Page:GrouseinHealthVol1.djvu/24

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INTRODUCTION

Morphology and Life Hiatovy of Eimeria (Coccidium) avium: a Sporozoön causing a fatal disease among young Grouse; (2) Observations on the Parasitic Protozoa of the Red Grouse (Lagopus scoticus); (3) Experimental studies on Avian Coccidiosis, especially in relation to young Grouse, Fowls and Pigeons; (4) Observations on the Blood of Grouse. By the courtesy of the Zoological Society of London these articles are reprinted in the present Report.

C. G. Seligmann, M.B., then Pathologist to the Zoological Society of London, was appointed in 1906 to investigate the bacteriology of "Grouse Disease." He worked for the Committee till the end of 1907, when he left for Ceylon on a scientific expedition. The Committee is indebted to him for the discovery that the bacterial characters observed by Professor Klein as symptomatic of "Grouse Disease" were not in fact the pathological accompaniment of the mortality in Grouse as observed by the Committee. After Dr Seligmann went abroad his observations on this point were continued and confirmed by Dr Cobbett and Dr Graham Smith.

L. Cobbett, M.D., F.R.C.S., University Lecturer in Pathology, Cambridge, and G. S. Graham-Smith, M.D., University Lecturer in Hygiene, Cambridge, consented in 1909 to continue the work where Dr Seligmann had left off. They made an exhaustive investigation of the general pathology of "Grouse Disease" in all its forms, and the relation of the Bacillus coli of Professor Klein's "Grouse Disease" to the various pathological lesions which had come under the observation of the Committee. The results of their investigations were published in the Journal of Hygiene in June 1910, and, by the courtesy of Professor Nuttall, the Editor of that Journal, are reprinted in the present Report.

L. W. Sambon, M.D., gave considerable assistance to Dr Seligmann during the spring of 1907, and discovered a new leucocytozoon in the blood (L. Lovati).

H. Hammond Smith, M.B., Pathologist to the Field newspaper, has assisted the Committee both in the field and in the laboratory since the Inquiry was

commenced. He established and organised the Observation Area at Frimley in Surrey, and gave great assistance to the Committee in connection with the conduct of experiments at this Observation Area. He also assisted in the study of the question of the grits found in the gizzards of the Grouse and other game birds, and gave great help to the Committee in connection with the conduct of experiments at the Observation Area.