362 ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. 
chaff, cake, corn, and a moderate quantity of mangel. Salt was 
also ordered to be given with the manger food, and good protec¬ 
tion afforded against inclement weather by placing the ewes at 
night in a warm lambing yard. These means have proved effec¬ 
tive for good, and I have no information of other cases having very 
recently occurred. 
Enclosed with this report I send a communication from Pro¬ 
fessor Axe, giving particulars of an investigation he has made 
into an outbreak of splenic apoplexy among animals belonging to 
Mr. Stratton, at Newport, Monmouthshire. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant. 
James B. Simonds. 
H. M. Jenkins, Esq., Secretary, 
Eoyal Agricultural Society. 
Beport of Investigation into an Outbreak of Splenic 
Apoplexy in a Herd of Beasts. 
This inquiry was instituted on the 14th of March, in response 
to a communication received from R. Stratton, Esq., The Duffryn, 
Newport. f 
The disease first appeared on the 6th of March, in a two-year- 
old steer. This animal, together with another, occupied separate 
compartments in a shed adjoining some yards, in which eighty 
other beasts of all ages were housed. In the early part of January 
last the steer in question was brought from a farm several miles 
distant, and put up to fatten. In consequence of some tempo¬ 
rary derangement of his teeth mastication was much interfered 
with, which caused him to lose condition. An examination of his 
mouth led to the removal of the defective teeth, after which he 
rapidly accumulated flesh. To this sudden and extreme change 
in the condition of this animal I attribute the origin of the dis¬ 
ease. xAfter death the carcase was removed to an adjoining barn, 
and there opened in close proximity to a heap of turnips. In 
regard to these turnips, inquiry showed that, in the course of the 
post-mortem examination some of them became more or less 
covered over with the blood of the steer. Of these, some were 
disposed of; but it is to be feared, from subsequent events, that 
blood-tainted roots reached the cows in the yard adjoining the 
barn, as one of them became affected with the disease, and died 
five or six days afterwards. I had an opportunity of examining 
the spleen from the last-named animal, and subsequently of 
making a detailed investigation into the condition of the blood 
which it afforded. In this anthrax organisms (Bacillus anthraci) 
were found in large numbers, and in the spleen apoplexy, with 
its attendant disruption of tissue, were strikingly marked. The 
measures adopted for arresting the progress of the malady had 
reference to the sanitary condition of the premises, the quantity 
and nature of the food used, and the general management of the 
herd. 
Two days afte? my visit I was informed that another cow had 
