608 
THE VETERINARIAN, SEPTEMBER 1, 1880. 
Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat.—C icero, 
SPLENIC EEVER AMONG CATTLE EROM AMERICA. 
The landing of two cargoes of American cattle at Liver¬ 
pool, with splenic fever or splenic apoplexy among them, 
naturally suggests the possibility of Texas fever, which is 
often described as splenic fever or Spanish fever by American 
writers. 
There appears to be no doubt that Texas fever is charac¬ 
terised by an engorgement of the spleen and by haemor¬ 
rhagic patches on various parts of the body, as well as by 
ulcerations or deep excavations in the mucous membrane of 
parts of the alimentary canal. We do not find, however, 
that the Bacillus anthracis , which is the distinguishing 
mark of splenic fever in this country and in Europe gene¬ 
rally, has been detected in the blood of cattle which have 
succumbed to Texas fever. 
In the history of Texas fever, as it is recorded by Professor 
Gamgee in 1868, and by previous and subsequent investi¬ 
gators, there are important details, which lead to the con¬ 
clusion that the disease is not the one which is known as 
splenic apoplexy in various parts of the kingdom. This 
malady is not confined to cattle, and the poison, which is 
eliminated from the organism of an infected animal, acts 
fatally on other animals and on man, as numerous deaths 
from accidental inoculation prove. The infective energy of 
splenic fever, so far from ceasing with the infection of one 
set of animals, extends independently, and the infective 
matter, it seems, may be transmitted from one system to 
another, gaining rather than losing power in the process. 
Texas fever is, according to all accounts, a malady of most 
peculiar character. Starting with Texas cattle, in whose 
system it appears to be latent, it extends with deadly effect 
to other breeds of cattle with which the Texan may come in 
