ARTHRITIS. 741 



if lively and attentive at the commencement of the disease, they were 

 quickly prostrated and extremely weak. They became emaciated, and 

 the coat was harsh and lustreless ; often there was a nasal catarrh and 

 discharge, tumefaction of the submaxillary lymphatic glands, sometimes 

 capillary bronchitis, and generally diarrhoea. With the majority there was 

 tumefaction of certain joints, and particularly of the hocks. In addi- 

 tion to the swelling, there were heat and pain, with great lameness. Not 

 unfrequently there were immense subcutaneous abscesses. Stupor event- 

 ually set in, and the creatures looked as if half asleep ; coma was soon 

 manifested ; there was dysenteric diarrhoea, the dejections being quite 

 fluid, greyish-colored, and extremely foetid ; while the visible mucous 

 membranes had often a yellowish tint, in consequence of the existence 

 .of icterus. 



In lambs the symptoms are similar to those just enumerated. Walley 

 describes them as follows : — A general febrile condition of the system, 

 as shown by the injected state of the mucous membranes ; quick, irrita- 

 ble pulse, irregularity of the bowels, hurried respiration, and refusal to 

 suck. The animal persistently lies, and if made to move does so unwil- 

 lingly and very stiffly, with the back arched, and placing as little weight 

 as possible on the affected limb or limbs, which are usually flexed, even 

 in recubation, to remove pressure — this persistent flexion ultimately lead- 

 ing to contraction of the tendons and distorted limbs. If the disease 

 continues, the muscles waste, causing the affected joint to appear larger 

 than it really is. The characteristic swellings usually appear, in the hocks, 

 knees, and stifles, though they are not by any means confined to these 

 particular joints. In character, they are round, have a doughy feel, are 

 intensely painful to the touch, very hot, immovable, and increase in size. 

 Thus they are like, yet dissimilar to, rheumatismal swellings : like them 

 in being located in the joints, and being hard, round, and tender ; unlike 

 them in being stationary, and attacking the internal structures of the 

 joints — the primary lesions in rheumatism being confined to the external 

 ligamentous structures of these organs, and when attacking the interior 

 of the joints formative processes are evidenced ; while in " joint ill " de- 

 generative processes predominate. As the disease progresses, and life 

 is prolonged, the animal becomes emaciated, diarrhoea sets in, the wool 

 falls off, and a variety of changes are detected in the joints. Erysipela- 

 tous inflammation makes its appearance in various parts of the skin of 

 the body, especially at the external orifice of the urino-genital organs, at 

 the postero-inferior part of the abdomen, and round the navel, in the 

 latter position constituting " navel ill." Local dropsies are frequent 

 under the jaw and other dependent positions — as the navel, which is said 

 to ho. pocked. If blood is abstracted during life, or collected after death, 

 and set at rest for a time, it deposits a peculiar dark-colored, grumous 

 mass at the bottom of the vessel, composed, so far as can be seen by the 

 microscope, of altered blood-cells. This deposit lacks the firmness of 

 the other parts of the clot, and bears a close resemblance to half-fermented 

 damson pulp. Bacteria are developed in the blood shortly after death, 

 and long before any putrefactive odor can be detected. Absorption of 

 pus into the blood — pyaemia — is indicated by elevation of the tempera- 

 ture, foetor of the breath, diarrhoea, dark yellowish-red color of the mu- 

 cous membrane, gnashing of the teeth, rigors, and hectic fever — the lat- 

 ter being present also in ulceration of the joints. 



In the latter, the swellings become softer and more irregular in outline, 



