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Germ of the Southern Caitle Plague. 113 
THE GERM OF THE SOUTHERN CATTLE PLAGUE. 
BY FRANK P. BILLINGS.) 
17 order to prove that it is the manure of infected cattle which 
lodges the germs of Southern Cattle Plague, we must first find 
the germs. 
Has anybody found them? To which I answer that there has, 
and that the honor belongs entirely to Nebraska, as well as does 
that of completely connecting the germ of swine plague with that 
disease, and discovering the true nature of that pest. Detmers saw 
the germ of swine plague first, but it was left to us to prove its 
unquestioned connection with that disease. Our discovery of the 
germ was as original as if it had never been discovered, but in no 
way detracts from Dr. Detmers credit as the first discoverer. 
Detmers found a germ in the Southern Cattle Plague, but it was 
a large baccillus, and had no direct connection with the disease. 
Salmon found another coccus in this disease, also, but it was a 
double coccus, and had no relation to it. These observations will 
be considered in detail in our full report. How may we know that 
we have discovered the germ in any specific disease? In order to 
_ Make such an assertion the following conditions must be fulfilled 
in every detail :— 
First.—In the tissues of animals ill with a specific disease must, 
in each case examined, be found the same germ. 
Second.—This germ must be cultivated, free from every other 
germ, in some of the artificial media. i 
Third.—It must be shown that the germ in question has patho- 
genetic (disease-producing) qualities, by inoculating animals and 
killing them thereby. 
These three conditions have been fulfilled. The germ of South- 
ern Cattle Plague has been found in the blood, the gall, the urine, 
the liver, spleen and.kidneys of every diseased animal on which we 
have made an autopsy. These germs haye been also cul- 
1! Director of the Patho-Biological Laboratory of the State University 
of Nebraska. 
