124 Annual Report for 1893 from the Principal of the 
the diseased birds to the office of an agricultural paper in London, 
and in reply had been informed that it showed “ every symptom of 
poisoning.” Subsequently Mr. King was consulted, and by him 
three dead turkeys were sent to the Research Laboratory. By this 
date about twenty turkeys had succumbed to the disease, and 
nearly as many more died before it was arrested. 
The post-mortem, examination of the first turkey revealed the 
following abnormalities : — The right lung, which in the healthy 
state is a small spongy organ of a bright red colour, was severely 
inflamed, being enlarged to treble its normal volume, very dark in 
colour, and solid throughout. The pericardium (the bag that sur- 
rounds the heart) was much inflamed, and partly covered with 
flakes of fibrinous lymph. The other organs appeared to be healthy. 
Microscopic examination of blood taken from the heart, spleen pulp, 
and fluid from the diseased lung and pericardium showed in each 
case indescribable numbers of a very minute germ or bacterium. 
The examination of the second and third turkeys revealed an 
almost identical state of affairs, and in these also the diseased parts 
were crowded with innumerable bacteria, all belonging to the same 
species, as far as one could judge from their shape and size. 
The discovery of these germs in three successive cases suggested 
that they were probably the cause of the disease, but much remained 
to be done in order to give this supposition certainty. The germ had 
first to be obtained in pure culture in artificial media suitable for 
its growth, it had then to be cultivated in successive generations, 
and finally it had to be shown that by inoculating or feeding 
turkeys with such artificial cultures a disease could be set up 
identical with that which prevailed at the farm. 
As regards the first of these steps no difficulty was experienced. 
It was found that the bacteria were easily cultivated in most of the 
media used for growing germs in the Laboratory. In meat extract 
rendered solid by gelatine the growth was very slow at ordinary 
temperatures, and not very rapid even when the tubes were kept 
at 70° Fahr. In liquid bouillon or meat extract, and in meat 
extract rendered solid by the addition of agar-agar, the growth, on 
the other hand, was rapid when the tubes were incubated at about 
the body temperature. 
When the germ had been cultivated for several generations its 
power to produce disease was tested by the following experiments 
with turkeys : — 
Experiment I . — A young turkey was inoculated with mixed 
gelatine and agar cultures of the bacterium by means of a sterilised 
hypodermic syringe, and at the same time some of the culture was 
poured over the turkey’s throat. The turkey was found dead sixty- 
six hours after inoculation. 
Post-mortem . — Skin removed from seat of inoculation shows the 
subcutaneous tissue over an area of two square inches blanched and 
necrotic ; around this the subcutaneous tissue is moist-looking, and 
its vessels are injected. On section the necrosis is found to extend 
into the subjacent muscular tissue for the depth of a quarter of an 
