7© SEPTICAEMIA HEMORRHAGICA 



pneumonia in American cattle landed at La Villette, France, an 

 organism similar to that described as the cause of septicaemia 

 hemorrhagica. In 1896, Smith called attention to a similar or- 

 ganism 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- 

 olog3\ As early as 1891, Smith published the discovery of the 

 presence of an organism morphologically and in its cultural 

 characters identical with that of swine plague in the upper air 

 passages of healthy swine. The same year Moore reported the 

 presence of a like organism in the upper air passages of cattle, 

 horses, sheep, dogs, and cats. The following year, Fiocca de- 

 .scribed a pathogenic bacillus resembling that of rabbit septi- 

 caemia in the saliva of cats and dogs. 



Hueppe proposed the name Bacillus septicaeviiae hcmor- 

 rhagicae for this group of organisms and septicaemia hemor- 

 rhagica for the disease they produce. While there may be 

 objections to this unifying name, there seems to be no serious 

 reason for not accepting it as a working hj'pothesis. In 1898, 

 Fennemore described under the name of "Wild and Cattle 

 Disease" a malady occurring in Eastern Tennessee. Its seri- 

 ous nature caused an investigation to be made by the Tennessee 

 Agricultural Experiment Station in which it was recognized 

 by Norgaard, wdio assisted in this investigation, as the same 

 disease described by Bollinger in 1S78. Fennemore states that 

 it has occurred to a considerable extent in his practice. In 

 1 90 1, it was carefully studied by Wilson and Brimhall for the 

 Minnesota State Board of Health. They report 60 cases of this 

 affection which they have examined in cattle in the state of 

 Minnesota. It is from their report that we draw very largely 

 for the symptoms and morbid anatomy of this disease in cattle. 



§ 57. Geographical distribution. It will be seen from 

 the history that this disease is a wide spread malady occurring 

 in nearly ever\' country. It appears to be quite prevalent in 

 the western part of the Mississippi valley. 



§ 58. Etiology. Septicaemia hemorrhagica in cattle is 

 caused b}^ an organism belonging to the group of bacteria 

 designated by Hiippe as the hemorrhagic septicaemia group 



