34 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



ceutrifugalized creaiu alone, and the remaining 8 with the milk 

 sediment. 



COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TUBERCLE BACILLI FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. 



In view of the widespread interest now manifested concerning the 

 intercoinnuinicabilitj' of bovine and linraan tnberculosis, this line of 

 investigation has been inaugurated, and a comparative stud}' is at 

 present being made of tubercle bacilli isolated from the mesenteric 

 glands of a sheep, hog, cow, and 4 children, as well as those from the 

 sputum and from the lung of a spontaneous case of tubei-culosis in 

 a monkey. The result of this investigation will be published as 

 soon as the work has been completed. 



ENZOOTIC AMONG DAIRY CATTLE. 



An outbreak of a disease among the cattle on a dairj^ farm in this 

 vicinity was brought to the attention of the Bureau last November by 

 a local practitioner who requested consultation. The affection was 

 accompanied by certain sj^mptoms and post-mortem changes which 

 apparently were dissimilar to any that have hitherto occurred in this 

 locality. Owing to the proximity of the laboratory and the prob- 

 ability of the disease being at times existent but as yet unrecognized 

 in other sections of the country, a thorough bacteriological examina- 

 tion was made, with the result that the etiological factor was found 

 to he a bacillus of the enteriditis group. A paper on the subject is 

 about completed which includes the results of this investigation, 

 together with a comparison of allied organisms which have been iso- 

 lated b}^ Gaertner from the kidney and muscles of a cow; by Basenau 

 from the organs of a cow which was supposed to have been suffering 

 with parturient septicemia; by Foulerton from the muscle juice and 

 kidney of an ox condemned as unfit for food, and by Thomassen from 

 an outbreak which he describes as "a new septicemia of calves." 



INFECTIOUS DISEASE OF ANGORA GOATS. 



During the past winter information reached the Bureau from Mas- 

 sachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Missouri regarding 

 the presence of a fatal disease affecting Angora goats. The common 

 goat {Cnpra liircus) is popularly regarded as being immune from 

 almost all diseases, but the appearance of an enzootic in several 

 localities among well-bred Angoras seems to indicate either that this 

 opinion is incorrect or that Angoras are more susceptible to disease 

 than common goats. The economic importance of this affection 

 becoming apparent from its virulence and the widespread points of 

 infection, an official of the division was directed to make a complete 

 investigation of the disease as it existed in Pennsylvania, with the 

 vicAV of discovering its etiology. A preliminary report on the nature 

 and cause of this outbreak, including a comparison with probably a 

 similar goat disease that has occurred in Saxony and Switzerland, will 

 be ready for publication very soon. 



ERADICATION OF THE SO-CALLED MALADIE DU COIT. 



The constant reappearance of this venereal disease among horses 

 in Nebraska, after it apparently" had been stamped out on several 

 different occasions by inspectors of the Bureau detailed for this woi'k, 

 has occasioned a thorough investigation of the disease for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining information regarding its latent qualities and other 

 peculiarities, and incidentally to confirm, if possible, the work of 



