358 THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF 



second lot kept rather back until January, when they were al- 

 lowed an abundance of turnips, especially swedes, meals, and 

 the best oat straw. The cattle afFected are three-year-olds ; 

 and it would appear that those fed on the Swedish turnips, 

 especially from one field, have suffered most ; but some fed on 

 yellow or white turnips have been affected, and we would re- 

 gard the meals, and perhaps the oat straw, as more likely to 

 have produced the disorder. According to Delafond's re- 

 searches, leguminosae, or forage very rich in nutritive principles 

 and deficient in water, from artificial pastures, are frequent 

 causes of splenic apoplexy. The farmer in Northumberland 

 suspected the artificial manures last year, and therefore dressed 

 his land chiefly with home manure ; but the properties of the 

 last crop have proved as deleterious as those of the preced- 

 ing one. 



" The malady stopped suddenly, about the middle of Feb- 

 ruary, and this was probably due to the cattle suffering only 

 when the system was taxed by change from rather moderate 

 to very high feeding. It is an interesting fact, that, in 

 cows, the disorder only affects those which are approaching the 

 period when the secretion of milk is stopped, and when there 

 is a tendency to lay on flesh. Being then liable to plethora, 

 cows fed on food capable of producing splenic apoplexy die 

 from it. Change of diet proved of no avail at the farm above 

 referred to, and common salt had been recommended as a pre- 

 ventative. But, as Delafond has shown, it is not a remedy in 

 such cases, — rather the reverse, — and thus it proved in the 

 case referred to. The malady stopped spontaneously, and 

 the point now to settle is prevention of the disease during 

 future seasons. 



" For the benefit of our readers, who may not know the 

 symptoms of splenic apoplexy, we may mention that often 

 there are premonitory signs — the animals apparently enjoying 

 the best health early in the morning may be dead some time 

 before noon. Sometimes there are symptoms of excitement ; 

 the eyes are prominent and the visible mucous membranes 

 injected. Symptoms of uneasiness suddenly manifest them- 



