5^0 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



dirty yellowish-gray admixture of particles, and frequently 

 becomes watery, dark reddish-brown or black. Its color 

 and consistency vary. Sometimes the dark liquid is mixed 

 with a large proportion of dirty grayish clumps of pus or of 

 necrotic tissues. 



The uterus becomes paretic. There may be little or no 

 notable discharge from the vulva. The exudate is sometimes 

 pressed out mechanically when the animal is recumbent, 

 but in many cases even recumbency fails to crowd the exu- 

 date out passively. The animal is weak and dull. The 

 pulse is rapid and extremely weak. The nose, ears and feet 

 are cold. The animal moves with great reluctance and very 

 feebly. The respiration is not materially affected. The 

 temperature is erratic, rarely high, not infrequently normal, 

 and usually subnormal. The practitioner who is in the habit 

 of thinking that sepsis always causes fever is greatly de- 

 ceived : he may err in diagnosis, and far more probably and 

 seriously in prognosis. 



As the disease progresses, the patient shows extreme de- 

 pression. The eyes sink deeply into the orbits and the cornea 

 looks cloudy. There is a profuse muco-purulent discharge 

 from the eyes and nostrils. One of the most marked clini- 

 cal features is the presence of a profuse diarrhea. The 

 feces are very thin, fetid, black, and tarry-looking. The 

 diarrhea is so pronounced and so overshadows other clini- 

 cal phenomena, especially the evidences of uterine disease 

 as expressed in discharge from the vulva, that I have seen 

 unwary practitioners diagnose dysentery and handle the 

 case empirically for that malady. 



The course is usually brief: more than half of my cases 

 have ended in death within three to six days after the estab- 

 lishment of the clinical evidence of sepsis. Some cases im- 

 prove, but very few recover. Peritoneal adhesions, pelvic 

 abscesses, pyaemic abscesses of the liver, spleen and other 

 parts, arthritis, and other complications follow, which leave 

 the animals unthrifty and of little or no value. Those which 

 apparently recover are very largely sterile and valuable only 

 for beef. 



