234 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



stick. The extraordinary resemblance between these in- 

 juries and those recorded above in Langnau was apparent. 

 The symptoms, in the cases not immediately fatal, con- 

 sisted of straining, bloody discharge from the vagina, swell- 

 ing of the vulva, and general weakness. Six months later 

 the investigation was taken up by Professor E. Hess and 

 the culprit detected. He was a large, nineteen-year-old 

 man, bent somewhat forward, with a handsome face, downy 

 beard, and dangling arms. He had suffered from inflamma- 

 tion of the brain at four years. His cranium was small, 

 and he was regarded as idiotic. In school he could not 

 learn and when grown was incapable of work except as an 

 assistant in caring for cattle. Taken into custody, he con- 

 fessed his guilt several times and later withdrew his con- 

 fession. He went about his misdeeds so craftily that he had 

 never been caught. 

 The Cases in Wolfikon, Schwartzenbach, and Rickenbach. 

 In March, 1894, in a stable containing fifteen cattle, 

 eight — all in one row of stanchions — ^became ill. Amongst 

 them were three calves, one only a few days old. There was 

 a bloody vaginal discharge, depression, and peritonitis. 

 Some showed crepitant swelling of the loins and croup. 

 Within a week four animals had died and four had been 

 killed. All were buried with their hides on. Fifteen hun- 

 dred kilos of hay was burned for fear of bad contamination. 

 The guilty caretaker and his clothes were carefully disin- 

 fected. The cattle which had escaped mutilation were dis- 

 infected and removed to other quarters. In two weeks, two 

 of the remaining seven animals became affected, one of 

 which died and the other was slaughtered. The remaining 

 five head were slaughtered in order to escape, partially, the 

 impending loss. After about two months, the tenant pur- 

 chased two cows, but in a short time he buried one and re- 

 turned the other to the seller. The same caretaker of the 

 cattle was still in charge. He purchased goats, which re- 

 mained well. It was soon hoped that the ban which had 

 hung over the place had disappeared. The tenant bought 



