THE ALIMENTARY CANAL AS A SOURCE OF CONTAGION 21 



4 ozs. of liquid were found in the peritoneal sac. It was only slightly 

 turbid, the turbidity being in great measure due to a flocculent precipitate, 

 and was not blood-stained. On microscopic examination, however, most 

 characteristic Louping-ill rods were found in it abundantly, some sporing, 

 others elongating into threads. 



On examining the contents of the small intestine, and more particu- 

 larly the secretion on the surface of the mucosa, the same bacillus as 

 that in the peritoneal liquid was found in tremendous abundance. It 

 seemed, in fact, along with a little mucus and shed epithelium, to con- 

 stitute the entire moist discharge lying on the mucous membrane. 



The remaining viscera were somewhat congested, but otherwise not 

 abnormal. 



On May 30th, anaerobic cultures from the mucus of the bowel were 

 made on glucose- beef- tea heated to 80" C. for twenty minutes, and were 

 subsequently incubated. They grew luxuriantly, and by June 6th the 

 culture had settled down at the bottom of the test-tube in the form of a 

 dull grey-coloured deposit Examined microscopically, the deposit was 

 seen to consist of a rod identical with that of Louping-ill. It was 

 comparatively thick, varied somewhat in length, and, at the time of 

 examination at least, was not motile and did not appear to be sporing. 



On June 3rd, 1903, 5 c.c. of this culture, which had been allowed to 

 grow for forty-eight hours, were injected subcutaneously into the left 

 thigh of a Cheviot hogg from " clean " land, side by side with 5 c.c. of a 

 I to 10 solution of glacial acetic acid. 



On the following day, the inoculated limb was considerably swollen ; 

 the animal was quite lame, and continued so up to June 6th, when it was 

 slaughtered by bleeding. The object in doing so was, among other 

 things, to ascertain whether the pure bacillus, without spores, introduced 

 subcutaneously increases in virulence by transference from one sheep to 

 another. The animal thus slaughtered had lived for three days after 

 inoculation, and although very ill might have recovered. 



The inoculated leg was found to be considerably swollen from sub- 

 cutaneous oedema, and a minute and quite superficial abscess had formed 

 at the point of inoculation. The whole of the inner aspect of the 

 inoculated thigh and the front of the abdomen, together with the lower 

 part of the inoculated leg, were very cedematous and blood-stained. 

 The effused liquid contained the same bacillus as that injected, that from 



(21) 



