152 



^be Srorv of 1BirO-2)catb. 



By W. Geo. Creswei.t,, INI.D., F.Z.S., etc. 

 (Continued from page 115). 

 HE micro-organisms producing the condition 

 known as Septicaemia are of more than one 

 variety, and embrace various subdivisions of 

 cocci and bacilli. Notabl}- however there is 

 one special bacillus which was first described by 

 Koch so long ago as 1878, and which has since 

 received great attention at the hands of other 

 observers, Davaine, Klein, Dowdeswell, R. H. Clarke, 

 etc. To the last named we as bird keepers owe 

 a deep sense of gratitude, for it was he who first 

 brought to our notice the connection between this 

 bacillus and the diseases of birds ; while to " Fur and 

 Feather'' must be accorded a wide meed of commen- 

 dation for the enlightenment which led that paper 

 to recognise the value of scientific truths, and to 

 publish a lecture in 1S98 which had been delivered 

 on this subject by Dr. Clarke before the London and 

 Provincial Ornithological vSociety on Oct 12th, 1897. 



These septic bacteria belong to the division that 

 I have alluded to as "saprophytes," i.e. in an ordinary 

 way they occupy themselves with setting up in dead 

 matter those chemical changes which we call de- 

 composition, and which have the effect of resolving 

 these dead masses into the original component gases 

 and salts from which they were built up as living 

 entities by the influence of light, heat, air, and water, 

 and which are in this way once more set free to be 

 again used in the manufacture of the on-coming 

 generation of animals and plants. Shakespeare was 

 not far wrong when he said — 



Imperial Caesar, dead and turned to clay, 

 :Miglit stop a hole to keep the wind awa}-. 



Hami^et, Act v., Sc. i. 



In a crude sort of fashion he had a very fair pre- 



