98 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



First 103.4° Falir.; second 102° Fahr. ; third 103o Falir.; fourth 104.2^- 

 Fahr.; fifth 103° Fahr. 



The hist teiiiiK'ratiire was that of a work ox, one wliich conhl be han- 

 dled (luietly, ;iiid it afforded me an opportunity of noticing" that the 

 hisso did not seem sensibly to affect the t('m[)erature. I infer, from a 

 considerable range of observation, that animals are from four to six or 

 seven days in the process of sickening, from the earliest indication of 

 fever heat to the manifestations of decided symptoms of disease. 



III. The bleeding or congestive stage. — The acute or active stage of the 

 disease is characterized by a series of well-defined symptoms which last 

 for two, three, four, and even six days. 



GENERAL APPEARANCE. 



The ears of the animal droop, the gait is sluggish, and secretions some- 

 what checked. In cows yielding milk there is a sudden diminution in 

 the amount by one-half, more or less. At tirst the animal eats, rumi- 

 nates occasionally, and its paunch appears full ; but soon there is a dis- 

 position to lie ; an«l, wherever pools exist, the sick cattle are apt to lie in 

 the water. It has been said that one of the surest premonitory signs 

 was a cough. This does not accord with my experience. The depressed 

 head, drooping ears, arched back, hollow flanks, tendency to draw the 

 hind legs under the belly, and knuckling over at the fetlocks behind, are 

 early and very marked symptoms. The skin is dry and rigid ; the f;eces 

 not materially affected except in a few cases, which show early slight 

 hemorrhage ; and a small, delicate blood-clot is apt to be seen on tlie 

 surface of the droppings. At first the urine is clear. Many cases are, 

 it is true, not observed till the urine is bloody; but it remains of its 

 natural color in probably ten or fifteen per cent, of the cases, and is not 

 usually one of the earliest signs which a veterinarian can detect. 



The visible mucous membranes are rather pallid. I have seen a turgid 

 appearance of the membrane of the nose, with discharge of glairy 

 mucus ; but any decided redness is usually confined to the folds of the 

 rectal membrane, seen when animals defecate. 



Tlie pulse is frequent. In the early stages it is hard and wiry. It 

 becomes more feeble, the artery is easily compressed, and in many 

 instances, as death approaches, it is not possible to take the pulse at the 

 jaw. So far as frequency is concerned, I have found it to vary from 

 sixty to one hundred and twenty, and even more. In two cases, where the 

 animals were lying with their heads stretched round over the right 

 shoulder, and stupefied, the pulse was quite imperceptible at the jaw, 

 and the lieart-beats numbered one liundred and twenty. 



Thcrmonu'tric tests arc of great value in the active stage of splenic 

 fever. There is a considerable ditfcrence between ditferent cases ; and, 

 in all i»robability, this depends on tlie extent to which blood-extravasa- 

 tions occur. The temperature is high al the commencement of the 



