212 LOUIS PASTEUR. 



FOWL CHOLERA. 



IF fowls are naturally impervious to the infection of 

 splenic fever, there is a disastrous malady to which 

 they are subject, and which is commonly called ' fowl 

 cholera.' Pasteur thus describes the disorder : * The 

 bird which is attacked by this disease is without 

 strength, staggering, the wings drooping. The ruffled 

 feathers of the body give it the shape of a ball. An 

 overpowering somnolence takes possession of it. If 

 forced to open its eyes, it appears as if it were 

 awakened out of a deep sleep. Very soon the eyelids 

 close again, and generally death comes without the 

 animal changing its place, or without any struggle, 

 except at times a slight movement of the wings for a 

 few seconds.' The examination after death reveals 

 considerable internal disorders. 



Here, again, the disease is produced by a micro- 

 scopic organism. A veterinary surgeon of Alsace, 

 M. Moritz by name, was the first who suspected the 

 presence of microbes in this disease; a veterinary 

 surgeon of Turin, M. Peroncito, depicted it in 1878 ; 



