HISTORY 



95 



In 1885, Kitt studied an epizootic disease in cattle and 

 swine in Sincbach. From this disease he isolated a short, 

 polar staining, non-motile, rod-shaped organism, fatal to cattle, 

 horses, pigs, sheep, goats, dogs and rabbits. In the following 

 3'ear Oreste and Armanni reportf'd a destructive disease of 

 young buffaloes in Italy with symptoms and lesions similar to 

 those reported by Bollinger and Kitt. This disease had been 

 known in Italy for a century or more, where in certain dis- 

 tricts it is reported to have recurred with great regularity, 

 destroying both old and young animals. In the same year 

 (1885) Poels described a septic pleuro-pneumonia in calves 

 which prevailed in the vicinity of Rotterdam. It was of a 

 septicemic nature. From the organs he obtained an organism 

 belonging to the Bacillus septicemiae hcmorrhagicae group of 

 bacteria. In 1889, Jensen described a similar disease affecting 

 calves in Jutland. In the same year Piot reported the presence 

 of " barbone " in the buffaloes and domestic cattle in Egypt. 

 In some districts 40 per cent, of the horned cattle are said to 

 have died in a single year. It is reported as being more preva- 

 lent in the wet season. 



In 1890, Van Ecke described a hemorrhagic septicemia 

 in cattle in Dutch India, particularly in Java, the lesions of 

 which were similar to those first described by Bollinger. The 

 specific organism was virulent for rabbits, mice, turtle doves, 

 calves, horses and swine ; sheep and asses were almost 

 immune. In the following year Galtier described the same 

 disease imported from Algiers to Lyons. A number of other 

 investigators have studied and reported cases of this disease. 

 In 1S90, Xocard isolated from cases of broncho-pneumonia in 

 American cattle landed at Ea Villette, FVance, an organism 

 similar to that described as the cause of septicemia hemor- 

 rhagica. In 1896, Smith called attention to a similar organism 

 which he found in cases of sporadic pneumonia in cattle ; he 

 does not think, however, that this organism was primarily the 

 cause of the disease, giving it a secondary place in the eti- 

 ology. As early as 1891, Smith published the discovery of the 

 presence of an organism morphologicall}'^ and in its cultural 



