302 THE FARM DOCTOR. 



tion of the pelvic bones by the oiied hand introduced through 

 the rectum will detect a want of symmetry on the two sides. 

 from bulging, irregular swellings at different points. In more 

 advanced stages the bones break and crumble under the body's 

 weight, and the animal remains constantly down, unable to 

 rise. A depraved appetite and a tendency to eat all sorts of 

 unnatural objects, though a common symptom in breeding 

 coAvs, is excessive in many of these cases, and the patient mostly 

 loses flesh rapidly, though some will remain fat for a length of 



time. 



Treatment. — Change the locality to one with a richer fodder, 

 or bring the wholesome fodder to the animals, and add, liberally, 

 grain (barley, mafze, oats, beans) from sound localities. Fresh 

 air, sunshine, and dry resting places are all important. Avoid 

 breeding again until health is fully established, or better, fatten 

 for the butcher. 



Softening of Bones in Horses. — The big-head of the 

 Mississippi valley, is a manifestation of a general fault in nutri- 

 tion, showing itself in all the bones of the body more or less. 

 Like the affection of cows it consists in a steady increase of the 

 canals and cavities in bone, with their contained soft or plastic 

 matter, at the expense of the hard bony structure. With the 

 continuous enlargement of the bone there is an extreme thin- 

 ning of the iTiicroscopic bony plates, until the structure can be 

 easily cut with a knife or crushed under the pressure of the 

 finger. The interspaces are filled by a red bloody mass, with 

 the natural elements more or less modified, and the addition of 

 many spherical cells, or later of fat As the disease advances 

 the bones can no longer afford a firm attachment for the liga- 

 ments and tendons, but crumbling, dislocations and fractures 

 are inevitable. There is some fundamental fault in assimilation, 

 and though it may be determined primarily to the face by the 

 hard work of grinding flinty maize, or its development mav be 

 precipitated by poor feeding, unwholesome stabling, overwork, 



