74 



HORSE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



be the natural victims of this disease, and 

 all species are about equally obnoxious to 

 its attacks; but it may be communicated 

 to many if not all other warm-blooded 

 animals by inoculation or by contact of 

 the virulent discharges with their mucous 

 membranes. 



Its transmission to man has been no- 

 ticed during almost every great outbreak 

 since that of 1695. Cases ot the disease 

 in man have been seen in Albany and at 

 South Dover, Dutchess County, New 

 York, during the outbreak in 1872. It 

 shows itself in man by slight feverishness, 

 and the formation on the tongue and in- 

 side the lips and cheeks, and sometimes 

 on the hands, of small blisters, rarely 

 amounting to the bulk of a lentil. In 

 children and young animals, feeding ex- 

 clusively on milk, diarrhoea and fatal in- 

 flammation of the stomachs and bowels 

 occasionally supervene. It is further to 

 be dreaded that the malady, gaining a 

 lasting hold on the dairies of our large 

 cities, may swell the lists of mortality of 

 the infant population by inducing those 

 fatal diarrhceas and enteritis reported by 

 Hubner, Balfour, and Watson. 



In chickens it has been frequently no- 

 ticed. Chickens were attacked in De- 

 cember, 1870, on the farm of Mr. Eighmie, 

 La Grange, Duchess County, New York. 

 Drinking the castaway milk is probably 

 the common cause. Dogs and cats have 

 been noticed by Lagar, Younghusband, 

 and others, to suffer from drinking the 

 milk. A shepherd dog at Mr. Eighmie's 

 suffered from the disease, and another, 

 Mr. Preston's, South Dover, New York, 

 had only partially recovered when seen 

 by the writer. 



Symptoms. — The victims may be usu- 

 ally picked out from a herd, twelve to 

 twenty-four hours before they show dis- 

 tinct signs of the disease, by the increase 

 of temperature indicated by a clinical 

 thermometer introduced into the rectum 

 and retained there for three minutes. 



In cattle the eruption may be concen- 

 trated on the mouth, (including the muz- 

 zle and nostrils) on the udder and teats, 

 or en the space between the hoofs, though 

 it usually attacks all of these parts simul- 

 taneously, and in rare cases even extends 

 to the general integument or to the mu- 

 cous membrane of the throat, stomach 

 and bowels, or other internal organs. 



The symptoms are slight shivering or 

 roughness of the coat, neglect of feeding 

 and rumination, redness, heat, swelling 

 and tenderness of the pasterns, teats and 

 mouth, arching of the back, and a, 

 crouching, hesitating gait, accumulation 

 of a white froth around the margin of 

 the lips, and a loud smacking noise made 

 by the tongue and lips. On the second 

 or third day the blisters may be seen on 

 the gums, on the dental pad behind the 

 upper lip, on the tongue, on the teats,, 

 and around the upper borders of the 

 hoofs and between them. In twenty-four 

 to thirty-six hours more — sometimes at 

 once — these burst, the cuticle is detached, 

 and raw pink sores are left, most notice- 

 able on the mouth and teats. With care 

 the process of healing goes on rapidly, 

 and is completed about the fifteenth day. 

 Complications are rare, unless as the re- 

 sult of neglect, and consist in inflamma- 

 tion and loss of the udder; extensive 

 formation of matter beneath the hoofs, 

 causing them to be shed; extension of 

 disease to the sinews, bones and joints of 

 the foot, with wide-spread destruction of 

 parts ; eruption on the stomach or bow- 

 els, with dangerous or fatal inflammation; 

 or implication of the womb with abor- 

 tion or long-continued weakening dis- 

 charges. 



In sheep the feet are mainly affected, 

 and the malady bears a strong resem- 

 blance to foot-rot, and, under neglect, 

 may merge into this. 



Swine also suffer severely in the feet, 

 and, as they are too commonly neglected 

 and left on mud and filth, shedding of the 

 hoofs is frequent. When the mouth suf- 

 fers they champ the jaws, and frothy sa- 

 liva collects around the lips. 



The general system of treatment 

 which has proved successful has been 

 such as would be indicated in cases of 

 severe cold or influenza. The stables 

 should be thoroughly ventilated, and dis- 

 infectants, such as chloride of lime, car- 

 bolic acid, or bromo-chloralum, freely 

 used. The horses are to be kept well 

 blanketed, their bowels gently open by 

 the use of bran mashes, and, if necessa- 

 ry, aperients. The nostrils should be 

 sponged out several times a day with a 

 weak solution of carbolic acid, or bromo- 

 chloralum is also used as a wash for the 



