Anthrax. 203 



second type is the anthrax fever, known also as splenic fever, 

 sple?iic apoplexy, or internal anthrax. In this form there may 

 be prodromata, especially in sheep, excitability, restlessness, and 

 above all, a rise of temperature of often 3 or 4 . There may be 

 distillation of drops of blood from the nose, eyes or ears, the mu- 

 cosae become congested, and in sheep this may show on the finer 

 parts of the skin, as inside the forearm or thigh. Tremors, erec- 

 tion of the hairs, dulness, prostration, lagging behind the flock 

 or herd, insensibility of the loins to pinching, inappetence, ardent 

 thirst, grinding of the teeth, colics, tympany, mucus coated, 

 bloody or liquid faeces, bloody urine, tumultuous heart beats, 

 dyspnoea, dark, congested mucosae, amounting to cyanosis, and 

 spasmodic contractions of the muscles of the back, neck or eyes. 

 If blood is drawn it may appear abnormally dark in color and very 

 slow to brighten under the action of the air, it may have a thick, 

 tarry appearance, and form a very loose clot. Death, (usually 

 in coma or convulsions) will supervene, in sheep under 24 hours, 

 in cattle in 2 to 5 days, and in horses in 1 to 6 days. The third 

 type is the local or external anthrax, assuming in cattle the 

 special forms of gloss-anthrax , pharyngeal anthrax, hietnorrhoidal 

 anthrax, cutafieous and subcutaneous anthrax. In horses most of 

 the same forms appear, in the tongue, throat, neck, shoulders, 

 withers, flank or thigh. These swellings have a firm or doughy 

 feeling, are comparatively and sometimes wholly insensible and 

 show a marked tendency to necrotic changes. When incised 

 they show extensive blood extravasation, or a pale, straw-colored 

 exudate mixed with sanguineous lines or patches, and manifest 

 no tendency to suppuration, nor to emphysematous crepitation. 

 These features distinguish them from phlegmon and emphysema- 

 tous anthrax. When suppuration ensues it is tardy and indolent 

 and is, on the whole, a favorable indication. In all cases the ba- 

 cillus may be found on microscopic examination of the exudate. 



Lesions. Putrefaction of the carcass is usually rapid. In the 

 very rapidly fatal cases the changes in the blood and tissues are 

 often little marked, and after the removal of the enlarged, en- 

 gorged spleen and infiltrated internal organs, the carcass might 

 often be placed on the market without much suspicion. In more 

 prolonged cases the blood is profoundly changed, being very 

 dark, not subject to rapid aeration, and incapable of coagulating 



