CHANGES IN THE BLOOD. 83 



say, into blood abundant in quantity, but defective in quality, 

 plasticity, and consistence, incapable of nourishing the tissues, and 

 which ultimately becomes of itself diseased. From this cause — 

 namely, the unwise and indiscriminate method in which young, 

 rapidly growing, and imperfectly fed cattle are turned into rich 

 pasturage in the spring, or put upon cake in the winter — 

 gastric, blood, nervous, and otlier important diseases are caused, 

 and the life of valuable stock destroyed. In horses I have 

 repeatedly witnessed the anaemic condition associated with such 

 extreme debility of the muscular system as to simulate spinal 

 paralysis, and in some cases paralysis, from the pressure of 

 serous fluid on the spinal cord, has been actually present ; but 

 in the horse, as in horned cattle, active signs of disease are not 

 manifested until there has been a sudden change to a nourishing 

 diet. Sheep fed on food containing an excess of moisture, and 

 during long-continued wet weather, become anaemic and dropsical. 

 During the winter of 1872-3 this condition was exceedingly pre- 

 valent owing to the inferiority of the grasses, the moist condition 

 of the turnips, and the humidity of the atmosphere ; for in many 

 instances no organic disease or parasitic invasion were present. 



The anaemic condition is announced by abnormal sounds in 

 various parts of the vascular system. These are called venous 

 murmurs, and are ascribed to the thin, watery blood running 

 with great rapidity in the ill-filled vessels, and are heard at the 

 breast, at the base of the jugulars more particularly, and are, 

 according to Dr. Williams, of the nature of ripples, " the natural 

 inequalities of the surface over which the current of blood passes 

 being sufficient to occasion, in its dilute and diminished condi- 

 tion, vibrations and sonorous gushes, which would not occur in 

 a fluid of greater density. 



The nutrition of the various structures of the body being 

 dependent upon a healthy condition of the circulating fluid, it 

 naturally follows that wasting, emaciation, and debility are tlie 

 results of anaemia. In none of the anaemic states, unless it be 

 intensified by an excessive discharge, as in diarrhoea, ls rapid 

 emaciation so prominent a symptom as in that caused by the 

 presence of the glanders poison. 



The pulse in anaemia is feeble, thready, often jerky and 

 irregular, and any sudden excitement produces a degree of pal- 

 pitation of the heart, leading one to suppose that the organ is 



