MEASLES 



243 



this is a very destructive, and not unfrequent malady. If the swine 

 had been carefully observed, it would have been seen that they were 

 making a more than usually rapid progress, but there was at the same 

 time alaziness, or heaviness, or stupidity, about them. A dose or 

 two of physic would have removed this, and not have interfered with 

 the fattening ; indeed they would have thriven the better after it. If 

 this, however, has been neglected, the apoplexy will probably be 

 established. The swine, in the act of feeding, or when moving across 

 the sty, will fall suddenly, as if struck with lightning. He will be 

 motionless for a little while, and then convulsions will come on, 

 strong and dreadful : the eyes will seem protruded, the head and neck 

 will swell, and the veins of the neck will be brought into sight, not- 

 withstanding the mass of fat with which they may be covered. In 

 the midst of^'his struggles the animal will be perfectly unconscious. 

 He will often die in a few minutes, or should he recover, he will be 

 strangely exhausted, and some internal injury will be evidently done, 

 so that he will afterwards be very subject to returns of these attacks 

 either of apoplexy or of fits. 



The course here is plain enough. He should be bled, and bled 

 copiously. Indeed the blood should be suffered to flow as long as it 

 will. Two or three ounces of Epsom salts should then be given; the 

 quantity and the heating character of the food should be diminished, 

 and a couple of drachms of sulphur given daily in the first meal. 



"When apoplexy or fits have once appeared in a sty, they spread 

 like wild-fire. There is nothing contagious in them, but there is the 

 power of sympathy acting upon animals become too disposed to in- 

 flammation and fever. The most forward of them should be disposed 

 of as soon as possible. 



The habit of fits once established cannot easily be broken, and the 

 only way to prevent the continuance of much annoyance is, to sepa- 

 rate those that are oftenest affected from the rest, and to fatten them 

 as soon as possible. 



MEASLES. 



This is an inflammatory disease, not always indeed discovered 

 during the life of the animal, but plain enough after death, and very 

 considerably diminishing the value of the carcass. The red and 

 pimpled appearance of the skin, or of the cellular substance between 

 the flesh and the skin, sufficiently marks the disease. It shows that 

 there has been general inflammation, either resulting from the fatten- 

 ing process being carried too far, or, much oftener, from the animal 

 having too suddenly been taken from poor keep, and suffered to have 

 as much as it will eat of highly nutritious and stimulating food. The 

 measles are very seldom or never fatal, but the disease may generally 

 be recognized by the pink blush of the skin, or of some parts of it, 

 and by the hog rubbing himself more than usual, while the skin is 

 free from pimples and scurf. The remedy would be a less quantity 



