REPORT OF RESULTS OF EXAMINATIONS OF FLUIDS OF DISEASED CATTLE WITH REFERENCE 



TO PRESENCE OF CUYPTOGAMIC GROWTHS. 



SIR : In accordance with your request, and with instructions received from the Sur 

 geon General United States Army, to investigate the question of the possible cryptogamic 

 origin of cattle diseases, we have carefully examined many samples of blood and secre 

 tions from diseased cattle, furnished us from time to time by Professor Gamgee, and have 

 experimented with them in various ways. The results of our investigations we have to 

 report as follows. 



The questions which we have endeavored to answer are these : 



1st. Are any forms of cryptogamic growth present during life in the blood or secre 

 tions of the diseased animals? 



2d. If so, of what character are they, and what is their probable source? 



Supposing the foregoing queries answered, there would still remain the problem of the 

 nature of the connection between the cryptogam and the disease, a problem which we have 

 not attempted to discuss. 



As the fungi are the only cryptogams which it is necessary to consider, reference will 

 be made to these only. 



The fungi which are supposed to cause disease in animals are, when in their perfect 

 state, or at least in such a state that they can be identified, composed of mycelium and 

 spores. But according to the advocates of the cryptogamic origin of disease, neither the 

 mycelium nor the spores of the fungus that produces the malady are necessarily or even 

 usually to be found in the fluids or tissues of the affected animal, their theory being that 

 the disease is produced by the presence in the economy of rnimite particles of protoplasm, 

 (rnicrococcus of Hallier,) resulting from development and breaking up of the spores or 

 mycelium of a fungus ; from which granules, they assert, can be developed perfect forms of 

 fungi, of recognizable genera and species, by proper &quot;cultivation&quot; outside of the body of 

 the animal fluids containing them. 



Thus, when the blood of a pleuropneumonic cow, fresh from the vein, is examined 

 with a magnifying power of 1,200 diameters linear, nothing distinctive or unusual may 

 appear; the red and white blood corpuscles may be perfectly normal, and nothing like 

 spores or mycelium will be seen. But there will probably be, either single or in masses, 

 some minute granules or molecules appearing as glistening points scattered over the field. 

 If such are not present at first, by keeping the blood exposed to the air for a few hours 

 they may be found in abundance. 



Now, it is these little molecules which are asserted to cause disease by their presence 

 in the animal economy, and which are claimed to be vegetable in their nature, as being 

 developed from and capable of reproducing certain common fungi, popularly known as 

 rusts, smuts, or molds. 



To prove the truth of the latter statement, experiments have been made by various 

 investigators on the principle of placing the fluids containing the rnicrococcus in the proper 

 conditions as regards warmth and moisture for the development of fungi ; supplying the 

 germs with suitable pabulum for their nourishment, and adopting such precautions as are 

 possible against the fortuitous introduction of spores of fungi from the atmosphere. And 



