Degenerative diseases of the central nervous system transmissible to experimental animals.

The clinical features and the pathological changes in the central nervous system of scrapie and kuru are described and attention is drawn to the similarities between these conditions. In both, inoculation of tissues into experimental animals reproduces a similar disease after a prolonged latent period. The transmission of subacute presenile polioencephalopathy to a chimpanzee is noted. The work which led to the discovery of the transmissibility of these conditions is mentioned.