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ON MICRO-ORGANISMS IN TISSUES OF DISEASED 



HORSES. 



By Dr. Oscar Katz. 



Under date March 22nd last, Mr. E. Stanley, Veterinary Surgeon 

 to the Government of New South Wales, reported on a disease 

 which broke out among horses in the south-west of this colony, 

 causing an alarming mortality among them. It would seem as if 

 the disease was first noticed at Mingary, South Australia, early in 

 December, 1886, but it is uncertain whether the horses attacked 

 came from that colony or from New South^Wales. It commenced 

 to spread through railway contractors' teams, of which 40 animals 

 out of 150 succumbed. There was at the time plenty of horse- 

 labour employed, owing to the construction of a railway from Peters- 

 burgh (S.A.), to Silverton (N.S.W.), as well as to the extensive 

 mining industries along the Barrier Ranges, and horse-owners 

 not knowing anything about the character of the sickness and its 

 treatment, being also anxious to escape the infected spots, caused 

 the disorder to invade remote districts on the River Darling, and 

 to 20 down to the south as far as Port Pirie. It is also said to have 

 been carried by sea to Albany, Western Australia. At Silverton, 

 a town in one of the silver-mining districts of the Barrier Ranges, 

 it made its appearance on January 12th, 1887>and it was to this 

 place that. Mr. Stanley went to investigate it. 



He describes it as an " epizootic contagious fever," the conta- 

 gious matter of which, given off by the diseased through serous 

 discharges from the body-orifices, principally those of the head, 

 and through the faeces, is taken up by healthy individuals through 

 contaminated food (water included). It does not affect other 

 animals or man. Although resembling, to some extent, certain 



