ABSTRACTS AND REPORTS. 73

found. In the remaining 408 animals no hydatids could be found, and these were therefore passed for consumption in Berlin.

In the 311 pigs condemned for the presence of trichin~ the parasite was encapsuled and normal in 249 cases, and calcified in 29. In 3 T cases both normal encapsuled and calcified parasites were present, and in 2 instances wandering trichin~ were found.

The actinomyces in the muscles led to the seizure of 69 pigs, and other 67 were condemned for calcareous concretions.

Besides these cases of total seizure the following parts and organs were condemned: For the presence of echinococcus, the lungs of 5128 cattle, 3 calves, 3348 sheep, and 3681 pigs; and the livers of 1887 cattle, 2436 sheep, and 4715 pigs. The presence of the liver fluke led to the condemnation of the livers of 2108 cattle, 2 calves, 2212 sheep, and 137 pigs. The presence of thread worms led to the withdrawal of the lungs of 788 sheep and 3237 pigs.

Inflammation and its consequences led to the seizure of the lungs of 1431 cattle, 1951 pigs, 1 calf, and 17 sheep, and of the liver in 919 cattle, II6 pigs, and one sheep.

Putrefaction was the cause of seizure of 2 I7 kilo of' beef and 42 kilo of mutton.

No fewer than 249 persons are engaged in connection with the meat inspec­tion of the city of Berlin.-Adam's Woclle1lSchrift, No.6, February 1889'

EXPERIMENTS REGARDING PLEURO-PNEUMONIA IN GERMANY.

AT a meeting of veterinary surgeons held in Magdeburg, on the 6th January last, Professor Schutz of Berlin gave an account of certain experiments now being conducted regarding pleuro-pneumonia. These experiments, which had not then been completed, were instigated by the Minister of Agriculture, and carried out under the direction of Dr Schutz and Herr Steffen.

Dr SCHUTZ said that in order to gain precise information regarding the action of inoculation, it was necessary (I) to obtain, as far as possible, pure materials for the inoculation, and (2) to carry out the operation itself under strict antiseptic precautions.

The procedure recommended with the object of obtaining the virus in as pure a condition as possible is as follows: The lung removed from the hody of an animal just slaughtered for pleuro-pneumonia is incised at a recent area of disease. The knife used to make this incision must previously have been disinfected in a 5% solution of carbolic acid. The hands having been washed in 1% sublimate solution, the lung parenchyma at the place incised is torn apart. The clear yellowish fluid which now exudes out of the interstitial tissue is immediately sucked up into a sterilised hypodermic syringe.

To fulfil the second condition the tail for a handbreadth at the seat of inoculation ought to be carefully shaved, and then thoroughly washed, first with soap and water, and afterwards with 1010 sublimate solution. The inoculation is practised on the back of the tail. A canula, previously disin­fected in 5010 solution of carbolic acid, is thrust into the subcutaneous tissue, and then the syringe is adapted to the canula, and the lymph is injected. The syringe having been withdrawn, the seat of inoculation is covered with a pad of sublimate wadding, and over this is placed a pad of wadding soaked in sublimate collodion. Finally, the whole is wrapped in plaster. By carefully carrying out these operations in the manner stated, one is assured of having

74 ABSTRACTS AND REPORTS.

obtained the purest possible lymph, and of having introduced no accidental noxious agents into the animal body.

Inasmuch as neither the contagium nor the seat of it was known, it was necessary by experiment to determine whether the former was contained in the hepatised lung tissue or in the fluid exudate. The solid lung tissue was torn off from a freshly affected area with previously sterilised forceps, and introduced into a pocket,like wound of the tail, the seat of operation being then treated as in the case of injection of the liquid material. As Chauveau's experiments have shown that in the case of small-pox the virus is contained only in the liquid materials of the pock, so it was also possible that in the case of pleuro-pneumonia the virus existed only in the exudate. The experiments had also to determine whether warm and cold materials would give different results on inoculation.

The first inoculation experiments were carried out in Magdeburg on the 8th and 9th of October last. Twelve out of sixteen cattle purchased for the purpose were inoculated as follows :-

No. I. 1 ccm.

With warm liquid material. No.2. NO.3.

o'S ccm. 0'3 ccm.

With warm solid material of the size of-NO.4. No. S. No.6.

millet-seed. linseed. pea.

NO·7· 1 ccm.

With cold liquid material. No.8.

o'S ccm. NO·9·

0'3 ccm.

With cold solid material of the size of-No. 10. No. 11. No. 12.

millet-seed. linseed. pea.

Four out of the sixteen cattle were kept uninoculated to serve as control animals.

The experiments had already warranted the conclusion that the unknown contagium exists in the fluid exudate, and that the lymph taken at the temperature of the animal body has a more potent action than that employed in the cold condition.

In November a second series of twelve animals were inoculated, viz., three with pure warm lymph, three with 500 I 0' three with 200/0' and three with 100/0 of pure warm lymph. This experiment did not show that the quantity of the inoculating materials had any effect on the contagium.

In the series of inoculations, necrosis at the seat of inoculation occurred in six cases, and death resulted in one.

The course of the inoculation disease was as follows: After an incubation period of four to seven days an erysipelatous (rothlaufartiger) process developed at the seat of operation, and spread towards the root of the tail. This process had not the same extension in all the animals. In some it extended to the tail root, in others it invaded the adipose and connective tissue masses of the hind quarters, especially of the pelvis. In one case it reached the abdomen, and death resulted from peritonitis.

The anatomical nature of the local lesion was in all cases the same. At the outset there was a marked saturation of the subcutaneous tissue with fluid (<:edema), then coagulation of the exudate, the large lymph spaces being filled with fibrin. The next step was obstruction of the blood and lymph vessels, and then necrosis. The pathological process in the lung affection is the same.

ABSTRACTS AND REPORTS. 75

The experiment justified one in concluding that the virus of pleuro· pneumonia is a living contagium which exists especially in the fluid exudate of the diseased lung. The connective and adipose tissues of the ox possess the power of destroying the infective material; but this power is not possessed in the same degree by all individuals. Hence it happens that the process is sometimes less, sometimes more, extensive in the connective tissue.

The whole of the inoculated and the control animals were put along with other animals suffering from pleuro-pneumonia, and the four control animals had contracted the disease; but whether immunity had been conferred upon the inoculated animals could not at that date be decided, and the experiment was still in progress.-Tlliermedicinische Rundscllan, 15th January 1889.

A NEW PATHOGENIC MICRO-ORGANISM OF THE DOG.

PROFESSOR RABE describes in the Berliner Tllierdrztliche Woclzellscllrift (25th October 1888) a micro-parasite which he has in three cases observed in inflammatory swellings in dogs.

CASE I.-A pointer was brought to the dog hospital in Hannover with the history that it had for a long time suffered from a swelling of the left fore paw, which frequently caused the dog to be lame. Examination showed that the skin and subcutaneous tissue of the affected foot were swollen and rather firm, the swelling being greatest at the toes. The animal evinced only slight pain on pressure of the diseased foot, which, moreover, was only slightly warmer than the sound one. The hairless skin on the lateral aspect of the toes was bluish-red. Under treatment the swelling diminished, and the lame­ness entirely disappeared. About three weeks later, however, the dog was brought back to the hospital with the swelling artd the lamenesss more marked than before. Several fluctuating eminences had formed at the seat of the swelling, and these soon ruptured and discharged a reddish turbid fluid. Later, an almost colourless serous fluid was discharged from the sores thus formed. Some of these ulcers healed, but at other places new abscesses formed. After about a week the pain had greatly diminished, but the other local symptoms remained as before. Further, a firm elastic swelling now formed at the lower part of the neck, immediately over the shoulder joint, and this soon ruptured spontaneously, and discharged a greyish-red fluid, which later became colourless and more mucous in character. The dog was killed on the 30th January, and the microscopic examination of the matter from the abscesses in the granulation tissue of the foot and in the neck swelling revealed the presence of pale, colourless granules, which in size and shape, under slight magnification, resembled the actinomyces bovis. These clusters stained yellow with picro-carmine, and showed at the edge a faint radiate structure. Examination under a higher power of the microscope showed that each cluster was composed of two elements, viz. (I) a finely granular material, and (2) fine colourless threads, which differed among themselves in thickness. This finely granular material appeared to be composed of necrotic tissue elements, enclosing the colourless threads. Some of the filaments were wavy, others straight, many showed lateral buds or short branches; and where they pro­jected beyond the granular material, they terminated in rounded slightly clubbed ends. Many of the filaments were distinctly jointed, the length of the elements being about equal to that of anthrax bacilli.

CASE II.-A Swiss hound was brought to the hospital on account of a phlegmon of the right fore limb, which was markedly swollen and hot from the toes to the elbow joint. On pressure the limb appeared to be moderately