206 
the board that he considered goats to be susceptible to Malta fever and 
that the disease is spread to human beings by goats. 
On June 23, 1905, Maj. IV. H. Horrocks wrote the chairman of the 
commission that he had discovered the J/. melitensis in the milk of 
an apparently healthy goat and that he had already found it in the 
milk of five goats taken from two different herds, and that Doctor 
Zammit had found it in the blood of one of these goats. 
Preliminary notes by Major Horrocks, Captain Kennedy, and Doc- 
tor Zammit on the propagation of Malta fever by goats show that one 
or more healthy goats in every herd are excreting the J/. melitensis 
in their milk and urine, and that about 50 per cent of the goats react 
to Malta fever when examined by serum agglutination tests. The 
commission states that it may be objected that no exact proof exists 
that the drinking of milk containing the J/. melitensis will give rise 
to the disease in man. However, when we take into consideration the 
results of feeding and inoculation experiments on monkeys it may be 
assumed that the disease is propagated in this way. 
This is the first statement in the literature bearing upon the propa- 
gation of Malta fever by the milk of infected goats. 
IVith the object of ascertaining by experimental inoculation 
whether goats could be infected by J/. melitensis 6 goats from 2 dif- 
ferent herds were brought and placed in the lazaretto. Doctor Zam- 
mit ® before inoculation of these goats took blood from each and 
tested their serum for agglutination. He found to his surprise that 
the serum of 5 of these goats considerably diluted caused agglutina- 
tion of the J/. melitensis. The reactions thus obtained suggested that 
2)0ssibly 5 of the goats were suffering from Malta fever acquired un- 
der natural conditions. The goats were said to be healthy, but were 
sold cheaj^ly as they had given very little milk for some time. Ex- 
amination of these goats in detail resulted as follows : 
Goat No. 6 : J/. melitensis aj^j^ears to be steadily excreted in the 
a^^parently normal milk of this goat. 
Goat Xo. 1 : J/. melitensis excreted in large number in the milk and 
also in the urine of this goat. 
Goat Xo. 2: J/. melitensis excreted in small quantities in the nor- 
mal a}D23earing milk of this goat; not detected in the urine. 
Goat Xo. 3 : M. melitensis present in large numbers in the normal 
looking milk of this goat, but not in the urine. 
Goat Xo. 5 : M. melitensis was found in the milk and urine. 
Caj^tain Kennedy, E. A. M. C., visited the various herds and took 
blood from the ears of the goats. Out of 161 goats examined 84 
® Reports of tlie commission * * * for the investigation of Mediterra- 
nean fever * * *. Part 1, 1905, p. 84 et seq. 
