specific and Contagious Diseases. 147 



name from the dark coloured or black state of the 

 blood. 



The usual form of infection is by means of the flesh of 

 cattle which have died of the disease, or when the dog 

 has been allowed to forage among the excrement of those 

 suffering from the intestinal form. The disease has 

 appeared with violence among foxhounds, from which the 

 losses have been serious, but as a rule dogs resist the 

 poison better than cattle. 



Symptoms. — The intestinal form of the malady is most 

 common. It commences by violent colic, during which 

 the bowels are moved, the evacuations being mixed with 

 blood. Vomition is likewise severe, the contents of the 

 stomach being largely mixed with blood. Recovery is 

 more common in the dog than among cattle. In some 

 instances the lymphatic glands about the throat and neck 

 rapidly swell, with local tumefaction and serous infiltra- 

 tion of the surrounding tissues^ which greatly interfere 

 with respiration. The skin and parts thus implicated, 

 together with the membrane of the mouth, and tongue, is 

 spotted with blood effused beneath, and shortly becomes 

 gangrenous; viscid saliva copiously flows from the mouth, 

 and the bowels discharge fluid faeces largely mixed with 

 blood. The affected animal usually dies within three to 

 five days, or recovery is betokened within that time. As 

 a result of the contagion entering by the mouth, the 

 buccal membrane lining the whole cavity is often studded 

 with blebs or pustules, which occasion severe fever and 

 irritation. Such states are believed by the ignorant to be 

 the result of an encounter with a toad, snake, &c. It is 

 said that a dog aff"ected with anthrax will convey the 

 disease by attacking with his teeth. If this is correct, 

 may we not suppose it is due to the presence of blood or 

 other matter on which the animal has fed previously ? If 

 it is proved to be conveyed by the saliva, or discharges 

 from the blebs, &c., in his mouth, we realise the formid- 

 able nature of the complaint, and the need for the 

 greatest caution. 



Treatment must be regulated by the attendant circum- 

 st-ances. The milder forms., and only when the dog is 



