DISEASES OF THE CONJUNCTIVA 77 



''in the mouths of pigeons, dead from an infectious 

 form of diphtheria which prevailed in some parts of 

 Germany among these birds and among chickens." 

 The latter he obtained ''from the pseudomembranous 

 exudation in the mouths of calves suffering from an 

 infectious form of diphtheria." Because these organ- 

 isms differ in many respects from the true Klebs-LofHer 

 bacillus, it does not indicate that they are less dangerous 

 to man. We believe that this and many other diseases 

 are imparted to the human being through the lower 

 animals. For this reason, pet animals, when suffering 

 with diseases of the eyes of a membranous nature, 

 should be isolated from children, for these are the very 

 parts handled and stroked by their innocent hands, and 

 they unconsciously become infected by wiping their 

 own eyes. The result may be a severe conjunctivitis of 

 the child's eyes, possibly the loss of an eye, or even the 

 loss of Hfe. Law quotes several cases of infection of the 

 human being from fowls suffering with membranous 

 conjunctivitis. "Four attendants contracted the dis- 

 ease from sick fowls at a time when no other cases 

 existed in the human population. Diphtheria prevailed 

 in fowls, and soon, also, in those who fed them. A 

 diphtheritic chicken conveyed the disease with fatal 

 effect to a child which fondled it." 



With this and other testimony in favor of the con- 

 tagiousness of membranous affections of the conjunctiva 

 of chickens, it is best to isolate them from the rest of the 



