REPORT ON THE CATTLE PLAGUE. 
331 
10th.—The symptoms are somewhat mitigated this morning, leading 
to the hope that the animal may possibly rally. The dysenteric purging 
is diminished in quantity, and the evacuations also are less frequent. 
The breathing is more tranquil, and the cough more audible. The pulse 
has sunk to /O, and has an increased tone. Each rising of the artery is 
accompanied with a peculiar jerking action. The discharge from the 
nostrils and eyes has not undergone any material change. The ex¬ 
tremities and surface of the body are wanner, and the animal is evidently 
freer from suffering. He lies less; takes freely of water, and shows a 
little disposition to pick some fresh green clover, a handful of which we 
gathered for him from an adjacent field. 
11th.—Scarcely so well to-day. Some blood is occasionally pass¬ 
ed with the alvine evacuations. These are still fluid, have a foetid 
smell, are of a pale colour and contain numerous shreds of lymph. 
The abdomen is more pinched in. The pulse is rather quicker, as is 
the breathing, the expirations being at times accompanied with a slight 
grunt. The discharge from the eyes and nostrils is less in quantity, but 
the cough is more frequent. He has, however, eaten a little clover and 
drank some water, and stood up at intervals for a longer time than before. 
This change in the symptoms made us most desirous of watching the 
case to its close, but the Commissioners ordered that the animal should 
be killed forthwith, as they saw no hope of recovery, and were anxious 
to remove the cordon, there being no cattle left on the premises, excepting 
the Steppe oxen, mentioned in a preceding part of this report as 
having some weeks since recovered from the pest. 
Post-mortem Examination .—On removing the skin, the muscles of the 
body were found of their usual colour and integrity, and the areolar 
tissue throughout was likewise free from congestion. Commencing the 
examination of the internal organs at the nostrils, the Schneiderian 
membrane was observed to be much congested, more particularly that 
portion of it which is continued into the posterior nares, where it was 
extensively ulcerated. This ulceration could be traced from thence to 
the free edge of the velum palati. In places it was concealed by a thick 
layer of lymph, which adhered with tolerable firmness to the membrane 
beneath. The larynx, trachea, and bronchi were free from disease, as 
were also the lungs. The heart was healthy. It contained within its 
scarcely any clothes except a long coat made of a coarse and thick 
woollen material of a dirty-white colour, which reached a little below 
their knees. The Burgomaster did not much differ from his compeers, 
except that he wore a leathern girdle, furnished with a pocket, around 
his waist, in which he carried his money, and of which, little as it was, 
he appeared very proud. Their legs were enveloped in pieces of linen 
tied on with string, and their feet were protected by roughly-made 
sandals, having very thin leather soles, being apparently of their own 
manufacturing. 
