644 Veterinary Medicine. 



yet in exceptional cases the bowels are confined for the first four 

 or five days, or even permanently, appearing to be completely 

 paretic. By the end of a week the abdomen becomes full and 

 pendent with hollow flanks (pot bellied), or even rounded and 

 tense, while manipulation and percussion show an abundant exu- 

 dation into the peritoneal cavity. The pulse encreases in fre- 

 quency (80) but the temperature is not elevated unless there 

 is concurrent sepsis (Johnston). Thayer quotes an advanced 

 case with a temperature of 105 F. He also notes obstinate 

 standing, trembling of the muscles of the hind limbs, and com- 

 plete suppression of appetite and milk secretion. 



The disease is essentially chronic, often lasting a number of 

 months. Many cases are doubtless slightly affected before external 

 symptoms are manifested. 



Lesions. If the disease has resulted in death there is usually 

 marked emaciation, yet the abdomen is distended by accumula- 

 tion of a clear yellowish fluid. From six to nine or more gallons 

 may be present. The fat of the omentum, mesentery and sub- 

 lumbar region has disappeared and the connective tissue is dis- 

 tended by a clear, amber-colored, watery fluid. The liver is the 

 seat of marked changes. In the early stages it is congested and 

 the gall ducts and bladder are filled to repletion with a thick, dark 

 colored bile, which is further present in abundance in the intes- 

 tines. In these early stages Johnston found cloudy swelling and 

 opacity of the hepatic cells ; somewhat later they had undergone 

 distinct fatty degeneration. In the advanced stages, however, in 

 animals that had been ill for two or three months, there was dis- 

 tinct fibrous degeneration, and compression and disappearance of 

 the normal liver cells, in other words, a condition of marked 

 cirrhosis, the result doubtless of the early congestion. 



Johnston further notes the distension of the submucosa of the 

 fourth stomach at intervals by a clear, viscid, liquid exudate, so 

 that rounded swellings appear on the surface, and in some 

 instances, after a month's illness, distinct ulcers are shown upon 

 the mucosa. 



The lungs, pleurae, pericardium and nervous system, are usu- 

 ally normal, unless in case of septic complication when petechiae 

 and circumscribed blood extravasations may be seen. 



Prevention. The Canadian government has gone to great 

 expense in buying and slaughtering the diseased cattle with no 



