70 THE GROUSE DISEASE chap. 



tissues, show the tissue of the cutis and the sub- 

 cutaneous tissue crowded with the bacilli — the bacilli 

 either uniformly distributed or aggregated in clumps ; 

 owing to the oedematous condition, the interfascicular 

 spaces are distended and contain numerous leu- 

 cocytes ; the adjacent muscular fibres are oedema- 

 tous, disintegrating, and in the lymph-spaces of the 

 connective tissue between the muscular fibres are 

 crowds of the bacilli. Now after inoculation with 

 the grouse bacillus such a state is not noticed. The 

 leucocytes of the oedematous subcutaneous tissue 

 just mentioned, in very acute cases, include the bacilli, 

 some only one or two, others are crowded with them 

 (see Fig. 27). 



If for inoculation of a guinea-pig a small dose of 

 a cultivation of the malignant oedema bacillus is 

 used, say one or two minims of a recent broth cul- 

 ture, the animal does not die ; it is ill after 24 hours, 

 and shows an oedematous swelling, but this is not 

 by any means so large as after a large dose. The 

 animal, as just stated, does not die, and the soft 

 oedematous swelling in a few days decreases, be- 

 comes firm, and forms a solid cord or band in the 

 subcutaneous tissue ; this firm swelling in some cases 

 leads to necrosis and sloughing of the skin with 

 complete healing, or it gradually, during a week 

 or fortnight, becomes smaller and smaller till it 



