1906.] 



LOUPING-ILL AND BrAXY. 



contagious and infectious diseases of man and of the lower 

 animals." 



The group in question is thought to comprise : Braxy or 

 sickness, louping-ill, black-quarter, struclc, malignant oedema, 

 two diseases of doubtful identity distinguished as " A " and " B," 

 and a peculiar disease of the deer. 



The chief characteristics common to the members of the 

 group are, so far as yet known, as follows : — 



They occur at definite seasons of the year ; they are more or 

 less confined to certain farms or districts ; the carcases have a 

 strong typical odour ; they are each caused by a specific 

 anaerobic bacillus resident in the alimentary canal ; the bacilli 

 in the whole of them are destroyed by the blood of the sheep 

 during the summer months, and to a less extent at other times 

 of the year, but during the " season " peculiar to each they grow 

 with more or less facility upon it ; they may all probably be 

 prevented by a method of drenching described below. 



Preventive Ti'eaUneiit. — A long series of experiments was 

 conducted to discover if louping-ill and braxy could be pre- 

 vented by subcutaneous inoculation of their bacilli. This 

 method of procuring immunity by injecting the culture under 

 the skin, however, was found to be uncertain and unsatisfactory. 

 The organism not being introduced into the intestine — its 

 natural habitat — but inoculated subcutaneously, often produced 

 results which were violent and sometimes ended in the death of 

 the animal. At times this method failed entirely to confer im- 

 munity, and, whether successful or not, it enfeebled the sheep, 

 causing uneasiness, lameness, and loss of condition. 



The natural habitat of this group of bacteria being the intes- 

 tine, and the fact of the diseases due to them being acquired by 

 feeding, suggested the idea of " drenching " or introducing the 

 organism by the mouth in preference to the method of subcu- 

 taneous inoculation. The results have proved eminently satis- 

 factory. No pain, uneasiness, or loss of condition has been 

 noticed, and in every way the new method has proved success- 

 ful. These results were arrived at gradually. There, were 

 numerous failures, largely owing to ignorance of the seasonal 

 variation of the blood, which was discovered only in 1904. The 

 extraordinary success of the, -subsequent preventive; measures 



