6 BULLETIN 65, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ui the brains of horses which hare died of douriiie, swamp fever, influ- 

 enza, etc., that we have come to consider these organisms as repre- 

 senting an agonal invasion from the intestines without causal con- 

 nection vnth. any dofuute disease. Like Giimm, we have found some 

 of these same cocci in the brains of horses that died of forage poison- 

 ing, and we have also recovered other species, all of which have been 

 inoculated into experiment horses by vaiious methods, including 

 intravenous, subcutaneous, subdural, and intralumbar injection, as 

 well as by spraying the nasal mucous membrane, with the result that 

 two horses died follo%\Tng a nasal douche and a subdural injection, 

 respectively, of a pure culture of two different cocci. The post- 

 mortem on the former showed death to have been due to a strangu- 

 lated intestine, wliile the second animal died suddenly without evinc- 

 ing any characteristic symptoms, although extremely nervous. Post- 

 mortem examination showed an absence of any pathological lesions 

 posterior to the brain. The dura mater was inflamed and distended 

 with a yellowish exudate. The veins and capillaries of the cerebrum 

 were dilated and engorged with blood, while the third ventricle con- 

 tained a tumor the size of a wahiut. Although the same organism which 

 was injected was recovered from the brain tissue, other horses injected 

 with the recovered culture have continued to remain in a healthy 

 condition. . - 



With the view of obtaining additional information regardmg the 

 significance of these various cocci to the disease in question, an 

 antigen was prepared from a culture of each organism and tested 

 against the blood serum obtained from affected horses in the field 

 for complement fixation and agglutmation as in glanders. In no 

 case was a positive reaction to these tests obtained by the use of any 

 of the antigens prepared from the different cocci isolated from dis- 

 eased horses. In this connection it may be noted that from the 

 number of affections of the horse produced by coccoid organisms, 

 this animal appears to be particularly susceptible to their action. 



Another cause has been suggested for this disease in the findmg 

 of nuclear inclusions by Joest and Degen in the nerve cells of the 

 hippocampus. These mclusions are similar to the Negri bodies of 

 rabies, and are rounded or oval in shape, stainmg intensely with 

 eosin. A large number of brains from affected horses have been 

 examined in our laboratory for these bodies, but thus far with nega- 

 tive results, although the same technique apphed to the brains of 

 rabid animals brings out the Negri bodies with great clearness. 



There remains one widely accepted theory as to the causation of 

 the disease which must be given consideration, namely, fungi on 

 the feed. While most investigators have obtained negative results 

 when feeding experiment animals upon moldy feed, some few have 

 reproduced the disease by such feedmg. Thus, Mayo reports that a 



