280 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



chemical specific for Bact. abortus in vitro and in vivo. Formaldeliyde, 

 mercuric iodide and Dakin's solution are giving very promising results. 

 Tlie work should not be reported at this time. 



"A study of the bacterial flora of the generative organs of the cow was 

 taken up by Mr. W. C. Keck at the beginning of the year and later com- 

 pleted by Mr. Bolton and the writer. (This is a problem that this lab- 

 oratory has had under consideration for about eight years. W. G.) The 

 results are as follows : Swabs for the determination of the bacterical 

 flora were made from 30 cows. Of the 30 cows, swabs were made from 

 the vaginas of 30, from the uteri of 23. Thirty-four different organisms 

 were isolated from the vaginas and 24 from the uteri. There were 52 

 different organisms isolated, 5 of which occurred in both uterus and 

 vagina. There were no two cows which showed an identical flora in 

 either the uterus or the vagina. There was very little similarity in the 

 bacterial flora of any two cows. Swabs were made from the sheath of 

 several bulls and of the organisms isolated (20 in number) only one or- 

 ganism was found to occur in the sheath of bulls that did not occur in 

 the uterus and vagina of cows. 



"Organisms were found as follows : Bacterium 22, Bacillus 3, Micro- 

 cocus 11, Streptococcus 4. Apparently the predominating organisms be- 

 long to the genus Bacterium. The media used for isolating the organ- 

 isms were plain agar (1.2 acid to phelolphthalein) and neutral plain 

 agar. In the course of the work it was found that many of the organisms 

 would appear only on neutral media. As the body fluids are slightly 

 alkaline there is every reason to believe that many of the bacteria exist- 

 ing under such condition would require an artificial medium having a 

 similar reaction. 



"Mr. Manuel Justo, graduate student in this department, has com- 

 pleted a comparative study between the bacterial flora of the udder and 

 that of the genital organs of the cow. His brief conclusions are as fol- 

 lows : First : The normal bacterial flora of the udder is comprised of 

 microorganisms which belong to two types, the micrococci and the 

 staphylococci, varying in pigment production, fermentation reactions, 

 hemolytic power, and the other tests to which they have been subjected. 



Second: Of the twenty-five different samples of milk studied, these 

 two types have been considered as representing the bacterial flora of the 

 normal udder. This does not preclude the possibility that, had a larger 

 number of samples been studied and more colonies subjected to exami- 

 nation, other types might have been isolated. 



Third : The comparative study between the organisms isolated from 

 the udder and those isolated from the genital organs reveals no close 

 similarity between the bacterial flora of these two sources. 



HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA. 



"Hemorrhagic septicemia of the bovine has become a very important 

 problem in Michigan during the past year. In fact, the number of re- 

 ported outbreaks that come to our attention seems to be on the increase 

 from year to year. Laboratory diagnosis of this disease has been con- 

 firmed by animal inoculation from infected tissue for Dr. Dunphy, 

 State Veterinarian, on the following dates: October 31st, November 5th, 

 November 8th, November 10th, November 21st, December 13th, 1916 and 

 on March 3rd, March 20th, April 4th, and April 25th, 1917. 



"An attempt is being made to employ the agglutination and comple- 



