THE RELATION OF ENCAPSULATED BACILLI FOUND IN METRITIS IN MARES TO ENCAPSULATED BACILLI FROM HUMAN SOURCES'

During the past seven years an extensive study of the causes of sterility in mares has been carried out at the Kentucky Ex-periment Station. In this work clinical and bacteriological examinations of the reproductive organs of more than 1600 barren mares have been made. Approximately 30 per cent of these mares have been found to be suffering with metritis due to infection. Dimock and Snyder (1923) reported the isolation of streptococci from the cervix and uterus of 26 per cent of a series of barren mares examined. Later Dimock and Snyder (1924) reported the isolation of an encapsulated bacillus from a number of cases of metritis. To this organism they gave the name Encapsulatus genitalium (n. sp.). It has been found in approximately 5 per cent of the total number of barren mares examined. Dimock and Edwards (1927) studied a number of strains of encapsulated bacilli recovered from cases of metritis in mares. These cultures were found to be very uniform in cultural characters and serological properties. It was found possible to reproduce typical cases of metritis in normal mares by the intro-duction into the uterus of pure cultures of encapsulated bacilli recovered from the genital tract of mares. The present investigation is an attempt to determine the systematic relationship of the encapsulated bacilli recovered from mares to encapsulated bacilli from other sources, especiall