402 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



stable should be disinfected by thoroughly cleaning it, scrubbing the 

 floor with hot water, brushing down all loose dust from the walls, and 

 tearing off all woodwork which is partly decayed. Then the whole 

 interior of the stable should be covered with a good coat of limewash 

 containing 1 part of a 40 per cent solution of formaldehyde (which is 

 sold by the drug trade under the commercial name of formalin) to 30 

 parts of the limewash, or 4 ounces of formalin to each gallon of lime- 

 wash. Another efficient wash for this purpose may be prepared by 

 adding 6 ounces of chlorid of lime to each gallon of limewash. All 

 stable utensils should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected by the 

 application of a solution containing 4 ounces of formalin to a gallon 

 of water, or 6 ounces of crude carbolic acid to each gallon of water. 

 The manure should be burned or spread over ground (other than 

 meadow land) that is to be turned under. No other cattle should be 

 purchased for at least 30 days after the complete disinfection of the 

 premises. 



The method of eradicating the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease 

 in New England in 1902-3 and in Michigan, New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania, and Maryland in 1908 consisted in the rigid quarantine of all 

 infected premises and of the animals upon them, in slaughtering the 

 diseased and exposed animals at the earliest practicable moment, and 

 in thoroughly disinfecting the stables and the contents of the build- 

 ings in which they had been sheltered. The progress of this work, 

 the confinement of the disease to a few States, and its complete 

 eradication in a comparatively short time demonstrate in a striking 

 manner the efficacy of slaughtering and the futility of relying upon 

 quarantme alone in stamping out the disease. 



Inoculation has been adopted in some countries in order to have 

 the disease spread quickly through the herds, and while this practice 

 has undoubted value where the disease is indigenous, it is not desir- 

 able in this country and should not be adopted. 



Medicinal treatment. — In some mild attacks of foot-and-mouth dis- 

 ease great benefit may be derived from a judicious attempt to relieve 

 the symptoms and thus assist nature in overcoming the disease, but 

 the great danger attached to the presence of an infectious disease in 

 any noninfected locality for 12 to 20 days, while the disease is run- 

 ning its course, must appeal to the sanitarian and prevent indis- 

 criminate medicinal treatment. 



However, beneficial results have been obtained by the local applica- 

 tion of disinfecting and astringent lotions. A teaspoonful of alum, 

 chlorate of potash, boracic acid, or one-half teaspoonful of the tinc- 

 ture of aloes and myrrh placed in the mouth has proved efficacious. 

 The infected animals may be made to stand from 5 to 10 minutes 

 in a shallow trough containing medicinal agents such as a 1-to- 1,000 

 solution of bichlorid of mercury or a 3 per cent carbolic acid or creo- 



