DISEASES OF SWINE AND OTHER ANIMALS. 171 



The deaths, in many instances, in this hog-disease arose from a me- 

 chanical canse. Throwing him down on liis back to " drench him" with 

 some remedy prodnced snffocatioii, the wind-pipe or the swollen tonsils 

 were tilted back by pressure upon the epiglottis, and the glottis being 

 thns mechanically closed no air could penetrate the lungs, and the re- 

 sult was death. \\Tien drenching is resorted to, the animal should be 

 made to stand up on its hind feet, and sudden deaths will not so often 

 occur fi'om the administration of such remedies. The treatment of 

 rotlieln and epidemic diseases generally resolves itself into prophylac- 

 tic (preventive) and curative. Anion g the most valuable remedial agents 

 to prevent epidemic diseases among domestic animals, especially the 

 hog, may bo enumerated a good, clean, drv^ bed of leaves or straw often 

 renewed, protected by a good shelter and with a iilauk floor; a good 

 supply of pure running water to drink ; plenty of good, strong, gener- 

 ous food, made up of corn, buckwheat, or oats, vegetables, fruits, and 

 slop. Give them regularly a little dry salt, all the " soapsuds " you can, 

 and let them have a bank of hickory ashes to run to. By this means 

 the hog would be better able to withstand the sudden cUmatic alter- 

 nations of from heat to cold, for these climatic alternations are, in my 

 opinion, the most prohfic source of all epidemic diseases to which the 

 human race as well as domestic animals are liable. It is an admitted 

 fact, I belie\T, that domestic animals, in fact all animals, breathe more 

 through the pores of the skin than tlie human family do. By this the 

 internal organs are relieved of a considerable burden. Hence arises the 

 importance of keeping the pores of the skin open and in a healthy work- 

 ing condition. To effectually do this you must provide your hogs with 

 frequent new beds ; bui*n up the old ones, which, when worn down to 

 dust, become moistened and the whole tegumentary tissue of the liog is 

 agglutinated, as it were, by a paste-like substance, and is rendered 

 totally unfit to perform the functions necessary in the animal economy. 

 We can see Avhy this should strongly predispose to disease. To further 

 prevent this undesirable condition of the hog's skin, I would recommend 

 washing with strong soapsuds and then scrubbing them dry with a 

 clean corn-cob until their skin presented a red, healthy glow. See that 

 the pores in the fore legs are open {tlie little safety-valves) ; give them 

 plenty of chlorate of potash of the strength of two drams to a pint of 

 water, and the chances of disease will be greatly lessened. Timothy, 

 orchard, and other grasses incline them to constipation, which cannot be 

 relieved except by the strongest remedial agents. Green plantain and 

 purslane are good for hogs. 



For a long time a great many German j)hysicians, and a number of 

 the profession in our own country to-day, believe that the extract of 

 belladonna (deadly nightshade) given beforehand will prevent children 

 from catching scarlet fever. Now, as rotlieln is a kindred eruptive 

 fever, might not some herb be found that would prove a preventive in 

 this disease 1 I am more inclined to reconnnend Verutrum viridc (Ameri- 

 can hellebore) as a prophylactic in this disease, because I am satisfied 

 that venesection (bleeding) in the early stages of the malady is demand- 

 ed. I remember that all hogs not castrated, and those castrated early 

 in the disease of 1868 or 18G0, recovered, and not only recovered, but mad 

 good recoveries. So did all the hogs 1 saw in those years early enough 

 to get blood from them. After the first and second stage of the disease 

 in tliose years the blood was very dark, black, thick, and could not be 

 made to ilow. From this condition of the blood, and from the low tem- 

 perature I found in many hogs, I suspected congestive chills, or more 

 probably dumb chills, of a very severe character. I am still disposed to 

 cling to this opinion. In all those cases where the hog is mopy and 



