94 



CATTLE, DISEASES OF. 



case of fever. "When spoken to about keeping my 

 stock from coming in contact with his, he told me 

 there was no danger of our own cattle diseasing one 

 another. I have since watched many such exposures, 

 and in no case has the fever been propagated. The 

 farmers have each an opinion as to how the disease 

 was propagated to their cattle, some thinking it is 

 tlirough the lame ones, a few of which will be found 

 in almost every drove coming from Texas. Their 

 feet become worn out and sore from long travel, mat- 

 ter forms between the hoofs and is left on the ground 

 and in the water through which they pass, and it is 

 contended this inoculates our cattle by_ being taken 

 in the stomach or otherwise. Others think it is done 

 by the excrements left by those that are lame or 

 diseased, while some think it is through the slobber 

 or froth which is left on the grass. On one thing 

 they agree, that the fever is communicated in some 

 way, raging until the cold weather puts a stop to it, 

 no remedy appearing to have any effect. 



The disease committed great ravages in 

 Missouri, in 1866 and 1867, single counties 

 losing cattle to the value of $300,000 to $500,000 

 in a single year, but it did not cross the Missis- 

 sippi River till 1868. It had previously pre- 

 vailed to some extent in Kansas and Iowa, and 

 was thought in those States to have been in- 

 troduced by droves of cattle from the Indian 

 Territory. From the 1st of June to the middle 

 of July, many thousand Texan cattle were 

 brought into Illinois, and scattered, by way of 

 the Illinois Central Railroad and its connections, 

 over considerable districts of southern and 

 central Illinois, and the corresponding sections 

 of Indiana. It has not been satisfactorily as- 

 certained that any of these Texan cattle were 

 sick with this disease, though there is evidence 

 that many of them had previously had it and 

 recovered. But, wherever these droves stopped 

 for two or three weeks, the disease broke out 

 among the native cattle, and the mortality 

 ranged from 50 to 90 per cent, of the cases 

 attacked. It soon began to make its appear- 

 ance among the cattle shipped to the Eastern 

 cities for slaughter, many of which sickened on 

 the cars and died before reaching their destina- 

 tion. This rapid diifusion of the malady, and 

 the fear that the carcasses of some of the 

 diseased cattle would be sold for beef, led to a 

 general alarm, and to prompt and decisive ac- 

 tion on the part of the authorities of the 

 several States through which the infected cattle 

 had passed. Commissioners, men of extensive 

 medical and veterinary knowledge and sound 

 judgment, were appointed by the States of 

 Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, New York, 

 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont, Massa- 

 chusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and 

 vested with powers to take summary measures 

 for the prevention of the further progress of 

 the disease. The Metropolitan Board of Health, 

 New York, gave its energies to the same work, 

 and the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture appointed Professor J. Gamgee, a distin- 

 guished English veterinarian, visiting this coun- 

 try, who had rendered great service in the prev- 

 alence of the rinderpest, to act as its repre- 

 sentative in investigating the disease. Illinois 

 and Indiana suffered severely from the epidem- 



ic many thousand cattle dying in each State, 

 and Mr. Alexander, one of the largest stock- 

 raisers in Kentucky, submitting to the sacrifice 

 of several entire droves of cattle, which he had 

 sent to Eastern markets, in consequence of 

 their having been subjected to the infection. 



The reports of these commissioners from 

 the different States, though throwing much 

 light upon the symptoms and pathology of the 

 disease, did not reveal its causes, and differed 

 materially in regard to its treatment. They 

 agreed, however, on the best measures for pre- 

 vention. With the early frost of September, 

 1868, the disease disappeared for the season. 

 The symptoms described in Missouri, in 1867, 

 were substantially the same as those manifested 

 in Illinois, Indiana, and at the cattle-yards of 

 Albany and New York in 1868. The follow- 

 ing is the Missouri description of the symp- 

 toms : 



The first symptom of the fever^ discoverable sev- 

 eral days before any appearance ol sickness, is a dry 

 cough, noticeable by careful observers. In a few days 

 after this the nose becomes dry, and the ears slightly 

 drooping, and more flies will collect than on healthy 

 cattle. At this stage the breath will be found to 

 have lost its sweetness, and assumed the sickening, 

 feverish smell, generally, if not always, found in the 

 Texas cattle, which I can best describe by comparing 

 it to the smell of our slaughter-houses, or constantly- 

 crowded stock-yards in cities. From this condition 

 in one or two days the fever gains its highest stage, 

 and is found to have disseminated itself over the 

 whole body, the heat being very great ; the arteries 

 of the neck are seen to beat in short, heavy throbs, 

 the ears becoming very much lopped, the hinder parts 

 reel in walking, the animal getting up or lying 

 down with difficulty ; the breath and exhalations are 

 very disagreeable, the end of the tail usually hollow 

 for two or three inches ; the pith in the horn has 

 commenced to decay, if not already decayed ; the ani- 

 mal refusing to notice the herd, remaining stupid, 

 if not disturbed, neither seeking food nor water. 

 Some, in this stage, will pass water mixed with blood, 

 and dung naturally ; others will pass water of a nat- 

 ural color, and not dung at all, or but very little, and 

 that in a dryish lump. In another type of the dis- 

 ease, which will occur in every eighth or tenth case, 

 after being taken the same way, and having the same 

 symptoms as those described, even to the hollow 

 horns and tail, the animal does not get weak, slug- 

 gish, or stupid, but is always to be found on his feet, 

 in a watchful attitude, with head turning to any noise, 

 which, if close by, it rushes toward, even through 

 fences or against trees, the eyes being of a green 

 cast, very glaring and wild ; those of the first type 

 have a dead, sleepy, and glazed appearance. Both 

 these classes die, as I have described them, without 

 any change, except that the hair deadens before 

 death and has the appearance of that on a dry hide. 



The New York Commissioners, Messrs. M. 

 R. Patrick and J. Stanton Gould, thus describe 

 the earliest symptoms of the disease : .." The first 

 symptom of the disease, in all the cases ob- 

 served by us and by our Assistant Commis- 

 sioners, is an appearance of languor and wea- 

 riness, which is unmistakable ; the head droops, 

 the ears hang down, the eyes are staring ; this 

 sometimes occurs when cattle are terrified, 

 but the stupid stare of the cattle affected by 

 the disease is very different from the furious 

 stare produced by terror. The back is arched, 



