ACTION ON THE TISSUES 315 



in a comparative study of the results of inoculation with acid-fast and 

 other bacilli, found none of the above characters in the case of the 

 glanders bacillus. 



Action on the Tissues. — The glanders bacillus causes a more 

 rapid and more marked inflammatory reaction than the tubercle 

 bacillus ; there is more leucocytic infiltration and less proliferative 

 change. Thus the centre of an early glanders nodule shows a 

 dense aggregation of leucocytes, most of which are polymorpho- 

 nuclear, whilst in the central parts many show fragmentation of 

 nuclei with the formation of a deeply staining granular detritus. 

 And further, the inflammatory change may be followed by 

 suppurative softening of the tissue, especially in certain situa- 

 tions, such as the subcutaneous tissue and lymphatic glands. 

 The nodules, therefore, in glanders, as Baumgarten put it, 

 occupy an intermediate position between miliary abscesses and 

 tubercles. The diffuse coagulative necrosis and caseation which 

 are so common in tubercle do not occur to the same degree in 

 glanders, and typical giant-cells are not formed. The tendency 

 to spread by the lymphatics is always a well-marked feature, 

 and when the bacilli gain entrance to the blood stream they 

 soon settle in the various tissues and organs. Accordingly, even 

 in acute cases it is usually quite impossible to detect the bacilli 

 in the circulating blood, though sometimes they have been 

 found. It is an interesting fact, shown by observations of the 

 disease both in the human subject and in the horse, as well as 

 by experiments on guinea-pigs, that the mucous membrane of 

 the nose may become infected by means of the blood stream — 

 another example of the tendency of organisms to settle in special 

 sites. 



Mode of Spread. — Glanders usually spreads from a diseased 

 animal by direct contagion with the discharge from the nose 

 or from the sores, etc. There is no evidence that the disease 

 is produced in man by inhalation of the bacilli in the dried 

 condition. Some authorities consider that pulmonary glanders 

 may be produced in this way in the horse, whilst others 

 maintain that in all cases there is first a lesion of the nasal 

 mucous membrane or of the skin surface, and that the lung is 

 affected secondarily. Babes, however, found that the disease 

 could be readily produced in susceptible animals by exposing 

 them to an atmosphere in which cultures of the bacillus 

 had been pulverised. He also found that inunction of 

 the skin with vaseline containing the bacilli might produce 

 the disease, the bacilli in this case entering along the hair 

 follicles. 



