ON THE DISTEMPER AMONG CATTLE. 
651 
In some cases, a swelling appears on the head or throat, WLth 
greater depression of the vital powers ; and when the heart is more 
particularly affected, there is mostly regurgitation in the jugulars, 
and earlier debility. When effusion of serum has taken place in 
the pericardium, I have heard the gurgling sound “ as of water 
discharging from an inverted bottle,” first alluded to by Mr. Cart- 
wright as a diagnostic of hydrops pericardii. 
Characteristics. — The versatility of this disease makes me 
approach this point with diffidence. In the first stage — -as in all 
cases of simple fever — we have considerable febrile excitement, 
without being able to connect it with any local lesion. In the 
second, the abnormal physical signs of the chest, particularly when 
confined to one side — complicated with derangement of the di- 
gestive system — especially a strong tendency to dysentery, with hot 
ears, enable us to speak with a confidence that loo seldom fails. 
Predisposition. — Cows in milk, and in gestation, are most 
liable to it; but neither age nor sex claim exemption. 
Anatomical Characters. — The lining of the trachea, and soft 
parts around the larynx, often present a dark appearance ; the 
right lung in most — the left in some — in others both are greatly 
enlarged and consolidated, hepatized, and more or less infiltered 
with a bloody serosity. Extensive effusions of coagulable lymph 
are often found on the surfaces of the pleura — sometimes uniting 
the lungs, pericardium, and parietes of the chest to a great extent. 
There is also effusion of serum into the chest and pericardium. 
The internal coat of the fourth stomach and large intestines is 
often high coloured, and easily detached. 
There is serous effusion into the ventricles of the brain, and, in 
some, upon its surface, with congestion of the pia mater, and, not 
unfrequently, softening of a portion of the cervical spinal cord. 
The facts and circumstances above detailed seem to warrant the 
following conclusions : 
1. That functional derangement, succeeded by febrile action, 
always precedes and exists for some time previous to the develop- 
ment of pulmonary disease. 
2. That partial congestion and effusion of coagulable lymph take 
place simultaneously with the affection of the pulmonary tissue ; 
that is, it constitutes the primary, not the subsequent stage, as in 
true pneumonia. 
3. That the obstruction in the lungs thus induced, connected 
with the functional derangement of the digestive system, by arrest- 
ing the due arterialization of the blood, and cutting off a fresh 
supply of chyle, tend still more to deteriorate the former fluid ; 
and thus to create the debility and consequent effusion of serum 
into the cavities of parts previously weakened by disease. 
