DISEASES AND TREATMENT OF CATTLE 431 



If affecting the brain or spinal cord it causes paralysis, 

 and death soon follows. If any of the other parts or organs 

 of the body are affected it causes symptoms peculiar to that 

 organ, and the animal slowly pines away and dies. 



To find out whether cattle are affected with tuberculosis 

 use the tuberculine test. 



The Tuberculine Test. — A day previous to applying the 

 test take the temperature. If normal this should be from 99° 

 to 101°. Keep those to be tested in a shed or stable free from 

 drafts, feed regularly and do not allow large drinks of cold 

 water at a time. Fifty minims of tuberculine is a dose for 

 an ordinary sized cow ; this, however, must be regulated to 

 the size of the animal. See that the tuberculine is fresh and 

 kept in a cool place. 



Choose a point on the neck. Wash the skin at this point 

 perfectly clean with warm water and soap. With a hypo- 

 dermic syringe — thoroughly cleaned and disinfected — inject 

 fifty minims (drops) of tuberculine under the skin. Follow- 

 ing the injection take the temperature three times — at the 

 end of the ninth, the twelfth, and the fifteenth hours. 



Should the temperature gradually rise to 104° or higher 

 it may be concluded that the animal is suffering from tuber- 

 culosis. 



Should the temperature rise only to a point less than 103° 

 the conclusion is that the animal is not tuberculous. 



On the other hand, if the temperature rises to a point 

 between 103° and 104° the case is considered doubtful and 

 the test should be repeated. 



As soon as it is known that the disease exists the animal 

 should be destroyed in order to prevent others from becom- 

 ing affected. Not only this, but the disease may be com- 

 municated from cattle to man through the milk or by eating 

 the meat. 



When opening cattle the organ that is affected will be 

 found to be eaten away with the disease, and its place is 

 taken by a lot of small lumps inclosed in a membrane. If 

 you cut into them they are found to be full of other little 

 cheesy lumps about the size of a pea. In very bad cases 

 tumors will sometimes form and be full of yellow matter. 



4. Hydrophobia, Madness or Rabies. 



This disease originates spontaneously in dogs and cats 

 and can be communicated to other animals or man by the 



