HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA. 395 



composes very rapidly and in some cases forms great quantities of 

 fetid gas. In pyemia, in addition to these lesions, abscesses are 

 formed in the various organs throughout the body. If the disease 

 develops slowly a post-mortem examination shows the abscesses to be 

 the chief alterations. The pus content is usually greenish, stained 

 with blood, and contains strings of fibrous tissue and necrosed matter. 

 Treatment. — Treatment is almost futile in advanced cases of either 

 disease. Septicemia is usually fatal and pyemia frequently so. Pre- 

 vention and the immediate treatment of local infections are the 

 surest means of combating them. For local treatment of wounds 

 the usual antiseptics are indicated, such as 3 per cent compound 

 cresol or carbolic acid, or one one-thousandth bichlovid-of-mercury 

 solution. For pyemia, where the abscesses are near the skin, they 

 should be opened and treated antiseptically by injecting any of the 

 previously mentioned germicides. General and heart stimulants are 

 indicated, such as a drench containing digitalis 2 drams and alcohol 

 2 ounces. Quinin and calomel in repeated small doses of one-half 

 dram each three times a day are sometimes beneficial. Camphor in 

 the form of oil of camphor (camphor dissolved in 10 parts of sweet 

 oil) is a good stimulant and has some antiseptic properties, which 

 make it a valuable drug in combating these diseases when it is given 

 in doses of 2 drams three times daily. 



HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA. 



Hemorrhagic septicemia is a name applied to a highly fatal, infec- 

 tious disease existing in various species of domestic and wild animals, 

 from a microorganism having definite biological characters and 

 possessing the properties of producing clearly defined and charac- 

 teristic lesions. 



This causal agent. Bacterium hovisepticum, belongs to the same 

 group of cocco-bacilli as those causing chicken cholera, swine plague, 

 and rabbit septicemia, and may be described as an ovoid, nonmotile, 

 polar-staining bacterium with rounded ends, ^g^^p of an inch wide by 

 - ^0^00 of an inch long, sometimes seen in pairs and sometimes in 

 chains. 



Various names have been applied to this disease, and though the 

 causatiA'e agent and the distinctive lesions are well known, it is more 

 than likely that the affection is seldom recognized. It Avas described 

 by Bollinger in 1878, and named Wild und Rinderseuche, from its 

 having affected deer, wild boars, cattle, and horses in an epizootic 

 which swept over Germany at that time. Before this, however, sev- 

 eral epizootics of what was evidently the same disease had been well 

 described, notably that which occurred in England in 1854. Since 

 then it has occurred in epizootic and enzootic forms in many sections 



