560 
Louping-ill in Sheep. 
investigations as to render his conclusions quite untrustworthy, and 
there can be little doubt that the jelly-like substance which he 
described as a mycelial growth was simply the adipose tissue that 
normally exists between the dura mater and the bones of the spinal 
canal. 
In Part Til. Vol. IV. of this Journal (1893) there was published 
(pp. 625-36) a report on the Etiology and Pathology of Louping-ill 
by Dr. Klein, and special interest attaches to this, as Dr. Klein’s in- 
vestigations were made almost simultaneously with my own, and in 
the same district. Like some other reports on the same subject, Dr. 
Klein’s account of the pathology of louping-ill is vitiated by failure 
to recognise that the name covers a variety of diseases. He made 
post-mortem examinations of eleven sheep and six lambs, but, 
unfortunately, he does not describe the symptoms exhibited in each 
separate case, and his account of the lesions is given in such a form 
as to make it impossible to strictly compare his results with my own. 
A most remarkable point in connexion with Dr. Klein’s post- 
mortem examinations is that he does not appear to have made it a 
rule to examine the spinal cord, for whereas he mentions all the 
other principal organs of the body, if only to state that they were 
normal, the spinal cord is not once referred to. On the other hand, 
he found the most constant lesions in the brain, and next after that, 
in the lungs, heart, pericardium — organs that were certainly normal 
in appearance in most of the cases examined by me. Dr. Klein 
cultivated a variety of microbes from the fluids or tissues of diseased 
sheep, but he failed to prove that any of these were causally 
related to louping-ill ; indeed, the latter statement might be put 
more strongly, for the two experiments which he made with the 
microbe that was most frequently encountered, furnish strong 
evidence that this germ is not the cause of louping-ill. 
J. McFadyf.an. 
Royal Veterinary College, Camden Town, N.W. 
