DISEASES OF SWINE AND OTHER ANIMALS. 333 
erally noticed. At the beginning of the disease the temperature of the 
body seems to be increased. The thermometer indicated from 104° to 
106° F. Still, not much reliance can be placed on the temperature, as 
indicated by the thermometer. In some cases it was found to be very 
high—in one case as high as 111° F.—and in others below normal. It 
was always more or less variable, and has been found decreasing at the 
very height of the disease. I have come to the conclusion that in dis- 
eases of swine thermometry is of a very doubtful practical value, be- 
cause to ascertain the temperature of a hog, that is not extremely low 
or in a dying condition, by introducing a thermometer into the rectum, 
requires the use of force, because a hog or pig can very seldom be per- 
suaded to submit to that operation without struggling and without being 
held; and struggling, according to my observation, increases the tem- 
perature of such an irritable animal immediately. The general appear- 
ance of the animal, if correctly analyzed, is of much more diagnostic 
and prognostic value than the differences of temperature as indicated 
by the thermometer. In diseases of swine the latter is, at best, a nice 
and interesting plaything in the hands of the inexperienced. 
The first symptoms are usually followed within a short time by a 
partial, and afterwards by a total loss of appetite; a rough and some- 
what staring appearance of the coat of hair; a drooping of the 
ears (characteristic); loss of vivacity; attempts to vomit (in some 
cases) ; a tendency to root in the bedding, and to lie down in a dark 
and quiet corner; a dull look of the eyes, which not seldom become dim 
and injected; swelling of the head (observed in several cases); erup- 
tions on the ears and on other parts of the body (quite frequent); bleeding 
from the nose (in a few cases); swelling of the eyelids, and partial or 
total blindness (in five or six cases); dizziness or apparent pressure 
upon the brain; accelerated and frequently laborious breathing; more 
or less constipation, or, in some cases, diarrhea; a gaunt appearance of 
the flanks; a pumping motion of the same at:each breath; rapid ema- 
ciation; a vitiated appetite for dung, dirt, and saline substances; in- 
creased thirst (sometimes); accumulation of mucus in the canthi of 
the eyes (very often at an early stage of the disease); more or less copi- 
ous discharges from the nose, &c. The peculiar offensive and fetid 
smell of the exhalations and of the excrements may be considered as 
characteristic of the disease. This odor is so penetrating as to announce 
the presence of the disease, especially if the herd of swine is a large 
one, at a distance of half a mile or even farther, provided the wind is 
favorable. If the animals are inclined to be costive, the dung is usually 
grayish or brownish black, and hard; if diarrliea is present the feces 
are semi-fluid, and of a grayish-green color, and contain, in some cases, 
an admixture of blood. In a large number of cases the more tender 
portions of the skin on the lower surface of the body, between the hind 
legs, behind the ears, and even on the nose and on the neck, exhibit 
numerous larger or smaller red spots, or (sometimes) a uniform redness 
(Red Soldier of the English). Toward a fatal termination of the dis- 
ease this redness changes frequently to purple. A physical exploration 
_of the thorax reveals, if pleuritis is existing, frequently a plain rubbing 
sound. As the morbid process progresses the mevements of the sick 
animal become weaker and slower; the gait becomes staggering and un- 
decided ; the steps made are short, as if the animal was unable to ad- 
vance its legs without pain; sometimes lameness, especially in a hind 
leg (not very often), and sometimes great weakness in the hind quarters, 
or partial paralysis (oftener) make their appearance. The head, if the 
animal is on its legs, seems to be too heavy to be carried, and is kept in 
