622 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



cases of caked bags, with cows or heifers, the 

 bathing with saltpetre and cold water is as good 

 as anything that can be done. O. Foster. 



Tunbridge, Vt., Sept. 5, 1867. 



CHEMICAL TERMS. 



"Some knowledge of chemistry has now become 

 a necessity to agriculturists;" and, notwithstand- 

 ing the fair presumption, that only a small minori- 

 ty of your readers are conversant with vegetable 

 physiology, or would be interested in its discus- 

 sion, I, as a portion of the agricultural readers of 

 your paper, am pleased to observe that you have 

 admitted to your columns some articles on that 

 most interesting branch of organic chemistry ; and 

 that you are now publishing elementary instruc- 

 tion for farmers, under the title of "Chemical 

 Terms." 



Good instructors are wont to encourage their 

 pupils to ask questions, that they may the more 

 readily remove the difficulties that are constantly 

 presenting themselves to learners. 



Emboldened by such considerations, I submit 

 the following — quoting from an article in your 

 issue of the 7th of September, inst. 



"Si/nthesis. — It means to reconstruct, to reunite 

 the separated elements." 



Is not the putiing together, in proper propor- 

 tions, of the elements of a compound body, wheth- 

 er or not such elements have been previously uni- 

 ed, synthesis ? Is synthesis, necescarily, a re-con- 

 struction, a re-union ? 



"Solution. — When a solid body is dissolved in 

 a liquid, so as to liecome clear and transparent, 

 it is called a solution. In this case the particles 

 are so minutely divided that they are not percept- 

 ible by the eye." According to a strict gi-am- 

 matical rendering of the first part of this last 

 quotation, the pronoun {it) represents "a solid 

 body ;■' and the definition may be correct, when 

 applied to many, aud perhaps to a majority of 

 soluble l)odics ; yet as a general definition, it con- 

 flicts with numerous facts. 



Are not the various dyes, (before precipitation,) 

 which are neither "clear" nor "transparent," true 

 solutions of coloring matters ? "The particles," 

 as such, are undistinguishable both in the solid 

 state, and in solution ; but in colored solution, they 

 are not, in the aggregate, invisible. 



It appears to me that the definitions of chemical 

 terms, found in our standard works, having passed 

 the scrutiny of most eminent chemists, are not 

 susceptible of much improvement at our hands, 

 cither in clearness or accuracy. 



Please compare the following definition, from 

 "Webster's Last Unabridged," with that which I 

 have under consideration : 



"Solution. Def 4.— The action of an attraction be- 

 tween oiih or more solids and a fluid when brought in 

 contact, l.y wliich the former become themselves fluid, 

 and arc difl'u-od through tbe latter without other change 

 or loss of properiies; the state of a body as thus dif- 

 fused." I B Hartwell. 

 Wilkinsonville, Mass., Sejit. 13, 1867. 



A SICK ox. 



I have an ox who breathes heavily, and occa- 

 sionally throws mucus from the nostrils. The 

 first symptom of disiasc I noticed was a cough, 

 whichaiipcared iu April last, and has continued 

 to this time. 1 liound a bag of soap and salt on 

 the head iKtwccn the horns, and tlicu tried spirits 

 of turiientine every thiy for two weeks. 



Is there such a tiling as cattle having glanders ? 



]\'arwic/Cf Mass., 1867. o. v. 



Remauks. — From the above description, we 

 should think there was some obstruction in the 



nasal gland of the animal ; some foreign substance 

 introduced there which causes irritation, cough 

 and mucus. Send for your physician to examine 

 him if you have no veterinary practitioner near. 

 At any rate do not apply violent remedies. 



A BAD HUMOR IN A HORSE. 



I would like information in regard to a disease 

 in a horse which I bought somewhere abotit a year 

 ago, which had been much heated liy being driven 

 too hard. He is now troul)led by a humor which 

 comes out all over the animal in small scabs, 

 making it very uneasy by spells during each day, 

 during which it rubs its mane and tail violently. 

 Can you or any of your readers inform me how to 

 get rid of the humor, and relieve the animal ? 



Sharon, Mass., Sept. 23, 1867. J. B. 



Remarks. — Although the disease in this case 

 may be different from the mange, we think our 

 correspondent will be interested by the following 

 extracts from Youatt's description of that disorder 

 and directions for its cure. Every case of itchi- 

 ness of the skin, he says, should be regarded with 

 suspicion, as the disease, which is similar to that 

 of the itch in the human subject, affects most of 

 our domestic animals. 



"In an animal affected with mange, the cuticle 

 and the hair fall off, and there is, as in obstinate 

 surfeit, a bare spot covered with scurf— some fluid 

 oozing from the skin beneath, and this changing 

 to a scab, which likewise soon peels off, and leaves 

 a wider spot. The mange generally first appears 

 on the neck at the root of the mane, and its exist- 

 ence may be suspected even before the blotches 

 appear, and when there is only considerable itchi- 

 ness of the part, by the ease with which the short 

 hair at the root of the mane is plucked out. From 

 the neck it spreads upward to the head, or down- 

 ward to the withers and back, and occasionally 

 extends over the whole carcass of the horse. 

 Amidst the whole list of diseases to which the 

 horse is exposed, there is not one moi-e highly 

 contagious than mange. If it once gets into a 

 stable, it spreads through it, for the slightest con- 

 tact seems to be sufficient for the communication 

 of this noisome complaint. Mange has been said 

 to originate in want of cleanliness in the manage- 

 ment of the stable. The actual cause of mange, 

 however, is the existence of a parasite burrowing 

 in the skin. The name of the insect is Acariis 

 equi, and is precisely analogous to the parasite 

 producing the itch in man. Ph)'sic is the first 

 step in the progress towards cure. There must 

 also be some local application. That which is 

 most effectual in curing the itch in the human be- 

 ing must form the basis of every local application 

 for the cure of the mange in the horse. Sulphur 

 is indispensable iu every unguent for mange. It is 

 the sheet anchor of the veterinary surgeon. In an 

 early and not very acute state of mange, equal 

 portions of sidphur, turpentine, and train-oil, 

 genth' but well rubbed on the part, will be applied 

 with advantage. A tolerably stout brush, or even 

 a currvcomb, lightly applied, should be used, in 



