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being simple, circumscribed, epithelial degeneration, probably as a result of plugging
of the small vessels of the dermis ; it disappears very rapidly and is only found in a
small proportion of cases. The dry, hard condition of the skin is a characteristic
feature of the chronic or subacute cases; it is associated with extreme marasmus. The
wasting sets in rather suddenly after the fever has been on the animal several times.
Suddenly one day it is noticed that the mule or pony is " tucked up;" his ribs show
plainly, his eyepits are deep, he looks old, and there seems " nothing of him." It is at
this stage the patient generally comes under professional notice; inquiry elicits the
facts that lately he has been sluggish and not working with good heart; that he has
been out of sorts several times recently, but not to any important degree; that he
has been noticed to hang back on the collar chain in the stable; to eat earth freely and
to have a most ravenous appetite for fodder. These signs are almost sufficient in
themselves to stamp the case as one of relapsing fever, but the diagnosis must be
assured by use of the thermometer and microscope. The movements are very languid
and weak almost from the first, and the deficiency in power of the hind limbs must
not be called paralysis, for no true loss of conveying power has occurred in the nerves
or nerve centres, but the deficiency in motor power is, if we may judge from post-
mortem results, due to blocking of the vessels of the hind limbs with blood-clot.
There is often a marked deficiency in color of the supra-lumbar muscles found after
death ; they seem as though they had been inflamed, probably, as Dr. Evans pointed
out, in consequence of excessive pack-loads to the animals and quite independently of
the disease. Almost from the first the deficiency in power of free movement shows
itself. When the animal is made to " stand over," it tries to obey, but catches
one hind foot in the bedding and totters with the hind quarters, almost invariably
recovering itself in time to prevent a fall to the ground. When the patient falls
and remains recumbent broadside, as it does towards the end of the attack, it is
manifesting extreme debility rather than actual paralysis, for, when the animal suffers
from delirium or struggles on being touched, it will be found that some of the limbs,
generally the uppermost pair, move with abnormal energy, so that the bedding soon
becomes removed from beneath the animal and he is covered with bed-sores, and
sometimes the skin is actually worn through on projecting points from the way in
which the animal dashes himself about. The head is especially liable to such injuries;
sometimes it is spasmodically drawn to one particular side, in other cases it is rigidly
elevated. Generally an animal which " goes down " does not rise again, but I have
records of cases in which the patient has risen after being some time recumbent
persistently and has remained for a month or longer time after this constantly standing
until death set in. Some patients stand and feed to the very last and then drop dead.
A noteworthy indication of cachexia and the general malnutrition is occasionally to be
seen in the changes undergone by the cornea in advanced cases of this disorder; it
first becomes opaque and then small sub-conjunctival ulcers, like those seen in dogs
suffering from distemper, may be noted. The general atony of the skin in animals
which remain stretched flat on the side for some time is denoted by the undermost
surface of the body being bathed in perspiration, but there is never any critical
increase in the evacuations from the cutaneous glands resembling the sweating stages
of the febrile exacerbation in man.
3. The very general nature of the malnutritions, the fact that practically every
part of the body shares in them, at once attracts our attention to the blood as the
main seat of disorder. A small drop may be obtained for examination by incision,
with an abscess lancet, about a quarter of an inch long, into the thin skin of the
muzzle; occasionally the animal will, by an inopportune jerk of the head, give him-
self rather a long slash, which, however, generally heals freely by first intention ;
generally blood does not flow readily from the wound, and the animal does not seem
to mind it, or a small quantity of lymphy fluid only will, for some time, collect from
the wound. The deficient sensibility and anaemia of the patient are noteworthy.
The drop obtained is generally grumous and purple in color ("like bad claret," as it
was described by a looker-on on one occasion); probably a few short delicate hairs of
the muzzle become mixed with the specimen; they do not interfere with the exami-
nation, but sometimes look remarkably like embryonic filariæ, especially when curled
up by contraction of the clot in which they are entangled; they taper towards each
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