136 EEPOET OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY* 



sixty-five shoats, weighing at the time from 80 to 160 pounds each. 

 They were kept in a one-acre lot at the time the disease appeared and 

 fed upon all the new corn they would eat, together with slops from 

 the house. The pigs were all dead at the beginning of December. 

 Of this herd, three pigs were examined on November 13, i. e., in the 

 middle of the outbreak. 



November 13. Pig No. 1, black female shoat, died either yesterday afternoon or 

 last night, during which there had been a heavy frost. Superficial inguinal glands 

 very much enlarged, dark red. On section, mottled with grayish lines and circles, 

 probably due to cell infiltration of the lymph channels. The Ventral lobes of both 

 lungs collapsed, flesh red. Broncho-pneumonia in its early stages ; no pleuritis. 

 Spleen but moderately enlarged, not congested. In peritoneal cavity, on coils of 

 large intestine, a few stringy, loose deposits of fibrin. Kidneys normal. On the 

 mucosa of the large intestine a very thin membranous deposit not much thicker 

 than heavy paper. It is easily peeled off, showing a deep wine-red surface beneath. 

 The blind end of the caecum is converted by a transverse partition of inflammatory 

 origin into a closed cavity larger than a hen's egg. The walls of this sac are at least 

 half an inch thick, and the surface of the partition facing the colon is covered by a 

 thick yellowish mass, partly necrotic, partly neoplastic. This may have been the 

 result of ulceration. An agar culture of the spleen made with a bit of tissue re- 

 mained sterile. 



A portion of the mucosa of large intestine and of the diseased lung tissue were 

 placed in sterile, plugged test tubes and kept in the cold. 



On December 1, a portion of each was torn up in sterile bouillon and injected 

 hypodermically into two rabbits. The one inoculated from the intestine remained 

 alive and well, but the other died in three days. There was a sanguinolent, cellular 

 thickening of the subcutis of the inoculated thigh and adjacent groin. The thigh 

 muscles under the exudate were of a grayish color and faintly ecchymosed. There 

 was peritonitis indicated by ecchymosis of the serous surface of caecum and a 

 membranous exudate on spleen and liver. The dorsal wall of the peritoneal cavity 

 and the serosa of rectum were also involved. Liver, spleen, and kidneys much 

 congested. On section the medullary portion of kidneys wells up slightly above 

 the cortical portion. In left lung five to six foci of dark red hepatization. A cover- 

 glass applied to the exudate on spleen shows an immense number of cocci and a 

 small number of leucocytes. In blood and spleen pulp they are rare. An agar cult- 

 ure from the latter and a bouillon culture of the former are both pure cultures of 

 what seems to be the swine plague germ. 



About one month later (January 3) a fresh rabbit was inoculated from an agar 

 culture meanwhile renewed several times. A little of the growth was diluted in 

 sterile beef infusion and cubic centimeter injected subcutaneously. The rabbit 

 died on the fourth day, with extensive lesions of the subcutis of abdomen and thigh, 

 partly yellowish, pasty suppuration, partly ecchymotic. The peritoneal cavity was 

 affected in the same way, the lesions being exudative , partly hemorrhagic. The same 

 organisms injected were found in the exudate and internal organs on cover-glass 

 preparations and by cultivation. 



Pig No. 2, small red male. Hair almost entirely shed; very much emaciated; 

 died yesterday. Lymphatic glands of inguinal region enlarged, pale red. Changes 

 similar to those in No. 1, but much less marked. Lungs normal, excepting the very 

 tip of one lobe. Spleen moderately enlarged but considerably congested. Kidneys 

 normal. On opening abdomen, the ulceration of the large intestine was manifest 

 from the serous surface of the coils, between which in the meso-colon there was 

 a gelatinous exudate; the meso-cplic glands as large as small beans. The caecum 

 was glued fast to the adjacent kidney and a clot as large as a marble adherent to 

 the former in another place. When opened, four deep ulcers were, found in the 

 CEecum. When the superficial slough was scraped away the tissue beneath was 

 found infiltrated with blood. The mucosa of entire colon was beset with super- 

 ficial sloughs, chiefly on the ridges, and small round ulcers more sparingly dissemi- 

 nated. 



Portions of the diseased mucosa were cut out and preserved in the cold in sterile, 

 plugged test tubes. November 20, a rabbit was inoculated by placing a portion of an 

 ulcer under the skin of the thigh. This rabbit lived until December 7, seventeen days 

 after inoculation.. Over the pubis a tumor as Targe as a hen's egg, which seems to 

 consist of the thigh muscles greatly enlarged by abscesses between the bundles of 

 fibers; contents of abscesses cheesy. Over the abdomen thickening of subcutis, 

 with sero-gelatinous exudate on periphery of thickened area. On epicardjum a 

 gelatinous deposit, and in heart muscle about six whitish, homogeneous masses 



