226 THE OX AND THE DAIRY. 



ACUTE RHEUMATISM. 



Eheumatism is a disease to which horned cattle are pecu- 

 liarly subject, from exposure to wet and cold, and the vicissi- 

 tudes of the weather, more especially in the early part of spring. 

 Cows after calving, and beasts in general in a weak state from 

 recent illness, if not shielded from piercing cold, are extremely 

 liable to this affection. It consists of inflammation of the fascia 

 of the muscles, the ligaments of the joints, and the synovial 

 membranes. Sometimes the inflammation extends to the 

 chest, and involves the pericardium. Acute rheumatism 

 commences with fever and loss of appetite ; the animal 

 moves stiffly, every action being painful ; the spine seems to 

 have lost its elasticity ; the loins are tender when pressed ; 

 and the animal is unwilling to stir. In this stage it is called 

 by farmers chine-felon, an expression which has no definite 

 meaning. In a short time the joints swell, and cannot be 

 bent without intense agony ; they are very hot, and often the 

 veins around them assume a varicose appearance ; the dis- 

 ease is now called joint- felon. Ulceration of the cartilages of 

 the joints frequently supervenes ; the hind quarters become 

 weak and contracted, or even palsied; the animal is no 

 longer able to stand ; and, after lingering for some weeks 

 almost incapable of motion, is relieved from misery by 

 death. 



Eheumatism appears in a chronic as well as in an acute 

 form, especially in old cattle which have been worked hard, 

 and exposed to frequent alterations of temperature, or in aged 

 cows subjected to damp or wet. In fine warm weather little 

 appears to indicate the existence of rheumatism, except per- 

 haps that some of the joints of the limbs are swelled : but 

 in bitter weather, when keen east or north-east winds prevail, 

 or when sleet and snow are falling, then the animals droop, 

 and move about stiffly and in pain. 



Acute Rheumatism is not easily cured ; when it appears to 

 be so it is apt to return ; or it may assume a chronic form, 

 and, though subdued for the present, show itself on the first 

 exposure of the beasts to cold or wet. 



In the early stages a free abstraction of blood is indicated : 

 active aperients also are required, in which sulphur should 

 constitute an ingredient. After the bowels have been well 

 purged, a dose consisting of nitre, two drachms; tartarized 

 antimony, one drachm ; and spirit of nitrous ether, one fluid 



