276 THE VETERINARY DOCTOR. 
the skin. Ifthe flesh of an infected animal be eaten by man or beast, the 
disease is readily transmitted. We thus see the urgency of care in 
handling animals that are afflicted with it. 
Symptoms.—Perhaps the most notable characteristic of the disease is. 
its rapid progress, It may be of an apoplectic form, the animal suddenly 
falling and being soon seized with convulsions, the pulse and breath being 
quickened, the skin turning blue, and death ensuing in an hour or less, in 
some cases before it is learned that the animal is sick. The disease may be 
characterized by external swellings, or not. If so marked, it is sometimes: 
known as blain, gloss-anthrax, black-tongue, black-quarter, bloody murrain 
and the like (which are elsewhere spoken of in separate articles); but these 
types are not now under consideration, the present discussion having refer- 
ence to the form known as splenic fever, so named from the enlargement of 
the spleen, though the carbuncles which occasionally form show its relation 
to the kinds just alluded to. Distinguishing symptoms of this are an alter- 
nation of high and low temperature, this going up to 105° or 110°; purple 
mucous membrane; loss of milk in cows; increased thirst; very rapid pulsc; 
then perhaps an interval of apparent health, followed by spasm of the 
muscles of the back and loins, with loss of power of motion in the limbs 
and trunk; violent convulsions, peculiarly affecting the eyes; diminished 
temperature; seeming unconsciousness; mucous and bloody discharges 
from the nose, mouth and rectum; possibly formation of carbuncles during 
the disease on different parts of the body. 3 
TREATMENT.—In the most severe cases medicine will be of little avail. 
Give ten drops of aconite every ten or fifteen minutes if the feverish symp- 
toms are marked. For sudden falling and other apoplectic signs, alter- 
nate belladonna with aconite, every fifteen, twenty or thirty minutes, accord- 
ing to the severity of the symptoms. Nux vomica and opium are also good 
when such symptoms are present. Sixty drops of nitro-muriatic acid, two 
drachms of chlorate of potassa, and three grains of bichromate of potassa, a 
dose twice a day, is very highly recommended by a leading author. Some 
of these remedies will often be found helpful, though the rapid progress of 
the scourge does not often admit of successful treatment of the first that 
are attacked in a herd. If carbuncles form, sulphur, arsenicum and mer- 
curius will be found valuable internal remedies, and a wash of dilute car- 
bolic acid should be applied two or three times a day if the carbuncles 
gather and break. 
When an animal is supposed to be infected, give solid, nutritious food, 
provide a comfortable stable that will furnish an abundance of pure air, and 
give ten drops of arsenicum night and morning. Before healthy cattle 
come near the quarters in which the sick have been kept, deeply bury the 
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