MORBID ANATOMY 491 



countered in this country, may be more definitely defined as 

 follows : 



1. An exudate of a serous or muco-purulent charactei; in 

 the conjunctiva and nasal cavities. Ordinarily this condition 

 cannot be recognized in the mouth. The mucosa in these 

 cases is apparently but slightly altered. 



2. The mucosa over a small or larger area is covered 

 with a spreading exudate of a grayish or yellowish color. It 

 is firmly attached to the mucous membrane and when removed 

 leaves a raw, bleeding surface. Sections through this exudate 

 and the subjacent tissues show that the epithelial layer is de- 

 stroyed and the underlying tissue infiltrated with cells. The 

 extent of the infiltration varies in different individuals. 



3. The mucosa is covered with a thick mass of exudate, 

 varying in color from a milky white to a lemon yellow or 

 brown. It is easily removed, leaving a more or less granular 

 and healed surface. This sloughed mass is frequently dried at 

 its margins to the adjacent tissue. It emits a strong putrid 

 odor, due to decomposition. The drying of the margins pre- 

 vents the fowl from expelling the exudate after it becomes 

 separated from the underlying tissue. 



The evidence to support the supposition that the three 

 forms or types of exudate described are different stages in the 

 same morbid process, as gathered from the post-mortem notes 

 and bacteriological study of the cases investigated, may be 

 summarized as follows : 



(a) Abnormal conditions, representing the intermediate 

 and connecting links between the types of lesions, are fre- 

 quently encountered. 



{b) Although at the time of examination (post-mortem) 

 but one form of exudate is usually present in a single fowl, 

 there are exceptions, in which two and occasionally the three 

 forms are coincident. Thus the eye is covered with a sloughed 

 exudate, the posterior nares contains a layer of muco-purulent 

 substance and on the mucosa of the mouth are areas of diph- 

 theritic exudate. 



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