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EXPERIMENTS WITH THE PNEUMOCOCCUS.
208 the second temporal gyrus, the island of Reil, and the convolutions behind, as well as part of the ascending convolutions and of the central substance. The auditory nerves were atrophied, and the strise acousticae are said to have been invisible to the naked eye. From this case Dr. Mills thinks he is justified in contending that the centre for word hearing is situated in the hinder thirds of the first and second temporal convolutions, and is possibly restricted to the second, and that although the auditory cerebral arrangements have their chief development in the left temporal lobe, destruction of the opposite centre is necessary in order to abolish hearing entirely. Several minor conclusions are also drawn, but the above are the most obvious.
completely
NEW WATER-SUPPLY FOR DANBURY.
AN excellent
water-supply has been provided for Danbury
Essex, and the arrangements have been ingeniously and skilfully carried out. Spring-water, certified as pure by Dr. Thresh, is first collected in a reservoir, and it is then in
passed down
a hydraulic ram, by means of which it is through a rising main of about one mile in length. Thus, by gravitation, the inhabitants are sup. plied with some twenty- five gallons a head per day of wholesome water at a cost which will be entirely covered by It is stated that a small and reasonable water-charge. there is not another ram in England working with a 27 feet head and throwing water to such a height as has been effected with success at Danbury. The scheme is, from this point of view, worthy of the attention of the sanitary
to
lifted 180 feet
authorities of rural and small urban districts. EXPERIMENTS WITH THE PNEUMOCOCCUS. when pneumonia is exceptionally it may be well to recall the investigations con. ducted last year by Drs. G. and F. Klemperer, and published in the Berliner Klin. Woclwnschrijtl in August last. They then detailed experiments, the practical outcome of which may possibly be of real therapeutic importance. It is known that in most cases pneumonia, after having during from five to seven days caused grave general symptoms, terminates abruptly by crisis. At this period there has been little or no change in the state of the lungs, which still remain infiltrated with fibrinous exudation, or in the properties of the pneumococci, which are found in great numbers in the sputa and retain all their vuulenee. On what, then, does the pneumonic crisis depend ? Only one explanation seems possible: the crisis is due to the products of the organisms, which, by their accumulation, modify the soil on which the microbes develop. In their experiments made on rabbits, the investigators observed that any nutritive substance which had served as a culture medium for the pneumococci, even if it had been separated from the microbes by filtration, conferred on the animal immunity against the pneumonic infection. They next proved experimentally that the blood serum of a rabbit "vaccinated’’against the pneumococcus may cure an animal infected with pneumonia. An intravenous injection of eight cubic centimetres of serum of an animal rendered refractory, practised twenty-four hours after the infection, produces a gradual fall in the febrile temperature, and hastens the recovery of the animal. In another series of researches, devoted to the study of the cause of the remedial action of the serum of inoculated animals, the same observers found that the pneumococcus, when introduced into the body of an animal, gives rise to the production of a "pneumotoxine," which may be isolated. This pneumotoxine produces a febrile reaction of several days’ duration, after which they have noted in the fluids of the animal another substance, AT the
present time,
"anti-pneumotoxine," which has the power of neutralis. ing pneumotoxine. The blood serum of an animal on which immunity has been conferred contains anti-pneumotoxine,
and it is this which seems to forward the recovery from the pneumonic infection. In the blood serum of patients affected with croupous pneumonia, they have also found pneumo. toxine and anti.pneumotoxine, the former chiefly during the febrile period of the disease, the latter after the crisis. They also claim to have treated successfully rabbits suffer. ing from pneumonia by injecting into these animals blood serum taken from a pneumonic patient after the crisis. Being assured by experiments made on themselves that man may support with impunity and without any local and general reaction injections of the serum of animals rendered refrac. tory to Fraenkel’s pneumococcus, the investigators treated six patients affected with pneumonia. Although the number treated was small, the result has been very encouraging. In fact, in all these patients a hypodermic injection of from four to six cubic centimetres of serum was followed at the end of from six to twelve hours by a con. siderable fall in the temperature, with slowing of the pulse and respiration. These observations are especially noteworthy as confirming those made by Emmerich and Fowitzky, who claim that they have conferred immunity on the rabbit by means of hypodermic injections of attenuated cultures of the pneumococcus; but this immunity, they say, is incomplete. On rabbits infected by pneumococci, on the other hand, full immunity is obtained by intravenous in. jections of a culture having its entire virulence, but largely diluted. The liquid obtained by crushing the organs of an animal thus rendered refractory exercises on the pneumonic infection a sure remedial action when it is injected under the skin or into the abdominal cavity, and especially when it is thrown into the veins of the infected animal.
prevalent,
1 Abstract in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Nov.
12th, 1891.
THE
MILITARY HOSPITALS IN UPPER EGYPT. recent tour of
inspection in Upper Egypt, Major-General Walker, commanding the army of occupation, directed a letter to be written to the officer commanding the frontier field force in which General Walker, among other subjects connected with his inspec. tion, referred to the condition of the hospitals with which, he said, he was particularly pleased. AT
the conclusion of his
THE PASTEUR INSTITUTE AT MILAN.
WE have before us the committee’s report of the working of this institution-" Istituto Antirabico Milanese," as it is officially called-for the two years that have elapsed since its and a most interesting document it is. the Institute is in a flourishing condition, Financially, thanks mainly to the liberality of local business houses, seconded by careful management. Therapeutically it has more than justified its establishment. Dr. Remo Segre, its director, having passed in review the various methods of combating the canine virus in the human subject, decides most emphatically in favour of that of Pasteur. His statistics, checked in every possible way, certainly bear out his decision-the one modification he ventures to make on the method of his master being as to the dose of the matter inoculated. This he would certainly increase, even in the case of children. Dr. Segre uses a syringe of two grammes and a half, and employs an entire centimetre of marrow for each patient. He obtains an emulsion much denser, and therefore richer in the "It is notorious," he adds, "that remedial principle. children form the larger contingent of our patients and have a greater receptivity for the canine virus than adults. A more energetic action of the remedy being therefore required, he gives the child as large a dose as the grown man. On the system of the parent Institute at Paris,
foundation,
completely
NEW WATER-SUPPLY FOR DANBURY.
AN excellent
water-supply has been provided for Danbury
Essex, and the arrangements have been ingeniously and skilfully carried out. Spring-water, certified as pure by Dr. Thresh, is first collected in a reservoir, and it is then in
passed down
a hydraulic ram, by means of which it is through a rising main of about one mile in length. Thus, by gravitation, the inhabitants are sup. plied with some twenty- five gallons a head per day of wholesome water at a cost which will be entirely covered by It is stated that a small and reasonable water-charge. there is not another ram in England working with a 27 feet head and throwing water to such a height as has been effected with success at Danbury. The scheme is, from this point of view, worthy of the attention of the sanitary
to
lifted 180 feet
authorities of rural and small urban districts. EXPERIMENTS WITH THE PNEUMOCOCCUS. when pneumonia is exceptionally it may be well to recall the investigations con. ducted last year by Drs. G. and F. Klemperer, and published in the Berliner Klin. Woclwnschrijtl in August last. They then detailed experiments, the practical outcome of which may possibly be of real therapeutic importance. It is known that in most cases pneumonia, after having during from five to seven days caused grave general symptoms, terminates abruptly by crisis. At this period there has been little or no change in the state of the lungs, which still remain infiltrated with fibrinous exudation, or in the properties of the pneumococci, which are found in great numbers in the sputa and retain all their vuulenee. On what, then, does the pneumonic crisis depend ? Only one explanation seems possible: the crisis is due to the products of the organisms, which, by their accumulation, modify the soil on which the microbes develop. In their experiments made on rabbits, the investigators observed that any nutritive substance which had served as a culture medium for the pneumococci, even if it had been separated from the microbes by filtration, conferred on the animal immunity against the pneumonic infection. They next proved experimentally that the blood serum of a rabbit "vaccinated’’against the pneumococcus may cure an animal infected with pneumonia. An intravenous injection of eight cubic centimetres of serum of an animal rendered refractory, practised twenty-four hours after the infection, produces a gradual fall in the febrile temperature, and hastens the recovery of the animal. In another series of researches, devoted to the study of the cause of the remedial action of the serum of inoculated animals, the same observers found that the pneumococcus, when introduced into the body of an animal, gives rise to the production of a "pneumotoxine," which may be isolated. This pneumotoxine produces a febrile reaction of several days’ duration, after which they have noted in the fluids of the animal another substance, AT the
present time,
"anti-pneumotoxine," which has the power of neutralis. ing pneumotoxine. The blood serum of an animal on which immunity has been conferred contains anti-pneumotoxine,
and it is this which seems to forward the recovery from the pneumonic infection. In the blood serum of patients affected with croupous pneumonia, they have also found pneumo. toxine and anti.pneumotoxine, the former chiefly during the febrile period of the disease, the latter after the crisis. They also claim to have treated successfully rabbits suffer. ing from pneumonia by injecting into these animals blood serum taken from a pneumonic patient after the crisis. Being assured by experiments made on themselves that man may support with impunity and without any local and general reaction injections of the serum of animals rendered refrac. tory to Fraenkel’s pneumococcus, the investigators treated six patients affected with pneumonia. Although the number treated was small, the result has been very encouraging. In fact, in all these patients a hypodermic injection of from four to six cubic centimetres of serum was followed at the end of from six to twelve hours by a con. siderable fall in the temperature, with slowing of the pulse and respiration. These observations are especially noteworthy as confirming those made by Emmerich and Fowitzky, who claim that they have conferred immunity on the rabbit by means of hypodermic injections of attenuated cultures of the pneumococcus; but this immunity, they say, is incomplete. On rabbits infected by pneumococci, on the other hand, full immunity is obtained by intravenous in. jections of a culture having its entire virulence, but largely diluted. The liquid obtained by crushing the organs of an animal thus rendered refractory exercises on the pneumonic infection a sure remedial action when it is injected under the skin or into the abdominal cavity, and especially when it is thrown into the veins of the infected animal.
prevalent,
1 Abstract in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Nov.
12th, 1891.
THE
MILITARY HOSPITALS IN UPPER EGYPT. recent tour of
inspection in Upper Egypt, Major-General Walker, commanding the army of occupation, directed a letter to be written to the officer commanding the frontier field force in which General Walker, among other subjects connected with his inspec. tion, referred to the condition of the hospitals with which, he said, he was particularly pleased. AT
the conclusion of his
THE PASTEUR INSTITUTE AT MILAN.
WE have before us the committee’s report of the working of this institution-" Istituto Antirabico Milanese," as it is officially called-for the two years that have elapsed since its and a most interesting document it is. the Institute is in a flourishing condition, Financially, thanks mainly to the liberality of local business houses, seconded by careful management. Therapeutically it has more than justified its establishment. Dr. Remo Segre, its director, having passed in review the various methods of combating the canine virus in the human subject, decides most emphatically in favour of that of Pasteur. His statistics, checked in every possible way, certainly bear out his decision-the one modification he ventures to make on the method of his master being as to the dose of the matter inoculated. This he would certainly increase, even in the case of children. Dr. Segre uses a syringe of two grammes and a half, and employs an entire centimetre of marrow for each patient. He obtains an emulsion much denser, and therefore richer in the "It is notorious," he adds, "that remedial principle. children form the larger contingent of our patients and have a greater receptivity for the canine virus than adults. A more energetic action of the remedy being therefore required, he gives the child as large a dose as the grown man. On the system of the parent Institute at Paris,
foundation,