SPLENIC OE PEMODIC FEVER OF CATTLE. 1C5 



membrane is deeply tinged with bile. At others it is tlie seat of scat- 

 tered eccliymoses, less nnmerous and regular than those on the folds of 

 the abomasum. 



The jejunum and ileum may be reddened throughout on their mucous 

 surface. Sometimes the redness is in patches. It is punctiform ; and, 

 in parts, eccliymoses heighten the general color. In one case I found oiie 

 of Peyer's glands somewhat tumefied, but free from any dei)osit around, 

 and simply turgid and congested. The caicum is often extensively ecchy- 

 mosed, especially on the free margin of the effaceable mucous folds, so 

 that, when the membrane is stretched, it has a striped appearance. The 

 stripes may be of a bright or rusty-red color, but are often blackened, as 

 we so commonly find, with blood extravasions in the large intestine of 

 cattle. The ileo-colic fold is usually ecchymosed, tumefied, or of a black- 

 ish color. Scattered i^etechia^. are not uncommon, and the fundus of the 

 cfBCum may be found the seat of marked, ramified redness. The general 

 appearance of the mucous lining of the colon is often the same. In the 

 rectum the folds are commonly ecchymosed, and we have found free but 

 delicate clots adherent to the membrane. The blackened appearance of 

 the interstitial extravasations is nearly as common m the rectum as in the 

 cpecum. 



The liver, so often the seat of chronic lesion in cattle, such as thicken- 

 ing and induration of the capsule in spots, is often the seat of fatty de- 

 generations, and is found congested and lieavy in some cases ; whereas 

 the reverse holds good in others. Eeference to the weights of the livers 

 will show that there is no relation between any distinct state of the organ, 

 as ascertained by the sealer, and the existence of splenic fever. 



The gall bladder is usually distended with viscid bile, and its lining 

 membrane is at times the seat of ramified redness. The coats of the gall 

 bladder have been found, in several cases, much thickened by intersti- 

 tial, serous infiltration, which, from being retained in the areolae of the 

 connective tissue, had the appearance of a gelatinous mass. 



The spleen is uniformly eidarged, as indicated by the many observa- 

 tions noted in the tables published in the appendix. The weight varies 

 from two to ten i)ounds. It rarely exceeds six or seven. One of the 

 largest Texan sj^leens, weighing eiglit pounds, and found by one of Dr. 

 Kauch's inspectors in a slaughtered animal, measured twenty-seven inches 

 in length, seven and one-half inches in width, and three inches in thick- 

 ness at its thickest point. 



The spleen is of a iiurplish color, its peritoneal surface sometimes 

 ecchymosed ; and, on making an incision into its capsule, the pulp oozes 

 out. A section shows the complete efi'usement of the usual granular 

 look, due to the very marked M;d[)igliian bodies, so well seen in the ox's 

 spleen. The scraping with a kniie readily forces out the currant-jelly- 

 like pulp, and leaves the trabecuhe free and clear. In thirty well-marked 

 diseased spleens, Ur. Mannheimes found only two in which the trabe- 

 cuLiB were firm and sound. They were destroyed and completely unrecog- 

 nizable from any other part of the tissues of the organ. 



