212 AGEICULTURAL REPORT. 



some time, may be taken as a satisfactory sigu of itnprovement. With 

 tliis form the jDatieut may literally die of suffocation, the thickened coats 

 of the tubes and the accumulated exudation preventiug the entrance of 

 air to the air-sacs in the lungs. Or death may result from the increas- 

 ing impiirity of the blood, which renders it unfit to nourish and sustain 

 the functions of the nervous system and other vital organs. Capillary 

 bronchitis has been a frequent complication during the present epizootic. 



If the inflammation extends to the lungs we have the typhoid pneu- 

 monia of medical writers, with a greater tendency to a licjuid infiltration 

 of the organ than to the firm consolidation (hepatization) characteristic 

 of inflammation of the lungs in a more healthy system. In this case 

 there is the same difficulty of breathing and the same general symptoms 

 as in capillary bronchitis, but the wheezing sound heard over the chest 

 is absent, or nearlj^ so, and in place of this there is a fine crackling 

 (crepitation) along a line circumscribiug theinflamed portion, which itself 

 gives out no sound. Percussion over the area which is destitute of 

 murmur brings out a sound comparable to that obtained by striking a 

 solid body, while the still previous portion gives out a more resonant or 

 hollow sound than is natural. This may terminate fatally by complete 

 infiltration of the lung tissue so as to unfit it for the function of re- 

 spiration, by the destructive effect of extensive suppuration in its 

 substance, by the exhaustion consequent on the excesssive drain on 

 the vital powers, or by the increasing impurity of the blood, which finally 

 becomes unfit to sustain the healthy functions. Short of this it may 

 leave permanent lesions on the lungs, such as consolidation of a portion, 

 with short wind, or impaired nutrition and innervation resultingin heaves 

 and dilatation and rupture of the air-cells. In favorable cases the ex- 

 uded lymph is entirely absorbed, and a healthy state of the lung is re- 

 stored. In my experience this has been less frequent in 1872 than the 

 bronchitic complication, and has occurred chiefly in animals which have 

 been carelessly exposed when sick, or exhausted and debilitated by 

 work, impure air, or injudicious drugging. 



Pleurisy will sometimes supervene, though I have not met with a well- 

 marked case during the recent visitation. Yet in other years it has been 

 so frequent as to procure for the affection the name of typhoid pleurisy. 

 This consists in inflammation of the membranes covering the lungs and 

 lining the cavity of the chest. It is characterized, like the two last men- 

 tioned forms, by accelerated breathing, which is, however, short and 

 catching, the inspiration being suddenly arrested by the sharp pain be- 

 fore the chest is quite filled. The spaces between the ribs at the affected 

 part are excessively tender, and at this point in the early stages a 

 slight rubbing sound is heard, caused by the gliding of the dry rough- 

 ened surfaces of the inflamed membranes on each other. In twenty-four 

 hours this may have passed because of liquid effusion into the cavity of 

 the chest, and in such a case the natural murmur of the lung and the 

 resonance on striking the chest are absent up to a horizontal line corre- 

 si^onding to the surface of the liquid, and this is usually at the same 

 height on both sides. Death may ensue in this case from the accumu- 

 lation of water so as to fill the cavity of the chest and prevent dilata- 

 tion of the lungs with air; from the debility consequent on the abstrac- 

 tion of so large an amount of the blood elements from the circulation, 

 or from decomposition of the effused products and general blood poison- 

 ing. It may cause i)ermancnt impairment of the wind, by the formation 

 of fibrous bands attaching the lungs to the side of the chest, by com- 

 pression of the lung through the contraction of a newly-formed fibrous en- 

 velope, or by injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve. In favorable cases 



