332 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



The cows on Mr. Swift's farm at Cuba, with which the dis- 

 ease probably originated, were pastured in a new field full of 

 stumps and brush, and abounding in springs and marshy- 

 places. A second accessory is to be found in the youth of the 

 animals^ the weakness of which and the abundance of secre- 

 tions from their mucous membranes predispose to this as to 

 other parasitic affections. Weakness from ill health or old 

 age may be classed along with this. But, perhaps, the most 

 important of these accessory causes is feeding on contaminated 

 fields or fodder, or drinking from troughs or streams contain- 

 ing the wonns. In the affected counties of England calves 

 and lambs are especially liable to suffer, if pastured on fields 

 previously eaten down with older stock. Overstocking has 

 also its evil influence, partly by reason of its weakening the 

 constitution of the animals, and partly by causing an extraor- 

 dinary accumulation of embryo strongyli in the pastures 

 and drink. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms are esentially those of bron- 

 chitis, with this difference : that the examination of the mu- 

 cous coughed up shows the presence of the worms either soli- 

 tarily or rolled together into bundles. The symptoms, howev- 

 er, vary a good deal in different cases. There is, at first, only 

 a slight cough, rather hoarse and hacking, and repeated at 

 irregular intervals. The coat stares, the skin feels dry, ine- 

 lastic and unhealthy, and emaciation perceptibly advances 

 day by day. Sometimes the cough is not observed at first, 

 and these symptoms alone, or with some slight embarrassment 

 of breathing when exercised, are the sole manifestations. 

 Soon, however, the cough becomes more frequent and occurs 

 in paroxysms which threaten suffocation, and sometimes induce 

 it. The matters expelled by the nose and mouth are found, 

 on examination, to contain more or less of the worms, appear- 

 ing like pieces of stout white thread, one to three inches 

 long. 



Often when the cough is less frequent, it is at the same 

 time soft and loose, or even wheezing rather than hoarse ; 

 the patient becomes daily weaker and more hide-bound, the 

 visible mucous membranes get pale, the eyes sunken, the ap- 



