40 SCIENCE AND THE STATE, ETC. 



suggested that the disease is derived from cattle. It is, in lay 

 opinion, a distinct variety. I do not accept the theory that 

 man and animals infect each other witb actinomycosis, but 1 

 believe that they contract the disease quite independently, and 

 that the micro-organism is derived from some source in com- 

 mon. And, farther, the flesh in th'^se cases is perfectly whole- 

 some, and only the tongue or other part affected need be de- 

 stroyed. 



PSEUDO-TUBERCLE BACILLI. 



We have not only to distinguish Actinomycosis from tuber- 

 culosis, but we must in future pay close attention to dis- 

 tinguish the tubercle bacillus from some recently discovered 

 and closely allied bacilli. There is no doubt that the reports 

 of the discovery of tubercle bacilli to an alarming extent in 

 milk and milk products, and in the dust of rooms inhabited by 

 consumptive patients, will have to be modified. After ihe first 

 discovery of the tubercle bacillus, all rod-like organisms, with 

 the same tinctorial characters, were pronounced to be tubercle 

 bacilli, with the exception of the leprosy bacillus, and a 

 bacillus found in certain secretions. Further investigations of 

 some of these bacilli ha 'e given very striking results. The first 

 discoveries in this ilirection were by Petri and Rabinowitch, 

 who succeeded in showing that there was a bacillus in batter, 

 with all the general characteristics of the tubercle bacillus ; 

 and further, the inoculation of this bacillus in guinea pigs 

 produced lesions, which to the naked eye, and under the 

 microscope, were very easily mistaken for tuberculosis. Korn 

 and others have described other forms in butter and milk, not 

 materially differing from one another, and Moeller regards them 

 as varieties of the so-called grass bacillus, obtained from 

 grasses and dust. The latter was first obtained from Timothy 

 grass, and is known as the Timothy bacillus. It cannot pos- 

 sibly be distinguished microscopically from the tubercle bacil- 

 lus. It is granular, and exhibits branching and club-like 

 swellings; it stains exactly like the tubercle bacillus; and the 

 cultures, though differing at first, after passage through 

 animals, strongly resemble those of tubercle. In guinea-pigs 

 the lesions are similar to those set up by the butter bacillus, 

 and in rabbits they are very difficult to distinguish from true 

 tubercle, owing to the formation of giant cells and epitheloid 

 cells and caseation. Anotiier grass bacillus is similar in stain- 

 ing reactions to the tubercle bacillus, but it is rather thicker, 

 and has a special tendency to form threads. It produces in 



