186 Psyche [December 
the dust of infected silkworm nurseries of the year before. Pas- 
teur believed that a number of organisms, which multiplied in the 
intestine, were responsible for the disease. In 1873 Bolle found 
that bacteria were very plentiful in the bodies of silkworms affected 
with flacherie. In 1886, S. A. Forbes found that the alimentary 
canal of silkworms during the first stages of the disease was full 
of micrococci. He also obtained these micrococci from the blood 
_in pure culture and believed them to be identical with Steptococcus 
bombycis described by Cohn. Forbes says that the disease can 
be transmitted by means of this bacterium and larve so infected 
die after twenty-four to forty-eight hours. He further states that 
the disease is not transmitted through the egg and that the bac- 
teria retain their vitality for years. 
In 1891 Macchiali found two organisms responsible for flacherie, 
namely, Streptococcus bombycis and a Bacillus bombycis. 
In 1893 Wachtl and Kornauth expressed the belief that the 
bacteria found by Pasteur in 1870 are identical with Microzyma 
bombycis described by Béchamp in 1867 and identical with Strep- 
tococcus bombycis Cohn. At about the same time Cramer, Cuboni 
and Garbarini considered Streptococcus bombycis to be the causative 
agent of flacherie. 
In general, Streptococcus bombycis seemed to be the form most 
frequently encountered and the controversy practically subsided 
with the acceptance of this bacterium as the etiological factor of 
flacherie in silkworms. 
In 1903 Kelly made the remarkable statement that “flacherie 
is but another name for indigestion.”’ Other theories as far-fetched 
as the above followed in rapid succession, the most extreme, per- 
haps, being the one advanced by Sawamura in 1906. He says: 
“The writer has inferred from his experiments that the flacherie 
of silkworms can be caused by various bacteria of general occur- 
rence. During that disease no specific bacteria can be found which 
would be restricted to the occurrence in that epidemic. The fol- 
lowing bacteria were found by the writer to produce flacherie by 
multiplying in the body of the silkworm: 
1. Bacillus coli. 
2. Bacillus Ellenbachi. 
3. Bacillus ferrugenus. 
4. Bacillus fuchsinus. 
