CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 229 



wintered iu bis field. As T was anxious to make a post-mortem examina- 

 tion in Older to discover the exact nature of the disease, I went out late 

 in the evening- to see the condition of the heifer which died on the 25th, 

 three days ago. She was badly bloated. I opened her in the usual 

 manner, and found that tlie internal viscera were undergoing decompo- 

 sition, and were scarcely fit to handle. I removed the spleen, which 

 weighed -4 pounds. The liver was enlarged. A bloody-colored tluid 

 was contained in the pericardial sac ; also bloodj'-colored urine iu the 

 bladder. The fourth stomach presented the characteristic erosions and 

 gastric redness of southern cattle fever. Mr. Gordon stated that in 

 1858 he lived in the State of Missouri, on the through cattle trail. The 

 trail led around a corner of his pasture field, the corner not being quite 

 square; late in the fall he built the fence out so as to form a square 

 corner; by so doing he inclosed a part of the trail. The cattle which 

 were in the field soon began to die after the moving of the fence, and 

 continued to die until some time iu the month of January ; 50 out of 

 100 head died. 



AVe remained overnight with Mr. Gordon, and next morning returned 

 to Medicine Lodge. As we passed Mr. Morehead's place his wife came 

 out to the road and told me that her husband had found the day before 

 a sick heifer among his cattle on the Cole range ; that he had started 

 her toward home, but she dropped down near Elm River, and was un- 

 able to rise, and that he desired me to see the animal. I was directed 

 where to find it, and 1 complied with their wishes ; 1 found the heifer 

 dead. I saw the animal at 2 o'clock on the -J9th, and Mr. iMorehead had 

 found her sick at about the same time the day previous. She appeared 

 to me as if death had taken place in the night or early morning ; was 

 badly bloated ; a few small balls of feces, covered with dried blood, and 

 mucus, were lying behind her. The mucous membrane of the rectum ap- 

 peared inflamed, swollen, and protruded several inches from the anus. 

 I opened her on the right side, following the usual custom. Decompo- 

 sition had taken place to a much greater extent than any that 1 had 

 ever examined after so short a period after death. 



The blood-vessels contained more blood, and of abetter quality than 

 is usually found after death from southern cattle fever. The animal 

 was excediiigly fat, and the fat was of a very high yellow color, very 

 nearly a chrome yellow. All of the internal viscera were, more or less, 

 distended by gasses. The pericardium contained 10 or 12 ounces of 

 bloody-colored serum. In the arterial side of the heart I found a very 

 extensive and strongly organized fibrinous clot, extending through the 

 valves, and into the aorta for at least 8 inches. The s[>leen weighed 

 3| pounds, and blood extravasations were found under the peritoneal 

 covering. The liver was enlarged, and filled with blood, and enormously 

 distended by gasses. Erosions and subacute congestion of the lining 

 membraiu^ of the fourth stomach were present. The urine bladder con- 

 tained a few ounces of bloody-colored urine. The kidneys were almost 

 completely disorganized by the ravages of active decomposition. 



