ACCIDENTS OF mKCXAXCV. 221 



Til the cotyledonary juice these bacilli were found almost to the entire 

 exclusion of the niicrococci, and in the juice scraped from the mucous 

 surface these organisms existed in about equal numbers. After forty- 

 eight hours the sown tubes exliibited an abundant cultivation. Those 

 sown with the cotyledonary juice, cultivated in a state of purity, 

 showed the short, thick geminated bacillus just referred to ; while those 

 sown with purulent matter had, on the contrary, a mixed culture of 

 micrococci and bacilli, the former being most abundant. Tlie tubes 

 sown with blood and milk preserved their limpidity. 



Similar results were obtained in all the experiments ; but in a Cow 

 which had aborted the previous year, and was afterwards "sterile, a 

 mixed variety of organisms was found, while the matter obtained by 

 scraping the uterine mucous membrane gave a slightly acid reaction that 

 was probably the cause of the animal being incapable of impregnation ; 

 as spermatozoa cannot retain their vitality in other than an alkaline 

 medium. 



It was observed that Cows — primiparoe and pluripane — from a 

 district where this abortion did not exist, had no micro-organisms 

 between the uterine mucous membrane and the foetal envelopes. 



In his obsen'ations on the Calves, Nocard found that neither the 

 blood, bile, pulp of the spleen, liver, kidneys, nor mesenteric glands, nor 

 yet the serum from the pericai'dium, pleura, or peritoneum, yielded 

 cultivations ; but from the fluid in the stomach and the intestines, as 

 well as the medulla oblongata, he obtained cultures of the same micro- 

 coccus that he had found in the liquor amnii and flaky muco-purulent 

 matter. 



It was, of course, necessary in these investigations to select foetuses 

 which had been aborted dead, and had therefore never breathed ; for as 

 soon as respiration begins, micro-organisms are always found in the 

 alimentary canal of all animals. 



From his inquiries, Nocard was of opinion that the peculiar bellow 

 of the Calf, like the altered voice of the rabid Dog, is due to cerebral 

 derangement, caused by the presence of these micrococci. He also 

 believed that many cases of death from diarrhea in newly-born Calves 

 are due to this cause ; he has examined the medulla oblongata of those 

 which succumbed, and found a microbe in all respects identical ; so 

 that he questions whether it is not one and the same disease, develop- 

 ing at different periods in the life of the young animal. The existence 

 of micro-organisms in the alimentary canal of aborted foetuses, previous 

 to expulsion from the uterus (though none are in the healthy fcetus 

 during intra-uterine life), was also demonstrated; thus showing the 

 microbic nature of this infectious abortion. 



In the outbreak of infectious abortion among Mares in Montana, 

 United States, inoculation experiments were made with cultures from 

 the membranes and blood of an aborted foetus, and these were successful 

 not only in inducing abortion, but the Foal of one which lived for a 

 short time had disease of the knee and hock joints. 



It has not yet been absolutely demonstrated how the infection is 

 conveyed to the uterus, but as the Cow is individually seldom affected, 

 it is extremely probable that the vaginal discharges, as well as the 

 foetus and its envelopes, contain the organisms which occasion the 

 accident, and that putrefaction does not destroy their vitality. It has 

 been remarked that, in general, the foetal membranes are liable to be 

 retained in Cows which abort, and that when not removed artificially 



