194 
ANALYSIS OF CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 
animals was assuaged from a well; the fluid could not be 
considered wholesome, it being retained in an alluvial soil 
mixed with organic matter, the water of which was of a 
somewhat dark colour indicative of its origin. The animals 
also drank while at pasture from the ditches which sur¬ 
rounded the meadows, the water of which being stagnant, 
contained organic matter which is known to be detrimental 
to health. But to these conditions must be added others, 
which are as essential, and perhaps more important, viz., the 
geological constitution of the soil, which is compact, and 
largely mixed with clay, making the passage of the water 
very difficult, the marshy nature of the surface, the neigh¬ 
bourhood of a waste pond on the confines of the estate, the 
emanations in daytime, and the humidity of the nights, con¬ 
stitute particular conditions in those districts which impart 
to maladies of the human subject a peculiar fatality. It was 
in the midst of these conditions that the malady manifested 
itself. Three animals were first attacked with the following 
symptoms : rapid loss of strength, slow and unsteady move¬ 
ments, frequently lying down, staring coat, tightness, dryness 
and redness of the skin, sensibility of the loins, loss of 
appetite, suspension of rumination, defaecation scanty, 
mucous membranes pale, or of a reddish yellow, pulse fre¬ 
quent and oppressed, urine very dark ; in cows there was los 
of milk, and the udder became shrivelled. When the progress 
of the malady is not arrested the weakness increases, the 
lying down becomes more frequent, alternations of heat and 
cold on the skin, the cold predominating, tremors appear at 
the shoulders and thighs, defaecation becomes more unfrequent, 
and dry faeces are expelled with difficulty. The urine is mixed 
with blood, the prostration is more intense, the body becomes 
intensely cold, and the urine of an extremely dark colour. 
The animals sink under the general prostration after three or 
four days^ illness, unless they recover by a judicious treat¬ 
ment. The convalescence is generally protracted. 
The Autopsy .—This is in accordance with the symptoms: 
the kidneys show traces of inflammation in various degrees, 
and instead of increased vascularity ramoliissement, redness, 
&c. The other organs are almost normal: one could not but be 
struck with the contrast in a malady so expressive in the 
symptoms, with so little to be observed in the morbid lesions. 
