THEBLOODj&C. ^3 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE BLOOD, BLOOD-STRIKING, BLACK-LEG, QUARTER EVIL, OR BLACK- 

 QUARTER. 



The disease \v"hich I am now to describe is indicated by these 

 curious names, and a great many more, in various parts of che country. 

 Very few of these names, however, are misplaced, for they indicate 

 some variety, or symptoms, or staore of this dreadful malady. It 

 would be much better recognized by the title of Injlammatory Fever. 



Its attack is confined almost entirely to animals that are in high 

 condition, or rapidly improving; I should say, too high condition, 

 and too rapidly improving. In some instances the disease will give 

 some warning of its approach, but, generally, the beast appears to be 

 to-day perfectly well, and to-morrow he will be found with his head 

 extended, his flanks heaving, his breath hot, his eyes protruding, his 

 muzzle dry, his pulse quick and hard — every symptom, in short, of 

 the highest state of fever. He utters a low and distressing moaning ; 

 he is already half unconscious ; he will stand for hours together 

 motionless, or if he moves, or is compelled to move, there is a pecu- 

 liar stao-crerino- referrible to the hind limbs, and generally one of them 

 more than the other: by and by he gets uneasy, he shifts his weight 

 from foot to foot, he paws faintly, and then lies down. He rises, but 

 almost immediately drops again. He now begins to be, or has already 

 been, nearly unconscious of surrounding objects. 



There are many other symptoms from which the different names 

 of the disease arose. On the back or loins, or over one of the quar 

 ters, there is more or less swelling; if felt when it first appears it is 

 hot, and tender, and firm, but it soon begins to yield to the touch, 

 and o-ives a sino-ular cracklino- noise when pressed upon. One of the 



O O ^ I'll 1 



limbs likewise enlarges, sometimes throuj;h its whole extent, and 

 that enormously. It, too, is at first firm, and hot and tender, but it 

 soon afterwards becomes soft and flabby, or pits when pressed upon, 

 i. e., the indentation of the finger remains. When examined after 

 death, that limb is full of red putrid fluid : it is mortified, and seems 

 to have been putrefying almost during the life of the beast. Large 

 ulcers break out in this limb, and sometimes in other parts of the 

 body, and almost immediately become gangrenous ; pieces of several 

 pounds in weight have sloughed away ; three-fourths of the udder 

 have dropped olf, or have been so gangrenous that it was necessary 

 to remove them, and the animal has been one mass of ulceration. 

 The breath stinks horribly ; a very offensive, and sometimes purulent 

 and bloody fluid runs from the mouth ; the urine is high-coloured or 

 bloody, and the faeces are also streaked with blood, and the smell 

 Iroin them is scarcely supportable. 



