TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT 87 



During the winter an aged horse with a large bone spavin 

 was presented to the Park for slaughter, which on account of 

 lameness was useless to the owner. The animal's temperature 

 was normal, and it was in a fair condition of flesh. When the 

 animal was examined after slaughter the following conditions 

 were noted : 



The peritoneum and especially the peritoneal surface of the 

 diaphragm was studded with tubercles of the size of peas. The 

 spleen showed numerous lesions of tuberculosis, resembling the 

 typical miliary tubercles found in bovines. Most of them show- 

 ing considerable fibrous tissue incapsulation, but occasionally 

 some slight caseation in the centers, none, however, showed any 

 calcification. Few of the thoracic lymphatic nodes showed any 

 caseation, although many of them were much enlarged. The 

 liver showed a great many miliary tubercles on the surface 

 of the capsule. The lungs were studded with miliary tubercles 

 on the surface as well as throughout its structure. The posterior 

 border of the left lung for a distance of ten inches was incased 

 in a fibrous capsule, half an inch thick, while the lung tissue 

 in this area was nearly entirely replaced by a cream colored 

 material of gelatinous consistency, with numerous small necrotic 

 areas throughout. The pleura presented the sam?. appearance 

 as the peritoneum, that is covered with miliary tubercles with 

 a great deal of fibrous tissue, while other lesions showed caseous 

 centers. 



While a number of investigators have recorded tuberculosis 

 in the horse prior to 1882, when Koch discovered the specific 

 bacillus of the disease {Bacillus tuberculosis) , still it must be 

 noted that these reports of the clinical and pathological lesions 

 read more like glanders than tuberculosis. 



Although equine tuberculosis cannot be described as a com- 

 mon disease, it is probable that a number of cases have been 

 overlooked in the past, or ascribed to other affections, as the 

 symptoms of the malady are often very obscure. 



It will be of interest to learn that of the one thousand horses 

 killed in our abbatoir, the present case of tuberculosis is the 

 second that has come under my observation. 



