48 
SPIROCH.WTOSIS OP SUnANP.SE FOWLS 
Conditions 
iiiHuencing 
recovery 
Staining of 
endoglobular 
forms 
Description of 
endoglobular 
forms 
A typical 
case 
Recovery, if the infection was not too severe, seemed to depend largely on the care taken 
of the birds. If these were well fed and well housed, it often occurred that, while in the 
market, the vendors, who readily recognised the condition if there were any symptoms at 
all, cast the fowls out of the coops, letting them fend for themselves—a sentence of death in 
most cases. Post mortem, there is no gross lesion of any kind visible, and nothing is seen 
to account for death beyond the great emaciation. 
Blood condition. Stained films.—It is convenient in the first instance to consider the 
appearance presented by a stained film. The Leishman and the Giemsa stain, or Borrel blue 
and eosiu, all answer well as tinctorial agents, and the blood may be stained as for the 
malarial parasite. It was found to be a mistake to stain for more than ten minutes, as this 
tended to obscure such structure as the bodies possess. On the whole, perhaps, the last- 
mentioned method shows the structure of the bodies best, and it specially emphasises what is 
undoubtedly the chromatin which they possess. A glance at Plate \ I., fig. 1, will reveal the fact 
that the bodies are situated in the extra-nuclear portion of the red blood corpuscles. I have 
never seen a free form, living or stained, though several times I have been nearly deceived, 
and almost imagined that such existed. The bodies may be close to the nucleus, so close as 
to touch it, or they may be quite at the rim of the corpuscle, or occupy a half way position. 
There may be only one of them in a corpuscle—this is frequently the case—or there may be 
as many as seven. In such a case the bodies are usually small, and arranged close together. 
Two, three, or four are commonly present. In these multiple cases the bodies may be near 
each other or widely separated. They are very protean in form, and less so in size. Fig. 8, A 
shows a diagrammatic drawing of a bird’s red corpuscle in which I have placed the commonest 
shapes met with in the peripheral blood. Those at the top and bottom of the corpuscle are 
undoubtedly the most frequently encountered. In a few cases I have seen a body lying close 
to the edge of the corpuscle, and apparently associated with a gap in the corpuscular envelope. 
This appearance is, however, distinctly rare, but added to the difliculty of diagnosis. As 
regards size, the smallest stained bodies, 
usually ring- or flame-shaped, measui'e 
about I'O micron.; the largest, which are 
often found in the lungs, are frequently 
3'5 fi in their greatest diameter. A few 
measure as much as 4/1. It will be seen 
that we have “ coccoid ” or solid spherical 
forms, “ring” forms enclosing a vacuoloid 
space, similar “ ring ” forms which look as 
though a membrane stretched half-way or 
wholly across them, “ring” forms with 
central dark-staining portions, signet-ring 
shapes, flame-shaped forms closely re¬ 
sembling some of the piroplasmata of 
mammals, irregular forms, somewhat star¬ 
shaped forms with dots round their 
periphery and granules in their interior, 
tiny crosses and granular broken-up forms suggesting ci priori a sporing condition. 
Plate VI., fig. 2, is a representation of the peripheral blood of the hen whose temperature 
chart is given. On admission, this bird was extremely ill, and its peripheral blood contained a 
large number of these bodies. It smelt foully and exhibited tremors and marked anasmia. It 
was put in a comfortable cage, given bedding and plenty of food and water. As a result, it 
improved for a time, and, though it was not easy to be certain on this point, I believe the bodies 
,-..i 
O’ 
Nucleus 
■D 
Nucleus — < 2 ^^ 
Fig 8”A—Composite drawing showing forms assumed by endo¬ 
globular spirochsetea 
B—Ditto in dehsemoglobinized film 
Leishman stain 
