230 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



been free from the disorder ; and even with this precaution we shall 

 occasionally kill an animal that has chronic bronchitis, but no 

 tuberculosis. 



Temperature. — There is no doubt whatever that in certain cases 

 of tuberculosis the thermometer is a very great aid to diagnosis ; 

 and, just as truly, there are many instances in which it fails to 

 give anything more than an absolutely negative indication. If 

 among a herd of cows there is an animal in which the thermometer 

 shows a rise to 102.5° or 103°, she should at once be treated as a 

 " suspect," unless good and sufficient reasons for the rise can be 

 found, and put by herself to await further developments. If, then, 

 after a time, the fever as shown by the thermometer should per- 

 sist, and other symptoms of tuberculosis appear, the thermometer, 

 in the instance, would have been a good and early indication of 

 the presence of the tubercular poison in the animal. A thermom- 

 eter will not declare whether or not a certain fever is due to tuber- 

 culosis ; but it will point out, without failure, whether or not there 

 is a rapid change of tissue going on within the animal ; and this 

 change is a marked feature of tuberculosis, as well as of many 

 other acute diseases. 



Then, again, in certain herds of cows, where the average tem- 

 perature of the herd will be about 101°, it will be noticed that 

 there are one or more animals that show a temperature of about 

 99° only. Such animals, upon careful examination of the chest, 

 often show symptoms of tuberculosis ; and a post-mortem exami- 

 nation shows the disorder to have been of considerable standing, 

 its products being in a low, degenerated condition, and of extent 

 enough to have greatly lowered the vitality of the animal and ren- 

 dered her anaemic. In these instances the thermometer is valuable 

 in indicating, in the first place, that the animal is, for some reason 

 or other, in a depressed condition, which, if it cannot otherwise be 

 satisfactorily accounted for, should lead to a careful examination 

 of the chest. 



There is no doubt whatever that, in diseased animals especially, 

 the temperature will be higher at certain times of day than at 

 others ; also that these periods will vary, depending upon the nature 

 and stage and age of the tuberculosis. But it may be distinctly 

 stated, as a rule, that when tuberculosis is very progressive or 

 active it is accompanied by a continuously high temperature ; and 

 that when it is inactive or simply degenerative, it is accompanied 

 by a continuously low, that is, a normal temperature ; or, upon 

 frequent occasions, as already pointed out, by one which may be 

 as low as 98°. 



Cough. — This symptom has popularly been supposed to be one 



