later. Jacoulet referred to the erosive stomatitis of indeterminate 

 nature affecting horses coming from America for the French Army. 

 He indicated that some of the veterinarians coming to the army depot 

 were acquainted with this disease*, calling it stomatitis of horses and 

 attributing it to the fact that the new horses frequently licked the 

 freshly whitewashed walls near them. The question of etiology was 

 at once referred to the Pasteur Institute, but at that time attempts 

 to carry the disease from horse to horse proved unsuccessful. The 

 opinion was thereupon advanced that defective feed probably of a 

 mycotic nature was responsible, especially since moldiness was quite 

 extensive in American baled hay brought over with the horses. 



In the issue of the above-named French journal dated February 

 29, 1916, Yigel records having observed the disease in question in a 

 large number of American animals. On the basis of his observations 

 he believed that the cause of vesicular stomatitis is a contagion and 

 should not be looked for in the poor quality of hay, as the disease 

 spread to French horses on the surrounding farms and these animals 

 had never eaten American hay. At least one cow became similarly 

 affected. Three bacteriologists of the French Army took samples of 

 blood and vesicular fluid from infected horses, but their results were 

 likewise negative. However, Vigel proved quite clearly that the 

 disease is contagious and transmissible through direct inoculation. 

 More recently, May 15, 1917, Panisset reports in the Revue Generale 

 de Medecine Veterinaire that vesicular stomatitis had gained con- 

 siderable ground during the previous few months, but not sufficient 

 to cause any alarm. Particularly those depots that received horses 

 coming from the first infected remount stations have paid heavy 

 tribute to the affection. Although known and described in France 

 before the World War, it had been observed only occasionally, and its 

 frequency there in 1917 was considered by Panisset to be due to 

 importations of infected American horses for military purposes. 



Notwithstanding that the disease primarily affects horses and 

 mules, it may spread to cattle under appropriate conditions, but 

 thus far it has not been observed under natural conditions among 

 hogs and sheep. Evidently the necessary conditions for its spread 

 from horses to cattle obtained in Nebraska, as a shipment of cattle 

 from that locality to the Kansas City Stock Yards in the fall of 1916 

 was found infected. Much excitement was occasioned thereby, as 

 the disease was quite suggestive of foot-and-mouth disease. How- 

 ever, a series of careful experiments was at once begun, from which 

 the true nature of the disease was ascertained and the diagonsis of 

 vesicular stomatitis made. 



Among other more important forms of stomatitis may be men- 

 tioned mycotic stomatitis of cattle, which results from eating feed 

 containing irrigating fungi ; necrotic stomatitis, especially affecting 

 calves and pigs, which is caused by infection with the necrosis 

 bacillus: stomatitis contagiosa, or foot-and-mouth disease, which is 

 one of the most highly infectious diseases of animals and caused by a 

 filterable virus, and pustular stomatitis, which is less contagious in 

 character than the former and confined solely to the equine. 



Concerning vesicular stomatitis, the name not only indicates the 

 location of the lesions in the mouth, but also suggests that the 

 vesicles or blisters are characteristic features, being observed at the 



