1006 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 443. 



vious contribution upon the subject men- 

 tioned. The matter is dismissed with the 

 statement, 'As at present the subject is still 

 under investigation in this and other coun- 

 tries, it would not be justifiable to dogmatize, 

 but in the meantime we see no sufficient rea- 

 son to depart from the view entertained up 

 to this time, that the tubercle bacilli infect- 

 ing mammals are of one and the same species, 

 though difierences in virulences obtained, and 

 that milk containing tubercle bacilli is a 

 highly important source of infection to the 

 human subject.' 



The other ' acid-fast ' bacilli are mentioned 

 briefly without speculation as to the probable 

 ancestral importance of the grass bacilli of 

 Moeller, to the smegma bacillus, lepra bacillus, 

 tubercle bacillus and others. The chief use 

 of tuberculin is said to be the diagnosis of 

 tuberculosis in cattle. Concerning the new 

 tuberculin, it is said * Little success has at- 

 tended the use of this substance as a remedial 

 agent.' It is said that attempts to grow the 

 leprosy bacilli outside of the body have so far 

 been unsuccessful. Evidently the editor does 

 not accept the recent contributions to the 

 subject. The bacillus of rhinoscleroma is 

 said not to stain by Gram's method. 



The chapter upon ' Typhoid Fever ' is excel- 

 lent and the treatment of the colon bacillus 

 unusually good. The author points out that 

 the mere presence of the colon bacillus in 

 water is not necessarily indicative of sewage 

 pollution, as this organism is so widely dis- 

 tributed in nature. He also shows that the 

 presence of the Streptococcus and Bacillus 

 enteriditis sporogenes are important adjuncts 

 in the detection of sewage. The microorgan- 

 ismal differences between fresh and stale sew- 

 age are also dwelt upon. Considerable atten- 

 tion is devoted to bacillary dysentery, the 

 recent work of Flexner being given siofficient 

 prominence. In the chapter upon ' Diph- 

 theria ' Dr. Harris seems doubtful whether 

 the bacillus of Hoffman is an attenuated form 

 of the diphtheria bacillus or a separate spe- 

 cies, though he says : ' The possibility of 

 the transformation of the pseudo-diphtheria 

 (Hoffmann's) into the true diphtheria bacil- 

 lus has been the subject of much controversy. 



but it can not be regarded as sufficiently es- 

 tablished that such a transformation may be 

 effected, still less that the former organism 

 is related to the origin and spread of diph- 

 theria.' We heartily endorse Dr. Harris's 

 view that it might be well, when practicable, 

 that every ragged unhealthy-looking wound, 

 especially when contaminated with soil, 

 should, as a matter of routine, be examined 

 bacteriologically. Under such treatment from 

 time to time cases of tetanus would be de- 

 tected earlier and their treatment could be 

 undertaken with more hope of success than 

 at the present time. We have, however, not 

 infrequently made very careful bacteriological 

 studies of wounds, shortly afterwards followed 

 by tetanus, in which for unknown reasons we 

 failed to find any bacilli, and we regret that 

 Dr. Harris does not recommend that simul- 

 taneously with this bacteriological examina- 

 tion a prophylactic injection of the antitoxic 

 serum be given. We are fully convinced that 

 by routine use of the antitetanic serum for 

 purposes of prophylaxis many useful lives 

 might be saved. We regret that in the chapter 

 on yellow fever the name of Dr. Carlos Finlay 

 does not appear. It was Dr. Finlay who 

 originated the mosquito theory. The United 

 States Army Commission of 1900 and 1901 

 simply proved it to be correct. 



The chapter upon ' Immunity ' is excellent, 

 though we do not regard the space devoted 

 to the ' lateral chain theory ' of Ehrlich as 

 sufficient, considering its importance and wide 

 usefulness, and we also regret that no dia- 

 grammatic representation of Ehrlich's views 

 is given. The usefulness of the book is aug- 

 mented by excellent though brief chapters 

 upon such other microparasites as molds, 

 yeasts, the malarial organisms and the ameba 

 coli. At the end of the volume eighteen pages 

 of bibliography-^ are appended in which a great 

 deal of very useful material is stored away 

 in such form that we doubt whether it will 

 ever be utilized by students. There seems to 

 be no systematic mode of reference to the 

 literature given, and our impression is that 

 references in the text to footnotes at the bot- 

 tom of the page or to literature given at the 

 end of each chapter is a far more useful 



