NON-CONTAGIOUS BLOOD DISEASES. 835 



What to do. — Destroy any existing vermin, and give the following 

 recipe in the feed : 



No. 4. % Ounce copperas, 



1 Handful oil-cake, 



Powder and mix. 



Give as one dose. Repeat it morning and night, and let the diet be a 

 nourishing, generous one. 



III. Rheumatism. 



Causes and forms. — The immediate cause of rheumatism is the accu- 

 muhition in the S3'stem of a peculiar kind of acid, which has a tendency 

 to settle around the joints, along the sheaths of tendons, and in the syn- 

 ovial membranes. In the acute form, Avhich is that which it generally 

 assumes, the affected parts swell, and often suppurate, discharging con- 

 siderable quantities of pus, and with it more or less synovial fluid. It 

 often extends to the bones and the membranes covering them, when it 

 generally becomes chronic, and more or less exostosis is thrown out, which 

 may anchylose (stiffen) the joint. Rheumatism frequently extends to the 

 chest, and settles in the pleura, heart, etc., and sometimes causes diseases 

 of the latter organ and death. 



The exciting causes are poverty of the system, thinness in flesh, and 

 exposure to cold and dampness, — to the two last-named either from want 

 of shelter or from dampness in the stable caused by poor drainage. 



How to know it. — There is lameness, stiffness, and disinclination to 

 move, with a staring coat. After this has run on for a few hours, (or, it 

 may be a day or two, ) a joint — perhaps, two or three joints — will begin to 

 swell, and is found to be quite hot, hard and pamful ; next morning 

 the swelling will very likely be noticed in some other joint or in another 

 leg, as the disease has a great tendency to fly from joint to joint and leg 

 to leg. There is considerable fever, with high pulse, increased temper- 

 ature, reddened mucous membranes, and a marked inclination to remain 

 lying down all the time. The bowels are apt to be constipated, and the 

 urine scanty and high colored. Abscesses form and discharge pus. The 

 animal l)ecomes emaciated, and frequently dies in a state of hectic. 



What to do. — Put the animal in a dry, warm place to lie in, with 

 plenty of bedding. Give generous diet and the following recipe ; 



No. 5. 2 Drachms colchicum, ' 



2 Drachms nitrate of potash, 

 Mix. 



Give as one dose, and repeat it morning and night in soft feed, for a 

 week ; then give No. 4 for a week, and change back to No. 5. Alter 



