DISEASES OF COWS. 461 



for the dairy. The only treatment is palliative. A dose 

 of Epsom salts, the chlorate of potash mentioned above, 

 with the chlorate wash for the- mouth. A solution of 

 borax — two ounces in a quart of water — with two ounces 

 of honey and one dram of carbolic acid added, may be 

 applied to the feet, which should be kept bandaged. 



ERGOTISM. 



This disorder is produced by feeding smutty corn 

 fodder or ergoted grass, and in some cases by means of 

 musty hay or other food. The result is vesicular erup- 

 tions of the mouth and gangrene of the feet. Outbreaks 

 of this disease have been mistaken for foot and mouth 

 disease ; but no intelligent person, much less a veteri- 

 narian, should be led into this error. For the. gangrene 

 of the feet is entirely different from the watery blisters 

 in epizootic aphtha, and appears as a ring of dead tissue 

 which gradually becomes deeper and deeper until the 

 hoof falls off and finally the feet separate, leaving the 

 animals entirely helpless. There is no cure for this dis- 

 order when it takes on this serious form, but in its early 

 stages cure is possible by means of cooling purgatives to 

 clear the system of the poison and soothing, healing 

 applications to the diseased surfaces. A mixture of 

 tincture of myrrh and glycerine painted on the sores 

 will relieve the pain and lead to recovery. 



• 



BLOATI^S-G (indigestion?-). 



When cattle are fed to repletion upon wet green fodder 

 fermentation takes place in the paunch with the evolu- 

 tion of a large quantity of carbonic acid gas, which dis- 

 tends the stomach and causes it to press dangerously 

 upon the lungs and interfere with the breathing. Un- 

 less relieved, the animal quickly dies of suffocation. As 



