Anthrax. William Smith Greenfield, M.D., F.R.C.P., Professor Superintendent, the Brown Animal Sanatory Institution (1878-81). Concerning the priority due to him for the production of the first vaccine against anthrax.

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the fact that W. S. Greenfield, working at the Brown Animal Sanatory Institution in London, prepared an effective vaccine against anthrax and described his results some months before the experiment of Pasteur at Pouilly-le-fort. Partly through lack of financial support and partly due to opposition by the antivivisectionists, Greenfield was forced to confine his experiments to a small number of animals, but his results were nevertheless conclusive. He showed that by continuous subculture in a fluid medium that the anthrax bacillus progressively lost its virulence, until it was harmless even to the most susceptible animal, the mouse. The injection of suitably attenuated organisms into cattle rendered them immune to the subsequent injection of virulent anthrax bacilli. Greenfield's work has been overlooked or neglected, and he has never received the credit due him. It is only fitting that his work should be acknowledged in the centenary of the year in which it was described. The following account is composed primarily of quotations from his published papers. For additional information on Greenfield, reference may be made to the series of papers by Wilson (1979 a, b). It may be pointed out that the method of attenuating the virulence of bacilli recorded by Pasteur in relation to the bacillus of fowl cholera was, like that of anthrax vaccine, anticipated by Greenfield.

To answer questions. A review of an autopsy service.

Autopsies are important in the quality control of medical practice, in research, and in teaching. We have attempted to realize more of the service, teaching, and research potential from doing autopsies. The key of all efforts is the involvement of the senior staff. This involvement should be made possible by supporting such a person by a qualified team that consists of the mortuary service, pathologist's assistants, and highly trained and qualified residents. Such a staff person can direct his or her attention toward improving communication with clinicians, answering open questions in-depth, encouraging collaborative clinicopathological projects, developing new approaches to the performance of autopsies, such as the immediate autopsy, and using special laboratory modalities, such as electron microscopy and immunofluorescence. Computer storage of autopsy data and retrieval for special studies seem to make autopsy data available and usable. It is most important that autopsies be performed, that they be done well, and that their findings be carefully evaluated using all available scientific tools and, finally, that the results are adequately communicated.

Automatable radiometric detection of growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in selective media.

The formulation of media for selective, automatable, radiometric detection of growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in vitro is described. Palmitic-1 acid labeled with carbon-14 and formic-14C acid were compared as substrate sources of [14C]O2 in media deficient in carbohydrate and containing appropriate antimicrobial agents that are not active against tubercle bacilli. A preliminary clinical laboratory study of a medium containing 4 microCi palmitic-1-14C acid per ml showed that this method might provide the basis for practical laboratory use.