THE DISEASES OF CATTLE. 325 



disturbance I have already alluded to. In reference to the 

 milk, butter, cheese, etc., of infected animals, and their adap- 

 tation to develop disease in man, and in other locations than 

 those referred to, I observe, that when a quantity, however 

 small, of contagious matter is introduced into the stomach, if its 

 antiseptic properties are the least deranged, the original disease 

 (milk sickness) is produced, just as a small quantity of yeast 

 will ferment a whole loaf. The transformation takes place 

 through the medium of the blood, and produces a body identi- 

 cal with, or similar to, the exciting or contagious matter. * The 

 quantity of the latter must constantly augment ; for the state 

 of change or decomposition which affects one particle of the 

 blood is imparted to others. The time necessary to accomplish 

 it, however, depends on the amount of vital resistance, and of 

 course varies in different animals. In process of time, the 

 whole body becomes affected, and in like manner it is commu- 

 nicated to other individuals ; and this may take place by simply 

 respiring the carbonic acid gas or morbific materials, from the 

 lungs of diseased animals in the infected districts. 



My principal object is to show what are the causes of this 

 malady, so that the farmer can prevent its occurrence, for the 

 treatment is very unsatisfactory. A writer in the Atlanta Med- 

 ical Journal informs us : — 



" Where stock cattle, for instance, are kept pent up until 

 after the morning's dew, they are never affected, though they 

 are pastured where it is known to abound. Again, if food, in 

 the form of bundles of hay, or fodder, or sheaves of oats, has 

 been cast on the surface of the earth where it was suspected 

 to exist, fed to calves or a calf, during the morning, while wet 

 with dew, the result is the death of the animal. 



" Facts like these are, to my mind, evidence conclusive of 

 its origin in the form of vapor. But let it originate from 

 whence it may, it is only known in timbered land, and there 

 disappears, after being once cleared, cultivated, and seeded with 

 tame grass ; which shows, again, if of a telluric source, that 

 the toxical agent lies near the surface, and is destroyed by- 

 being shifted from its lurking place." 

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