12 



centimeters),, a specific and definite local and general reaction is 

 produced. 



According to Moore the reaction is as follows : 



In a few hours there forms at the place of injection a hot, inflammatory 

 swelling. It is painful and in the case of glanders quite large. 1 * * * 



From all sides of the swelling there may radiate wavy lines consisting 

 of swollen lymphatics, hot and painful when touched, extending toward 

 the adjoining glands. When the mallein injection is made aseptically 

 this swelling never suppurates, but it increases in size during the period 

 of from twenty-four to thirty-six hours and persists for several days, 

 when it gradually diminishes and finally disappears at the end of eight 

 to ten days. With the appearance of the local swelling the patient becomes 

 dull and dejected, the eyes have an anxious expression, the coat is lusterless, 

 the flanks contracted, the respiration hurried, the appetite is impaired, 

 frequent shudders are observed to pass through the muscles of the legs, 

 and sometimes the trunk is subject to violent convulsive movements. The 

 most active and fractious horses become listless and indifferent to their 

 surroundings. These general phenomena constitute what the French call 

 the organic reaction, but they are not always so clearly marked. Difference 

 in their intensity is observed, but they are never completely absent. * * * 



The temperature reaction never fails to show itself. About eight hours 

 after the injection the temperature of a glandered horse usually rises 0.5, 

 2, or even 2.5, and even more above the normal. The rise in temperature 

 usually attains its maximum between the tenth and twelfth hour, occasion- 

 ally not until the fifteenth, and more rarely not until the eighteenth hour. 

 An important fact to note is that the reaction called forth in glandered 

 horses by the injection of mallein persists for from twenty-four to forty- 

 eight hours, and in some cases the temperature remains above the normal for 

 even a longer time. In practice it is advisable to take the temperature 

 of the suspected animal two or three times before the injection of the 

 mallein, and every two hours beginning at the eighth and going to the 

 twentieth hour after the injection. It is often sufficient for diagnostic 

 purposes to take the temperature but four times, viz, at nine, twelve, 

 fifteen, and eighteen hours after the injection. * * * 



In healthy horses the injection of mallein, even in a much larger dose, 

 produces no effect on the temperature or the general condition of the 

 animal. * * * 



There is produced, however, at the point of injection, a small, edematous 

 swelling, somewhat hot and painful to the touch, but the edema instead 

 of increasing diminishes rapidly and disappears in less than twenty-four 

 hours. 



1 McFadyean deems this local reaction of the greatest diagnostic value. 

 In the case of healthy horses it is rarely more than 3 inches across, 

 reaches its maximum in fourteen to sixteen hours, and usually disappears 

 within twenty-four hours. In glandered horses, on the other hand, the 

 swelling is rarely less than 5 inches across, often twice this, and continues 

 to increase for twenty-four hours. 



