178 



ZTbe Storv) of J6ir()»«3)eath. 



By W. Geo. CresweIvI,, M.D., L.R.C.P., F.Z.S. etc. 

 (Continued from page iiSy. 



THE mention of inoculation in the last chapter 

 naturally leads to a short notice of our subject 

 in that connection. Remembering that in our 

 experiments with sterilized yelk of egg, ex- 

 posed for a minute to the air and then kept for a short 

 time in an incubator at different temperatures, we 

 found the generation of both Koch's and Davaine's 

 forms of septic bacilli — identically as we find them in 

 the organs of birds suffering from the so-called Tuber- 

 culosis, let us once more turn to the lecture by Dr. 

 R. H. Clarke from which I have previously quoted. 

 He tells us that if a little portion of ^'g'^ containing 

 these bacilli of putrefaction "is introduced beneath 

 " the skin of a strong healthy bird, it will produce no 

 "constitutional symptoms, but in a few hours there 

 " will be a localized swelling at the seat of inoculation, 

 " which in two or three days will develope into a cheesy 

 *' tumour, and eventually dry up and contract." He 

 goes on to sa}'^ that on examination this cheesy mass 

 will be found to consist of "the debris of dead cells 

 *' containing few or no bacteria. The tumour is what 

 "remains of the battlefield where a life and death 

 "struggle between the invading parasites and the 

 " defending force of (blood antitoxins and) living cells 

 " has been fought out, victory resting with the latter, 

 "which have however perished in defence of the 

 "community. If the virulence of the bacteria has 

 ^'been intensified by cultivation at a high temperature 

 " in an incubator, or if they have been derived from a 

 "victim of the epidemic form of the disease, there is 

 "no swelling or tumour, the white corpuscles are 

 "powerless to resist the invasion, the bird sickens, and 

 " probably dies, of septic fever, and large numbers of 



