ABSTRACTS AND REPORTS.

of the diaphragm a 12 cm. long rupture leading into a cavity filled with blood under the diaphragmatic pleura. The cesophagus contained food in front of the foramen sinistrum of the diaphragm and in the lower part of the neck. It thus appeared that the obstruction in the duodenum had led to great distension of the stomach, and this had caused paralysis of the cardia and vomition. The pressure of the stomach against the diaphragm by the abdominal muscles had ruptured the diaphragmatic pillar, with consequent death from h<emorrhage.

THE LESIONS IN MILK-FEVER OF THE COW.

IN the Recueil de MM. vet., (May 1891) Lucet publishes the following record of the post-mortem examination of a cow that had succumbed to milk-fever on the 3rd day. The post-mortem was made 12 or IS hours after death.

Subcutaneous capillaries and mammary veins filled with dark firm clots. Mammary glands congested, on section there escapes from them an abund­

ant mixture of milk and blood. The right anterior quarter contains at its centre a firm white tumour as large as the fist, which subsequent examination proved to be a carcinoma.

The lungs are a little more of a rosy tint than in the normal condition. The pericardium is normal, and encloses two litres of amber-coloured

serosity without false membranes. The heart, which is slightly decolorised and rather soft, contains large firm

dark clots; these exist also in all the large arterial and venous vessels. The liver, spleen, and kidneys are normal. The intestine, slightly congested, is almost empty of alimentary matters,

and such as it does contain, at least in the posterior part, are hard. The womb is pale and its neck is nearly closed; it contains a large quantity

of yellowish gelatinous matter. The cotyledons offer nothing remarkable. On opening the spinal canal the vessels of the dura mater are seen to. be

distended with dark clots; the cerebro-spinal fluid is abundant; there is evident congestion of the pia mater, the vessels of which, filled with clots, appear to constitute a magnificent natural injection.

On section the spinal cord shows a red colour which becomes more marked after a few seconds.

In the cranial cavity the lesions are still more marked. The cerebral fluid is very abundant and rosy; all the meningeal vessels of the cerebrum and cerebellum are varicose, distended by dark firm clots; the cerebral convolu­tions seem a little deeper coloured than normal; the lateral ventricles contain a little liquid. Finally the cerebral substance on section appears dotted over with red points, which rapidly increase in size and yield each a drop of clear red serosity.

The urine collected in the bladder showed on analysis 21"83 grammes of sugar and 2'70 grammes of albumen.

A CHEMICAL TEST FOR PUTREFACTION.

THE essence of putrid decomposition is the splitting up of the organised substances into simpler combinations under the influence of certain bacteria. This decomposition begins as soon as only a single germ of putrefaction falls on an appropriate nutritive material, but an object is not putrid until the products of putrefaction make themselves evident to our sense organs.

170 ABSTRACTS AND REPORTS.

Deviations from the normal smell and taste, from the original colour and consistence, constitute what is termed putridity, and hence a layman through the combined impressions received readily acquires the subjective conviction of putrefaction when that has set in. It is the task of the professional man to represent its presence and its degree objectively, and this is a matter of great difficulty. Eberl has devised the following method, which is based on the constant presence of free ammonia during the putrid decomposition of albumen and gelatigenous substances.

The reagents are: I part of pure hydrochloric acid, 3 parts alcohol, and I part ::ether. These are mixed and kept in a well-stoppered vessel. For the test there is also required a cylindrical glass vessel, about 2 cm. in diameter and 10 cm. high. This vessel ought to be provided with a ground stopper carrying a glass rod which projects into the vessel to within about 2 cm. from the bottom of the latter. When it is desired to test an object (such as a piece of flesh), enough of the above-mentioned reagent is poured into the cylindrical vessel to form a layer of about I cm. in depth. The vessel is then closed with a common cork and well shaken. The tip of the glass rod carried by the stopper is now moistened by bringing it into contact with the object to be tested, or a particle of the latter may be made to adhere to the under end of the rod. The cork is withdrawn from the vessel containing the reagent, and the glass stopper is inserted in its place. The end of the glass rod will thus be brought close over the reagent. The vapour of the hydrochloric acid combines with the ammonia exhaled by the fluid or particle on the end of the glass rod, and this is rendered evident by the formation of a white cloud. The reaction is more or less marked according to the degree of putrefaction present in the object that is being tested, and after a short time the white cloud may fill the whole glass. Care must be taken that the object to be tested is not colder than the reagent glass, as otherwise the vapour from the reagent is too quickly condensed in the fluid form on the glass, and the delicacy of the test thereby interfered with.

THE CAUSE OF IMMUNITY AFTER ANTHRAX VACCINATION.

IN order to throw light on the nature of immunity in general, Mme. O. Metchnikoff 2 has made experiments and observations regarding the fate of the bacilli contained in the vaccin used to confer protection against anthrax. The results of previous researches on this head have been contradictory. Acording to Roux and Chamberland the bacilli contained in the first vaccin disappear very promptly from the blood when the vaccin is injected into the veins; but, on the other hand, they are retained for a much longer time in the spleen, from which cultures could be obtained after 12, 24, 48, and (in one case) 140 hours after injection. This persistence of the bacilli was attributed to the presence of spores in the culture inoculated, for within four hours after the injection the majority of the bacilli were found to be contained within the cells of the spleen and in a state of commencing degeneration. Hence it appeared that the anthrax bacilli do not multiply within the organism, and the immunity resulting might be due to the introduction of the products of their culture, or to those of their destruction.

Bitter, as the result of his researches, concluded that the bacilli introduced in the vaccin never spread throughout the system, but are destroyed at the

1 Archiv f. wissenschaft. u. prakt. Thierheilk., xvii., p. 222. !l Anna1es de l'Institut Pasteur, March, 1891.