216 AGEICULTURAL REPORT. 



taius numerous staft-sliaped bodies, or hactericij resembling tliosc 

 fount! in decomposing animal fluids. This affection, -which existed to 

 some extent as a sequel of the recent influenza in Boston, Kew York, 

 and other cities, usually proves fatal in fifty per cent, of animals 

 attacked. I know of but two cases of this complication in Tompkins 

 County, New York, during the recent visitation. One occurred early as 

 the result of heroic treatment 5 the other after partial convalescence 

 from hard work and exx)osure. 



Glanders and farcy have been among the results of the epizootic of 

 1872, and, like purpura hcemorrhagica, are always liable to break out 

 ■when the strength is seriously reduced and the blood impoverished and 

 loaded -with impurity, in connection with protracted and exhausting 

 disease, impure air, and generally debilitating treatment. Whether 

 these diseases arose de novo, or from preserved germs left over from the 

 numerous cases of glanders in New York a few years ago, it will be no 

 easy matter to decide. 



The epizootic of 1872, in America, has followed mainly the simple 

 catarrhal type, and has been by no means a fatal affection, the mortal- 

 ity ranging from 1 in 300 in many country districts, to 3 or 5 per cent. 

 in some towns. Yet in a number of instances the various other com- 

 plications have been noticed, with the exception, perhaps, of the ophthal- 

 mic ones. 



Post-mortem appearances. — These are mainly seen in the respiratory 

 organs. In fatal cases the cavities of the nose, the nasal sinuses, and, 

 still more so, the parts about the throat-fauces, pharynx, and larynx 

 usually have their mucous membrane much tensifled, livid, and softened 

 with dark or greenish metallic tints, implying the existence of gan- 

 gTene. Ulcers or masses of thick tenacious mucus are sometimes 

 present, and the latter have been sometimes mistaken for false mem- 

 !)ranes. The guttural pouches, and the submaxillary and guttural lym- 

 phatic glands are sometimes congested and swollen. 



The deep-red hue, and the puffy, softened condition of the mucous 

 membrane are continued throughout the trachea, and, above all, in the 

 bronchia, even to their smallest divisions, and these are more or less 

 completely filled with a frothy mucus. 



In cases of unusual virulence and early fatality, or long standing, 

 and with a very impure condition of the blood, the ifleurse (covering of 

 the lungs) and the heart-sac are spotted with petechiie or blood extrava- 

 sations, and usually contain effusions of a deep-red bloody aspect, con- 

 taining little fibrine, and with a very little tendency to coagulation. 

 False membranes in these cavities are far from numerous, and adhesions 

 between the lungs and the sides of the chest rare, except as the result 

 of a pleurisy after the primary disease has subsided. The surface of 

 the lung and the substance of any false membranes have a tendency to 

 a dark-red hue. 



When the lungs have been implicated these are commonly found in a 

 state of dropsical infiltration, apoplexy, or gangTene in patches, while 

 hepatization is rare in the early stages, though frequent enough if the 

 disease is prolonged. 



The dropsical portion of the lung does not collapse like the healthy 

 part; does not crepitate or crackle on pressure. The pressure of the 

 finger leaves a depression, as in a dropsical limb; it seems solid, sinks 

 in water, and gives exit to much frothy matter when pressed. This is 

 sometimes dependent on disease of the valves of the heart, but in other 

 cases on the altered state of the blood. The pulmonary apoplexy con- 

 sists in the infiltration of blood into the lung tissue in circumscribed, 



