204 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



Adam's view is that a potent cause of disease is the "constant absorption 

 of small quantities of bacteria," hence the question put by Drs Cobbett and 

 Graham Smith, " Is it a toxaemia caused by the poison liberated from 

 bacteria which have been absorbed from the intestine, and which have almost 

 immediately perished in the tissue ? " 



Tlieir work has all tended to the view that Klein's observations required 

 revision in the light of modern work in bacteriology, that his deductions required 

 amendment, and that " Grouse Disease" is not an acute infectious pneumonia. 



Can we then believe that there is an epidemic form of "Grouse Disease" 

 which in spite of minute inquiry and search has eluded the vigilance of the 

 Inquiry during the last six years ? 



Drs Cobbett and Graham Smith {see p. 274) go the length of saying : 

 "It is, we suppose, just possible that we never came across the genuine 

 epizootic 'Grouse Disease' at all." 



Apart from the question of whether Klein's pneumonia has any existence 

 .„„^ in reality, all the outbreaks of disease amongst Grouse which have 



All " Grouse ■' ' ° . 



Disease" comc Under the observation of the Committee can be ascribed either 



either . . i • i i 



Strongylosis to Strono-ylosis or to Coccidiosis, the only two diseases which the 



or Cocci- "■^ . . , , 



diosis. Committee now recognise as causing widespread mortality amongst 



Grouse. 



It is quite clear that one of the most important signs of disease, whether 

 it be Strongylosis or Coccidiosis, is a loss of weight. And this loss of condition. 

 Loss of even to emaciation, which follows on Strongylosis, is a character to 

 chafacLr- which fuU prominence is given by all writers about " Grouse Disease," 

 these°^ '^"'^^ *^°"S^ no measurement of actual weights had ever been recorded so- 

 diseases. fg^p ^^ ^g^g jjnown before the present Inquiry began its work. 



The omission to record weights in the past is the more to be regretted 

 because the chief characteristic of the only other form of "Grouse Disease" 

 which has been reported is the fact that the weight of birds that have succumbed 

 to it remains normal. 



Probably one of the most persistently quoted observations, which many 

 Theory that sportsmen and gamekeepers still maintain to be a fact, is that in some 

 Grouse'' epidemics there is a certain proportion of birds which succumb to 

 dieTn'giod "0 acutc and virulent a form of "Grouse Disease" that they die 

 condition, i^gfofg ^ny loss of flesh or weight can have time to show itself, and 

 before any change in the appearance of the feathers becomes manifest. 



