438 DISEASES OF THE BLOOD. 



the same season, and is intimately connected with climatic influences ; it 

 runs its course so rapidly that animals left healthy at night are found 

 dead in the morning ; and the pathological anatomy of braxy is the same 

 as that of " bradsot." 



To Ivar Nielsen, of Bergen, must be ascribed the honour of elucidating 

 the etiology of braxy. During the course of investigations, published 

 in 1888, lie found, partly in the local lesions of the intestinal track, partly 

 in the capillaries of the internal organs, a special bacillus, easy to distin- 

 guish from that of anthrax, of which he gives the following description : 



" The bacilli {B. gastromycocis-oris) are oval, of a length varying 

 from 2 to 6 micromillimetres, and a thickness of one micromillimetre. 

 They are often in pairs, arranged in a straight line or meeting at an 

 angle ; in the former case, and especially if deeply stained, the pair may 

 present the appearance of a single bacillus. Occasionally they form long 

 chains. Near the centre of the bacillus, but not always centrally placed, 

 may often be found a zone measuring more than half the total length of 

 the bacillus, and exhibiting little or no colouration. It appears as though 

 the stained portions gradually contracted, finally forming two deeply 

 coloured masses at the poles of the lemon-shaped bacillus, which then 

 somewhat resembles the bacillus of rabbit septicaemia, except that the 

 unstained part of the braxy bacillus is larger and more rounded, appear- 

 ing to be bulged out laterally. In dry preparations the bacillus is easily 

 recognised on account of the highly refractile character of the colourless 

 portion ; but in sections careful search is often required, especially if the 

 section be somewhat thick. Whether the colourless portion represents a 

 spore cannot at present be said, though such appears probable. The 

 bacillus is always found in the mucous membrane of the abomasum, and 

 especially in the submucous and subserous connective tissue. In the 

 other organs the bacillus may be present in considerable numbers, or, on 

 the other hand, may be impossible to detect." 



The same bacillus has been found in the tissues of affected sheep both 

 in Norway and in Iceland ; the bacillus, when subcutaneously injected, 

 produces a violent haemorrhagic inflammation of the same character as 

 one finds in the abomasum in cases of spontaneous braxy, and the local 

 changes at the point of inoculation may, just as in spontaneous braxy, 

 be accompanied by a general infection with degeneration of different 

 organs, and with softening of the kidney substance. 



The bacillus of braxy is anaerobic. In cultures it develops consider- 

 able quantities of gas, just as it does when inoculated into the tissues. 

 It is closely related to the bacillus of symptomatic anthrax, which it some- 

 what resembles in general appearance, and of which it reminds one by 

 its ability to produce haemorrhagic inflammation in the muscular tissues. 

 It is distinguished from the last named, however, by being pathogenic to 



