324 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



What exercise maj' do for an animal is diincull to indicate. Tlie practice of keeping 

 cows shut up constantly without any exercise is incrcasinj;; and what it may lead to 

 may only he pii'dicted after carefully cunsiderinj^ tlu' iui])ortance of exercise to every 

 animal body. (Shut an animal up, one which is accustomed to roaming over consider- 

 able territory, and you immediately see signs of deterioration. Shut up a cow month 

 after month without any exercise and it must result in the reduction of vigor. 

 Cease to use a muscle, it becomes diminutive and weak. Cease to use any organ, and 

 it will become weak. Cease to use the boiiy, and the body will become weak. 

 Treat an anim.'il as a machine and it will need oiling very soon and wear out in a short 

 time. Treat an animal as an object of life, subject to the natural laws of life, and it 

 will be useful for a great nuvny years. To abide by the laws of nature is to 

 progress, to violate these laws is to retrogress. 



No matter what the devitalizing agent may be, whether it is one of Oie factors 

 mentioned above or something else, it probably exercises a potent influence upon the 

 production of tuberculosis in the presence of the tubercle bacilli. 



SYMPTOMS OF TUBERCULOSIS. 



In the incipient stages of this disease, no subjective symptoms may be pointed out 

 as indicating tuberculosis. It is only when the disease has advanced to a well 

 developed stage that symptoms begin to manifest themselves, and even then the symp- 

 toms may be such as would not lead to a positive diagnosis. Consequently there is 

 nothing to cause the farmer to suspect that tuberculosis is present in his herd until 

 some animal begins to decline so rapidly as to point to possible tuberculosis. 



How long it takes this disease to run its course from the time of infection to death 

 is unknown, but it is believed that it may take the acute form and carry off an 

 animal in a few months, or the chronic form, and make the period of duration that 

 of many years, the animal finally dying from some other disease. Inasmuch as the 

 author has had no experience in studying the clinical aspect of this disease as would be 

 afforded by a practitioner, he desires to be allowed to quote in toto the succinct 

 statement of symptoms by Prof. Law of Cornell LIniversitj% as given in bulletin 

 170 of that experiment station: 



"Tuberculosis of the lungs may be chronic or acute. The chronic cases may last 

 indefinitely with no other symptom than an occasional cough on leaving the )iot 

 stable or cool air, when suddenly raised in the stall, when made to run, or when drink- 

 ing cold water or eating dusty food. Tlie cough is usually small, dry, wheezing, and 

 repeated several times in succession. The general health may seem to be good, the 

 subject may be fat or a heavy milker. To the trained ear, wheezing, crackling, or 

 other unnatural sounds, may be heard in the lungs, or they may fail of detection. 

 There may be a discharge from the nose, which, when stained and placed undei- the 

 microscope, may show bacilli, but by cleansing the nose with the tongue the animal 

 makes this test practically impossible. 



■'Acute tuberculosis of the lungs, on the other hand, may prove fatal in a month. It 

 is attended with rapid loss of condition, staring coat, elevated temperature, hurried 

 breathing, frequent weak, husky or rattling cough, heavy, maukish breath, and na.sal 

 discharge containing gritty particles or opaque yellowish masses. Pinching of the 

 back, breast bone or spaces between the ribs, or striking the ribs with the knuckles may 

 cause wincing, groaning or cough, and ausculation over the ribs may detect sounds of 

 friction, wheezing, creaking, crepitation, rattling or blowing, etc. Percussion over 

 the chest detects areas of lack of resonance corresponding to the seats of tubercles 

 or pulmonary infiltration. A significant feature is that these areas of flatness are 

 distributed over the lungs, and not confined to one spot, as is common in pneumonia. 

 Appetite and rumination fail, bloating occurs after meals, the bowels may become 

 irregular and indications of tuberculosis in the throat or siiperficial lip glands may 

 appear. 



"Tuberculosis of the stomach and bowels is common in young animals living on 

 milk, but is not infrequent in the mature animal as well. It may come from infected 

 milk, or from the swallowing of the diseased products coming from the throat or lungs. 

 In calves there may be noted indigestion, foetid diarrhea, bloating, and finally 

 cough and expectoration or swelling of the superficial lymph glands. In older cattle 

 there may be irregular appetite and rumination, bloating after meals, costiveness, 

 alternating with diarrhea, colics, and marked emaciation. The oiled hand introduced 

 into the rectum may detect the enlarged mesenteric glands, which must be carefully 

 distinguished from hardened feces in the bowels, from the ovaries, from masses of fat, 

 and from the cotyledons of the womb. 



