66 THE GROUSE DISEASE chap. 



oedema, contains only a few bacilli ; the spleen in the 

 guinea-pig and rabbit is not enlarged, in the mouse 

 only slightly so, and contains few of the bacilli. In 

 all these respects there is, therefore, a complete 

 analogy between the classical malignant oedema and 

 the one under consideration. 



Cultivations injected in sufficient quantities sub- 

 cutaneously in guinea-pigs and mice and rabbits 

 produce the same fatal disease as the garden earth, 

 and there exists also in this respect an analogy 

 between the classical malignant oedema and our 

 disease, since it is well known through Gaffky and 

 others that in order to produce a fatal result with 

 cultivations of the classical oedema bacillus, large 

 doses must be injected. There is, however, a slight 

 difference between the two diseases consisting in this, 

 that in the classical malignant oedema the oedema 

 is generally more extensive, more distinctly mal- 

 odorous, and more clearly associated with gangrene 

 of the adjacent muscle than in our disease, though 

 also in this latter the changes are sometimes very 

 severe and not inferior in degree to those in the 

 classical malignant oedema. 



Owing to the bacillus in our malignant oedema 

 growing well on the surface of ordinary nutrient 

 gelatine, cultures of the bacillus can very easily be 

 obtained from the oedema fluid. These cultures 



