present to the exclusion of all other types, except 

 Bacillus hifidus of Tissier and B. coli, B. hifidus 

 was much more abundant in the experimental rats 

 than in those receiving the usual diet, while the 

 number of B. coli was greatly reduced. No definite 

 relationship could be established between the bod- 

 ily conditions (growth, vigor, etc.) of the rats re- 

 ceiving the' special diets, and the intestinal flora. 

 Anaerobic Culture of Coccidiodes Jmmitis: Ward 



J. MacNeal and Richard M. Taylor, M.D. 



Two strains of Coccidioides immiti^ of Eixford 

 and Gilchrist3 have been studied, one derived from 

 a fatal case of generalized infection which occurred 



3 Eixford, Emmet, and Gilchrist, T. C, ' ' Two 

 Gases of Protozoon (Coccidioidal) Infection of 

 the Skin and Other Organs," Johns Hopkins Hos- 

 pital Eeports, 1896, Vol. I., p. 209-290. 



in the practise of Dr. Chas. A. Powers, of Denver, 

 and which has been studied by Whitman,* and a 

 second isolated at this laboratory^ from a similar 

 case which occurred in the practise of Dr. Eobt. T. 

 Morris, of New York. We observed the meta- 

 morphosis of the spherical (Coccidioidal) bodies 

 into typical mycelial growth on agar and the in- 

 verse change of the threads back into spherical 

 bodies in the animal body. Finally by inoculating 

 the spherical bodies into tubes of ascitic fluid con- 

 taining bits of sterile animal tissue, or better, 

 tubes of gelatinized horse serum, and covering 

 these with paraffin oil or incubating in an atmos- 

 phere of hydrogen, we succeeded in obtaining abun- 

 dant multiplication of the spherical form in vitro. 

 The forms of the organism in these cultures re- 

 semble very closely those seen in diseased tissues. 



Further Observations of the Thompson-McFadden 

 Pellagra CommAssion upon the Etiology of 

 Pellagra: J. F. Siler, P. E. Garrison and W. 

 J. MacNeal. 



Information concerning the age and sex, occu- 

 pations, location of domicile, general dietary hab- 

 its, and concerning the existence of pellagra was 

 obtained upon about five thousand persons by a 

 house-to-house canvass of six cotton-mill villages. 

 A similar study was carried out in one rural dis- 

 trict of four square miles in which several cases of 

 pellagra had occurred. Many other communities 

 were studied in less detail. There was no definite 

 relation observed between the occurrence of pel- 

 lagra and the use of any particular foods. New 

 cases developed for the most part in the immediate 

 vicinity of old cases or after close association with 

 them. In districts completely equipped with water- 

 carriage systems of sewage disposal, we found 

 pellagrins who had acquired the disease before mov- 

 ing to these districts. Cases apparently origina- 

 ting in these sewered districts were extremely rare 

 and their origin there somewhat doubtful. These 

 observations strongly suggest that unsanitary 

 methods of sewage disposal have an important re- 

 lationship to the spread of pellagra. If these indi- 

 cations can be confirmed in other places, we feel 

 that the proper correction of these conditions by 

 the ins-tallation of water-carriage systems of sew- 



4 Whitman, E. C., "A Contribution to the Bot- 

 any of the Organism of Blastomycosis," Jour, of 

 Infectious Diseases, July, 1913, Vol. XIII., pp. 

 85-95. 



5 MacNeal, W. J., and Hjelm, C. E., "Note on 

 a Mold, Coccidioides immitis, Found in a Case of 

 Generalized Infection in Man," Jour. Amer. Med. 

 Assoc, December 6, 1913, Vol. LXI., No. 23, p. 

 2044. 



