BUEEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 453 



• 



gard to this herd until Into in February, 1S85, when tlio following let- 

 ter, meutiouing the existence of the disease, reached the Department: 



State IjUNatic Asylum, 

 Fulton, Mo., February 21, 1885. 



Sik: Oil tlio 18tb of October of last year you wrote making inquiry about tbo bull 

 calf we purcbascd of Messrs. Tripp, of Peoria, 111. I replied at once, stating wo had 

 excluded the animal from contact with all other cattle, that bis health was good, as 

 was that of our entire herd. We kept bim apart from all other cattle for one hun- 

 dred days, thoufib he was in tbo barn with our herd for the first ten days after wo re- 

 ceived hiui from Peoria. His health has been apparently good up to the present time. 

 If at any time be has been ailing it was so slight as to escape our notice. 



Within the last three weeks a fatal malady has appeared among our dairy herd, tbo 

 symptoms, from the first, being alarming and distressing. The cows attacked from 

 the first breathe very rapidly and with much difficulty ; mouth open ; tongue pro- 

 truded ; frothy saliva (in some cases mingled with streaks of blood) streams from the 

 mouth to the ground ; legs and horns cold ; tenderness along the spine ; little orno ap- 

 petite ; restless, with neck extended and nose lowered; pulse about 84 



We have examined the lungs of the dead animals and find them more or less hopa- 

 tized in every case. In two cases almost the entu'e lungs were in this condition ; in 

 one other partially so, and in one only the upper orsmaller lobe of the right lung was 

 in this condition. Tbislast cow died very suddenly. She ate bran and chop at4 o'clock 

 in the morning. Soon after she was discovered to be breathing bard, and died at' 

 about 10 o'clock the same morning. The walls of the windpipe in tliis case were 

 thickened until tbe air passages near the lungs was not largo onongb to admit my 

 little finger. 



We are greatly fearing contagious plenro-pnoTimonia from tbo symptoms given. 

 What is your opinion ? And what would you advise T 

 Yours, respectfully, 



C. O. ATKINSON, Sicicard. 



P. S. — Do you tbink it possible tbo. bull could have communicated tbo disease with- 

 out having it himself ? 



C. O. A. 

 Dr. D. E. Saxmon, 



Washington, D. C. 



Dr. Trnmbower, who was then in Arkansas, was immediately notified 

 by telegraph to proceed to Fulton and make a thorough investigation 

 of the nature of the di.^ease aflecting these cattle. On March 2 he tele- 

 graphed from Fulton that an examination of the animals confirmed a 

 strong suspicion of pleuro-pneumonia. One case was then developing 

 and assuming the acute type. On March 5 he telegraphed that con- 

 tagious pleuro-pneumonia among the cattle on the farm was positively 

 ascertained on^os^ mortem examination. One acute and seven chronic 

 cases remained at that time. On March 5 Dr. Trumbower \yrote that 

 9 head had died or had been killed from the asylum herd since the mid- 

 dle of January and previous to his arrival. On the preceding day Dr. 

 Smith gave him permission to destroy a cow which he discovered to be 

 sick on the morning of the 3d. She had refused to eat her feed during 

 the night and yielded only one-half the quantity of milk. Her temper- 

 ature was 105.8°, dullness over the lower half of the left lung on per- 

 cussion. On the 2d he had picked her out as a chronic case, together 

 with seven others. She had not been suspected of being diseased by 

 tlie dairymen, and, in fact, looked better on the 2d instant than many 

 of the other cattle in which ho had failed to detect evidence of the 

 disease. On the morning of tho 4th the temperature was 105°; there 

 was a slight moan and rapid effusion going on into tho chest. She was 

 killed in the presence of Dr. Smith and three of his assistant physicians. 

 The autopsy showed in the left lung the typical lesions of the disease; 

 the marbling was very plain with interlobular exudation, infarction, 

 and an organized lymjih exudate in the thorax. The witnesses were 

 thoroughly convinced as to the nature of the disease. Dr. Trumbower 



