Specific and Contagious Diseases. 147 
name from the dark coloured or black state of the 
blood. 
The usual form of infection is by means of the flesh of 
cattle which have died of the disease, or when the dog 
has been allowed to forage among the excrement of those 
suffering from the intestinal form. The disease has 
appeared with violence among foxhounds, from which the 
losses have been serious, but as a rule dogs resist the 
poison better than cattle. 
Symptoms.—The intestinal form of the malady is most 
common. It commences by violent colic, during which 
the bowels are moved, the evacuations being mixed with 
blood. Vomition is likewise severe, the contents of the 
stomach being largely mixed with blood. Recovery is 
more common in the dog than among cattle. In some 
instances the lymphatic glands about the throat and neck 
rapidly swell, with local tumefaction and serous infiltra- 
tion of the surrounding tissues, which greatly interfere 
with respiration. The skin and parts thus implicated, 
together with the membrane of the mouth, and tongue, is 
spotted with blood effused beneath, and shortly becomes 
gangrenous; viscid saliva copiously flows from the mouth, 
and the bowels discharge fluid feeces largely mixed with 
blood. The affected animal usually dies within three to 
five days, or recovery is betokened within that time. As 
a result of the contagion entering by the mouth, the 
buccal membrane lining the whole cavity is often studded 
with blebs or pustules, which occasion severe fever and 
irritation. Such states are believed by the ignorant to be 
the result of an encounter with a toad, snake, &c. It is 
said that a dog affected with anthrax will convey the 
disease by attacking with his teeth. If this is correct, 
may we not suppose it is due to the presence of blood or 
other matter on which the animal has fed previously? If 
it is proved to be conveyed by the saliva, or discharges 
from the blebs, &c., in his mouth, we realise the formid- 
able nature of the complaint, and the need for the 
greatest caution. 
Treatment must be regulated by the attendant circum- 
stances. The milder forms, and only when the dog is 
