CHAP. I. GARGET. 559 



touch, and there is considerable lameness, to relieve which the patient 

 will remain lying for many hours together. In the chronic form of the 

 disease the symptoms are less severe than in the acute, but are of the 

 same character. 



Treatment. The bowels should be acted upon by a saline purge at 

 the outset, and the patient confined to a bran diet. Iodide of 

 potassium and carbonate of potash should be given two or three times 

 daily. Should this fail, colchicum may be tried in combination with 

 it. The local applications are to consist of hot fomentations, after 

 which the part is to be well cased in dry flannel bandages. In some 

 cases soap liniment and tincture of opium or belladonna, well rubbed 

 into the skin, will allay pain and disperse the enlargement. The 

 patient should be placed in a dry, well-littered box, free from draught 

 and be disturbed as little as possible. 



Should the swelling remain after the pain and lameness have dis- 

 persed, a blister once or twice repeated may suffice to remove it. 



MAMMITIS OR GARGET. Garget is an inflamed condition of the udder 

 usually occurring during the period of lactation. It is mostly confined 

 to one quarter, but may affect two or more quarters at the same time. 



The causes include mechanical injury, such as blows and bruises; 

 overstocking, i.e., allowing the milk to accumulate unduly in the 

 gland to give it a tempting appearance in the market ; exposure to cold 

 easterly winds while the body is heated, or to draughts. Garget 

 sometimes arises as a complication of other diseases, as foot and mouth 

 disease and cow-pox, and may also result from indigestion. 



Symptoms. Although a local affection, there is in these cases more 

 or less general disturbance, as fever, loss of appetite, and restlessness. 

 The affected quarter is hot and painful to the touch, red and swollen, 

 and the fluid removed from it is mixed with white curdy masses and 

 sometimes with blood or pus. Animals with large bags experience 

 some difficulty in walking owing to the pain which it excites. 



Treatment. Give a bold dose of Epsom salts as soon as the trouble 

 is observed, and a milder dose in forty-eight hours. Draw the milk 

 off carefully three or four times a day from all the quarters. Foment 

 the bag well, morning and evening, and suspend it in a sling. This 

 may be done by cutting four holes in a broad piece of flannel for the 

 accommodation of the teats and fastening it over the loins. Bleeding 

 may have to be adopted in some severe cases, and where abscesses 

 form they require to be opened. These are operations which require 

 the aid of the veterinary surgeon. 



If after the subsidence of the inflammation the gland remains hard, 

 it should be vigorously rubbed two or three times a day with camphor- 

 ated oil, to which a little soap liniment may be added. 



ANTHRAX. This is a specific contagious disorder affecting, to a 

 greater or less extent, all our domesticated animals, but more fre- 

 quently young oxen. It is due to the presence of a minute rod-shaped 

 organism in the blood, technically termed Uacillus anthracis. The 



