THE SOUTHERN 



PLANTER. 



121 



mons, besides the saliva of infected cattle? 

 It is well known, that they might have tra- 

 velled over that ground every day, guarded by 

 muzzles, with impunity, if no tainted cattle 

 were permitted to lick them." I once saw the 

 fence between my sound and infected cattle 

 left down by a similar intruder. Before the 

 thing could be rectified, a valuable ox passed 

 through the gap, grazing, but progressed but 

 a few yards before he was restored to his pro- 

 per place. A few days after this — I regret 

 that I forget how long — I ordered him to be 

 yoked, to do a "little hauling. My carter, 

 possessing that most valuable gift of discern- 

 ing slight changes by his eye, said to me, 

 t£ That steer ought not to work, Sir; he has 

 the distemper coming." " How do you know 

 that V" " I know by his eye, Sir ; it looks 

 like their eyes always do when they have that 

 complaint." I — for I profess that I also try 

 to be observant in that way — examined his 

 eyes closely, without discovering any thing 

 wrong. I, however, directed him to be un- 

 yoked; and though he had walked briskly, 

 and had a lively appearance just before the 

 yoking, he died within an hour — one of the 

 most malignant cases of distemper I ever saw. 

 I can conceive of no cause for his taking the 

 disease, but from his having gotten tainted 

 saliva in his mouth during the short time that 

 he was exposed. 



As regards the treatment of this disease, 

 the writer has already confessed great poverty 

 of knowledge.* For costiveness, he has usually 



* Meeting with my friend Dr. Abner Crump, of 

 Powhatan, during the agricultural fair, he commu- 

 nicated to me his mode of curing distemper among 

 cattle, and his reasons for it. Considering the dis- 

 ease to commence in the membranes of the brain, 

 and to be transferred throughout the lining mem- 

 branes of the cavities and cellular structure of the 

 skull, he carefully examined the horns of the dis- 

 eased cattle ; and when finding them cold, he bored 

 into them with a large gimlet, and injected vinegar 

 and water. The first rush of atmospheric air into 

 the bony cavities, often caused a gush of very 

 fetid matter to run from the nostrils, or it was more 

 slowly brought away by the injections of vinegar 

 and water. If the diseased cattle are hornless, or 

 if, having horns, these are not yet sufficiently af- 

 fected to produce coldness on feeling them, the 

 Doctor, instead of boring them, throws the animal 

 with ropes, and bores into some of the large cavi- 

 ties of the skull, such as the frontal sinus, between 

 the eye and horn, or the poll at the top or back 

 part of the head. The integuments are carefully 

 dissected away before the boring is commenced. 

 No one, of course, would attempt this operation, 

 without previously examining a skull, to ascertain 

 precisely where to bore. I would judge that a car- 

 penter's wimble, if at hand, might be a better im- 

 plement than the gimlet, as making a smoother 

 perforation, and causing less pain to the animal. 

 I thought proper to append this note, as ttw? plan 



administered about three gills of spirits tur- 

 pentine, or between one and two pounds of 

 Glauber's salts. When there has been great 

 heat, he has in a few cases thought that much 

 relief was afforded by rubbing about the head 

 and along the spine freely with large lumps 

 of ice. For the comfort of the poor sufferers, 

 it is important to protect them against the at- 

 tacks of little grey biting fiies, which congre- 

 gate about them in amazing numbers. This 

 may be done by putting the sick animal in a 

 dark house, or, when such house is not at 

 hand, by piling on them strong-scented weeds, 

 leaves, and small brush, whose odor may either 

 drive off the flies, or so disguise the smell of 

 the animal that the fiies cannot find him. The 

 poor patient should also be shaded, if an ar- 

 bour has to be erected for the purpose. Dr. 

 Willich, after telling that murrain raged at a 

 certain time, says, " The remedy then em- 

 ployed, both for its prevention and cure, con- 

 sisted in a mixture of equal parts of gunpow- 

 der, salt, soot, and brimstone ; one spoonful of 

 this composition was given tor a dose, and 

 washed down with warm water." In one of 

 our worst cases of distemper, I would just as 

 soon rely on one spoonful of warm water 

 alone, or of anything weaker, if weaker could 

 be found. 



Concerning the disease itself the writer has 

 written enough, and perhaps more. There are 

 some some matters which he 

 way of addenda. 



As a fact connected with this subject, and 

 with natural history, we will remark, that the 

 same drove of cattle which brought distemper 

 into our region, brought also multitudes of a 

 species of greyish brown ticks, larger than 

 such as we had seen before. They appeared 

 to be viviparous, and brought forth their young 

 while playing the parasite on the skins of the 

 cattle, as several young ones might be seen 

 around the mouths of the old ones, and the 

 poor animals were soon shingled over with 

 these annoying vermin. It was dangerous to 



recommended by Dr. Crump affords hopes to those 

 who wish to save the lives of their diseased ani- 

 mals, so rational, and far superior to the empirical 

 nostrums in common use. and founded on autho- 

 rity so high and reliable. The Doctor informed 

 me that it had uniformly succeeded when resorted 

 to in time. 



There is a disease in our western, states, among 

 horses, termed "big-head," consisting of inflam- 

 mation in the lining membranes of the bony cavi- 

 ties of the face. It is there cured by placing the 

 muzzle of a rifle obliquely against the unnaturally- 

 projecting process of the bone, between the nostril 

 and the eye, and by firing the gun, blowing off a 

 part of the bone. This they call " shooting for the 

 big-head." I have cured this disease, by boring 

 Into the cavity with a wimble. 



might notice by 



