692 
REPORT ON T1IE CATTLE PLAGUE. 
will slowly begin to ruminate. The pulse acquires more 
tone, the temperature of the body rises, and the respiration 
becomes natural, but the diarrhoea will not unfrequently con- 
tinue for seven or eight days. 
Duration . — In all cases which tend to a fatal termination, 
the animals rarely live beyond the fourth day after the symp- 
toms have shown themselves, while very many of them will 
sink as early as the second day. The greater number, how- 
ever, die on the third day from the attack. In those which 
recover, some diminution in the severity of the symptoms 
usually takes place on the third or fourth day, and if the 
patient survives this time, even should the symptoms not 
abate, it is regarded as a favorable indication of ultimate re- 
covery. The return to perfect health is rarely effected in 
less than three weeks, but much will depend on the age and 
constitution of the animal, as likewise on the amount of 
structural disease in the mucous membrane of the alimentary 
canal, and not a little also on the care and attention which 
are given the patient. 
Per-centage of Deaths . — If the pest be allowed to take its 
natural course for only a few days, it will be found that 
the deaths not unfrequently number ninety 'per cent . Steppe 
cattle are, however, said to bear up better against the 
affection than others, so that about one half of them will 
sometimes recover. Speaking, however, in general terms of 
the different breeds of cattle, as w 7 ell as of the different 
circumstances under which they are placed, the mortality 
will be found throughout Europe to range from seventy-five 
to eighty per cent. Fat animals, and those which are well 
cared for, are found to bear up very badly against the disease. 
Post-mortem Appearances . — The morbid lesions produced by 
the pest will be found centred in the mucous membranes, 
which are more or less affected throughout the entire body. 
Commencing an examination at the mouth, it not unfre- 
quently happens that many of the conical papillae which stud 
the body of the tongue will show here and there, at their 
bases, their vascular and epithelial coverings to be broken up 
by the ulcerative process. The root of the tongue, fauces, 
and velum palati, are also similarly implicated to a greater or 
less extent, w r hile their follicles are filled w r ith effused lymph, 
giving to the parts an appearance as if dotted over with some 
yellow pigment. Some of the follicles are likewise ulcerated, 
but the major portion are merely distended with lymph. 
The tonsils are in a similar condition ; and when a section 
is carried through their long diameter, large portions of 
lymph can be drawn from their ducts, the yellow colour of 
