DISEASES OF FARM ANIMALS 203 



year was unknown among animals, or, at least, 

 if present had never been discovered by the veteri- 

 nary profession. But be that as it may, we are now 

 finding it in plenty among horses of all ages, from 

 colts up to aged horses; very prevalent among 

 sheep, and quite frequent among cattle. The early 

 writers on veterinary science usually attributed the 

 cause to gall stones. But that theory can hardly be 

 tenable in this country, where we find it essentially 

 more prevalent on low, marshy soils or on the hill 

 lands that have been long unplowed, where animals 

 are pastured, or hays are cut. The general symp- 

 toms of it are a general dullness, hanging of the 

 head as though it ached, or pressing the head, if the 

 animal be a bovine or sheep, against the barn or 

 stall. The tongue will be found dry or covered 

 with a thick, sticky slime. The membranes of the 

 eyeball of a yellowish cast. In horses the tongue 

 will usually have a black coating. The appetite 

 in all animals is capricious. They will eat well one 

 day and scarcely touch food the next. As a rule, 

 they will manifest great thirst, yet will drink but 

 little. There are exceptions to this, however. The 

 voidings are not uniform. Sometime the urine is 

 quite high colored; at other times not. But, as a 

 rule, it is scanty. The feces are sometimes quite 

 hard and covered with a shiny slime. At other 

 times there will be extreme looseness of the evacu- 

 ations. These last symptoms are to be well con- 

 sidered in using a treatment when the voidings are 

 hard and slimy. In case it is a horse that is ailing, 

 a physic of aloes should be given, one ounce being 

 the dose for a thousand pounds of horse, and two 

 teaspoonfuls of podophylin. Give this dissolved in 

 water and pour down as a drench, and follow with a 

 bitter tonic for from two to four weeks, or until the 



