ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
467 
Bacterium of Foot-and-Mouth Disease.* — According to Herren A. 
Stutzer and Ii. Hartleb, the exciting cause of foot-and-mouth disease is a 
very polymorphic bacterium belonging to the coli group. The varia- 
tions in shape are principally due to alterations in the nutritive and 
environmental conditions. In bouillon only rodlets appear ; but if milk 
be added, long filaments arise, and in citrate of ammonia solution the 
organism assumes the spirillum form. Under other circumstances the 
appearances are those of cocci and streptococci, and even yeast-like 
forms appear. The reaction of the medium seems a matter of indiffer- 
ence, as the organism thrives when it is alkaline, neutral, or acid. Pure 
cultures produced fever, with palsy of the hind-limbs, in cattle, and the 
formation of vesicles in the mucosa of the nose and tongue. The culti- 
vated organism soon loses its virulence. The original derivation was 
the milk from the diseased udders. 
New Bacillus pathogenic to Rats.f — Herr B. Issatschenko isolated 
a bacillus from the spleen and liver of rats dead from an epizootic 
malady which broke out in the laboratory at St. Petersburg in 1897. 
The bacillus is mobile, and has lateral flagella. Its size varies much, 
and is dependent on the medium and the age of the culture. It grows 
well on all the usual substrata. The growth varies in colour from white 
to yellow. The microbe is very pathogenic to rats and mice ; infection 
of the mouth producing death in 8-14 days in the former, and in 4-8 
days in the latter. It has no effect on pigeons or rabbits. 
The results of experiments indicate the practical importance of the 
discovery. 
Myxomatogenous Virus. f — Under this title Prof. G. Sanarelli de- 
scribes a malady which began in 1896 at Montevideo among the labora- 
tory rabbits. The first symptom was conjunctivitis, followed in 24-48 
hours by swelling of the eyelids and the appearance of subcutanedus 
tumours all over the body. The parts about the face and perinaeum 
became thickened, and there was a hyperplasia of the connective tisues 
generally where skin and mucosa are adjacent. Inspection of the bodies 
after death showed subcutaneous tumours of gelatinous appearance, 
elastic consistence, and highly vascular ; hypertrophy of the lymphatic 
glands, orchitis, and swelling of the spleen. Microscopical examination 
of the parts affected showed highly vascular myxomatous tissue. All 
attempts at isolating a particular virus failed, but the disease was easily 
transferred by means of blood, a fragment of a tumour, a drop of the 
secretion from the lids, or by a minute piece of a viscus. The infection 
could be transmitted subcutaneously, by intravenous injection, by the 
stomach, or through the anterior chamber of the eye. By allowing the 
blood to spontaneously coagulate, or by centrifuging it, an optically pure 
and perfectly sterile serum was obtained. Notwithstanding that this 
serum was bacteriologically pure, it still contained the virus, and on this 
ground the author throws out the suggestion that there may be agents 
of disease so small that they are undemonstrable by the Microscope. 
The virus may be fortified by passage through several rabbits, may be 
weakened by age or antiseptics, and is destroyed by heating to 55° for a 
few minutes. 
* Arch. f. Hygiene, xxx. p. 372. See Beihefte Bot. Centralbl., vii. (1898) 
pp. 494-6. f Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., l te Abt., xxiii. (1898) pp. 873-4. 
X Tom. cit., pp. 865-73. 
