DISEASES OF CATTLE 315 



to distinguish between it and malignant catarrh, owing to a general 

 similarity of the symptoms. The principal points to be observed in 

 differentiating between the two diseases are the very slight transmis- 

 sibility of the latter as compared with the intense contagiousness of 

 the former, and the tendency of malignant catarrh to run a more 

 chronic course than rinderpest, which usually results fatally in a very 

 few days. Only a trained veterinarian who takes into consideration 

 all the different symptoms and lesions of both diseases should decide 

 in such cases. 



Treatment. There is no specific treatment for this affection. 

 However, copious blood letting in the earliest stages has been highly 

 recommended, as this has a tendency to deplete the system and lessen 

 the exudation of inflammatory products. Antiseptic washes, as ere- 

 olin, 2 to 4 per cent solution, or lysol, 5 per cent solution, applied to 

 the nose, eyes, and mouth with ice poultices over the crest of the head 

 and frontal region have also proved efficacious. Calomel should also 

 be given in 1-dram doses twice a day for three days, and in severe 

 cases, involving the respiratory tract, a powder containing ferrous 

 sulphate, quinine, and subnitrate of bismuth, given twice a day, will 

 be found beneficial. At the same time it must be remembered that 

 much greater success is to be looked for in the preventive treatment. 

 This consists in the removal of the healthy from the infected animals 

 (not vice versa) and thorough cleaning and disinfecting of the con- 

 taminated stables. If the floors are low and damp, they should be 

 raised and made dry. If this can not be done, place a layer of 

 cement under the stable floor to prevent water from entering from 

 below. The stable should be well ventilated and the soil in the pas- 

 tures thoroughly drained. If this is carefully carried out, the con- 

 tagion should be destroyed and the danger of the reappearance of the 

 disease in a great measure lessened. 



MALIGNANT EDEMA. 



Malignant edema, also termed gangrenous septicemia, is an 

 acute inflammatory disease of domestic and wild animals, resulting 

 from the introduction of a specific organism into the deep connective 

 tissues of a susceptible animal and proving fatal in many instances 

 within twenty-four to forty-eight hours. The disease may be inocu- 

 lated from one animal to another, but only by inserting the virus 

 deeply below the skin. It is infrequently met with in cattle, but may 

 follow operating wounds, as roweling, castration, and phlebotomy, 

 which have become infected with septic matter, soil, or unclean in- 

 struments. The organism has also been obtained in this laboratory 

 from the infected muscles of a calf that was supposed to have died of 

 blackleg, and, as a result, all blackleg virus is thoroughly tested be- 

 fore it is made into blackleg vaccine in order to exclude the malignant 

 edema organism. The essential cause of malignant edema is a long, 

 slender, motile, spore-bearing bacillus, resembling the bacillus of 

 blackleg, and which can only develop in the absence of the atmos- 

 phere. Unlike the bacilli of anthrax and blackleg, which are con- 

 fined to certain districts, this organism is widely distributed and 

 found in ordinary garden soil, foul water, and in the normal in- 



