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expectorations of human origin, and then the two principal sources of tuberculous contagioll in man will sCIon be exhausted.

The second conclusion is that an animal which has been made to ingest, in one infecting meal, a small number of finely divided virulent tubercle bacilli, most certain Iy contracts tuberculosis, either exclusively pulmonary or exclusively glandular, or both pulmonary and glandular, reacts to tuberculin during one to two months sometimes longer, and may recover. I t ceases to react to tuberculin when the lesions are completely cicatrised. We will further state th at animals which have thus recovered are no longer capable, at least for a certain time. of being reinfected, even when they are made to ingest far more considerable quantities of virulent bacilli. They are thus vaccinated.

On the contrary, the animals which are submitted to two or more successive re-infections through the digestive canal, repeated at short intervals, never recover; thei r lesions become aggravated and rapidly evolve towards caseation.

These facts explain to us why bovines killed in the slaughter houses, and men who die accidentally, so often present perfectly cured tuberculous lesions on post-mortem. These bovines and men must have infected themselves so rarely with tuberculosis in the course of their existence, that they had time to allow recovery from their first lesions and to be vaccinated. On the contrary, a great number of other bovines and other men have become and remain tuberculous, because they have undergone a series of successive re-infections be fore the recovery from the lesions produced by the first attack.

From all this, it results that we are naturally led to turn our researches towards obtaining vaccinal immunity against tuberculosis, by introducing into the lymphatic system of the organism, through normal channels of infection, that is to say, through the digestive canal, attenuated tubercle bacilli, modified or deprived of virulence.

Our studies in this direction, which are already well advanced, will be the subject of a future article.

Board of Agriculture and Fisheries Annual Reports of Proceedings under the Diseases of Animals Acts, etc., for the year 1905.

As usual, the Report of the Chief Veterinary Officer occupies the first place in this annual publication, and it deals with the various scheduled diseases. Under the head of swine-fever the important statement is made that the disease has been found to be due to a so-called invisible virus-a fact pre­viously established for certain cases of hog cholera in the United States. Considerable space is devoted to the subject of anthrax, and there is an in­teresting analysis of the recorded outbreaks in five counties during a period of ten years (1895-19°4), showing the very large proportion of outbreaks that appear to be new or independent of previous outbreaks Iln the same farm. For example, in Aberdeenshire ,here were 626 reported outbreaks during the decade, and in 544 of these the farm was supposed to have been infected fur the first time. It is admitted that this reported previous immunity of farms

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may in some cases have been incorrect, but when ample allowance is made for such errors the proportion of new outbreaks must be very large. The figures, therefore, point strongly to the frequent introduction of the virus in food materials, such as the different kinds of cake.

For the first time the report of the Chief Veterinary Officer deals with swine erysipelas, which is not yet a scheduled disease, and a useful account is given of the symptoms and methods of prevention and immuni,ation ..

Following the report of the Chief Veterinary officer is one by the Assistant Secretary, in which an account is given of the Board's dealings with the scheduled diseases from an administrative point of view. Finally, there are the usual interesting statistical tables for the year.

Les Abattoirs Public, Vol. II. Inspection et Adminisiration des Abattoirs. Installation des marches aux bestiaux. Par H. Martel, Docteur es Sciences, Chef de Service Sanitaire Veterinaire de Paris et du Depart­ment de la Seine; J. de Loverdo, Ingenieur Sanitaire; et Mallet, Mtdecin-Veterinaire, Directeur de l' Abattoir d' Angers.

THIS volume completes what is nothing short of an encyc10predic work on Meat Inspection. The previous volume dealt with the construction of abattoirs, cold-storage buildings, etc., and the present one in an equally exhaustive manner treats of the fundamental principles of meat inspec­tion and the inspection of animals before and after slaughter. Special chapters are devoted to the arrangemerlts necessary for the inspection of imported carcases and meat, the sanitary control of private slaughter houses, the inspection of meat for the army, the inspection of cattle markets, and insurance of animals against seizure when slaughtered. All of these subjects are treated with the fulness and precision which might have been expected from the experience and scientific standing of the joint authors. The work forms a noteworthy addition to the literature of meat inspection, and may be commended to the notice of all who are specially interested in that subject.

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ANTHRAX IN PIGS.

By AINSWORTH WILSON, F.R.C.V.S., Witham.

ON the ~4th April last I was wired for to attend at a farm in this neighbourhood in consequence of illness among the pigs. On arrivaf I found that the· stock comprised 108 black pigs, including twenty young breeding sows, the remainder mostly a few weeks old. Nine were dead, five of which were sows, and six were very ill. Most of those pigs were in a large yard with boxes and courts opening off it ; others in a cow-house a little distance away had access to this yard, and all had been running out to a meadow close by.

History.-A week ago (17th) a three-year-old filly died after an illness lasting a few hours; this occurred in a box in the pigs' yard.