DISCOVERY OF THE GERM OF SWINE-PLAGUE. 
547 
France, that it seems a pity even to call attention to the very 
great injustice done to American work in the above statement, 
since any recognition at all is so much better than being quietly 
ignored. There is, however, so much of general interest in re¬ 
gard to the gradual development of our knowdedge of the germ 
of this disease, so much of interest in the success and failures of 
those who have worked upon it, that, aside from our desire to 
see history correctly written, there is sufficient incentive for 
tracing the progress of this study, which commenced when the 
first real light was breaking upon the germ-theory of disease. 
Dr. Klein deserves more credit for his share in the discovery 
of the micrococcus of swine-plague than M. Pasteur seems in¬ 
clined to grant. In 1876 he published one of the first, if not the 
very first, reliable microscopic studies of this disease. The care 
and skill shown in this investigation are more apparent to-day 
than when the details were first published ; and, although he sub¬ 
sequently made the unfortunate mistake of attributing the cause 
of the disease to a bacillus, this fact should not be allowed to 
weigh against his former and really valuable researches.* 
In his account of the microscopic appearances of the intestine, 
the following sentence occurs:— 
“ From and even before the first signs of necrosis of the mu¬ 
cosa, viz., when the epithelium begins to break down and be shed 
from the surface, there are found masses of micrococci, which in 
some ulcers occupy a great portion of the debris.” f 
A little farther on he says,— 
“ There is one more point which I believe deserves careful 
attention. In the ulceration of the tongue just mentioned, and 
at a time when the superficial scab has not become removed, I 
have seen masses of micrococci situate chiefly in the tissue of the 
papillae, but at some places reaching as far deep as the inflamma¬ 
tion extends. That they are micrococci was proved by their 
forming lumps of uniform granules; these lumps stain deep pur¬ 
ple-blue in haeraatoxylin, and are thus very conspicuous, and 
♦Report on the so-called enteric or typhoid-fever of the pig, by Dr. Klein. In 
Reports of the medical officer of the privy council and local government board. 
New series, No. VIII. Reports to the Lords of the Council on scientific investi¬ 
gations, etc., 1876, pp. 99-101. 
tLoc. cit., p. 98. 
