THE GENESEE FARMER. 



269 



discussions of it, more or less valuable, occur in the 

 Veterinarian and in all the best treatises on veteri- 

 hary medicine. 



Ked water is sometimes accute and sometimes 

 ihronic, sometimes isolated and sometimes epizootic, 

 sometimes apparently connected with particular kinds 

 Dr states of pasture and sometimes apparently un- 

 connected with any particular kind of pasture, gene- 

 rally irrespective of any distinctions of breed or sex 

 )r age or condition of cattle, and occasionally pecu- 

 iar to cows immediately after parturition ; and it 

 may, therefore^ be in some sense regarded, not as 

 strictly one disease, but as a group of nuitually re- 

 lated or mutuall}- similar diseases. 



When it attacks newly calved cows, it probably 

 arises from change of food about the period of par- 

 turition, or from want of sufficient cleansing, or from 

 previous fullness of the blood, or from all these causes 

 or any two of them combined ; when it attacks cat- 

 tle on particular pastures, and does not attack cattle 

 on immediately adjacent ones, it probably arises, 

 wholly or partly, from the eating of acrid j^lants, 

 such as Ranunculus acris, Ranunculus Jlammula, 

 .Anemone nemorosa, and Anemone ranunculoides ; 

 but when it makes its attacks in other circumstances, 

 or docs not appear to have any traceable connexion 

 with peculiar states of herbage, it probably arises 

 from such a complication of causes as cannot be eas- 

 ily or very certainly explored. Mr. Robert Thom- 

 son, the first of the Highland Society's essayist?, 

 says: "It is most prevalent in foggy pastures. It is 

 seldom seen in hill pastures, or in new sown pastures, 

 in which there is abmidance of clover ; but it some- 

 times happens at the stall, where the animal has no 

 other allowance than straw, turnips and potatoes.— 

 It usually makes its appearance after a few days of 

 rain, followed by cold dry weather." Mr. William 

 Laixg, another of thee ssayists, says: " I am led to infer 

 that close confinement in winter is one predominating 

 cause, the cattle being thus deprived of the necessa- 

 ry exercise, fresh air, and access to earth, which 

 seems to be useful in correcting the acidity produced 

 in the stomach by costiveness and obstructed bile. — 

 Frosty water is also another cause, as it tends to 

 produce indigestion, bad chyle, and consequently bad 

 t)lood. Barley chaff, given in its natural state, but 

 more particularly when boiled, may also occasion it, 

 by destroying the sensibility of the villous coats of 

 the stomach. It occurs most frequently in the end of 

 autumn, in winter, and more particularly in the early 

 part of spring." Mr. A. Watt, a third of the es- 

 sayists, says: " It is produced by dry food, difficult of 

 digestion, and is always found among cattle that are 

 fed off newly improved lands, and on turnips and 

 straw that have grown on poor ground. Neglect of 

 proper watering, and feeding on turnips after they 

 have begun to grow in spring, are also causes." And 

 Mr. Andrew Henderson, a fourth of the essayists, 

 states, as the result of extensive observation during 

 twenty yeai-s, that " upon a light soil, liable to be 

 soon burnt up for want of moisture, he found ten at- 

 tacks of the disease for one upon any of the neigh- 

 boring farms which might happen to have a deeper 

 soil," — that " the prevalence of the disease in such a 

 situation was solely regulated by the state of the 

 season, for in a moist season not a single instance 



perhaps would occur, while in a dry one numerous 

 cases would appear," — that, while passing by stock 

 who were stationary it occasionally attacked cattle 

 which experienced a change of pasture, particularly 

 when the change was from fine to coarse herbage, — 

 and that, in the course of most journeys of di'oves 

 of cattle from Scotland to the markets of the south 

 of England, many ^•iolent attacks occurred ; and in 

 reference to the last of these facts, he says: "I have 

 observed, that twenty females for one male were at- 

 tacked, and more especially such as had had calves, 

 —that at the commencement of the journey, the dis- 

 ease was' not prevalent, provided there was a con- 

 stant supply of water, and the weather proved steady, 

 —that during a long continued drought, the cattle 

 were very subject to the disease, especially when pure 

 water could not be had, — that sudden changes of 

 weather were also apt to induce the disease, — and 

 that at the commencement of the journey, some of 

 the cattle were generally affected, although no per- 

 ceptible change had taken place in the quality of the 

 food, and although the cattle had not been exposed 

 to any of the above causes. This must have pro- 

 ceeded from inflammation induced by sprains, bruises, 

 or over-heating, caused by the cattle fretting and 

 riding upon each other, as well as by the unmerci- 

 ful strokes of the drivers." These details of 

 observed causes in the course respectively of calv- 

 ing, of depasturing, of farm-yard feeding, and of 

 journeying, ought to suggest to all proprietors of 

 cattle-stock the several and most effective means of 

 prevention. 



" The first symptom of red water," says Mr. Thom- 

 son, " is the a23pearance of something like blood 

 mixed mth the urine. So trifling is the complaint 

 in some instances, that no inconvenience seems to be 

 felt by the animal, which eats and drinks as usual, 

 chews the cud, and is free of the disease in a few 

 days. In such cases, a natural diarrhea comes on, to 

 which the cure may be attributed. In general, how- 

 ever, the disease is not observed until the animal re- 

 fuses food, separates from the rest of the herd, ap- 

 pears dull and heavy, and manifests great languor 

 and apathy. The ears droop, the urine is of a red- 

 dish or brownish color, and il' it be a milch cow, the 

 milk is often similarly tinged. The pulse ranges from 

 60 to TO; there is obstinate constipation of the bow- 

 els; the urine is discharged in moderate quantity, and 

 apparently without pain. If relief is not afforded 

 l)y some brisk purgative, at the period M'hen the 

 urine changes color from red to brown, the pulse be- 

 gins to sink; and if a little blood be drawn at this 

 time, its surface assumes a brownish color; the eye 

 appears of a yellowish brown tint ; the urine ac- 

 quires a darker hue ; the anjmal refuses to rise ; the 

 pulse sinks; the legs, tail, and horns turn cold; and 

 the animal dies, to all appearance perfectly exhaust- 

 ed, although it has manifested no symptoms of acute 

 pain during the course of the disease. On removing 

 the skin in animals which have died of thLs disease, 

 the subjacent parts have a peculiar dark yellow ap- 

 pearance. The abdominal fat has the same color. 

 The first and second stomachs are generally pretty 

 fuU of food. The third stomach, or manyplies, is dry; 

 its ruga; are inflamed; its contents compressed as by 

 general spasm. The fourth, or true stomach, is near- 



