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EXTRACTS FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS. 
however, convalescent. Thirteen cases have terminated fatally. 
In several other large establishments the mortality has reached 
ten to fifteen per cent., in others the loss has been very trifling; 
so that perhaps about five per cent, may be taken as representing 
the average mortality amongst affected animals. 
In this short essay my intention is not to enter into a discus¬ 
sion as to the pathology of the malady. I shall content myself 
with saying that it is a specific, contagious, infectious febrile dis¬ 
ease running an acute course. Its origin is always to be traced 
to contagion. Other causes take no part in its production. In¬ 
fection results as a rule from the expired air of diseased or con¬ 
valescent animals. It may, however, arise from a veritable trans¬ 
mission of the contagion by persons from diseased to healthy 
animals. After infection, five to six days usually elapse prior to 
the first symptoms becoming manifest. Convalescence occupies 
very often one to two weeks, relapses during this period, however, 
being by no means unfrequent. Those horses which at the com¬ 
mencement of the disease are taken off work, placed in suitable, 
well-aired stalls, and carefully attended to, have almost without 
exception the disease in a mild form; whilst, on the other hand, 
horses which continue to be subjected to exertion, or are main¬ 
tained in close overheated stables, invariably suffer to a much 
greater extent. 
About ten per cent, appear insusceptible to the contagium, 
and fifteen to twenty per cent, of the affected ones suffer only 
slightly. 
The following are the most important changes occurring in 
the organs of the body of an affected animal:— 
1. Fever, in which the internal temperature rises from 103°, 
105°, 106°, and even 107.2°. The external temperature is change¬ 
able, the coat stares, but shiverings ( Schiittelfrost ) or muscular 
tremblings are never observed. 
2. Myocarditis parenchymatosa , which I regard as the most 
dangerous element in the disease, occasions an increase in the 
frequency of the pulse, which varies from 56 to 60 in mild attacks, 
to 90, 100, and 120 in severe ones. 
3. Superficial catarrh of the respiratory mucous membrane , 
