566 
ON INFLAMMATORY FEVER IN CATTLE. 
the greatest quantity of cellular and muscular tissue exists. Pres- 
sure detects a crackling feeling, but causes little and sometimes no 
pain, nor is there any apparent increase of heat in the part. Oc- 
casionally there is not any lameness : in these cases, however, 
swelling and emphysema may generally be discovered in some 
part of the body, and are mostly found in the lumbar, dorsal, or 
lateral cervical regions. There is loss of appetite, with constipa- 
tion — the pulse at first is quicker and fuller than natural, but after 
formation of the tumours has taken place it becomes nearly im- 
perceptible. There are seldom any symptoms indicating great 
pain internally or externally ; and I have often failed to observe 
the high degree of fever which is sometimes described as existing, 
but, on the contrary, have witnessed many cases in which very 
little was apparent. The strength rapidly fails, and does so in 
proportion to the extent and degree of swelling and emphysema; 
death frequently occurs in from eight to twelve hours from the 
time illness was perceived. More rarely the disease makes less 
rapid progress, and life is prolonged for twenty-four or thirty-six 
hours ; more rarely still, on the second, third, or fourth day, the 
swellings burst, which, with ulcers appearing at the same time on 
other parts, discharge a thin, sanious, and foetid fluid. Such being 
the case, recovery tedious in its progress may supervene. These 
are the symptoms recognized in ordinary cases of this disease. 
There are, however, occasionally others to be perceived, as fits 
of coma, inability to rise, and more or less uneasiness. In other 
cases, again, there appears a gradual decay of the physical powers, 
and the animal sinks away without exhibiting much suffering, or 
any very tangible symptoms of disease. 
Post-mortem appearances . — These are of the same nature in 
whatever part of the body they are observed, and consist externally 
of gangrenous-looking tumours, varied in size, containing air. The 
internal organs and membranes are more or less injected, and pre- 
sent appearances usually described as those of inflammation. The 
difference in degree of extravasation in various parts has induced 
some to suppose that the redness of the peritoneum and pleura, &c. 
does not originate from the same cause as the gangrenous-looking 
tumours in which emphysema existed during life. I believe them, 
however, to be identical, and the existence of emphysema in the 
cellular and muscular tissues, and its absence from the internal 
membranes, to be due to the circumstance that the latter class of 
membranes do not, from their structure, permit such a quantity of 
effusion into their tissues as leads to the extrication of gas to any 
appreciable extent, but sufficient, nevertheless, to give them the 
appearance of congestion they almost uniformly present after death. 
The physical composition of the former class of tissues, again, per- 
mits congestion and effusion to an indefinite degree, so that their 
