86R 
Sup2>lement io the “ Tropical Agriculturist. 
[June 1 , 1898 , 
siderable distance ; the mucous membrane of 
the noise is cyanotic and covered witli a dis- 
charge which also issues from the nostrils. The 
temperature of the buccal mucous membrane is 
increased, and the colour of a diffuse red. The 
rapidity of the appearance of a hot painful 
swelling, at first oedematous to the touch and 
circumscribed, later always hard, spreading around 
the throat, part of the face and about the ear. 
downwards towards the neck and the shoulder, 
is astonishing. This swelling varies con.siderably 
in- size in different cases, and may in some he 
very small and circumscribed ; in other-s, however, 
it is extensive, spreading over the lower part 
of - the neck to the chest. It does not crepitate 
on pressure. In addition to the existence of 
the large swelling of the throat a yellow slimy 
discharge from the nose is observed. The tongue 
and the surrounding parts swell, the animal 
keeps the mouth open, and the tongue hangs 
out, is cyanotic and hard to the touch. With 
the extent of the swelling of the throat the 
difficulty in breathing and the noise keep pace. 
The inspiration is long, tlie expiration is shorter, 
To these symptoms may be added cessation of 
appetite, disturbance of rumination, and tym- 
panites; sometimes the animal at the end of 
the attack stands with difficulty. There is 
trembling of the muscles of the croup. The dung 
is often serous and fluid, red-coloured and mixed 
with slime. In the last stage the animal lies 
down, the limbs stretched out, the respiration 
is frequent, difficult, noisy, very rattling, dyspnoeic. 
This difficulty in breathing increase^, the blood 
becomes more and more impure, spasms of the 
muscles occur, and soon the animal falls 
suffocated to the ground. 
Ghotwa runs a very rapid course, often causing 
death in from six to seven hours from the first 
appearance of the dise-ase. In most cases, however, 
it lasts for twelve to twenty-four hours, and it 
seldom runs for two or three days. If its lasts 
longer it may disappear and the animal recover. 
Mortality . — Tlie mortality varies, but is always 
high, 90 to 96 per cent, of deaths usually occurring. 
The epidemic is very sharp in the summer, and the 
mortality greater than in the cold weather. The 
individual outbreaks have a very short course, 
seldom lasting more than from eight to ten days, 
generally not so long. 
Section of the dead buffalo shows 
the swelling of the throat, face, and neck to be 
due to intense serous infiltration of the subcu- 
taneous connective tis.sue. The skin over the 
swelling is stretched tense. The swelling itself is 
of tolerably hard consistence, never crepitating on 
pressure. On incision we find a greyish-yellow 
gelatinous material, with black bloody patches in- 
terspersed here and there in it. The same 
appearance is presented by the intra-muscular and 
intermediastinal connective tissue. Tlie muscles 
are blood-red. In the abdominal cavity there i.s a 
yellow or red coloured serosity. The peritonsum 
is injected, as is also the serous membrane of the 
bowels. Mesentery injected, lymph glands swollen 
and of firm consistence, greyish or brownish red 
on section. The spleen medium in size, flabby, 
the capsule not stretched, the pulp reddish brown. 
The liver full of blood. The contents of the 
omasum dry, the mucous membrane pale. The 
abomasum contains only a small quantitj’ of pale 
slimy contents. Its mucous membrane is wrinkled, 
and at the summits of the folds are hremorrhagic 
patches about the size of a bean. The subraucosa 
is infiltrated, the vessels much injected. In the 
small and large intestines pultaceous .and in part 
bloody contents are found ; the vessels of the 
mucous membrane are injected and covered with 
puncdform and linear ecchymoses and blood mark- 
ings. The kidneys may be congested or in course 
of parenchymatous degeneration. 
The bladder contents are turbid; tl;e mucous 
membrane injected. The chest cavity contains a 
small quantity of a reddish serosity; the parietal 
pleura is studded with disseminated haemorrhages. 
The lungs normal in size, and studrled with 
hremorrhages of various sizes; the elasticity is 
impaired, and on section they have a brownish-red 
colour, partly dark red, and contain a red frothy 
fluid. In the bronchi and trachea is a reddish 
frothj’ fluid, the mucous membrane of the res- 
piratory passages is uniformly red, that of the 
larynx dark red, tumetied and inliltratcdl The 
epiglottis and vocal cords and the base of the tongue 
are tumefied, the submucous being the seat of oedea 
matous infiltration. Tracheal lymphatic glands 
enlarged, firm in consistence, the section appearing 
juicy, yellowish brown, and studded with haemor- 
rhages. The retro-pharyngeal connective tissue is 
also the seat of oedematous infiltration, the peri- 
bronchical lymph glands are enlarged. The peri- 
cardium contains a reddish-coloured serosity, and 
is, especially over the right side of the heart, 
marked with petechite. The heart is flabby, the 
cavities contain small quantities of badly coagu- 
lated or fluid blood ; there is subendocardial 
hffimorrhage. The cerebral meninges are light red, 
the ventricles reddi-h, and contain serous fluid. 
In the blood-serum from the above-mentioned 
many bacteria, which in form, size, and morphology 
are identical with those described by Oreste and 
Armanni (“ Studii e recherche intorno al barbone 
dei buffali,” ‘ Atti del R. Instituto d’ incoraggia- 
mento allcienze naturali,’ x, 1887). They resemble 
in their morphology those of fowl cholera ( Bacillus 
cholerce-gallinarum ). 
In gentian violet or methylen blue-stained cover- 
glass preparations may be observed a bacterium 
0-9— 1T8 u long, and 0'4 — 0 6 u thick, which is 
for the most part in the shape of proportionate 
rod, rounded at both ends. In the centre these 
rods remain uncoloured, but they are intensely 
coloured at each pole. The unstained portion does 
not appear to be always equal. In the small bac- 
teria it is small, whilst the borders are diminished, 
so that it appears not unlike a biconvex lens. In 
the longer bacilli the unstained middle piece 
appears longer, and the boundaries are 
lii -some of the bacilli the uncoloured piece is about 
two-thirds of them, and only the tvvo small 
rounded poles are coloured. Scattered amongst 
them we find also fonger bacilli, which appear 
like two joined together containing two or three 
uncoloured spaces. Besides these forms are small 
oval and spherical bodies like cocci, and uni- 
formly coloured with the exception of a small 
spot in the middle. 
Besides in the blood, spleen, and infiltiation the 
bacteria are found in the lymph glands, urine, and 
loedematous fluid. 
