THREE-DAY SICKNESS OF CATTLE.

                  (A RÉSUMÉ OF THE LITERATURE.)

                                    BY

                  S. K. SEN, M. Sc., F. E. S.,

         Protozoologist, Imperial Institute of Veterinary Research, Muktesar-Kumaun.

                           CONTENTS

         Leaving aside the numerous vernacular names under which the above disease is
known in localities where it is prevalent, the three common appellations under which
it has been described in veterinary literature are " Ephemeral Fever ", " Three-day
Fever" and " Stiff-sickness ". As has been pointed out by Theiler [1909-10],
however, the term " Stiff-sickness " or " Stijfziekte " (also sometimes called " Lam-
ziekte ") in cattle also applies to another condition that had been known in South
Africa long before the so-called " Three-day Fever " came to be regarded as a
disease of any importance in that country and these two diseases are in no way
connected with each other, for while " Three-day sickness " has all the character of
an epizootic, " Stiff-sickness " proper (now definitely ascribed to the eating of the
species of plant, Crotalaria burkeana) is generally restricted to certain farms where
it occurs in an endemic form. To avoid confusion, some authors [e.g., Bevan,
1923] have advised the avoidance of the term "Stiff-sickness" as a synonym for
"Three-day sickness", although the term is doubtless more expressive of the
condition than " Ephemeral Fever ", for, as will be seen from what is to be stated
later, it is the " stiffness " that constitutes by far the chief characteristic of the
disease. As a matter of fact, to designate the condition as a form of " fever " is
calculated to subordinate its main characteristic to one much less diagnostic, so

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