THE UlL>TORY OF VETEItlNARY MEDICINE. "51 



does not niaiiifest itself by any perceptible pymptotiis for a lon<i; 

 time. Tbe veritable cause of death is the work of nothiui; but cor- 

 niption, which often infects the intestines — corruption, which is the 

 consequence, not the cause, of the disease. The ravages wliicli this 

 disease caused among the cattle of the most enlightened nations, 

 before they knew its terrible character or the means to prevent its 

 progress, are without doubt to be attributed to the great difficulty 

 which is fre(piently met with in correctly recognizing it. In a gen- 

 eral way, it is described as manifesting itself by a violent fever, sliiv- 

 erings, staring coat, by loss of rumination ; but all these symj)toms 

 do not appear until the malady has already made deadly advances in 

 the interior of the animal. We are told that, for a certainty, a beast 

 taken out of an infected stable and transported to a perfectly healthy 

 atmosphere does not become sick until a month after it has been re- 

 moved from the diseased locality, and that it perishes from the veri- 

 table contagion which, without doubt, had been concealed during 

 the whole of this month in the body of the animal. It is also a fact 

 that the diseased cattle jump about for some weeks with vivacity ; 

 that they give their usual quantity of milk ; that they cat their for- 

 age with avidity ; that they work in harness, and yet that they carry 

 death in their intestines. The only indication of pneumonia {pul- 

 monie) wliicli is to be noticed from the commencement is a slight 

 cough, which affects the animal, notwithstanding every apparent in- 

 dication of good health. It is not for some days or weeks after the 

 animal has become infected that the disease shows itself by fever 

 and horripilation. The cough now augments, the animal moans, its 

 strength diminishes, it can not stand, and lies down very often ; it 

 has a difficulty in breathing ; the pulse is frequent ; the fever be- 

 comes intcnsilied. It is now that the appetite and rumination cease. 

 The disease prevails for some days, the fever increasing daily ; the 

 veins (?) beat with a force and quickness which is astonishing; a vis- 

 cid froth escapes from the mouth and nostrils ; the tongue is hot, 

 the breath heavy and labored, and its odor insupportable ; the eyes 

 are withdrawn in their orbits, the horns cold ; a diarrhoea of a bad 

 odor, sometimes tinged with blood, and a thorough total sinking 

 terminate the beast's days. Diarrha?a does not always take place." 

 " 2, AVhcn we open the cattle after death we find the lungs con- 

 stantly and infallibly affected. AVe might know this from the cough 

 and the difficulty of breathing which precede death. In all the 

 contagions which have reigned at Sulcus, Grandson, Trassy, and 

 elsewhere, the lungs have always been inflamed and attached to the 

 pleura, and abscesses often form between the lungs and this mem- 



