534 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 9 



than five years ago, in the Farmers' Register. 

 See page 319, Vol I.] 



From Ihe Genesee Farmer. 



3fr. Tucker. — I promised, some weeks ago, 

 to give you a brief sketch of the " milk-sickness 

 or puking-complaint, " as it is called, that pre- 

 vails in the v/est in many places. There never 

 was a disease in any country, where tliere were 

 so many conflicting opinions respecting the cause. 

 This disease is fixed in the stomach ; a fiery burn- 

 ing sensation is liilt in the lower region of the sto- 

 mach, accompanied with a constant desire to puke 

 — the glands are affected ; and as the bowels be- 

 come torpid from the poisonous matter making a 

 lodgment on the stomach and destroying not only 

 the coats of the stomach but afiecting all the di- 

 gestive powers, it is almost next to an impossibil- 

 ity, in an advanced state of the disease, to procure 

 a passage from the bowels. The cattle that have 

 been opened present what is called the " mani- 

 fold, " with its contents as dry as a chip : a part 

 of the substance taken as a nourishment digested, 

 other parts again remaining as when first deposited; 

 the whole region of the stomach having ceased 

 to act! This, in animals, produces what is 

 called the "trembles." The animals may live 

 for weeks in this state, if not entirely overcome ; 

 but the attacks, in many instances, are not discerni- 

 ble until there is sufficient action or exercise to 

 produce a circulation of the blood, when the poi- 

 son ditiuses itself throughout the whole system, 

 and soon destroys the animal, and those of the 

 canine or vulture race that prey upon the carcass 

 are destroyed also. 



Narrative. — The first persons in the west, 

 that fell victims to this dreadful disease, were JVlr. 

 William Tompkins, an emigrant from my father's 

 neighborhood, (Harwood County, Va.,) and a 

 Mr. Bernard Fowler, brother of Maj. John 

 Fowler, who for many years was the only mem- 

 ber of congress from Kentucky, when that state 

 was entitled to one representative only. The two 

 persons were neighbors, and lived on Bank Lick 

 €reek, a branch of Licking River, which empties 

 into the Ohio, directly opposite to Cincinnati ; 

 they died about the year 1794 or '5. The disease 

 frequently prevailed about the Forks of Lick- 

 ing, as the country was settled — on Raven Creek, 

 another branch— on Eagle creek, a branch of 

 Elkhorn. The next we heard of it was in divers 

 places in the Green River country, so called, the 

 southern part of Kentucky : freciuenily in divers 

 other places. 



As Ohio began to be settled in 1798, '99 and 

 1800, up to the years 1836, '7 and '8, this disease 

 made its appearance on the Miamis — on the wa- 

 ters of the Scioto, particularly on some of the 

 branches of Paint Creek. Becoming a residenter 

 of Ohio in 180G, I discovered that the Rattlesnake 

 Fork of Paint Creek, and the upper part of Big 

 Darby Creek, were places most atlected with it. 

 Some places on Deer Creek, particularly within 

 four or five miles west of London — also places on 

 Mad River, vicinity of Springfield and Urbana. 

 It again was found in diflSerent settlements towards 

 the Muskingum ; not confining itself to the flat 

 regions of the Miamis, Scioto and other places, 

 it had fixed itself in the hilly regions of Kentucky, 

 on Licking and its tributary streams, and in like 

 manner in the flatter region of the Green River 

 country. So it was in Ohio, some portions of the 



rolling region of country on Hockhocking and of 

 the Muskingum rivers, were afflicted with it also : 

 and it has been subsequently felt in different parts 

 of Indiana and Illinois. 



The Cause. — Like others, for many years, 

 my mind was bewildered as to the cause of this 

 dreadful c'/isease. My business leading me to visit 

 every region nearly of the country in Ohio, I felt 

 great sympathy for the afflicted, and an ardent 

 desire to detect the cause. In 1807, 1 think it was, 

 Col. Robert Rennick then living on the present 

 site of Springfield, Ohio, an emigrant from the 

 South branch of the Potomac, in Virginia, and a 

 great cattle raiser, began to try experiments. His 

 caUle took it, and he effected a cure, as he said, 

 by administering to each steer a bottle of whisky, 

 about a quart. Indeed, Captain Whisky, in those 

 days, was almost a lung-cure-all. But his reme- 

 dy, in some instances, fiiiled. He then turned 

 out his cattle, let them range over the prairie and 

 timber lands, and as the frost had nipped the 

 green herbage, he followed his cattle to the timber 

 lands, where he found them greedily stripping the 

 foliace and browsing on a stubby and running 

 vine : after eating this, and on returning home, 

 the cattle took the "trembles." We have fre- 

 quently springs running from high banks into 

 larger streams, collecting from the savannas back, 

 or from beds of vegetable or mineral substances, 

 or the earth, poisonous matter ; but this, I was 

 fully satisfied, was not the cause of what is 

 called the puking-complaint, or milk-sickness ; for 

 where it prevailed most, there never was purer or 

 more wholesome water issuing fi-om our mother 

 earth. To Col. Robert Rennick's vine, I then 

 began to direct my attention, and full 25 years 

 were spent in making researches and trying expe- 

 riments, and to go into detail would be too tedious 

 and unnecessary. I found it necessary to lay all 

 theory aside, and to go on facts. 



Facts. — 1. About 1816, a man living in Indi- 

 ana on ihe Ohio river, bruised the vine, extracted 

 the juice, gave it to a cat, and it killed it. 



2. The vine grows in every region, where 

 the milk-sickness or puking-complaint prevails. 

 VV^;j;re the vine is not to be found, there is no dis- 

 ea; 'oof this nature. This is a stubborn fact I 



\ Calling to sec a fi"iend living on Darby Creek, 

 in ■'>"'<» ayhom I had not seen for twenty years, 

 (jVpns-^, « *oud,) in 1832, or '3, he pointed to his 

 wifehood remarked : — "She is my third wife, I am 

 her ^^rd husband, and in yon graveyard lie 15 of 

 ouriL.'.nilies taken ofi' by the dreadful disease, the 

 puking-complaint!" "Anddoyouknowthecause," 

 said I I " Yes, we have found it out ; it is partly 

 a shrub, which, coming in contact with trees, as- 

 cends as a vine. I followed my cattle, found 

 them eating of it, and soon taken with the com- 

 plaint, and some unable to reach home. " This 

 awful astounding fact, having before fixed on the 

 vine, led me to make a full disclosure in the pa- 

 pers, which set many doctors, both mineral and 

 steam, by the ears. 



4. While the doctors were discussing the sub- 

 ject, and some of them calling my facts in ques- 

 tion, a warm friend of mine, John McNeil, Esq., 

 of Frankfort, Ross County, Ohio, a very exten- 

 sive farmer and grazier, determined on satisfying 

 his own mind, sent out his son to purchase the 

 healthiest steer he could find in the neighborhood, 

 and, to get a good one, paid thirty dollars for it; he 



