182 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 



Sheep and calves inoculated subcutaneously, or in the trachea, 

 with a cubic centimetre of culture, of serosity, or of virulent 

 pus, did not die ; they suffered, however, from intense fever, 

 and remained prostrate, without appetite, for some days, but 

 soon regained their normal condition. 



Intra-pulmonary inoculation was more effective, as a calf of 

 eight months and a ram of two years, inoculated in the right 

 lung with five drops of peritoneal pus from a guinea-pig, died 

 in less than forty-eight hours with fibrinous pleurisy and exuda- 

 tive broncho-pneumonia, analogous to that observed in American 

 cattle, the lesions being very rich in bacteria. Nocard concludes 

 that the disease does not resemble any known in France, and 

 considers it is a malady special to American cattle, and is 

 inclined to think that it is the affection known in the Western 

 States as the " corn-stalk disease," described by Gamgee, and 

 more recently by Billings, of whose observations there is an 

 account by Bowhill in the Veterinary Journal for February 1892. 

 And the question arose as to whether the importation of this 

 microbic broncho-pneumonia would prove a source of danger to 

 France. M. Nocard was able, however, from his close observa- 

 tion of facts, and the experimental study of the conditions of 

 contagion, to state that the malady had only very feeble con- 

 tagious properties. In three very large importations in which 

 the disease was detected, notwithstanding the considerable 

 number of animals in each, and their long and close contact 

 with each other, the affection did not spread, and the cases 

 remained isolated ones. From all these facts, his opinion was 

 there was no urgent danger, or any necessity for special measures. 



Dr. Fleming, in a leader upon M. Nocard's observations (see 

 Veterinary Journal, October 1891), says : — " The question that 

 now arises on this side of the Channel is one of some moment, 

 not only from an economical, but also from a pathological point 

 of view. Many cargoes of American cattle have been con- 

 demned because it was found that one or two in each lot were 

 affected with what was supposed to be the specific lung plague. 

 United States veterinary surgeons have strenuously denied the 

 existence of that malady among cattle, and Professor Williams 

 on two occasions, when the matter has been referred to him, has 

 concluded that lung plague was not present, but the lesions were 

 those of catarrhal or broncho pneumonia ; and now Nocard finds 



