CHAPTER V. 
SECTION I. 
MYCOSIS. 
I. 
ACTINOMYCOSIS. 
Comparatively common in cattle, observed also in horses, swine, sheep, 
dogs (Vachetta, Frohner), and elephants (Burke), actinomycosis is a para- 
sitic disease, produced by a fungus—the actinomyces of Harz. It exists 
extensively in Germany, the south of Russia, Italy, Denmark, England, and 
the United States, and has been observed in some parts of France. It is 
exceptional in the suburbs of Paris. In ten years, we have seen but one 
‘case among the cattle brought to the clinics of Alfort. 
Actinomycosic tumors are primitive or secondary. The former exists 
on the parts where the germs have penetrated: on the skin, the mucous 
membranes, or the tissues that cover them. It has been observed in the 
skin and the subcutaneous connective tissue of a number of regions. 
Jensen has seen a pig which had, on the anterior face of the knees, two 
actinomycomas, weighing, one, two, the other four kilos and a half. In 
countries where the disease is enzootic, many traumas, the wounds of 
castration principally, become actinomycosic centers. Often their seat is 
on the head, where they invade the maxillaries. Such were those which, 
in 1826, Leblanc described as “ osteosarcoma,” and which others called 
“ spina ventosa.”” Such are those spoken of in the observations reported 
by d’Arboval, Clarc, Dick, Daws, Dupont, Warnell, Delwart, Williams, 
and many others. While the tongue, the buccal and pharyngeal walls, 
the retro-pharyngeal glands and the parotid are often affected, the intes- 
tines seldom are. Rare also are the primitive lesions of the nasal cavities, 
larynx, lungs, of the udder or bones of the legs. In horses, cases of ac- 
tinomycosis have been observed in bones, the tongue, subglossal glands 
and spermatic cord. 
Primitive centers give rise to secondary lesions in their neighborhood 
or at a distance from them, and when the disease becomes generalized 
200 
‘ 
