310 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



shoulders, and of the hind quarters. These tAvitchings arc accompanied 

 by tremors, which are more or less generally diffused, and which inter- 

 rupt the regularity of the spasms, and give to the animal an appearance 

 of suffei'ing from exposure to cold. The coat stares, and the ])atient 

 stands with its hack arched, and its legs gathered together under the 

 body, but does not seemingly suffer much acute pain. In the course of 

 a few hours rumination is suspended, and the appetite fails, but water 

 will generally be partaken of almost up to the end. 



"The temperature of the body is variable, a slightly increased warmth 

 of the skin existing at the beginning of the illness, which soon, however, 

 gives Avay to chilliness of the surface, and this again to a death-like 

 coldness of the ears, legs, and horns, as the malady advances to a fatal 

 termination. The pulse is scarcely disturbed at first, unless the attack is 

 a severe one, Avhen it quickly arises to seventy or more, but wants tone 

 in its action. In all ordinary cases, it becomes gradually more frequent 

 in number, but less in force, and in the latter stages can only be felt at 

 the heart. 



" The respiration is but very little altered at the commencement; it 

 rarely becomes diflficult, and was never painful in any of the cases w^e 

 witnessed. It sometimes rises to thirty on the second day. The eon- 

 tractions of the abdominal muscles are often interrupted in the rhyth- 

 mical action of the spasmodic twitchings which give a singular motion 

 to the animal's flanks, and has led some observers to speak of a difficulty 

 of breathing as being invariably present. A discharge comes on early 

 from tlie nostrils, which has many of the characters of ordinary mucus, 

 but, when carefully examined, will be found to contain flocculi of lymph, 

 (flakes of a clear ifluid among the thick and whitish mucus.) A slight 

 cough is also present in some cases, but it cannot be heard except one is 

 near the patient, Avhen it imparts a singular and almost indescribable 

 sound to the ear. 



"The expression of the countenance does not denote much acute suffer- 

 ing, and the eyes are without any dull appearance except in the advanced 

 stages of the malady, when the lids are found to be drooping, as in sleep, 

 and the ears also to be a little lopped. The vessels of the conjunctival 

 membrane (the outer and mucous skin or membrane of the eye, and of 

 the inner surface of the lids) are almost without turgescence, (superabun- 

 dance of the mucus,) but a discharge in most cases comes from the eyes, 

 which accumulates in a yellow, jelly-like mass, at the inner angle, 

 and when examined it likewise is found to be composed principallj' of 

 lymph. 



" The bowels are but little disturbed at the very beginning of the dis- 

 ease, but the feculent matter, (the dung.) almost unaltered at first in 

 consistency, is soon passed in increased quantities, and in the course of 

 the second day diarrhoea sets in. This diarrhoea is presently followed by 

 dysentery, which continues to the end. (Uiarrhoja is a general loose 

 and profuse discharge from the bowels, and dysentery is an inflammation of 

 the lower and straight portion of the larger intestine, accomjjanied by 

 griping, and a constant desire to evacuation.) The evacuations are not 

 particularly offensive, but they are remarkably fluid, of a dirty yellow 

 color, and mixed with numerous small flocculi of lymph. Occasionally a 

 little blood stains the evacuations, and tenesmus (the urgent desire to 

 evacuate when it cannot be done) is also present in some cases. The 

 abdomen becomes much pinched in, and the animal's strength quickly 

 fails him. He now keeps mostly recumbent, and rises very reluctantly. 

 If made to move he staggers, and often falls for want of strength. The 



