326 
of the venom. Cobra venom possesses this 
local irritative property in very slight de- 
gree, and Calmetti found that when the 
cobra venom was heated to 70°C., for an 
hour, it was completely set aside. It was 
found, however, that when rattlesnake 
venom was heated sufficiently to annul its 
irritative qualities its toxic properties were 
almost destroyed. The horses at first re- - 
ceived heated venom, but later were injected 
with solutions of the dried venom in its nor- 
mally active state. The injections were 
given subcutaneously and were followed by 
enormous edemata, necroses and sloughs, so 
that after determining that no immunity to 
the local action developed, this method was 
abandoned and the intravenous used. The 
interior of the vessels showed no sign of in- 
jury, probably because the well-diluted 
venom at once met with greater dilution in 
the circulating blood. No local or other 
irritative disturbances followed the intra- 
venous injection, but the nervous impres- 
.sion was profound; the horses often fell, 
and remained unconscious for some minutes 
after injection, and, to prevent injury to 
themselves, required to be suspended. Two 
of three horses died before antivenine 
developed from the damage to their tissues 
caused by the irritation of subcutaneous in- 
jections. The third horse lived for a long 
time and developed a very marked immu- 
nity associated with the appearance of anti- 
venine inthe blood. The death of the horse 
finally resulted from the unfortunate acci- 
dental entrance of some venom into the 
sheath of the jugular vein during one of the 
injections. Not being immuned to its irri- 
tant effects, the venom produced a local 
edema which killed the animal by suffo- 
cation. The antivenine produced by this 
horse was of such strength that 2 cubic 
centimeters of the serum protected a rabbit 
—an adult rabbit—against a fatal dose of 
either rattlesnake (0.002 gram) or cobra 
(0.001 gram) venom. 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. XIII. No. 322. 
How can Bacteria be Satisfactorily Preserved 
for Museum Specimens? H. W. Conn, 
Middletown, Conn. 
A method of preparing museum speci- 
mens was described. A 2-per-cent. agar 
culture medium is placed in large test 
tubes and tilted so as to make agar slants. 
The tubes are left undisturbed for from six 
to eight weeks, in order to allow the sur- 
plus moisture to evaporate. They are then 
inoculated in long streaks and immediately 
sealed with plaster of Paris and paraffin. 
The cultures grow for a few days, then 
cease growing, and remain unaltered indefi- 
nitely. No disinfectant is needed. The 
cultures remain alive for many months, 
and possibly for years. The method is sat- 
isfactory except for one fact—the atmos- 
phere in the tube becomes filled with mois- 
ture and this condenses en the inside of the 
tube with changes of temperature. No 
method has yet succeeded in avoiding this 
condensation of water, which in most cases 
renders the tube cloudy, and injures its 
value as a display specimen. 
The Effect of Salt Solution and other Fluids 
on Bacteria compared with Serum Reaction : 
ADOLPH GEHRMANN. 
The author described, first, a series of 
experiments to determine the effect upon 
bacteria (typhoid and colon bacilli) of 
transferring them from one solution to an- 
other in which the percentage of salt is 
less. These experiments showed that, if 
the salt was not stronger than one per 
cent., the solution did not materially injure 
the bacteria, and did not produce the plas- 
molysis and plasmotypsis described by 
Fisher. Solutions of one per cent. have 
an inhibiting action and cause typhoid 
cultures to develop long chains and to lose 
their motility. A second series of experi- 
ments tested the effect of salt in the dilut- 
ing fluids which were used in making the 
serum tests. Distilled water, normal salt 
