526 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



PLEURO-TNEUMONIA IN CATTLE AS IT HAS 



SHOWN ITSELF IN AMERICA. 



By C. M, Wood, V.S., Boston, Massachusetts, U. S. 



RECENTLY 



Early in October, 1859, 1 learned that Winthrop 

 W. Chenery, Esq., one of the merchant-princes of 

 this city, and a resident in the town of Belmont 

 (seven miles distant), had lost a large number of 

 his stock by a disease which nobody appeared to 

 understand. On the 26th of that month, I met 

 and spoke to Mr. Chenery upon the subject, when 

 he not only corroborated what I had previously 

 heard, but also informed me that he had lost 

 twenty-four head of valuable cattle, of various ages, 

 and many of them imported at great cost. He 

 likewise stated that one of a yoke of working oxen 

 was then sick with the same distemper, and he 

 feared it would die. Further, that he still had a 

 number of valuable animals, which he thought 

 would be likely to take the disease, and he should 

 be pleased to find some person who understood 

 the nature of the malady, so as either to cure it or 

 arrest its further progress. He added that Dr. 

 George H. Dadd, of this city, had visited and ad- 

 ministered medicine to many of the cattle, but that 

 nearly every case had proved fatal. Dr. Dadd 

 said that he had never before seen anything of the 

 kind ; but from the description he had read of it, 

 he believed it to be a disease of Continental Eu- 

 rope, called " pleuro-pneumonia," and that medical 

 treatment was of no use whatever, as the disease 

 was always fatal. 



One of my professional brethren. Dr. William 

 Saunders, of Salem, in this. State, a man of exten- 

 sive practice amongst neat cattle, being present, 

 we agreed to visit the sick ox that afternoon. On 

 arriving at the barn or cowhouse (which I will 

 hereafter describe), we found the animal lying in 

 a box or pen. He was eight years old, of the 

 Devon breed, and exhibited the following symp- 

 toms : Countenance dejected, eyes sunken in their 

 orbits; pulse 70, small and wiry; respiration 

 laboured, rumination and appetite lost, bowels con- 

 stipated, breath offensive. He sighed heavily as he 

 lay ; and when urged to rise gave a loud grunt, 

 and when up moved reluctantly and with much ap- 

 parent difficulty. His body was emaciated, his 

 hair standing on end, his skin adhered to his ribs, 

 he drank but little, and when food was offered 

 averted his head, as if hardly conscious of his own 

 existence. 



On examination of the chest, it was evident that 

 there was consolidation of the lungs. I informed 

 the owner that there was no chance of the animal's 

 recovery, when he said that he wished him to be 

 destroyed at once. He was forthwith led from the 

 stable, and with great difficulty taken to a field 

 some forty or fifty rods distant, and there knocked 

 on the head. He had been sick about two weeks. 



Post-mortem Examination. — On opening the ab- 

 dominal parietes, all the viscera were found to be 

 healthy except the liver, which presented a dirty- 



yellow hue, was quite soft, and when broken down 

 exhibited a kind of disintegrated, coarse, granu- 

 lated, degenerated mass. The diaphragm, on its 

 abdominal surface, was healthy ; on its anterior or 

 thoracic surface it was ulcerated throughout. 

 The chest contained several gallons of a sti'aw- 

 coloured fluid. The lungs presented an ex- 

 traordinary appearance, being at least three 

 times their usual size, of a dark brown 

 colour, almost black, and when cut into they were 

 nearly solid in their whole substance, except a 

 small part of their anterior or bronchial portions, 

 in which softening had commenced, while their in- 

 ferior presented, when cut, a chequered appear- 

 ance, of a dark yellow cast, but they were evidently 

 tuberculated throughout their whole substance, and 

 they adhered firmly to the walls of the chest. 

 There was, however, a thick, tough, yellow lymph, 

 of nearly an inch in substance, intervening between 

 the pleura pulmonalis and the pleura costalis. 



My employer seemed well pleased with my diag- 

 nosis, and also my demonstration, and promised 

 me that of the next case which presented itself I 

 should be immediately notified. 



Accordingly, on the 14th of November, I was 

 informed of the sickness of two animals — one a 

 three years old Devon heifer, the other a four 

 months old female, pure-bred Ayrshire calf. I 

 immediately repaired to the spot, where I met Dr. 

 E. F. Thayer. Upon examination, the following 

 symptoms were presented ; Pulse quick, and op- 

 pressed ; respiration hurried, and accompanied by 

 a sigh during inspiration, and a grunt in expira- 

 tion ; the visible mucous surfaces highly injected ; 

 rumination suspended; appetite much impaired j 

 bowels unusually constipated, the faeces being 

 granular. There was, on pressure of the inter- 

 costal spaces, extreme soreness evinced, particularly 

 in the calf, with also a staring of the hair and a 

 tightness of the skin. 



I ordered a gentle aperient to be given of infu- 

 sion of thoroughwort {Eapatoriiim perfoliatiim), a 

 remedy very highly valued in this country in the 

 treatment of cattle, as a cathartic, with pulv. 

 zingib. and molasses. Plugged their dewlaps with 

 gargetroot {Phytolacca decandra) — another Yankee 

 remedy — and ordered warm drinks and a moderate 

 diet. 



November 15. — The bowels of both are respond- 

 ing to the medicine, otherwise there is but little 

 change in either. Gave tonics combined with 

 stimulants, in small doses, three times a day, in- 

 terposing an occasional aperient, as above described, 

 and continued this treatment till the 29th, when I 

 pronounced them both rapidly recovering. 



The heifer was, however, the subject of a malig- 

 nant disease (carcinoma) in the right eye, which 

 had destroyed the sight, and also turned the eye 



