464 
J. F. WINCHESTER. 
affection is then much more grave, for the products of decom¬ 
position act as highly noxious irritants in the tissues that are 
still healthy. Definitive suppuration may, however, in this ease 
also lead to the separation of the dead tissues from the living and 
so allow the process of repair to begin. 
Neuritis, simple or multiple, is due to the irritant being 
brought by the blood or lymph to the nerve inducing the in¬ 
flammation, and is regarded as a direct result of the general in¬ 
fection. 
The history of the cases on which is based the theory that 
cows may be susceptible to diphtheria, will be found in the fol¬ 
lowing pages. The facts about three of the five cows vere 
gleaned from the owner and attendant. The third cow had been 
sick three weeks before I was called, while the fifth and last was 
under my observation from the beginning. At the commence¬ 
ment of the outbreak there were four cows kept on the place. A 
cow was bought in September that did not contract the malady. 
Later in the fall two heifers were purchased and one of these, 
designated as No. 5, died the following March. 
In the middle of July, 1893, a cow, whose time was about out 
to calve, was turned out to pasture on a side hill having low 
land at the base. In due time the physiological act took place, 
and the evening before it she was apparently all right. The 
next morning the cow could not get up and the calf was dead. 
The owner thinking the cow was spent from the exertion had 
her put on a drag and taken to the barn. 
Arriving at the farm the cow got up and there w as no¬ 
ticed a thick discharge from the nostrils ; the lower eyelids 
were swollen, and there was a continuous flow of tears, besides 
well marked ptyalism. She had trembling spells (chills) attended 
with hurried respiration, paroxysms of pain, at which time she 
manifested mental disturbance. 
The appetite was deranged, but she would eat and drink a 
little at times. The bowels acted, but not so often as normal. 
The back was arched, with periods of well marked straining, 
urination was quite frequent, and she wasted in flesh quite 
