DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 361 



far as we know, no bacilli have been as yet found in typical cases 

 of purpura. The malady we are speaking of is an eruptive fever 

 of an intermittent type, which seems to result from exposure or 

 inhalation of foul air, and it frequently attacks an animal which 

 is already debilitated by the ravages of another disease, such as 

 catarrhal fever. Purpura haemorrhagica, or purpura, as it is 

 more briefly named, is a specific blood disease in which the skin, 

 the mucous membranes, the connective tissue of the lungs and 

 kidneys, and the coats of the intestinal walls are mainly 

 affected. 



The earliest symptoms may show themselves in the form of 

 pain iu one or more limbs, together with slight swellings, which 

 soon become more prominent. There may be a few purple or 

 dark-red spots in the nostrils, and perhaps papules (or, spots) 

 may make their appearance on the skin at the outset of the 

 disease. The blood is intimately affected in some at present 

 unknown manner. It seems to be thinner than usual, and there 

 is an escape of it, or of red serum, or of both, into the surround- 

 ing tissues, and especially on the mucous and serous membranes. 

 It is diflBcult to say how this leakage occurs ; but it must neces- 

 sarily be due to some deficiency in, or giving way of, the walls 

 of the blood-vessels, or to the gaining of new powers of per- 

 meating these tissues, by which it is normally enclosed, on the 

 part of the blood itself. The disease brings in its train pro- 

 nounced debility. The temperature may suddenly rise to as 

 much as 106° F., or even higher, and the changes of tempera- 

 ture are very great. 



Hot and rather circumscribed swellings, which evidently cause 

 pain, appear in various parts of the body, and from them, and 

 also from the nostrils, a reddish fluid flows. Those swellings 

 which are situated on the mucous membranes of the respiratory 

 and alimentary tracts of course interfere with, and impede in 

 greater or less degree, the processes of breathing and swallowing. 

 The heart's beats are weak and fluttering in character, and the 

 pulse is small and dicrotous (double). 



After the disease has pursued its course for about a week, 

 the animal may indeed gradually recover its strength ; but more 

 frequently the poor creature gradually sinks and dies. If the body 

 of an ox which has died from the ravages of this disease be 

 carefully examined, red spots may be seen on the serous and 



