476 REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



Mr. Degener saw only one of the sick yearlings. This one he brought home and 

 finally killed. Its bowels were regular and urine of a natural color, but it dis- 

 charged very freely from nose and eyes, and the latter were habitually hidden by 

 the protruded brow. 



The pasture occupied at Geneva Lake was partly of cultivated grasses and partly 

 natural. It contained a number of wet spots. I could not find that cattle had died 

 in this pasture in former years. I will add that the whole country south of Owa- 

 tonna is dotted with basins having a subsoil of clay or other impervious material, 

 and causing a slow and often imperfect disappearance of the rain-water by evapora- 

 tion. Hence there is an endless succession of lakes, ponds, and swamps, and the 

 drying of these in such a season as that of the past summer leads to the exhalation 

 of deleterious materials, the products of the fife of bacteria and allied organisms. 

 The manifest absence of infection from animal to animal suggests that the or- 

 ganisms do not propagate themselves in the animal body, but that the victims are 

 poisoned by products already formed in the soil. The symptoms, however, indicate 

 that there may be more than one disease, and hence the anxiety of Dr. Charles N. 

 Hewitt for a bacteriological investigation is reasonably well founded. While the 

 grand remedy is drainage, the conformation of the land is such that we can not ex- 

 pect this to be accomplished soon by the ordinary method, and so long as the present 

 state of things continues, not only will the existing diseases continue and increase 

 with the increase of herds, but other disease poisons that are preserved in close, wet 

 Boils \vill infallibly be implanted and spread. In the matter of drainage I have ad- 

 vised boring into a porous subsoil as the most feasible method in many cases ; and 

 where it can not be safely done without superinducing disastrous droughts, to dig 

 a deep pond in the center of the basin and thus at once secure good drinking water 

 and do away with swamp. 



SOUTHERN CATTLE FEVER. 



In October, 1887, Dr. Ed. R. Allen, of Kansas City, was directed 

 to proceed to the range of the Washita Cattle Company in the north- 

 east corner of the Texas Panhandle and investigate the nature of a 

 disease among cattle belonging to that company. He arrived there 

 on the 17th of that month, and on the following morning began a 

 careful search of the range for animals suffering with the disease, 

 and for cases for post-mortem examination. He gives the following 

 report of the results of his investigation: 



Plenty of carcasses were found (I saw more than 50), but as death had resulted 

 in all these cases from a few days up to three or more weeks previous they were not 

 considered satisfactory for post-mortem purposes. A three-year-old bull was at 

 last found suffering with the disease. The symptoms were loss of appetite and 

 constipation, the feces being dry, hard, and dark-colored. He presented a gaunt 

 appearance, was scarcely able to stand or walk, and voided a small quantity of 

 bloody urine. Trembling in the hindquarters and general weakness were very per- 

 ceptible. Temperature registered 106 F. A four-year-old cow was next examined, 

 and the symptoms were very similar to those described above, except there were 

 no indications of high-colored urine. Temperature 104 F. My diagnosis in both 

 these cases was splenic or Texas fever. In the afternoon we found a three-year-old 

 cow which had been dead perhaps fifteen or eighteen hours, upon which a post- 

 mortem was made, showing the following lesions: Spleen nearly twice its natural 

 size, considerably discolored in patqhes and almost entirely reduced to a pulp; gall- 

 duct very much distended with a thick, dark-colored, lumpy substance; considera- 

 ble abdominal impaction of the manifolds. On the morning of the 19th instant we 

 found a seven-year-old cow that had not been dead more than an hour or two was 

 yet warm. Post-mortem examination showed gall-duct to be very much enlarged 

 and full of a thick, reddish-yellow, lumpy matter; the surface and cut surface of the 

 liver presented a peculiar copper-colored appearance; spleen enlarged and more or 

 less discolored; tissue partially broken down. In the afternoon we made a post- 

 mortem on the cow that we had seen alive on the previous day, she having died a 

 short time before. Spleen very much enlarged, spotted ever its entire surface; con- 

 gested; tissue partially broken down; contents of gall-bladder very similar to those 

 previously examined; liver copper-colored. The bull, which was examined on the 

 previous day, being considered in the last stages of disease, was now slaughtered for 

 post-mortem. Spleen more than twice the ordinary size; gall-duct very much dis- 

 tended with a thick black substance; considerable impaction of the manifolds; 



