436 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
perature may exist several weeks before other symptoms are manifested, 
or even that the disease may in some cases be confined to, and run its course 
in, the blood, without a localization in any organ or organs. Such a 
view is also sustained by the often-observed fact that when the cholera 
exists in a herd, animals, which show no positive signs of sickness, are 
found in an unhealthy condition, and cannot be made to thrive and 
fatten. This point, however, remains to be cleared up by future inves- 
tigations. An objection may be brought to the lower temperature here 
recorded, that according to other observers it is common to find a 
temperature of 103° IF. to 104° F.in healthy animals. This, however, 
does not agree with the observations which i have been able to make. 
In one herd of ten, the last of a much larger number which had been 
reduced by this disease, all of which appeared healthy and thriving, not 
one showed a temperature by my thermometer as high as 103° F. In 
several other herds of healthy animals which I examined, but notes of 
which were not preserved, the temperature was found to range from 
§6° F. to 10249 F. In nearly all these cases the animals were called up 
from fields where they were running at liberty, and were immediately 
examined. So that, although there may be differences in thermometers, 
I think there can be little doubt from these observations that an increase 
of temperature precedes other symptoms by a number of days. 
The first symptoms apparent externally are a dullness of the eyes, the 
lids of which are kept nearer closed than in health, with an accumula- 
tion of secretion in the corners; there is hanging of the head with lopped 
ears, ai inclination to hide in the litter, to lie on the belly, and keep 
quiet; as the disease advances there is considerable thirst, more cr less 
cough, a pink blush, rose-colored spots, and papular eruption on the 
skin, particularly along the belly, inside of thighs and fore-legs, and 
about the ears. Thereis accelerated respiration and circulation, increased 
action of the flanks in breathing, tucked-up abdomen, arched back, 
swelling of the vulva in the female, as if in heat; sometimes, also, of the 
sheath in the male; loss of appetite, and tenderness of the abdomen; 
occasionally there was persistent diarrhea, but generally obstinate con- 
stipation. In some cases large abraded spots’ are observed at the pro- 
jecting parts of the body, caused by separation and loss of the epidermis; 
in these cases a slight blow or friction on the stkin is suilicient to produce” 
such abrasions. In many cases the eruption, blush, and spots are entirély 
absent; petechia were formed in about one-third of the cases; in one 
outbreak, chiefly confined to pigs in which the eruption was remarkably 
plain, there was considerable inflammation of and discharge from the 
eyes. Some animals have a very disagreeable odor even before death. 
In nearly all cases there is weakness or partial paralysis of the posterior 
extremities, and occasionally this paralysis is so complete in the first 
stages of the disease as to prevent walking or standing. 
The percentage of animals affected and the violence of the symptoms 
vary greatly, according to the time the disease has existed in a locality. 
In the early part of an outbreak from 70 to 90 per cent. die, and most of 
these in the first stages of the disease, from deterioration of the blood or 
apoplexy. In one case there was a loss of 102 out of 107 head; in other 
cases whole herds of 30 or 40 succumbed; later, many of the animals 
linger for weeks, and finally die from persistent lesions of the lungs or 
bowels. In some instances a considerable number of those affected—20 
to 25 per cent.—recover; many of these lose all their hair, and often the 
epidermis as well. Of those recovering, a very few fatten rapidly and 
do well, but by far the greater part cannot be fattened, and are always 
unthrifty and profitless animals, 
