MEASLES.] 



PIGS, 



[PARTUEITION. 



Give afterwards, in every meal, for three 

 days or a week— according as you observe the 

 state of the disease— one tablespoonful of flour 

 of sulphur, and as much nitre as will cover a 

 sixpence. When you perceive the scabs begin 

 to heal, the pustules to retreat, and the fiery 

 sores to fade, you may pronounce your patient 

 cured. But, before that pleasing result will 

 make its appearance, you will perceive an ap- 

 parent increase of violence in all the symptoms 

 —the last eff'ort of the expiring malady, as it 

 were, ere it finally yields to your care and 



skill . 



There are, liowever, some very obstinate 

 cases of mange occasionally to be met with, 

 which will not be so readily subdued. When 

 tlie above mode of treatment has been put in 

 practice for fourteen days, without efi'ecting a 

 cure, prepare the following : — 



Train oil . 



Oil of tar 



Sph-its of turpentine 



Naphtha . 



1 pint. 



2 drachms. 

 2 „ 



1 ., 



Add as much flour of sulphur as will form the 

 above into the consistence of a thick paste. 

 Eub the animal, previously washed, with this 

 mixture, and let no portion of the hide escape. 

 Keep the pig dry and warm after this applica- 

 tion, and sufi"er it to remain on the skin for 

 three entire days. On the fourth day, wash 

 it off once more with soft soap, adding a small 

 quantity of soda to the water. Dry the animal 

 well afterwards, and allow it to remain quiet, 

 having again changed its bedding for a day or 

 so. Continue the sulp^iur and nitre as before. 

 The patient being convalescent, whitewash the 

 sty ; fumigate it, by placing a little chloride of 

 lime in a cup, or other vessel, and pouring a 

 little vitriol upon it. In the absence of vitriol, 

 however, boiling water will answer nearly as 

 well. 



MEASLES. 

 Mr. Touatt describes this disease as rather 

 a sub-cutaucous than an actual afi'eetion of the 

 skin, consisting of a large number of small 

 watery pustules, which take up their seat 

 between the skin and the fat, and scatter 

 themselves, besides, throughout the cellular 

 tissue and the adipose matter. Some have 

 supposed it to be a milder form of leprosy — a 

 SOU 



supposition which has a good deal to support 

 it. The measles in the hog is not always fatal ; 

 but it has a very deleterious effect upon the 

 quality of the flesh, making it pale, flabby, 

 tasteless, and little disposed to take salt. In 

 the adoption of remedial measures, the animal 

 should be made to fast for twenty-four hours, 

 and then have a warm drink, containing an 

 ounce of bole armenian, and a drachm of car- 

 bonate of soda. Cleanliness should be care- 

 fully attended to ; and at every feeding, or three 

 times a day, it should be given thirty grains of 

 flour of sulphur, and ten of nitre. The ancients 

 treated a hog affected with the measles in the 

 following manner : — After being put into a sty, 

 and kept three days and nights without food, 

 they took five or six apples, picked out their 

 cores, and filled up the holes thus made with 

 flour of brimstone. The holes were then 

 stopped, and the apples thrown to the measly 

 hog. He first tasted one or two, then one or 

 two more, until he ate them all. He was thus 

 treated for five or six days, by which time be 

 was quite well, and as wholesome as ever. 



MURRAIN. 

 The murrain bears a great resemblance to 

 leprosy in its symptoms, with the addition of 

 shortness of breath, staggering, and a discharge 

 of viscid matter from the eyes and mouth. The 

 treatment should consist of cleanliness, cool- 

 ness, purging, bleeding, and limitation of 

 food. Cloves of garlic have been recom- 

 mended to be given. Garlic is an antiseptic ; 

 and as, in all those febrile diseases, there 

 exists, more or less, a tendency to putrefaction, 

 it is not improbable that it may be found 

 useful. 



PARTURITION. 



Of all domestic animals, the pig suffers least 

 from parturition. This, however, is not a dis- 

 ease ; still, as it frequently requires surgical 

 care, we have placed it in this chapter. No 

 animal is so easily delivered as the pig, which, 

 when her time is near, generally discovers 

 considerable uneasiness ; first, by being angry 

 with every one of her species that happens to 

 fall in her way, and then by collecting straw, 

 and carrying it to the place she seems to have 

 chosen to litter. She must not be interrupted 

 in this, or prevented from doing it. It is 



