HOWARD, SEPTEMBER 10, 1896. 43 
and cause putrefaction of the tissues, and for this reason no odor was 
present. He includes in his paper a differential diagnosis between 
foul brood and pickled brood. 
In foul brood, he says that the brood is attacked at all ages, from 
two to three days after hatching until after it 1s capped, and that as 
much brood dies before the feeding of pollen as afterwards; that the 
brood is attacked by the putrefactive germs from the air, causing 
rapid decomposition, resulting in a ropy brownish mass that gives off 
a very foul odor; that the cappings of the sealed cells are usually 
ruptured by the gases generated within the cell, and that the larve 
are found in a shapeless mass lying on the lower side-wall of the cell 
and closely adhering to it. Furthermore, he says that when gelatin 
and potato are inoculated with a culture of Bacillus alvei, growth at 
once takes place, forming a viscid ropy liquid which gives off an 
offensive odor resembling foul brood, and when such cultures are 
exposed to putrefactive germs a growth of such bacteria takes place. 
In pickled brood, on the other hand, he says that the brood is 
attacked only after the pollen is mixed with the liquid food, and it 
dies usually just before reaching the pupal stage, but that it may 
pass into this stage and be sealed before being overcome by death. 
No brood, he argues, dies before the age of feeding mixed food arrives. 
Being in this acid or pickled condition, the brood is not attacked by 
putrefactive germs, and, therefore, no decomposition takes place. 
There is a watery condition of the brood. The larve may be of a light 
brown color, but generally are white, and no odor is present. The 
capping is not ruptured in the brood that is sealed. The brood has a 
swollen appearance, does not stick to the cell wall, and often does not 
lose its shape. Furthermore, he argues that if brood is placed in a 
medium of sweetened water in which starch or wheat bran is mixed, 
and placed in a moist chamber within a dark room, growth of the 
fungus takes place and covers the surface of the medium. The 
medium becomes acid, and when such a culture is exposed to the air 
putrefactive germs do not attack it. 
In this paper the following points are observed: | 
1. Howard used the term ‘‘pickled brood” for a disorder which 
was clearly different from ‘‘foul brood.” 
2. He gave a brief but fairly satisfactory description of the gross 
symptoms of the condition. 
3. He claims that the disease is a specific infectious one. 
4, He declares that the cause of the disease is a fungus which he 
isolated from larve dead of the disease and to which he gave the 
name ‘‘ Aspergillus pollini.”’ 
_ §. The experimental data by which he was supposed to have 
proven that Aspergillus pollina is the cause of the pickled brood, 
