EXTRACTS FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS. 
417 
immunity thus gained, it may vary according to the disease. For 
contagious septicemia of rabbits, it lasts scarcely three months ; 
and for anthrax it seems, according to Semmer’s observations, 
very limited .—Central f. die. Medic. Wiss. 
CONTAGIOUS PYAEMIA OF BABBITS. 
By Prof. Semmer. 
The author inoculated rabbits with anthrax blood, heated first 
at 55°. This was on the 29th of April. On the 2d of May one 
died, the autopsy showing that death was caused by pyaemia, and 
not by anthrax, or septicemia. At the point of inoculation, an 
abscess had formed containing very dense pus. The deep seated 
organs were ecchymosed and had infarcti. The blood, of a nor¬ 
mal color, was rich in leucocytes, the hematics being ragged, and 
surrounded by the micrococci, which were also found in the 
serosity of the blood and of the pus. 
Another rabbit, inoculated with the blood of the first, died in 
six days. At the point of inoculation an abscess was formed, full 
of concrete pus, in the center of which were seen numerous mi 
crococci; but no imbibition of tissues, nor serous transudations; 
no putrefaction and none of the lesions of septicemia. With 
the pus and blood of the second rabbit, a third was inoculated, 
and also in the same manner a series of nine animals. All, at 
the post-mortem, exhibited the same microscopic alterations. 
Comparative inoculations, made with ordinary pus, always gave 
negative results. 
The above, Prof. Semmer concludes, establishes the existence 
of a contagious pysemia, essentially different from septicemia, as 
it does not give rise to a rapid putrefaction of the cadaver; to the 
dissolution in mass of the red corpuscles ; to cedematous imbibi¬ 
tion of the tissues, or to the serous transudations. The disease 
has for its germs small moving micrococci, which are especially 
abundant in the pus, blood, liver and kidneys. The contagious 
power and malignant character of the disease are not inferior to 
those of septicemia and anthrax— Ce7itral f. die Medi. Wiss. 
