552 
Looping -III in Sheep. 
Experiment IX. — A four months old lamb -was inoculated inside the 
thigh with, about 20 drops of mixed blood and pericardial fluid from a lamb 
dead of louping-ill (Case X.). The blood and pericardial fluid had been 
preserved for 19 days in a sealed tube. 
Result. — Negative. 
Experiments with Cultures. 
In all tlie cases except those in which the carcass was already 
more or less putrid, tubes of gelatine and agar were inoculated from 
blood, pus, pericardial fluid, or cerebro- spinal fluid. In Cases X. and 
XI. the tubes inoculated from the blood yielded apparently pure 
cultures of two different micro-organisms, but as these cultures were 
found to be devoid of pathogenic effects -when tested by inoculation 
(into lambs) it may be concluded that their presence was accidental. 
The tubes inoculated from the abscesses of Cases II. and Y. 
yielded pure cultures of a micrococcus, and inoculation experiments 
with these cultures had results in harmony with the view that the 
organisms in question were the actual cause of the disease. 
The experiments, nine in number, have been performed on sheep 
of various ages (from lambs four or five months old, to yearlings and 
old ewes), and with so little variation in the result that it would be 
waste of space to describe the whole series in detail. The following 
two experiments will suffice to illustrate the pathogenic properties 
of the micrococcus. 
Experiment I. June 24, 1893. — Injected about 20 drops of a liquefied 
gelatine culture (first culture from Case V.) under the sldn of each thigh of 
a four months old lamb. 
June 26. — Extensive branny swelling at the seat of inoculation in each 
thigh. 
June 28. — A well defined abscess about the size of a hen’s egg has 
formed in each thigh. 
June 29. — Washed the skin on the inside of the tight thigh with satu- 
rated aqueous solution of mercuric chloride, and pierced the abscess with a 
sterile glass pipette. A quantity of thick yellow pus forced ils way into 
the tube, aud from this cover-glass preparations and cultures on agar were 
made. The former showed among the pus cells groups of micrococci, and 
apparently pure cultures of the same organism were obtained in the tubes 
of agar. 
The abscess in the left thigh burst spontaneously a few days later, but 
more than a fortnight elapsed before healing was complete. 
Experiment II. February 2, 1894. — Injected into the thigh of a year- 
ling sheep about 20 drops of sterile water holding in suspension a culture 
on agar (7th generation) of the micrococcus obtained from the vertebral 
abscess of Case V. The skin of the thigh had previously been washed with 
5 per cent, solution of carbolic acid in water. 
February 3 . — Diffuse redness and swelling around the seat of injection ; a 
flat yellow pimple marks the point where the hypodermic needle was inserted. 
February 4. — Swelling more prominent and better defined. 
February 8. — A distinct abscess has formed on the side of the thigh. 
February 10. — Pierced the abscess, as in the previous case, with a 
sterile pipette. From the pus thus obtained the micrococcus was recovered 
in pure culture. 
