DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 193 



swollen and of a reddish colour, and from it a fluid is discharged 

 which dries and gives rise to the formation of crusts. The in- 

 flammation occurring in this part may be followed by suppuration. 

 In short, the feet may be most seriously injured, and the ulcers 

 which are formed may persist, and bring about great damage and 

 loss of general condition. 



Dr. Klein * has proved that the disease is due to the growth and 

 multiplication of micrococci, which he has found in the vesicles 

 present in the mouths of afl'ected sheep. A micrococcus is a very 

 minute spherical or slightly oval organism, which, like other 

 bacteria, divides by splitting into two portions, and it does not 

 possess any cilium or appendage by means of which movement 

 can be eff'ected. There are many different kinds of micrococci. 

 The micrococcus, which is the materies niorbi of foot-and-mouth 

 disease, exists singly, or in dumb-bell-like pairs, or in curved 

 chains. These germs may infect the system through the mouth, 

 for it has been shown that warm milk from a diseased cow, if 

 given to pigs, produces the disease in them, or they may infect 

 the animal by the medium of the lungs. The germs can, 

 it is said, retain their vitality for three months at the least. It 

 has been shown that the spread of the disease varies with the 

 direction of the prevailing wind. 



Klein points out how sensitive this germ is to the action of 

 antiseptics. This fact is of the greatest significance, because it 

 corresponds with and corroborates our definite opinion which we 

 shall shortly consider in dealing with the treatment of foot-and- 

 mouth disease, viz. that antiseptics are of the highest value in 

 the treatment of this germ disease. 



All our readers may not, perhaps, be aware that the Commission 

 instituted last year for the investigation of cholera in Spain 

 have recently issued a report, which appears in the proceedings of 

 the Royal Society. The investigators have discovered a fungus 

 which belongs to a class which includes many rapidly growing 

 and virulent parasites of the vegetable kingdom ; for, indeed, it 

 is now universally held that germs or bacteria are to be regarded 



* In the vesicles of sheep ill with this disease I find a micrococcus, singly, in 

 dumb-bells, and in curved chains. It stains well with the ordinary aniline dyes» 

 It grows well in milk, in alkaline peptone broth, in nutrient gelatine, and in 

 agar-agar mixture. It is highly sensitive towards antiseptics. It does not 

 curdle milk, although it turns the reaction slightly but distinctly acid. {Klein.') 



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