Cattle Plague. 629 



and drains, dried up on hay, straw, feathers and other light 

 objects, or in dust, and blown about by the winds, left in stables, 

 in feeding and watering troughs, in railroad cars, steamboats, 

 ferry boats, loading banks and yards, it is carried in the fresh 

 milk, flesh, fat, sausage cases, hairs, hoofs, horns, wool and 

 bristles, in hides and bones, in halters and harness, on wagon 

 shafts and poles, on goads, on boots and clothes of men, and the 

 feet of dogs, birds and other animals, on the wheels of vehicles, 

 the runners of sleighs, and by vermin and wild animals. The 

 various infected products, however, soon lose their virulence after 

 drying. Galtier assures us on the basis of the experiments of 

 a Russian Commission, and the experience of France, Belgium, 

 England and other countries that dried or salted hides can be 

 introduced with perfect safety, and that rendered suet, and dried 

 skins, horns, bones and hairs are equally harmless. On stalls, 

 mangers and racks on the other hand, in an obscure and still 

 atmosphere, virulence may be preserved for three months (Miiller, 

 Dieckerhoff). Again in litter and manure in the open air, and 

 even in yards and pastures it may retain its vitality for weeks 

 (Chauveau). The infection is destroyed by a temperature of 

 zero, or 131° F. (Semmer). 



Whatever determines a movement of animals from an infected 

 locality, determines the extension of the plague, hence war, and 

 commerce, the food demands of a large and encreasing manufac- 

 turing population, the inauguration of new routes of rapid transit 

 by steam over land or sea all contribute in their various ways to 

 the extension of rinderpest. 



Lesions. The most significant feature of the morbid lesions is 

 their concentration on the fourth stomach, small intestine, rectum, 

 oral cavity and vagina. The respiratory apparatus, eyes, .skin, 

 muscles, and nervous system suffer to a les,ser extent. If the case 

 has gone on to a fatal result there is usually marked emaciation, 

 the natural openings (mouth, no.se, eyes, anus) are .soiled with 

 morbid discharges (muco-purulent, feculent) the thighs smeared 

 with ofEensive liquid faeces, and the .skin may be yellowi.sh red, or 

 dark, with a general scurfy condition and distinct eruptions, 

 especially of rounded wart-like epidermic concretions on teats and 

 udder. The eyes are deeply .sunken, the conjunctiva of a yellow- 

 ish red, and the lips and muzzle dry, .swollen and it may be 

 eroded. 



