GLANDERS 111 
disease into new territory. In our own case the sale of horses and 
mules at the close of the civil war produced a very general diffusion 
of this disease, from which the country is still suffering. 
Insular places, especially if far from the main land and free from 
importation of horses, usually escape. Thus glanders is very rare 
in Iceland and in the Faroe islands. In Australia, Tasmania and 
New Zealand it ts reported to be unknown. 
Etiology. Bacteriwm mallei, the specific cause of glanders, was 
discovered and isolated in pure culture almost at the same time (1882) 
by Loeffler, Schitz, Isrzel, Bouchard, Charrin, Weichselbaum, Kauz- 
feld and Kitt. It is found in the recent nodules, in the discharge from 
the nostrils, pus from the specific ulcers, and occasionally in the blood 
of animals affected with acute glanders. 
Morphologically it is a small organism with rounded or pointed 
ends. It varies in breadth from 0.254 to 0.44 and from 1.54. to 3¥. in 
length. It is usually single but pairs and long filaments, especially 
on potato cultures, are not rare. It frequently breaks into short, 
almost coccus-like elements. Galli-Valerio found great variations in 
its morphology when grown under certain different conditions. 
Branching forms were numerous. 
It stains with some difficulty. Of the aniline dyes the best results 
are obtained with the aqueous solutions, when they are made feebly 
alkaline. It is decolorized by Gram’s method. 
It grows well, but slowly, at the body temperature on acid-glycerin 
agar, in acid-glycerin bouillon, on blood-serum and on potato. 
Of the test animals guinea pigs and field mice are the most suscepti- 
ble. In guinea pigs, subcutaneous injections are followed in four or 
five days by swelling at the point of inoculation and sloughing of the 
skin, which are followed by the formation of a chronic, purulent ulcer. 
The lymphatic glands become inflamed and symptoms of general 
infection develop in from two to four weeks; the glands suppurate 
and in males the testicles are involved. A purulent inflammation of 
the joints may occur. The formation of the specific ulcers upon the 
nasal mucous membrane, which forms one of the characteristics of the 
disease in the horse, rarely occurs in the guinea pig as a result of 
inoculation. The disease is often prolonged for several weeks or 
months. Guinea pigs succumb usually in from eight to ten days 
when injected into the peritoneal cavity with a virulent culture. In 
males, the testicles are invariably affected. The inoculation of male 
guinea pigs and diagnosis of glanders by the orchitis that follows is 
