204 Manual of Veterinary Microbiology. 



trated; in many places the epithelium is desquamated, 

 and occasionally there are ulcerations in way of forma- 

 tion. 



The blood vascular glands (spleen, lymph nodes, 

 Peyer's patches) are tumefied by congestion, exuda- 

 tion and extravasation ; the kidneys, lungs and heart 

 always show injection and even extravasations. In 

 rare cases there are multiple lesions of broncho-pneu- 

 monia. 



The germ of rouget is a very fine, cylindrical bacil- 

 lus recalling that of mouse septicaemia ; (1) it measures 

 Ifi to 2// in length by 0-1// to 0-1 5// in thickness. It is 

 found in the blood, especially in the fine capillaries, in 

 contact with their internal wall ; it also exists in the 

 exudates and in all the diseased organs : liver, spleen, 

 kidneys, lymphatic glands, marrow of bones, etc.; in 

 the fsecal matters, and in the urine. This agent should 

 not be confounded with a large rod which is found in 

 the blood in most diseased pigs and which does not 



(1) Mouse septicaemia was obtained experimentally by Koch, by 

 inoculating putrefied blood under the skin of those animals. The 

 disease is easily transmitted to house mic^T\hilst field mice are 

 refractory. The microbes show much resemblance with those of 

 rouget; they have the same form, the same dimensions, are rather 

 anaerobic than aerobic, and both take the Gram and Weigert 

 stains. In gelatin, stab cultures of mouse septicaemia give colo- 

 nies with radiating branches like those of rouget, but the rays are 

 confounded with each other, whilst those of rouget are distinct ; 

 gelatin is not fluidified by either. Potato is poorly or not at all 

 adapted to their vegetation. Both become much elongated in 

 cultures. The pigeon succumbs with equal rapidity to rouget and 

 mouse septicaemia. The rabbit, on the other hand, is much more 

 sensitive to the former of these diseases. Both produce, in the 

 pigeon and the mouse, enlargement of the spleen and congestive 

 lesions of the different organs. 



