REPORT ON THE CATTLE PLAGUE. 95 
contamination of the blood, the duration of the disease, and 
the diminished strength of the vital forces. 
In all this we have a great similarity to the pathology of 
the small-pox, but in that disease the external skin is the 
principal focus of the malady, while in rinderpest the 
mucous membranes, or internal skin, are its chief seat. 
Small-pox frequently proves fatal before the local symptoms 
are well established ; and so, indeed, does rinderpest, from 
the great amount of morbific matter with which the system is 
charged. 
Names given to the Disease .—Of all the terms which have 
been given to this malady, there is none which we are 
willing to adopt in preference to “Rinderpest.^ It is the 
one which we have employed throughout this report, although 
it may be thought that it is too general in its application, 
and deficient also in explicitness, to be selected in preference 
to others which set forth something of the nature of the 
disease. The term, nevertheless, explains that the affection 
is a true cattle plague ; and, besides this, being the one which 
is used throughout Germany, it is thoroughly understood in 
nearly every European state—a fact which gives it a value 
above many others. 
“ Steppe murrain,” although this name tends to throw 
some light on the chief location of the disease, it nevertheless 
fails to take cognizance even of the kind of animal which is 
the subject of the malady, and leaves the pathology of it 
entirely unexplained. 
“Contagious typhus” is far from being appropriate, 
notwithstanding that the disease has some characters which 
are common to the typhus of man. The differences which 
are observed in the duration, progress, symptoms, and results 
of the two maladies, are far too numerous and important to 
warrant the pathologist in the adoption of a definite term of 
this kind, and for this reason we have purposely abstained 
from employing it. 
u Loser durre” is, in our opinion, the most inappropriate 
of any of the names to which we have alluded. The hardness 
of the third stomach, or rather of its contents, which the term 
implies, is not a speciality attaching to the affection. It may 
often be present in the pest, but it is just as frequently absent. 
The term directs attention to one particular part of the body 
as the seat of diseased action, and consequently it often leads 
to incorrect conclusions. We have seen men of ability, who 
have been called upon to make post-mortem examinations, 
hesitate to pronounce a decided opinion of the existence of 
the maladv when the third stomach has been found healthy. 
Hardness or dryness of these contents is common in many 
