274 Report of the Health of Animals of the Farm. 



resulted from one of the several forms of blood-disease, as some 

 pig-s which ate of the flesh are said to have died shortly after- 

 wards. It was from the sties in which these animals had been 

 kept that the manure Avas carted on to the pasture. 



The post-mortem appearances differed in some respects from 

 those of the other animals named in this report, as in this case 

 the spleen was found to be greatly enlarged, and loaded with 

 spoilt blood ; bloody exudations were also met with in the 

 intestinal canal ; petechial spots in the mesentery and in the 

 heart ; and large patches of congestion both in the chest and 

 abdomen, — lesions which mark the existence of that form of 

 blood-disease ordinarily known as splenic apoplexy. Mr. Heath 

 having forwarded a portion of the intestine and its contents to 

 the College, advantage was taken of it to test the poisonous 

 qualities of the diseased blood in cases of splenic apoplexy. 



Experiments. 



November \^th. — Inoculated a guinea-pig (No. 1), one punc- 

 ture with small lancet soiled with the spoilt blood from the 

 intestine. Death followed in eighteen hours. 



Examination of the blood of the guinea-pig showed it to be 

 loaded with bacterides to an enormous extent. These bodies 

 were remarkable for their large si^e ; but unlike bacteria, were 

 perfectly motionless. 



Inoculated at the same time as the guinea-pig a fine healthy 

 rabbit — two punctures. 



20^A. — Rabbit apparently unaffected. 



21s#. — Rabbit refuses food, and is greatly depressed. 



22w6?. — Died at noon ; sixty-eight hours after inoculation. 



No bacterides were seen in the blood, but a large number of 

 white cells — leucocytes. 



24fA. — Inoculated two guinea-pigs, one from guinea-pig (No. 1), 

 and the other from the rabbit. Both died in about thirty-six 

 hours after the inoculation. When seen for the last time in the 

 evening, only a few hours before their death, no indications of ill 

 health were observed in either of them. 



In each of these cases the blood was examined at very short 

 intervals during life, but no bacteria or bacterides were detected. 

 An increase, however, in the relative number of the white cells 

 was observed to take place very soon after the inoculation, which 

 continued up to the time of the last examination. After death, 

 bacterides were abundant in the blood of each animal. 



26^A. — Inoculated a rabbit (No. 2) with blood of one of the 

 guinra-pigs. Two needle punctures. Animal died in twenty- 

 eight hours. 



