266 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 



marked that when the disease terminates in paraplegia, if this 

 condition of the cord be not found, it is at least slightly congested. 



Occasionally the volume of the sacro-lumbar plexus and 

 sciatic nerves is augmented by a serous infiltration. 



The digestive organs are healthy ; in some instances, however, 

 the liver and spleen are enlarged and softened. 



The lungs are healthy (unless the disease has become compli- 

 cated by pulmonary affections), but the mucous membrane of the 

 bronchial tubes and larynx is slightly affected. 



The sinuses of the head often contain a yellowish, oily matter, 

 and the Schneiderian membrane is of a leaden colour, with red 

 spots scattered over its surface. 



The muscular tissue of the heart, like the rest of the muscles, 

 is soft, friable, and of a pale yellow colour. 



The blood is very much altered ; it is fluid, deficient in fibrin, 

 and, according to M. Lafosse, who has made microscopical exami- 

 nations of it, the coloured corpuscles present a deformed 

 appearance. 



TREATMENT. 



Antiphlogistics (including bleeding), emollients, tonics, stimu- 

 lants, alteratives, &c. &c., have all been employed in this disease, 

 but with so little success, that until the appearance (in 1865) 

 of M. Trelut's memoir it was believed incurable. 



M. Trelut, after a careful study of the disorders produced in 

 the organism by the maladie du edit, adopted an entirely 

 different treatment, the efficacy of which is beyond a doubt. 



Being struck by the fact that the blood of animals suffering 

 from the disease was deficient in one of its most important ele- 

 ments, viz., the fibrin, he thought that if this constituent were 

 renewed in tlie vital fluid the disease might be overcome. 



He accordingly procured the necessary fibrin by stirring the 

 blood of cattle when w^arm, thus separating the fibrin from the 

 other constituents. The fibrin obtained in this manner was dried 

 in an iron pot, in which a little butter had been melted to pre- 

 vent carbonization ; it was then divided into small particles and 

 administered in the morning, fasting, in doses of sixty grammes 

 (3xv.), either as an electuary, or added to half a quart of gruel 

 as a drench. To stimulate digestion twenty or thirty grammes 

 (3v. or 3vii.ss.) of turpentine were administered every second 



