G72 
EFFECTS OF COTTON CAKE ON YOUNG STOCK. 
remarkably quick and feeble in cliaracter; mucous membranes 
very pale, and those of the eye presen tin a bloodless condi¬ 
tion. The eyes themselves had a dull lustre, and slightly 
drooping lids. The appetite Avas considerably impaired. Tlic 
faeces were natural, but the animal had not been seen to 
urinate. The attendant, however, had noticed that it, with 
several of the others, had been frequently licking some chalk 
or dirt from an embankment close bv. 
I proceeded to make a -mortem examination of 
the one that died the previous night. On removing the 
common integument, 1 first noticed an unusual redness of 
some parts of the muscular tissue, more especially of the 
hind quarters. By scraping these places with the knife, the 
colour, however, was easily removed, leaving them blanched 
in appearance. On laying open the abdomen, upwards of a 
gallon of hXoody fluid escaped, and on removing the intestines 
1 noticed fluid blood escaping from the severed vessels. The 
serous membrane was pale in colour, not bearing the slight¬ 
est evidence of inflammatory action. The kidneys were normal 
in appearance, as was also the liver, but the gall-bladder 
was distended with bile. The bladder was considerably dis¬ 
tended, the urine being of the same colour as the fluid found 
in the abdomen. Its muscular coat, however, was blanched. 
The lungs were normal, but the heart was flabby. It con¬ 
tained only a very small amount of imperfectly clotted blood, 
which was black in colour. The larger vessels near the heart 
also contained fluid blood. The rumen was filled with ordi¬ 
nary ingesta, intermixed with which were the hard and 
black-looking husks of the cotton seed. Its mucous mem¬ 
brane peeled off in large flakes the size of one’s hand ; but 
when carefully examined by emptying the viscus of its con¬ 
tents, its muscular coat was found to be pale in colour. The 
mucous membrane of the reticulum w^as slightly reddened. 
The omasum contained but little ingesta, and its mucous 
membrane, like that of the rumen, would easily peel ofl:\ The 
abomasum exhibited nothing beyond a slight blush of redness 
of its mucous membrane. The large intestines were normal. 
They contained a yellow fluid, with the exception of the rec¬ 
tum, in which was a blood-coloured liquid similar to some 
which had been seen to escape from the anus after death. 
The owner, standing by watching my proceedings, was 
anxious to know the result, when I told him my conviction 
was that the cotton cake had been the cause of death. I 
requested to be put in possession of specimens of the cake, 
that I might, with his consent, forward them to Professor Tuson 
for analysis. He at first consented to this, but I am sorry to 
say that afterwards he declined. 
