DEPRAVED APPETITE IN THE OX. 159 



repeatedly growing certain crops. Nevertheless, in France it might be 

 urged that j)ica occurs equally on all kinds of soil, and a German author, 

 Lemke, ascribes this perversion of nutrition to the want of phosphorus. 

 Haubner and Siedamgrotsky attribute it to a nervous disorder. All causes 

 which exhaust the organism, especially all chronic diseases of digestive 

 origin, may induce aberration of appetite. 



Permanent stabling, confinement, absence of sunlight, want of exer- 

 cise and pure air contribute to the general debility which predisposes to 

 attack. Dry seasons, by reducing the suj^ply of food, have a similar effect. 



In tuberculosis and in pasteurellosis, it is the general organic de- 

 cline which produces these puzzling changes in appetite. Similarly 

 the influence of gestation depends on the superadded demands on 

 the organism caused by the development of the foetus. 



Symptoms. The symptoms may be divided into two phases. 



In the first phase, the animals still preserve their appetite, but 

 whenever they have an opportunity they eat earth, sand, manure, litter 

 saturated with urine, plaster, etc. They lick the w^alls, the boarding, the 

 mangers and the trees, and they chew and sw^allow linen spread out to 

 dry. 



This phase may continue for a very long time, three to four months 

 or more, provided no acute complication results from the eating of such 

 foreign material. There is no fever, but the appetite, although well 

 preserved, is often capricious, and the ordinary food is eaten slowly. 



In the second phase, which frequently marks the development of 

 complications produced by the passage, contact, or prolonged sojourn of 

 various materials in the digestive tract, fever appears, little marked as a 

 rule, but continuous in character. 



The appetite is diminished. The animal wastes ; the secretion of 

 milk diminishes, and signs of chronic gastro-enteritis may be noted. The 

 perversion of appetite still continues ; rags, decomposing or filthy 

 materials, pieces of old shoes, etc., are eaten, and it is not surprising 

 that such substances should have an unfavourable effect on the mucous 

 membrane of the digestive tract. 



The wasting process slowly leads to marked emaciation, and after an 

 interval of from six months to a year, or even two years, the j^atients 

 die in a state of complete exhaustion. The lesions found on post-mortem 

 examination are those of various diseases capable of producing dei3raved 

 appetite or simply lesions of chronic gastro-enteritis. 



Diagnosis. The diagnosis presents no difficulty. The important 

 point is to discover whether or not there exists some previously un- 

 recognised primary disease. 



Prognosis. The prognosis of thi^ condition is grave, because de- 

 praved appetite is frequently only a symptom of some incurable disorder. 



