B E R K E L E 



GENcRAL 

 LIBRARY 



UNIVERSITY OF 

 CALIFORNIA 



AN EXPERIMENT IN THE TREATMENT OF 

 FURUNCULOSIS. 



DURING THE SUMMERS of 1911 and 1912 outbreaks of 

 disease amongst fish, and especially among the 

 balmomdae, were reported from some of the rivers in the 

 south-western part of England. These outbreaks were made 

 the subject of a report by Dr Masterman, of the Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries, assisted by Dr Arkwright, who 

 investigated the matter for the Government. Separate investi- 

 gations on "the same outbreaks were also carried on at the 

 laboratories of the Field, and also by Dr Adams at the Clinical 

 Research Association. The result arrived at by these inde- 

 pendent investigations showed that the fish were suffering from 

 a disease known as furunculosis. 



Furunculosis has been commented on in the Field on more 

 than one occasion, and the symptoms were given in an article, 

 " On Mortality in Trout," Feb. 6, 1909. The disease is caused 

 by a specific bacillus, Bacillus salmonicida. Dr Masterman's 

 report was commented on in the Field, June 1, 1912; and an 

 account of furunculosis, with the work done by Emmerich and 

 Weibel in 1894, and the further researches of Marianne Plehn 

 up to 1911, were described in an article, also in the Field, on 

 June 8, 1912, and in the same article the symptoms of thp 

 disease were fully described. These symptoms vary consider- 

 ably. With Emmerich and Weibel the "appearance of abscesses 

 in the muscles was a well-recognised symptom; in the recent 

 epidemic abscesses were frequently seen, but were not always 

 present. Sometimes all the fish snowed furuncles; at another 

 time these were the exception. The number, the size, and the 

 position vary considerably. The size may vary from that of a, 

 pin's head- to that of a five-shilling piece. Sometimes they lie 

 close under the skin and can be seen without dissection, as is 

 shown in the accompanying photographs, taken by Mr F. M. 

 Halford. 



Furuncle. 



FIG. 



