I90 TETANUS 



and fift}- minutes after death, 113° F. There is frequently no 

 increase in the number of pulse beats until severe exacerba- 

 tions set in. The frequencj- of the pulse is much greater in 

 animals which continue recumbent than in those which keep 

 upon their feet. The pulse is often hard and small and the 

 walls of the arteries are spasmodicalh' tense. In many cases 

 however, it is full, soft and easily compressible. There is, as 

 a rule, an increase in the number of respirations, which may 

 become verv high if the respiratory muscles are attacked. 

 The number varies according to the excited condition of the 

 animal. The respirations may increase four fold without a 

 corresponding increase in the pulse beat. The breathing may 

 reach from 80 to 100 per minute. In character the respirations 

 are shallow on account of the fixed condition of the ribs and 

 the spasms of the muscles which compress the abdomen. 

 There may be cyanosis and catarrh of the nasal mucosa, 

 coughing and in fatal cases symptoms of hyperaemia and 

 oedema of the lungs and often pneunionia (usually aspiration 

 in nature). There is constipation due to lack of peristalsis 

 and the rigid condition of the muscles which compress the 

 abdomen. Micturition fjecomes less frequent and more diffi- 

 cult. Complete retention of urine is said to occur in some cases. 

 The urine has a high specific gravity and in some cases contains 

 albumen. vSome animals can eat readily while others eat, if at 

 all, with great difficulty. They like to play with drink set 

 before them and often try to satisfy their thirst, which seems 

 to increase as the disease advances. In fatal cases the animals 

 seem to be perfectly conscious to the last. The}? seem to be 

 possessed of a feeling of terror. 



S 147. Morbid anatomy. The gross examination of the 

 tissues at post-mortem of animals dead from tetanus is usually 

 negative. It has been pointed out by Gold.scheider and Flatau 

 that in experimental animals there are certain characteristic 

 changes in the motor cells of the anterior horns ofthe spinal cord 

 which in the order of their development depend upon the con- 

 centration of the toxin or virulence of the bacteria injected 

 and upon the duration of the disease. The changes are pri- 

 marih an enlargement of the nuclei, which at the same time 



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