Those who have studied the literature of Bacillus coli infections of the urinary tract, over a period of many years, must be fully conscious that the methods employed in such investigations have been on very similar lines. Bacilli isolated from the urine have been classified on the result of various cultural reactions of which the fermentation of cane sugar anddulcitol appears to occupy the most important position. Animals have been inoculated with various strains of urinary coli, while similar inoculation experiments have been made on animals before and after a mechanical injury to one or both kidneys had been produced.

In the persent communication a general survey of the diet in the different levels of society in Denmark will be given for the first time.

The material dealt with consists of about 1000 household accounts which the state statistical department has published in the course of time.

In a previous paper it was shown that of the empty milk churns which were examined, 56 per cent, were totally unfit for use, as they contained very large numbers of bacteria and lactose fermenting organisms in high proportion. Table I (1) is taken from this paper and gives the number of bacteria per 1 c.c. of washings with sterile saline solution. These churns were taken at random on a station platform, their origin being unknown.

In two previous papers (Freear, Buckley and Stenhous Williams, 1919; Freear, Mattick and Stenhous Williams, 1921) accounts were given of the bacteriological condition of the milk from four Grade A (Certified) Farms, and it was shown that the milk from Farm 1 maintained a very high standard of bacteriological purity throughout a long series of examinations. In view of the fact that the keeping qualities of milk are of very great importance both to the industry and to the consumer, these have been studied with milk which was derived from Farm 1.

From the foregoing experiments, it may be assumed:

(1) That given favourable conditions, such as a direct current of air through a building, organisms derived from animals, their fodder or environment, may be disseminated over distances up to 150 feet from the building.

(2) That B. welchii is frequently present in the dust and dirt of buildings in which horses and small laboratory animals (guinea-pigs and rabbits) are housed, and

(3) That under suitable conditions, spore-bearing anaerobes such as B.welchii, may be carried with infected dust from such buildings, for a distance of at least 90 feet, and probably considerably further.

The infection of plague was originally introduced into South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War, 1900–1902, by rats from vessels with cargoes of forage from infected South American ports. During this period serious outbreaks occurred in Cape Town, port Elizabeth, East London and other centres in the Cape Province, and also at Durban and Maritzburg.

(a) Primary Stimulus. In animals possessing no normal antitoxin a single injection of toxin either “attenuated” or under cover of antitoxin, whether injected previously or at the same time or present in the form of passive immunity maternally transmitted, is followed by a latent period of about three weeks, and the maximum immunity is reached in about eight weeks.

(b) Secondary Stimulus. In immune animals, whether naturally immune or artificially immunised, a single injection of toxin or of a toxin-antitoxin mixture is followed by a latent period of about four days and the maximum immunity is reached in about ten days; the great and rapid immunity response to the secondary stimulus offers a striking contrast to the small and gradual response to the primary stimulus.

(c) Intermediate Stimulus. In partially immune animals the response to an injection of toxin is in magnitude and rapidity of a character intermediate between the responses following a primary and a secondary stimulus.

A considerable degree of uniformity of results of the Wassermann test has been found among five pathologists.

Certain differences (chiefly in the case of weakly positive sera) have, however, been noted. Their main source lies in the use of different methods and not in any lack of personal ability or care on the part of the worker.

It is believed that the number of these could be greatly reduced by adopting a uniform method of performing the test and by standardising the details of the method.

The supply of a standard antigen and haemolysin to pathologists is recommended.