236 CATTLE DISEASE. 



Whether subjected to a course of medication, or trusted wholly 

 to the recuperative powers of nature, some will recover in whole 

 or in part, but we have little reason to believe that any will so 

 recover as to be secure from a second attack, or to become able bod- 

 ied and sound, or valuable for (he ordinary purposes jor ivhich do- 

 mestic animals are kept. Considering the probable unsoundness 

 of those which survive, bearing also in mind the exceeding impor- 

 tance of active and healthy lungs, and the expense necessarily 

 involved in the treatment and isolation of those which are lost, as 

 well as those which are saved, the conviction is forced upon us, 

 that attempts to cure this disease will rarely, if ever, pay. We 

 may remark, however, that couxter irritation, by diverting dis- 

 eased action from the vital organs to the sui'face, promises benefi- 

 cial results, and the application of highly stimulating liniments, 

 blisters, setons and the like, is understood to have been of more 

 service than aught else. 



The appearances after death vary greatly, but there are usually 

 extensive adhesions ; consolidation of a portion of the lung tissue 

 marked by di peculiar marbled appearance, is one of the most strik- 

 ing and uniform accompaniments of this disease. In some cases 

 an immense cavity is found in one of the lungs, and, enclosed in 

 that cavity or cyst, a cheesy substance or lump, having no attach- 

 ment to, or connection with, the adjacent lung. In others, the 

 process of detachment had not been fully completed. Some lungs 

 were found to be so hypertrophied as to weigh three or four times 

 as much as in health, and in one the estimated weight was from fifty 

 to sixty pounds ! 



As, in our present relation to this disease, we deem prevention 

 to be of incomparably greater importance than either a knowledge 

 of the symptoms attending it, the treatment best adapted to miti- 

 gate its results, or the morbid appearances presented after death, 

 we will not longer dwell upon these, but rather urge the import- 

 ance of arousing at once to a prompt appreciation of the magnitude 

 of the threatened calamity. If once it becomes naturalized among 

 us, we may never again expect immunity from its attacks. When 

 once fairly established, either here or elsewhere, its seeds may 

 remain, even after apparent subjugation, and whenever the neces- 

 sary conditions present themselves, it may break out again with 

 fearful violence. 



Our only safety lies in keeping clear of it, and we urge the utmost 

 vigilance upon every individual, and upon all competent authori- 



