PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 495 



INOCULATION.— The ray-fungus is difficult to inocu- 

 late. Wolf and Israel nevertheless succeeded in communi- 

 cating the disease to the rabbit by introducing parasitic tufts 

 into the peritoneum. Johne made use of the subcutaneous 

 inoculation and with Gutmann succeeded in reproducing the 

 affection in the cow, the horse and the bull. Caufit obtained 

 results in the ox by introducing the parasite into the peri- 

 toneal cavity. At the autopsy he found the lymphatic glands 

 of the meso-colon congested and covered with tubercles. The 

 heart was adhered to the pericardium and on both were num- 

 erous yellow tubercles containing the fungus. Ponfick has 

 been able to infect the calf; Mosselman and Lienaux, the 

 rabbit; and Mandereau, the goat, the rat and the sheep. The 

 cat, the dog, and the cavy are refractory. The inoculation 

 of pure cultures has been successful in the hands of Mossel- 

 man, Lienaux, Wolf, Israel and Mandereau. 



ETIOLOGY. — It is now known that the actinomyces 

 is, above all, a vegetable parasite that exists only accident- 

 ally on animals and that the tissues of animals do not form a 

 very favorable medium for its development. It is through 

 the medium of vegetables, on which it lives, that man and 

 animals are infected. The latter are infected as a conse- 

 quence of dental irregularities or abrasions of the mucous 

 membranes caused by the mastication of stalks. Dry fodder 

 is a natural source of infection. The chaff and the stalks 

 of graminese inoculate the mucous membrane or tear it for 

 subsequent infection, or they may become wedged between 

 the teeth and deposit the parasites which they carry upon the 

 tissue into which they are lodged. The hordeum murinum 

 (wall-barley, mouse-barley, wild-barley, so-called) is particu- 

 larly dangerous. Observations by Jensen and Neuwirth es- 

 tablish the fact that straws are not highly infective. Krantz 

 and Tribout found actinomyces on thorns implanted in the 

 buccal mucous membrane of African oxen. Johne found the 



