MALADIE DU COIT 
295 
A communication from Mr. Pasteur before the Academy 
of Sciences now seems to point out the probability of the discov¬ 
ery of a means of attenuating the virus by which tiie inoculation 
of a dog may be made to confer certain immunity upon that ani¬ 
mal. On this occasion Pasteur reports that on the 16th of 
November, 1887, fifteen centimetres in length of the marrow of 
a rabbit of the 171st series, which had died rabid, was after ex¬ 
posure for forty-eight hours to a temperature of 35°, diluted in 
30 cubic centimetres of sterilized bouillon, and that two dogs, 
trephined, and inoculated with this solution did not become 
rabid; a fact which shows the greatest probability , if not the cer¬ 
tainty, that this marrow , by treating it by the contact of pure 
and dry air , had lost its virulency in all its length. 
And yet these two dogs had gained immunity. Inoculated 
by trephining, more than six months later, with the bulb of a dog 
which had died from an attack of furious rabies, these animals 
resisted the operation, and are now alive and well. 
Heated marrow, deprived of its virulency, had become vac¬ 
cinal by a chemical vaccine. Should this be confirmed by other 
experiments, how simplified would be the prophylaxy of rabies in 
carnivorous animals, and especially in dogs! 
ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
MALADIE DU COIT. 
By W. L. Williams, V.S. 
Report on the outbreak in Illinois to the State Board of Live Stock Commissioners. 
Gentlemen :— I herewith submit my report upon the outbreak 
of equine syphilis, maladie du coit, or malignant venereal disease 
of solipeds, which has been lately brought to notice in De Witt 
County, Illinois. 
This being the first well authenticated outbreak of this disease, 
so far as known, in any English speaking country, renders a 
thoroughly complete and accurate report both difficult and desi¬ 
rable ; the English veterinary literature upon this subject being 
