2g6 A Pathogenic Sckizophyte of the Hog. [April, 



the morbid process, or merely accidental attendants. To show 

 that their presence is not accidental, may not need much proof, 

 although an abundance can be furnished. It will probably suffice 

 to say, if the Schizophytes were accidental, that is, had no rela- 

 tion to the disease, neither as cause nor as effect, it would be very 

 strange that they are found in every case of swine-plague and 

 nowhere else. It may be said that some investigators did not 

 find them, but that proves nothing. They are easily overlooked. 

 If one, for instance, has blood or blood serum under the micro- 

 scope, and focusses on the blood corpuscles, the microphytes, and 

 especially the micrococci, are easily overlooked, particularly if 

 the objective has a short focus and a large aperture, and therefore 

 but little penetration, but the same will come into view if the 

 focus is very slightly raised, or just enough to make the outlines 

 of the blood corpuscles a trifle less distinct, because the Schizo- 

 phytes, it seems, have a tendency to crowd as close to the cover 

 as they possibly can. Some of them also crowd to the slide, and 

 may therefore be brought to view by lowering the focus just a 

 trifle. Besides, to distinguish under all circumstances, Swine- 

 plague micrococci from small granules, and vice versa, requires 

 some experience, a very good objective, good light and careful 

 handling. Further, if one attempts to find Schizophytes in un- 

 diluted blood he will very often not succeed, because the blood 

 corpuscles, if very thick or numerous, are apt to hide them from 



In all my examinations of blood, blood serum, lung-exudation 

 and other morbid products of swine-plague, I never found the 

 swine-plague Schizophytes absent, while on the other hand, I 

 never found them anywhere else. It is true I have found similar 

 single and double micrococci and micrococcus-chains in other 

 substances ; for instance, in wine, but the same differed in size, 

 and behaved differently in forming zooglcea-masses and micro- 

 coccus-chains. Those which I found in some substances were 

 considerably smaller, while in some others I found larger ones. 



If the possibility of spontaneous generation is admitted, it wil 

 be difficult to advance direct proof that the swine-plague Schizo 

 phytes are not the product of the morbid process, because in '< 

 certain sense they are ; they multiply within the animal organism 

 and multiply very rapidly, and probably in the same ratio, if 

 which the morbid process progresses, if once introduced from the 



