180 
EPIZOOTIC CATARRH. 
WAR DEPARTMENT, 
QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL’S OFFICE, 
Washington, D. C., February 13, 1875. 
Sim: I have the honor to inclose a copy of a memoir of M. Decroix, 
veterinary-surgeon, barracks of the Celestins, Paris, on the “epizootic 
catarrb,” or distemper, prevailing among the horses of the United 
States, the original of the treatise having been transmitted to the Hon- 
orable Secretary of War, by Wickham Hoffman, esq., of the United 
States legation at Paris. . 
The memoir is sent to you with a view to the publication, in your 
Department report, of such portions as you may deem of sufficient 
interest and value to agriculturists and stock-raisers, for the benefit of 
whom, in particular, your report is published. 
The receipt of the treatise will be acknowledged by the War Depart- 
ment, and such printed information relative to the disease as can be 
obtajned will be transmitted to M. Decroix in return. 
If the files of your office contain any special information on the sub- 
ject, it is respectfully requested that the same be furnished this Office, 
in order that it may be communicated to M. Decroix, in care of United 
States legation at Paris, with the reply of the Honorable Secretary of 
War. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
M. C. MEIGS, 
Quartermaster-General, Brevet Major-General, U. 8. A. 
Hon. FREDERICK WATTS, 
Commissioner of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
; a i Paris, November 19, 1872. 
Sir: For some time the American and English journals have announced that 2 
serious epizootic has attacked a great number of horses in North America. No scien- 
tific description of the malady has yet come to my knowledge; but the symptoms that 
have been mentioned in the articles that I have read cause me to think that this dis- 
temper may be of the same nature as that which severely visited a very large number 
of the civil and military horses of France during the year 1871. 
Supposing this to be the case, I feel it to be a duty and a pleasure, sir, to address to 
you a succinet account of the distemper that I have treated in my regiment, in order 
that, if you think proper, it may be transmitted to your Government, for the informa- 
tion of your fellow-citizens. 
Will you accept, sir, the expression of my respectful sentiments. 
E. DECROIX. 
To the UNITED STaTES MINISTER at Paris. 2 
HORSE TYPHOID-FEVER, OR GASTRO-INFLAMMATORY EPIZOOTIC. 
This malady presents itself under the epizootic form at intervals of ten, fifteen, and 
‘twenty years, and attacks great numbers ef animals over a vast extent of country. 
Principal symptoms —The affection usually begins by sluggishness, inappetency, 
drowsiness, and a swelling of the eyelids. Among one-lialf of the horses attacked the 
malady has a mild form, and disappears in a few days by a purgative and laxative 
treatment and a dietetic regimen. When the malady is aggravated, from the second 
day the mouth is hot and clammy, the respiration and pulsations are accelerated, the 
mucuses ejected are of a reddish-yellow color, sometimes veined with small red pesti- 
lential spots. The gait is stumbling, the loins do not yield to pinching, the hair is easily 
pulled out, and the skin is sometimes hot, at other times cold. The limbs swell, the 
posterior members sometimes becoming enormous. The horses are very thirsty, especi- 
