988 
W. E. FRENCH. 
globules. In some we find high fever, and in others much be¬ 
low normal, and in nearly every case a weak heart action—and 
this is not to be wondered at when one studies the foods they 
get, and often restricted to the use of soft or surface water. 
This condition may be brought about by the eating of coarse 
and fibrous grasses, which overtask the digestive powers, irri¬ 
tate the mucous surfaces of the stomach and bowels. 
Foods which possess astringent properties and tend to check 
secretion may also act as an exciting cause. 
Vegetable deficient in some essential element, especially 
that grown on poor, sandy soils, such as the sand hills of 
Florida, and restricted for a long time on the same kind of food, 
will in time result in a deficiency of red globules in the blood, 
the result of chronic conditions of digestion and the mesenteric 
glands, causing increased paleness of the mucous membranes 
and paper skin, and as the blood becomes poorer, all symptoms 
are aggravated, movements become unsteady, the hair easily de¬ 
tached, appetite fails, the dung is passed in small quantities and 
very hard, eyes sunken, staggering gait, hurried breathing, and 
may die any moment. 
In this condition the animals are especially attracted by 
alkaline and saline substances, due to the depraved appetite, 
and this is why we often see them chewing an old bone or shoe, 
etc. This condition may last for months, the animal ultimately 
dying, worn out by the long-continued fever. 
The bones often become brittle and fracture easily following 
this condition. 
Food deficient in some of the constituents required to supply * 
the wear and growth of the body, and especially those deficient 
in lime salts. Cattle on the sand hills are predisposed to it— 
one in a herd suffers though all may feed on the same range, 
and in such cases the condition must arise from the affected 
animal not assimilating properly the nutritive elements of the 
food it gets to eat, and again acute impactions of the manifolds 
are usually complicated with congestion and inflammation. 
Also result from over-stimulating food, or from dry heating ail- 
