DISEASES OF YOUNG CALVES. 251 



restored. In other cases it becomes aggravated, merges into inflam- 

 mation of the bowels, fever sets in, and the calf gradually sinks. 



Prevention. — Prevention consists in avoiding the causes above 

 enumerated or any others that may be detected. 



Treatment. — Treatment consists in first clearing away the irritant 

 present in the bowels. For this purpose 1 or 2 ounces of castor oil 

 with 20 drops of laudanum may be given, and if the sour eructa- 

 tions are marked a tablespoonful of limewater or one-fourth ounce 

 calcined magnesia may be given and repeated two or three times a 

 day. If the disorder continues after the removal of the irritant, a 

 large tablespoonful of rennet, or 30 grains of pepsin, may be given at 

 each meal, along with a teaspoonf ul of tincture of gentian. Any return 

 of constipation must be treated by injections of warm water and soap, 

 while the persistence of diarrhea must be met as advised under the 

 article following this. In case of the formation of loose hair balls 

 inclosing milk undergoing putrid fermentation temporary benefit may 

 be obtained by giving a tablespoonful of vegetable charcoal three or 

 four times a day, but the only real remedy for these is to cut open the 

 paunch and extract them. At this early age they may be found in 

 the third or even the fourth stomach; in the adult they are confined 

 to the first two, and are comparatively harmless. 



DIAERHBA (SCOUKING) IN CALVES (SIMPLE AND CONTAGIOUS). 



As stated in the last article, scouring is a common result of indi- 

 gestion, and at first may be nothing more than an attempt of nature 

 to relieve the stomach and bowels of offensive and irritating contents. 

 As the indigestion persists, however, the fermentations going on in 

 the undigested masses become steadily -more complex and active, and 

 what was at first the mere result of irritation or suspended digestion 

 comes to be a genuine contagious disease, in which the organized fer- 

 ments (bacteria) propagate the affection from animal to animal and 

 from herd to herd. More than once I have seen such epizootic diar- 

 rhea start on the headwaters of a creek, and, traveling along that 

 stream, follow the watershed and attack the herds supplied with 

 water from the contaminated channel. In the same way the disease, 

 .once started in a cow stable, is liable to persist for years, or until the 

 building has been thoroughly cleansed and disinfected. It may be 

 carried into a healthy stable by the introduction of a cow brought 

 from an infected stable when she is closely approaching calving. 

 Another method of its introduction is by the purchase of a calf from 

 a herd where the infection exists. 



In enumerating the other causes of this disease we may refer to 

 those noted above as inducing indigestion. As a primary considera- 

 tion, any condition which lowers the vitality or vigor of the calf must 

 be accorded a prominent place among factors which, apart from con- 

 tagion, contribute to start the disease de novo. Other things being 



