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Cells survive for at least 5 days and at times are capable of multiplying in a mixture of serum and Tyrode's solution used by Maitland for the cultivation in vitro of vaccine virus.

Normal corneas inoculated in vitro with vaccine virus and then cultivated in antivaccinal plasma developed typical vaccinal lesions associated with Guarnieri bodies. In such cultures, after an incubation period of 24 or 48 hours, active vaccine virus was demonstrated by means of appropriate methods. Immune corneas inoculated in vitro with vaccine virus and then cultivated in normal or in antivaccinal plasma revealed either very mild vaccinal lesions or none at all. In some of the cultures after 24 and 48 hours of incubation, active vaccine virus was demonstrated.

Characteristic vaccinal and herpetic lesions, including Guarnieri bodies and acidophilic nuclear inclusions respectively, regularly occur in rabbit corneas infected and cultivated in vitro according to the method here described.

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