210 Literarische Besprechungen. 
Eine Behandlung der Impetigo contagiosa ist demnach nicht 
nothwendig. Nichtsdestoweniger wird man zweckmässig thun, Fett, 
Unguent. simplex., Ceratum simpl. u. s. w. allenfalls in Abwechs- 
lung mit Waschungen mittelst Seife oder Seifengeist zu appliziren, 
weil man dadurch sowohl dem Kranken gegen das von den Borken 
veranlasste Gefühl der Spannung und gegen das Brennen an den 
wunden Stellen Erleichterung verschaffen, als auch durch Beförde- 
rung der Abstossung der Borken und durch mechanische und 
chemische Zerstörung der Pilze den ganzen Krankheitsverlauf be- 
schleunigen kann. 
The Agricultural Gazette. Saturday, January 8, 1870. 
One of the most interesting parts of the Reports on the Dis- 
eases of Cattle in the United States, and more especially on the 
Lung Plague and Periodic Fever, is that which contains the ac- 
count of the investigations which were made with a view to ascer- 
tain if possible whether there is any reason to believe that para- 
sitic growths in the blood or elsewhere have anything to do with 
the malady. Our friend, Mr. H. W. Ravenel, who has published 
several volumes of dried specimens illustrative of the Fungi of 
Carolina, undertook to examine those of Texas, while Dr. Bil- 
lings and Brevet-Major Curtis applied themselves more imme- 
diately to the examination of the fluids of diseased cattle with 
reference to the presence of cryptogamic growths. After all that 
has been said as to the fungous origin of cholera, aud the confi- 
dent assertion by Dr. Hallier that each form of fever has its 
own specific cryptogam, this became a necessary, and, in its gene- 
ral bearing, a very important object of inquiry. The examinations, 
which were carefully conducted, do not give the very. slightest 
reason for supposing that there is any truth in the supposition. 
It may be perfectly true that minute bodies known under the 
name of Micrococci and Bacteria may be present even in the 
fluids of apparently healthy individuals, but our authors say ex- 
pressly —“ In a general way it may be stated that all abnormal 
appearances observed in the fluids examined were such as might 
be attributed to putrefaction. Although much remains to be lear- 
ned as to the causes and nature of this process, the tendency of 
modern science is to class it as a species of fermentation, which 
may be defined as a particular mode of decomposition of organi- 
