622 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AaRTCUT.TURE. 



immense iiumber.s tliro.ugh the connectivo tissue surrounding the 

 individual fibers and produced extensive extravasation, thereby forc- 

 ing the bundles of fibers apart. 



THE BACTERIUM OP HOG-CHOLERA IN OTHER OUTBREAKS. 



In an outbreak of liog-cholera at Ivy City, D. C, several miles 

 from the Experimental Station, the same lesions were found, coupled 

 with the presence of the previously described bacterium, as shown 

 by the following notes: 



Pig No. 261. — Brought to the station a few hours after death. Considerable red- 

 dening of the skin of the limbs and over the pubic regions. Extravasations into 

 the subcutaneous adipose tissue; considerable deeply stained serum in abdominal 

 cavitj^; spleen v-ery much enlarged and gorged with blood. Lymphatic glands in 

 thorax and abdomen all deeply congested. Hemorrhagic foci in lungs. Mucous 

 membrane of ctecum and upper colon almost black, the remainder deeply congested. 

 Numerous- small ulcers scattered over the mucosa of caecum and colon. Besides 

 these, there were, about inches from the valve, two ulcers nearly 1^ inches across, 

 so deep as to produce an inflammatory adhesion between the serous surface of the 

 intestinal wall and adjacent organs. Tlie mucosa of the fundus of the stomach 

 deeply congested; numerous small iilcers near pyloric region. The small intestine 

 unaffected, if we except a few petechia?. Both Jcidneys much swollen; glomenili 

 gorged with blood ; also the pelvis and bladder. In the spleen the bactera of hog- 

 cholera were very abundant, as shown by cover-glass preparations. Two Uquid cult- 

 ures therefrom were pure, as determined microscopically and on gelatine plates. 



This case is interesting from two points of view. It denionstrates 

 the identity of cause of two virtually indexjendent centers of the dis- 

 ease. It also suggests a double infection; the first causing the few 

 deep ulcers and probably only c\ very slight general infection; the 

 second invading the entire body, producing rupture of the blood ves- 

 sels by a necrosis of the vascular walls. 



Another outbreak near the city of Washington presented the same 

 features. The spleen of the animals Avhich succumbed contained the 

 bacteria of hog-cliolera only. 



The Bacterium of Hog-cholera in Nebi^aska Outbreaks . 



Early in March of the present year (188G) Dr. W. H. Rose was sent 

 to the West to collect material for the study of hog-cholera, in order 

 that a comi^arison with the disease as it exists in the East might be 

 made. Is the disease identical with that described in the Second An- 

 nual Report? If the cause can be jDroved the same, the diseases must 

 necessarily be regarded as identical. 



It was thought best to use the spleen, which has nearly always fur- 

 nished pure cultures of the specific bacterium, and which, in the 

 great majority of the cases, contains tlie bacteria in such numbers that 

 they may be easily detected in cover-glass preparations. The spleen 

 was removed from the body of pigs killed for that purpose and placed 

 in a bottle plugged with cotton wool, which had been sterilized at 

 150° C. Spleen pulp was rubbed upon slides, dried, and sent with the 

 bottles. 



Ten animals were examined in all, about three from Kansas and 

 the rest from three different places in Nebfaska. From the notes 

 sent there seemed to be little doubt that the lesions resembled those 

 described in the preceding report very closely. As to the spleens, 

 none of them arrived at the laboratory in good condition. Some of 

 them were partially decomposed; others were covered with fungi and 

 zoogloea of micrococci. Cover-glass preparations revealed a variety of 

 forms, most of them large bacilli, some spore-bearing. In only one 



