DISEASES OF CATTLE 229 



cent creolin, or carbolic acid, or one one-thousandth bichloride of 

 mercury solution. For pyemia, where the abscesses are near the 

 skin, open them and treat antiseptically by injecting any of the pre- 

 vious mentioned germicides. General and heart stimulants are in- 

 dicated, such as a drench containing digitalis 2 drams and alcohol 

 2 ounces. Quinine and calomel in repeated small doses of one- 

 half dram each three times a day are sometimes beneficial. Cam- 

 phor in the form of oil of camphor (camphor dissolved in 10 parts 

 of sweet oil) is a good stimulant and has some antiseptic properties, 

 which makes it a valuable drug in combating these diseases when 

 given in doses of 2 drams three times daily. 



HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA. 



Hemorrhagic septicemia is a name applied to a highly fatal, 

 infectious disease existing in various species of domestic and wild 

 animals, due to a micro-organism having definite biological char- 

 acters and possessing the properties of producing clearly defined 

 and characteristic lesions. 



This casual agent, Bacterium bovisepticum, belongs to the same 

 group of cocco-bacilli as those causing chicken cholera, swine plague, 

 and rabit septicemia, and may be described as an ovoid, nonmotile, 

 polar staining bacterium with rounded ends 1/38,000 of an inch 

 wide by 1/20,000 of an inch long, sometimes seen in pairs and 

 sometimes in chains. 



Various names have been applied to this disease, and though 

 the causative agent and the distinctive lesions are well known it is 

 more than likely that the affection is seldom recognized. It was 

 described by Bollinger in 1878, and named Wild und Rinderseuche, 

 from its having affected deer, wild boars, cattle, and horses in an 

 epizootic which swept over Germany at that time. However, before 

 this several epizootics of what was evidently the same disease had 

 been well described, notably that which occurred in England in 

 1854. Since then it has occurred in epizootic and enzootic forms 

 in many sections of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. In this 

 country the disease has been observed in Texas, Tennessee, New York, 

 Minnesota, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, South Dakota, and 

 Wisconsin. Other names given to it are game and cattle disease, 

 buffalo disease, barbone, pasteurellosis bovina, ghotwa, and infec- 

 tious pneumoenteritis. 



In earlier times it was evidently confounded with gloss an- 

 thrax, and even now it is probably mistaken in a great many in- 

 stances for anthrax, blackleg, cornstalk disease, and cerebro-spinal 

 meningitis. 



The disease is essentially a septicemia, or blood poisoning, and 

 the microbic invasion occurs from inoculation probably either 

 through abrasions of the skin or by injury to the mucous membranes 

 from coarse fodder, etc. Moore and Smith have found bacteria be- 

 longing to this group in the mouths and nasal cavities of healthy 

 animals, including cattle ; but these organisms proved to be nonpath- 

 ogenic. As is well known, however, many pathogenic germs at times 

 exist in a saprophytic state, and it is not hard to conceive bow a 



