THE SPLENIC FEVER. 85 



animals become charged with deleterious principles, that are afterward propagated and 

 dispersed by the excreta of apparently healthy as well as of obviously sick stock. It is not 

 one of the epizootics proper, and in its origin and distribution differs from the plagues due 

 to specific animal poisons which are common in various parts of the Old World and the 

 New. The malady is probably incapable of communication by inoculation, and the flesh, 

 blood, and secretions of such cattle have been handled and consumed by human beings 

 without the manifestation of untoward results. 



In Texas, cattle of all ages, from the time they begin to graze, are afflicted with the 

 malady in a somewhat latent and mild form. Early in the year many animals die, espe 

 cially when the wet deteriorates the grasses ; and the mortality, of which any one can 

 gain evidence in crossing Texan prairies and seeing the carcasses, is ascribed to poverty. 

 It is, however, a feature everywhere that cattle do not attain the same weight in the South, 

 even on the best grasses, that they do in northern latitudes ; and this is, no doubt, 

 accounted for by the uniform signs of irritation and even erosions of the stomach, enlarged 

 spleen, fatty liver, and sometimes ecchymosis in the kidneys. 



The disease in its acute form is characterized during life by a long and variable period 

 of incubation, which is generally of five to six weeks duration. The temperature of 

 the body then rises, the secretions are checked, and indications of depression and list- 

 lessness are afforded by drooping head, depressed ears, arched back, approximation of limbs, 

 and indisposition to move, or to rise when down. The fasces, usually dry, are sometimes 

 blood-stained ; and the urine almost invariably becomes of a dark port-wine color, and is 

 retained for hours, and then evacuated in inconsiderable quantities Frequent pulse, hur 

 ried breathing, and tremors are almost invariable symptoms ; and, according to the sever 

 ity of the attack, there is more or less paralysis, which partially affects the hind quar 

 ters, the fore quarters, or both. From implication of the cerebellum there is occasionally 

 a defective coordination of movement ; and, when the brain proper is involved, the animal 

 either lies comatose, or is delirious. 



In the first case there is more or less blindness, and in the second a wild, staring gaze, 

 and the greatest restlessness. Animals recover, especially if from the South; but the 

 communicated disorder among northern stock is extremely fatal ; and, in many forms, 

 destroys every animal exposed to its ravages. Death usually occurs about the third or the 

 fourth day from the time the animal is very obviously sick ; but probably not for ten or 

 twelve days from the first indications to be obtained by the thermometer. The symptoms 

 of approaching death are usually great prostration, the animal lying and refusing to rise, 

 retention of the urine, the head occasionally drawn forcibly round, especially to the right 

 side, and the muscles of the neck twitching without much intermission. After death there 

 is marked cadaveric rigidity ; the skin and subcutaneous tissues are usually sound; but 

 effusions of serum, and sometimes of blood, have been witnessed under the lower jaw and 

 sternum. The respiratory organs are commonly healthy, but in some cases the lungs are 

 somewhat ecchyrnosed, and more frequently there is partial interlobular emphysema. The 

 heart is frequently blood-stained both on the inner and the outer aspects. The peritoneum 

 is sometimes ecchyrnosed, and, in one instance, was found to contain a large amount of 

 free, coagulated blood. The digestive organs, from the mouth to the fourth stomach, are, 

 as a rule, healthy. The fourth stomach, or abomasum, is, with rare exceptions, the seat 

 of distinct lesions, viz., dark redness, ecchymosis, yellow granular-looking eruptions, and 



