188 
EXTRACTS FROM EXCHANGES. 
foetus is nourished. If it is absent at birth,^ it is due to the fact 
of the foetus having chewed and swallowed it. M. also found an 
analogous product in the mouth or pharyngeal cavity, which he 
does not consider to be an organ, however. It consisted of 
mucoid albuminous layers overlying one another, formed from 
the buccal and pharyngeal secretions. It served as a curtain to 
cut off all communication between the pharynx and amniotic 
cavity.— [Berl. Thierarzt JVock.) 
Discovery of the Bacieeus of Foot-and-Mouth Dis- 
j^ase.—F oot-and-mouth disease being of a severe type in 
America and causing the death of many animals infected with 
it, needs therefore, to be put under strict veterinary prophylaxis. 
In Roumania the disease is of a much milder type ; but still the 
mortality is enough to induce veterinarians and bacteriologists 
to hunt for the cause of the disease. The most probable habitat 
likely to be selected by the germ seemed to be in the diseased 
patches present in the mouth. Since February 1896,^ S. has 
carried on experiments to find the germ but failed to find^ it in the 
mouth lesions, as other observers before him failed in this regard. 
This failure to find the germ here can easily be explained by 
the fact that the mouth contains many different bacteria 
which develop in culture mediums much more rapidly than the 
newly discovered germ ; the development of the latter may^ be 
hindered or destroyed. Furthermore many biological peculiar¬ 
ities of this germ may play a part here in its failure to always 
develop in the mouth, as it is very often absent in the mouth 
lesions. But after countless investigations S. succeeded in find¬ 
ing the germ after making many animal experiments that were 
crowned with success. He as well as the professor of the veter¬ 
inary high school in R. observed these experiments.^ The bacil¬ 
lus of Sarcovicci shows the disease in calves in typical form, so 
that there is no longer any doubt as to the specificity of the 
germ. S. has concluded his experiments as to^ the morphologi¬ 
cal entity of the germ and all that now remains for him is to 
substantiate his results from a pathologico-anatomical stand¬ 
point. The author has been accorded the privilege of reporting 
the characteristics of S.’s bacillus. The bacillus has the appear¬ 
ance of nearly the dimensions of the typhoid bacillus of human 
beings (Eberth’s bacilli), yet has power of motion, and by means 
of a special stain one discovers that bacillus has very large 
wavy swellings on its surface. It thrives on all ordinary cul¬ 
ture mediums.' With gelatin the cultures assume a brovm ap¬ 
pearance. It stains with all ordinary laboratory reagents. Fresh 
