MURRAIN, OR PESTILENTIAL FEVER. 89 



EECirE (No. 36). 

 Tonic Drink for Murrah . — Take coluniba root, two drachms; canella bark, two 

 drachms; ■ringer, one drac-hin ; sweet spirit of nitre, half an ounce. Kub them toge- 

 ther, and give in a pint of thick gruel. 



There cannot be a more proper means adopted than a seton in the 

 dewlap, made with the black hellebore root. The mouth should be 

 frequently washed with a dilute solution of the chloride of lime. The 

 ulcerated parts, if they are fetid, should have the same disinfectant 

 applied to them, and the walls and ceiling, and every part of the cow- 

 house, should be washed with it. 



One caution should be used with respect to the food; while the 

 beast should be coaxed to eat, in order to support him under the de- 

 bilitatinfr influence of the disease, it is only on the supposition that 

 he ruminates his food. Until he begins again to chew the cud, we 

 are only injuriou.^ly overloading the paunch by enticing the animal to 

 eat. Until rumination is re-established, the food should consist of 

 gruel, or any other nutritive fluid, and should be so administered that 

 the greater part of it may pass on into the fourth stomach, without 

 entering the first. When the animal appears to be recovering, he 

 should be gradually exposed to cool and open air, and very slowly 

 permitted to return to his usual food. 



When the disease is quite subdued, the cleansing of the cow-house 

 should be seriously undertaken, and thoroughly accomplished. Let 

 every portion of filth and dung be carefully removed, the walls, and 

 the wood-work, and the floor carefully washed with water, or soap 

 and w^ater, and then every part washed again with a lotion, in the 

 proportion of a quarter of a pound cf the chloride of lime, in pow'der, 

 to a bucket of water. This will be better than any fumigation that 

 can be possibly applied. Should, however, the chloride of lime not 

 be at hand, then a simple and cheap fumigation, on wiiich very con- 

 siderable dependence can be placed, may be resorted to. 



RECIPE (No. 37). 

 Funiigation.-^Take common salt, two pounds ; oil of vitriol, one pound. 



The salt should be put in an earthen vessel, and placed in the 

 middle of the cow-house, and the oil of vitriol gradually poured upon 

 it. They should be stirred w^ell together with a stick, and the person 

 preparing the thing should retreat as quickly as he can, to prevent 

 himself from suflering by the fumes of the chloride, closing the door 

 carefully after him, every window and aperture having been previously 

 closed. In a few hours he may enter the cow-house again, and remove 

 the vessel without any serious inconvenience. 



There is every reason to hope that the murrain will never again 

 thin our herds of cattle to any great extent, not only because veteri- 

 nary science is so much advanced, and the farmer can have imme- 

 diate recourse to the assistance of a skilful practitioner, but because 

 agriculture has been so much improved within the last century, and 

 particularly that important and most beneficial system of under- 

 8* 



