THE ALIMENTARY CANAL AS A SOURCE OF CONTAGION 1 3 



SO full of a notable micro-organism that it could be readily detected by 

 microscopic examination, the other in which the organism was so 

 sparsely distributed in the liquid that it could not at first be detected 

 microscopically, but in which the same specific rod developed abundantly 

 on the liquid being incubated at a body temperature. 



The turbid liquid was found in those animals which died within a few 

 days, and with acute toxic symptoms, the clear liquid in those which 

 lived longer and in which the disease went through all its three stages. 



When the animal was slaughtered during the height of the malady 

 the peritoneal liquid was always of the clear variety, the turbid variety 

 was found only where the animal died a natural death. 



Examination of the Peritoneal Liquid. — And here, perhaps, I may 

 be allowed to emphasise the necessity for examining the peritoneal 

 liquid in all diseases of a contagious nature. Casual reference is made 

 to its examination in the literature on such affections, but it seems 

 to me that the importance of examining it as a routine procedure 

 has not been sufficiently recognised. The morbific agent in all these 

 diseases of the sheep is invariably present in far greater quantity, and 

 freer from contamination, within the peritoneum than in any other 

 part of the body. The liquid can be drawn up in a pipette and sealed 

 off with ease, and, so long as the organism contained in it is sporing, 

 may be retained in an active condition for a matter of years. I have 

 in my possession peritoneal liquid which is three to four years old, 

 and which is just as potent to reproduce the particular malady when 

 introduced subcutaneously, as it was when removed from the original 

 host. 



Description of the Organism. — The organism {Bacillus chorece 

 paralyticce, Hamilton) possesses the following characteristics : — It is a 

 large coarse-looking rod, sometimes elongating into a thread, or, it may 

 be, a chain of rods. The actual measurements, as taken directly from 

 the organism in the peritoneal liquid, I have found to be : — In one case, 

 when not sporing, 5*6 x r4yu, 7'0 x i'4/x ; and, when sporing, 4*2 x r4/x. 

 In another case, when not sporing 2'8/x, 4"2/>t, S'^ijl, 7fx, 9*8ya, and 

 ir2/x X i"05/x to r4/i. The spores in the latter case measured vo^fx to 

 r4/x in length. Its dimensions, therefore, like all the members of the 

 group, vary considerably, chiefly accounted for by the fact that involution 

 forms are almost always present. The ends are rounded, and it is 



(13) 



