Investigations into the Nature, Causation, and Prevention of Texas or Southern Cattle Fever Page: 28
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TEXAS OR SOUTHERN CATTLE FEVER.
through it very distinctly. (Plate I.) The veins of the capsule are
distinct, the minute vessels markedly injected and occasionally accom-
panied by extravasations of blood. The organ is firm to the touch
owing to its distended condition. When it is incised, the pulp appears
as a dark brownish-red, glistening, homogeneous mass, which has been
compared to "blackberry jam" in its appearance. The usual mark-
ings of the parenchyma of the normal spleen are effaced. The grayish
Malpighian bodies and the whitish trabeculae have all disappeared from
view within the distended pulp. (The differences between the cut
surface of the spleen in health and in Texas fever are well brought out
on Plate I.) The pulp may be still firm, or it may be partly difluent,
welling out as a semi-fluid mass from the incised retracting capsule. It
has occasionally been reported as ruptured, but this may be a combina-
tion of post-mortem softening with carelessness in its extraction. In
some cases the spleen may be much heavier than in health, but its
markings still visible on section.
A microscopic examination shows that the enlargement and peculiar
color of the spleen tissue is due to an engorgement with red blood cor-
puscles. With this engorgement there may be associated a variable
number of large cells containing coarse granules and from two to twelve
red corpuscles, or else the remains of these corpuscles in the form of
irregular clumps of yellowish pigment. The pigment is also free in
masses of variable size. Examination of fresh pulp from spleens of
healthy cattle showed that the presence of large quantities of free pig-
ment of the form described is not uncommon.
Of all the organs the liver is the most seriously involved. (See
Plates II and III.) The enlargement, congestion, bile-injection, and
fatty degeneration were pointed out by R. C. Stiles, in 1868. Gamgee
limited himself to matters of weight and evidently did not observe
the extensive changes which the parenchyma underwent. In our own
observations of healthy and diseased livers, the latter were probably
from 3 to 5 pounds heavier than the former. The edges were well
rounded off. The color of the surface was usually paler than in nor-
mal livers and in most cases of a peculiar mottled appearance. The
mottling was due to minute irregular grayish-yellow patches usually 1
millimeter or less in diameter. When incised the parenchyma was re-
markably bloodless in most cases, and a lac colored, thick blood poured
from the cut ends of the larger hepatic veins. The color of the cut
surface was either a uniformly brownish yellow or else mottled as on
the surface. (Plate II, Fig. 1.) The mottling, on closer scrutiny with
the naked eye or hand lens, was found to be due to a paler-yellowish
discoloration of the zone bordering the intralobular veins. (Plate II,
Fig. 2.) This zone of discoloration was the wider the more prolonged
the disease, and in a few cases involved the entire lobule. Parallel to
this degenerative process the consistency of the organ became less re-
sistant, more doughy, and brittle.28
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Smith, Theobold & Kilborne, Fred Lucius. Investigations into the Nature, Causation, and Prevention of Texas or Southern Cattle Fever, book, 1893; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth143538/m1/28/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas Health Science Center Libraries.