202 Cc. J. MARTIN. 
into healthy animals produced no effect. Last year Dr. Ewing’ 
repeated some of Nuttall and Buchner’s observations on the 
germicidal power of serum, and instituted a series of comparative 
experiments with the serum of animals poisoned with Crotalus 
venom. Ewing found that the normal germicidal power of serum : 
was entirely lost after poisoning with Crotalus venom. : 
To ascertain whether the same loss of germicidal power was” 
occasioned by Pseudechis venom, the following experiments were 
made :—A healthy dog, weight 10 Kilos., was injected under the 
skin of the back with -0065 gramme of venom, dissolved in 2 ee 
of weak salt solution, at 11°30 a.m. At 3 p.m. he was etherised 
and Nese taken from the femoral artery. In the mean time he 
had’ vomited considerably, and at 2-45 p.m. he was very sleepy 
and weak, although he could still walk. The blood was draw 
into a sterilised jar under conditions of the strictest asepticism. — 
At the same time the blood of another dog was drawn under 
exactly similar conditions, except that this animal had not received . 
a venom injection. Both samples of blood were placed in an 10 
contamination with any micro-organisms. 5 cc. of each kind 
serum were then placed in two sterilised test-tubes. 
The test organism employed to determine the relative germici 
powers of the two serums was a twenty-four hours’ growth ¢ 
broth culture of Bacillus anthracis. This was a pure culture 
the organism and contained no spores. Each test-tube — 
inoculated with a platinum wire loopful of the culture and 
shaken up. The serum tubes containing the organisms were 
at the laboratory temperature 24-— 25°C. The effect pro 
1 «* Med. Record,’ May 26, 1894. 
