PATHOGENIC BACTERIA. 297 



In the horse and ass it produces the disease known as glanders, 

 which affects the mucous membrane of the nasal cavity. When 

 the skin is involved, the disease goes by the name of farcy. In 

 the nose, nodules appear in the mucous membrane which 

 become necrotic, forming ulcers. They may become con- 

 fluent, and may extend along the adjacent surfaces as far as 

 the lungs. There is a profuse discharge from the nose. The 

 neighboring lymph-nodes become involved and are swollen, and 

 nodules may be present in the internal viscera. In the skin 

 the nodes lying underneath the skin are called farcy-buds. 

 Histologically the nodules consist of a granulation tissue, but 

 they tend to break down rapidly, and the process in some re- 

 spects is very hke ordinary suppuration. 



This bacillus is pathogenic* for guinea-pigs, field-mice and 

 cats; rabbits, sheep and dogs are less susceptible or only 

 slightly so; also white and house-mice, and hogs; cattle are 

 immune. Men are occasionally infected, especially those 

 who come much in contact with horses. The mucous mem- 

 branes of the nasal cavity may be the part involved, or the 

 skin or the internal viscera. In a number of instances, workers 

 in the laboratory have been accidentally infected. 



The diagnosis of the disease is best effected by the inoculation 

 of a male guinea-pig with the material from a case suspected 

 of being glanders, introducing it into the peritoneal cavity 

 (method of Straus). In about two to three days after an inocu- 

 lation of this kind there appears a characteristic swelling of the 

 testicle, indicating the beginning of suppuration, which pres- 

 ently takes place; the animal usually dies after two or more 

 weeks. At least two guinea-pigs should be inoculated; and 

 the test may sometimes fail, when it should be repeated on 

 other guinea-pigs.j 



* The statements of different writers differ considerably with regard to some 

 ,of these animals. 



t Frothingham. Journal Medical Research. Vol. VI. 1901. 



