256 KINDEEPEST OR CATTLE PLAGUE. 



mal now stands •with great difficulty, gets quite drowsy and unconscious ; tlie 'breath- 

 ing short, quick, and more painful. 



The animal will eomotimcs sink as early as twelve hours from the commencement of 

 the attack, hut in many cases the disease will bo protracted to the fifth or sixth, and 

 occasionally to the eighth or ninth day. As death approaches the mucous membranes 

 acquire a leaden hiae, with dark-colored spots on thoix surface. T^anj^auitis sets in, 

 and the discharges from the bowels are involuntary. 



The mortality in Great Britain was very great. The disease is highly contagious, 

 and will not yield to medical treatment. Vaccination and inoculation were tried, 

 but all seemed only to sj^read the pestilence. 



Po8t mortem appearances will differ according to the part of the organism chiefly 

 affected, and especially according to the time of duration of the malady. In many 

 cases, the roof of the mouth will be found covered with a dirty-yellow exudation upon 

 an ulcerated siu-face, the lining of the larynx, j)harynx, and all the mucous membranes 

 of the mouth is of a deep red color, and often covered witli a layer partaking of the 

 characters of lymph and pus combined, varying from the finest filni to a quarter of an 

 inch in substance. The lungs are often covered with a soft membranous exudation; 

 emphysema of them is also very commonly fotmd, but not always. On opening the 

 abdominal cavity, the omentum is frequently found to present patches of redness ; the 

 intestines are altered in color, from the condition of the mucous membrane being par- 

 tially seen through their walls. On cutting the rumen (or paunch) a quantity of un- 

 digested food is generally found, but nothing more than a tinge of redness in patches 

 can be fotmd here. The reticulum (honey-comb) does not show any signs of the dis- 

 ease; the omasimi (manifolds) affords, in the majority of cases, very characteristic in- 

 dications of the effects of the malady, its folds being infiamed in patches, or ulcerated 

 in patches, even showing large jierforations from sloughing, with claret-colored edges. 

 The contents of this stomach are dry and caked. 



The fom-th, or true digestive stomach, the abomasum (rennet) is inflamed and shows 

 specific lesions of the disease. The contents are nejxrly always fluid, and often mixed 

 with blood ; the mucous membrane is not only intensely red, but is studded with 

 superficial erosions ; the membrane can be easily removed from the ^bmucous tissues, 

 in some cases showing deep sloughs or ulcers. This condition is more marked near the 

 pyloric region, being of a claret color. 



The intestines show similar morbid changes, particularly the jejunum and the ileum, 

 also the crecum, which shows a peculiar mottled appearance from the accumulations, 

 in the follicles, of a dirty- white or yello^vish secretion. The liver is mostly unaffected, 

 but the gall-bladder is remarkably full. The lining membrane of the vagina is of a 

 dark red color and semi-detached condition. 



I have given above all the early symptoms of this disease, together with the post 

 viortcm appearances, and I am- sure you will agree with me that it differs materially 

 from any other disease of the cow or sheep. 



Sheep will take the disease from cattle; in order to test this, experiments were tried 

 at the Eoyal Veterinary College, London. Sheep took the diisease fi-om cattle and 

 died, showing the fiaiae j>ost-mortem appearances. Cattle also took it from the sheep 

 and died. Afterward Professor Simouds found a large number of sheep in England 

 afi'ected, from having been in company with or near diseased cattle. 



Professor Law, of "Cornell University, says: "Treatment of this plague should be 

 legally prohibited under all circumstances, all the attempts of the different schools of 

 medicine, and of empiricism have only increased its ravages; while nations and dis- 

 tricts that have vigorously stamjped it out, and excluded it, have saved their prop- 

 erty." 



I trust we have no cases of this terrible scourge in this country, and that the re- 

 ports in some of the Philadelphia newsi^apers of the past week, of its prevalence in 

 the vicinity of Washington, may prove to be unfounded, as I have cause to believe 

 they are. But if ever introduced into this country, the victims and all other cattle 

 with which they had been in contact, should be promptly destroyed and buried deeply, 

 and the places and things with which they have come in contact be disinfected in the 

 most perfect manner. 



I have the honor to bo, sir, your most obedient servant, 



JOHN "W. GADSDEN, 

 M. li. C. V. S., England. 



PiiiLADELrniA, October 26, 1878. 



