472 Prof. H. J. Detmers on a PatJiogenic Schizojphyte. 



the diseased and dead animal invariably contained, wliile fresh 

 and not tainted by putrefaction, a certain kind of Schizophytes 

 or Bacteria. The same presented themselves in three diffe- 

 rent shapes, namely as small globular Bacteria or Micrococci^ 

 as i^oo^fea-masses or clusters, imbedded in or kept together 

 by a viscous mass, and as little rods or filaments. I soon 

 found that all three forms belong to the same organism, and 

 represent only different stages of development. The first or 

 globular form predominated in the blood, the second in the 

 morbid tissues (for instance, in tlie diseased portions of the 

 lungs and in the lymphatic glands), and the rods occurred in 

 greatest numbers in such morbidly changed j)arts and morbid 

 products (for instance, in the ulcerous tumours of the intes- 

 tines) as are accessible to atmospheric air and other external 

 influences. 



The constant occurrence of these Schizophytes soon made 

 it appear probable that their presence is not merely acciden- 

 tal, but that very likely the same are connected with, and 

 characteristic of, the morbid process of the disease. To get 

 at the facts was one of ray principal endeavours. How far 

 I have succeeded I leave to others to judge. 



Careful and repeated macroscopic and microscopic exami- 

 nations of the tissues, but especially of the lungs (which, by 

 the way, are always more or less affected by the morbid 

 process of Swine-plague), soon revealed the fact that the 

 principal morbid changes are brought about in the following 

 way : — The finer capillary blood-vessels become obstructed or 

 plugged, the more fluid portions of the blood exude into the tis- 

 sues (in the lungs principally, and at first into the lobules, and 

 then into the interlobular connective tissue) ; some^ and, parti- 

 cularly in young animals, not seldom a great many, of the 

 finest capillaries rupture, and innumerable small extravasations 

 of blood, visible to the naked eye as tiny red spots, are depo- 

 sited in the tissue. In the skin, subcutaneous tissue, and 

 intestinal membranes the process is essentially the same ,' but 

 to follow it further would lead too far for the present. Let 

 me therefore mention another fact. While the blood taken 

 from a vein of a diseased or dead pig invariably contains a 

 large number of spherical Bacteria or Micrococci, and very 

 few and usually small Zoo^/foa-masses, the diseased parts 

 of the lungs, and especially the stagnant blood which oozes 

 out of the capillaries if the diseased parts of the lungs are 

 cut into small pieces, invariably contain, besides Micrococci , 

 numerous and large Zoci^Zcea-masses, which are most of 

 them much larger than the blood-corpuscles, and abundantly 

 large enough to clog the finer capillaries. All this of course 

 docs not prove that the Schizophytes constitute the cause of 



