376 Veterinary Medicine. 



but in many cases recovery is complete and permanent without 

 lasting weakness. 



Lesions. Both in man and animals, congestions of the gastric 

 and intestinal mucosae have been noted, usually with a dark firm 

 condition of the membrane, but in some cases with capillary 

 stasis, and sloughing. Beach never saw indication of tenderness 

 in the abdomen or elsewhere, nor did he ever find blood nor 

 stercoraceous matter in the vomited material. The contents of 

 stomach (paunch in cattle) and bowels formed hard balls like 

 cemented sawdust, firmly adherent to the dry mucosa. 



Treatment and Prevention. Treatment by the Indians con- 

 sisted in giving large doses of powdered charcoal suspended in 

 milk. The early physicians attempted to open the bowels by 

 calomel and jalap, olive oil, magnesia citrate, and even croton oil, 

 but the last generally with fatal results. Milder and hardly less 

 effective treatment consisted in large doses of elm bark. Beach 

 believed he got better results with quinine and egg nog. It 

 might be suggested to try such antiseptics as potassium perman- 

 ganate, peristaltic stimulants like eserine or pilocarpine, as an 

 eliminating agent pure water or weak diuretics, and nerve stimu- 

 lants, nitroglycerine or ammoniacal preparations. 



Prophylaxis. The time-honored resort of clearing the timber 

 and brush land so as to let the sun act freely on the soil, and the 

 putting in of cultivated crops, is proved reliable and permanent. 

 The other precautions in use are valuable in protecting the herd, 

 but lack the merit of thoroughness and permanence and thus fail 

 to strike at the root of the trouble. They are : ist the exclu- 

 sion of domestic animals from the infected woods in late summer 

 and autumn and in very dry seasons ; and 2d. the exclusion of 

 stock from such pastures from before nightfall until after the dews 

 have evaporated on the following morning. 



The danger which attends on passing the night in the forest, 

 strongly suggests the intervention for the transfer of the poison 

 of some nocturnal animal, perhaps a night-flying insect, like the 

 anopheles, which transmits the Plasmodium of malaria. If the 

 germ and its intermediate bearer (if any; were demonstrated, 

 probably other and simpler means of prevention could be adopted. 



The fact that the propagation of the disease is not constant and 

 wide spreading, like a genuine plague, lessens the urgency for 

 a rigid sanitary police, yet animals kept on such infected farms. 



