Goats and the Malta FeVer.299 



amount of ease by the ordinary laboratory methods of 

 inoculation, that is, "by the subcutaneous and intra- 

 venous injection of living cultivations of M. melitensis, and 

 also by the introduction into the system of food artificially 

 or naturally infected." On the other hand, " no experi- 

 mental results were available with regard to infection by 

 contact." Contagion from one goat to another was shown 

 to have been carried in great measure by means of the 

 goatherds' hands when soiled with infective milk, it being 

 introduced through the skin wherever the least abrasion 

 appeared. The disease can be conveyed in this manner 

 also to the human subject, as well as through the 

 alimentary canal. The Maltese goat has a very long 

 udder, and it often happens when in full milk that the 

 teats actually touch the ground, so that in walking about 

 abrasion of these exposed parts may easily occur if such 

 parts come in contact with excreta or other dirt, thus 

 providing another means of infection. Sexual intercourse 

 between goats is also regarded as responsible for the 

 transmission of the disease, strong evidence in proof of 

 this having been adduced in the course of the observations. 

 Malta Fever was found to be much more prevalent amongst 

 the officers than the rank and file of the Army, and 

 similarly amongst the richer inhabitants of the island 

 than the poor, for the simple reason that " the poor man 

 rarely uses milk as an article of diet, and this is particu- 

 larly the case with the goatherds themselves, who keep 

 their goats for profit and not to provide food directly for 

 themselves and their families." 



Fe*>er \7nKnoton in England. 



As the circumstances in connection with this disease 

 may lead people who are not thoroughly acquainted with 

 all the facts to give goats and goats' milk a wide berth, 

 in the fear that this disorder might be introduced into 



