GENER.\L PART OF EXAMINATION. , 57 



"VI. Acute Infectious Diseases which Affect 

 the Skin. 



1. Black leg (symptomatic anthrax) is an acute infectious dis- 

 ease caused bj- the entrance of a germ through [the digestive tract 

 or] a lesion in the skin, a peculiar emphysema resulting. On the 

 body, shoulder, neck, upper portions of the extremities (never be- 

 low the knee or hock) appear swellings which are at first hot 

 and painful, but later cold, painless, emphysematous. Incision 

 causes a foamy, fetid fluid to flow out of them. Attending symp- 

 toms are high fever, great depression, lameness, dyspnea. Mor- 

 tality is high. [Prophylaxis, protective inoculation]. 



The bacilli of black leg are contained in the discharges from 

 the swellings. They measure 3 — 5u long, 0.5 — 0.6u broad. One end 

 or the middle is enlarged to receive an ovoid spore which it bears. 

 May be stained by Gram's method. 



2. Malignant edema appears under the same symptoms as 

 black leg; the swellings are more edematous than emphysematous. 



The bacillus of malignant edema is somewhat like, the bacillus 

 of anthrax, 3. — 3.5u long and l.lu broad. They are mostly 

 united at their ends to form long threads. In the middle of some 

 of the bacilli or at the ends occur spindle or drumstick-like en- 

 largements to receive the ovoid spore. The spore does not accept 

 ordinary stains. 



3. Bovine pest (Rind und Wildseuche) is produced by the 

 bacterium of hemorrhagic septicemia and appears in the exan- 

 thematous, pectoral, or intestinal forms. On the head and rfeck 

 appear large inflammatory edematous swellings, which spread to 

 the mucous membranes of the mouth and throat. The pectoral 

 form is attended by a croupous-hemorrhagic pneumonia with pleu- 

 ritis, and the intestinal form with hemorrhagic enteritis and swell- 

 ing of the intestinal viscera. The Bacterium septicemiac haemor- 

 rhagicae, like that of contagious pneumonia*, of swine and of 

 chicken cholera, is 0.6u long, 0.3u broad, oval, stains only at the 

 ends, an unstained belt remaining. 



4. Examination of the Conjunctiva. 



The exainination of the conjunctiva serves to determine 

 the quantity and condition of the circulating blood. 



Method. Avoid all rough and hasty manipulations. Before 

 grasping the eyelid gain the animal's confidence by arranging the 

 foretop and gently stroking the forehead. The right evelid should 



