46 Blackleg. 



erally unchanged or only moderately swollen, but sometimes 

 a well developed tumefied spleen is found where the capsule is 

 distended by gas bubbles, but without hemorrhages. 



The liver frequently appears mottled on section, owing to 

 ochre-yellow foci from a pea to a walnut in size, which increase 

 after death, and owing to the development of gas, assume a 

 porous, friable consistency (Kasselmann, Fotli, Warringholz, 

 Tillmann). According to Warringholz, there exist in the cortex 

 of the kidneys, light gray foci of the size of a millet grain. 

 The mucous membrane of the intestines is catarrhal, reddened 

 and loosened; sometimes it is dark red, swollen, intersected 

 with hemorrhages, and covered with bloody mucus. Finally, 

 the blood is dark red and forms a coagulum in the heart and 

 the large vessels. 



In rare cases with rapid course the characteristic external 

 swelling is lacking, but by thorough examination dark red dis- 

 colored portions of muscles may be found in hidden places, as 

 under the shoulder blade, in the sexual organs, masseter 

 muscles, psoas muscles or in the pillars of the diaphragm. 



RsBbiger found vesicles under the endocardium varying in size 

 from a pea to a pigeon egg, which were filled with a dark red, turbid 

 liquid containing numerous blackleg bacilli. Seheibel sometimes found 

 a crepitant swelling of the spleen and a gray-brown, porous, and 

 spongy appearance of the kidneys. According to Schmitt, an intes- 

 tinal infection is especially indicated by numerous small hemorrhages 

 in the omentum and in the serosa, particularly in the neighborhood 

 of the spleen which is swollen on account of hemorrhagic infiltration. 

 There is also a serous infiltration of the reticulum and a bloody dis- 

 coloration of its mucous membrane. 



In swine a swelling of the region of the throat is mostly observed 

 where the subcutaneous, intermuscular, and peripharyngeal tissues 

 show a serous gelatinous fluid containing gas vesicles. The adjoining 

 muscles appear striped with dark red streaks, the lymphatic glands 

 are acutely swollen, and the mucous membrane of the throat shows a 

 catarrhal condition with small hemorrhages (Marek). In other cases 

 the crepitant swelling has been found on one of the posterior extremities 

 (Battistini). 



In horses the occurrence of blackleg has not been definitely deter- 

 mined. The literature contains reports by Ganter, Hafner, Schmidt, 

 Velmelage, Fischer, and others, but, in these cases, a confusion with 

 pseudo-blackleg or malignant edema is not only not excluded, but even 

 probable. Hasenkamp, for instance, found in a horse a serous-hemor- 

 rhagic fluid in the thoracic cavity and pericardial sac, hemorrhages in 

 the serous membranes, and black, crepitant, softened muscles of the 

 shoulder region, the neck, and the hind leg which were also infiltrated 

 with a sero-sanguinolent fluid. Quadekker observed in a similar case 

 a sweetish odor in the diseased parts which was neither pleasant nor 

 foul. 



Blackleg bacilli are generally present in large numbers in the serous liquid 

 of the crepitant swellings as well as in the yellow foci of the liver (frequently in 

 company with various other bacteria, as staphylococci, micrococcus prodigiosus, 

 proteus vulgaris, bacillus coli and others, particularly at the edges of the swell- 

 ing), and a certain time after death they are also found in the transudate of the 

 serous cavities, in the bile, in the lymphatic glands, and in the blood. In the juices 



