58 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



spiration. The bowels are usually very costive at the 

 corameneement, but in a few cases I have noticed a looseness 

 in the last stages. The feces are frequently retained for 

 several days, and thus discharged with difficulty, being very 

 hard and dry, clothed in mucous with stains of blood. The 

 urine becomes an important symptom to observe. At first it 

 is scanty and high colored, and there are frequent attempts to 

 pass it; but later the bladder becomes distended, its walls 

 paralyzed, and the power of micturition lost. After death 

 the kidneys appear swollen from the effusion and transudation 

 of the blood within the tissues. They are much enlarged at 

 times, and somewhat distorted in form, as though they were 

 twisted. On section they appear very dark and unnatural 

 within. The urine is bloody, and when the disease is viewed 

 from this pathological point, it might well be called the "Red 

 Water" of Europe, which it so much resembles. The blad- 

 der, after death, is usually distended with dark, wine-colored 

 liquid, and, with its contents, will frequently weigh twelve 

 pounds. Such a condition is but the consequence of the 

 congested state of the capillaries in these eliminating organs. 

 The respiration is but little affected, and the heart and lungs 

 show no signs of disease, unless complicated. Hence the 

 great difference in symptoms between this and pleuro- 

 pneumonia. 



In some obscure cases there is oftentimes great doubt 

 entertained during life as to the nature of the malady, but the 

 appearance of the morbid anatomy of the internal organs 

 upon post-mortem examination is so marked that we are 

 enabled to decide the matter at once. The spleen is found 

 invariably much enlarged. In this respect it closely resembles 

 splenic apoplexy. It is often increased to five times its 

 normal weight, and sometimes even more. This organ is 

 completely engorged with blood that is undergoing chemical 

 changes towards putrefaction. The tissues become soft, and 

 the viscus is not unfrequently ruptured, even before death. 

 I saw a case a few weeks ago, at Brattleborough, Vt. , where the 

 spleen was thirty inches in length, eight in breadth, and three 

 inches thick, and weighed twelve pounds. Such an organ 

 cannot be easily overlooked. In Chicago, a few years ago, 

 this condition was regarded as a sure indication of the disease, 



