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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



rhage ; a small, delicate blood-clot is apt to be seen on the surface of the droppings ; 

 at first the urine is clear. Many cases are, it is true, not observed till the urine is bloody ; 

 but the urine remains of its natural color in probably ten or fifteen per cent, of the cases, 

 and is not usually one of the earliest signs which a veterinarian can detect. 



The visible, mucous membranes are rather pallid. I have seen a turgid appearance 

 of the membrane of the nose, with discharge of glairy mucus ; but any decided redness is 

 usually confined to the folds of the rectal membrane, seen when animals defecate. 



The pulse is frequent. In the early stages it is hard and wiry. It becomes more 

 feeble, the artery is easily compressed, and in many instances, as death approaches, it is 

 not possible to take the pulse at the jaw. So far as frequency is concerned, I have found 

 it to vary from sixty to one hundred and twenty, arid even more. In two cases, where 

 the animals were lying with their heads stretched around over the right shoulder, and 

 stupefied, the pulse was quite imperceptible at the jaw, and the heart-beats numbered one 

 hundred and twenty. 



Thermometric tests are of great value in the active stage of splenic fever. There 

 is a considerable difference between cases ; and, in all probability, this depends on 

 the extent to which blood-extravasations occur. The temperature is high at the com 

 mencement of the attack ; but, as death approaches, and bloody urine flows, it is very 

 perceptibly reduced. 



The annexed table indicates the ascertained temperature of sixty cases : 



To the touch the temperature of the body varies much. It is not at all unusual to 

 have great heat of the poll, of the ears, and horns, and of the extremities. At other times 

 the limbs, and especially the hind ones, are cold ; and the general surface of the body, 

 which is hot in the earlier stages of the disease, has a tendency to cool as death approaches. 

 The breathing is accelerated, and sometimes labored. In some animals, with great rest 

 lessness and tendency to delirium, I have found the respirations as high as one hundred 

 per minute ; whereas, in comatose animals, they have been slow, deep, and stertorous. 

 On an average, however, the movement of the flanks has indicated simply increased fre 

 quency, reaching sixty respirations per minute in some cases. 



The nervous phenomena are often very marked. In some the muscles of the flanks 

 and thighs are seen to be constantly trembling. In others there is decided and continuous 

 twitching of the cervical muscles. In nearly all, when an attempt is made to walk, there 

 is evidence pf feebleness in the hind limbs, which are rolled from side to side as the animal 

 staggers along. When lying down and wishing to rise, it is found that several efforts 

 have to be made before the hind quarters can be fairly raised from the ground ; and then, in 



