114 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



or thirty animals which looked gaunt and weak, but we were told that they were work- 

 oxen in poor condition. One animal was lame and stiff, but was reported as improving in 

 condition. Another had died during the night, and we proceeded to examine its internal 

 organs. It was a dun Texan steer, four years old, that had been stampeded with others 

 the day before, and shortly afterward had succumbed. The body was still warm, and 

 free from all trace of decomposition. The skin and subcutaneous tissues presented no 

 mark of injury or disease. The organs of respiration were healthy. The heart, of normal 

 volume and consistency, was ecchymosed at its apex, and circumscribed blood extravasa 

 tions dotted the reflection of the pericardium over and around the pulmonary artery. The 

 right cavities of the heart contained a small clot of blood, and the left were empty. The 

 endocardium was of normal color and thickness throughout. The mouth, fauces, pharynx, 

 esophagus, and the first three stomachs were healthy. The fourth, or true stomach, was 

 reddened over its entire mucous surface. The folds at the cardiac end were of a deep red, 

 with numerous petechio) scattered irregularly over their surface. The petechia? were 

 usually dark in the center, where the membrane was softening, and of a lighter crimson 

 hue on their circumferences. Many were round, and others of irregular shapes, either 

 from coalescence of several extravasations or the irregular spreading of one original bleed 

 ing spot. 



The small intestine, of a reddish or purplish hue externally, was the seat of ramified 

 redness, with some petechise scattered throughout its whole extent. Peyer s glands were 

 healthy. The ilcum was, however, more congested than the duodenum or jejunum. 

 The caecum, somewhat reddened on its entire mucous surface, was striped with blood 

 extravasations which had occurred along the prominent edges of the mucous folds at its 

 fundus, and there were several well-defined ecchymoses scattered irregularly over the 

 whole lining. The colon was more or less reddened throughout, until near its termination, 

 where it had a natural color. The rectum was not discolored, but near the anus there 

 was a small patch with a thin film of coagulated blood on its unabraded surface, and, 

 when the membrane wrinkled by the action of the sphincter, the free margin of the folds 

 was streaked with interstitial deposit of blood. The spleen, of a dark purplish color, 

 weighed three and a half pounds, and its structure was soft and friable. 



The liver was of normal size and color, but the gall bladder appeared thickened from 

 an exudation of yellow serum in the substance of its coats. These appeared three or four 

 times their normal thickness. The small arteries and veins of the mucous membrane 

 were much distended with dark blood, and there was also some capillary congestion. 

 The kidneys were healthy. The bladder was moderately distended by clear-colored urine, 

 but its mucous surface, reddened at- the fundus, was dotted with small petechia? of a 

 vermilion hue at and around the neck of the organ. 



Failing to obtain further evidence of splenic fever in this and an adjoining herd from 

 a careful inspection of the animals, I determined on having some of them caught and 

 examined with a self-registering thermometer. Four steers, caught with a lasso, indicated 

 a temperature of 103.4, 102.4, 103, and 104.2. This indicated a somewhat exalted 

 temperature for animals which to all appearances were in health; and I was fortunate in 

 getting an animal that had been used in a wagon, driven quietly to camp, and then 

 examined. This indicated a temperature of 103 Fahrenheit. My conviction that the 

 lasso would not vary the temperature was thus confirmed, and it is hard to reconcile the 

 observations made with perfect freedom from disease. 



