BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



183 



the lung was found free fwm hepatization, but the pericardium was 

 greatly thickened and transformed into a fibrous cyst inclosing" the 

 heart . The surface of the heart showed that this organ had been in 

 tensely inflamed 5 it was roughened and covered with granulations, 

 mostly gray in color, but over parte of the surface mottled with deep 

 red. The heart tissue, to a depth of half an inch from the surface, had 

 undergone fibrous degeneration, was colorless, and resisted the knife. 

 A painting was made of this organ and is reproduced in this report as 

 Plate IV* ; it shows very plainly the thickened pericardium, the mottled 

 appearance of the surface of the heart, which organ was cut across to 

 reveal the depth of the fibrous degeneration. 



There may be a question as to the exact nature of this disease — 

 whether it was induced by the virus of lung plague or whether by other 

 causes. Xo diseased animals had been introduced on the place, but 

 there had been opportunity of exposure to animals running at large. 

 The absence of hepatization is not conclusive evidence that it was not 

 lung plague. This disease quite often confines itself to the serous mem- 

 branes without appreciably affecting the lung tissue, and pericarditis 

 and epicarditis are manifestations which have been described as occur- 

 ring in the infected stables of Europe. I am inclined to think, therefore, 

 that this affection was the result of exposure to the lung-plague virus. 



January 12, 1884, three cows were slaughtered at the Veterinary Ex- 

 periment Station in presence of Hon. James Wilson, of Iowa, member 

 of the House Committee on Agriculture, and of delegates from the 

 Chicago convention of stockmen and of distinguished veterinarians, in 

 order to demonstrate the character of the disease from which the cattle 

 in tin's vicinity were suffering. The first one was a young cow that I. 

 found January 1, 1884, at the stable of the owner near Washington. 

 At that time her breathing was rapid and labored, a distinct grunt or 

 moan being emitted at each expiration. On percussion over the region 

 occupied by the lungs the right side was found perfectly dull and with- 

 out resonance, while the left side was resonant over the upper half, but 

 very dull below. Auscultation showed complete loss of respiratory 

 murmur over the whole of the right and over the lower part of the left 

 side. There was no cough. 



This cow had been purchased about a month previously, from a dealer 

 who had brought her from the Shenandoah Valley, in Virginia, and had 

 kept her for a number of days (the exact time not known) at his stable 

 in Washington. She was noticed to isolate herself from the remaiuder 

 of the herd while at pasture, and to be disinclined to move, almost as 

 soon as she was placed with the herd. She commenced moaning at 

 each expiration more than two weeks before I saw her, and was then 

 separated from the other animals. January 2 she was removed to the 

 Experiment Station, her temperature at that time being about 103° F. 



This cow died during the night of January 11, and was examined 

 about 11 o'clock the following day. On opening the thorax about 2 

 gallons of amber-colored liquid escaped. The right lung was solidly 

 attached to the costal pleura and diaphragm by thick false membranes 

 of recent formation. On the left side the attachments were not so ex- 

 tensive, and the membranes were of still more recent growth. On each 

 side there were thick masses of coagulated lymph, weighing from 2 to 

 3 pounds, and of a whitish color and firm consistency, which indicated 



•Plates IV to XII inclusive are duplicates of the plates which accompany the re- 

 port of Dr. Salmon in tbe First Annual Report of the Bureau of Animal Industry, and 

 are similarly numbered. 



