270 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OF THE OX. 



only further mention the mould actinomyees, which causes the 

 •disease now under consideration. 



The revelations of the microscope have thrown great light 

 upon the nature of diseases, and we are continually gaining new 

 supplies of information from the same source. What would our 

 forefathers have said had it been even suggested to them that 

 locked-jaw was in reality due to a germ ? Yet surely this was 

 always probable. We read but a few days ago in one of the 

 dailies that this disease was breaking out among the persons in- 

 jured in the recent earthquake in the Riviera, and was spreading, 

 especially among those who had sustained severe shocks to their 

 nervous systems. It thus appears, and has often appeared, that 

 locked-jaw disease can spread by infection, by the germ, no 

 •doubt, to which the disease is attributable. 



To what an extent man, animals, and plants, are the prey of 

 microscopic organisms of vegetal fungoid nature, is only dimly 

 realised as yet by mankind at large. Yet in all the workings 

 of nature one can discriminate most clearly, most distinctly, a 

 great and mighty hand working with a fixed purpose, to one 

 end, with one aim ; good, the final goal of ill. Optimism, yes, 

 undisguised, unwavering optimism, must ever guide man in his 

 search for knowledge, in his burning desire to reveal truth. 



We will now describe the actinomyees, then speak of the 

 symptoms, and then of the treatment of this disease. 



If one of the tumours be cut into, and examined under the 

 microscope, there will be seen a thick group of club-shaped cells 

 — actinomyees — and these will be noticed to radiate from a firm 

 homogeneous centre, and to be joined to it by filamentous stalks. 

 Each of the cells is homogeneous and of a bright slightly greenish 

 lustre. Around the cells is a zone of large cells, each with 

 -one to four nuclei. The periphery of the tumour is made 

 up of a fibrous capsule with spindle-shaped cells. The whole 

 together is the nodule or tumour, the "lesion" of the disease 

 in fact. 



Owing to the radiating arrangement of the fungus, it was at 

 first believed to be a crystalline substance; but its fungoid 

 nature is established, and it has been relegated to the Ustilaginese. 

 The fungus in its growth sets up inflammatory processes among 

 the tissues, and even causes their disintegration. The cellular 

 growth around the fungus is to be regarded indeed as of inflam- 



