150 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



common salt may be added. Purging by drugs must be 

 carefully avoided. Bandaging and hand-rubbing of the legs 

 will restore warmth and counteract the swelling of these parts. 

 It must be remembered that the whole plan of treatment 

 should be directed toward maintaining the strength ; par- 

 ticularly is this the case where the prostration is very marked 

 from the outset. During the period of convalescence, which 

 in many cases has been long, very great care must be taken 

 about exposure to wet and cold, and if the appetite does not 

 return^ some mild stomachic may be given, as the extract of 

 gentian with ginger, and use may be made of cider or ale in 

 moderate quantities. Generally, nature aifects the cure with- 

 out our assistance. Should symptoms of pneumonia or lung 

 fever be established, which will be recognized by certain 

 signs, — such as rapid breathing, standing with legs wide apart, 

 extremities excessively cold, short and painful cough, quick, 

 small pulse, — we have to deal with a most formidable malady, 

 and one which will, in spite of all treatment, tend to a fatal 

 termination. Here the services of a comijetent veterinary 

 practitioner should be secured, if possible ; if not, make use 

 of the mean^ at hand, and already indicated ; clothe warmly 

 and ffive the animal abundance of fresh air, oruardinsf asraiust 

 draughts. As a means of counter-irritation, extensive mustard 

 poultices should be applied to the sides of the chest. Where 

 extensive swelling of the lower extremities, abdomen, chest 

 and head follow, as complications such as I have recently 

 seen, no treatment can be of essential seiwice. These con- 

 ditions are dependent upon extteme prostration of the system, 

 and not to be considered as a new disease. 



Much has been said of the use of disinfectants in this epi- ' 

 demic. These should be employed under certain circum- 

 stances, but are not to be too much relied upon as ji means of 

 warding off or preventing the disease. Neither is any other 

 substance or plan of treatment to be so considered, as certain 

 individuals in every epidemic will escape, no matter to what 

 exposure they may have been subjected. 



To sum up our remarks. The disease in question is a 

 catarrhal epidemic, described by veterinariail authors as hav- 

 ing prevailed at various times from the earliest periods, anal- 

 agous in many respects to the same disease which attacks the 



