ACTINOMYCOSIS. 1 25 



ties recommend that instead oi' iodide of potassium, biniodide of 

 mercuiy (p. 128) should be employed. This treatment, in the 

 event of removal by surgical means not being adopted, may be 

 supplemented by injecting a couple of times a day, liniment of 

 iodine, into the sinus or sinuses with a syringe, or into the sub- 

 stance of the tumour by means of a hypodermic syringe. 



Actinomycosis 



is a disease caused by the ray-fungus (actinomyces). " According 

 to Brazzola, it grows principally on Hordeum marinum (a kind of 

 barley). Upon the fragments of this grain which had penetrated 

 into the gum, he has found a mass of actinomyces among the vege- 

 table fibres. Johne and Plana have met with this fungus on the 

 husks of wheat fixed in the tonsils and in the tongue of an ox " 

 {Friedhercjer and Frdliner). It seems probable that it gains en- 

 trance into the system only through a wound. In the vast majority 

 of cases it is confined to cattle. It is occasionally found in men, 

 seldom in pigs, and very rarely in horses. Blanchard states 

 that carnivorous animals do not take it, even by inoculation. 

 Vachetta, however, reports a case of it in the dog. Hammond has 

 seen it in a sheep. In cattle, men, and horses, it is essentially a 

 disease, at first, of the skin and mucous membra.nes, from which 

 it extends to the underlying tissues. In cattle, the tumours are 

 known as wens, clyers, crewels, sitfasts, polypus, cancer of the 

 tongue, cancer of the jaw, spina-ventosa, osteo-sarcoma, etc. 

 (•Crookshank). It lias frequently, as in Australia, been mistaken 

 for tuberculosis. Liebman has shown that this fungus, if inoculated 

 in a grain of corn, will grow according as the grain becomes deve- 

 loped, and that it will invade the whole of the plant. 'He also points 

 out that the fungus, by residence in the animal body, loses to a 

 certain extent its contagious power ; but regains it when it becomes 

 transferred to a vegetable host. This fact may account for the 

 rarity of the disease among dogs and other carnivorous animals. 

 There is very little evidence to prove that in ordinary course, it has 

 ever been transmitted from one animal (including man) to another. 

 Its usual point of entrance is no doubt by the mouth and with the 

 fodder. It may be carried into the lungs along with dust. In 

 cattle it not unfrequently forms a malignant tumour in the jaw 

 by gaining entrance by means of a wound on the gum, or through 

 a decayed tooth. Nocard points out that the geographical distri 

 bution of this fungus is very erratic; it being frequent (among 

 cattle) in some countries and districts, and absent in others. It 

 is very rare in France ; but is often met with in Holland, Russia, 

 Scotland, and the United States. 



