✓ 
688 VERANUS A. MOORE. 
During tlie past year, bacteriologic examinations have, as 
heretofore, been made of the various morbid tissues which have 
come to our laboratory either from the clinics of this college or 
from different veterinarians in the State. As would be expected, 
there has been considerable variety of subject matter, and, in 
many instances, the specimens have been quite limited in num¬ 
ber. However, streptococci have been found in such numbers, 
and, in cases of certain definite disorders, to be so constantly 
present that their possible etiological significance renders them 
worthy of more than a passing notice. Furthermore, the intro¬ 
duction of antistreptococcic serum for the treatment of the so- 
called streptococci diseases of animals calls for a more intimate 
acquaintance on the part of the practicing veterinarian with the 
present knowledge of the relation of streptococci to the maladies 
with the lesions of which they are so often associated. 
It has long been known that streptococci are frequently pres¬ 
ent either alone or associated with other bacteria in lesions of 
various kinds in both man and the lower animals. In human 
pathology the extent of their activities has been more fully 
determined. In a few instances, they have been credited with 
disease-producing power. In certain other diseases they have 
been so conspicuous that distinguished pathologists have for a 
time looked upon them as the causal agents, but subsequently 
their presence has been proven to be of secondary importance 
only. However, their power to produce sepsis, to excite inflam¬ 
mation and to cause suppuration seems to be so great that they 
are classed among the important parasitic bacteria. In compara¬ 
tive pathology, the range of their disease-producing power is not 
so well defined. The part they take in causing animal diseases, 
both of a local and of a more general nature, is not satisfactorily 
determined even in case of affections where their causal relation 
is strongly suspected. In the absence of positive knowledge 
concerning the specific cause of those affections, it is natural to 
attach considerable importance to the species of bacteria com¬ 
monly associated with their lesions. This, however, is not proof. 
The technical difficulties involved in the incrimination of any 
