An enquiry (1) instituted in 1916 showed that from 1 to 2% of rail-borne milk was sour on arrival at its destination, with the result that in London alone there was a loss of some 90,000 gallons of milk annually. That this loss was not confined to the London milk was brought out by the fact that a similar loss was found to obtain in the north of England.

(1) The study of the meteorological circumstances prevailing in the United Kingdom confirms the conclusions reached in India that the combined influence of temperature and humidity plays an important part in determining the conditions necessary for the transmission of malaria.

(2) The part assigned to temperature and humidity points to the conclusion that the period of active infection in England is ordinarily limited to the months of July and August.

(3) The part attributed to temperature accounts for the geographical distribution of the endemic area of malaria in the British Isles and explains its limitation to certain parts of England.

(4) The combined influence of temperature and humidity appears to afford an explanation of the precise location of the endemic centres of malaria within the above area.

(5) The part assigned to temperature and humidity elucidates certain points in connexion with the endemiology of malaria in England, and it offers an explanation of the conditions known as “Malaria sine Paludism” and “Paludism sine Malaria.”

(6) The part played by the meteorological factors throws light on the past history of malaria in England and it helps to explain its gradual decline.

Examination of the records of a large number of quantitative Wassermann tests has suggested a new and simple criterion of a positive reaction. This is based upon a comparison of the amounts of complement giving complete lysis with any given serum, and with the negative control, respectively. Reasons are given for regarding this criterion as more satisfactory than that in common use. Details are given of the methods employed for the selection of a negative control serum, the estimation of degrees of lysis, and the provision of a suitable range of amounts of complement.

In tests of 40 samples of milk from the supply of the city of Edinburgh:

(1) The bacterial content was, on the average, high but not abnormally so when compared with that of the milk supply of other cities. It ranged from 20,000 to 29,000,000 per c.c.

(2) The results of the reductase test corresponded well with the bacterial counts and the test is recommended for obtaining a good rough idea of the bacterial numbers present, where results are required in a short time.

(3) About half of the samples contained lactose-fermenting organisms in unduly high numbers; this is attributed chiefly to the lack of attention to cleanliness in production.

(4) The value of the fermentation test for speedily indicating the nature of bacterial contamination is pointed out. In a general way the test corroborated the results of counts of the lactose fermenters and indicated that a number of the samples, which did not produce blown curds, contained large numbers of undesirable organisms.

(5) Taken as a whole, the results seem to indicate not so much particularly high contamination as contamination of a very undesirable nature. They point to the necessity of educating the producer and distributor in the principles underlying the production of clean milk and emphasise the importance of proper control of the industry from this point of view.

1. The Wilson-Weil-Felix agglutination reaction with cultures of Proteus “X 19” was Positive in dilutions of the serum ranging from 1 in 40 to 1 in 2560 in 22 out of 23 cases of Typhus Fever occurring in Ireland. In one case the reaction was still negative at the time of the patient's death on the 14th day of the disease. As controls, sera from the following gave completely negative results in a 1 in 20 dilution: 50 cases of Influenza, 12 cases of Trench Fever and 15 cases of Syphilis.

2. The agglutinins in Typhus serum for B. proteus “X 19” are completely destroyed by heating at 65° C. for half an hour.

3. Ten sera were tested for presence of immune body by means of the Complement Fixation test. The results were negative.

4. A coliform bacillus isolated from the urine of one case was agglutinated by the sera of twenty cases—the only ones examined—in dilutions varying from 1 in 40 to 1 in 640.

Sixty-two controls gave negative results with a 1 in 40 or higher dilution of their sera.

5. Absorption experiments indicated that the agglutinins for B. proteus “X 19” and this coliform bacillus were distinct.

6. The literature dealing with the heterologous agglutinins met with in the serum of Typhus Fever has been consulted and the various hypotheses that have been put forward to account for their presence have been examined. It is suggested that under the stimulus of infection with the Typhus Fever virus, some bacterium which is a normal inhabitant of the human intestine produces agglutinins for itself and group agglutinins for numerous other micro-organisms especially for Proteus “X 19,” Proteus “X 2,” and various members of the Colon-typhoid group.