CHAPTER X 



FOWL ENTERITIS — NATURE OF THE DISEASE 



In 1888 Mr. W. Cook, well known through his works 

 and writings on fowls and fowl-breeding, had on his 

 poultry-farm, then at Orpington, in Kent, in about 

 two acres of land, a fatal epidemic of fowls by which 

 he lost, between March 1888 and March 1889, over 

 400 birds. The greatest number of birds, nearly 

 200, died during March and April 1888, occasionally 

 6 per diem ; during the beginning of 1889 the number 

 of fatal cases had decreased considerably — to about 7 

 per week. Mr. C. Wellington, then at Mr. Cook's 

 farm, was kind enough to supply me, with Mr. Cook's 

 permission, with birds affected with the disease and 

 either dying or recently dead. From these birds I 

 obtained materials with which I commenced experi- 

 ments on normal fowls and other animals. On 

 making post-mortem examinations the difference be- 

 tween this fowl disease and fowl cholera — for such 

 was the disease considered — was distinct. All the 

 fowls that I received from Mr. Cook's farm, and 



