488 GENERAL DISEASES. 



rise to symptoms in any way similar to those of the Port Pirie 

 disease. 



As I have never seen a case of the Port Pirie disease, I am not 

 qualified to express an opinion on its nature. Having the 

 honour of knowing the two gentlemen who are investigating its 

 pathology, I can say with confidence that the task of its elucida- 

 tion could not be in more able hands. 



Cerebro- Spinal Fever 



is a disease which rapidly spreads, like influenza, over large areas 

 of country, and is characterised by inflammation of the brain and 

 spinal cord, with consequent, and more or less complete, paralysis 

 of the hind quarters. It appears to be an infective disease (p. 

 448). No specific microbe has, however, been found in cases 

 attacked by it. Although we may infer that it is infectious; no 

 light has, up to the present, been throAvn on the manner by 

 which it is conveyed to animals. Besides horses, it affects 

 sheep, goats, horned cattle, and dogs. It usually runs an acute 

 and fatal course. 



The attack may be sudden, or may take two or three days to 

 become developed. The most prominent symptoms are : uncon- 

 sciousness, with or without excitement ; continued spasm of the 

 muscles of the neck ; and paralysis of the hind limbs. " We may 

 soon note hardness and abnormal tenderness of the poll. The 

 patient can neither rise nor extend the head. The neck and some- 

 times the entire spinal column are hard and tense " (Friedherger and 

 Frohner). There is a high temperature of the head and of the con- 

 tracted muscles. "Very early in the affection, and all through the 

 disease, unless when the brain lesions are great, pain is evidenced 

 on pressure being exercised with the finger along the spine " 

 (Eohertson). The disease usually runs its course in from one to two 

 weeks. In some cases, the attack is mild; in others, it destroys 

 life within twenty-four hours. As a rule, the more gradual is its 

 approach, the less severe will be the symptoms. It has a marked 

 tendency to recur after a few days. Observation of the internal 

 temperature does not always afford reliable information about this 

 disease; for even in severe attacks, the temperature in different 

 instances, may be respectively, high, low, or normal. 



Cerebro-spinal fever is well known in the United States, and is 

 also met with in some parts of the Continent. 



"Tetanus may be distinguished from cerebro-spinal fever by the 

 continued contraction of the muscles, and by the existence of head 

 symptoms " (Friedherger and Frohner), 



