SPLENIC OR PERIODIC FEVER OF CATTLE. 117 



where it had a natural cohir. The rectum was uot discolored, but near 

 the anus there was a small patch with a thin film of coagulated blood 

 on its unabraded surface, and, when the membrane wrinkled by the ac- 

 tion of the sphincter, the free margin of the folds was streaked with 

 interstitial deposit of blood. The spleen, of a dark purplish color, 

 weighed three and a lialf pounds, and its structure was soft and friable. 



The liver was of normal size and color, but the gall bladder appeared 

 thickened from an exudation of yellow serum in the substance of its 

 coats. These appeared three or four times their normal thickness. The 

 small arteries and veins of the raucous membrane were much distended 

 with dark blood, and there was also some capillary congestion. 



The kidneys were healthy. The bladder was moderately distended by 

 clear-colored urine, but its mucous surface, reddened at the fundus, was 

 dotted with small petechije of a vermiliou hue at and around the neck 

 of the organ. 



Failing to obtain further evidence of splenic fever in this and an ad- 

 joining herd, from a careful inspection of the animals, I determined on 

 having some of them caught and examiued with a self-registering ther- 

 mometer. Four steers, caught with a lasso, indicated a temi)erature of 

 103.40, 102.40, 1030^ and 104.20. This indicated a somewhat exalted 

 temperature for animals which to all appearances were in health ; and I 

 was fortunate in getting an animal that had been used in a wagon driven 

 quietlj" to camp, and then examined. This indicated a temperature of 

 1030 Fahrenheit. My conviction that the lasso would not vary the 

 temperature was thus confirmed, and it is hard to I'econcile the observa- 

 tions made with perfect freedom from disease. 



The inspections of herds grazed on and near the Santa Fe road, and 

 inquiries among drovers and herders, failed to bring to light any other 

 cases of sickness or death ; and the evidence of Texan cattle suffering 

 from splenic fever, so far as our observations in Kansas go, rested on the 

 very marked case examined at Smoky Hill, on the high temperature 

 manifested by animals in the undoubtedly infected herd, and on the ob- 

 servations as to the relative weights of spleens in healthy and sick cattle, 

 reported in the foregoing pages. 



Notwithstanding, however, the favorable report which can be made 

 regarding the general appearance of southern herds, it is proved by the 

 experiences of past years, and of this, that they disseminate disease 

 among cattle north or west of the Gulf States. The imj^ression was left 

 on my mind, after the first observations of the malady, that the Texan 

 steers might be found to communicate the disease only for a limited time 

 after leaving Texas. There is reason to believe that such is the case, 

 though we found that two months' journey, from Texas to the Union 

 Pacific road, had not sutiliccMl to etfect tliis object. Experiments on this 

 point would be desiral)le, tliough expensive, and demanding mucli time 

 and attention. We w^ere told, however, that the (;attle which had in- 

 duced so much disease at Farina, on being removed to Loda, were placed 



