1908] on the Extinction of Malta Fever. 23 



Infection by Means of Goat's Milk. 



The goat is very much in evidence in Malta, and suppHes practic- 

 ally all the milk used. There is, I believe, one goat to every ten of 

 the population, so that, as there are 200,000 inhabitants there must 

 be 20,000 goats. Flocks of them wander about the streets from 

 morning till night, and are milked as required at the customers' doors 

 (Fig. 5). 



It must be confessed there seemed little hope that an examination 

 of these animals would yield any result. The goats appeared perfectly 

 healthy, and they have the reputation of being little susceptible to 

 disease of any kind. 



Fig. 5. — Milking Goats. 



To put the matter to the test several goats were inoculated with 

 the micrococcus, and the result watched. There was no rise of tem- 

 perature, no sign of ill-health in any way, but in a week or two the 

 blood was found to be capable of agglutinating the specific micro- 

 organism. 



This raised our suspicions, and a small herd of apparently healthy 

 goats was then procured and their blood examined to see if they were 

 all healthy. Several of them were found to react naturally to the 

 agglutination test, and this led to the examination and the discovery 

 of the Micrococcus melitensis in their blood, urine and milk. Fig. 6 

 shows the enormous number of these microbes found in goat milk. 

 Each of the tiny dots represents a colony of micrococcus. 



