EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. .159 



former cow and was suspicious of a contagious causation. Hence 

 we were called to investigate. 



The farm was well drained with no bottom or swamp land. The 

 cows had been on pasture only a short time, and had been out only 

 a few nights. The weather was very mild. They had access to a 

 thinly-wooded tract that had been pastured for many years. The 

 cow stable was in a low dark basement with a wet dirt floor saturated 

 with urine. Bedding was plentiful, and the place was not exceptionally 

 dirty. There had never been any similar cases on the farm before, 

 and no record of any in the neighborhood. There were three other 

 apparently healthy cows on the place. 



The local veterinary was treating the case Avith febrifuges (probably 

 aconite) and eye washes. The cow was suffering from several degrees 

 of fever, had had chills and even shivered at the time in spite of warm 

 blankets and a Avarm atmosphere. There Avas considerable fibrino- 

 purulent discharge from eyes and nose of very yellowish color. She was 

 still kept in the barn basement Avith little or no ventilation. 



The owner did not expect her to live the day out, so was willing 

 to have her killed. He Avas afraid of the discharge. The trouble had 

 existed only three days at the beginning of which a A'eal calf had been 

 taken from the cow in the morning, and at night she gave no milk 

 and shoAved symptoms of sickness. What the course of the disease 

 might have been can only be judged by other cases. Probably she would 

 have lived only a few days. 



She was killed by ordinan' butcher's method after a considerable 

 walk across the fields accomplished Avith difficulty. Autopsy showed 

 the udder containing some secretion, teats very sore and skin badly 

 fissured, internal organs uniformly normal. The eyes showed catarrhal 

 conjunctivitis. The sinuses of the head were apparently healthy, and 

 contained no discharge. The nasal mucosa was slightly congested, 

 there was a slight amount of purulent exudate on the laryngeal and 

 phalangeal mucosa. The brain showed the results of the method of 

 killing. The carcass was burned. 



The post-mortem did not account for the severity of the disease. 

 Since we do not understand the disease at all well, especially its 

 etiology, we can offer no explanation. Had no other cases developed, 

 this might have well been termed a simple catarrh of the upper re- 

 spiratory passages amenable to treatment. Subsequent developments 

 indicate differently. M. pyogenes aureus was isolated from both eye 

 and laryngeal exudates. An unidentified bacillus was also present. 



On the night of our visit, a two-year-old black heifer showed sore 

 teats, with integument cracked and easily peeled off, leaving the sensi- 

 tive structure exposed. She could not be milked after the next morn- 

 ing when she showed a slight discharge from eyes and nose. She had 

 chills and probably fever. No temperatures were taken. The owner 

 treated her with inhalations of Kreso vapors and nasal irrigations of 

 diluted Kreso. This seemed to lessen the discharge and keep the re- 

 spiratory passages temporarily open. She rapidly grew worse, could 

 not eat, breathed with difficulty having the mouth open and tongue 

 hanging out. The discharge became thick and yellow. She became 

 blind from opacity of the cornea. Death occurred six days after the 

 onset of the disease. 



