! Y : URNS re, fhe Wiien ey oy Ve "2 
438 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
gested. The larynx and pharynx were found normal in all the post- 
mortem examinations, but in some of the living cases there was consid- — 
erable swelling about the larynx and ulcers on the posterior part of the ~ — 
tongue. The liver was generally as in health, though in some cases it was 
congested, spotted, and softened, and once was found smaller and more — 
dense than natural. The bile was at times very thick and dark,and 
again very thin and of a bright yellow color. The spleen wasnormalin 
. two-thirds of the cases; in the femainder it was slighily enlarged and 
softened. In two cases the interior was almost of a fluid consistency, 
while in one the organ was smaller and firmer than in health. The © 
bladder was generally normal, but in two or three cases was inflamed — 
and covered with blood extravasations about the neck, and contained in 
these cases bloody or very turbid urine. The kidneys were seldom more 
than slightly hyperzemic, but in a few cases there was considerable ex- 
travasated blood in the tissues about the hilum, and on section the sub- 
stance about the pelvis was found infiltrated with perfectly black blood. 
We have here a considerable variety of pathological changes, the 
only constant ones being congestion and inflammation of the lungs, 
colon, and cecum, and congestion of the lymphatic glands. To mention 
any single peculiarities of these lesions as characteristic of this disease 
_would not be possible from this investigation. Neither the thickened © 
fibrous patches, the ulcerations, gray elevations of the intestines, th 
cuticular eruption, nor petechix were constant. 
NATURE OF THE DISEASE. 
In studying the nature of an unclassified disease the first question 
that oceurs to us is: Is the affection a general or a local one? Jn other 
words, does the disease originate from functional or organic disorder of 
any particular organ or apparatus, or are the anatomical lesions devel- 
oped secondarily as the consequence of a general affection? And this — 
question, as regards the disease under consideration, can now be an- 
swered in a definite and satisfactory manner. Indeed, when weconsider 
that the first sympton, and one preceding all others by several daysat = 
least, is an increase of temperature; that when localized a great variety | 
of organs belonging to different systems and apparatus are involved, as 
for instance, the nervous system, as shown by occasional paralysis and 
apoplexy, the lungs, pleura, bronchial tubes, heart, liver, stomach, in- 4 
testines, spleen, kidneys, bladder, and skin; that there are considerable 
changes in the blood, asshown by imperfect coagulation, solution of the 
coloring matter, and blood extravasations, there can scarcely remain a 
shadow of doubt that the trouble is not a local but a general one. 
The next question in logical succession relates to the contagiousness 
of the disease. Is its extension due to a principle which is multipliedin - 
the bodies of sick animals, and which is of itself sufficient to cause the 
disease in healthy ones? In answering this question I will merely men- 
tion the experiments of Professors Axe, Klein, and Osler, which prove 
that the disease may be inoculated without detailing their facts; and I 
will only allude in ike manner to the instances already recorded by Dr. 
Sutton, Professor Axe, and others, which seem to prove its highly con- 
tagious character. Most of these facts have been published in recent | | 
reports of the Department of Agriculture, and there is no need of repeat- 
ing them. In my own investigations I have met with facts which en- — 
tirely confirm the opinion of these observers in regard to this latter 
point, Thus I have found the disease to start at some point and spread a 
slowly in different directions—not rapidly, as though depending on at- 54 
mospheric conditions—and the rapidity of this extension depends to a 
very great degree on whether these animals are allowed entire liberty 
i 
4 
