SPLENIC APOPLEXY. 
517 
with. Here, again, was an example that the blood had left 
its vessels, and lay, as it were, in the interstices of the 
muscles. As with the abdominal effusions, so with those 
which took place in other organs of the body—the blood 
was always fluid. 
It not unfrequently happened, if an animal bore up against 
the disease longer than was usual—the ordinary duration of 
the malady being seldom more than eighteen hours —such a S 
change was wrought in the condition of the flesh as to render it 
poisonous to animals partaking of it. He had known the flesh 
to be thrown into a yard and eaten by pigs, and within a few 
hours afterwards the pigs died. Dogs had been affected in 
a similar manner. This still further showed that we were 
dealing with a disease which was truly one that produced 
chemical changes in the blood. 
Referring again to the duration of the malady, he might 
observe that it was necessarilv short. It was seldom that 
%/ 
the animals attacked survived more than twenty-four hours; 
indeed the major part of them might be said to die within 
six or eight hours. Death sometimes took place even within 
two hours after the attack. If they examined the per-centage 
of the deaths they would, he believed, find that in ninety 
cases out of every hundred the animal died. 
As to the symptoms, there were, as a rule, no premonitory 
ones. The animals were usually feeding, and apparently 
doing well up to the time of the attack. When the symptoms 
first showed themselves, they were also very often not of an 
alarming character. The animal stood with its back arched. 
It had a difficulty of progression, a staggering gait, and a t 
twitching of the muscles. Paralysis succeeded. The coun- / 
tenance dull and dispirited, and the head pendulous; a 
frothy saliva came from the mouth; the breathing was laboured 
and difficult; and the pulse augmented, becoming tremulous 
and indistinct as the disease advanced. Colicky pains came on, 
and when effusion into the intestinal canal took place these 
griping pains were associated with diarrhoea and blood-coloured 
evacuations. The urine also was frequently discoloured with 
blood. The animal fell, and generally died in convulsions. 
The immediate cause of death was cerebral disturbance. 
Some animals would die frantic, while others died in a state n 
of coma. 
With regard to the treatment of the disease, no confidence 
could be placed in any one method in particular. All blood 
affections were exceedingly fatal, and generally ran their course 
so quickly that scarcely anything could be done to arrest them. 
They might, however, often prevent a disease of this kind; 
