520 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



Whether the ulceration of the lymphatic structures in the ileum, on 

 the one hand, and the necrosis of the mucous membrane of the large 

 intestine on the other, are differential characters in the two diseases, 

 still remains to be determined. In conuectiou with the bacteriological 

 investigations, Scbottelius finds in cases of swine plague besides the 

 tine bacillus, a larger one always present, resembling bacillus suhtiUs, 

 and without the power of movement. This microbe grew quite well 

 on gelatine and had no efl'ect on mice, rabbits, and pigs. Its pres- 

 ence is explained by the author as being due to the ulcerations in the 

 intestine through which it enters the system during life. Our own 

 experience in dealing with swine x^lagne is thus strikingly' confirmed. 

 We encountered not one and the same microbe, but many and different 

 forms in the blood as well as in the serous exudates of chronic cases. 



The investigations of Cornevin {Premiere etudes sur le rougct du pore, 

 1885) are marred by a want of precision in describing the specific mi- 

 crobe. If Cornevin had applied the recent methods of culture by which 

 bacteria maybe well characterized, some light niight»have been shed on 

 the question whether both rougct and swine plague or rougct alone pre- 

 vail in France. We limit ourselves to quoting all that is stated con- 

 cerning the microbe of rouget in his monograph: 



If a drop of culture liquid from an advanced generation (genernlion clev6e) is ex- 

 amined niicroscopically, it is found to contain large numbers of line granulations, 

 punctiforra, or in the form of a Cgnre-of-eigbt. refrangent, slightly motile, chiefly 

 isolated, some united in pairs, threes, or fours. These granulations or cocci, which wo 

 have already seen in the blood, are the agents of the virulence, the sj>eciflc microbes of 

 rouget. 



In a series of generations ih vHro, their form, originally varied, becomes regular and 

 their dimensions uniform. In these conditions their multiplicatiou seems to take place 

 only by budding ; on the side of the micrococcus there" appears a bud which grow.s, 

 and finally separates to undergo in turn the same process. 



But if the examination is made on recent cultures, particularly those inoculated 

 witTi products from rabbit or rat, or with those from a pigeon affected with chronic 

 rougct, one perceives, rods, motile, short, with rounded extremities mingled with i)unc- 

 tiform organisms. 



From this description one might be induced to infer that Cornevin 

 had under observation the bacterium of swine plague, rather than the 

 bacillus of rouget. The absence of any other biological facts, however, 

 makes any conclusion hazardous. JMoreover the budding of micrococci 

 must be looked upon with suspicion. 



M. Baillet {Becherchcs sur le rouget ou mal rouge dn iwrc. Rccneil de 

 Medecine Veterinaire, 1884, p. 3G0), who also studied rouget in France, 

 describes the microbe ;is being "in two oval sections, united in such a 

 manner to give the whole the form of a figure 8." He speaks of it as 

 being "endowed with great mobility," Here, again, Ave are reminded of 

 the bacterium of swine plague, but this meager statement might describe 

 a number of fonns, including hacterium termo. Baillet succeeded in pro- 

 ducing some disease in two guinea-pigs by inoculating cultures of this 

 microbe. Death took place in ten days. The autopsy showed " con- 

 gestion of liver and lungs, reddening of the intestinal mucosa ; a con- 

 gested state of the ganglia, and an injection of the peritoneum and the 

 pleura, characteristic of mal rougeP Three rabbits, one dog, and two 

 pigs failed to take the disease alter inoculation. 



Very recently an assistant of Pasteur's, Dr. Soux {Comptes Eendus, 

 Soc. de Biologie, 1885, p. 684), in exhibiting j)hotographs of the microbe 

 of rouget, speaks of it as one of the smallest that have been studied, 

 since its dimensions in the tissues do not exceed 1 to 2 micromillimeters. 

 In the blood, under an amplification not greater than 450, the organism 

 appears in the form of a very elongated 8 {huit tris allongS). It is in 



