236 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



from malarial fever, inasmuch as similar changes occur in the spleens 

 of rabbits dead from septicaemia produced by the subcutaneous 

 injection of human saliva ; (d) because the presence of dark-coloured 

 pigment in the spleen cannot be taken as evidence of death from 

 malarial fever, inasmuch as this is frequently found in the spleen of 

 septicsemic rabbits. 



While, however, the evidence upon which Klebs and Tommasi- 

 Crudeli have based their claim to a discovery is not satisfactory, and 

 their conclusions are shown not to be well founded, there is nothing in 

 Dr. Sternberg's researches to indicate that the so-called Bacillus 

 malarice, or some other of the minute organisms associated with it, 

 is not the active agent in the causation of malarial fevers in man. 

 On the other hand, there are many circumstances in favour of the 

 hypothesis that the etiology of these fevers is connected, directly 

 or indirectly, with the presence of these organisms or their germs in 

 the air and water of malarial localities. 



The truth or falsity of this hypothesis can only be settled by 

 extended experimental investigations ; and while further experiments 

 upon animals may lead to more definite results, it seems probable that 

 the experimentum crucis must be made upon man himself, isolating 

 and cultivating the various organisms found in malarial localities, and 

 experimentally investigating the physiological action of each when 

 taken into the stomach or respired in a dry state by healthy indi- 

 viduals. The converse method should also be tried of studying the 

 bacterial organisms found in the mouth and alimentary canal of persons 

 suffering from malarial fever, compared with the common forms found 

 in the same situation in the healthy state. 



Aktinomykosis, a new Fungoid Cattle-Disease.* — Under the 

 name Aktinomykosis or Strahlenpilzerkrankung, Johne describes an 

 infectious disease which attacks the tongue, throat, &c., of cattle, and 

 which he attributes to a hitherto undescribed bacterial organism to 

 which he gives the name Aktinomyces. The author is not able to 

 assign a systematic position to this organism. It commences with an 

 unseptated mycelium, probably originating from micrococci, which 

 swell up into pear- or club-shaped conidia. When collected into 

 masses it not unfrequently becomes hard and calcified. 



Infection by Symptomatic Anthrax.f — Messrs. Arloing, Cornevin 

 and Thomas give some results of their intravenous method of inocula- 

 tion X applied under the authority of the French Government, and of 

 other methods which they have tested. Of these other methods (1) that 

 by the digestive passages has not hitherto been found to produce the 

 disease ; (2) that by the respiratory cavities causes a merely abortive 

 malady ; (3) that by injection into the connective tissue (either dermal, 

 subcutaneous, or intramuscular) of infinitesimal quantities of virus 

 results in abortive symptoms ; with a medium dose, a trifling local dis- 

 turbance is set up, but more lasting general effects are also produced 



* Deutsch. Zcitschr. fiir Thiermed., viii. (1881) pp. 143-92 (3 pis.). See Bot. 

 Centralbl., vii. (1881) pp. 338. 



t Comptes Rendus, xcii. (1881) pp. 1246-9. 

 \ See this Journal, i. (1881) p. 95. 



