652 
W. H. DALRYMPLE. 
upon our authorities and people. First of all, preventive inoc¬ 
ulation in the hands of competent individuals; the careful and 
proper disposal of all anthrax carcasses, so as to limit and de¬ 
prive of the source of future spread of infection, and thorough 
disinfection. 
The question of the destruction or extermination of the 
horse-fly in the swampy or moist sections of our State is a mon¬ 
strous one and should be taken up and thoroughly investigated 
by the entomologist, either State or national. But, so far as I 
am able to see, there are only two methods by which the prob¬ 
lem might be solved. One is to thoroughly drain and reclaim 
such localities, which I expect will be accomplished some day; 
and the other, although rather more unlikely, is to turn on one 
of our now famous u oil-gushers,” and destroy the flies in their 
watery haunts with mineral oil, as Porchinski succeeded in 
doing in the forest pools in Russia. 
The Comparative Virulence of the Tubercle Bacil¬ 
lus from Human and Bovine Sources. —Dr. Mazyck P. 
Ravenel ( University of Pennsylvania Medical Bulletin , Septem ¬ 
ber) sums up an exhaustive article on his experimental investi¬ 
gations into this subject as follows: In view of the foregoing 
experiments and of the evidence quoted, it seems justifiable to 
conclude : i. That the tubercle bacillus from bovine sources 
has, in culture, fairly constant and persistent peculiarities of 
growth and morphology, by which it may tentatively be differ¬ 
entiated from that ordinarily found in man. 2. That cultures 
from the two sources differ markedly in pathogenic power, 
affording further means of differentiation, the bovine bacillus 
being very much more active than the human for all species of 
experimental animals tested, with the possible exception of 
swine, which are highly susceptible to both. 3. That tubercu¬ 
lous material from cattle and from man corresponds closely in 
comparative pathogenic power to pure cultures of the tubercle 
bacillus from the two sources for all animals tested. 4.. That 
it is a fair assumption from the evidence at hand, and in the 
absence of evidence to the contrary, that the bovine tubercle 
bacillus has a high degree of pathogenic power for man also, 
which is especially manifest in the early years of life. 
