416 
EXTRACT8 FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS. 
c:iii be found in it. In respect to the point of view of the dis¬ 
semination of the lesions, this affection may lie compared to acute 
infections diseases ; indeed one finds the glandular elements of 
the liver, kidneys and spleen; the fibres of the myocardium and 
of the striated muscles in a state of tumefaction, with the icteric 
coloration of most of the tissues in diffused hemorrhages. 
Lupine manifests its deleterious action as well on the horse, 
the goat, and the dog. Its toxic principle is soluble in ether, al¬ 
cohol and glycerine, and it is easily soluble in pure and slightly 
acidulated water, and very much so in alkaline liquids. When 
lupine is exposed for ten consecutive hours to a heat of 120°, or 
is boiled during four hours under an excess of pressure of from 
one to one and a half atmospheres, its toxic power is diminished, 
but not destroyed ; the distilled fluid still contains a portion of it. 
The preservation of the plant in a well-dried medium seems to in¬ 
crease rather than diminish its deleterious properties. According 
to this, it is probable that the toxic agent is an organic acid or a 
glycoside.— Centralbl. f. die Med. Wiss. 
DURATION OF IMMUNITY AFTER CONTAMINATION. 
By Prof. Semmer (Dorpat .) 
After mentioning the recent researches of Messrs. Toussaint, 
Chauveau, Arloing, Cornevin and Thomas in preventive inocu¬ 
lations, the author says, that with the assistance of Prof. Raupath, 
he has also succeeded in rendering sheep refractory to vaccination, 
after having injected them, through the jugular, with some drops 
of vaccinal lymph taken from an animal of the same species, or 
after injecting them under the skin with some of the same lymph 
mixed with blood, exposed to a heat of 55°—or a bouillon con¬ 
taining bacterias in suspension in the vaccinal lymph, cultivated 
at a temperature of 40°. All the animals thus vaccinated had 
the characteristic febrile reaction of variola, but no eruption. 
This then is one step forward in the generalisation of the method 
recommended by Pasteur, to impart, without great risks, immunity 
against many of the prevailing contagious diseases. 
As to the principal question, that of the duration of the 
