PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 133 



The culture is allowed to grow for several weeks, then the 

 micro-organisms are killed by heat and filtered out with a 

 porcelain filter. The remaining liquid is then reduced to 

 one-tenth its volume by evaporation. The manufacture 

 af mallein from potato cultures is said to yield a much 

 stronger product. There are also other, more complex, 

 methods of preparing the substance. Bonome prepares it 

 directly from the blood, or viscera of artificially inoculated 

 animals. 



Mallein does not affect healthy animals, nor animals not 

 afifected with glanders. When inoculated into the body of 

 an animal having no lesions of glanders the results are nega- 

 tive. It causes no perceptible signs of intoxication, even 

 in very large doses ; but when inoculated into glandered 

 subjects, although the disease may be limited to very trivial 

 internal lesions, it will cause a characteristic disturbance 

 manifested chiefly by fever, dejection, anorexia and oedema 

 at the seat of inoculation, all of which vary greatly in sever- 

 ity. The disease is made temporarily worse and in some 

 instances it may cause the death of the glandered patient, 

 after several days of illness. This fatal termination is by no 

 means rare. The mechanism by which it causes these phe- 

 nomena is not well understood, but the certainty of their ap- 

 pearance in the infected subjects, renders mallein an invalu- 

 able agent for the purpose of diagnosing glanders in the 

 soliped. Its curative properties have been recognized for 

 some years. Nocard, first attracted attention to this action 

 after a series of experiments that leave no room for doubt. 

 In this country it is found no less valuable in the hands of 

 experienced veterinarians. For this purpose mallein is in- 

 jected at intervals of six weeks to two months, in addition 

 to improving the hygiene of the stable. The sick are thus 

 discovered, benefited or found dangerous enough to de- 

 stroy; and the healthy ones are rendered at least temper- 



