140 Veterinary Medicine. 



false membrane, grayish or white, are observed on tonsils and 

 palate and detached shreds of this croupous deposit may mingle 

 with the discharge. 



The high temperature and hurried, wheezing and even rau- 

 cous breathing which were marked at the outset become exag- 

 gerated, the mouth is held open, the tongue blue, the nose 

 elevated, the prostration extreme, the animal being unable or 

 nearly so to support himself on his hind limbs though making 

 efforts to rise. 



This advancing paresis is liable to be mistaken for that attend- 

 ing on swine plague, and the error is all the more likely when 

 scarlet or dark red blotches appear on the skin. These however 

 come later than is usually the case in swine plague, the disease is 

 confined to one herd, kept under specially faulty conditions, and 

 there is no record of an opportunity for the introduction of infec- 

 tion. Finally the concentration of the inflammatio;i on the 

 fauces and larynx, and the presence of the visible false mem- 

 branes serve to complete the diagnosis. 



Course. The disease advances and usually in -about four days 

 terminates in recovery or death. 



In favorable cases the false membranes are loosened, and ex- 

 pelled during a violent fit of coughing, the breathing and temper- 

 ature subsides to nearer normal, the eyes become fuller and 

 brighter, the control of the limbs better, the visible mucosae 

 change from a blue to a pinker hue, and gradually appetite is 

 restored. 



In cases that prove early fatal, the pig remains prostrate, with 

 mouth open, tongue protruding dnd blue, eyes sunken, and 

 breathing dyspnoeic, loud and stertorous. Death usually occurs 

 in a paroxysm of coughing. In some cases the effected mucosa 

 becomes gangrenous prior to death, but the patient rarely lives 

 long enough to allow of its separation by sloughing, and of a 

 subsequent healing. 



Prognosis. This depends largely on the promptitude and 

 energy of antiseptic treatment. At first the disease is largely 

 local and superficial and the invading microbes are easily reached 

 and destroyed, whereas, later, the microorganisms have en- 

 croached on the deeper layers of the mucosa, on the submucosa 

 and subjacent structures, and are practically beyond the reach 



