1 Maz., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 207 
the following year another observer found that mice and guinea-pigs inoculated 
with garden earth invariably contracted tetanus, and, moreover, in the pus 
which he found at the seat of inoculation he always found a characteristic 
bacillus ; but it was not until 1889 that the celebrated Japanese bacteriologist, 
Kitasato, obtained pure cultures of this bacillus and worked out its life history, 
and further proved that it belonged to the anaerobic group of organisms-—yvizZ., 
those that live and reproduce their species without free access to oxygen. A 
very remarkable feature about the tetanus organism is that spore formation 
takes place at the end of the bacillus, which when complete has the appear- 
ance of a drumstick. 
Kitasato, in the course of his experiments on the poisonous properties of 
the tetanus bacillus, succeeded in making animals immune to tetanus, and 
subsequently made the discovery that the blood of immune animals will pro- 
duce immunity when injected into other animals; which resulted in a number 
of eminent investigators taking up this important subject, and thanks to the 
eombined researches of Tizzoni, Cattani, Breiger, Faber, Vallaird, Vincent, 
Kitasato, Roux, and Nocard, we have at the present day an antitoxic serum 
whose therapeutic value and as a preventive of tetanus has been firmly estab- ~ 
lished. It is, however, only fair to point out that there have been a number 
of reported failures when the antitoxiec serum has been used as a means of 
curing tetanus ; but it is equally fair to state that almost without exception 
the treatment was unavoidably commenced when the tetanic symptoms had 
become extremely well pronounced, at which stage, according to our present 
_ knowledge, there is very little hope of saving life. ‘To veterinary practitioners 
it is a well-known fact that the owner of a horse which is suffering from 
tetanus rarely ever seeks professional advice until he thinks there is no possible 
chance whatever of the animal recovering. 
Tn a recent communication to the Paris Academy of Medicine, M. Nocard 
says that from from experimental as well as from the clinical point of view the 
antitoxie serum employed as a preventive of tetanus in the horse has had 
wonderful success, but when applied to the treatment of declared tetanus was 
(for reasons previously given) almost always a failure. However, in the 
presence of reliable information collected by practitioners who have treated 
tetanus with antitoxine, M. Nocard considers this mode of treatment still the 
best; for if it does not increase the number of cures, it gives on the contrary 
remarkable results from a preventive point of view. In 2,707 animals which 
had recently received two injections each of the antitoxiec serum, nota single 
case of tetanus was observed in districts where the malady had made many 
victims some days or weeks previously. On the other hand, during the time 
this experiment lasted M. Nocard and his colleagues observed 259 cases of 
tetanus in animals not treated preventively. M. Nocard accordingly recom- 
mends the serum treatment of tetanus in regions where this malady is observed, 
and particularly after surgical operations which most predispose to it. He 
terminates his last communication by repeating, with M. Warnesson, of 
Versailles, that, “employed preventively, the efficacy of anti-tetanic serum is. 
absolute.” It is worthy of note that this last statement of so distinguished a 
scientist as M. Nocard could never have been made but for the microscopical 
discoveries of previous observers. 
I may say that at the present time this method of preventive treatment for 
tetanus is largely used by veterinary surgeons in England, on the Continent of 
Europe, and in America, and I see no reason why its use should not be extended 
to these colonies. 
ACTINOMYCOSIS. 
Actinomycosis is a disease the accurate diagnosis of which calls for the 
aid of the microscope. Until the year 1876 the true nature of this disease had, 
with few exceptions, been overlooked. Cases in cattle were known under a 
variety of names, such as wens, scirrhous, scrofulous and tuberculous tumours, 
osteosarcoma, wooden tongue, polyphus or lymphoma and clyers of the throat, 
bone cancer, spina ventosa, chronic abscess, caries of the bone, etc. Although 
