584 DISEASES OF THE MAMMARY GLANDS. 



diffuse gangrene. The serosity is of a reddish colour, and sections 

 of the diseased udder of a violet tint. The tissues of the udder and 

 the serous liquid contain the specific micrococcus. 



It is very small, and stains readily by the Gram-Nicolle method. 

 It grows rapidly in liquid and solid media, liquefies gelatine, and 

 quickly renders neutral media alkaline. 



The injection of a few drops of culture into the udder of a milch 

 ewe reproduces the typical disease. In any other species it is with- 

 out effect. Infection occurs through the open extremity of the teat, 

 or the medium of a wound, and the micro-organism is so virulent 

 that it rapidly invades all the tissues. 



Treatment. No antiseptic treatment appears capable of checking 

 the course of the disease. 



Surgical treatment alone is of any value, and consists in ablation 

 of the udder, followed by antiseptic dressing. Only a portion of the 

 gland is removed : an elliptical incision is made, including the diseased 

 teat, the skin is then dissected free so as to form a flap ; the diseased 

 tissue is isolated; last of all, the vessels are ligatured. The conse- 

 quences of operation are less grave than might be expected, consider- 

 ing the size of the wound, which heals with fair rapidity. 



Moussu has frequently practised this radical method of treatment 

 without losing a single case. The remaining portion of the udder 

 becomes hypertrophied, and is often quite capable of secreting suffi- 

 cient milk for the nourishment of one lamb. 



GANGRENOUS MAMMITIS IN GOATS. 



Goats suffer from a form of mammitis which presents symptoms 

 precisely similar as regards development and termination to that 



of ewes. The disease occurs in a sporadic form in animals giving i 



milk, whatever their breed or the conditions under which they are i 



kept. It has been seen at Alfort, as well as at Lyons. 'f 



Moussu has seen it in an enzootic form in herds of milch goats | 



near Bizerta (Tunis), and considers that contagion results from kids 'i 



sucking healthy animals after having been suckled by diseased ones. J 



Fifty milch goats out of a total of three hundred were affected at \ 

 the time of Moussu' s visit, and two had already succumbed. 



The diagnosis presents no difficulty. • I 



The prognosis is very grave. i 



The treatment is precisely similar to that of gangrenous mammitis | 



of milch ewes, viz., ablation of the diseased udder. I 



Of the above-mentioned herd, twenty animals were operated on, i 



and all recovered without accident. Among the others treated by less ^ 



