LOODIANAH DISEASE AND CAPE HORSE-SICKNESS. 221 



deed, wliat we have said respecting its a2tiology, wlien speaking 

 of antlirax generally, obtains here, though possil:)ly the relative 

 importance of each factor may be somewhat difterent. There 

 are some instances of outbreaks which have apparently been 

 traced to alluvial soil underneath the floor of stables ; on re- 

 moval of which, and adoption of other sanitary measures, the 

 disease has disappeared : and it seems probable this influence 

 of the soil was due to the presence in it of the spores of bacilli. 

 As far as we can gather from the literature of the subject, 

 Loodianah disease differs in no essential manner from anthrax, 

 as we have described it occurring in Great Britain ; however, 

 in the form characterized b}^ external manifestations, we may 

 notice the tongue is not so specially involved as in gloss- 

 anthrax. The swellings, frequently commencing about the 

 head, rapidly extend backwards, even to the extremities of the 

 fore-limbs. The rise in internal temperature is very marked, 

 there being records of the thermometer reaching 108° and 

 109° F. 



The course of the disease, generally rapid, varies from six 

 hours after the earliest symptoms to six days. There is a 

 very small percentage of recoveries. Imported — especially 

 Australian — horses are supposed 'to yield a little more readily 

 to the fatal effects of the disease than native-bred animals. 



Owing probably to extrinsic favourable conditions, putrefac- 

 tion takes places rapidly after death, rendering post-mortem 

 examination a most offensive task. 



The most successful remedial and prophylactic measures 

 are precisely those we have mentioned in that category else- 

 where. 



Horse-sickness, Cape Horse-sickness, Paard-zietke, Dikkop- 

 zietke — as anthrax is termed among equidai in South Africa — 

 appears to an alarming extent throughout the length and 

 breadth of the colony : showing itself in epizootic, enzootic, 

 and sporadic forms ; committing devastation among studs, civil 

 and mihtary. The losses recorded during the Zulu campaign 

 were of a most serious character. Though here its geogra- 

 phical distribution is general, it also shows a preference for the 

 lowlands ; and the Dutch settler knows too well the effects of 

 placing his horses and cattle in the ' bush veld,' and the rela- 

 tive freedom from Paard-zietke enjoyed by the ' high veld.' 



