Bcport on Stepjje Murrain or Rinderpest. 249 



is rarely elfected in less than three weeks, but much will depend 

 on the age and constitution of the animal, as likewise on the 

 amount of structural disease in the mucous membranes of the 

 alimentary canal, and not a little also on the care and attention 

 which are bestowed upon the patient. 



Fercentcifje of Deaths. — If the pest be allowed to take its natural 

 course for only a few days, it will be found tliat the deaths not 

 unfrequently number 90 j^er cent. Steppe cattle are, however, 

 said to bear up better against the affection than others, so that 

 about one-half of them will sometimes recover. Speaking, how- 

 ever, in general terms of the different breeds of cattle, as well as 

 of the different circumstances under which they ai'e placed, the 

 mortality will be found throughout Europe to range from 75 to 

 SO per cent. Fat animals and those which are well cared for, 

 are found to bear up very badly against the disease. 



Post-mortem Appearances. — The morbid lesions produced by 

 the pest will be found centered in the mucous membranes, which 

 ■are more or less affected throughout the entire body. Com- 

 mencing an examination at the mouth, it not unfrequently 

 happens that many of the conical papillae which stud the body 

 of the tongue will show, here and there at tlieir bases, their 

 vascular and epithelial coverings to be broken up by the ulcera- 

 tive process. The root of the tongue, fauces, and velum palati^ 

 are also similarly implicated to a greater or less extent, while 

 their follicles are filled with effused lymph, giving to the parts 

 an appearance as if dotted over with some yellow pigment. 

 Some of the follicles are likewise ulcerated, but the major 

 portion are merely distended with lymph. 



The tonsils are in a similar condition ; and when a section is 

 carried through their long diameter, large portions of lymph can 

 be drawn from their ducts, the yellow colour of which, inter- 

 spersed in lines along the course of these passages, contrasts 

 strongly with 'the red substance of the organs. Much turges- 

 cence of the vessels of the Schneiderian membrane, with points 

 of ulceration and shreds of lymph are met with, more particularly 

 about the posterior nasal opening, and base of the vomer. These 

 lesions, however, rarely extend beyond the middle portion of the 

 septum nasi. 



The pharynx presents the same appearance, but the oesophagus 

 is healthy, as is both the rumen and reticulum in most cases. 

 In some iew instances the epithelium readily peels from off the 

 inner surface of these stomachs, when the vessels beneath are 

 found to be turgid with blood. The rumen invariably contains 

 a fair quantity of ingesta in the state usually met with in healthy 

 animals. The omasum is without structural change, or at most 

 its mucous surface presents an analogous condition to that of the 



