572 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G2. 



In animals dead for some hours the characteristic bacilH may 

 be found in the effusions, the organs, and even in the blood, but 

 never in a state of purity. They are most numerous in the peri- 

 toneal effusion, but invariably associated there with other bacilli — 

 some long, thin and filamentous, others broad and large, both 

 sporulating and probably of intestinal origin, and putrefactive, 

 while cocci, etc., may also be present. Sections of the inflamed 

 stomach mucosa (see photo-micrographs) show the blood-vessels 

 extremely congested, with small haemorrhages, some interstitial 

 oedema, and in the interstitial tissue especially, masses of the 

 characteristic bacilli apparently pure, in such a case as the one 

 killed for examination, or in experimental cases where examination 

 is made immediately after death ; then the distended blood-vessels 

 are quite free of any bacilli so far as microscopical examination 

 can determine. The necrosed liver areas also show the characteristic 

 bacilli in great numbers, the blood-vessels, however, containing 

 chiefly the larger and broader putrefactive bacilli which have 

 penetrated from the bowel in cases where death has preceded 

 post-mortem examination for some time. 



The organism in question is a strictly anaerobic bacillus, 

 and, as it is generally accompanied by other anaerobes, is extremely 

 difficult to separate. Even when secured in a pure state I have 

 never been able to grow it on plates or on slope media by any of 

 the ordinary anaerobic methods. In my experience the other 

 bacteria present in natural cases entirely inhibit the growth of 

 this bacillus in culture media ; and this fact I believe will be 

 found to explain the necessity experienced by Hamilton in his 

 experiments on Braxy in Scotland, and Willmot in his experiments 

 in Tasmania for employing, even with large doses of first cultures, 

 a solution of acetic acid, in order to increase the virulence of their 

 cultures. 



Considering the bacterial flora present in the large intestine 

 of all animals, not excluding the sheep, it would be surprising 

 if even prior to death in such a disease other putrefactive bacteria 

 did not reach the peritoneal effusions. That sheep, especially fat 

 sheep in wool, rapidly putrefy after death from whatever cause 

 is common knowledge to all sheepmen. I have seen carcases of sheep 

 dead of suffocation in trucks putrid and emphysematous, the skin 

 being livid, in six to ten hours. Even in cold weather I have 

 detected putrefactive organisms in fair numbers in the blood of 

 the right heart four hours after death by accident, and these must 

 have travelled from the intestine by way of the blood stream. 

 The wool, in addition to the subcutaneous fat, makes such an 

 animal a perfect incubator for putrefactive organisms by pre- 

 venting dissipation of the body heat. 



For these reasons I have found it necessary in order to obtain 

 the pathogenic organism in a state of purity to pass it repeatedly 

 through either small laboratory animals, such as guineapigs, or 

 through sheep. It is not only necessary to do so on account of the 



