428 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



four weeks. According to statistics, from 50 to 90 per cent of the 

 affected animals die. 



If animals which have died of this disease be examined, there will 

 be occasionally found, in addition to the changes of the mucous mem- 

 brane of mouth and nasal cavities referred to above, shallow ulcers iu 

 these situations. In severe cases membranous (croupous) deposits are 

 found in the throat. Similar deposits have been found upon the mu- 

 cous membrane of the fourth stomach and intestine, which is always in- 

 flamed. There is more or less inflammation of the membranes of the 

 brain. In countries where rinderpest occasionally appears it may be 

 difficult to distinguish between it and malignant catarrh, owing to a 

 general similarity of the symptoms. In such cases only a trained veteri- 

 narian who takes into consideration all the different symptoms and 

 lesions of both diseases should decide. 



Treatment. There is no specific treatment for this affection, and the 

 various symptoms may be dealt with, if desired, according to the meth- 

 ods given in the first part of this volume. Preventive treatment, which 

 insists on a removal of the infected animals and a thorough cleaning 

 and disinfection of infected stables, may prevent the subsequent appear- 

 ance of the disease. If the floors are low and damp they should be 

 raised and made dry. 



SOUTHERN CATTLE FEVER (TEXAS FEVER). 



This disease, which is more commonly known as splenetic or Texas 

 fever, is a specific fever communicated by cattle which have recently 

 been moved northward from the infected district, or which is con- 

 tracted by cattle taken into the infected district from other parts of 

 the world. It is characterized by the peculiarity among animal diseases 

 that the animals which disseminate the infection are apparently in good 

 health, while those which sicken and die from it do not as a rule infect 

 others. 



It is accompanied by high fever, greatly enlarged spleen, destruction 

 of the red blood corpuscles, escape of the coloring matter of the blood 

 through the kidneys, giving the urine a deep red color, by a yellowness 

 of the mucous membranes and fat, which is seen more especially in fat 

 cattle, by a rapid- loss of strength, and by fatal results in a large pro- 

 portion of cases. 



This disease has various names in different sections of the country 

 where it frequently appears. It is often called Spanish fever, acclima- 

 tion fever, red- water, black-water, distemper, murrain, dry murrain, 

 yellow murrain, and bloody murrain. 



The earliest accounts we have of this disease date back to 1814, 

 when it was stated by Dr. James Mease before the Philadelphia So- 

 ciety for Promoting Agriculture that the cattle from a certain district 

 in South Carolina so certainly disease all others with which they mix 

 in their progress to the North, that they are prohibited by the people 



