CATTLE. 



of the OX, it should be attempted if the disease doe? not speedily 

 subside. The hair should be closely cut or shaved from the upper 

 part of the forehead and the poll, ;.nd for six inches on each side 

 down the neck, and sonrie of the following ointment well rubbed in : — 

 Blister Ointment. — Take, lard, twelve ounces; resin, four ounces; 

 melt them together, and, when they are getting cold, add oil of tur- 

 pentine, four ounces ; and powdered cantharides, five ounces ; stirring 

 the whole well together. 



When the blister is beginning to peel off, green elder or marsh- 

 mallow ointment will be the best application to supple and hea' the 

 part. A little of it should be gently smeared over the blistered sur- 

 face, morning and night. 



A seton smeared with the above ointment may be inserted on each 

 side of the poll, in preference to the application of a bUster. 



Although the violence of the disease, and of its remedies, will 

 necessarily leave the beast exceedingly reduced, no stimulating 

 medicine or food must on any account be administered. Mashes and 

 green meat, and these in no great quantities, must suffice for nourish- 

 ment, or, if the animal, as is sometimes the case, is unable to eat, a 

 few quarts of tolerably thick gruel may be horned down every day ; 

 but ale, and gin, and spices, and tonic medicines, must be avoided as 

 downright poisons. There is not a more common or a more fatal 

 error in cattle management than the eagerness to pour in comfortable, 

 one might rather say, poisonous drinks. Even the treacle and the 

 sugar in the gruel must be prohibited, from their tendency to become 

 acid in the debilitated stomach of the animal recovering from such a 

 complaint. 



Every symptom of the disease having vanished, the beast may very 

 sloioly return to his usual food ; but, when he is turned to pasture, 

 it will be prudent to give him a very short bite of grass, and little or 

 no dry food. Nature is the best restorer of health and strength in 

 these cases ; and it is often surprising, not only how rapidly the ox 

 will regain all he has lost, if left to nature, and not foolishly forced 

 on, but how soon and to what a considerable degree his condition 

 will improve beyond the state in which he was before the complaint, 

 'i'he ox that has once had inflammation of the brain should ever 

 afterwards be watched, and should be bled and physicked whenever 

 there is tlie least appearance of staggers or fever. The safest way will 

 be to send him to the butcher as soon as he is in sufficient condition, 

 Homceopathic treatment. — Aconitum is the first and chief remedy, 

 before the disease is yet fully developed. It is given in frequent 

 doses, separated by short intervals. When there is heat in the mouth, 

 eyes, horns, jmd the animal rests its head against the wall or manger ; 

 or when, melancholy and almost devoid of consciousness, it allows it 

 to hang ; the best medicine is belladonna, to be given in repeated 

 doses, especially when the look is fmniic, with swelling of the vessels 



