740 DISEASES AND ABNORMALITIES. 



ence between woman and the domestic animals. The anatomical struc- 

 ture of the placenta and its villi, and its relations with the placenta mater- 

 na, are of such a nature in these animals, as to prevent (on the normal 

 detachment of the placenta) any rupture of the blood-vessels, and conse- 

 quent haemorrhage. In other words, if delivery has been successfully ac- 

 complished, no injury in the shape of wounds or abrasions is inflicted on 

 the inner surface of the uterus ; and owing chiefly to this fact is the in- 

 flammatory reaction and consecutive lochial fever reduced to a minimum 

 among animals, and the introduction of poisonous matters (be they veg- 

 etable organisms or other injurious substances) into the uterus is ren- 

 dered much more difficult ; while we frequently find instances of the 

 pyaemic process, due to inflammation of the navel and its vessels, among 

 sucking animals, though with the parent — except in the case of the Cow 

 — this process is rare. 



Symptoms. 



The symptoms of this form of arthritis are variously enumerated. 

 The principal is extreme difficulty in moving which is often noticed with- 

 out any other premonitory indication. The movements are painfully and 

 reluctantly performed, so that the yoeng creature generally persists in 

 lying. Around the epiphyses of the bones, and consequently near the 

 articulations, there is swelling not only of the proper tissues of the joints, 

 but also of the surrounding connective tissue ; with hot, oedematous, and 

 very painful infiltration of the region. From the very commencement 

 the symptoms are most acute, and similar to those of ordinary arthritis ; 

 and they are rendered more marked by the least movement, the lameness 

 being then extremely great, and generally all the joints are involved. 

 T'he fever is extreme, the respiration hurried, and the visible mucous 

 membranes highly injected ; sometimes, and especially with lambs, there 

 are ^//^j-/-tetanic spasmodic contractions. The appetite is lost, but thirst 

 is intense, and the suffering creature will often be observed dragging 

 itself along the ground to reach water or the teat of its dam. Not unfre- 

 quently there is at the same time a debilitating diarrhoea or dysentery, 

 and sometimes in lambs a purulent nasal discharge. 



The progress of the disease is sometimes very rapid, death occurring 

 in twenty-four or forty-eight hours after the manifestation of the earliest 

 symptoms. This rapid course is, however, rare, and the animal may live 

 for twenty or thirty days, or even longer. Recovery is also rare, and 

 death is the usual termination ; it is quite exceptional that the disease 

 becomes chronic. The malady usually ends in suppuration, which nearly 

 always becomes general ; numerous abscesses forming around the joints, 

 whose capsules contain pus, as well as purulent deposits in other regions 

 of the body. Generally after the fourth day, when the joints are greatly 

 swollen, the hair falls off in these parts, and a yellowish or citron-colored 

 fluid, then pus, begins to exude through the skin, which sloughs away ; 

 the ligaments are also involved in this sloughing process, and at last the 

 articulations are completely disorganized. In some cases the limb is 

 only retained by remains of tendons, the bones being exposed, the articu 

 lar surfaces destroyed, and the odor almost insupportable. As complica- 

 tions, we may have pneumonia, pleurisy, pericarditis, and the usual indi 

 "cations of pyaemia. 



With foals, Bollinger noted, as the chief symptoms, a violent fever with 

 very hurried respiration ; the animals did not suck so much as usual, and 



