POULTRY AND LARGE BIRDS. 383 
lives. It is contracted by a well fowl coming in contact with a sick one, 
or with the discharges from the eyes, nose and mouth, whether at the 
drinking-place or elsewhere. The effluvia arising from the droppings is 
an active provoking cause. If the discharge gets into the human eye 
‘or on any break in the skin, it may produce serious inflammation, a fact 
which makes it necessary to use great caution in handling the affected 
animals. 
Symptoms.—These develop either slowly or rapidly, beginning with 
the general signs of a bad cold in the head, such as wheezing, coughing or 
sneezing, high fever and great thirst. The discharge from the nose and 
eyes is yellowish, being at first thin but growing thicker, opaque, very offen- 
sive, and clogging up or even closing the eyes, nostrils and throat; these 
parts and the whole head are swollen, sometimes enormously, so that 
blindness ensues, making the fowl unable to get its food, and thus hastening 
the decline of the system; pustular sores form about-the head and in the 
throat, discharging a frothy mucus; the breathing is impeded; the crop 
often swells; the comb and wattles may be pale or dark-colored; during 
the course of the disease the fowl is feeble and moping. A fatal case 
terminates in from three to eight days after the distinctive roup-symptoms 
set in, andthose which are not treated when an epidemic is prevailing will 
generally be fatal. Upon opening a dead fowl one will find the liver and 
gall-bladder full of pus, the flesh soft, of a bad odor, and, particularly about 
the lungs, slimy and spongy. 
TREATMENT.—It is of the highest importance that treatment begin as 
soon as the first symptoms appear. To detect the approach of the disease 
—and any bird in the flock should be suspected if one has been infected — 
raise the wing and ascertain whether the feathers beneath it are stuck 
together by the discharge from the nostrils during sleep. Keep a close 
watch on the nostrils and relieve the slightest clogging. At night visit 
the roosts with a lantern and listen particularly for evidences of obstructed 
breathing. Remove at once from the flock all infected and suspected 
fowls, putting each by itself if practicable. Rigidly observe the directions 
about cleanliness, disinfection, the removal of droppings, and other par- 
ticulars which have been given for cholera. Take particular pains to keep 
the discharge out of the reach of well fowls, especially by the purification 
of drinking-vessels and other tainted objects; for which purpose carbolic 
acid will be a valuable agent. Give to the sick fowls warm, stimulating 
food, with some cayenne pepper. Onions will have a good effect if 
chopped fine and mixed in the feed. Provide warm, dry, gravelly or sandy 
shelter. The well fowls, too, should have absolutely wholesome food and 
housing. No remedy can be relied upon to cure all cases of malignant 
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