Studies on the Action of Mercury. . 249 



were at their height on the eleventh day, when they showed marked 

 elevation, reddened base, crater formation, and serous exudation. 

 Curettings from one of the monkeys, at this stage, produced no 

 results when inoculated cutaneously on three rabbits, two of 

 which had proved refractory to similar inoculation with the original 

 alastrim material from human cases. The monkeys had no 

 generalized eruption or other symptoms. 



Thirteen days after the monkeys were first inoculated with 

 alastrim, one of them was reinoculated with one of the two strains 

 (Jamaican) which had given a successful result, and the other, 

 as well as a control monkey, was vaccinated with an active vaccine 

 virus. The control monkey developed a typical primary vaccinia 

 beginning on the fourth day and reaching its fastigium on the 

 ninth day. The monkeys previously inoculated with alastrim 

 showed nothing beyond a transient reaction of immunity, or of 

 trauma, at the sites of inoculation with vaccine virus and of the 

 second application of alastrim material, respectively. 



This immunity to vaccinia is at least as high as that produced 

 by the American strain of smallpox. Three monkeys, some 

 months previous to the above series, were inoculated with vesicle 

 contents from smallpox and developed local lesions similar to 

 those above described. Twenty-four days later they were vacci- 

 nated, together with three controls, and showed a definite vaccinal 

 "take," though more rapid and less severe than the previously 

 uninoculated monkeys, i.e., a vaccinoid or accelerated reaction. 



126 (1708) 

 Studies on the action of mercury. 



By WILLIAM SALANT and NATHANIEL KLEITMAN. 



[From the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University 

 of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia.] 



Observations on the pharmacology of mercury were made, 

 with special reference to its influence on the circulation and respira- 

 tion. Mercury in a concentration of 1:5000, in the form of the 

 benzoate, succinate and acetate, was injected intravenously into 

 dogs and cats under ether or ether-paraldehyde anesthesia. 



