482 EEPOET OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



in the intestines generally its tints seem to be related to the intensity 

 of the blood coloration, of which these parts have been the seat. It is 

 therefore in the duodenum, and especially near the pylorus, that it is 

 deepest-tinted and most extensive. In the duodenum it is diffuse, but 

 in the remainder of the small intestine it is limited, as a rule, to a double 

 series of perpendicular zones more or less incomplete, and in the rectum 

 is usually in the form of longitudinal lines. This coloring matter is de- 

 posited in the most superficial layer of the mucous membrane, and is 

 constituted by minute irregular granules, which, according as they are 

 disjiosed separately or in clusters, give rise to the different shades. 

 Around the orifices of Bninner's glands, and in the texture of the villi, 

 this deposit appears to be most localized. 



The epithelium of the fourth compartment of the stomach rapidly un- 

 dergoes changes analogous to those observed in the mouth. Their in- 

 tensity depends upon the part examined, as well as the gravity of the 

 attack and its stage. In the first and last portions of the small intes- 

 tine in the crecum, in the first section of the large colon, and in the 

 rectum, they are generally more developed than elsewhere. In mild 

 cases the epithelium, though not yet detached, is always less adherent 

 to the derm than in health. In more serious cases this layer is found 

 completely detached over a considerable surface, and especially in the 

 small intestine. The excoriations thus produced vary both as to extent 

 and number, and are generally covered by a gray, red, or dark colored 

 viscid mucus. The matter is tenacious, and adheres firmly iu flakes to 

 the membrane. The extent of these flakes is generally from a quarter 

 to two inches in length. The color is gray, yellow, red, l)rown, or black ; 

 their free surface is smooth, and more or less convex; their variable 

 consistency is less at the border than the center ; the membrane beneath 

 them is injected and spotted with small cxtravasatious, and their mar- 

 gin, in consequence of the retraction of the flake, is separated for a 

 short space from the border of the erosion. 



The mortification Avhich may invade the intestinal waU does not usu- 

 ally go beyond the mucous membrane. In rare and very severe cases it 

 extends to the submucous connective tissue, or even to the muscular 

 layer. The liquefaction of the mortified patches causes a loss of sub- 

 stance in the membrane, and these places are designated "excoriations" 

 or " erosions," according as the derm remains intact or not. Their num- 

 ber is as variable as are the patches. The viscid masses covering the 

 surface of the intestine, as well as the flakes, are produced by the utric- 

 ular glands of the gastric and intestinal mucous membrane, which are 

 greatly altered and tumefied. 



Peyer's glands undergo alterations of a particular character. They 

 lose their epithelial covering, and, in the majority of epizootics, undergo 

 changes analogous to those of the solitary glands ; though in other epi- 

 zootics they are rarely affected, and when they are the lesions are not 

 always equally marked. Sometimes they are merely covered with a 

 mucus layer, like the other parts of the intestine, and are injected ; at 

 other times they are more salient than usual from tumefaction, and they 

 then may contain contents like that of the solitary glands ; again, they 

 may be covered by a croupal exudation or false membrane, several lines 

 in thickness, and gray, yellow, red, or blue in color, adhering by its cen- 

 tral part to the mucous membrane. The presence of these patches is 

 not a constant feature in the pathological anatoiuy of the disease; in 

 certain epizootics it is almost always present, while in others it is excep- 

 tional. Among the conditions which ap]5ear to have an influence in its 

 production only one is known, and that is the condition of the animal 



