260 ABSTRACTS AND REPORT.

infection is restricted to a single focus." In the chapter dealing with the control of the disease it is said: "The one point to keep in mind is that tubercle bacteria must not be allowed to escape from any infected individual. This can be prevented by removing from the herd every animal as soon as it gives any evidence whatever of being affected. It is important that they are removed before the lesions become open and the bacteria escape." It would be more in accordance with reason and experience to say that one cannot expect to be able to prevent the escape of bacilli from any infected indi­vidual, and that it is quite an illusory procedure to wait for evidence that the lesions have become" open."

At the end of the work there are thirty full-page illustrations, which give a fair idea of the commoner lesions in bovine tuberculosis.

Spezielle Pathologie und Therapie der Haustiere. Von Dr Franz Hutyra und Dr Josef Marek. Vierte umgearbeitete und vermehrte Auflage. Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1913.

AN eloquent testimony to the value of this work is the fact that although it only appeared in 1905 a fourth edition has already been found necessary. Nothing need be said regarding the general merits of the work, which by universal consent is accorded the first place among modern text-books dealing with the same subject. The present edition nearly everywhere gives evidence of most careful revision, and the results of all important recent investigations appear to have been incorporated. The chapters dealing with protozoan diseases have been considerably expanded, and a large number of illustrations have been added. One cannot speak too highly of the learning and industry of the authors, or of the enterprise displayed by the publishers in producing such a work.

ARTIFICIAL CULTIVATION OF THE PARASITE OF RABIES.

THIS paper contains a brief account of the morphological characters of bodies present in what the author claims to be cultures of the virus of rabies. It is stated that about fifty series of cultivations have been made with the brain or medulla removed from rabbits, guinea-pigs, and dogs infected with "street," "passage," or "fixed" virus.

The method employed is similar to that used by the author for the cultiva­tion of the spiroch<ete of relapsing fever.

In cultures made from either of the viruses very minute granular and somewhat coarser pleomorphic chroma.toid bodies make their appearance, which on transplantation appear in the new cultures through many genera-

ABSTRACTS AND REPORT.

tions. The smallest of these bodies are just on the borders of visibili~y under a 2 millimetre lens. On four occasions the author has seen, In

cultures from "passage" and "fixed" virus, rounded or oval nucleated bodies provided with an enclosing membrane totally different from the more minute granular bodies, although appearing in cultures containing the latter. The appearance of these nucleated bodies in the cultures was sudden, and they persisted for four or five days, their disappearance coinciding with an increase in the number of granular bodies.

In one of the four cases the larger bodies appeared in a culture made from the brain of a rabbit which had been inoculated with a culture of the " passage" virus that had given rise to symptoms of rabies. In two instances the bodies appeared in cultures of the "fixed" virus in which Negri bodies were difficult to demonstrate.

The general morphological characters of the larger bodies are shown in a plate comprising thirteen figures. They are round or oval in shape, with a central deep-staining oval or rounded body. The bodies vary in size from I to 12 microns. As shown in the illustrations many appear to be under­going a process of multiplication, either by division or by budding. In this way groups of six or seven may be formed. Where the members of a group are in contact with each other the surface of contact is flattened. With dark field illumination the bodies show definite characters. The central portion is nuclear, and the membrane is distinct and highly refractile. By inoculating with cultures containing the granular or the nucleated bodies rahies has been produced in dogs, rabbits, and guinea-pigs, as shown by the typical symptoms and positive animal inoculations. Film preparations from the brains of the animals always contained the granular bodies, and in some instances the nucleated bodies in large numbers. (Noguchi, Journ. Exp. Ned., Vol. XVIII., NO.3, September 1913, pp. 314-316.)

IMMUNISATION OF CATTLE AGAINST EAST COAST FEVER.

IN the First Report of the Director of Veterinary Research records were given of a number of experiments carried out with the object of conferring active immunity against East Coast fever. In these experiments the immun­ising material was pulp prepared either from the spleen or from a lymphatic gland of an animal killed while in the last stages of the disease. In the preliminary experiments carried out at the laboratory 170 animals were ~noculated, and of these eighty-four survived experimental and natural infection. The method was introduced into practice on a small scale and subsequently considerably extended.

Up to September 1912 133,833 cattle had been inoculated in the Transkei, as it was impossible to resort to dipping.

While these inoculations were being carried out in the field further investigations were made with a view to conferring a higher degree of immunity. With this object tests were made with spleen and gland pulp which had been soaked in solutions of quinine in varying strengths.

In the present report an account is given of a large number of the inocula­tions carried out in the field and in the laboratory. The pulp used varied in texture, and the terms" fine," "half medium," "medium," "half coarse," and" coarse" are used to designate the different textures used.