LOUPING-ILL. 463 



of the muscles of the head and limbs, loss of co-ordination and finally 

 complete loss of the power of movement. The name is derived from 

 the peculiar jumping movements in the early stage. 



Klein and M'Fadyean independently investigated this disease. 

 Klein found bacteria in the cerebral fluid. No micro-organisms 

 were found in the blood. Special attention was drawn to a 

 bacterium which was found by Klein in six out of seventeen cases, 

 And to a micrococcus by M'Fadyean. 



Bacteria in Louping-IU — Klein's Bacterivm. Oval cocci and 

 rods '6 to 1 /A in length, "2 to '3 fx. in breadth. Colonies in gelatine, 

 yellowish by reflected light, are brown by transmitted hght. On the 

 surface of gelatine the bacteria form a film, which is crenated at 

 the edge, and thick in the middle, -at first grey and later yellowish. 

 In the depth of gelatine a filament forms, composed of closely 

 aggi'egated minute greyish colonies, and a prominent yellow growth 

 ■occurs on the free surface. The gelatine is not hquefied. The 

 bacteria grow in milk, and broth becomes turbid in two days, and 

 there is a copious flocculent greyish precipitate. 



Injection of broth cultures subcutaneously in rabbits, guinea- 

 pigs, and mice, produced no result, except local swelKng at the seat 

 ■of inoculation, which subsided without causing any constitutional 

 symptoms. The results were equally negative when the cultures 

 were injected subcutaneously in lambs. 



M'Fadyean' s Micrococcus. — Cocci '3 /a in diameter. The colonies 

 are flat, nearly circular, and have a smooth edge. In old colonies 

 the centre appears as a dark spot. Gelatine is rapidly liquefied, 

 and a nearly colourless precipitate forms at the bottom of the 

 tube. Cultures on the surface of agar have a faint yellow tinge. 

 On potato the colour is deeper but the growth not so well marked. 

 Milk is coagulated. In broth there is an abundant growth render- 

 ing the hquid turbid and depositing a white precipitate. The micro- 

 cocci stain by Gram's method. Inoculated in rabbits or guinea-pigs, 

 they produce suppuration ; in horses and bovines, an inflammatory 

 swelling results without suppuration. They produce abscesses in 

 sheep and lambs. The cocci were isolated from abscesses in lambs 

 suflEering from louping-iU. Though it is admitted that louping-ill 

 belongs to the class of infective diseases, there can be no doubt from 

 these experiments that the nature of the contagium is unknown. 



