EPIDEMICS. 123 



PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. 



This disease often breaks out among pigs as well as horses, cattle, 

 and sheep, and commits great devastation. We shall quote some 

 accounts of its progress, treatment, and post-mortem appearances 

 given by English and foreign veterinarians, by whom it is classed 

 under the head of 



EPIDEMICS. 



M. Saussol narrates that during the summer of 1821 nearly all 

 the swine in the neighborhood of Mazamet were attacked by a vio- 

 lent and mortal disease that spared neither age nor sex. fat nor lean. 

 He rates its ravages at about one-fifth of every four hundred pa- 

 tients. 



The first symptoms were inappetency, thirst, dullness, groaning, 

 and seeking of moist places ; then followed hardness of the belly, 

 heat of the skin, constipation, diminution of the urine, difficulty of 

 respiration, heaving of the flanks, and short cough ; the eyes were 

 full of tears, and the mucous membranes inflamed. All these 

 symptoms came on in the course of twelve hours. If the disease 

 continued, the succeeding symptoms were still more alarming ; the 

 animals began to stagger about, the limbs were stretched out in an 

 unnatural position, rattling in the throat came on, they supported 

 themselves against the wall, and only fell to die a few minutes after- 

 wards. Death usually came about the third day, and was in some 

 cases preceded by convulsions of the face and extremities. 



Treatment. Copious bleedings from the sacro-coccygean arteries 

 and veins, or, if these did not yield blood enough, amputation of the 

 tail, hot baths, a seton covered with blistering ointment inserted in 

 the chest, camphorated and laxative drenches, and a decoction of 

 borage, mallows, and lettuces, slightly acidulated, to drink. 



Causes. Exposure to the heat of the sun, want of water, feeding 

 on dry plants ; returning home in the evening exhausted, receiving a 

 hearty feed, and being then shut up in ill-ventilated styes without 

 drink until morning. 



Preventive treatment. Troughs of acidulated nitrated water placed 

 in the styes and frequently renewed ; non-exposure to the heat of 

 the day, means of bathing, bleeding, cleanliness, and ventilation; 

 moderate feeding, and gentle exercise after the sun had set. These 

 precautionary measures, M. Saussol says, arrested the progress of 

 the disease. 



Post-mortem appearances. The thoracic cavity was filled with 

 bloody limpid fluid; the lungs much inflamed; the pleura thick- 

 ened, inflamed, arid injected ; the diaphragm covered with black 

 patches of the size of a shilling ; the mucous coat of the intestines 



