vii INFECTION OF ANIMALS WITH PLAGUE 151 



that this sanguineous mucus contains also the B. pestis 

 derived from ruptured vessels; and certainly there is 

 no difficulty in producing plague in rats or guinea-pigs 

 injected subcutaneously or inoculated cutaneously with 

 such sanguineous mucus. As regards rats, therefore, 

 suffering acute (septicemic) plague, and the subjects 

 consequently of haemorrhage into the intestines, it is 

 reasonable to anticipate that their bowel discharges will 

 contain B. pestis ; that this is so is indeed clearly indicated 

 by experimental evidence. 1 



The kidney is another organ which in acute virulent 

 plague of the rat shows not only great congestion (the 

 vessels of all parts being distended by and filled with 

 blood), but exhibits also actual capillary haemorrhage, 

 particularly amongst the convoluted tubes of the cortex 

 and in the Malpighian tufts. On careful examination of 

 microscopic sections of the plague - kidney of the rat 

 B. pestis are found not only in the distended capillaries 

 of the glomeruli and between the uriniferous tubules, but 

 I have seen them and have described them as occurring 

 in the cavity of the Malpighian capsule and in uriniferous 

 tubules themselves. It follows, therefore, that occurrence 

 of B. pestis in the urine of such animals is to be con- 

 fidently expected ; indeed, in several animals (rats and 

 guinea-pigs) dead of (inoculated) acute virulent plague 

 the urine of the bladder was found distinctly tinged with 

 blood ; and such urine on injection into other rats and 

 guinea-pigs produced typical plague. 



Two instances will be sufficient to further prove this : — 



1 This I maintain notwithstanding that Mr. Hankin in an article in the 



Journal of Hygiene, vol. v. No. 1, appears to discard this mode of transmission, 



viz. by the bowel discharges of a plague rat. (But as to this see positive experi- 

 ments which follow.) 



