420 APPENDIX. — MILK SICKNESS, OR TREMBLES 



MILK SICKNESS, OR TREMBLES. 



In the timbered regions of the west and in Oregon 

 there exists a terrible disease known as milk sickness, or 

 trembles, which disappears from the region as it becomes 

 cleared, cultivated, and seeded down with *the natural 

 grasses. The disease is probably owing to exposure to 

 cold, damp, and destructive exhalations from the soil, and 

 to want of sufficient care and food — a treatment which 

 stock is too liable to receive in the early settlement of a 

 new country. In a section, therefore, where the disease 

 is known to exist, the cattle ought to be housed or shel- 

 tered from the cold night air, and not turned out till the 

 dews are dried off; and their hay or other food should 

 not be left exposed on the ground. If after it is thus 

 exposed to the dew it is fed to a young animal in the 

 morning, it will be liable to cause death. 



The symptoms of the disease are described as irregular 

 nervous action, trembling, spasms, and convulsions. The 

 pulse is quickened, the tongue slightly swollen and 

 coated brown, the urine highly colored, the bowels con- 

 stipated, and the breath fetid. In cases of constipation 

 give ten ounces of Glauber salts, one drachm of powdered 

 ginger, and one drachm of goldenseal, in one quart of 

 warm water. Rub the back with a little oil of cedar. 

 If the breath is bad, give two ounces of pyroligneous 

 acid, four ounces of glycerine, one quart of water, mixed, 

 a wine-glass full three or four times a day. Two drachms 

 of tincture of Indian hemp given in a little water twice 

 a day will relieve the trembling in cases that are curable. 

 During this treatment the animal should be well cared 

 for, and fed on oatmeal gruel. 



Prevention is, in all cases, cheaper than cure ; and the 

 presence of any of these epizootic or endemic diseases 

 ought to lead to great and constant care of stock. 



