mission. After a very great number of bacteriological examinations of goat urine the commission concluded that the excretion of the organisms in the urine was a late phenomenon and that in many infected goats they would only be present in the urine in gushes for short intervals and then disappear. Frequent urine examinations therefore would probably have revealed this excretion infectious in a greater proportion of cases.

The time required for making the milk and urine examinations, however, was very great, and as we had now proved that both were infectious, this work was abandoned, and in the later experiments all animals were considered dangereous from a public-health standpoint which upon examination of their blood showed specific agglutinins for Micrococcus melitensis.

PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY OF LESIONS IN GOATS.

While the post-mortem lesions in man are indicative of a general septicemic infection, with the causative micrococcus frequently demonstrable not only in the peripheral blood, but also in the internal viscera, such as the spleen and heart, nevertheless the animals examined in this investigation failed to show any evidence of septicemia in the majority of cases. In fact, the micrococcus was found in the blood of some goats when the spleen and other tissues were apparently normal macroscopically. In several cases, however, the spleen was enlarged, the liver engorged, the kidneys inflamed, and the lymph glands, especially the mesenterics and inguinals, edematous and swollen. In three reacting goats the lungs were found to be congested along the borders, and occasionally pneumonic consolidation was present. On the other hand, the infection of man has been shown to be extensive with the Micrococcus melitensis present in the previously mentioned tissues as well as in the pericardial fluid, kidneys, liver, gall bladder, pancreas, and thyroid, salivary, and suprarenal glands.

CONDITION OF HEALTH OF THE INFECTED ANIMALS.

It would appear from our investigation that the organism of Malta fever lives a more or less passive existence in the body of the goat, exercising its pathogenic effect when it gains entrance to the human body. The symptoms in those goats whose blood gave a positive reaction were not apparent except in a few cases, and even in these instances it is possible that the symptoms of anorexia, diarrhea, weakness, etc., were the result of one of the several intercurrent diseases with which a number of the goats became affected.

As an illustration of the condition of the reacting animals, attention is called to goat No. 40, which, although excreting the organisms abundantly in both its milk and urine, was the finest looking goat

in the herd. But it was noticed at College Park, where very careful observations and records of the animals were made, that the reactors did not readily conceive; four of them had come in œstrum three times, although they were served each time, one billy having been shipped to the park. On the other hand, the nonreactors conceived with but one service. During the investigations many of the goats became ill with pneumonia, pleurisy, enteritis, metritis, rheumatism, etc., and developed various symptoms which should be attributed to these different diseases rather than to the Malta-fever virus.

METHOD OF TREATING THE GOATS AT THE EXPERIMENT STATION.

It had now become definitely established that some of the goats were excreting Micrococcus melitensis in their milk and urine, and that a large percentage were undoubtedly infected with this organism, as shown by the specific agglutination reaction of the blood. These facts were further strengthened at this time by the development of a typical case of Malta fever in the woman at the quarantine station, who had used the milk in considerable quantity.

About this time the agricultural experiment stations in Connecticut and Maryland had made preparations to carry on experiments with the animals, and the Bureau was very anxious to save a portion of the herd if it could be demonstrated beyond all doubt that they were free from the infection of Malta fever. It was therefore decided that all the animals giving a good reaction at Athenia be destroyed and the remainder sent to the Bureau Experiment Station at Bethesda, Md., at which point they could be kept in quarantine and at the same time be much more convenient to the laboratory for future work. Early in January, 1906, this plan was carried out.

The winter climate at Athenia was very different from the semitropical Mediterranean, and 9 of the original herd had died, mainly from pneumonia and muco-enteritis. All the remaining reactors were then destroyed and the remainder of the herd was sent to the Bureau Experiment Station.

As Malta fever in man is not a highly virulent disease, the mortality being about 2 or 3 per cent, it is consequently fair to presume that as the disease is less virulent in goats these animals would probably be more amenable to treatment than the human. Therefore, after their arrival at Bethesda, the adult goats were placed on a mixture of 20 grains of potassium iodid and 15 grains of salol per head in their feed twice daily for one month. Quinin was then substituted for the potassium iodid and the treatment continued one month longer. By this system of treatment it was hoped that any latent virus of the disease which might be present in the tissues of the animals would be overcome and destroyed.

SERUM REACTION OF GOATS AFTER TREATMENT WITH DRUGS.

On March 29, 1906, blood was drawn from 12 of the goats at the station which had been under the medicinal treatment for two months. Of this number 7 gave a good, 3 an imperfect, and 2 no reaction, thus showing little hope of eradicating the infection by internal drug administration. While the serum might probably have reacted as a result of the presence of agglutinins formed before the treatment became effective, even though no living Micrococcus melitensis existed in the blood or tissues, it was not thought advisable to assume any risk with a disease of this character, and therefore no further lines of treatment were attempted.

It should be stated in connection with the medicinal treatment of these goats that at all times attempts were made to segregate the infected and suspicious from the noninfected animals. The continued spread of the disease at Athenia is apparently explained by the fact that the blood of the goatherd, a native of Malta and apparently in robust health, was subsequently found to react to the agglutination test, and it is not at all unlikely that he was either an ambulatory case or a "bacillus carrier," and that he was the cause of the infection in at least some of the reacting goats, inasmuch as his quarters were in the one-story building with them. After the animals arrived at Bethesda a large number of isolated pens, separated by at least 25 feet of ground, were used for stabling them, and not more than two goats were placed in each pen. If one of the two reacted or gave a suspicious reaction, the nonreacting animal was immediately removed to another previously unoccupied pen, and the original pen and feeding troughs were then thoroughly disinfected and the bedding, litter, etc., burned.

HEALTH OF GOATS AT BUREAU EXPERIMENT STATION.

The general condition of the goats after their arrival at the Bureau Experiment Station grew from bad to worse. They were multiplying rapidly, however, some of the nannies having twins and several having triplets. It seemed that they were unable to stand the climatic conditions, and adults and kids died in considerable numbers.

The adults on post-mortem showed the cause of death to be due to various conditions, by far the most prevalent being pneumonia and pleurisy. Septic metritis following difficult parturition caused some deaths, gastro-enteritis was responsible for other fatalities, and in one case acute pancreatitis with fat necrosis was the cause.

The kids were practically all affected with articular rheumatism and their joints became swollen and in many cases permanent deformities resulted. All the kids which came to post-mortem from

Bethesda showed severe infestation with intestinal coccidiosis. Pneumonia, goiter, and enteritis also caused fatalities.

Cultures were made from the viscera of many of the dead animals. In three adult cases the Micrococcus melitensis was recovered, cultures being obtained from the spleens of these animals in each instance.

Although the lymphatic glands, especially the mesenterics, were markedly enlarged and edematous in a number of the kids, which is one of the main anatomical points of evidence of infection in goats, the Micrococcus melitensis was recovered from only one of these animals.

FINAL AGGLUTINATION TESTS.

On June 1, 1906, the blood of each of the remaining adults, 25 in number, was again tested, and 8 good, 8 imperfect, and 9 negative reactions were obtained.

From July 2 to July 18, 1906, all the remaining kids, totaling 57, were tested, the results showing 21 reactions and 36 which did not respond. As it was the intention to kill off all the kids whose blood showed any evidence of agglutination, imperfect reactions were all classed as reactions. The 21 reacting kids, together with the 8 adults which gave a good reaction, were killed after this test.

On October 17, 1906, the 17 remaining adults were again tested, and 2 of the 8 which on June 1 had given an imperfect reaction now gave a good reaction.

By this time it had become thoroughly recognized by all parties concerned that the use of the goats for the purposes for which they had been imported would be accompanied with considerable danger of serious results. It was therefore decided to dispose of the herd, and in November, over a year after their arrival, all the remaining goats, including the kids, were destroyed.

CONCLUSIONS.

1. It has been definitely demonstrated that the Micrococcus melitensis, the organism of Malta fever, has a more or less passive existence in the body of Maltese goats, exercising its pathogenic effect when it gains entrance to the human body.

2. These goats, when carriers of the virus of Malta fever, are one of the important factors, if not the principal factor, in the dissemination of this disease, through the ingestion of their milk by human beings.

3. Goats infected with Malta fever eliminate the causative agent of the disease in both the milk and the urine.

4. All the available evidence points to contaminated food as the vehicle by which the goats become infected with the organism of Malta fever. The urine of infected goats and of ambulatory cases

in man at times contains the Micrococcus melitensis, so that normal goats feeding on material which had come in contact with such urine are readily infected. Thus the frequency and the method of infection in goats are quite easily explained.

5. An elderly woman who had consumed a considerable quantity of the Maltese goats' milk at the Athenia quarantine station had a typical attack of Malta fever, diagnosed by the symptoms and the reaction of her blood serum to the agglutination test. This case is the first one recorded in which infection by goats' milk is directly demonstrated when contact infection and other modes of exposure were entirely eliminated.

6. So long as Malta fever remains so prevalent in the Island of Malta, and such a large percentage of the native goats are passive carriers of the Micrococcus melitensis, it will be impracticable to attempt to introduce these animals into the United States. Even if they were assuredly free from Micrococcus melitensis, it is doubtful, on account of climatic conditions, whether they could be profitably bred in this country, except in the extreme Southern States.

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