262 Dynamic Theory. 



of pasturage, is taken into the stomach. It is always characterized by enlargement of 

 the spleen. It does not appear to be communicated from one northern animal to another. 

 Frost at once destroys liability to communicate the disease. (Tellor, Diseases of 

 Animals.) 



Rinderpest is an infectious disease which, originating on the plains 

 of Asiatic Russia, travels west into Europe. It attacks chiefly cattle, but also sometimes 

 sheep, goats and deer. It is the most fatal of all cattle diseases. The contagium is thrown 

 off into the air by the suffering animal, and it may be carried by a healthy animal from 

 an infected district to a healthy one and start the disease in the latter place. It is char- 

 acterized by high temperature and by pimples on the mucous membrane of nose, mouth, 

 vagina, &c. Death usually occurs on the 7th day after the manifestation of the presence 

 of the disease. ( Tellor.) 



Epizootic, also called Pink-eye, is a horse disease, contracted from a 

 contagium spreading through the air. It is characterized by discharges from the nostrils 

 accompanied by cough. It is often fatal. In the epidemic which spread through the 

 country in 1872, it is said that the deaths of horses reached 10,000 a month in the Atlan- 

 tic states. 



Pleuro Pneumonia, is a contagious lung fever which affects cattle. 

 Sometimes the contagium reaches one lung only ; at other times both. In the latter case 

 the disease is fatal. 



Consumption is now reckoned as one of the germ diseases and several 

 physicians, among whom is the celebrated Dr. Koch, claim the distinction of having dis- 

 covered the organism that does the mischief. The disease may be conveyed from one 

 to another, there is little doubt, by means of the debris of the broken down, diseased 

 tissues. 



Another highly contagious, but rarely fatal febrile disease, is an 

 Epizootic which attacks cattle and sheep, and is sometimes communicated to pigs and 

 man. It is characterized by an eruption of small blisters in the mouth, between the 

 clefts of the hoof and along its upper margin at the coronet. It is dependent on a specific 

 cause, claimed by some to be a vegetable organism, by others an animal. It generally 

 terminates favorably after a run of one or two weeks. 



Glanders or Equinia : A disease very contagious to horses, asses and 

 mules. When they are put into a stable in which the disease has been, they are likely to 

 take it even when the stable has been thoroughly cleaned, aired and whitewashed. It 

 also originates with horses when their general vitality is reduced by overwork, foul 

 air, and filthy stables. It is also liable to be generated by putting horses into new stables 

 whose walls are not dry, and it is a frequent sequel of diabetes, influenza, the epizootic 

 disease, and other exhausting complaints. This disease is communicated to man by in- 

 oculation in the blood as when a person having cuts or sores allows the discharged 

 matter from ulcerations of glanders to come in to contact with them and so get into the 

 blood. Thus taken, a fatal termination is rarely or never escaped. The disease is in- 

 curable and as soon as a horse is known to have it he is summarily killed. 



Yellow Fever. This disease is acutely infectious. But it is thought 

 by most observers to be not contagious. Every year at New Orleans there are some cases 

 of it sporadic which are accounted for by the supposition that some germs are always 

 lurking concealed in clothing packed away in out of the way places, which are liable to 

 turn up any time and produce a greater or less number of cases. At times when some 

 peculiar state of air or water, or both, co-operate with an unusual accumulation of 

 sewage, or other decaying and fermenting organic matters, the disease may become epi- 

 demic, and be disseminated to considerable distances. It can be carried in clothing and 

 otherwise, and along river and railroad thoroughfares. Frost kills the germs and stops 

 the disease. It prevails in the cities along the coast in the hot parts of the United States, 

 but not often in rural situations. During epidemics of the disease in cities, multitudes 

 always run away to the country and generally escape the disease. 



In this disease there are liable to be morbid changes in the liver, the stomach, the in- 

 testine and the kidneys. The liver takes on a condition of fatty degeneration, indicated 

 by the presence, both in the cells and the interstitial tissue, of drops of fat which also 

 impart to the organ, in many cases, an abnormal yellowish color. The mucous mem- 

 brane of the stomach is usually swollen, softened and congested, and this condition ex- 

 tends some distance down the small intestine. The kidneys are generally enlarged and 

 undergo degeneration of the parenchyma. The spleen appears not to be disturbed, and 

 no changes have been observed in the blood not seen in other fevers. Dr. Flint says no 



