668 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Phagocytosis and Immunity.* * * § — The results and experiments by 
Dr. Liakhovetsky are interesting in that they oppose Metschnikoff’s 
phagocytic theory of immunity. They lead to almost the same con- 
clusions as those of Leber, by which was shown that, in cases of 
recovery, the leucocytes are not the cause of the destruction of the cocci. 
Although the author recognises the existence of phagocytosis in animals 
susceptible to anthrax, and grants that it plays a great part in the 
recovery of the infected individual from the inoculation with the virus, 
yet he must assert that immunity is in no wise solely brought about by 
phagocytosis. This is, on the contrary, independent of the suscepti- 
bility or insusceptibility of the organism to anthrax, and does not run 
parallel with the degree of immunity. 
Specific Immunity Reaction of Cholera Vibrios in the Animal 
Body and in vitro. f — Some further researches as to the specific immu- 
nity reaction of cholera vibrios have been made by Prof. R. Pfeiffer and 
Dr. W. Kolle. As has been shown already by several observers, cholera 
serum obtained from immunised animals possesses, besides the specific 
bactericidal properties which are brought into evidence in the animal 
body, a certain effect on cholera vibrios in vitro. From the present 
experiments the authors have determined that the specific bactericidal 
protective substances which in animals cause the phenomenon of bac- 
terial dissolution must be different from those bodies present in cholera- 
immune serum, and possessing an inhibitory action which leads in vitro 
to the “ balling” or “clumping” of the vibrios. Either of these bodies 
can be separated from the other, and it must therefore be admitted that 
at least two kinds of specific bodies take a share in cholera immunisation. 
The inference from these facts is difficult ; but the authors are inclined 
to consider that there are two modifications of the cholera anti-bodies, 
a passive and an active one, for which they suggest the term Paralysina. 
Vibrio Infection of Young Animals per os.J — Dr. J. Karlinski 
records his experience of attempts to infect young animals with vibrios 
per os. The experiments, lasting over a period of six years, lead him 
to believe that not only young rabbits and cats, but puppies, are liable 
to infection by this route. But it is only with certain “ races ” of the 
cholera vibrio that positive results are to be obtained. Moreover, there 
are races which at one time are virulent, and at another not. 
Disinfecting Power of Kresol and Metakresol.§ — Herr H. Schiitz 
made experiments as to the disinfecting powers of kreolin, lysol, solveol, 
phenol, kresol, and metakresol, using as tests Streptococci , Staphylococci , 
typhus and cholera bacilli, and Anthrax spores. To 5 ccm. of 24 hours’ 
old bouillon cultures of these micro-organisms a similar bulk of a 2 per 
cent, solution of the disinfectant was added, and after O’ 5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 
and 20 minutes some of the mixture was inoculated on bouillon. Obser- 
vations as to growth showed that kresol and metakresol killed the 
bacteria in 0*5 minute. Next came lysol and kreolin, while carbolic 
* See Brit. Med. Journ., 1896, No. 1866, p. 56. 
f Centralbl. f, Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., l te Abt., xx. (1896) pp. 129-47. 
j Tom. cit., pp. 150-60. 
§ Inaug.-Diss. Halle a. S., 1896. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol u. Parasitenk., 
l u Abt., xx. (1896) pp. 122-3. 
