394 The Fa/rimer's Veterinary Adviser. 



fcroduood througli the rectum will detect a want of sym- 

 metry on tlie two sides, from bulging, irregular swellinga 

 at different points. In more advanced stages the bones 

 break and crumble under the body's weight and the ani- 

 mal r amains constantly down, unable to rise. A depraved 

 appetite and a tendency to eat aU sorts of unnatural ob- 

 jects, though a common sjmiptom in breeding cows, is ex- 

 cessive in many of these cases, and the patient mostly 

 loses flesh rapidly, though some will remain fat for a 

 length of time. 



Treatment. Change the locahty to one with a richer 

 fodder or bring the wholesome fodder to the animals, and 

 add, liberally, grain (barley, maize, oats, beans,) from 

 sound localities. Tresh air, sunshine and dry resting 

 places are aU important. Avoid breeding again until 

 health is fully estabUshed, or better, fatten for the butcher. 



Softening op Bones in Hoeses. The hig-head of the 

 Mississippi valley, is a manifestation of a general fault in 

 nutrition, showing itself in aU. the bones of the body more 

 or less. Like the affec'don of cows it consists in a steady 

 increase of the canals and cavities in bone, with their con- 

 tained soft or plastic matter, at the expense of the hard 

 bony structure. With the continuous enlargement of the 

 bone there is an extreme thinning of the microscopic bony 

 plates, until the structure can be easily cut with a knife 

 or crushed under the pressure of the finger. The inter- 

 spaces are filled by a red bloody mass, with the natural 

 elements more or less modified and the addition of many 

 spherical cells, or later of fat. As the disease advances 

 the bones can no longer afford a firm attachment for the 

 ligaments and tendons, but crumbling, dislocations and 

 fractures are inevitable. There is some fundamental 

 fault in assimilation, and though it may be determined 

 primarily to the face by the hard work of grinding flinty 

 maize, or its development may be precipitated by pooi 

 feeding, unwholesome stabling, overwork and abuse, yet 

 its true primary cause is unknown. It is mainly or alto- 

 gether a disease of early life, under seven years old. 



