178 SCAEIATINA. 



probable that tbe disease will become more violent, and either 

 assume the malignant form, or pass into what is called " Purpura 

 Hsemorrhagica ;" and the life of the animal, in either state, 

 be greatly endangered in consequence. 



Malignant Scarlatina. — This form of the disease may appear 

 either at once itt all its virulence, or it may follow upon the 

 milder states above described. 



The patient for some days may have manifested what is 

 usually considered to be Influenza, or Epidemic Catarrh, the 

 symptoms of which, for the most part, will consist of sore 

 throat of an obstinate nature, attended with fever more or less 

 severe, with cough, loss of appetite, discharge of purulent 

 matter from the nostrils, and general debility ; when suddenly 

 the state of the patient changes, the limbs begin to swell, 

 which sweUiug presents either an even surface (occupying the 

 whole of the limbs), or it appears in lumps or masses, which 

 are both large and numerous. These lumps are hot, hard, and 

 painful, while those portions of the skin free from such swelling 

 present the blotchy elevations so common to the simple forms 

 of Scarlatina. The membrane of the nose also becomes covered 

 with large-sized spots of an intense scarlet colour, while from 

 the nostrils is discharged a mixture of blood, purulent matter, 

 and serum. At this stage of the disease, the soreness of the 

 throat is excessive, accompanied with a corresponding degree 

 of difficulty in swallowing ; the cough is also worse, and of a 

 suffocating character. The pulse increases in the number of its 

 beats, reaching at times 90, or even 100 pulsations per minute, 

 and is of a weak or feeble character. The swollen limbs are 

 excessively tender, and if the patient be left alone he will stand 

 for hours nailed, as it were, to one place, and in one position ; 

 it is only, indeed, with the greatest difiS.culty that he can be 



