TEXAS CATTLE DISEASE, otherwise called Spanish fever, splenic fever, accli mation fever, American cattle plague, red water, black water, yellow murrain, and bloody murrain; a very fatal epizootic, contagious or infectious fever of cattle, confined to regions s. of the 37th parallel of n. latitude except when communicated by cattle brought from there. The earliest recorded account of the disease is in a lecture before the " Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture" by Dr. James Meare, Nov. 3, 1814, and which is quoted in a report to the department of agriculture at Washington in 1871 on diseases of cattle in the United States by Mr. Dodge. It is there stated that cat tle from certain districts in South Carolina were found to communicate the disease to those with which they mingle while being driven northward, and that a law was enacted by Virginia against their passing through that state. At the session of the general assem bly of North Carolina in 1836-37, a law was passed to prevent cattle from entering that state from either South Carolina or Georgia between the first of April and the first of November. At the session of 1873-74 a new law was passed prohibiting the driving of cattle from South Carolina or Georgia into any of the counties w. of the Blue Ridge between the first day of April and the last day of November, and at the session of 1878-79 the former law was altered so as to prohibit the driving of cattle, not only from South Carolina and Georgia, but from any of the counties e. of the Blue Ridge, and also extending the prohibition to all seasons of the year. The greatest losses have been caused by driving Texas cattle through Arkansas, Missouri, and`Kansas, and distributing them to feeders in vari ous western states. Missouri suffered much in this way as long ago as 1852 and 1853, and in the summers of 1856 and 1857 the states of Kansas and Iowa had great numbers of cattle swept away by the disease which was communicated by southern droves. In 1866 a drover brought a steamboat load of Texas cattle up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, landing them at Louisville and driving them to Lexington, Ky., and all along the route of the drive nearly all the native cattle perished, and of a drove of fat cattle which followed them, all took the disease and died. In 1867 Cairo, Ill., became the chief point of transshipment of cattle coming from Texas and other places in the s., in consequence of their being prohibited from passing through Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa. During the early part of the season there was no trouble, but with the warm weather the disease made its appearance. In 1868 there was a great outbreak. Large numbers of cattle were brought into the state of Illinois. At the little town of Tolono, at the crossing of the Illinois Central and Toledo and Wabash railroads, from fifteen to eighteen thousand Texas cattle were landed, which by the first of September occasioned the death of nearly one thousand native cattle of the township, and five thousand in the county. Nearly two thousand cattle were carried off by the disease near Loda, Ill., and many others in different parts of the state. The losses in Warren co., Ind., alone were reported to be over fifteen hundred. At Cincinnati, Ohio, a herd of twenty-nine cows exposed to the contagion, all died, and similar experiences were repeated in other sections.
All observations indicate that in the permanently infected districts s. of parallel 37° the cattle become accustomed to the influence of the disease germs, and that the effect is much milder upon the organization, passing through it without creating much disturb ance, and generally without being noticed. When, however, the southern cattle are taken into regions previously unaffected the native cattle, not being protected by pre vious habitual exposure, become the victims of the disease. The imported droves, also, when crowded, suffer to a certain extent, but not in comparison with the native cattle. Native cattle have been known to convey the disease to native cattle in other states, one instance being where native cows from Painesville, Ohio, brought the disease to Orange co., N. Y., causing the death of eight animals. Symptoms.—One of the first symptoms is an elevation of the animal temperature, which ranges usually from 1067 to 108° Palm but occasionally not more than 104° to 105°, and sometimes as high as 110°. As death approaches the temperature falls to below the normal. The first outward symptoms are
those of languor and fatigue, as drooping of the head, lopped ears, and 'arching of the back. The eyes are staring, the coat rough, the horns are hot and the nose dry. As the disease advances the head droops more, so that the nose almost reaches the ground; the hind legs are placed far under the body; the legs are very weak and the animal has a disposition to lie down, especially in water. The pulse is very frequent; sometimes soft and feeble, but often hard and wiry. The post mortem appearances are only to be seen soon after death, as decomposition rapidly sets in and speedily obliterates the pathological conditions. When soon enough examined the muscles have a dark red color, and the fat is of a deep brownish yellow, in some cases having a bronzed appear ance. All the tissues, but particularly the muscles, have a peculiar sickening odor. On examining the alimentary canal the oesophagus and the first three stomachs have gen erally a not unnatural appearance, although the third stomach is often found dry and obstructed. In the fourth stomach there are characteristic changes. The whole mucous membrane is more or less congested, the cardiac portion especially, but the more pecu liar lesions are at the pyloric end. It is not so much discolored, but is full of erosions, sloughs, and deep, excavated ulcers. The small intestines are the seat of congestions. Engorgements and extravasations of blood are common in the large intestines. The liver is usually enlarged, sometimes weighing from twenty to twenty-seven pounds, and fatty or The bile-ducts are injected with a 3rellowish-brown bile, and the gall is almost always distended, with a dark, thick, flaky, and tarry looking bile, sometimes amounting to as much as four pounds. The kidneys are usually congested and enlarged, and the cortical substance softened. In a few cases they have a healthy appear ance. The urinary bladder is generally distended with dark bloody urine, and the mucous membrane is frequently thickened and inflamed. The spleen is always enlarged, and engorged with dark colored blood. It is frequently softened, and in some cases is a mere pulpy, disorganized mass. It has been found two feet and a half long, and having a weight of over nine pounds. The lungs are generally healthy in appearance with the exception of small points of extravasation, and enlargement of some of the air cells. The blood in the blood-vessels is nearly natural in appearance and coagulates quickly, but is generally rather more watery than in health. Dr. J. Cresson Stiles found that the white corpuscles were in excess only in one case, but the liquor sanguinis was yel lower than in health, and contained minute flocculi of yellow granular matter. In some instances complete dissolution of the blood globules took place long before putrefaction. There is considerable difference of opinion as to the cause of the disease, and the nature of the infectious principle, but the general opinion is that it is owing to the development of a disease germ. The period of incubation varies. All observers agree that it is always as much as ten days, but it is often from two to six weeks, and even longer. It has been supposed by some that the period depends upon the amount of contagious matter present, but instances of the disease being propagated rapidly where cattle have been turned into pasture which had been but a short time occupied by only a few imported cattle disproves this theory. Prof. Law of Cornell university, regards the virus as not being diffused in the atmosphere, but confined to the pastures on which the southern cattle graze, and he instances the fact that cattle may occupy a field adjacent to one in which southern cattle have grazed without taking the disease. In regard to extermination he regards the affection as of much less importance than pleuro-pneumo nia (q.v.). The chief measures against the disease are those of prevention, and these consist in preventing the introduction of southern cattle during the spring and summer months, and the use of disinfectants in places where they have been harbored; but the efficacy of the latter is to great extent doubtful on account of the difficulty of thorough application. • Considerable investigation is needed, and stringent measures of exclusion resorted to before satisfactory results can be attained.