260 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



death ; and it has a very important bearing on the etiology of the dis- 

 ease, since si post mortem development of the germs is out of the question, 

 and they were found in situations to which there was no direct communi- 

 cation from the outside of the body. 



In my next report (Department of Agriculture, AnnuaVtieport, 1881 

 and 1882, pp. 267-269) I gave the details of experiments which dem- 

 onstrated that these micrococci after they had been carried through six 

 cultivations in considerable quantities of liquid were still capable ot 

 producing very marked cases of the disease. This was, I believe, 

 the first satisfactory evidence of the pathogenic effect of the micrococci 

 in the disease known as swine plague ; and I desire to call attention to 

 the fact that these inoculations were made January 17, 1881, or more 

 than fourteen months before the discovery of the same organism by M. 

 Pasteur and Thuillier. 



To establish the connection of the bacilli with the cause of the dis- 

 ease, Dr. Klein relies upon the following evidence: 



1. The presence of bacilli in microscopic sections of the tissues. 



2. The multiplication of bacilli in the artificial cultures of the virus. 



3. The production of- disease by inoculations with the cultivated 

 bacilli. 



He has not forgotten, that in his first report he described micrococci 

 and not bacilli as existing in the tissues, but there is an evident attempt 

 to explain this by conveying the impression that these were found ex- 

 clusively in situations where they might be derived from external sources. 

 For instance, in his last paper (Yet. Journal, July, 1884, p. 41) he says : 



Preparing sections through the typically ulcerated mucous membrane of the large 

 intestine, staining these in aniline dyes, and examining them under the microscope, 

 I find this : In the superficial parts oi" the necrosed memhrane are present large num- 

 bers of micrococci of various kinds, chiefly varying in the size of the elements and 

 in the mode of aggregation. These micrococci stain well in Spiller's purple and in 

 methyl blue, and are present only in the necrotic parts of the ulceration, in which 

 they appear irregularly distributed. But in the depth of the tissue, and extending in 

 many cases into the inflamed sub-mucous tissue, are seen streaks and clumps of 

 minute rod-shaped bacteria, which coincide as regards size (length and thickness) 

 with the bacilli which I described in my former memoir, the single organisms beiug 

 about 0.001 to 0.004 mm . long, and about a third or a fourth as thick. 



In his first report he described the situation of the micrococci in the 

 intestine somewhat differently, as follows : 



From, and even before the first signs of necrosis of the mucosa, viz., when the 

 epithelium begins to break down and be shed from the surface, there are found masses 

 of micrococci, which in some ulcers occupy a great portion of d6bris. (Report of the 

 medical officer of the privy council and local government board, 1876, p. 98.) 



Again, in regard to the ulcerations of the mucous membrane of the 

 tongue, he says in his last report : 



I have seen in the superficial parts of the ulcers large clumps of micrococci, but in 

 the depth of, and extending between the inflamed muscular tissue I have found the 

 same rod-shaped organisms as mentioned above ; they are chiefly in spaces between 

 the bundles of the inflamed connective tissue, forming here streaks of longer or shorter 

 chains. (Page 42.) 



In his first report this was stated as follows : 



In the ulceration of the tongue just mentioned, and at a time when the superficial 

 scab has not been removed, I have seen masses of micrococci situate chiefly in the tissue 

 of the papilla), but at some places reaching as far deep as the intiannnatiou extends. 

 (Page 99.) 



In regard to the similar lesions of the epiglotis the following lan- 

 guage was used : 



I have before me preparations through the epiglottis, the submucosa ot' the pos- 

 terior surface being in a state of necrosis, and near the edge so broken down as to 



