MEAT INSPECTION AND ACTINOMYCOSIS. 
7 
Dr. Williams in the above arguments in favor of the con¬ 
tagiousness of actinomycosis takes as granted certain premises 
which will not be accepted by everyone. The interpretation 
of the Peoria cases, where “ the extension of the disease 
seemed due to the fact that badly affected animals were kept 
in the sheds with the healthy ” (page 541, this journal), can 
reasonably be disputed. Dr. Williams concludes that here 
inoculation took place from the purulent discharge of the 
actinomycotic abscesses containing actinomyces. Others, 
however, will believe that the cattle were exposed to a com¬ 
mon cause, and that here the actinomyces adhered either to 
the grain, or to the “ very coarse, hard wild hay ” that he 
mentions as being fed, which explanation is far more proba¬ 
ble on botanical grounds. Prof. Bostrom some time ago an¬ 
nounced the result of careful examinations made of actinomy¬ 
cotic tumors of cattle (thirty-two cases) and man (twelve 
cases). In the great majority of these cases he has been suc¬ 
cessful in tracing the causes of the tumor to kernels of grain, 
fragments of straw, etc., which he found in the starting point 
of the tumor, and which were profusely infested with actino¬ 
myces. These observations are confirmed by Saltmann, Ber¬ 
tha, Lunor, Schartan and Fischer, all of whom publish similar 
observations. 
In the face of these facts only the theory of inter-transmis¬ 
sion from animal to animal by cohabitation becomes highly 
improbable. Quite as rash is Dr. Williams in his conclusions 
as to the value of experimental inoculation of actinomycosis, 
which he calls the “ crucial test ” of contagiousness. The 
practice of experimental inoculation originated in the desire 
to continue the study of the pathological changes of mycotic 
diseases in the laboratory, and small animals were found to be 
particularly adapted to this purpose. It is true that it has 
been demonstrated in this way that some contagious diseases 
may be artificially transplanted, but there are also exceptions 
which break down the theory that such is a sure test for con¬ 
tagiousness. Pleura-pneumonia in cattle, for instance, has 
never been transmitted to any experimental animal, still it is 
justly considered a contagious disease. 
