ABSTRACT:> AND REPORTS.

taining whether tuberculin when used as an aid to diagnosis may exercise an injurious effect on pregnant or milking animals; and the result has been to show that the administration of the agent has no influence on either the quantity or the quality of the milk, and does not interfere in the least degree with the course of pregnancy.--Remeil de MM. Vet.

AFFECTIONS OF THE GUTTURAL POUCHES.

THROUGH their connection by means of the eustachian tubes with the pharynx, the guttural pouches may be the seat of various affections, of which the commonest, undoubtedly, is the collection of pus, due to acute or chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane lining them. Thomassen calls atten­tion to the following rarer diseased conditions of these cavities.

I. Dropsy and EctaSIS of olle Guttural Pouch.-This was observed in a two­months-old foal. The symptoms were: a tumour in the laryngeal region, s11ght roaring, dysphagia, no fluctuation. An exploratory puncture revealed the cystic nature of the tumour, and an incision made at its lowest point allowed the escape of over two litres of a serous amber-coloured liquid. A counter opening was made at the upper part, a drain was inserted, and the pouch was washed out with antiseptic and astringent injections. Recovery was obtained in three weeks.

2. 7)'lllpanites or Pneumatosis of tlu Guttural Pouches. -- Gohier, Vatel, Dieckerhoff, Degive, and others have reported examples of this affection. Professor Gerlach in one case ascribed it to atrophy of the levator palati, but as the condition is usually bi-lateral this can only be an exceptional cause.

Tympanites of the guttural pouches is manifested by a soft elastic swelling situated on the side of the larynx in the parotideal region, by a slight roaring sound, and by dysphagia. Manipulation of the tumour reduces its volume, and on percussion it yields a decidedly tympanitic sound. Simple punrture with a trocar empties the pouches of their contained air, but within five minutes after the canula is withdrawn the air is reaccumulated.

Treatment ought to consist in evacuating the air from the pouch by means of a trocar, and enlarging the aperture of communication with the pharynx. In the normal state this opening permits the free passage of air; but when, on account of some congenital anomaly, it is too narrow, the air is imprisoned and tympanites is produced.

Professor Thomassen recommends as the best way of enbrging this opening to puncture the guttural pouch near the edge of the inferior maxilla, to then penetrate into its cavity with the index finger, and to dilacerate the meatus by ~entle and sustained pressure with the digit. The cutaneous wound ano the guttural pouch ought to be washed out with an antiseptic solution, and the skin wound is then to be sutured. A cure is thus obtained without complica­tions, and that is not the case if an attempt is made to enlarge the orifice with a cutting instrument.-Amlales de MM. Vet., and Recl/eil de 111M. vet.

THE ALLEGED TRANSFORMATION OF THE VIRUS OF SMALL-POX.

SOME time ago MM. Etemod and Haccius published some experiments which had led them to conclude that the small-pox virus could be transformed or attenuate!i by growing it for successive generations in the calf. -They took small-pox matter from the human subject, inoculated it to the calf, and cultivated It in this animal for several generations. They then tried its effect when