Apr. 2 ,1917 
Some Facts About Abortion Disease 
15 
In the fourth place, the rapidly declining agglutinating power of the 
blood serum, of the calf of an infected cow is shown, and this also is a 
repeatedly observed phenomenon. The writers have found that ag-: 
glutinating properties can be engendered in the blood of calves by 
injecting them with abortion bacilli; but such injections must be repeated 
from time to time, otherwise the agglutinating properties of the blood 
serum disappear. 
In the fifth place, as the calf was suckled "by its mother, whose udder 
was known to be heavily infected, it may be judged from the rapidly 
declining agglutinating value of its blood that abortion bacilli in ingested 
milk do not seem to penetrate deeply or abundantly into a calf's body. 
The records of other cows and calves give similar data. 
possibility of infection through the bull 
It is rare for male and virgin cattle to react positively to abortion 
tests, and it has been pointed out that the bodies of cows do not harbor 
abortion bacilli elsewhere than in their udders, associated lymph glands, 
and pregnant uteri. It does happen occasionally that bulls do react 
when they are tested for abortion disease, and what such reactions may 
signify remains decidedly questionable; hence, the two following cases 
may be both instructive and interesting. 
Sometime ago the writers found two bulls which reacted when their 
blood serum was tested with suspensions of abortion bacilli. In one case 
the reaction was positive in a dilution of 1 to 200 and in the other in a 
dilution of 1 to 100. Where the bulls got the infection the knowledge of 
their history does not reveal. 
One of the bulls, the one with the higher reaction, was immediately 
killed and examined. The only lesion found in his body was an abscess 
involving the epididymis of one testicle, and this abscess was definitely 
proved to be infected with abortion bacilli. Tests of all other portions 
of the sexual organs and various other organs of the body failed to reveal 
abortion bacilli. 
Was this apparently healthy bull qualified to serve as an active dis¬ 
seminator of abortion disease? The writers are not ready to answer the 
question at present. 
The other bull was permitted to serve a cow which, according to her 
history and all tests made, was free from abortion disease. Immediately 
after the service seminal fluid was recovered from her uterus and injected 
into a number of guinea pigs, one of which subsequently showed abortion 
bacillus lesions. Tests are still being carried on with this bull. 
RELATION OF THE ABORTION BACILLUS TO THE EMBRYO OR FETUS 
A few years ago one of the writers, on the basis of the work on abortion 
disease, expressed the view that the abortion bacillus seemed to have a 
peculiar affinity for embryonic tissue. They are still of this opinion, and 
