CATTLE DISEASE. 235 



By-and-bye the animal gets a dull and dejected look ; if at pasture, 

 it may be found in the morning apart from the herd ; the back 

 arched, the fore legs rather wide apart, the hair staring, a little 

 uneasy and don't' eat well ; but later in the day, it looks better, 

 joins the herd and eats as usual. A slight, but Jiusty cough is 

 occasionally heard, and sometimes quicker breathing, as if from 

 extra exertion. If a cow, the milk diminishes, accompanied with 

 heat and tenderness of the udder. 



As the disease progresses, the eyes look duller, the head is 

 lowered, the nose protruded, the cough more frequent and husky, 

 the appetite lessens, rumination is suspended, the limbs and surface 

 cold, the skin tight over the ribs, the spine becomes tender, and 

 pressure upon it, or between the ribs, produces evident pain. As 

 the disease approaches an unfavorable termination, the breathing 

 becomes fearfully laborious, and is accompanied with moans and 

 sometimes with grunts ; the eyes sink, the extremities cold, the 

 mouth is covered with froth, the strength fails, and the poor beast 

 falls and dies ; or, if the animal is to recover, the severity of the 

 symptoms abate, it looks better, eats some — if a cow, the milk 

 returns, the hair becomes sleek, &c. 



Percussion and auscultation furnish the most reliable means of 

 judging, in the living animal, of the state of the disease. Upon 

 striking with the ends of the fingers upon the affected side, a dull 

 sound is usually elicited, proportionate to the consolidation of the 

 lung, or to the presence or absence of fluid in the cavity of the 

 chest. Upon applying the ear to the sides of the chest, one or the 

 other, and sometimes, though rarely, both are found to be affected. 

 The various sounds cannot be easily or exactly described, but a 

 practised ear will judge with great accuracy between the natural 

 murmur of healthy lungs, and the different sounds recognized in 

 the several stages of the disease. 



In what manner, and through what channel, the disease enters 

 the system — whether it makes its attack directly upon the solids, 

 or begins by corrupting the blood, — these and other kindred points, 

 are at present, matters of pure conjecture. 



With regard to the treatment, little of a satisfactory character 

 can be offered. The severity or mildness of the attack and its ter- 

 mination, whether favorable or fatal, may, not improbably, depend 

 more upon the susceptibility of the individual, and upon the amount 

 or intensity of the contagion taken into the system, than upon any 

 treatment bestowed. 



