ABSTRACTS. 75 ·

the distended bladder. The point selected is on the median line and about the centre of the viscus. The vesiculre seminales, vas deferens, and prostate are all thus avoided.

The instrument is introduced without violence, and is pushed forward until resistance ceases. The tissues are sometimes thickened and redematus, and the space to be traversed is often considerable. Urine should be allowed to escape slowly in order to avoid possible reflexes which might cause respiratory or cardiac syncope. The operation may be repeated several times per day. If the obstacle in the urethra or bladder resists other treatment, time can thus be gained in which t~ attempt urethrotomy, cystotomy, or lithotrity. In the horse the posterior half of the bladder is not covered by peritoneum, but there is nothing to fear even in puncturing the anterior half, although the instrument then passes through a peritoneal cul-de-sac.

The operation has been performed on thirty-three subjects; twenty-seven horses, three oxen, and three rams. It is valuable in spasm of the neck of the bladder, in cases of urethral or vesical calculus, stricture of the urethra, redema of the sheath, phymosis, or paraphymosis. In cases of calculus In

oxen, where extraction appears dangerous or impossible, operation allows the animal to be kept sufficiently long to be sold for slaughter (Revue GeneraZe de MMecine Vf:terinaire, March 1903, p. 325).

PRIMARY TUBERCULOSIS OF THE UDDER IN THE COW.

ALTHOUGH tuberculosis of the udder is almost always secondary, some cases of primary infection have been reported. Conte describes the following one.

The cow appeared perfectly healthy and in good condition, the skin was loose, the appetite undiminished, and neither temperature nor respiration was increased. The superficial lymphatic glands were normal. Percussion and auscultation of the chest revealed nothing unusual. The two anterior quarters and the right posterior quarter of the udder were supple and elastic The left posterior quarter was increased in size, and showed diffuse insensitive swelling, of fibrous consistence, affecting the whole of the glandular tissue. The skm covering this swellinlr was slightly tense, and concealed some small, hard nodules sunk in the superficial portions of the udder. The three healthy quarters of the udder yielded an abundance of normal milk. The affected quarter gave a yellowish serous fluid, holding in suspension greyish grumous masses containing tubercle bacilli. Injection of tuberculin caused a rise in temperature of 1"7° c., and marked diminution in the secretion of milk.

The history showed the disease to have existed for at least three months. Except for a slight invasion of the parietal pleura, the lesions found on

post-mortem examination were entirely confined to the udder. The diseased quarter weighed 7 kilogrammes, 550 grammes, contained very large numbers of caseous and confluent tubercles, and had become almost entirely converted into a fibrous mass. The mucous membrane lining the galactophorous sinuses was healthy, while that of the finer milk canals was covered with small yellow caseated granulations; the supra - mammary lymphatic gland was enlarged, and contained tuberculous lesions towards its centre. The extensive disease of the mammary gland and the trifling lesions in other portions of the body seemed to indicate primary infection of the gland itself. The owner had for some time been using as litter straw taken from palliasses removed from certain hospitals; the straw had probably been soiled by discharges from tuberculous patients.

N ocard has shown that, when functionally active, the udder is susceptible

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to microbic infection, and that injection into it of tubercle bacilli without any mechanical injury of the gland always produces tuberculosis. Conte thinks that contaminated fragments of straw may have entered the teat, and thus -caused infection of the gland (Revue Generale de MMecine Veterinaire, March 190 3, p. 32 7).

A BACILLUS RESEMBLING THAT OF TUBERCULOSIS FOUND IN BUTTER.

IN March 1899 Binot inoculated guinea-pigs with twenty-nine samples of butter obtained from different sources. Various results were obtained, but only in one case did an inoculated guinea-pig die spontaneously. This animal became very thin and perished in twenty-nine days.

On post-mortem examination its viscera were found normal in size and external appearance, except the spleen, which was slightly larger than usual. The liver and spleen, however, were crammed with fine miliary granulations, the size of a small pin's head, yellowish-white in tint, and vaguely suggesting the lesions produced by the cocco-bacillus. The peritoneum contained numerous miliary granulations, and some large masses with caseous contents and of considerably greater volume than the butter injected. The lungs and kidneys externally appeared normal, but exhibited a few miliary granulations.

The miliary granulations and the caseous masses referred to contained numerous bacilli presenting all the characteristics of the tubercle bacillus, and staining in a precisely similar way.

Attempts to obtain cultures from the blood were unsuccessful. With considerable difficulty cultures were finally obtained on glycerinated media. Isolated colonies on glycerinated agar at first appeared white, but soon became straw-coloured, then orange, and finally a deeper tint, resembling that of dried orange peel. In some instances the colony was as large as a fiorin, appeared brilliant, opaque, viscous and glairy on the surface, and was very adherent to the culture medium, without, however, extending into its depth. The surface was sometimes wrinkled and the margins raised. The colour was best seen in cultures exposed to light and oxygen.

On glycerinated potato the culture was abundant, homogeneous and opaque, at first straw-coloured. and then orange. Growth was less abundant on simple agar and on ordinary potato media. In ordinary bouillon no growth took place at first; later the microbe developed as a thin, friable, light yellow film, the liquid remaining clear, and a deposit collecting at the bottom of the vessel. Grown in glycerinated bouillon, the liquid remained -clear, but its surface became covered with a thick. creamy, very viscous, homogeneous film. This film grew upwards on the edges of the flask. From its lower surface depended long glairy growths which floated in the liquid. The culture, although much more viscous and moister than that of avian tuberculosis, nevertheless resembled it, but with this difference, that at the end of some weeks it assumed a deep orange colour.

Under the microscope the growth was seen to consist of fine bacilli with rounded ends and of very varying length, the majority measuring 3-4 1-'. The bacillus stained precisely like the true tubercle bacillus, and was ., acid­fast," i.e., resisted decoloration by acids.

Two guinea-pigs were inoculated into the peritoneal cavity with the first bouillon culture. One survived; the other, which died in fifteen days, exhibited some miliary tubercles contaimng the microbe in the spleen and liver. A white mouse inoculated in the peritoneum died with a few discrete tubercles in the spleen (Arcllivt's de Parasitologze, May 1903. p. 306).