196 PATHOLOGY: CHITTENDEN AND UNDERHILL 
bloody fluid of foul odor. In some cases the thorax and upper part of 
the abdomen may contain many pustules one half an inch in diameter 
and filled with pus organisms. No other skin lesions are prominent. 
Death usually results without any particularly striking features. 
In some instances convulsions constitute a distinctive symptom which 
may or may not be manifested simultaneously with the abnormal 
symptoms already described. 
At autopsy two types of conditions are recognizable. In the animals 
presenting foul mouth and bloody diarrhoea the chief interest centres in 
the lower bowel and in the rectum which exhibit an intense hemorrhagic 
appearance. With those animals dying rapidly from convulsions the 
only visible abnormality of the alimentary tract is the presence in the 
duodenum of one or more large ulcers. 
The detailed data of the investigation which will be published else- 
where justify the following summary and conclusions : 
Dogs fed upon a diet consisting of boiled (dried) peas, cracker meal 
and cotton seed oil, or lard, rapidly develop symptoms indicating 
abnormal nutrition. This condition eventually terminates in death. 
Previous to the development of the pathological manifestations the dogs 
are usually in nitrogen balance and exhibit excellent food utilization. 
The nitrogen partition of the urine is normal when compared with that 
of animals maintained upon the same level of nitrogen intake. 
The pathological symptoms at times can be made to disappear and 
the normal condition of nutritional rhythm can be re-established by the 
addition of meat to the dietary. 
In the production of the symptoms it is immaterial whether the 
transition from a diet containing meat to one of vegetable origin is 
sudden or gradual. The final outcome is the same in both cases. 
The intake of a large quantity of peas is less detrimental than smaller 
amounts. 
In the development of the pathological condition the level of nitrogen 
intake as such plays little or no role. 
The typical symptoms may be induced in dogs, but with much greater 
difficulty, when a diet containing meat, cracker meal and la,rd is fed in 
appropriate quantities. For the production of the diseased condition 
the meat intake must be reduced to a certain undefined minimum. 
Under these circumstances less than fifty per cent of dogs exhibit patho- 
logical symptoms and these may appear in periods of two to eight months. 
From the facts enumerated the conclusion seems tenable that the 
abnormal state may be referred to a deficiency of some essential dietary 
