FOWL CHOLERA 71 
With the beginning of diarrhea the body temperature has been 
found to rise to 109 to 110° F. Ward states that in advanced stages 
it ranges from 109 to 112° F. The comb loses its bright hue and 
becomes pale and bloodless. European writers describe the comb 
as dark blue, purple, or black, and some writers in the United States 
have referred to it in the same terms. Salmon reports that he never 
observed it. 
Diseased birds rapidly lose in weight. They become so weak that 
they walk with great difficulty, a slight touch causes them to fall over. 
The fowls become very much emaciated. Death may occur without 
a struggle or there may be convulsive movements and cries. 
This disease may run rapidly through a flock destroying the greater 
part of the birds in a week, or it may assume a more chronic form, 
spreading slowly, and remain upon the premises for several weeks or 
months. 
The duration of the disease varies from a few hours to several 
days. 
The prognosis is unfavorable. The mortality is very high, often 
100 per cent. 
Morbid anatomy. The comb is pale and bloodless. The super- 
ficial vessels usually contain but little blood. In cases of acute 
cholera there is a tendency to hemorrhagic inflammation of the intes- 
tines. 
The liver is usually enlarged, softened, and the blood vessels are 
engorged. The gall bladder is distended with thick, dark bile. 
The crop is usually distended with food. The stomach often pre- 
sents externally a number of circular discolorations, about three 
millimeters in diameter, which on section are found to be extravasated 
blood. The small intestines are congested. 
The rectum and cloaca usually present deep, red lines upon their 
mucous membrane, evidently the first stage of inflammation, which 
results, in chronic cases, in thickening of the walls, especially of the 
rectum, the desquamation of the mucous membrane and the forma- 
tion of large ulcerated surfaces. 
The mesentery is generally congested, often greatly thickened and 
reddened, and rendered opaque by inflammation. The ureters are 
distended with yellow urates; the kidneys seem engorged, and on 
section accumulations of the tenacious, yellow urates are frequently 
