244 The Cattle-Plague. 



tines are not very noticcal)ly marked, save tliat the colon, in place of a red 

 blush, is traversed with broad lines of a blackish-green colour, longitudinal 

 and transverse. In oxen the spleen usualty healthy, in slieep soft, and some- 

 times ahnost black in colour. In like manner the kidneys of oxen are healthy 

 and of sheep are not unfrequently soft and pulpy. The udders of milch-cows 

 are empty. The skin frequently shows what appear to be true vesicles, most 

 abundant behind the shoulders, but not confined to these ^oarts, and presenting 

 every appearance of a true cutaneous eruption." 



Dr. Smart has made a most valuable contribution to our 

 knowledge of this disease by tabulating the morbid lesions in 

 the organs of more than 100 diseased cows. He has made his 

 inquiry comparative, also, by dissecting pleuro-pneumonia and 

 foot-and-mouth-disease cases, and placing the results obtained 

 from these side by side with those of true uncomplicated cattle- 

 plague. This summary of pathological appearances is here 

 fully given : — 



" Invariahle hut not Characteristic. — 1. The state of the bowel resembles 

 the condition found in the ordinary inflammation of the bowels. 2. The con- 

 dition of the lining membranes of the bladder and uterus is such as occurs in 

 all congested states of these organs. 3. The central portions of the kidneys 

 present the congestive condition found in the early inflammatory stages of 

 these organs. 4. The heart, liver, and spleen may be regarded as functionally 

 healthy. They are in the condition which results from exhausting disease'of 

 any kind, and the lining membranes of the air-passages exhibit the morbid 

 changes Avhich are present in acute bronchial catarrh. 5. The remarkable and 

 unique gangrenous rings or patches, found on the folds of the third stomach, 

 exist in only a portion of all the cases examined : they are therefore neither 

 invariable nor characteristic marks of the disease." 



" Invariable and Characteristic. — 1st. The peculiar appearance and diseased 

 condition of the lining membrance of the fourth stomach. It likewise mani- 

 fests all the morbid changes so distinctive of this disease, in their most advanced 

 and destructive forms. It is therefore the most characteristic lesion. 2nd. 

 The reddened and congested condition of the vulva. 3rd. When eruption or 

 roughening on ,.parts of the superficial membrane of the mouth is found co- 

 existing with the condition of the bowel already described, the pathological 

 group is complete and unequivocal. As regards negative conditions, there 

 exists no true understanding anywhere, and rarely any trace of inflammatory 

 products are found. The reddened colour of the diseased membranes is due to 

 vascular congestion in its extreme form, and not, as frequently alleged, to 

 extravasation s . " 



Of the Comparative Pathological Apjiearances, Dr. Smaet 

 says : — 



." With the exception of a partial reddening of the lining membrane of the 

 fourth stomach, the pathological appearances in murrain disease bear no other 

 resemblance to those found in rinderpest. In examples of uncomplicated 

 pleuro-pneumonia, the characteristic appearances of both rinderpest and murrain 

 are quite absent." 



Complicatio7i. — Dr. Smart says that two-thirds of the animals 

 dissected (mainly Edinburgh dairy-cows) were affected with 

 pleuro-pneumonia, which he represents as the most dangerous 

 and frequent form of complication of cattle-plague. 



