ABSTRACTS.

Case V.-A red cow, just recently cast her third calf. She had only been on the premises twelve months. She started with sonorous breathing, whkh gradually got worse, and when first seen had difficulty in breathing and carried her nose straight out. The glands on each side of the throat were much swollen and she had a bad cough, which brought up a thick yellow mucus. She also had a thick, sticky, yellowish discharge from one ear. Swallowing was difficult and caused fits of coughing. She \\>as rap~dly losing condition.

I lost sight of her, as she was sold. Although not certain, con­sidering her surroundings, I should think this was a case of tuber­culosis.

Considering how badly this herd of about thirty cows is affected, it is surprising that the owner takes great pains to keep the place in a sanitary condition. His sheds are very well built, drainage is admirable, floors concrete, and the bedding is of sand, which is changed every day. The cows are most generously fed, and they yield, on an average, about eighty gallons of milk a day. The ventilation is good, there being 650 cubic feet air space to each cow, and the cows are placed in single rows along the shed, with a wide passage at the back. The places are limed out regularly twice a year, some­times oftener, and tarred once.

The cows are in the sheds day and night for six months of the year; for one month they are out during the day and in at night, and for the remaining time they are out entirely. The calves are treated in a similar manner from the ~ime they begin to feed.

The spread of the disease in the herd is largely due to the owner's ignorance with regard to it, to his laxity in asking for advice, and to his not always carrying out what is recommended. Other factors are that the calves are allowed on the cow for the first week or two, that all heifer calves are reared for the dairy, and the length of time the animals are kept in the sheds day and night.

Considering the number of clinical cases and the extent of the lesions in them, I think it possible that a very large number of the cows in the dairy are tuberculous. Unfortunately, I cannot persuade the owner to allow me to test them with tuberculin.

THE BACTERIAL CONTENTS OF THE MILK AND UDDER.

FOR a compafativeJy long time the significance of bacteriology as related to the milk industry remained unrecognised. As soon, however, as ~ value of bacteriological examination and research in the treatment of milk and milk products had been confirmed, this formerly neglected subject was taken up with greater zeal. And if the introduction of the separator into dairy work marked the beginning of a new epoch, the study of bacteriology in the same connection has been no less significant for the further development of the milk industry. Bacteriology revealed the causes of "milk diseases," causes which formerly were merely suspected; it explained abnormal ripening

ABSTRACTS. 51

processes in cheese, and showed that bacteria were indispensable factors m the improvement of various kinds of cheese and other milk products. If, therefore, on the one hand, blcteria should be regarded as welcome guests in milk and milk products, on the other, they must be regarded as foes whose destruction constitutes the first duty in the hygiene of milk. The question of the bacterial contents of milk deserves the closest attention.

At one time it was disputed whether freshly-withdrawn milk was free from germs. When this question was decided in the ne5ative bacteriological experiments were undertaken dealing with the origin, number, and kind of the milk bacteria. These experiments have given no unanimous results. To mention the latest results which agree: Lux, Uhlmann, and Steiger express views contradicting earlier investigators. To control these new results and the conclusions drawn from them, D'heil carried out some investigations In

the Hygienic Institute of the Berlin Veterinary School. , His investigations and experiments bore upon the following points :-1. The origin of the bacteria III milk. 2. The influence of the method of milking on the bacterial contents of

milk, with especial reference to milk withdrawn by milking machines. 3. The effect of straining on the bacterial contents. 4. Views as to obtaining germ-free milk. These experiments gave the following results :-I. In cows which are regularly milked and are kept clean no plu~ of dirt

is usually to be found on the opening of the teat. In cows which are not milked such a plug is usually to be found. The formation of the plug usually requires some days, and its bacterial content increases with time.

2. The canal of the teat III milch cows contains a column of milk. 3. The teat canal and milk cisterns generally contain bacteria. 4. The bacteria to be found in the milk within the udder obtain entrance

through the opening of the teat. 5. The gland - tissue of the udder contains bacteria, though in small

number. 6. The gland-tissue of the udder possesses a strong bactericidal power. 7. The first jet of milk withdrawn almost always contains the greatest

number of bacteria. 8 The greatest proportion of bacteria in milk withdrawn by milking

machines is due to the difficulty of cleansing such machines. 9. Straining milk has no effect on its bacterial contents, it only removes

palpable dirt. (D'heil, Zeits.J. Fleisch und Mt'lchhygiene, Dec. 1905, p. 84.)

EXPERIMENTAL CONVEYANCE OF PIROPLASMOSIS OF CATTLE BY TICKS.

THE piroplasmosis of cattle seen in Roumania agrees, so far as the parasites and clinical symptoms are concerned, with that of other countries, and is also spread by ticks, belonging to the genus rhipicephalus annulatus. To test the method of spread, two cows of the grey variety and a Swiss cow were used.

The larvre were bred from full-grown female ticks gathered from sick oxen in different parts of the country. FIfty larvre were placed on the Swiss cow, and 200 to 300 on the two others. The experiments took place in summer. The blood of the experimental animals was repeatedly tested before the investigation began. The results agreed in all three cases and were positive, the animals showing the disease in from twelve to fourteen days after inocula­tion with the larvre.

Twelve to fourteen days, after infection the parasites were to be found in small numbers in the blood corpuscles. The three animals recovered rapidly.