No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS. 473 



bacillus of maliojnant oedema, and also resemblino^ the 

 bacillus of blackleg. Extracts from Dr. J. N. Coolidge's 

 report folloAv : — 



August 3, specimens received from a two-year-old heifer kept 

 in the same pasture, from lungs, liver, posterior pharyngeal, 

 mediastinal and mesenteric lymphatic glands, tongue, larynx and 

 pharynx, showed the same bacillus as in the specimens received 

 August 2. Further investigation showed this to be an anaerobic 

 bacillus. Inoculated guinea pigs died in less than forty-eight 

 hours, and showed much wdema. 



The bacilli were not found in the guinea pig's blood before 

 death. There were no microscopic changes in their organs. 

 Bacilli were found in small numbers in their blood after death, 

 and in the spleen. They were spore-producing ; sometimes were 

 in filaments, and in rather long, narrow chains. They decolorized 

 by Gram's method. They grew in anaerobic conditions [i.e., 

 they grew when cultivated in the absence of oxygen]. Smear3 

 from the peritoneum showed filamentous forms. 



August 7, specimens received from Mr. Colby. The results 

 were the same; the organs sent were the same. 



August 8, specimens from Grafton; same organs, same results. 



August 30, material brought by Dr. Langdon Frothingham 

 from Hubbardston. Very little found in smears. Inoculation 

 experiments not conclusive. Guinea pigs died in five days ; 

 rabbits not affected. I have not tried to draw conclusions. 



The material taken August 18 from the four-year-old 

 Devon cow, owned by N. B. Reed of Princeton, included 

 specimens from the throat, lungs, spleen and liver. The 

 lungs contained a few small foci of pneumonia, which may 

 have been mechanical, as the result of taking minute par- 

 ticles of food into them, due to an inability to swallow 

 properly on account of the throat lesions. Dr. Smith, how- 

 ever, was able to isolate from the throat lesions, liv^er and 

 spleen an anaerol)ic spore-bearing bacillus, similar to the one 

 described by Dr. Coolidge. A streptococcus and other 

 bacteria were found which were not studied further. Inocu- 

 lation tests upon guinea pigs proved equally fatal ; it also 

 killed mice. 



A healthy two-year-old heifer, brought down from Pep- 

 perell by Commissioner Dennen, was inoculated August 24 



