ANTHRAX. 453 



dies very suddenly as if from apoplexy. Such cases usually occur in 

 the beginning of an outbreak. The animal, without having shown 

 any signs of disease, suddenly drops in the pasture and dies in 

 convulsions, or one apparently well at night is found dead in the 

 morning. 



The second type (anthrax acutis), without any external swellings, 

 is the one most commonly observed in cattle. The disease begins 

 with a high fever. The temperature may reach 106° to 107° F. The 

 pulse beats from 80 to 100 a minute. Feeding and rumination are 

 suspended. Chills and muscular tremors may appear and the skin 

 show uneven temperature. The ears and base of the horns are cold, 

 the coat staring. The animals are dull and stupid and manifest 

 great weakness. 



To these symptoms others are added in the course of the disease. 

 The dullness may give way to great uneasiness, champing of the 

 jaws, spasms of the limbs, kicking and pawing the ground. The 

 breathing may become labored. The nostrils then dilate, the mouth 

 is open, the head raised, and all muscles of the chest are strained 

 during breathing, while the visible mucous membranes (nose, mouth, 

 rectum, and vagina) become bluish. If the disease has started in 

 the bowels, there is much pain, as shown by the moaning of the 

 animal ; the discharges, at first firm, become softer and covered with 

 serum, mucus, and blood. 



As the disease approaches the fatal termination the weakness of 

 the animal increases. It leans against supports or lies down. Blood 

 vessels may rupture and give rise to spots of blood on the various 

 mucous membranes and bloody discharges from nose, mouth, rectum, 

 and vagina. The urine not infrequently contains blood (red water), 

 and death ensues within one or two days. 



A third type of the disease (anthrax subacutus), which is rarely 

 observed, includes those cases in which the disease is more prolonged. 

 It may last from three to seven days and terminate fatally or end in 

 recovery. In this type, the symptoms are practically as described in 

 the acute form, only less marked. 



In connection with these types of intestinal anthrax, swellings may 

 appear in different parts of the body under the skin, or the disease 

 may start from such a swelling, caused by the inoculation of anthrax 

 spores in one of the several different ways already described. If the 

 disease begins in the skin, it agrees in general with the subacute form 

 in prolonged duration, and it may occasionally terminate in recovery 

 if the swellings are thoroughly incised and treated. 



Lesions. — These swellings appear as edemas and carbuncles. The 

 former are doughy tumors of a more or less flattish form passing 

 gradually into the surrounding healthy tissue. As a rule, they are 

 situated beneath the skin in the fatty layer, and the skin itself is at 



