CATTLE, DISEASES OF. 



95 



strong efforts are made to dung, which are of- 

 ten ineffectual, the droppings being usually dry, 

 scanty, and stained with blood. These symp- 

 toms are invariable. The urine is generally 

 dark brown in color, and commonly called 

 4 black water.' This symptom is not, how- 

 ever, always present in the earlier stages of 

 the disease. The coat is generally rough, the 

 hair standing almost erect. The horns are hot, 

 the nose dry, a froth drools from the mouth, 

 flies settle in great numbers upon the animal, 

 and it rarely makes an effort to brush them off. 

 These latter symptoms are not invariable, es- 

 pecially the roughness of the coat. In cases of 

 doubt, the most reliable distinguishing mark 

 is undoubtedly afforded by the thermometer. 

 If, in connection with the before-named symp- 

 toms, the thermometer introduced into the rec- 

 tum for two or three minutes shows a temper- 

 ature much higher than 100 Fahrenheit, the 

 animal may safely be pronounced as suffering 

 under the disease. In some cases it has gone 

 up to 109 Fahrenheit." 



An Illinois stock-raiser in Sadonia (one of 

 the most infected districts), evidently a careful 

 observer, thus states the symptoms, which he 

 had noticed in some hundreds of cases : "They 

 are not all taken alike. Still the general 

 symptoms are the same. A hacking cough 

 is one of the first in some. They droop the 

 head and ears, and, as they get worse, invariably 

 you will see the head hanging down, a slow, 

 dragging step, showing great weakness of the 

 whole body. The flank is drawn in, so much 

 so that in thirty hours the beast will look as 

 though it had been starved for weeks. In 

 milch cows one of the first indications is a sud- 

 den failure of milk. I had a fine cow that was 

 giving three gallons twice a day. She was 

 milked at night and gave the usual amount, 

 seemed well, took water and feed the same ; 

 the next morning she failed one-third ; at night 

 she gave only one gallon, and by the next 

 morning was dry. I have been particular in 

 the above description, hoping it may be of 

 some use to others. In most cases the bowels 

 are constipated, but in one I saw it was the 

 reverse, and the cow scoured badly. The wa- 

 ter resembles bloody brine ; in all the cases I 

 have seen it is of this character. They have a 

 high fever from the first, and suffer loss of 

 flesh faster than in any disease I have seen. 

 The type of the disease is alike, and the same 

 symptoms, and the fatal result as at the first, 

 still continue. So far no cure has been found. 

 There is a wildness, in some cases, amounting 

 to madness, that renders the beast dangerous. 

 There is one thing remarkable: while they 

 have an accute inflammatory fever, with loss 

 of strength and flesh, the most I have seen will 

 eat for the first two days. On the third day 

 the appetite fails entirely, and they die the 

 third or fourth day. Some have not lived so 

 long." 



The pathological symptoms seem to have 

 varied materially in different cases. The Illi- 



nois commissioners state that, in some cases, 

 the lungs were congested ; in others (and this 

 was more general), the stomach and intestines ; 

 in many the bowels were constipated ; in a few 

 cases, there were bloody evacuations and in 

 about as many bloody urine. Professor Gam- 

 gee found the greatly elevated temperature of 

 the cavities of the body a marked and constant 

 symptom, ranging from 105 6' F. to 106 V F. 

 He discovered, upon dissection, no special con- 

 gestion of the lungs, but the small intestines 

 were more or less reddened throughout ; the 

 large intestines had blackish-looking deposits 

 of changed blood along the free margin of the 

 longitudinal folds ; the liver was usually much 

 enlarged, and the spleen invariably of three or 

 four times its normal size. There were many 

 who doubted the generally-received statement 

 of the origin of the disease from the Texan 

 cattle, and they attempted to adduce other 

 causes of the disease, but without much suc- 

 cess. The theory was broached that the cat- 

 tle were infected with an insect called a tick, 

 which adhered to their hair, and annoyed them 

 till they bit it off and swallowed it, and that it 

 acted as a poison somewhat after the manner 

 of the trichina. This theory was completely 

 exploded by the Illinois commissioners, who 

 found ticks in the stomachs of healthy cattle, 

 and no ticks in the stomachs or intestines of 

 those which died of the disease, and whose ob- 

 servations demonstrated that cattle entirely 

 free from the tick were as subject to the dis- 

 ease as any other. Another theory propounded 

 was, that the disease was owing to overheat- 

 ing and driving, and to confinement in the 

 impure and deadly air of overcrowded cattle- 

 cars. That these conditions may have aggra- 

 vated the disease is possible, but, if it caused it, 

 it should have been prevalent years ago. The 

 most skilful veterinary surgeons, Professor Gam- 

 gee among the number, regard the disease as a 

 malignant typhus, epidemic and possibly con- 

 tagious( as two or three deaths, of persons who, 

 in skinning the dead animals, had accidentally 

 inoculated themselves with the poisonous flu- 

 ids of their carcasses, would seem to demon- 

 strate), communicated under favorable circum- 

 stances from the bodies or diseased secretions 

 of the Texan cattle, or in some instances, per- 

 haps, originating in the malarious exhalations 

 of the swamps and marshes in which they had 

 been pastured. The disease was not necessa- 

 rily fatal. Under favorable circumstances, fifty 

 per cent, or more recovered. The free admin- 

 istration of salt and the use of very dilute car- 

 bolic acid as a drink were thought to be the 

 most effective remedies. The disease disap- 

 peared almost immediately after the first hard 

 frost, and in Missouri did not return until the 

 next warm season. The use of carbolic acid, 

 carbolate of lime, and coal-tar, as disinfectants, 

 was found effective in purifying the cars, cat- 

 tle-yards, and highways, or pastures which had 

 been used by the diseased cattle. . 

 2. PLEUBO -PNEUMONIA, the epidemic disease 



