592 
HERBERT S. ADAMS. 
should they go down from exhaustion, they breathe very haid for 
an hour or so and die without a struggle. Post-mortem of those 
dying in first stage, my examinations were not very careful, 
having no one to assist me, and they were generally done in a 
hurry. On opening the body there is nothing very noticeable 
except there is a general engorgement of all the internal blood¬ 
vessels and symptoms of general inflamation throughout the 
viscera, but not at all localized except at the pericardium which 
has a swollen appearance and on cutting through it find the cavity 
full of serous fluid which is sometimes mixed with blood; the 
heart is the natural size but soft and flabby to the touch, lacking 
the firm hard feeling it has in health, and on opening it no 
valvular trouble can be seen; blood very dark and coagulated 
very firmly, I have only seen three die at this stage, most 
of them recover and die in the second stage. Post-mortem 
of second stage shows the following conditions, which are very 
hard to come at the cause of death, except the piesence of 
hydropericardium, the whole of the viscera being apparently 
healthy. Powels are filled with digested food, rectum contains 
faeces which were covered with mucus, stomach full of partly 
digested food, bladder was full of urine which contained a great 
deal of albumen and mucous. The pericardial sac contained 
nearly as much fluid as it could hold, condition like that of first 
stage, soft and flabby. Third and last stage. Very lew reach 
this condition, which is a general complication of hydi opericar- 
dium hydrothorax and septic poisoning, the animal presents a 
loathsome object, of which I have not made any post-moitem 
examinations, as those I had for subjects had been dead for 
some hours and were very impotent as it was hot weather. 
Treatment of first symptoms are as follows: Tincture digitalis 
and tincture aconite reduced in equal parts of each gave 30 M. 
every hour until pulse and temperature were reduced, and ii 
pain continued, I gave chloralhydrate in 3 ss. doses eveiy hour 
and half until pain ceased; nit. potassium 3 i. in every gallon of 
drinking water until the kidneys were active; in twenty-four 
hours these symptoms subsided, and I treated as follows foi sec- 
