04 
ABSTRACTS FROM EXCHANGES. 
and intestine. Large colon almost empty. Coecum has few hard 
pellets of food material and enormous number of sclerostoma 
equinum. At the ileo-coecal valve, within the coecum, there was 
a large nest of tapeworms and at this point the mucous membrane 
was neurotic. Anterior to' the ileo-coecal valve, within the ileum 
and filling it for a length of about 2 feet, distending the diam¬ 
eter of 4 inches, there was a firm mass of recently ingested food 
material. The tapeworms seemed to have caused a paralysis of 
the intestinal wall at the ileo-coecal valve.— (Veter. Journ.) 
Dislocation of the Cervical Vertebra [W. Waters . 
M.R.C.VS.]. —Six-year-old mare is found one morning unable 
to get up. She is tympanitic, the anus and vulva greatly swollen, 
in great pain, covered with profuse perspiration, and remains in¬ 
sensible to the pricks of a pin-made on the limbs. Pulse is fast 
and weak. Attempts are made to put her in slings, after pulling 
her from her stall, and when she is about being raised her head 
drops suddenly and the mare expired. A coarse post-mortem ex¬ 
amination revealed a complete dislocation of the third and fourth 
cervical vertebras, with extensive inflammation of the neck.— 
( Vet. Record.) 
Etiology of Canine Distemper [ N. S. Ferry ].—Ferry has 
made a bacteriological study of distemper in dogs and has iso¬ 
lated an organism, Bacillus bronchicanis , which is, he believes, 
the cause of the disease. Various other bacteria were isolated 
from discharges from the eye and nose, and from the contents of 
cutaneous pustules; but it appeared that all so isolated were pres¬ 
ent as secondarily infecting parasites. On a routine examination 
of the secretions of the larynx, trachea, bronchi, lungs and blood 
of dogs, which had been killed while in various stages of infec¬ 
tion, 97 strains of B. bronchicanis were obtained. In 63 cases 
quantities of from 1 to 3 c.c. of blood were drawn off from the 
heart, and either put into a 50-c.c. flask of broth or distributed in 
several tubes of broth. In 18 of these cases B. bronchicanis was 
obtained, in pure culture in 13 cases, and in company with other 
bacteria in 5. In 11 other cases cultures of other bacteria were 
obtained. B. bronchicanis is described as a short, narrow bacillus, 
occurring sometimes singly and sometimes in pairs, showing a 
moderate, slimy growth on nutrient agar. On potato growth is 
fairly abundant after 24 hours’ incubation at a temperature of 
37 0 C., having a raised moist, glistening, uneven surface, of a 
light-tan color, which darkens with age. Growth occurs on gela- 
