September 26, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



453 



of all doses of one cubic centimeter or more of 

 this organism. The bacillus grew profusely from 

 the heart's blood of every case examined, from 

 fire and three fourths hours to four days after 

 inoculation. After the fourth day no growth could 

 be obtained from either heart or lungs. The pul- 

 monary lesions produced by intra-bronchial insuf- 

 flation of B. prodigiosus in dogs differed very 

 markedly from the experimental pneumonias which 

 have hitherto been produced by other bacteria ad- 

 ministered in this way. Thus large doses (5 to 

 15 c.c.) caused pulmonary lesions which were 

 chiefly hemorrhagic and necrotic in character, with 

 a large production of fibrin. Bacteremia and 

 death were the rule. The lung lesions were more 

 severe and the death rate higher than was the 

 case with other bacteria administered intra-bron- 

 chially. Very small doses (0.5 c.c.) caused a 

 fibrinous inflammation, lobular at flrst, later coal- 

 esced and lobar in distribution, without evidence 

 of necrosis. No bacteremia followed these small 

 doses and recovery was possible. 



Frequency of Vincent's Angina among Boutine 

 Throat Cultures: John L. Eice, Syracuse Med- 

 ical School. 



From the examination of 1,352 routine throat 

 swabs 10, or seven tenths of one per cent., were 

 found to be both bacteriologically and clinically 

 Vincent's angina, both the fusiform bacillus and 

 the spirochete being found. 'Four of the ten cases 

 were clinical cases of diphtheria, showing that 40 

 per cent, of the Vincent 's angina cases were also 

 positive for diphtheria. In twelve other cases of 

 the 1,352 the bacilli or the spirochetes were found 

 alone. None of these twelve cases were clinically 

 Vincent's angina. Morphologically the bacilli in 

 the clinical and non-elinical cases were alike. In a 

 microscopical examination of a smear from the 

 swabs a diagnosis can be made by finding fusi- 

 form bacilli and spirochetes in symbiosis, even 

 though the number of spirochetes present may be 

 small. 



Studies on the Etiology of Hog Cholera: Walter 

 E. King and F. W. Baeslack, Research Labo- 

 ratory, Parke, Davis & Co., Detroit, Mich. 

 This report is presented for the purpose of re- 

 cording certain observations, which have been 

 made by the aid of the dark field on the blood of 

 hogs suffering from hog cholera. During the last 

 few months a spirochete has been found with uni- 

 formity and constancy in the blood of every chol- 

 era hog examined. Practically all of these positive 

 findings have been controlled by one or more care- 

 ful dark field examinations of the blood before 



inoculation. Additional checks are furnished in 

 several cases by negative findings subsequent to 

 positive results in blood of hogs recovered from 

 the disease. In so far as the present results go, 

 the practised observer can readily distinguish cer- 

 tain characters in the blood of animals suffering 

 from hog cholera when placed on the dark field, as 

 differentiated from normal hog blood. Hog chol- 

 era blood usually contains many granules, some 

 very fine yet distinctly larger than blood dust, 

 some larger still, and some very distinct, highly 

 refractive bodies. It is possible that some or all 

 of these granules represent disintegrated blood 

 elements resulting from the disease. It is sug- 

 gested, however, that some of these granules may 

 represent certain stages in the life cycle of the 

 spirochete under observation. To date, positive 

 findings of this spirochete are recorded in 10 

 strains of virus from the blood of 33 hogs suffer- 

 ing from the disease. Controls are furnished by 

 negative findings in the blood of about 50 normal 

 hogs and in the blood of six animals which became 

 convalescent and finally recovered. Two experi- 

 ments have been made relative to the horse serum 

 virus phenomenon, which showed the presence of 

 the spirochete in the horse serum virus. 



IMMUNITY BACTERIOLOGY 



The Selation of the Leucocytic Bacteriolysin to 

 Body Fluids: W. H. Manwarinq, Rockefeller 

 Institute for Medical Research. 

 A bactericidal substance can be extracted from 

 horse leucocytes. This substance is strongly bac- 

 teriolytic when dissolved in distilled water and 

 possesses considerable bactericidal power when dis- 

 solved in physiological saline. The substance, 

 however, is without bactericidal properties when 

 mixed with sera, with pathological transudates, 

 with cerebro-spinal fluid, or with the products of 

 tissue autolysis, including the products obtained 

 by a prolonged autolysis of leucocytes themselves. 

 The antibactericidal action of body fluids and tis- 

 sue products depends upon three factors: (1) the 

 antibactericidal power of the colloids they con- 

 tain, (2) the antibactericidal power of their neu- 

 tral salts and other neutral diffusible components 

 and (3) the antibactericidal power of their dif- 

 fusible alkalies. Diffusible acids are apparently 

 without antibactericidal effect. An extract from 

 horse leucocytes can have little or no antiseptic 

 action, when injected into body cavities and tissue 



On Intraperitoneal Lysis of Tulercle Bacilli: W. 

 H. Manwaring and J. Bronpenbrenneb, Rock- 

 efeller Institute for Medical Research. 



