THE SPLENIC FEVER. 91 



attempting to extend the fore limbs, great difficulty is experienced, and the animal often 

 sinks to the ground. In one case, which I saw near Tolono, the animal seemed fixed to 

 the soil, from inability to direct its muscles. With assistance it was got up, and its fore 

 legs were propped out; but, when driven, the action of its limbs was quite irregular, and 

 the animal faltered along, to drop again almost immediately. This inability to control 

 the voluntary muscles, this defective coordination of movement, prevails in a less degree 

 in a considerable number of cases. Great listlessness and even stupor are very common 

 indications of early death. The most singular manifestations of these conditions occurred 

 in two cows. One was lying with her head forcibly drawn upon the right shoulder, and 

 the cervical muscles twitching as in a severe attack of chorea. In another the animal 

 had the same position of the head and jerking of the muscles ; but she was lying motion 

 less on her belly, with all four legs sprawling, as if they had yielded and slipped out 

 without an effort, as the body sank to the ground. The state of the secretions is usually 

 a good index in the course of the disease. There is little tendency to free perspiration, 

 and the only remarkable change of the skin is cedema which distends it in some cases be 

 low the jaw, or under the sternum. Hide-bound and costive, the animals indicate the 

 febrile crisis by slight blood-staining of the faeces and by hsematuria. The latter is com 

 monly profuse, until the animal is so far paralyzed in its hind-quarters that there is retention. 



With rare exceptions the bladder is found distended, and weighs, with its bloody 

 contents, ten, twelve, or fourteen pounds ; this, too, when the animal has urinated im 

 mediately before or in the act of death. Under the microscope the urine presents no 

 tints, but only amorphous deposits of hrematine and some epithelial cells. From first to 

 last it coagulates by the aid of heat and nitric acid, except in those cases where it retains 

 its normal color. 



The milk secretion is all but entirely suspended, and the little which is drawn is 

 dense, and mainly composed of cream. No change of a definite kind can be detected by 

 a microscope. 



IV. Termination. In the majority of cases depression and listlessness increase, the 

 pulse increases in frequency, the respiration becomes labored, the animal heat reduced to 

 100 and to 98 F. ; and the animal stretches out on the ground, on which it has been 

 lying motionless for some time, and dies without a struggle. 



In exceptional cases the febrile symptoms subside, the secretion of milk in cows is 

 restored, the color of the urine becomes paler and paler, till it is normal, and the animal 

 recovers in ten days or a fortnight, indicating its previous condition only by a stiffness of 

 gait and considerable emaciation. A month or six weeks is required before evidence of 

 thriving is obtained. 



I have seen animals in apparently a convalescent state and manifesting considerable 

 appetite ; after distending their stomachs on grass, they have appeared uneasy, the fever 

 has returned, diarrhoea set in, and death occurred within thirty-six to forty-eight hours. 

 Such accidents are undoubtedly dependent on the lesions of the fourth stomach and intes 

 tines. They are gastro-enteric complications, and not indications of a true relapse. 



