20 



Post-mortem, coverslip preparations and cultures were made from 

 the pustules after searing the surface of the skin, and showed that 

 at least the vesicles examined contained Bacterium mallei in pure 

 culture. Similar organisms were found in the smears from the 

 nasal discharge and the lung nodules. 



A male guinea pig (No. 608) was inoculated intraperitoneally 

 with a small portion of the contents of a vesicle. In five days the 

 testicles had swollen to the size of a walnut and were intensely 

 hyperemic and tender. The animal was chloroformed and at 

 autopsy the only visible lesions were in the testicles, where numer- 

 ous yellowish, caseous nodules were found scattered about, especially 

 throughout the inferior and thickened portions of the tunica vagi- 

 nalis. A pure culture of Bacterium mallei was obtained from these 

 lesions. 



Histologic examination (tissues fixed in Zenker's fluid, imbedded 

 in paraffin and stained with hematoxlyin and eosin) Small skin 

 pustule (about 2.5 millimeters in diameter) : The histologic changes 

 in the subcutis and lower layers of the cutis are similar to those 

 described in Case I. The process is not, however, so far advanced, 

 for, though karyorrhexis is widespread and prominent, it is not so 

 marked in the upper layers of the cutis, where the chief changes 

 are a loss in the staining power of the nuclei and a general vacuola- 

 tion of the cell protoplasm. The stratum corneum has not been 

 split off and consequently the pustule is not covered by a vesicle. 



Lung: A section through one of the subpleural nodules (about 

 3 millimeters in diameter) shows, under a low magnification, an 

 irregular area of consolidation characterized by intense infiltration 

 of the pulmonary alveoli and marked congestion of the blood vessels 

 of the alveolar walls and of the pleura covering the affected area. 



Under a higher power the contents of the alveoli is seen to be 

 composed cheifly of polynuclear and transitional leucocytes, a few 

 lymphocytes, pigment-carrying cells, and a few large cells which 

 lie, for the most part, near the alveolar walls and resemble des- 

 quamated endothelial cells. It is apparent that many of the cells 

 in this area are undergoing degeneration and karyorrhexis, but not 

 to so marked an extent as in the skin pustule of Case I. This area 

 is surrounded by pulmonary tissue which shows intense congestion 

 and in which the alveoli are filled, for the most part, with extra- 

 vasated blood, granules and threads of fibrin, desquamated endothe- 

 lial cells and a few polynuclear and transitional leucocytes. Deeper 

 within the section the alveoli appear normal. 



