INFLAMMATORY FEVER. 227 



courage some hope, but we must not be sanguine ; for it is too often 

 only a temporary and delusive respite. * 



One of the symptoms now most to be dreaded is the rapid pro^ 

 gress of that which has already begun to appear — tenderness on 

 the loins and back. The patient will not bear even the slightest 

 pressure on these parts. The case is worse if to these be added 

 swellings about the shoulders, and back, and loins, with a peculiar ' 

 crackling emphysematous noise, as if some gas were extricated in 

 the cellular membrane, and the pro -ess of decomposition had com- 

 menced during the life of the anima.. Worse even than this is the 

 appearance of sudden, hard, scurfy patches of what seems to be 

 dead skin. It is a kind o^ dry c/angrene, and it is the commence- 

 ment of a sloughing process, extensive and rapid to an almost in- 

 conceivable degree. Now, we have black -quarter, with aP, its fear- 

 ful character. 



The ulcers first appear about the belly, the quarters, and the 

 teats, but they spread everywhere, and particularly about the 

 mouth 'and muzzle. The mouth is invariably ulcerated, and the 

 tongue is blistered and ulcerated too ; and there is either a discharge 

 of sanious, offensive, or bloody fluid from the nose and mouth, or 

 considerable hgemorrhage from both of them. Kow, the urine, which 

 had before been high-colored, becomes darker, or bloody ; the dung 

 likewise has streaks of blood over it, and both are exceedingly 

 fetid. 



In this state the animal may continue two or three days, imtil it 

 dies a mass of putridity ; unless there has been an honest, active 

 assistant, who never shrinks from his duty, and who will properly 

 dress the ulcers and administer the medicines. Many a beast has 

 been saved even at this point of the disease. The first favorable 

 symptom will be a slight diminution of the fetor — the ulcers will 

 then speedily heal, and the strength return. 



The chief appearance after death will be venous congestion every-. 

 where. The larger and the smaller veins Avill be black, and dis- 

 tended almost to bursting. It is a striking illustration of the pecu- 

 liar vascular system of the animal, and speaks volumes as to the 

 mode of treating this and similar diseases. 



The congestion is everywhere. It affects both of the pleuras, the 

 intercostal and the pulmonary, and the whole substance of the lungs. 

 It extends over the peritoneum, and more particularly over the mu- 

 cous membrane of the intestines ; and patches of inflammation and 

 ulceration are found in every part of the colon. These are the ap- 

 pearances when the animal is carried ofi" during the inflammatory 

 stage of the disease. 



If the complaint has assumed a putrid type, there is effusion, the 

 smell of which can scarcely be borne, both in the chest and belly ; 

 with adhesion and agglutination of all the small intestines ; ofteii 



