Microbic Diseases Individually Considered. 327 



anaerobic. These characteristic chains are found in 

 the milk and in the wall of the excretory ducts. 



Action of physical and chemical agents. — The growth 

 of the microbe in cultures is checked by a trace of 

 boric acid; MM. Nocard and Mollereau, taking ad- 

 vantage of this peculiarity, injected on several occa- 

 sions at intervals of eight days 100 grams of a tepid 

 four per cent aqueous solution of boric acid into the 

 teats of the affected udders, the injection naturall}' 

 being made immediately after milking. The parjj,site 

 is also destroyed by a three per cent solution of car- 

 bolic acid ; the authors recommend this solution for 

 washing the hands of those who undertake the milk- 

 ing. By these measures they succeeded in arresting 

 the extension of the disease. 



Cultures. — Alkaline bouillon with the addition of 

 sugar or glycerin forms a medium well suited for its 

 growth ; at 35° it forms a mass of very long chains 

 which sometimes become agglomerated in silky flakes 

 which after several days are deposited ; the reaction 

 becomes acid in twenty-four to forty-eight hours; if 

 chalk be added to the bouillon so as to neutralize the 

 acid as it is produced, the culture is more vigorous 

 and retains its vitality longer. Crystals of lactate of 

 lime are often found at the bottom of the bulb. The 

 growth of this microbe, therefore, gives rise to the 

 lactic fermentation ; it can not, however, be identi- 

 fied with the lactic bacillus. Cultures almost in- 

 variably die after a few weeks. The microbe grows 

 also on the different solid media. 



Experimental inoculations. — Inoculation of pure cult- 

 ures into the teat reproduced the disease in the cow 

 and the goat; from the first day the inoculated udders 



