MORBID ANATOMY 



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blue immediately showed the presence of a very small bacter- 

 ium, apparently in pure culture. This organism was present 

 in very considerable numbers; many individuals lay free, but 

 most striking were the large dense clumps of bacteria. Closer 

 examination showed that these heaps were included within 

 cells whose bodies were often in this way greatly distended. 

 Sometimes the body of the cell was very indistinct, but as a 

 rule one could still recognize external to the heap a part of the 

 cell body and often also the cell nucleus. Not seldom the cell 

 body had assumed a peculiar homogeneous appearance. 



' ' In the dense heaps the bacteria mostly had the appear- 

 ance of cocci, but some of the free-lying individuals were of a 

 longer shape, and these were at first regarded as short oval 

 structures ; closer examination, however, under very high 

 magnification showed that we had in fact to deal with a small 

 bacillus whose body contained one, two, or more rarely three, 

 roundish or elongated granules. These granules most readily 

 took up the stain. The length of the bacillus is very variable; 

 the longest examples are about as long as tubercle bacilli. 

 . . . . The granules may occur a little distance from the 

 extremities but frequently they are at the end of the bacillus. 

 They stain with the ordinary aniline dyes, but not by the 

 method of Gram. The bacilli are non-motile. In the sub- 

 chorial oedema I found no bacteria. In the heart blood of the 

 foetus there were a few, and in the intestinal contents there 

 were many staining granules ; but it was not possible to say 

 with certainty whether these were bacteria or not." 



Bang states that the discovery of this particular organism 

 indicates that epizootic abortion ought to be regarded as a 

 specific uterine catarrh, determined by a definite species of 

 bacteria. While the uterine mucous membrane was not 

 strikingly altered he affirms that chronic catarrh is not neces- 

 sarily associated with striking anatomical alterations. He 

 states further, "In my opinion the very abundant exudate 

 which contained a quantity of shed epithelial cells, pus cells 

 and detritus must necessarily have been furnished by the 

 uterine mucous membrane and not by the thin chorion, and 



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