\ 
BLACK LEG. 353 
of that disease, as far as our time permitted, (having under 
way, besides the regular official sanitary work, a programme 
to follow concerning investigations in Texas fever, the results 
of which have just been published in bulletin No. 11). 
We did not intend to publish anything now, but we yield 
to the farmers’ demand for information. 
Unlike Texas fever, which was misunderstood everywhere, 
we found in black leg a malady fairly well understood, and 
hence to attain our object it was not necessary to lay a plan 
of investigation entirely original. 
The extensive experiments and researches of Arloing, 
Cornevin, Thomas, Chauveau, and others in France have fur¬ 
nished us much material for comparative study, and finding 
that the disease in question is identical in Europe and Amer¬ 
ica, we quote considerably from the above named authorities 
for the benefit of our people. As will be shown in this bulle¬ 
tin, we owe much to these scientists for their grand achieve¬ 
ments, for to them, besides being indebted for the many 
scientific problems which they have solved, we owe the pro¬ 
cess of vaccination against black leg, which to-day saves mil¬ 
lions of dollars to France, Switzerland and other European 
countries, and would save our stock raisers on an equal basis 
if they would only put the discovery in practice. 
NATURE, CAUSE, SYMPTOMS AND LESIONS. 
Black leg is a disease due to parasitic bacteria (or germs) 
which exist in certain localities, particularly low lands and 
luxurious grasses, and which when in the body of young cat¬ 
tle grow principally in the connective tissue (between the 
skin and flesh) and in the muscles, causing the appearance of 
dark, bloody, gaseous tumors. 
The adult germ is of the rod form with roundish extremi¬ 
ties. The parasite gains access in the body with the food by 
the alimentary canal. They penetrate from the bowels, like 
the absorbed nourishment, in various parts of the body, but 
localize chiefly under the skin in the loose connective tissue 
about the shoulders, hips, etc., where they find soils fit for 
their growth and reproduction. It is a disease of cattle 
almost exclusively, and like other germ disease, the suscepti- 
