THE THIRD, OR SUPPURATIVE
STAGE OF GLANDERS.
The next change takes place more rapidly. The transparent fluid entirely disappears, and in its place is seen a full stream of unwholesome pus. At this time there is some danger of glanders being mistaken for nasal gleet. A little attention will, however, rescue any person from so imminent a peril. The smell of glanders is peculiar. It is less pungent but more unwholesome, suggesting a more deep-seated source, than characterizes the disease with which it has been confounded. The ejection of glanders, moreover, is obviously impure; whereas that of nasal gleet generally flows forth in a fetid stream of thick and creamy matter.
THE FOURTH, OR LAST
STAGE OF GLANDERS.
When the third stage is witnessed, the disease is rapidly hurrying to its termination. The membrane of the nose changes to a dull, leaden color. The margins of the nostrils become dropsical, and every breath is drawn with difficulty. The defluxion exhibits discoloration. Scabs, masses of bone or pieces of membrane, mingled with patches of blood, next make their appearance; and the internal parts are evidently being broken up by the violence of the disorder.
The above description of filthy facts is, probably, sufficiently explicit; but to render the foregoing more clear, the following diagram is appended. The reader will perceive there are two kinds of tubercles—the large and the small. One is no bigger than a grain of sand; the other is as large as half a pea. The disease which follows both is the same,—is equally contagious and is equally fatal. It will also be remarked, the membrane appears swollen and partially discolored in the case of glanders. It loses its bright, fleshy, or healthy hue; and it assumes a dull, heavy, and dropsical aspect. It will likewise be observed that comparatively few blood-vessels are ramifying upon the affected membrane, which sign, in a well-marked case, is often so obvious as to become a leading indication of the disorder.
THE SEPTUM NASI OF AN OLD HORSE, SHOWING THE DIFFERENT KINDS AND STAGES OF GLANDERS.
1. A large tubercle.
2. The same in the ulcerative stage, pale in the center and dark at the edges.
3. The same ulcers after they have united, sloughed in one another, or become confluent.
4. The roughness which announces granular tubercles to be beneath the skin.
5. The slightly elevated condition of the membrane when granular tubercles appear.
6. Granular tubercles in the vesicular stage.
7. Granular tubercles in the ulcerative stage.
8. Granular tubercles after they have ulcerated
and assumed the confluent form.