342 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



The length of time animals live with this disease, to- 

 gether with the serum, the condition of the lungs, and 

 the adhesions so often seen connecting the lungs with the 

 sides of the chest, does not go to prove the incurability 

 of the disease at all, as has been so often asserted, but 

 on the contrary it goes to show the curability of the dis- 

 ease, and the ignorance of those who have been guilty of so 

 bold and unwarranted an assertion, thereby deceiving the 

 honest cow keeper and breeder to their great loss, and in 

 some cases to their ruin. Pleuro-pneumonia then I take 

 to be a disease similar to typhoid influenza in the horse, 

 affecting the white membranes of the nose, mouth, wind 

 pipe and chest, speedily followed by outpouring of fluid 

 into the cavity of the thorax or chest, gradually increasing 

 in volumn, till the lungs are nearly submerged, solidifying 

 them, thus arresting areation, or proper oxygenation of 

 the blood, together with shreds of plastic lymph connect- 

 ing and interfering still further with the action of what- 

 ever healthy lung there may be left: thus by a gradual, 

 but progressive process, the vital power gives way, and 

 the poor beast dies from suffocation, or asphyxia, in from 

 one week to two months or more, depending if the cow 

 be in calf, and what condition otherwise the animal may 

 be in. The better the condition, the longer will they 

 live, and the more likely are they to live, even without 

 medicine, thus giving the lie to its incurability. (See 

 Bronchitis.) 



Cause. — Some subtle poison in the atmosphere some- 

 times, and not always present, sudden and severe changes 

 in the temperature, cold, heat, dryness and moisture, east- 

 erly winds, and possibly some other conditions which may 

 be present, but not recognized, and give rise to what is 

 called the predisposing cause, for certainly we have those 



