196 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



(luilo frosli. ami on sections it slmwcd no strikinf^ altoriition. The ppiifardiinn con- 

 tained a little reddish lluid ; the intestinal inucons membrane was, perhaps, rather 

 redder than ordinary; the spleen was in a very sli<,'ht degree swollen, and the blood 

 was duid." 



I'jjon examininj,' a cover-plass preparation made from the yellowish exudate, there 

 was revealed a small bacterium apparently in pure culture. The bacteria wei1» 

 abtindant. some free and most of them clustered in heaps within cells wliich were fre- 

 quently distended. The appearance of the bacteria within cells resembled cocci closely, 

 but sintrle individuals conformed to the shape of a bacillus whose body contained one, 

 two or three round or elonpnted crannies. It was with dilTiculty that this micro- 

 orjiranism was eult'vated. but it was eventunlly found to p^row upon serum-gelatine- 

 atrar and it behaved very peculiarly to oxysren. 



Twenty-one cases of epizoot'C abortion were examined and found to correspond very 

 nearly to the case already described. The bacillus was found in nearly every examina- 

 tion made: sometimes the bacilli were very abundant and at other times they were 

 found w'th d'fficulty. Associated with the abort'on bacillus were various other kinds 

 of bacter-a wh-ch had penetrated aft-'r openinir the uterus, but the abortion bacillus was 

 easily isolated by means of ajrar serum. In a foetus forwarded, the bacilli of abortion 

 were found in pure culture, and in another case the bacilli were found in the blood, 

 medulla oblongata, fourth stomach and intestinal contents. In two cases of dead 

 mummiPed foetus the bacilli were also recosm'zed. 



"This iconld indicate , that the abortion bacilli do not always entail the expulsion 

 of the foetus, but that the result is sometimes mereh/ the death of the foetus." 



From the above cases of Tuummified foetus, the marked vitality of the abortion 

 bacillus was illustrated. "The f'rst cow liad probaldy becm bulled in December, 1804. 

 or in January. 1805. and the death of the foetus had probably taken place iive months 

 later, that is to say. in May or June. 180.5. The bacilli had therefore remained for at 

 least n'ne months lonper in the uterus, and. nevertheless, they were alive." This 

 cow was slauu-htered on the Ifith of March, 1800, when the gevms were still found 

 and capable of cultivation: the foetus was about five or six months alonj?. In the 

 second case the cow was bulled on the 10th of March, 1896. and was slauphtered on 

 the 1.5th of February. 1807. The foetus had died in September, 1800, :ind the bacilli 

 were alive five months later. A^ain, the vitality of the bacillus was proven by col- 

 lect'njr some of the uterine exudate in sterile test-tubes on the post mortem of the 

 first Ciise. Four, six and seven months later the bacillus was found to be alive in 

 the exudate. The vitality of this bacillus explains why a cow which has once aborted 

 has a tendency to abort aarain, unless a careful disinfection is made of the uterine 

 cavity, and also the persistency of the d'sense when once established. 



Havimr found a bacillus which in all of its habits indicated its causal action in 

 abortion, and having found it generally present in all the cases examined, the crucial 

 test of reproduc'ns: the d-'sease was then attempted. It was knowm that several 

 veterinarv surii^eons had ali"Pady reported that thev had succeeded in doin? this by 

 introducing vaginal SGcret'on or part of the afterbirth of aborted cows into the vag'na of 

 pregnant cows. "It is also extremely likely that the agent of infection is. as a rule, 

 taken in a similar way, the external parts of the genital organs of the cow being 

 brought in contact with infected objects during her sojourn in the byre. When the 

 bull conveys the disease, one must assume that infection takes place durin" copulation." 



Experiments T and II. — Two cows were purchased from a stock in which abortion 

 was unkno^^'n. one cow was four years old and the other seven. They were bulled on 

 the 14th and Iflth of January, 1800, respectively. On the 14th of April, 1806, was 

 injected into the vagina of each a rather large quantity of pure culture of the abortion 

 bacillus. Injections were repeated on the 2"'d of May and the 4th of Jime, lest the 

 first injection should miscarry. On the 24th of June one of the cows aborted. The 

 foetus was five months old and had been dead for some days. The bacilli of abortion 

 were found. 



The seven-year-old cow was slaughtered on the same day, that there might be an 

 opportun ty to examine the still unopened uterus. An edema was present and more 

 striking than in the four-year-old. The foetus was fresh and evidently alive when the 

 cow was slaughtered. The bacilli of abortion were found as in the first instance. 



"By both these experiments toe have furnished the complete proof that the bacillus 

 discovered by us is the cause of epizootic abortion." 



These experiments did not establish the period of incubation, but it was the opinion 

 of the investigator that it was dated from the first injection and that it was about 

 ten weeks. 



