=Laboratory Diagnosis.=—Eyre obtained cultures from blood from the 2d to 300th day of the disease. He recommended the taking of at least 5 cc. from a vein and that this be done at a time when the fever is at its maximum point—the days when the fever is at its maximum and in the evening of that day. By taking 20 to 30 cc. in an equal amount of citrated salt solution, as described in chapter on blood examination, one should have as great success as had Eyre—158 positives in 235 cases or 65.4 per cent. It must be remembered that the colonies only appear about the fourth day, becoming quite distinct by the tenth day. Bassett-Smith takes about 10 cc. of blood in the afternoon during pyrexial waves and distributes this blood in several tubes of broth. He makes plates from these tubes every day. He also recommends the taking of 1 cc. of blood which he allows to clot and subsequently removes the serum and adds bouillon (clot culture). Agglutination is the chief reliance in diagnosis. As result of two infections in his laboratory Widal uses emulsions killed by ¾% of formalin. He uses the microscopic method in the test with dilutions not exceeding 1 to 200. Such emulsions keep for at least a year. In connection with agglutination tests Nicolle recommends that the serum be separated at once and removed from the clot and Nègre has shown that by heating the serum to 56°C., for thirty minutes, reactions are not obtained with nonspecific sera. Some workers prefer the macroscopic agglutination. Complement fixation methods are of value but the application of such tests is confined to large laboratories. PROGNOSIS The mortality is usually reported as 2% but there have been epidemics where the mortality, owing to the frequency of the very fatal malignant type, has exceeded 10%. It must be remembered however that the invaliding connected with the long course of the disease and protracted convalescence makes Malta fever a serious affection. Neurasthenia, susceptibility to neuralgias, cardiac weakness and formation of morphine habit may result from the disease. PROPHYLAXIS AND TREATMENT =Prophylaxis.=—The danger from carriers seems slight but should be considered. Disinfection of excreta, in particular urine, is important. Boiling of goat’s milk or killing of infected goats is a prime consideration. A rapid method of detecting infected goats is by carrying out a macroscopic agglutination of _M. melitensis_ with the milk obtained from goats. The lacto-reaction should be confirmed by a serum one. =Treatment.=—There is no specific treatment generally recognized as efficient. Recently, an anti-melitensis serum, from animals injected with the nucleo-proteid material from the organisms, has been used with some success. A serum prepared by injecting horses intravenously with the specific organism has been recommended by Sergent in doses of 50 cc.