ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
355 
and general reaction, and the animals were very slow to get accustomed 
to the virus, and even when established the immunity was relative and 
not absolute. The acquisition of this immunity is ascribed to phagocy- 
tosis and to the elaboration of diphtheritic antitoxins, which by circu- 
lating in the blood stimulate the cells, and thus accustom the tissues to 
the virus. 
The immunising properties of dog’s serum on guinea-pigs and 
rabbits is discussed. The serum used was quite pure (no antiseptic 
added), and much of it had been kept in vitro for some time. The 
serum was found to have not only a preventive but also a therapeutic 
action when administered to guinea-pigs, and this immunity lasted 
some months. Rabbits also could be rendered immune by inoculations 
of serum, but the doses require to be much greater, both absolutely 
and relatively to the weight of the animal, than those which suffice to 
vaccinate the guinea-pig. And it was found to be easier to vaccinate 
the guinea-pigs than to cure them, while with rabbits the curative 
properties of the serum are not very much less than its immunising 
power. The reason of this discrepancy is explained to be a feebler 
phagocytosis, so that in order to immunise rabbits it is necessary to 
strengthen the phagocytic power of the cells. 
'Penetration of Intestinal Microbes into the Circulation during 
Life.* — Dr. L. Beco finds, from observations made on bodies post mortem, 
that the invasion of the general circulation and of the deep viscera by 
intestinal microbes may take place before death, and that there is no 
close relation between the invasion and the existence of intestinal affec- 
tions ; it is probable that the microbes found in the deep organs 
when the autopsies are made at the usual times, have been carried there 
during life through the circulation. In the same way as the spleen, the 
liver, and the bone marrow, the thyroid appears to be a depot for microbes 
deposited through the circulation. 
The author then cites his experiments on animals. In the first place 
it should be mentioned that cultures made from healthy animals (three) 
remained sterile ; and that on the administration of Fowler’s solution, 
cantharidine, or emetique, there is a determination of microbes from the 
intestine into the viscera. 
As the Bacillus coli communis is the predominating organism found 
in the viscera, under many circumstances post mortem, the author arrives 
at the conclusion that it is impossible, merely on the presence of this 
microbe in the viscera and the blood, to say that it has a causal con- 
nection with the malady. 
Septic Vibrio.f — Dr. A. Besson points out that the spores of the 
vibrion septique (bacillus of malignant oedema) are extremely resistant 
to physical and chemical agents, and that the toxin obtained from cul- 
tures in alkaline peptonised beef bouillon is extremely active ; while 
that obtained from filtering the oedema-serum is not so strong. The 
toxin possesses negative chimiotactic properties, though if it be heated 
to 85° for three hours it becomes positive, tubes inserted under the skin 
becoming filled with leucocytes. 
When the spores of this vibrio are injected under the skin of healthy 
* Ann. Inst. Pasteur, ix. (1895) pp. 199-209. f Tom. cit., pp. 179-98. 
