328 



BACILLI PATHOGENIC IN ANIMALS. 



human 

 diphtheria. 



Delation cf authors (for example, Magnin*). Kecently Gerhardt and 

 theria to Stumpf f have published cases of infection of man from 

 pigeon diphtheria ; but in none of these cases has it been 

 shown that the disease in man was true contagious 

 diphtheria; on the other hand, it is probable that 

 milder affections of the mucous membrane were present. 

 It is possible that these affections might be caused by 

 the diphtheritic bacteria of pigeons or fowls, especially as- 

 we know from the experiments on animals that many 

 kinds of bacilli can set up diseases of the mucous mem- 

 brane of the most various intensity, and even diseases 

 accompanied by the formation of membrane, and yet 

 these affections cannot be included under the term con- 

 tagious diphtheria ; and further, severe diphtheritic at- 

 tacks would be of much more frequent occurrence in 

 man, in association with epidemics in poultry yards and 

 among pigeons, if the infective agents in the two cases 

 were identical. Further, according to Loeffler's experi- 

 ments, the diphtheria of fowls is apparently different 

 from that of pigeons, and the etiology of the former is, 

 as yet, not at all made out. 



Bacilli of the 

 diphtheria of 

 calves. 



Symptoms and 

 post-mortem 

 appearance sin 

 the diphtheria 

 of calves. 



Bacillus diphtheria vitulorum (Loeffler). 



The diphtheria which occurs in calves in an epidemic 

 form is characterised by great lassitude of the animals,, 

 flow of saliva, yellow exudation from the nose, imperfect 

 attacks of coughing, and diarrhoea. On the mucous mem- 

 brane of the cheeks, of the tongue, and of the hard palate, 

 we find yellow deposits extending deeply into the tissue ; 

 the entrance to the larynx and the nasal cavities are 

 often affected at the same time ; and similar infiltrations 

 have also been observed in the skin between the toes of 

 the fore-feet. Death sometimes occurs on the fourth or 

 fifth day, usually, however, the disease lasts for several 

 weeks. On post-mortem examination we find besides 

 these deposits similar alterations in the mucous mem- 

 brane of the large intestine, and deposits in the lungs 



* Magnin, Gaz. des hopit., 1879. 



t Gerhardt, Lit., p. 18. Stumpf, Dewtsch., Arch. f. Uin. Med.,vol. 36, 



