1GO DEPAKTMEXT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The solutions of sugar used were made with crystallized sugar, and a little tartrate 

 of ammonia and ashes of yeast were added to furnish the nitrogen and salts required for 

 the growth of fungi. 



All the. apparatus was thoroughly cleansed previous to use, by washing with alcohol 

 and freshly-boiled distilled water, and the solutions of sugar, milk, beef juice, etc., were 

 thoroughly boiled; and, if filtered, reboiled before they were used. 



SERIES I. EXAMINATIONS OF BLOOD AND SECRETIONS FROM CATTLE AFFECTED WITH 



CONTAGIOUS PLEURO PNEUMONIA. 



A cow, four years old, died with the usual symptoms of pleuropneumonia, near Wash 

 ington, on the 10th day of February, 1869. Examination was made twenty minutes after 

 death. The lungs were stuffed with exudation, and the pleural cavity contained a quantity 

 of turbid, very fetid liquid, which, under the microscope, appeared full of actively moving 

 monads and bacteria. No communication was found between the lung and the pleural 

 cavity, but it is not positive that such did not exist. The blood, under a magnifying 

 power of 1,200 diameters, presented no abnormal appearance. Vacuum tubes were filled 

 with the blood, and specimens of the pleural fluid and of the bile were also preserved. 

 The latter presented no unusual appearance under the microscope. 



Experiment 1, February 10, 1869. Three six-ounce isolation-flasks were prepared; 

 an ounce of Tourtelot s extract of beef placed in each, boiled five minutes, and allowed 

 to cool to 90 Fahrenheit. To the first were added the contents of one of the vacuum 

 tubes from the cow above referred to ; to the second that of a tube of blood from a healthy 

 cow ; to the third, nothing. The flasks were then placed in a water bath, and kept at a 

 temperature of 85 Fahrenheit. On the 14th of February the flasks were opened. N . 1 

 contained large numbers of motionless bacteria, single and in pairs; No. 2 contained 

 a very few of the same; No 3 contained none. The flasks were kept one week 

 longer, at the end of which time there was no change from the appearances above men 

 tioned. 



Experiment 2, February 10, 1869. Six watch-glasses were arranged as follows : 

 No. 1 contained pulp of fresh lemon and pleuropneumonic blood; No. 2 contained pulp 

 of fresh potato and pleuropneumonic blood; No. 3 contained pulp of fresh lernon and 

 healthy blood; No. 4 contained pulp of fresh potato and healthy blood; No. 5 contained 

 pulp of fresh lemon alone; No 6 contained pulp of fresh potato alone. All the watch- 

 glasses were placed in a culture apparatus, which was kept at 80 Fahrenheit in a water 

 bath. February 14th a beautiful growth of Aspergillus glaucus (Lk.) and Penicillium 

 glaucum (Fr.) appeared on watch-glasses Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 most profusely on Nos. 1 

 and 3. Watch-glass No. 4 contained nothing. 



Experiment 3, February 10, 1869. Six watch-glasses were arranged, three with pulp 

 of lemon, and three with potato. To four of them a few drops of the pleural liquid were 

 added. They were placed in the culture apparatus, and in four days aspergillus and peni- 

 cillium were in fruit in all. 



Experiment 4, February 10, 1869. This was a duplicate of experiment 1, with the 

 exception that bile was used instead of blood. At the end of ten days careful examina 

 tion failed to discover any organic forms in either of the flasks. 



