ITALY

International Congress of Microbiology  The first International Congress of Microbiology, held recently in Paris, was attended by many Italian scientists. The head of the Italian official delegation was Prof. Serafino Belfanti, director of the Istituto sieroterapico in Milan.Professor Sanarelli of the University of Rome reported the results of his research on the pathogenesis of cholera. The topics discussed by Professor Sanarelli were: intestinal cholera in new-born animals; choleraic peritonitis in guinea-pigs; choleraic algidity. The speaker stated that the normal gastric content of young rabbits constitutes, by reason of its marked acidity, an insurmountable barrier to the vibrios of cholera. When the vibrios come in contact with the buccal mucosa, in order to reach the intestine they have to make a detour. They possess the peculiar property that Sanarelli terms "enterotropism," indicating that their ultimate objective is the intestinal walls, even when they are inoculated into the organism by the