DISEASE AMONG SWINE AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 25 



the liquid with a syringe. Give a tablespoonful of copperas and saltpeter in a ball or 

 mash every day for a week, then every other day for another weeli. Sometimes a cow 

 will be in full liosh and drop a calf in midsummer, give plenty of milk, and do well 

 for a few days ; the next day give no milk, and perhaps not be able to get up at all. 

 For this trouble give the above treatment, with an occasioual slice of fat pork. Let 

 the chill be taken from the water she driuka, and a cure will be effected. Garget is a 

 very troublesome disease in milch cows. The cow becomes feverish, the udder espe- 

 cially. Sometimes the milk will be streaked with blood, and again appear hunjjy, or 

 both. Wash the bag with bitter herbs steeped in vinegar. Give a tablesi»oouful of 

 poke-root, pounded tiue, in a bran-mash, twice a day. Also, insert a seaton in the 

 brisket with a piece of poke-root. 



Hog cholera is increasing to an alarming extent. The first symptom is generally 

 observed in the animal carrying his uose near the ground, with a generally dull ap- 

 pearance, slight cough at first, and swelling under the throat. Some are first takeu 

 with severe purging. All these symptoms increase in intensity until death ensues, 

 which usually occurs in from twenty-four to thirty-six hours. No cure has yet been 

 found. Strong wood-ashes and copperas are regarded as jireventives. I have cured 

 some by drenching with copi^eras, sulphur, and asafetida. 



James C. Dustan, Y. S., Morristown, Morris Coimty, IsTew Jersey, 

 says: 



The appearance in this section of a new and uunsually fatal disease among hor.ses 

 has prompted me to report to you some of the facts connected therewith. It may be 

 more common in other parts of the country, but here it is new to our profession. The 

 first case occurred about the middle of last month in the adjacent village of Madison, 

 and up to the present time twenty-one horses have been attacked by the disease in that 

 place. Of that number eight were under my professional care. Four of these have 

 died and the others have recovered. Of the remaining thirteen, ouly one has recov- 

 ered. The disease is of short duration, lasting, in the cases that prove fatal, from two 

 or three days to one week. The general symiitoms are as follows : For the first day or 

 two the horse seems inclined to droop, and, without any apparent cause, acts tired. 

 Then a difficulty in swallowing is noticeable, which increases as the disease advances. 

 The fever is high ; obstinate constipation ot the bowels, and almost complete suppres- 

 sion of the urine, the latter fact being ascertained by means of the catheter. The man- 

 ner in which the act of swallowing was effected made it clear to ray mind that the 

 inability to do so was caused by a partial paralysis of the muscles of deglutition. 

 Generally, when the horse lies down, he is unable to rise without assistance. There is 

 also a marked tremor in the left fore shoulder, and, although not constant, has been no- 

 ticed by me in all the cases I have seen. Post-mortem examinations in four cases have 

 disclosed the following anatomical lesions: The most prominent is an intense inflam- 

 mation of the larynx, extending for some distance down the trachea. The kidneys 

 were found to be in a state of congestion, and in one case considerably hypertrophied. 

 There was also found inflammation in the nasal fossic, but more particularly in the 

 left. The brain, oesophagus, and spinal cord were found in a state of perfect health, as 

 were also all the other organs of the body. I regard the disease as one of blood-poi- 

 soning, introduced into the system from the atmosphere, and, as far as I have been able 

 to ascertain, it resembles in a striking degree diphtheria in the human being. 



My treatment con.sists, first, of a blister of cantharides applied to the larnyx region, 

 and kept open for several days by mild mercurial ointment; dry cuppingover the kid- 

 neys ; the administration of linseed-oil as a laxative, aided, if necessary, by injections, 

 and the following prescription given every four hours, viz : five drops extract of bella- 

 donna, one ounce of water, and one-half drachm of iodide of potassium. This is for 

 one dose. 



To the above prescription was added, for fever, tincture of aconite, and after a day or 

 two, dropping the aconite, I gave quinine sulph. grs. x, every three hours. The use 

 of iodide of potassium should be continued until the functions of the kidneys have 

 been fully restored. I also found benefit from the free use of chlorate of potash. The 

 diet should be of the most nourishing kind, and by every possible means the sti'ength 

 of the animal should be .supported. As a drink, hay-tea is preferable to plain water. 

 But the best treatment I could give, together with careful nursing, shows as a result 

 a fatality of 50 per cent. 



Hod. a. L. Pridemore, Jonesville, Lee County, Virginia, says : 



The hog cholera has been among us for years. It was first brought here by drovers 

 from Kentucky. It prevails to a greater or less extent every year ; some years kill- 

 ing all (or nearly all) the hogs in some neighborhoods. I have known instances where 

 three hnndred head of bogs were turned in upon corn-fields, the usual mode of feeding 

 here, say August 20, and by the 1st of September the disease would break out and 



