676 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



lated, bounded by a membrane, and partly filled witli an inspissated 

 substance easily crumbled, and consisting entirely of round cells. 

 Tliere was also marked pleuritis. The pleura of tlie portions sent 

 ■was thickened, and a spongy membranous exudate, about %""^ thick, 

 had formed, which consisted also of small round cells exclusively. 



A number of plate cultures we^e made by shaking up pieces of lung 

 tissue and pleural exudate in gelatine and pouring it on plates. These _ 

 plates were, as a rule, negative. Inoculations into animals proved ' 

 more successful, however. 



Two mice were inoculated by placing bits of the lung tissue beneath the skin at 

 the root of the tail. One mouse died on the second day. Internal organs un- 

 changed; no local reaction; no bacteria to be seen on cover-glass preparations of 

 si)leen and liver. 



The second mouse died on the third day, though apparently well the day before. 

 In this animal the spleen was very dark and enlarged; liver also much congested. 

 In these two organs, as well as in the blood from the heart, oval bacteria were pres- 

 ent in large quantities. Plate cultures and liquid cultures of blood proved them to 

 be the immotile oval microbe already described. 



Two rabbits had been inoculated at the same time by placing a bit of the lung be- 

 neath the skin of the thigh on its inner aspect. One of them died in five days. The 

 local reaction, very slight, was limited to a small mass of pus in the subcutaneous 

 tissue. The muscular tissue was not involved. The internal organs were also un- 

 changed, but in all of them the microbe already descrilied Avas present in immense 

 numbers in the spleen and liver, fewer tn heart's blood and kidneys. Gelatine cult- 

 ures from spleen and liver and two liquid cultures of heart's blood contained only 

 the specific microbe. The second rabbit remamed well. 



Two mice inoculated subcutaneously with a liqi ."d culture derived from a gelatine 

 tube of the above rabbit died within tv.-enty hours, though each had received but 

 ^"'^ of liquid. The spleen and liver crowded with the injected microbe. 



From a tube culture in nutrient gelatine a tube of beef infusion was inoculated, 

 and on the following day a rabbit was inoculated hypodermically into the thigh with 

 a few drops, and two pigeons, beneath the skin of the pectoral, with i« to f « from the 

 same culture. In the former bird the needle entered the pectoral muscle. The rab- 

 bit was found dead next morning, not longer than eighteen hours after inoculation. 

 At the place of injection a few ecchymoses and distended vessels on the inner sur- 

 face of the skin. A lymph gland near by deeply reddened. A few threads of fibri- 

 nous exudate on coils of in testine. Lungs hypostatic. Immense numbers of bacteria 

 in liver, spleen, and heart's blood, most of them showing the characteristic stain at 

 the ends. 



The pigeon which had received ^™ into the pectoral died in twenty-four hours. In 

 this bird the pectoral was discolored, parboiled for a depth of one-half inch and over 

 an area of about 1 square inch. The subcutis was filled with a reddish serous efl;u- 

 Bion, the skin slightly thickened. Innumerable bacteria in this local lesion. Fatty 

 degeneration of liver. A small portion of each lung deeply congested. Vessels of 

 duodenum and testes injected. Immense numbers of bacteria in blood from the 

 heart, in the liver and lungs, showing the characteristic stain at the ends very well. 

 The other pigeon was not affected. 



The fowls inoculated with i" of a liquid culture of this microbe remained unaf- 

 fected. Similarly two pigs, which had received each 5'='= beneath the skin of the 

 thigh, remained well. 



Specimens from the Mason City soap factory were like the first. 

 The lung tissue was enlarged, solidified, and of a pale reddish color. 

 When sections were made into this airless mass the cut surface showed 

 a reddi^ih ground, in winch were embedded whitish specks about i to 

 1 micromillimeter in diameter. Tliese protruded slightly, giving the 

 surface a granular appearance. Tliey could be lifted out, and when 

 crushed upon a cover-glass and stained small round and larger e])it]ie- 

 loid cells were found to make up the mass. Bacteria of different 

 kinds indicated post mortem multiplication. 



These lesions were therefore very much like those found in Illinois, 

 and there is no reason to doubt that they were caused by the same 

 agency. In all of the lungs thus far examined from which the same 



