268 Manual of Ycterinary Microbiology. 



not uncommon to see it localized on the regions cov- 

 ered by the saddle or girth. 



Actinomycosis. 



Actinomycosis is a disease, most frequently of a 

 local character, caused by a vegetable parasite, the 

 actinomyces. The lesions by which it is character- 

 ized have long been recognized in practice, but their 

 true nature was entirely unknown before the inves- 

 tigations of Bollinger, the different names, such as 

 osteosarcoma, osteoporosis, spina-ventosa, cancer or farcy 

 of the bones, etc., by which the maxillary tumors of 

 cattle were designated reflecting the A^ery diverse and 

 somewhat vague opinions of the various writers upon 

 these productions. 



The discovery of a special fungus in the majority 

 of these tumors has enabled us to classify them with 

 the parasitic infections and explain their great in- 

 tractability. 



The facts established by the authors in their first 

 communication on actinomycosis have been repeat- 

 edly confirmed since then in both human and vet- 

 erinary medicine, and, referring here to the latter 

 branch of medicine only, the lesions of this disease 

 have been found in other parts of the body than in 

 the maxillse. They have been met with in the 

 tongue, pharynx, reticulum, liver, nasal cavities, 

 larynx, lungs, neck, and vertebrse. 



In the pig they have been observed in the muscles, 

 lungs, amygdalae and mammae; in the horse in cer- 

 tain cases of scirrhous cord. A case has also been re- 

 corded in the dog. 



Characters of the parasite. — The actinomyces (ray 



