28 MISCELLANEOUS INFECTIONS 
There are a large number of morbid conditions more or less fre- 
quently encountered in domesticated animals, which seem to be 
due to infection of some kind but which are not demonstrated to 
be of such an origin. These will continue to be attributed by some 
to infection and by others to various general causes until the truth 
concerning their etiology is revealed. 
Contagious agalactia. This is « disease reported to be peculiar 
to the goat and ewe, complicated with local manifestations in the 
eye, udder, and articulations. It has been classed as epizoétic or 
rheumatoid arthritis. It is observed in the mountainous regions, 
especially the Alps. It appears most often in the spring. It seems 
to be communicable. Oreste and Marcone have described four 
organisms associated with it, two of which are micrococci. 
Miscellaneous infections. Attention should be called to the 
many morbid conditions, resulting from infection, that are encount- 
ered in different species of animals and are liable to be attributed 
to other agencies. Usually such lesions are referred to general 
pathological conditions, but a more careful inquiry will reveal the 
presence of infection. Among these, may be mentioned pericarditis 
in cattle, so frequently associated with punctures by foreign bodies. 
The extensive exudative inflammations in these cases are frequently 
associated with micrococci. The same has been true of certain 
cases of localized endocarditis resulting in the formation of fungoid, 
purulent, or necrotic masses about the valves of the heart. When 
one considers the possibilities of infection from accidental causes, 
in the intestinal mucosa as well as from the skin, together with the 
agency of metastasis, it is not difficult to understand how such a 
variety of morbid conditions can come about. Infection, therefore, 
forms an important part of pathology, outside of those specific 
organisms that cause epizodtics of greater or less severity. 
REFERENCES 
1. Botumerr. Mycosis der Lunge beim Pferd. Archiv fiir pathol. Anat., 
Bd. XLIX (1870), S. 583. 
2. Bercer. Vergleichende Untersuchungen ther den Bacillus pyogenes bovis 
und den Bacillus pyogenes suis. Zettsch f. Infektionskrankh. parasitare Krankh. 
und Hygiene der Haustiere, Bd. IIT (1907), S. 101. 
3. Gries. Ueber eine mit multipler Abszessbildung verlaufende Pleuritis und 
Peritonitis der Schweine und deren Erreger. Zeitschr. f. Fleisch-u Milchhygiene, 1898. 
4. Grips. Ueber einen pyogenen Mikroorganismus des Schweines. Inaugural- 
Dissertation. Giessen, 1902. 
