554 CLINICAL VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 



a fowl killed on the thirty-ninth day was steatomatous, but contained 

 no granulations. 



To sum up, inoculation of members of the Gallinacese with mam- 

 malian tuberculosis seldom proves fatal. In most cases it is well 

 borne ; towards the second month it sometimes excites certain tem- 

 porary disturbance ; finally, in rare cases it produces a crop of tuber- 

 culous sfranulations in the viscera. 



v.— SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. 



Having arrived at the end of our investigation, we think it well to 

 summarise our principal conclusions. 



It has long been known that the Gallinacese suffer from a disease 

 resembling tuberculosis, characterised by the production of granula- 

 tions and caseous masses of varying size. These lesions especially 

 affect the liver, spleen, and peritoneum. The intestine often shows 

 ulceration ; the intestinal contents then contain bacilli, which serve to 

 transmit disease and explain certain outbreaks. 



The histological characters of the tubercles differ in the fowl and in 

 the pheasant. In the fowl the tubercle consists of a clump of epi- 

 thelioid cells, the central portion of which has undergone hyaline necro- 

 biosis, and is surrounded by a border of special cells. In the pheasant 

 the lesion is at first formed by nests of epithelioid cells, the central 

 portion of which afterwards disappears in consequence of molecular 

 degeneration ; simultaneously a connective-tissue ring is formed, which 

 undergoes amyloid degeneration, and surrounds cavities resembling 

 blood-vessels. 



All these growths contain bacilli presenting the same appearance, 

 and behaving to colouring agents in the same way, as those found in 

 the tuberculosis of man and of other mammals. 



Experiment appeared the only way of determining the connection 

 between tuberculosis of mammals and that of birds. 



Our research may be divided into two parts. 



In the first group of experiments we studied the avian virus, and 

 found that it is readily communicated to fowls. Injected into the 

 veins or peritoneal cavity it produces lesions resembling those of 

 spontaneous tuberculosis. 



When introduced into the abdomen of the rabbit the avian behaves 

 very similarly to the human bacillus, producing a generahsed outbreak 

 of granulations in the viscera. 



In the guinea-pig the results are more variable. We inoculated 

 twenty-seven guinea-pigs intra-peritoneally ; thirteen of these showed 



