DISEASES OF COWS. 455 



the dead cow, and they too were attacked by the ' slows' 

 and their blood showed the same form of bacteria." 



Knowing that some of the family owning the sick cow 

 had not partaken of milk or butter, but had nevertheless 

 suffered from the disease, Dr. Gardner examined with 

 his microscope the water taken from the springs from 

 which the family drank, and found that it appeared clear 

 and pure to the unaided eye, but was filled by the same 

 forms of bacteria that swarmed in the blood of the cow. 

 In another family a case of milk sickness had occurred. 

 Dr. Gardner examined some of the milk he took from a 

 cow whose milk was used by the patients, and found in 

 it just such living organisms as he discovered in the blood 

 and water. Afterward he found the same bacteria, but 

 in smaller numbers, in the blood of two persons not se- 

 verely attacked. In giving his account of his studies of 

 this malady. Dr. Gardner said that milk sickness never 

 prevails in wet seasons, when springs are flush and 

 streams are full. He was not willing to assert that water 

 is the only medium outside of animals in which the bac- 

 teria may propagate in sufficient quantities to cause the 

 disease to manifest itself, *^but," said he, '^we may rest 

 assured that if the cattle and the families have water of 

 unquestioned purity the other sources and uses will not 

 be prominent factors in its production." He added that 

 gastritis and bilious fever are the only diseases the physi-i 

 cian Avill be likely to confound with milk sickness. The 

 treatment he adopted consisted of the administration, 

 each two hours, of full doses of brandy and honey, or 

 sirup, with sulphur and magnesia. The patients quickly 

 recovered. This treatment is the same as that used in 

 the Blue Ridge localities of west North Carolina and 

 Georgia where the disease prevails. 



It seems to be important that consumers shall be 

 warned of the danger that may lie in consuming milk, 

 butter or meats from districts in which milk sickness 



