1884.] Discovery of the Germ of Swine-Plague. 1101 
minating point of height and then declining, to be followed by a 
new wave, and each of superior structure than the preceding. Each 
wave of life, in fact, has been forced down by the succeeding 
and superior one, until now the’ human wave has risen and is 
forcibly breaking down that which last preceded it. 
(To be continued.) 
:0: 
DR. D. E. SALMON’S CLAIMS RESPECTING THE DIS- 
COVERY OF THE GERM OF SWINE-PLAGUE. 
BY H. J. DETMERS. 
N No. 53 of vol. 111, of Science, pages 155 and fol., appeared an 
article by Dr. D. E. Salmon, in which he claims priority in the 
discovery of the cause of swine-plague with reference to my own 
researches. Since my claims, recently admitted by Pasteur, and 
in 1880 by the professors of the Royal Veterinary School at 
Berlin (see page 464 and. 465 of the Archiv für wissenschaft- 
liche und practische Thierheilkunde, vol. vi, part 6), are thus di- 
rectly disputed, it is incumbent upon me to vindicate them. That 
Dr. Klein discovered in 1876 microorganisms in the carcasses of 
hogs that had died of swine-plague, I have nowhere disputed ; 
neither have I expressed any doubt that Dr. Klein may have seen 
the very micrococci which constitute the cause of the disease. In 
fact, I have never seen Dr. Klein's report. Only brief extracts of 
the same have ever come to my knowledge, from which, how- 
ever, I have not been able to learn that Dr. Klein demonstrated 
the causal connection of these bacteria with the disease. This 
Proof, absolutely necessary in order to show the parasitic nature 
of the disease, I was the first to furnish. In special report No. 
12,and in the annual report for 1878, of the commissioner of 
agriculture, can be found a detailed account of my researches. 
In these I discovered a specific microorganism in the fluids, mor- 
bidly affected tissues, and morbid products of the diseased ani- 
mals, as well when killed by bleeding, as also in the perfectly 
h carcasses of those that had died of the disease. These 
bacteria were cultivated outside of the animal body, in innocent 
media, such as milk, mutton broth, and other fluids (see page 37 
of the commissioner’s special report No. 12, or page 347 of his 
annual report for 1878). 
An inoculation with the bacteria, thus cultivated, reproduced 
