AVIAN TUBERCULOSIS. — EXPERIMENTAL STUDY, 549 



animals, that tuberculosis had never occurred in his fowl run, and 

 that during the previous four years no contagious disease had occurred 

 there ; but draw attention to the fact that two fowls killed respec- 

 tively eleven and twenty-four days after inoculation were free of any 

 visible tubercle, whilst the last three fowls, killed thirty-five, thirty- 

 eight, and fifty-nine days after inoculation, had become tuberculous. 



In these three fowls the tubercles were small, greyish, and trans- 

 parent, unquestionably recent. On histological examination they were 

 seen to be composed of simple epithelioid nests without trace of 

 degeneration. Our sections showed in an absolutely unanswerable 

 way that the granulations of the fowl inoculated with human tubercu- 

 losis, and killed on the 35th day, were less advanced in their develop- 

 ment than those of the fowl inoculated with avian tuberculosis, which 

 died on the thirty-ninth day. 



We are, therefore, convinced that the tuberculosis was the result 

 of inoculation. 



But the fact which seems to us most important is, that human 

 tuberculosis could be transmitted from one fowl to another ; the lesions 

 were well marked, notwithstanding which this animal, like the preced- 

 ing, seemed little affected by the presence of these visceral granula- 

 tions ; it had not lost flesh in the least, and we were exceedingly 

 surprised at the result of the post-mortem. Thus, in the same way that 

 avian tuberculosis may, in mammals, produce growths of minute 

 tubercles without interfering with general health, and without causing 

 emaciation, human tuberculosis may in the fowl produce specific 

 lesions, which are very well tolerated. 



(hi) We have to record a third series of experiments, in which we 

 utilised the caseous magma from a case of tuberculosis of the testicle. 

 It seemed interesting to utilise this local lesion, for a virus attenuated 

 for man might very well be more active for the fowl. 



With the material from this tuberculous testicle we inoculated four 

 fowls, one pheasant, and two guinea-pigs. The guinea-pigs died from 

 visceral tuberculosis, in fifty-four and fifty-six days respectively. The 

 birds all resisted, and when killed, after an interval varying between 

 62 and 248 days, their viscera showed no appreciable changes. 



These results are indicated in the following table. It will be seen 

 that we inoculated a guinea-pig with the liver of a fowl killed at the 

 end of seventy-two days. The result was negative. The bacilli had 

 therefore been destroyed, or changed by their sojourn of two and a 

 half months in the body of the fowl. 



