CHAPTER III.
GlyANDBRS.
is an infectious mycotic disease which, very
fortunately, is almost confined to the lower animals. Only
occasionally does it secure a victim from hostlers, drovers,
soldiers, and bacteriologists, whose frequent association
with and experimentation upon animals bring them in
frequent contact with those which are diseased. Of all
the infectious diseases studied by scientists, none has
caused the havoc which glanders has wrought. Several
men of prominence have succumbed to accidental in-
fection.
Glanders was first known to us as a disease of the horse
and ass characterized by the occurrence of discrete, clean-
ly-cut ulcers upon the mucous membrane of the nose.
These ulcers are formed by the breaking down of nodules
which can be detected upon the diseased membranes, and
show no tendency to recover, but slowly spread and dis-
charge a virulent pus. The edges of the ulcers are in-
durated and elevated, the surfaces often smooth. The
disease does not progress to any great extent before the
submaxillary lymphatic glands begin to enlarge. Later
on these glands form large lobulated masses, which may
soften, open, and become discharging ulcers. The lungs
may also become infected by inspiration of the infectious
material, and contain small foci not unlike tubercles in
appearance. The animals ultimately die of exhaustion.
In 1882, shortly after the discovery of the tubercle
bacillus, L,6ffler and Schiitz discovered in the discharges
and tissues of this disease the specific micro-organism,
the glanders bacillus (Bacillus mallei; Fig. 66), which is
its cause.
248