372 BOVINE OBSTETRICS 



liquid of the kidneys, liver and lungs, obtained by squeezing 

 them, finally in the blood of the heart. Especially in sections 

 of the spleen and kidneys the bacterium was found lying in 

 little masses in the smaller vessels. 



Jensen further states that when he fed a culture of the 

 oval bacterium in milk to a newly born calf or one but a few 

 days old, this dysentery ended in death in one or two days. 



According to Jensen, the calf dysentery bacteria are oval, 

 a little larger than the microbes of chicken cholera, lying 

 singly or in pairs, occasionally forming short chains. They 

 do not take Gram's stain, but stain with ordinary aniline 

 colors. They are facultative parasites and are related to the 

 bacterium coli communis and bacillus fcetidus lactis, also 

 described by Jensen. 



Jensen came to the following conclusions based upon his 

 investigations: Calf dysentery is not a simple inflammatory 

 state of the digestive canal, but an inflammation complicated 

 by a septic state produced by the entrance of bacteria into the 

 circulation. 



The cause of the disease is not a specific infectious agent, 

 but a pathogenic variety of a form of bacteria normally found 

 in the intestinal contents. 



Piana found a microorganism in the blood, the intestines 

 and in the lumbar portion of the spinal cord, supposed to be 

 identical with the bacillus coli communis. His experiments 

 with these cultures remained negative. He believes that the 

 cultures rapidly lose their virulence, or that the calves have 

 greater powers of resistance a few days after birth. 



Monti and Veratti also believe that the short bacilli (1.2 x 

 0.7 //), found in this disease, are closely related to the bacilli. 

 Galli-Valerio mentions that Piana and Monti, as well as 

 Veratti, Mazzanti and Yigezzi (the latter found in the umbilical 

 vessels, intestines, liver and brain, an oval micrococcus or dip- 

 lococcus of 0.0015 x 0.0008 mm.), probably dealt with a variety 

 of bac. coli communis. 



The investigations of Walther and Schild prove that 

 bacteria may be found in the intestinal contents of the new- 



