370 



Disease among JVeat Cattle. 



Vol. XL 



squeezes out the last drop of its contents. 

 No poison known to man — no chemical know- 

 ledge, however profound, could concoct a 

 poison capable of producing a death like 

 this] To Him alone who created, it is re- 

 served to slay in a manner so wonderful. 



It may well be supposed that I felt a deep 

 interest in this strange discovery, and lost 

 no opportunity in its further investigation. 

 Many deaths of the same kind occurred in 

 the town of Rye that season, but I could 

 learn of only one instance in which any in- 

 disposition was noticed before death. Most 

 of the animals must have died in the night, 

 as they were found dead in the morning, 

 without having exhibited any evidence of 

 disease the previous day. One alone was 

 seen in the day time for a few minutes stag- 

 gering about, but it soon settled upon the 

 ground and quietly expired. All the exami- 

 nations made that season, presented precisely 

 the same appearances. 



There was the same bloodless appearance 

 of the flesh, the absence of fetor and gaseous 

 distension of the abdomen ; the same fresh 

 and natural condition of the herbage in the 

 stomach, as if the animal had fed until the 

 last hour of life; the intestines presenting 

 the same dark purple appearance, in conse- 

 quence of the whole tube, through all its 

 doublings and convolutions, being entirely 

 filled with blood ; while the heart, in every 

 instance, was found entirely empty. 



I heard nothing more of this disease for a 

 space of eight years, until last summer, 

 (1846,) when a gentleman one morning re- 

 quested me to examine the body of a cow 

 he had just lost, in the hope that I might be 

 able to detect the poison with which, as he 

 supposed, she had been destroyed. He stated 

 that she had been brought from the field in 

 the morning with other cows for the purpose 

 of being milked, and was at that time appa- 

 rently as well as any of them. When about 

 half milked she stepped away and laid down 

 under a tree; the milker coming into the 

 house, related the fact, and complained that 

 she could not get her up again. On going 

 out himself he found her dying, and she ac- 

 tually expired within half an hour from the 

 time of laying down. This statement at 

 once induced suspicion that the malady of 

 1838 had returned again, and I described to 

 him minutely the appearances then met with, 

 and ventured to predict that his cow would 

 be found in the same condition; in which 

 case, I remarked, the idea of poison by any 

 human agency, cannot for a moment be en- 

 tertained. It is only necessary here to add, 

 that the examination confirmed the predic- 

 tion in the most minute particulars. 



Hitherto this disease had been confined 



entirely to neat cattle, and as far as I knew, 

 had appeared only in the summer months. 

 In February last, however, a friend called to 

 request the chemical examination of the 

 stomach of a young heifer that had just 

 died, saying that he had previously lost se- 

 veral cattle in the same way, and that his 

 neighbours, all suspecting poison, had urged 

 him to have the matter thoroughly investi- 

 gated. In answer to a question of mine, he 

 stated that he had lost ten in all, seven of 

 them in the warm months of summer, and 

 three the present winter; and that he had 

 never found one of them sick ; the first mti- 

 mation of his loss being that of finding them 

 dead in the field, with but one exception, 

 and in that the animal was breathing its last 

 when discovered. On cutting open the spe- 

 cimen he had brought with him, it disclosed 

 the peculiar appearances described as be- 

 longing to this disease, and I stated to him 

 the discoveries previously made, and that on 

 his return home, a further examination would 

 probably show him the heart destitute of 

 blood, and the intestines filled with it ; and 

 that he might rest assured that no human 

 agency could have had any share in the 

 matter. This last suggestion seemed to be 

 very acceptable to him, for the suspicion of 

 having an enemy about him base enough to 

 destroy his property in this manner, was ex- 

 ceedingly annoying. And here it will be 

 proper to point the reader's attention to the 

 fact, that every application for post-mortem 

 examinations hitherto mentioned, had been 

 based upon the suspicion of poison ; a suspi- 

 cion far more harassing and vexatious to 

 generous and worthy minds than the loss of 

 property itself; and it was a hope of being 

 able to dissipate this delusion, so fraught 

 with mischief to society, and so liable to dis- 

 turb the harmony and good feeling of every 

 neighbourhood where it might be entertained, 

 that first suggested the idea of writing this 

 history. But the singular and novel features 

 of the disease itself, and the deep interest 

 the farmer has in its further investigation, 

 may perhaps give it a still higher claim to a 

 place among the agricultural notices of the 

 day. 



It was the intention of the writer to com- 

 pare the peculiar features of this disease 

 with the symptoms detailed in the history of 

 past epidemics among domestic animals, and 

 likewise to offer a theory in explanation of 

 the strange physiological fact alluded to in 

 describing its post-mortem appearances; but 

 the length to which this article has already 

 arrived, must defer this intention to a future 

 period. 



Thomas Close, M. D. 

 Portchester, Westchester Co-, March, 1847. 



