The condition of Pyrexia, associated with the febrile state, is a phenomenon which has been noted from the very earliest times, but only since the latter half of the last century has the experimental method been brought in to determine the cause of a phenomenon which had previously been a field of speculation only. The very old ideas can be passed over, but in the last century Johannes Müller regarded fever as a reflex process while Virchow (1853) looked upon fever as a neurosis—the condition being considered analogous to a paralytic state, a failure of the control of the vital functions of the body—while it is interesting to note that Traube (1855, 1864) and Traube and Jochman (1855) at this time determined an increase in the elimination of nitrogen from the body in fever. Both Virchow and Traube assumed the existence of a fever-producing agent, but did not proceed to elucidate its nature or origin.

Actinomycotic lesions in tissues from a consecutive series of forty-four oxen slaughtered in this country have been examined and compared with fifty specimens imported chiefly from Argentina.

The British cases can be divided into two groups, according as the specific granules do not or do contain Gram-staining organisms.

The first group, characterised by the presence of granules consisting of clubs without Gram-staining organisms, contains 40 cases. In these the lesions were situated in the cheek, palate, tongue, or lymphatic glands in relation to the mouth and pharynx. From twenty-three of the forty cases, cultures of a non-Gram-staining organism were obtained, which were identical in their characters on nutrient agar plates and in shake glucose agar tubes; and five of the strains were found identical when tested on a large series of differential media. One of the cultures was inoculated into a calf, and produced a local lesion with the characters of a natural lesion.

This first group shows complete identity in the histological features and in the anatomical distribution of the disease with Actinobacillosis described by Lignières and Spitz in Argentina. The bacillus obtained has the characters of the Actinobacillus, except that the production of typical granules in the peritoneal cavity of guinea-pigs, described by Lignières and Spitz, has not been demonstrated.

All the imported specimens which were examined microscopically exhibited the characters of the lesions of this first group, but the causal organism was not obtained in pure culture.

The second group contains the remaining four British cases. The specific granules were composed of clubs and Gram-staining organisms, including branching filaments. The lesions were situated in each case in the inferior maxilla. The investigation of the biological characters of the organisms concerned is still in progress.

These results show that Actinobacillosis is widespread in the world, and forms a considerable proportion of the cases of disease in oxen known under the name of Actinomycosis.

In a previous paper (1912) a rough analysis of certain statistical data was made which seemed to show that the age of the parent at the birth of the offspring was a factor in its susceptibility to the Zymotic Diseases.

The material on which this enquiry is based consisted of tuberculous tissue, pus, or fluid obtained from the sources specified in Table II, pp. 260–268.

Seventeen cases were examined, the disease affecting the genital organs in nine instances (seven testes, one salpinx, one prostate) and the urinary tract in eight.

The bacilli obtained were of “human” type in fourteen cases and “bovine” in three.

The three “bovine” cases were affections of the kidney in persons aged, respectively, 25, 19 and 20 years.