28 WHITE SCOURS IN CALVES 



exudates, which fill the culs-de-sac of the serous membrane 

 and are infiltrated between the articular surfaces. In these 

 cases the lesion resembles exactly those of peripneumonic 

 arthritis of sucking calves." 



He found a microorganism (Pastenrella) in the organs 

 and blood of the calves, with which he was able to produce 

 the disease. After convincing himself that he had found the 

 cause, he sought for the source of infection, which he found 

 in the umbilicus. He advances three suppositions concerning 

 the time and mode of entrance : i. intra-uterine, 2. vaginal, 

 3. after delivery when the calf drops on the ground or floor 

 and when the ruptured cord comes in contact with the fecal 

 matter or dust of the stable. The latter he believes to be the 

 actual method. His conclusion concerning infection after 

 delivery may be summarized in the following observation 

 which he makes : 



" We have witnessed in a well kept farm a case of labor 

 in a cow. She was in an ordinary barn. Nothing had been 

 prepared to receive the new-born. The calf was dropped on a 

 bedding soiled with feces ; he only fell back a little, and there 

 during 15 or 20 minutes, we watched him making his efforts 

 to get up, falling back here and there to the right and to the 

 left or on his belly, dragging the stump of his cord on the 

 ground, in the urine, or even in the fecal matter. It was only 

 after the mother had well licked her little one, well covered 

 with salt, that the cord was ligated. I am not sure that the 

 umbilicus was cleaned. 



" White scours is ordinarily the result of umbilical infection 

 which takes place at the time of delivery, by the way of the 

 wound made by the rupture of the cord." 



He states that this trouble can be prevented if the person 

 in charge of the animals at the time of their delivery takes 

 certain precautions to prevent infection. 



This disease described by Nocard does not seem to differ 

 in many respects from the diarrhea in young calves in this 

 country. Lesage and Delmar have described the disease in 

 France. Ward and Fisher tested Nocard's method with quite 



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