THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID THE FARMER'S Veterinary Adviser A GUIDE TO THE PREVENTION & TREATMENT OF DISEASE IN DOMESTIC ANIMALS BY JAMES LAW Professor of Veterinary Science in Cornell University ; Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons of Great Britain ; Former Professor in the New Veterinary College^ Edinburgh ; Author of " General and Descriptive Anatomy of the Domestic Animals," is just such a work — practical and clear in its descriptions. " — Farming World. " Professor James Law proves by this aluable little book that he has more than ordinary claims to be regarded as a trustworthy adviser to stock owners upon the diseases of their animals We strongly recommend all owners of valuable animals, who reside at a long distance from a good vet. , to add this inexpensive work to their bookshelf. It will tell them what steps it is best to take — in most attacks of disease in live stock — before professional assistance can be obtained ; and in many of the simpler mishaps it will make it unnecessary to have professional assistance at all Professor Law enumerates most of the ordinary forms of animal disease. He states in each case— first, the causes ; second, the symptoms ; and third, the treatment ; and, in an appendix, he gives a list of the principal drugs with the ordinary dose of each." — Live Stock Journal. " This is a really valuable work on the diseases of all kinds of live stock, which every farmer ought to have on his shelf. It is published at a cheap rate so as to bring it within the reach of all, and is written in a clear and lucid style, brought down to the range of the plainest understanding. Every ailment, every danger, every enemy without and within, with which the animal creation have to contend is touched upon, and all that can be said in the way of information, advice, and prescription for treatment, is substantially given as copiously as space will allow. The chapters on parasites — those dangerous intruders into animal organization which are responsible for so large a proportion of disease and suffering, both in man and beast — are very interesting and instructive." — Agricultural Economist. £. MENKEN. PubUsher, 50, Gt. Russell St., British Museum, W.C. THE FARM DOCTOR, CHAPTER I. CONTAGIOIJS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. Their importance and classification. Disinfection. Horse-pox. Cow-pox. Sheep-pox. Goat-pox. Swinepox. Dog-pox. Bird-pox. Aphthous fever, foot and mouth disease. Rinderpest, Russian cattle-plague. Lung-fever ol cattle, contagious pleuro-pneumonia. Strangles. Influenza. Typhoid or bilious fever of horses. Distemper of dogs and cats. Malignant (Asiatic) 'cholera in animals. Intestinal fever in swine, hog-cholera. Texan fever in cattle. Canine madness. Malignant anthrax. Glanders and farcy. Venereal disease of solipeds. Tuberculosis, consumption. These are among the most important of the whole range of diseases of animals, being the most destructive to the animals themselves and in many cases to man, and being at the same time, as a rule, preventible by a rigid adherence to sanitary laws. Of their devastations we have the most appallin;? accounts in the records of antiquity as well as in recent times. In the time of Moses they ravaged Egypt until, says the record, "all the cattle of Egypt died;" nor was man spared, for " boils and blains " broke out on man and beast. — Ex. IX. 3. At the siege of Troy the Grecian army was decimated by a similar infliction, animals and men perishing in a common destruction. — Iliad. So it has been down through the ages, the great extension of the plagues being usually determined by general wars and the accumulation of cattle drawn from all sources (infected and sound), into the commissariat parks. 4 a THE FARM DOCTOR. In the first half of the eighteenth century, it is estimated thai 200,000,000 head of cattle perished in Europe in connexion with the Austrian wars. These plagues again entered Italy in 1793 with the Austrian troops and in three years carried off 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 cattle in that peninsula. More recently rapid railroad and steamboat traftic and extended commerce have taken the place of war in favouring their diffusion. Free trade between England and the Continent snice 1842 has cost the former ;j^i 15,000,000 in thirty years, and as much as ;^io,ooo,ooo in 1865-6 during the prevalence of the Rinderpest A similar importation cost Egypt 300,000 head of cattle (nearly the whole stock of the country), in 1842, and others have caused ruinous but unestimated losses in Australia, Cape of Good Hope, and South America. On the other hand, some of the most exposed countries of Europe, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein, Oldenburg, Mecklenburg, and Switzerland have long kept clear of these plagues by the simple expedient of excluding all infected animals or their products, and promptly stamping out the disease by the slaughter of the sick, followed by thorough disinfection, when they have been accidentally introduced. Exclusively breeding districts, in Spain, Portugal, Normandy, and the Scottish Highlands, into which no strange cattle are ever imported, also keep clear of nearly all of these destructive pestilences. It is unquestionable that the animal plagues are propagated, in Western Europe and America, only by the disease germs produced in countless myriads in the body of a diseased animal and conveyed from that to the healthy. It follows that the destruction of the infected subjects and the thorough disinfection of the carcass, manure, buildings, etc., is the most economical treatment of all the more fatal forms of contagious disease in live stock. For the less fatal forms, the most perfect separation and seclusion, and the thorough disinfection of all with which they have come in contact is still imperative. CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 3 'io the first class of exotic maladies belong : Small-pox^ in sheep and birds ; the lung-fever or contagious pleuro-pneumonia of cattle ; the Rinderpest or cattle-plague ; the malignant disease of the generative organs in solipeds ; and malignant cholera in all animals. These demand separation, destruction and disin- fection. To the second or less fatal class of exotic maladies belongs : the Aphthous fever or foot and mouth disease. This demands seclusion and disinfection. Besides these maladies, there is a very important class which are apparently generated in America and thereafter spread by contagion. Among these may be named : Glanders and farcy, canine madness, contagious foot-rot, tuberadosis, malignant anthrax, Texan-fever, intestinal fever of swine or hog-cholera, influenza, strangles, canine distemper, and perhaps the variola or pox of horse, coiv, goat, pig, atid dog. All of riiese down to intestinal fever of swine, like foreign contagious affections, demand separation and disinfection, with destruction or not of the diseased, according to the severity and diffusibility of the particular malady. The remainder, from influenza onward, are either too mild to warrant such measures, or too easily spread to be satisfactorily controlled by them. It is beyond the purpose of this work to enter into the special legislative enactments necessary to prevent the import- ation of foreign plagues, or the spread of native or imported ones. A few words on disinfection are, however, indispensable. DISINFECTION. The first and main object in disinfection is to secure perfect cleanliness. From the buildings, cars, loading-banks, ships, quays, yards, manure-pits, drains, cess-pools, harness, clothing, utensils, etc., all decaying organic matter should be removed by scraping, washing, emptying, etc., as such decomposing organic matter is the food which sustains and preser\'es the disease germs out of the body. Even the 4 THE FARM DOCTOR. water and air must be carefully seen to, since in close places they are usually charged with invisible particles of organic matter in a state of decay, the most suitable field for the growth of contagious principles. These, too, tend to purify them- selves in a free circulation of air, and ventilation may be largely relied upon for this purpose, unless the deleterious supplies are too abundant from some adjacent putrid accumulation, as dung- heaps, cess-pools, leaky drains, or soil saturated with filth. Purity of the surroundings kills many contagious elements on tlie principles of starvation. Of agents reputed to be disinfectants, some act merely by changing the physical condition of organic matter, without any abstraction from, or addition to its constituents. Thus, heating to the boiling point (212° F.), coagulates albuminous matters and destroys any infectious properties generally. But it must be prolonged for a variable time according to the size of the object to allow of the heat penetrating to all parts alike. Clothing may be heated in an oven to 300° F., or safer, boiled, and even the prolonged application of hot transparent steam directed from a hose, upon wood-work, etc., previously well cleaned, is found very effectual. Some poisons, like that of Texas-fever, are destroyed by freezing, while others are unaffected. - Other disinfectants act by changing the chemical relations of organic matter, and hence of contagious principles, by uniting with them to form new compounds, by abstracting some ot their constituent elements or by adding a new one. Thus the alo- tropic state of oxygen called ozone, produced abundantly during thunder-storms, is supposed to be one of nature's most potent disinfectants, acting by hastening the oxidation of organic matter. Yet, at times, its excess seems to be without effect, as in the influenza of horses in 1877. Camphor and many of the odorous essential oils are supposed to be of some slight use by reason of their developing ozone. CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 5 Burning is an effectual mode of disinfecting organic matter, old rotten wood-work, clothing, fodder, manure, etc. It may even be used on the air by moving an open charcoal-stove from place to place over the entire infected building. It may be equally used over the openings of drains, or as a lamp in the ventilating outlets of infected buildings. Chlorine, set free from common salt, by adding oil of vitriol and a little black oxide of manganese, is an excellent disin- fectant of the air, but can only be used in vacated buiklings, and is most effectual in a full light. Euchlorine, a compound of chlorine and oxygen, may be obtained by adding, at frequent intervals, a little chlorate of potassa to a glass of strong muriatic acid. It may be used in occupied buildings. Sulphurous acid is another excellent disinfectant for the air, and can easily be produced ir>. any amount by burning flowers of sulphur on a slip of paper laid on an iron shovel. Like chlorine, it is most efficient in daylight. In occupied buildnigs it may be burned carefully pinch by pinch without incon- veniencing the stock. Carbolic acid may also be used in occupied buildings, being allowed to evaporate from shallow basins, alone or mixed with ether or alcohol, from saturated rugs hung up at intervals, or from cloth-lined ventilating inlets, kept saturated with the acid, or, finally, it may be diffused through the air of a building by an atomizer. Carbolic and cresylic acids may also be used for disinfecting solids and lic^uids, being poured into drains or sprinkled on the floors, walls, and other parts of the building. For the latter purpose, the strong acid may be diluted with one hundred times its weight ot water. The cheap impure acid is usually preferred for dung-heaps, yards, and other outside purposes, but is disagreeable indoors. Coal-tar and 7oood-hir, from their contained carbolic acid and allied products, are also good for out-uoor uses 6 THE FARM DOCTOR. The following are especially applicable to solids and liquids : Chloride of lime sprinkled on floors, yards, dung-heaps, etc., or applied to walls, wood-work, etc., or poured into drains, as a solution of |lb. to a gallon of water. Chloride of zinc is equally efficient but more expensive, and chloride of aluminium {chloralum) is somewhat less potent. Sulphate of iron {copperas) is one of the most efficient and cheapest disinfectants for drains, manure, floors, yards, etc., and may be applied either in fine powder or in solution. The sulphates of copper and zinc and perchloride of iron are efficient but much more expensive. Saturated solutions of caustic potassa and soda are satisfactory for wood-work, harness, and utensils, but they are useless if diluted. Lime is useful in graves by absorbing the water and uniting with the organic debris, but is very unsatisfactory as a general disinfectant. Permanganate of potassa promptly changes putrefying organic matter, rendering it sweet and wholesome, but it is question- able how far it can destroy living organic germs of which many of the contagious principles are probably composed. The same remarks apply to charcoal, animal and vegetable, and to earth, especially that containing a considerable proportion of clay and marl. HORSE-POX. This is probably identical with cow-pox, being indistinguish- able when inoculated on men or cattle. It most frequently attacks the limbs, but may aff"ect the face or other parts of the body. There is usually some little fever, which, however, passes unnoticed by the owner. Then swelling, heat, and tenderness supervene commonly in a heel, and firm nodules form, increas- ing to one-third or one-half an inch in diameter, the hair bristles up, and the skin reddens unless previously coloured. On the ninth to the twelfth day, a limpid fluid oozes from the CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 'J surface and agglutinates the hairs in yellowish scabs, on the removal of which a red, raw depression is seen with the scab fixed in its centre. In three or four days the secretion ceases, the scabs dry up and the parts heal spontaneously. It is easily transmitted from horse to horse, to man or to the cow. N(? treatment is required. COW-POX. This is the same disease appearing in the cow. There is a preliminary slight fever, usually overlooked, succeeded by some diminution and increased coagulability of the milk and the appearance of the pox on the udder and teats. The udder is hot and tender for a day or two, then little pale-red nodules, about as big as peas appear, growing to three-fourths to one inch in breadth by the eighth or tenth day, acquiring liquid contents, and often a central depression on the summit. The liquid in each pock is contained in several distinct sacs, and cannot be all extracted without a succession of punctures on different parts. The liquid, at first clear, changes to yellowish white (pus) and soon dries up, the whole forming a hard crust which is gradually detached. On the teats the blisters are early ruptured and raw sores form, often proving very obstinate, and even leading to inflammation of the udder, abortion, or death, Treatvmit is scarcely ever demanded further than to obviate sores on the teats. A mild laxative of Epsom salts is, however, usually desirable. The teats may be smeared with an ointment formed of an ounce each of spermaceti and almond oil and half a drachm of myrrh. Milking tubes may be necessary to avoid injury by drawing the teats. In many localities the disease appears to all newly-calved h-eifers on particular farms, in which case it would be well to purify the barns by a thorough disinfection. 8 THE FARM DOCTOR SHEEP-POX, ■ Like small-pox of man, it is only known as a contagious disease. The incubation or latent period of the poison after it enters the system, is from three to six days in summer, and from ten to twelve in winter. Then there is loss of appetite, dullness, dropping behind the flock, and stiffness of the hind parts. This is followed by trembling, increased temperature, very manifest on the bare and delicate parts of the skin on which the eruption usually takes place, loss of appetite and rumination, costiveness, red, weeping eyes, a discharge from the nose, and the appearance of red patches inside the limbs and along the abdomen. Soon minute red points appear and increase to papules with a firm base, extend- ing into the deeper parts of the skin. These are flat on the summit (rarely pointed or indented), and become pale or clear in the centre, from the effusion of liquid beneath the scurf skin, with a red margin. With the appearance of the eruption, the fever moderates, but increases again in three or four days with the development and irritability of the vesicles. These may remain individually distinct {discrete) in which case the attack' is mild, or they may run together into extensive patches {confluent) and the result is likely to be serious. The pocks will even appear on the digestive or respiratory mucous mem- brane. The eruption passes through the same course ot exudation, suppuration, drying, and dropping off as in cow-pox. The duration of the disease is three weeks or a month. The mortality in the milder forms may not exceed seven per one hundred, in the more severe it may destroy almost the whole flock. But the losses of lambs by abortion, of wool, sight, hearing, hoofs, digits, flesh, and general vigour, often render recoveries anything but unmixed blessings. Treatment. — Keep in cool, dry well-aired, and littered sheds, shelter from rain, and feed on roots, or, if very weak, on oat and CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 9 beaii meal gruels, with a drachm of saltpetre to each sheep. Common salt may be supplied to be licked, and the drinking water may be slightly acidulated with vinegar. The bowels should be opened by injections of milk-warm soapsuds, or 3 oz. sulphate of soda if necessary. Avoid heating agents. In the advanced stages support by quinia, gentian, nitric acid, and nutritious gruels, even animal broths. The pustules may be treated with the ointment advised for cow-pox, or, if un- healthy, with weak solutions of chloride of zinc. Prevention. — Nothing short of general infection will justify the treatment of this disease. It should be excluded from our country by the most stringent supervision over the importation of sheep and their products, and when it does appear should be promptly stamped out by the destruction and disinfection of the sick and the purification of all with which they have come in contact. Inoculation as a measure of prevention is unwarrantable except in the case of wide-spread infection, a contingency which ought never to arise in this country. GOAT-POX. This is a rare and mild affection with an eruption on the udder and teats, closely resembling that of Coiv-pox. It has been thought to be spontaneous in the goat but is known to be derived from sheep suffering from Sheep-pox. It follows a mild course and requires the same care as Cow-pox. Seclusion or destruction and disinfection, are, however, imperative when danger is likely to arise for sheep. SWINE- POX. This is more frequent than Goatpox. It is communicable to man and goat. Young pigs are thought to be most liable. The eruption appears inside the forearm and thighs and is usually preceded by considerable fever. It is discrete or con- fluent like Sheeppox, and the severity corresponds. The dura- lO THE FARM DOCTOR. tion of the mild forms is twelve to fifteen days. Treatment is similar to that of Sheep-pox, and the same precautions should be taken to prevent its dissemination, DOG-POX. These animals sometimes contract Small-pox or Sheep-pox^ and have been supposed to have their own specific form besides. The young suffer most frequently and severely. There is the usual preliminary fever with an eruption on the sides and belly, passing from pimples to vesicles and pustules, and finally drying up into crusts which drop off. The eruption may be discrete or confluent, the latter being very fatal. Similar preventive measures are demanded as in the other forms oi pox. BIRD-POX. Birds seem susceptible to different forms of variola, having contracted the disease from man in some cases, and in others conveyed it to the sheep. Chickens failed to contract Cow-pox in the experiments of Roll and myself. It has proved very fatal in chickens, but very slightly so in pigeons, turkeys, and geese. The eruption appears mainly on the head, under the wing, on the tongue, or in the pharynx. In fatal cases death ensued in four or five days. Treatment would rarely be desirable, the great point being to stamp out the malady by destroying the diseased and disinfecting the place. APHTHOUS FEVER — FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE. A contagious eruptive fever, attacking cloven-footed animals and communicable to other warm-blooded animals, including even man. Its special feature is the eruption of blisters in the mouth, on the udder and teats, and on the feet It is only known as communicated by contagion, whether in western Elurope, in Great Britain and Ireland, where it was introduced CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. H in 1839-42, or in North and South America, which it reached in 1870 by imported stock. Like the other animal plagues it follows in the track of great armies and in the channels of commerce. The contagion does not readily spread on the air, a river or common road being often sufficient to limit it, but no poison is more certainly transmitted by contact, direct or through the medium of human beings, tame or wild animals, fodder, litter, manure, clothing, drinking-troughs, etc., etc. Milk is one of the most frequent sources of contagion to pigs, dogs, and even to infants, producing the most dangerous intestinal irritation and diarrhoea. Symptoms. — The poison may remain latent in the system for one or two days, or, in exceptional cases, perhaps as many as six. Then there is roughness of the coat or shivering, increased temperature, dry muzzle, hot red mouth, teats, and interdigital spaces, lameness, inclination to lie, and shrinking from the hand in milking. The second or third day blisters arise, on any part of the whole interior of the mouth one-half to one inch in breadth, or on the teats and between the digits about one-half inch across. Saliva drivels from the mouth, collecting in froth around the lips, and a loud smacking is made with the lips and tongue. Swine champ the jays. Sheep and swine suffer more especially in the feet, often losing the hoofs or even the digital bones, a contingency not unknown in neglected cattle. Among the consequences may be named the loss of milk, inflamed udders, blind teats, a habit of vicious kicking, abor- tions, permanent lameness, and a lengthened incapacity for the dairy, for feeding or work. If well cared for, the disease passes in fifteen days, leaving no ill consequences, excepting the poison hidden away in the building. The average loss in flesh is £,\ tO;^3 ; in dairy cows, it is much more. Treatment. — A laxative (Epsom salts) ; astringent mouth- wash ^Borax and tincture of myrrh, i oz. each; water i qt, or 1« THE FARM DOCTOR, carbolic acid i dr., honey 2 oz., vinegar i pt., water i pt.) ; a lotion for the teats (carbolic \ dr., glycerine 10 oz.) ; and a dressing for the feet (oil of vitriol i oz., water 4 oz., to be applied with a feather after cleaning the space between the hoofs by drawing a cloth through it). After dressing, tie up the feet in a tar bandage. The hind feet are easily dressed if two men raise each separately with a long stout fork handle passed in front of the hock. In dressing the feet, all detached horn should be removed and a poultice applied if inflammation runs high. Soft cold mashes or thinly-sliced or pulped roots are the best food throughout. Prevention. — Importation of diseased animals should be sufficiently guarded against. Diseased stock sliould be rigidly secluded from all but the necessary attendants, who ought to be disinfected on leaving the enclosure. Wild animals, even birds, should be excluded. Every place where the diseased have been should be closed for a winter or disinfected, the milk should be buried in a safe place, or boiled and given to pigs; manure, infected litter, etc., may be burned or disinfected, removed and ploughed under by horses. No diseased animal should be moved until fifteen days after full recovery, and it should first be sponged over with a carbolic acid wash. RUSSIAN CATTLE PLAGUE. RINDERPEST. A contagious fever of cattle communicable to other rumi- nants, and characterized by a. general congestion of the mucous membranes, but, above all, those of the stomach and intestines, and an excessive growth and sheddmg of the superficial layers of cells on the skin and mucous membranes. It is only propa- gated by contagion, at least, out of the Kirghiz Steppes and Kherson district in Southern Russia, but spreads further on the air than Aphthous Fever. Symptoms. — Incubation lasts about two days until the tem- perature of the body is elevated, or four days until the appear- CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 13 ance of outward signs of illness. By this time the mouth, inside the lips, on the dental part of the upper jaw or around the gums of the lower front teeth, shows minute white elevations, like the aphtha of the mouths of children, calves and lambs, suffering from thrusii (muguet). This may be exceedingly slight and transient but is most characteristic. The other mucous membranes (eye, vulva, rectum, nose), show a more or less dark flush, and concretions may appear around these and on other parts of the skin, especially the teats. These are solid aggregations of epithelial cells, not vesicles nor pustules. In twenty-four hours they undergo fatty softening and are easily detached, leaving small pink erosions, and by the sixth day a great part of the mouth and muzzle may have become raw, and the surrounding mucous membrane of a deep red. About the fourth day, the skin feels greasy, and dullness, and impaired appetite and rumination appear. In cows the milk is dimin- ished, richer in cream, and even slightly coagulable. Urine becomes scanty and of a high colour and density. These signs increase until the sixth day, when the mouth is often raw, saliva drivels, appetite and rumination are gone, bowels relaxed, the dung passed with much straining and pain, the everted gut appearing of a deep red or port-wine hue, the ears are drawn back, head pendent, eyes half-closed and watery, back arched and often insensible to pinching, abdominal muscles tense and resistant, and there is a peculiar check in the act of expiration, the breath being suddenly arrested with a flapping sound and concussion of the entire body, to be exhaled a second or two later with a grunting noise. Sighing and whistling sounds are heard in the chest and it becomes unnaturally drum-like to percussion. A sudden lowering of temperature is usually the precursor of death, which happens on the seventh or eighth day. Nervous symptoms appear in some outl^reaks, with delirium, buttina, shivering, and tenderness of the loins, while in the Id THE FARM DOCTOR. milder cases the peculiar eruption may be almost altogethci confined to the skin. The symptoms in other ruminants are essentially the same as in the ox. The mortality out of its native habitat usually amounts to forty per cent, and upward. Treatment. — The treatment of this plague should be legally prohibited under all circumstances. All the attempts of the different schools of medicine and of empiricism have only increased its ravages, while nations and even countries and districts that have vigorously stamped it out and excluded it have saved their property. Prevention. — The advent of this plague should be prevented by a sufficient supervision of our ports, and a quarantine of stock. If admitted, the victims should be ruthlessly destroyed, deeply buried, and all places and things with whicli they have come in contact disinfected in the most perfect manner. THE LUNG -FEVER OF CATTLE. CONTAGIOUS PLUERO- PNEUMONIA. A specific contagious fever of cattle, with extensive exuda- tions into the chest and lungs. Like the other plagues already noticed, this is only known in Europe and America as a contagious disease. Its importation into the different countries of Europe has always been traceable to the introduction of diseased beasts or their products. The assertion of the immortal Haller, more than a century ago, that it is propagated by contagion, has received the amplest con- firmation in recent times. It invaded Ireland in 1839-40 by Dutch cattle, England in 1842 by Irish and Dutch cattle, Sweden and Denmark in 184^ by English stock, and later again by English and Dutch, Norway in i860 by infected Ayrshires, Oldenburg in 1858, and Schleswig in 1859, in each case by Ayrshires, the Cape of Good Hope in 1854, Australia in 1858 by an Enghsh cow, Brooklyn, L. I., in 1843 by a Dutch cow, CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. i ij and again in 1850 by an English one, New Jersey in 1S47 oy English stock, and Boston, Mass., by Dutch cattle in 1859. In Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Oldenburg, Schleswig, Massa- chusetts, and New Jersey, it was stamped out, in the last case by the importer, Mr Richardson, sacrificing his whole herd and voluntarily assuming the loss, but in the other places named it was left to itself and spread disastrously. Symptoms. — The period of latency of the poison in the systena is from four to six weeks, and in exceptional cases perhaps two or three months or as short as ten days. Increased temper- ature of the body usually appears a week or two before other symptoms. Then there is a slight cough, erection of hair along the back, sometimes shivering, and always tenderness of the back to pinching, the animal crouching and groaning. Soon breathing and pulse become accelerated, bowels costive, urine scanty and high coloured, milk diminished, appetite impaired, rumination irregular, nose alternately moist and dry, and legs and horns cold and hot. If in the field, the sick leave the herd. The cough increases in harshness, depth, and painfulness, and all the symptoms are aggravated until the animal stands in one posture, with head extended on the neck, mouth open, and every breath accompanied by a loud moan. From the earliest stages the ear applied to the sides of the chest detects an absence of murmur over particular parts of the lung, or lungs, with a line of crepitation (fine crackling) around it, and occa- sionally rubbing, wheezing, and other unnatural sounds. On percussion over the silent parts the natural resonance is found to have given place to dullness, and the animal winces and groans. Other peculiar sounds may follow later, into which we cannot enter here, and exhausting liquid discharges from tne bowels and kidneys, tympanies and abortions are frequent results. Death may take place early, from suffocation, when both lungs are involved, or may be delayed six weeks or more. The percentage of deaths and permanent destrictioii to lO THE FARM DOCTOR, health is fifty or sixty, or when all the more susceptible animals have perished it may be reduced much lower. Treatment. — This disease is much more amenable to treat- ment than Rinderpest, but to preserve the sick is no less repre- hensible, as the poison is more subtle, more diffusible through the atmosphere, is hidden unsuspected for a greater length of time in the body of its victim, and when manifested is far more liable to be mistaken for other diseases (pneumonia, pleurisy, bronchitis). No treatment should ever be allowed, except in perfectly secluded buildings, far from roads, where no strange men or animals can get access, and in a constantly disinfected atmosphere. In the early stages, refrigerent and dmretic salts (liquor of the acetate of ammonia, nitre, bisulphite of soda) with aconite may be given, injections of warm water or mild laxatives (Epsom salts) used to regulate the bowels, and blisters applied to the sides of the chest (mustard and oil of turpentine). Later, when prostration sets in, stimulants (sweet spirits of nitre, wine, aromatic ammonia, etc.) and tonics (gentian, cinchona, cas^ carilla, boneset, sulphate of iron, or copper, mineral acids, etc.) are called for. Antiseptics are useful, especially such as can be inhaled in the air (sulphur fumes, carbolic acid vapour or spray) and thus reach the seat of disease. The hydropathic treatment, by a rug wrung out of water applied next the skin and covered by several dry ones kept closely applied by elastic surcingles for an hour and followed by a cold douche and active rubbing till dry, has proved very successful, but demands intelligence, enthusiasm, and activity, on the part of the attendants. The pack is repeated as often as the temperature rises. Prevention. — Importation should only be allowed from countries free from the plague, in ships that have carried no suspected stock for at least three months, and after inspection and, if thought necessary, quarantine, at the port of entry. CONTAGIOUS A.VD EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 17 but the disease already exists in several of the United States. This ought to be rooted out by measures executed by the central government and defrayed out of the public treasury. Little good must be looked for from isolated action by states, counties, townships, or individual owners; the danger threatens the entire country, and for the general safety all must pay. It is absurd to expect the unfortunate possessor of sick animals to beggar himself for the public good. There should be destruction of the sick, partial remuneration of the owners, thorough disinfection under professional supervision, and \ho. most perfect control and constant inspection of all suspected herds and places until the malady has been eradicated from the land. This is the most insidious of all our animal plagues, the one which now most urgently presses for active interference, and Vfhich if neglected, will bring a terrible retribution in the future. Inoculation, as a preventive, like medical treatment, is suicidal unless where a country is very generally infected. STRANGLES. DISTEMPER IN YOUNG HORSES. A specific fever of young solipeds usually attended with swellings and formations of matter between the bones of the lower jaw, or elsewhere in groups of lymphatic glands. Causes. — Early age, change from field to stable, from grass to dry feeding, from idleness to exciting work, the irritation of teeth- ing, and, above all, change of locality and climate. Repeated attacks will occur in the same horse under the influence of the last named cause. Exposure to cold and wet, impure air, sudden thaws, etc., contribute to hasten its development lastly, contagion is a common cause, and, in some cases, the malady may even be conveyed to man. Symptoms. — The disease is of^en preceded by a period of unthriftiness, staring coat, loss of condition, dulness and languor. Then there appear cough, redness of the nasal mem- brane, and watery flow from the nose and eyes, slavering 1-8 . J .THK'FARM. DOCTOR. ■ ■ -■ ' : 3 accelerated breathing and pulse, costiveness, scanty,- high- coloured urine, and increased thirst. Soon a 'swelling rises between the bones of tlie lower jaw, hot, tender, and uniformly rounded and smooth, at first -hard with soft, doughy marginsj later soft and fluctuating inahe centre^ from, the -foniiation of matter. Water is often retuniedfrom the nose in drinking, aiid food dropped after chewing. The throat may -even be- closeSi so as to make breathing laborious, difficult, and noisy or quite impossible. With rupture of the abscess and escape of the matter, relief is obtained and a steady recovery may usually be counted on .:■'.,,;- ^ . . Irregular. Jtbrms.-^The swelling may harden in place of softening, and. maintain the disease for an indefinite tirrie, or it- may disappear and be followed by the formation of matter ik" other and mo.re vital organs.. ..-Thus .vtiatter/may formin the. groups of .lymphatic glands, about the . shoulder, groin, the roots of the lur\gs, the .mesentery, , the brain, etc.. Sonietiraies- no swelling nor suppuration takes place beyond the discharge from the nose, while. at others a pustular^ eruption on the skin i^: the manifestation of the disea,se. . ■;, ^^^ ; ; , .-. . The disease may be over iji ten days, ,or, in cases of indolent action in the swelling, it.:may be protracted for months,. JLf j^operly treated, tlie regit Ictr Jorjn. geuQiaWy does well, but the irregular is fatal in proportion to ^ the vitality of the orgaiT^ afifected. , In .protracted cases and ip. those subjected to impure; air and weakening treatment, dropsical .arid sanguineoijs^swell-^, ings in the depnay be used from the first to the throat, sides, or abdomen, according to the seat of the inflammatibn. Soft mashes, roots, or green food, pure air, without draughts, and warm clothing, are essentials of treatment throughout CONTAGIOUS AMD EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. it If the abdoviinal organs are the main seat of disease, supple- ment the medicines above named by demulcents (slippery elm mallow, boiled linseed), and anodynes (opium, hydrocyanic acid), with, in some cases, a gentle laxative (olive oil). J^ervous symptoms may demand wet cloths to the head, blisters to the ■sides of the neck, purgatives, unless contra-indicated, and bro- mide of potassium. The rheumatic complication must be treated like ordinary rheumatism, with colchicum, propylamine, acetate of potassa, turpentine, warmth, counter-irritants, etc TYPHOID, GASTRIC, OR BILIOUS FEVER. This strongly resembles the abdominal form of influenza and sometimes occurs in the same place at the same time. It also appears independently in horses weakened by shedding their coats in spring and autunin, in those kept in a hot, close, impure, and unwholesome atmosphere, fed insufficiently or on badly-preserved, musty, or otherwise injured aliment, supplied with water containing an excess of decomposing organic matter, fed irregularly, subjected to over-work, etc Finally, it proves contagious in confined insalubrious buildings, and to a less extent, in those that axe wholesome and well aired. Some unknown generally acting influence makes it more virulent at one season than another. Symptoms. — There are a few days of dullness and lassitude followed by the general signs of fever : — Staring coat, shivering, alternate heat and coldness of the surface, restlessness, hot dry mouth, and elevation of the internal temperature of the body. There is a yellowish tinge of the mucous membranes, costive- ness, colicky pains, full, tense, tender belly, passage of a few dark, hard pellets of dung covered with a mucous film, urine scanty, reddish, and depositing a sediment, pulse rapid and weak, and there may or may not be sore throat, excited breath- ing, and discharge from the nose. In the more favourable cases, signs of improvement are noticeable in eight or nine days, 23 THE FARM DOCTOR. and a perfect recovery is made. In the unfavourable, the pulse becomes small, weak, and rapid (eighty to ninety per minute), the mouth hotter, more clammy, and covered by yellowish, brownish, Or greenish blotches, the abdominal walls more tender, the bowels more irritable, sometimes with a foetid diarrhoea, and the strength is rapidly exhausted. The head is constantly pendent, the eye sunken, the expression of the countenance stupid and haggard, and the stupor or insensibility may become so great that pinching or even pricking of the skin may pass unnoticed by the animal. Death usually takes place from the tenth to the twentieth day. Treatment. — English veterinarians rely much on calomel, and with a firm full pulse, not too rapid, a general warmth of surface and extremities, a bright eye, cheerful countenance, whitish foetid dung, and much yellowness of the eye, nose, or mouth, a few doses of calomel (lo grs.) and opium (30 grs.), repeated twice daily, may be useful in stimulating the liver and throwing off injurious agents from the blood. But it is to be avoided when there is a weak, rapid pulse and great prostration and debility, and in no case should it be given over two or three days, or until the system is saturated with the drug. Severe costiveness may be obviated by 2 or 3 drs. of aloes and a drachm of calomel, or by a daily dose of 2 or 3 ozs. of Glauber salts until relaxation occurs. Soft feeding and copious injec- tions of warm water must be continued to maintain the bowels in a healthy state. A drachm each of chlorate or nitrate of potassa and muriate of ammonia may be given three or four times daily with the water drunk, or in case of great dullness and debility, an ounce of oil of turpentine, sulphuric ether, sweet spirits of nitre, or carbonate of ammonia may be given as well. Great tenderness of the belly may be met by persisterit hot fomentations and mustard poultices, and if necessary by half-drachm doses of opium. Tympany is treated by hand rubbmg and by aromatic ammonia or oil of peppermint. During CONTAGIOUS AXD EPIZOOTIC- DISEASES. 4^ «6rv, " [ =' .: A specific fever of the young domestic carnivora, affecting the respiratory organs, and it may be the abdominal viscera, the brain, the muscular system and joints, or the skin. One attadk usually protects from a second. "Gzajw.— Connected, 'like; strangles,' with domestication, it is most severe on pet dogs kept in hot, close' rooms on spiced food, or confined in kennels. Change of climate, teething, and contagion are the causes. Symptoms. — Dullness, peevishness, loss of appetite, dry nose, -Watery eyes, elevated ternperature, increased pulse (i 10 to 12c), "Sensitiveness to cold, shivering, cough and glairy^ or yellowish ^ , - Paralytic Rabies.— -In this case paralysis with dropping of the Ipwer jaw is shown at. the outset, and gradually extends, to the- whole body. The animal cannot bite, eat,, nor drink, rarely barks, and dies early. Lethargic {Tranquil) Rallies. — ?a\sy of the jaw is less marked, hut there is complete apathy, the patient remaining curled up ia one position, and is not to be roused by any effort. He b.ecomes daily more emaciated and dies in ten to fifteen days. , In additiori to these typical forms there are others holding an intermediate place. . The fiirious form is especially common ■ in bulldogs, hounds, and the less domesticated varieties, the paralytic and tranquil in the house and pet dogs. Popttlar Fallacies.^l name these because of the evil results CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 3» of entertaining' them. i. Mad dogs have no fear of water {hydrophobia). On the contrary, they swim rivers, plunge their noses in water, or lap their urine without hesitation. 2. Appe^ tite is fiot lost, only depraved, and the. stomach after death is Xound to contain an endless variety of improper objects. 3'. There is xixreXy froth at the mouth, though saliva may run from it when the jaw is paralyzed. 4. The tail is not carried between the le^Sy but is rather held erect during a paroxysm. . Ju>x€s have symptoms like those of the dog, the animals losing their natural shyness or fear, and attacking man and beast, indiscriminately. Cats attack withcl.aw§ and teeth, flying at the face and hands, and utter hoarse, loud cries as in heat The horse bites,, kicks, neighs, draws his yard, rolls his eyes, jerks his muscles, and dies paralyzed. .The mischievous pror peusity distinguishes from deliriunm. The ox is restless, excitr able, everts the. upper lip, grinds his teeth, bellows loudly, and', as if in terror, scrapes with his fore feet, and butts and kicks all who approach. There is jerking of the muscles and finally paralysis. Sheep are similarly excited, show sexual appetite. Stamp, buttj and bleat hoarsely. . They 4ie paralytic. Swine are excitable, resdess, grunt hoarsely, champ the jaws, bite intruders, tear objects to pieces, gape, yawn, become weak, and die paralytic. ; ,,r ; , ■ Recoveries are so rare as to be. extremely questionable. Treatment.— This can only be warranted in the lower animals in hope of discovering a curative method for man, and then with extreme precautions and in iron cages. Theoretically, vapour baths, with sulphites and anti-spasmodics" .(datura, atropia, chloral-hydrate, etc.), would promise the best results^ The boasted curative agents have all broken down when tried on well-marked cases in the lower animals, in which diseases of the imagination are not to be looked for. ^ Prevention. — When bitten, at once check the flow of blood from the part, in the limb by a handkerdiief or cord with a 52 THE FARM DOCTOR. piece of wood through it, twisted tightly around the member a little higher than the wound, — in other parts by sucking, or by cutting open the wound to its depth and squeezing or wringing as if milking to keep up a free flow of blood, soaking it mean- while in warm water if available. Drinking liquids to excess will also retard absorption. But as soon as caustics can be had, apply them thoroughly to all parts of the wound, making sure that its deepest recesses are reached. The compression by handkerchief or fingers should not be relaxed until this operation is completed. A hot skewer, nail, or poker serves admirably, and if at a white heat is less painful. But oil of vitriol, spirit of salt, nitric acid, caustic potassa or soda, butter of antimony, chloride of zinc, nitrate of silver, bluestone, copperas, indeed any caustic at hand, should be at once employed. The wound should be thoroughly cauterized, though some time has elapsed since the bite, as absorption does not always take place at once. All dogs should be registered, taxed, and furnished with a collar bearing their own and their owner's names and that of iheir residence. During the existence of rabies in a country all dogs found at large unmuzzled should be destroyed. Sus- pected dogs should be shut up under supervision for three months unless rabies is developed earlier. Dogs that have bitten human beings should be similarly shut up for a week to test the existence of the disease or otherwise. MALIGNANT ANTHRAX. A constitutional disorder, arising in rich, damp localities, in herbivora, swine, and birds, and communicable by inoculation to other animals and to man. It shows itself by many different forms, all characterized by extreme changes in the chemical and vital properties of the blood, breaking down of the blood^ globules, extravasations of blood or albuminous fluids in different parts of the body, with a tendency to gangrene, yellow CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. .^ or brown raucous membranes, enlargement, or even rupture of the spleen (milt), and a very high mortality. Causes. — It is propagated by contagion but tends to die out when [produced in this way only. It is transmitted by contact with the blood, liquid exudations, portions of the diseased carcass, fat, skins, hair, wool, bristles, feathers, and bowel evacuations, and rarely or not at all through the atmosphere. Simple contact of these matters with the healthy skin of a susceptible subject is enough to produce the disease. The virus is most potent when received from an animal still living or only recently dead, and yet may be preserved for months in all conditions of cHmate, temperature, and humidity. Eating of the flesh of animals killed while suffering in this way has often conveyed the disease in spite of the cooking to which it was subjected. Fifteen thousand of the inhabitants of St Domingo once perished in six weeks from this cause, and a whole family was poisoned a few years ago in Aberdeenshire. The Tartars perish in great numbers from eating their anthrax horses. Mosquitoes and other insects with perforating appar atus to the mouth probably help to communicate it, as nearly all cases in man occur on exposed parts of the body. Its development in a locality is determined : — i. fey the rich surface soil abounding in organic matter, and the impervious subsoil preventing natural drainage. 2. The frequent in- undations of banks of rivers flowing through level countries and the drying up of ponds and lakes leaving much organic deposit in their basins. 3. A continuation of warm, dry weather which favours organic emanations from such places as the. above. 4. A condition of the system of the animal predisposing to the reception and growth of the poison, and consisting in the loading of the blood with plastic or waste organic matter, as in over- fed plethoric animals, in those making flesh most rapidly, in the young and rapidly growing, in those rendered unhealthy by overwork, impure air, unsuitable food or water. 5. Sudden c 34 THE l^AkM DOCTOR. chills when the poison is already present; hence, extreme variations in the temperature of night and day. 6. A close, still atmosphere. General characters. — In the typical cases the blood is black, tarry, and incoagulable, and in all it shows broken-up globules, and microscopic rod-like bodies, and clear, refrangent spherules (bacteria) such as appear in putrefying liquids. The spleen, lymphatic glands, and liver are enlarged, the mucous mem- branes of the stomach and intestines are usually reddened, thickened, and softened, and any other part of the body may be the seat of bloody or albuminous effusion with a tendency to death, decomposition, the extrication of gases in the tissues, and a crackling sound when handled. When it commences in one point on the surface (malignant pustule) there is first an unhealthy eruption of minute blisters which burst, dry up, and become gangrenous, while new blisters appear around as the unhealthy action spreads. Divisions. — The malignant anthrax may be manifested by external disease or swelling, or without such appearances. To the first class belong the carbuncular erysipelas of sheep and swine, malignant sore-throat of hogs, gloss-anthrax or black- tongue, black-quarter or bloody murrain, the boil plague of Siberia, and the malignant pustule of man. To the second belong all those forms of the disease in which there are the specific changes in the blood, with engorgement of the spleen, blood-staining and exudations into internal organs, only. Malignant Anthrax with External Lesions. (A) In Horses. — (i) Siberian Boil Plague. — This is un- questionably an anthrax disease, and though named from Siberia is not unknown in other lands. A slight shivering and fever are folloAsed by a swelling on the udder, sheath, breast, throat, or elsewhere, which rapidly increases sometimes to the size of an infant's head. At first soft, it hardens, assuming a CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 35 yellow, bacon-like appearance, with red streaks and spots. The animals die in twelve to twenty-four hours, rarely surviving three days. The blood is in the state so characteristic of anthrax, with bacteria, enlarged spleen, and sanguineous effu- sions. In cattle similar tumours appear, mainly on the throat, neck, or dewlap, in sheep and goats on the bare surfaces, and in pigs around the throat. In all cases the disease, when con- veyed to man, produces the blue-pox (malignant pustule). At the outset all cases prove fatal, later recoveries occur under the local use of cold water, or the hot iron, or other caustics pushed to the depth of the tumour, and mineral acids internally. (2) Malignant Anthrax with Diffused Local swellings,. Typhus. — This is usually confounded with the purpura hcemorrhagica, which is in no sense a contagious affection, but occurs in weak conditions of the body, as a sequel of debilitating diseases (influenza, bronchitis, pneumonia, etc.) Our limits forbid extended treatment, hence the general symptoms will be named, and the observer left to distinguish the two diseases according to their origin, communicabiiity, and prevalence. Syniptofns. — Shivering, lassitude, stupor, impaired appetite, whitish discharge from the nose, accelerated pulse and breath- ing, costiveness with slimy dung or scouring, high-coloured, odorous, or bloody urine, swellings the size of a walnut or closed fist on different parts of the body, or a continuous swelling beneath the chest and belly, or extreme engorgement of the limbs or head. These are at first hot and tender, and easily indented with the finger, but soon become hard, the skin gets rigid and exudes drops of a yellow serum or pure blood. They may render the patient unable to walk, see, feed, drink, urinate, or breathe according to situation. The mucous membranes become swelled, puffy, dusky, or yellow, with red spots and streaks, and a viscid, bloody, and finally foetid discharge flows from the noso Lrealhing may become 36 THE FARM DOCTOR. laboured and quick in connexion with exudations into the chest, or violent colics may supervene from effusions in the abdomen. With internal effusions death ensues in forty-eight hours, with external only, the effects may last for weeks or months before ending in recovery or death. In the latter case the swellings may suddenly disappear to reappear elsewhere, they may subside permanently in connexion with free action of the bowels or kidneys, or they may slough, leaving extensive and sluggish sores and scars. (B) In the Ox. — (i) Black Tongite. Also in the Horse. This i9 manifested by the eruption of blisters, red, purple, or black, on the tongue, palate, and cheeks, increasing individually (^ten to the size of a hen's egg, bursting, discharging an ichorous irritating fluid, and forming unhealthy sores with more or less tumefaction. There is a bloody discharge from the mouth, active fever sets in, and death ensues in twenty-four to forty-eight hours. (2) Black- Quarter, — Bloody Murrain. — This is malignant anthrax, with extensive engorgement of a shoulder, quarterj neck, breast, or side. It is most frequent in young and rapidly thriving stock, attacking first the finest of the herd or those thriving most rapidly, and runs its course so quickly that its victims are usually found dead in the field as the first indication of anything amiss. If seen during life there are the general symptoms of plethora, fever, with halting on one limb, stiffness, and excessive tenderness of some parts of the skin, to be promptly followed by swelling of such parts, with yellow or bloody oozing from the surface, and crackling when pressed These swellings become firm, tense, insensible, and even cold, and if the subject survives, may finally slough open and leave large, unsightly, and inactive sores. Recoveries are the excep- tion and too often slow and tedious. (C) In Sheep. — Carbuncular Erysipelas. — This strongly resembles black-quarter of cattle. Like that it attacks th? CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. ^ finest of the iBock. and the bodies of its victims are found dead in the field. There is first halting on a limb, then a red or violet swelling beginning inside the leg and rapidly extending over the body. The feeling, appearance, and course of the- sivelling agree with those of black-quarter^ and death occurs in, a few hours, or in exceptional cases in two days. (D) In Swine. — These suffer from Anthrax of the Mouth, comparable to black-tongue^ carbmicular erysipelas, like that of the sheep, pharyngeal anthrax and tumours about the throat, which sometimes at least have the anthrax characters. (i) The Carbuncular Erysipelas has been constantly con- founded in systematic veterinary works with intestinal fever ; but it is a distinct disease, being derivable from other anthrax patients and communicable to other genera of animals and to man, whereas hog-cholera is absolutely confined to swine. (2) Malignant Sore-throat. — Pharyngeal Anthrax. — This is perhaps the most frequent form of the disease in swine, often appearing to arise from eating the carcasses or excretions of other anthrax animals. There is active fever with redness and swelling of the throat, neck, breast, and even the fore limbs. This is at first hard, elastic, warm, and tender, but becomes purple, cool, insensible, and pits on pressure. There is loss of appetite, retching, vomiting, purple patches, and black spots on the eyes, snout, and skin, difficult breathing through the mouth, livid tongue, decreasing temperature, great weakness, and death in one or two days. (3) In the guttural tumours the swelling is circumscribed to the size of a kidney-bean or egg, on one or both sides of the throat, extending to the throat generally, causing vomiting, difficult breathing and swallowing, the general symptoms of anthrax, and death from suffocation often under twenty-four hours. It attacks pigs of five or six months. (E) Dogs and Cats.— These suffer when they have eaten Uie carcasses of anthrax victims. The disease usually localizes 38 THE FARM DOCTOR. itself in the mouth, throat, and digestive organs, giving rise to bloody vomiting and purging, with high fever and often death. (F) Birds — Suffer from the primary disease and more fre- quently from eating the debris of anthrax victims. In addition to the fever, characteristic swellings appear mainly on the comb, beak, and feet. (G) Man. — Malignant Fusttile. — There is itchiness of the affected part, with a minute red spot, increasing in twelve or fifteen hours to the size of a millet-seed, bursting and drying with a livid appearance in thirty- six hours. Next day a new crop of vesicles surround the seat of the first and pass through the same course to be succeeded by another and still wider ring. The whole is surrounded by a puffy, shining swelling, the central dry part passes through the shades of red, blue, brown, and black, becomes gangrenous and insensible, and in case of recovery is sloughed off. At first the disease is quite local, but as it advances a violent fever sets in, which too often proves fatal. Malignant Anthrax without External Swellings. Apoplectic Form. — In all animals there is a form in which the victim is cut off after a few minutes' illness, with or without discharge of blood from the natural openings of the body, and before time has been allowed for any of those changes in the blood and internal organs which characterize the disease. These are often to be distinguished from apoplectic seizures and sunstroke only by their occurrence simultaneously with other forms of anthrax and in the same places. Anthrax Fever in Horses. — Vigorous health is replaced by dullness, muscular weakness, stupor, hanging on the halter, leaning on the side of the stall, if at work unsteady movement, colicky pains, lying down and rising, turning the head towards the flank. The hair is dry and erect, the hide tense, and may even crepitate on handling; it t^^embles or sweats about the CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 39 ears, elbows, or thighs. The eyes and nose assume a yellow or reddish or brownish-yellow tinge, with oftentimes dark red or black spots. The pulse is weak, the heart's impulse behind the left elbow strong, breathing laboured or quick and catching. A frothy, bloody fluid may appear at the nose. The bowels are costive, the dung covered with mucus, or loose with streaks of blood. The rectum, everted, is of a dark red and puffy. Great weakness comes on, and the patient dies in convulsions or during the subsequent calm. Death usually occurs in twelve to twenty-four hours. Anthrax Fever in Oxen. — Splenic Apoplexy. — The patient ceases feeding and ruminating, or does so irregularly, trembles, has partial sweats, staring coat, varying heat of the body, arched back, quarters rested on the stall or fence, or lies with the head turned to the flank. A high temperature (105° to 107°) precedes the outward symptoms by hours or days. The eye is sunken, dull, watery, with the shades of brown and yellow, and dark spots, remarked in the horse; breathing hurried, heart's action violent, pulse weak, loins and back tender or even crepitating, urine bloody, bloody liquids escape from nose, anus, or eyes, and the dung is streaked with blood. As the disease advances the temperature of the body decreases and the patient dies in convulsions or quietude, or makes a rapid recovery. The fatal result usually takes place in from twelve to twenty-four hours. Anthrax Fever in Sheep. — Blood-Striking. — Braxy — Is very promptly fatal, the dead and already foetid carcasses being usua'.ly found in the morning though the flock was apparently well at night. The black, tarry blood brightening very slowly on exposure, the enlarged spleen and mesenteric glands, the red, puffy, softened membrane of the bowels, and the bloody and gelatinous exudations show the true nature of the disease. When seen during life there are signs of plethora, fever, red eyes, costiveness, bloody, mucous dung, bloody urine, colicky 40 THE FARM DOCTOR. pains, unsteady gait, breathlessness when driven, flattened fleece, deep-sunken eyes, stupor, convulsions, and speedy death. Many cases oif so-called braxy are not communicable to other animals, hence not genuine anthrax. Anthrax Fever in Swine. — There are dullness, thirst, in- appetence, a tardy, unsteady gait, hot, pendent ears, drooping tail, deep, dull, brownish-red eyes, hurried breathing, small pulse, violent heart's action, and tense, tender abdomen. Nervous tremors, twitching or cramps come on, the body cools, bloody urine is passed, and sometimes bloody dung. Dark or black spots appear on the skin and mucous mem- branes, as in hog-cholera, and if the animal survives these are sloughed oft, often leaving sores. If swelling appears ex- ternally it is often a herald of improvement Anthrax Fever in Birds. — There is inappetence, ruffling of plumage, sinking of the head in the shoulders, foetid diarrhoea, drooping, trailing wings, tenderness to the touch, muscular weakness, unsteady walk, inability to perch, livid or black comb and wattles. Sometimes the feathers drop off and swell- ings appear about the head, throat, or feet Treatment of Malignant Anthrax. This is unsatisfactory owing to the rapidly fatal action of the poison. The first cases usually die, the later ones may often be treated with fair success. General Treatment. — In very plethoric subjects bleeding may prove beneficial at the outset, but in advanced stages, in poor and weak subjects, and in those with feeble constitutions, like sheep, it is to be strongly condemned. Act on the bowels, kidneys, and skin to eliminate the poison (sulphates of soda, or magnesia, acetate, nitrate, or tartrate of potassa, common salt, oil of turpentine). Sponge with cold water and rub actively till dry. Rub with caiiiphorated spirit or oil of turpen- tine. Give tonics (quinja, salacin, etc.), antiseptics (niineral CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 41 acids, nitro-muriatic acid, tincture of the muriate of iron, chlorate of potassa, carbolic acid, bisulphite oi soda, tincture ot iodine, iodide of potassium, bichromate of potassa). In an outbreak in 1875, I had admirable results from the use of nitro-muriatic acid sixty drops, bichromate of potassa three grs., and chlorate of potassa two drachms, twice daily by the mouth, and two or three drachms of a saturated solution of sulphate of quinia, iodide of potassium and bisulphite of soda injected at equal intervals beneath the skin. Of fifty very sick oxen only four died. In the advanced and weak conditions stimulants (alcohol, turpentine, ether, valerian, angelica, camphor, etc.), are useful. Ij)cal Treatment. — This is very successful with inoculated forms of the disease (malignant pustule, boil-plague, gloss- anthrax, malignant sore-throat) if employed before the poison has passed into the system and produced fever. For these, free cauterization and especially with the antiseptic caustics (crystallized carbolic acid, the mineral acids, chloride of zinc, chloride of iron, sulphate of iron or copper) is successful. But the whole diseased tissue must be reached, and in the case of the tongue the blisters must be first laid open and the agent applied in small quantity with a brush, or more freely in a diluted condition. In some external cases the hot I'ron is used with advantage. Such treatment may still be applied to circumscribed tumours accompanied by the fever, being fol- lowed by poultices to encourage suppuration. For extensive engorgements use astringents (cold water, vinegar, etc.), weak antiseptic lotions, and, above all, injections with a hypodermic syringe of antiseptics (diluted tincture of iodine, diluted carbolic acid — i-ioo, etc.) The hypodermic treatment is equally applicable to the circumscribed tumours, but we must saturate their whole substance, otherwise absorp- tion of the poison will lead to general disorder. Prevention. — j. Pri^in the soil th:>roughly. 2. When a soil 42 THE FARM DOCTOR. cannot be drained, soil the stock in-doors or on other pastures rather than graze them. 3. Remove the stock from pastures known to be dangerous as soon as summer heat and dryness of the soil favour malarious emanations (late summer and autumn). 4. Shelter the stock at night and secure the shade of trees or sheds during the day, when, after a hot, dry season, there comes an extreme difference between the day and night temperature. 1;. Secure abundance of pure water, avoiding such as is stagnant or putrid. 6. Keep always in good thriving condition, and avoid sudden accessions of plethora. Artificial feeding in dry times is often necessary to secure this, or in case of an over- luxuriant pasture, seclusion in a barn-yard for four or five hours a day. Sheep may be shut up on moonlight nights, to prevent feeding in dangerous localities. 7. Overwork, exhaustion, close-aired buildings, ill-health, or whatever tends to load the blood with waste matter should be avoided. 8. Exposed animals may have a little nitro-muriatic, sulphuric, or carbolic acid daily in the water or food. 9. Diseased animals must be separated from the healthy. 10. Carcasses, secretions, dung, litter, etc., of diseased animals should be deeply buried or otherwise perfectly destroyed. Buildings, yards, sheds, etc., occupied by the diseased should be thoroughly disinfected. Pastures should be abandoned for that season, and graves fenced safely from trespass for two years. 1 1. None but the attendants should approach the diseased. 12. Before handling, cauterize all raw sores on hands or face with lunar caustic and wash the hands in a weak solution of carbolic acid both before and after. 13. Shut up all dogs, cats, and pigeons. 14. Never allow the flesh or milk to pass into consumption. GLANDERS AND FARCY. A specific febrile disorder originating in solipeds, and trans- missible by contagion or inoculation to dogs, goats, sheep, and men. Glanders is characterized by a j^eculiar deposit with CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 43 ulceration on the membrane of the nose, and in the hmgs, etc., and farcy by deposits of the same material and ulcerations of the lymphatics of the skin. Each has its acute and clironic form. The acute form usually results from inoculation, or in weak and worn-out systems. Besides the common cause — contagion, overwork, exhausting diseases, and impure air are especially injurious. Symptoms of Acute Glayiders. — Languor, dry, staring coat, red, weeping eyes, impaired appetite, accelerated pulse and breathing, yellowish-red or purple streaks or patches in the nose, watery nasal discharge, with sometimes painful dropsical swellings of the limbs or joints. Soon the nasal flow becomes yellow and sticky, causing the hairs and skin of the nostrils to adhere together, and upon the mucous membrane appear yellow elevations with red spots, passing on into erosions and deep ulcers of irregular form and varied colour, and with little or no tendency to heal. The lymphatic glands inside the lower jaw where the pulse is felt, become enlarged, hard, and nodular, like a mass of peas or beans, and are occasionally firmly adherent to the skin, the tongue, or jawbone. The lymphatics on the face often rise as firm cords. An occasional cough is heard, and auscultation detects crepitation or wheezing in the chest. The ulcers increase in number and depth, often invading the gristle or even the bone, the glands also enlarge but remain hard and nodular, the discharge becomes bloody, foetid, and so abundant and tenacious as to threaten or accom « plish suffocation, and the animal perishes in the greatest distress Symptoms of Chronic Glanders. — This is characterized by the same unhealthy deposits and ulcers in the nose, varying extremely in size and number, often indeed situated too high to be seen ; by the same viscid discharge, but usually much less tenacious than in the acute form ; by the same hard, comparatively insensible nodular glands on the inner side of the jaw-bone 3 and a cough, which, however, is much more rare. 44 THE FARM DOCTOR, Excepting at the veiy outset, the animal usually appears to be in the best of health, with the apparently insignificant draw- back of the nasal discharge, and hence he is often kept and used till he contaminates a number of horses or even men. The case is easily recognized unless where the ulcers are invisible or the enlarged glands removed. It is sometimes needful to inoculate a useless animal to decide as to the nature of the malady. It usually proves fatal to the inoculated animal in about ten days. Symptoms of Acute Farcy. — The premonitory symptoms resemble those of acute glanders, of which it is but another manifestation. The local symptoms consist in thickening of the lymphatic vessels, which feel like stout cords, painful to pressure ; and the formation of rounded inflammatory swellings (farcy-buds) along the course of these corded lymphatics.. There follow ulceration of these buds, raw sores, discharging a glairy, unhealthy pus, and dropsical engorgement of the limb or other part affected. It is usually seen to follow the line ot the veins on tlie inner side of the hind or fore limb, but may appear on any part. The cording usually extends from the feet toward the body, and is most likely to be confounded with lymphangitis, in which the swelling begins high up in the groin. It usually proves fatal, becoming complicated with glanders before death. Symptoms of Chronic Farcy. — This may follow the acute form or come on insidiously. First there is some swelling of a fetlock, usually a hind one, and a round, hard, nut-like mass may be felt which giadually softens, bursts, and discharges the the characteristic serous or glairy matter. The lymphatics leading up from it meanwhile become corded, and farcy-buds appear along their course. Or the round, pea-like buds appear first on the inner side of the hock, or on some other part of the body, soften, burst, and discharge before any cording of the Ivmphatics can be felt, ' CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 45 - Bye-and-by, dropsical swellings appear in the limbs and else- where, at first soft and removable by exercise, later, hard and permanent. Sometimes the farcy-buds fail to soften, but remain hard and indolent for months. Glanders in the dog is a comparatively mild affection, but as deadly if it is conveyed back to the horse or to man. Glanders in man presents the same general symptoms as in the horse, and need not be further described. Treatment of Glanders. — The acute disease is fatal. The chronic form occasionally appears to recover, though more .•ommonly the symptoms are covered up to reappear whenever the animal is put to hard work. The treatment of glanders in all its forms and of acute farcy with open sores should be legally prohibited because of the danger to man as well as animals. For glanders the most successful agents have been arseniate of strychnia (5 grs.), bisulphite of soda (2 drs.), biniodide ot copper (i dr.), canthandes (5 grs.) with vegetable tonics, sul- phate of copper (6 drs. in mucilage), sulphate of iron (4 drs.), chloride of barium, copaiva, cubebs, etc. Pure air and rich food are perhaps even more important. To the nose may be applied sulphur fumes, fumes of burning tar, carbolic acid solution in spray, etc. The enlarged glands may be treated with astringent solutions, and later with iodine injections, or may even be excised with the knife. Treatment of Chronic Farcy. — Active local inflammation may demand purgatives (aloes), diuretics (iodide of potassium) with warm fomentations or astringent lotions, exercise, and a soft non-stimulating diet. In the absence of such indication use the tonics advised for glanders, choosing in the order named. The corded lymphatics and unbroken farcy-buds may be blistered or rubbed with iodine or mercurial ointment. The raw sores should be treated with caustics (carbolic acid, nitrate t)f silver, corrosive sublimate, chloride of zinc, or even the hot 46 THE FARM DOCTOR. iron). Use iodine, diuretics, exercise, rubbing, etc., to reduce the swelling, and feed liberally. Prevention. — i. Destroy all glandered horses, and all with acute farcy and open sores, and bury deeply. 2. There should be a high penalty attached to the exposing of glandered horses in public places. 3. Suspected animals should be secluded under veterinary supervision until they can be pronounced sound, or destroyed. 4. The stable, manure, litter, harness, clothing, utensils, etc., with which the diseased has come in contact should be thoroughly disinfected. 5. Neither strange animals nor men should be admitted, and attendants should disinfect before leaving. 6. Horses should be protected as far as possible from exhausting work, chronic wearing-out affections, and above all impure and rebreathed air. VENEREAL DISEASE OF SOLIPEDS. This is a curious disease ot unknown origin, existing in Arabia, North Africa, and Continental Europe, bearing a strong resemblance in many points to Syphilis, and propagated by copulation. Symptoms. — From one to ten days after copulation, or in the Stallion sometimes after some weeks, there is irritation, swelling, and a livid redness of the external organs of generation {in stallions the penis may shrink) followed by unhealthy ulcers which appear in successive crops, often with considerable interval. In mares these are near the clitoris, which is fre- quently erected, with switching and rubbing of the tail; in horses on the penis and sheath. In the milder forms there is little constitutional disturbance and the patients recover in a time varying from a fortnight to two months. In the severe forms the local swelling increases by intermittent steps. The vulva is the seat of a deep violet congestion and extensive ulceration, pustules appear on the perineum, tail, and between the thighs, the lips of the vulva are parl^, exposing the CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 4? irregular, nodular, puckered, ulcerated, and lardaceous-looking mucous membrane, abortion ensues, with emaciation, lameness, paralysis, and death, after a wretched existence of five months to two years. In horses swelling of the sheath may be the only symptom for a year, then there may follow dark spots of cxtravasated blood, or swellings of the penis, the testicles may swell, a dropsical engorgement extends forward beneath the abdomen and chest, the lymphatic glands in different parts of the body may swell, pustules and ulcers appear on the skin, the eyes and nose run, a weakness and vacillating movement of the hind limbs gradually increases to paralysis, and in a period varying from three months to tliree years death puts an end to the suffering. TUBERCULOSIS. CONSUMPTION. PINING. This is a hereditary constitutional affection, characterized by a specific deposit of cells, large and small, in a special network, but without blood-vessels. It is situated by preference in the groups of lymphatic glands, or in the microscopic gland-like tissue of the different organs, and may be seen in all stages from the simple redness and congestion in which the deposit is only commencing, through the solid grayish tubercle to the soft yellowish, cheese-like mass resulting from the softening of the latter. There are also the open cavities [vomicce) resulting from their rupture and the discharge of the tuberculous matter, and chalky masses from the deposit of earthy salts within them. They may be no larger individually than a millet-seed (miliary tuberculosis), or in the chest of cattle one may measure a foot long and five or six inches in thickness. They are most common in cattle, especially heavy milkers, with long legs, narrow chest, attenuated neck and ears, and horns set near together. Sheep and swine with a con-esponding conformation are next in order of liability, while horses, dogs, and fowls are comparatively exempt. Oft-repeated experiment has shown 48 THE FARM DOCTOR. that tubercle is communicable to healthy animals by inocula- tion, or by eating the raw, diseased product, and that it is superinduced in any predisposed individual by setting up a local inflammation. It has also been transmitted by the warm, fresh milk, but probably only when the disease has invaded the mammary glands ; in many experiments, including those conducted by the author, the milk has proved harmless. Close, badly-aired buildings (as town cow-sheds) are among the most prolific causes of the disease, as are also changes to a colder climate, to a cold, exposed locality, or from a dry to a low, damp, undrained region. Finally, any cause which tends to wear out the general health tends to tuberculosis in a pre- disposed subject. Tubercles may be developed in any part of the body, as the lungs, their serous covering, the membrane supporting the bowels, the coats of the intestines, the throat, the spleen, the liver, the pancreas, the ovaries, the kidneys, the bones, especi- ally the ends of long bones, and, in rare cases, the muscles and connective tissue. Symptoms vary according to the seat of the deposit, yet there is a constitutional condition common to all, and the lungs are almost always involved in the later stages, giving rise to a great similarity of symptoms. The disease may be acute but is usually chronic The onset is insidious and easily overlooked, tubercles being often found in animals killed in prime condition, and I have seen them in parturitioti fever, which is always attributed to plethora. There is some dullness, loss of vivacity, tenderness of the withers, back, and loins, and of the walls of the chest, occasional dryness of the nose, heat of the horns and ears, want of pliancy in the skin, slightly increased tem* perature (102°), weak, accelerated pulse, mawkish breath, stiff- ness of the limbs, wandering perhaps from one to another, -slight, infrequent, dry cough, and blue, watery milk, often abundant but with cheesy matter, fat and sugar decreased, and CONTAGIOUS AXD EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 49 soda and potassa in excess. The lymphatic glands about the throat are often manifestly enlarged. Swellings of the joints may appear, or a murmur harsher than natural may be heard over the lower end of the windpipe or in the chest. With deposits in the abdomen, and especially in or near the ovaries of cows, the desire for the male is often constant (builers), though conception and the completion of gestation are usually impossible. Working oxen are easily overdone and become visibly emaciated from day to day. As the disease advances the eyes sink in their sockets and lose all animation, the skin is hidebound, harsh, dry, and scurfy, the hair dull, dry, and erect, the membranes of the eyes, nose, and mouth of a pale yellow, bloodless aspect, though often streaked with pink vessels, a whitish discharge often takes place from the nose and with it an increased repulsiveness and often distinct foetor of the breath; if the bowels are involved scouring is common, and if the bones, swelling and lameness increase. Exhaustion with profuse perspiration and laboured breathing occur on the slightest exertion, the appetite fails, tympany follows each meal and the milk is at once poorer and lessened in quantity. The cough increases, becomes rattling, the discharge profuse, foetid, mixed with cheesy-like or chalky particles, crepitating, wheezing, gurgling, and other abnormal noises are heard in the chest, and percussion shows dulness in particular parts, with wincing. All of the symptoms become steadily aggravated, and the animal usually perishes from the difificulty of respiration or the profuse foetid diarrhoea. In cases affecting the bones, the patient may be able to stand, and the bony prominences may make their way through the skin or even crumble under the pressure thrown upon them. If the tubercle is deposited in the liver, pancreas, or kidneys, there are symptoms of disease of these respective organs. Recoveries sometimes ensue in connection with healing of vomicae or calcification of the tubercles in strong sub- D 50 THE FARM DOCTOR. jects, but more frequently the disease progresses to a fatal issue. Treatment. — This is unsatisfactory as being rarely successful, and even then in preserving an animal which is dangerous as a breeder for producing a progeny predisposed to this disease, and for slaughter and dairy purposes as possibly conveying the malady to man. The most promising course is to secure dry, pure air, sun- shine, a genial temperature, rich and easily digestible food, containing abundance of fat (linseed, corn, beans, peas, potatoes), a course of tonics (linseed or cod-liver oil in small doses, sulphate of iron, hypophosphite of iron, quinia, gentian, etc.), and antiseptics (fumes of burning sulphur, bisulphite of soda, sulpho-caibolate of iron, etc.). Prevention. — This would include drainage, shelter of pastures by trees, avoidance of changes to cold or damp localities, a warm, sunny location for farm buildings, suitable feeding and watering, the prevention and cure of all debilitating and especially chronic diseases, protection against overwork, or excessive secretion of milk on a stimulating but insufficiently nutritious diet, securing young, undeveloped animals against breeding and milking at the same time, rejection of tuberculous subjects from breeding, the prompt removal of all such animals from pastures or buildings used for the healthy, and the thorough disinfection of all places where they have been kept. The flesh and milk of tuberculous animals are always to be viewed with suspicion, but this poison, like others, can be destroyed by the most thorough cooking. CHAPTER II. PARASITES. F^arasites -their numbers. Tape-worms. Tjcnia Coenurus. Coenurus Cere- bralis and their effects, Staggers, Turnsick, Gid, Sturdy, Water-brain in calves and lambs. Taenia Echinococcus, Echinococcus Veterinorum (Hominis), Echinococcus disease. Trenia Solium. Cysticercus Cellulosa, Parasitic .Measles in Swine. Ta-nia Mediocanellata, Cysticercus Mediocanellata, Para- sitic Measles in Cattle. Tngnia Expinsa ; Tape-worm in sheep and cattle. Lard Worm, Kidney Worm of hogs. Eustrongylus Gigas, Kidney Worm. Trichina Spiralis, Trichinosis. PARASITES. The domestic animals harbour no less than two hundred species of parasites, which will be found treated in the author's larger work, but the limits of the present book will restrict us to a few of the more injurious. For convenience of reference most of these are noticed in connexion with the organs (skin, bowels, liver, air passages) which they infest, and here we will only name such as having a more general diffusion through the body cannot well be referred to any one organ. TAPE-WORMS. These are flat-bodied worms made up ot small segments joined end to end, and when full grown varying in length from one inch to one hundred feet. The narrow end terminates in a small globular head furnished with circular sucking discs, and a proboscis usually encircled by one or more rows of booklets. From the other end the ripe segments are continu ^Uy detached and expelled from the body, and may be recog- 52 THE FARM DOCTOR. nised as little, white, flaitened oblong objects progressing over soil and vegetables by a worm-like movement, and depositing an endless number of microscopic eggs, with which they are literally filled. Some tape-worms are estimated to lay as many as 25,000,000 eggs. Taken with the food or water into the body of a suitable host these eggs open and set free an ovoid six-hooked embryo, which bores its way through the tissues until it reaches that organ or tissue which is the natural habitat of its species in the young or larval state and there encysts itself. It may survive indefinitely or even die in this situation, or if its host is eaten by a carnivorous animal it may develop in its bowels into a mature tape-worm and reproduce its species as before. Fortunately nearly all the eggs perish from failing to be taken into the body of a suitable animal in which they can develop into the cystic form, or, this peril escaped, because the first animal host is not devoured by the right species of animal in which the young cystic worm can grow into its mature tape-worm form. But from the enormous fecundity of these tape-worms in eggs it is manifest that there may be scarcely any limit to rheir increase when the different animals which form their hosts in the cystic and mature condition abound together in the same locality. STAGGERS. TURN-SICK. GID. STURDY. WATER-BRAIN IN LAMBS AND CALVES. The Ta;nt(7 Cmmrus of the bowels of the dog, a tape-worm of one to three feet long, has its cystic fonti — Ccenurus Cere- liralis — in the brain and spinal cord of sheep and cattle, giving rise to nervous disease, varying much in character according to the exact site of the cyst. Symptoms. — Great nervousness and fear without apparent cause, or dulness, stupor, and aberration of the senses, and disorderly muscular movements. The sheep is found apart from the fiock with red eyes, dilated pupils, blindness, and PARASJTES. 53 unsteady gait, but with a tendency to move restlessly in one direction. Left to itself, it neglects to eat or drink, and wastes daily. But, if well-fed and excitement avoided, it may even gain flesh. If the cyst is situated on one side of the brain, the Iamb turns to that side, moving in a circle and making a beaten track. The limbs on the opposite side of the body act in a disorderly manner, being partially paralysed. If there is one on each side of the brain, the sheep will turn to one side or the other, according to the relative activity of the parasites at any given moment. When the cyst is directly in the median line, the sheep elevates its nose and advances in a straight line until stopped by some obstruction. When located in the back part of the brain (cerebellum), the host lifts its limbs in a jerking. Fig. I.— Coenurus Cerebralis. Showing the sac with its many heads (reduced). Also a single head magnified. uncertain manner, sets them down in a hesitating way, stumblts perpetually, falls and struggles for some time ineffectually in its efforts to rise. If situated in the spinal cord, difificult breathing and paralysis are marked symptoms. The disorders are often extreme at first, and afterwards undergo a temporary improve- ment, the remissions and aggravations being probably due to the varying activity of the parasite at different periods. Simple tumours, maintaining a steadily increasing pressure, rarely give rise to such intermittent symptoms. The ccenurus mostly affects sheep under two years old. and 54 THE FARM DOCTOR, those that are out of condition. Yet the finest animals, kept for show, will sometimes suffer. So it is in cattle, the young, weak, and ill-thriven are the most exposed, but all may sufter. For the same reason, poor, damp, and exposed localities suffer more than the rich, dry, and sheltered. Prevention. — Destroy the dogs, or, if they must be kept, deny them sheep's heads until cooked. Examine them at frequent intervals and expel all tape-worms by vermifuges (oil of turpen- tine, male-fern, kousso, areca nut, etc.). Keep the young sheep at all times in good, thriving condition. Drain all wet pastures, shelter exposed ones. Treatment. — In rare cases, spontaneous recovery may follow rupture of the cyst in connexion with a blow on the head or a fall. Hogg passed a long knitting wire through the nose into the brain, and Youatt advises a small trocar for the same purpose. But the cyst is more easily punctured and extracted through the upper part of the skull. In advanced cases, the internal pressure of the cyst has sometimes caused absorption of the bones and the formation of a soft spot on the upper part of the skull. This should be laid open with a sharp lancet or penknife, just enough to introduce a trocar and cannula one- eighth inch in diameter, through which the liquid may escape slowly. The animal may be turned on its back to complete the evacuation, but held firmly so that no struggling can take place. As the cjst is emptied, a membrane will be found pro- jecting through it, and should be slowly drawn out. This is the parasitic cyst, and from its inner surface will be found projecting one hundred to two hundred little elevations like pin-heads, each representing the head of a tape-worm, and being capable of development into the mature parasite if swallowed by a dog. The wound should be covered with a pitch plaster and a leathe^ hood, and the patient placed in a dark, quiet, secluded box, on soft, laxative diet for a week. If the bones are not softened the point to be perforated PARASITES. 55 must be ascertained from the symptoms. If the sheep turns to one side, open a little in front of the corresponding ear and about half an inch from the median line of the skull. If the head is elevated and the walk straight forward without much teiror or disorderly movement, open at the same level but in the median line. If there is awkward, hesitating movement, much terror, flurry, and stumbling, open in the median line further back. A flap of skin is to be dissected up from the bone, large enough to admit a trephine one-eighth inch in diameter (in an emergency a gimlet will do), with which the bone is to be perforated. After this the cannula and trocar is used as above advised. If more than one cyst should be present the operation may require repetition, and with care recoveries often ensue. ECHINOCOCCUS DISEASE. The Tcenia Echinococcus^ a tape worm of the dog, not exceed- Fig. 2.— Taenia Echinococcus magnified. (Cobbold.) Fig. 3. — Portion of cyst and heads of Echinococcus. ing one inch in length, lives in its cystic form as Echinococcus {E. Hominisy E. Veterinoriini), in the most varied internal organs of men and animals. As the cystic form of this parasite 56 THE FARM DOCTOR. has the power of increasing its numbers almost indefinitely, and growing into enormous multilocular cysts, it becomes extremely injurious and even deadly to its brute, and, above all, to its human victims. One-sixth of the human mortality in Iceland has been attributed to this parasite, and a fatal case in a child has recently come under the writer's notice. Many of the cysts of water found in the liver and other internal organs of the domestic animals are specimens of Echinococcus, and that they are not more frequently fatal may be attributed largely to the shortness of the lives of animals raised for slaughter. They may inhabit almost any organ (liver, lungs, spleen, abdominal walls, kidneys, brain, eye, etc.), and the symptoms will vary accordingly. rr