44 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ratioTial modicnl treatment. A survey of the means sugi^ested in the 

 past, of the principles which sliouhl guide us in the present state of 

 knowkMlgc, and of the details concerning my own practice, may, there- 

 fore, be considered important in tliis plac<\ 



Bonrgclat, in 1709, recoiinnended abundant blood-letting the lirst, sec- 

 ond, and third day, (when the blood fails to coagulate, it is a sign that 

 this operation is useless,) emollient injections, bland or soothing bev- 

 erages, {hreuragcH (idoKcismnfs,) emollient masticatories, and emollient 

 fumigations of the nose. When the disease is far advanced, blood- 

 letting must be avoided, and reliance placed in cinchona Ijark and pur- 

 gative injections. ]>onrgelat also i)rescribed small blood-lettings, low 

 diet, emollient clysters, and fumigations of acetic acid in the stables. 



There is little interesting on this subject up to the date of Belafond's 

 work, 1844. He opens his chapter on the curativ^e means of acute 

 pleuropneumonia as follows: "Many j)ersons and some veterinarians 

 have sought in the arsenal of pharmacology the specific remedies for 

 the cure of pleuropneumonia. I declare that for the cure of this disease 

 there exists no specific, but rather rational curative means based on the 

 nature, seat, and stage of the malady. The two great secrets, in my 

 opinion, are, first, in recognizing pleuro-pneumonia at its commencement; 

 and, second, in adopting the means that I have to describe." 



I cannot, with fairness, make a very brief summary of Delafond's 

 recommendations, and, in the main, shall give a translation of them. 

 When pleuro-pneumonia, he says, att'ects a herd of cattle, the first 

 animal affected must be removed and placed in an isolated spot, to be 

 carefully examined during the entire i^rogress of the case. Frequent 

 examinations must be made of each animal in the herd. All that show 

 a short, quick breathing, numbering from twenty-five to thirty respira- 

 tions per minute, and an accelerated pulse, beating from sixty to sixty- 

 five times per minute, in which the chest is evidently flattened either on 

 one side or the other, whose respiratory murmurs will be loud and 

 associated with a friction sound, and Avhich have their visible mucous 

 membranes reddened, must be regarded as subjects which, notwith- 

 standing that they continue to eat and drink, ruminate, and give milk 

 as in heal til, will in three or four days cease to eat, ruminate, and give 

 milk. They will moan and indicate all the signs of pleuro-pneumonia 

 at a period wlien it is severe and often incurable. 



An animal chosen with care in the earliest stage, and isolated, must 

 be placed on low diet, and oidy allowed a little green grass or hay. 

 From six to eight i)ounds of blood must be drawn, and this repeated 

 eight or ten hours later. As soon as the blood has ceased to flow, the 

 body and limbs must be rubbed for half an hour with hay or straw 

 wisps, and a good covering must be thrown over the body. Three hours 

 after the first bhu'ding, and every two hours afterwards for sixteen hours, 

 a draught must be given, consisting of one drachm of emetic tartar 

 in a quart of river or si)ring water. For animals under two years of age 



