8 Colorado Experiment Station. 
have undergone fatty degeneration and others have entirely disap¬ 
peared. The central veins are engorged with blood. 
The spleen appears normal both on autopsy and under the mi¬ 
croscope. The kidneys show passive congestion and under the 
microscope there is considerable dilatation of the vessels with the 
cells of the tubules undergoing degeneration and loosening. The 
pancreas and bladder are normal. 
In the thorax a large amount of fluid is to be found as in the 
abdomen. The lungs are edematous and therefore near the lower 
borders a few reddened solidified and slightly depressed areas. 
When the animal has died of the disease the lungs may be reddened 
and the bronchial tubes show hemorrhages. The heart is enlarged, 
dilated and usually flabby. It is pale in color and may or may not 
be thicker than normal in its wails. It has been our experience in 
the limited number of cases that the hearts of the young animals 
are dilated and flabby with thin walls, while in the older ones there 
is hypertrophy with dilatation. No vegetations have been found on 
the valves nor any lesion that would lead to the belief that a valvu¬ 
lar disturbance existed. 
Under the microscope in three cases there has been noted ex¬ 
cess fibrous tissue with more or less round cell infiltration. Some 
degeneration exists, the degenerated fibres being replaced by new 
fibrous tissue. Numerous sarcosporidia are found in every section, 
but no special importance is attributed to these, as they are rather 
common in normal animals. 
The pericardium and epicardium are edematous and thickened. 
DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS. 
It simulates traumatic pericarditis, but can be differentiated 
by the fever which usually accompanies the latter disease. On post 
mortem examination the finding of pus in the pericardium would 
eliminate “brisket disease” and point to traumatism. 
It could easily be mistaken for pneumonia, especially if com¬ 
plicated with pleurisy, in which case the brisket might be swollen. 
The diagnosis here would be based on the presence of fever in the 
live animal and on autopsy, signs of inflammation in the lungs and 
pleura. 
We see no reason for confusing the disease with diphtheria, 
but since it has been done, will say that diphtheria can only be diag¬ 
nosed when there are ulcers and an extremely foul odor in the 
mouth. 
TREATMENT. 
From our experience in six cases and from the experience of 
several stockmen, shipping to a lower altitude seems to be sufficient 
