AN OUTBREAK OF RABBIT SEPTICAEMIA. < 295 
A rabbit inoculated in the ear-vein with 0.6 cc. of a pure 
culture died in about forty-four hours, and its organs con¬ 
tained innumerable bacteria which exhibited a marked polar 
strain in carefully prepared preparations. A second rabbit 
inoculated with 1.0 cc. died of septicaemia in twenty-four 
hours. In large doses, therefore, it produced a rapidly fatal 
septicaemia. In these cases the disease could not be distin¬ 
guished either by the lesions or the number and appearance 
of the bacteria in stained cover-glass preparations from the 
organs from the disease produced in rabbits with a small 
quantity of virulent swine-plague bacteria. 
The organism obtained in this epizootic of rabbit septicas- 
mia has been found by a comparative study to differ from the 
swine-plague germ in its excessive attenuation the marked 
indol reaction and in certain morphological characters, which, 
however, are more rarely observed in the involution forms 
of the virulent swine-plague germ. The outbreak is further 
illustrative of the extent of the distribution and manifestation 
of this group of bacteria. Although the source of the germ 
has not yet been determined, the fact of its producing a local 
disturbance in the nares, and, subsequently, in many cases, 
pleuritis and pneumonia, is of considerable importance, not 
only in its relation to rabbit septicaemia, but also in the sug¬ 
gestions which it offers concerning the etiology of certain 
forms of pneumonia in other animals as well as in the human 
species. 
RHINITIS IN RABBITS AND ITS RELATION TO RABBIT 
SEPTICEMIA. 
From the preceding pages it will be observed that rhinitis 
in rabbits has been somewhat common, and that in this out¬ 
break of rabbit septicsemia the nasal trouble preceded the 
fatal localization of the disease. This association of the two 
affections led to an investigation of the rhinitis. In some in¬ 
stances the nasal trouble was very slight, while in others there 
was a more profuse discharge accompanied with difficulty 
in breathing. Upon examination the nasal mucosa was found 
to be whitish (opaque), thickened, and covered with more 
or less muco-pus. The examination of stained cover-glass 
