CATTLE PLAGUE. 149 



varying in size from a mere speck to a crown piece. This 

 appearance is due to the extreme vascular injection of the parts 

 in question, and sometimes to actual ecchymosis. The colour 

 may be uniform over the patch ; but at other times it is limited 

 to its circumference, forming a coloured rim, with a central 

 greyish-yellow portion. Occasionally these patches may be seen 

 surrounded by a distinct fissure, and in rare cases the membrane 

 corresponding to the patch separates as a slough, which may be 

 found more or less extensively adherent. On separation of the 

 sloughs, deep, excavated ulcers, penetrating the mucous mem- 

 brane, and even the entire muscular coat, may remain." 



With regard to the mucous membrane of the small intestines, 

 it is generally more or less inflamed throughout. Sometimes, 

 however, it has been found almost free from disease. When it 

 exists, however, the inflammation is most intense at the iliocgecal 

 opening, and about the middle of the Ccecum. The serous 

 surface of the bowels is of a bluish aspect, dotted with spots of 

 ecchymosis, and softened. The discolorations vary much in 

 colour, some spots being scarlet or rose-red, whilst others are of 

 the deepest purple. True ulceration of the bowels is rare, 

 though the mucous membrane is easily removed, and croupous 

 exudates are now and then found in the canal. ^ 



The large intestines, according to Professor Simonds (see Report 

 on the Cattle Plague, Journal of Royal Agricultural Society, 1857), 

 show marks of the disease even to a greater extent than the small 

 ones. The observations of Professor Simonds were made on the 

 Continent: in this country, the large intestines rarely mani- 

 fested such signs of inflammation as the small. As already 

 stated. Dr. Murchison has very carefully compared the lesions 

 of the intestinal glands with those occurring in the typhoid 

 fever of man, and has arrived at the conclusion that there is no 

 resemblance. In the healthy ox the glands of Peyer are very 

 often found enlarged and hardened, and when these enlarged 

 glands have been discovered in cattle dead of the plague, micro- 

 scopic examinations have determined that their contents were 

 chiefly composed of granular masses with cholesterine ; products 

 more indicative of a chronic than of an acute alteration. 



The lining membrane of the respiratory track invariably pre- 

 sents signs of congestion, and is covered in patches with a soft 

 membranous (croupous) exudation. In the majority of cases 



1 See Plate III. 



