1 88 
The Illustrated Boor or Poultry. 
Whenever a case of true cholera occurs in a yard, twenty grains of salicylic acid should be 
added to every pint of water, the fountain kept cool, and plenty of shade provided. By these means, 
with the free use of green food, its progress may often be effectually checked. The miccrobe to 
which it owes its origin is, however, so active, that some epidemics appear to baffle all attempts at 
cure. M. Pasteur has fortunately discovered that by cultivating the organism or virus in chicken- 
broth exposed to the action of oxygen, its powers may be lessened, or the poison diluted, as it 
were ; and that if fowls are inoculated with this diluted virus, they contract a mild disease, which 
protects them from the more deadly, as vaccination does from small-pox. Should the disease ever 
become general in England, therefore, it is probable some veterinary authority would procure a 
supply of the diluted virus from France ; and in this way the malady would be checked. So 
far, fortunately, cases in England have only been occasional. 
Consumption. — This disease is not so very uncommon among highly-bred fowls. The 
causes are damp or cold, want of light, or constitutional debility. Whenever the cough of 
bronchitis appears to become chronic, with evident wasting and loss of strength, consumption may 
be suspected. Cure is hopeless when set in ; but when any danger of it is feared, from past 
experience with birds related, the regular administration of Fellowe’s Compound Syrup of the 
Hypophosphites will offer the most probable means of protection. It is also very advisable to 
add cod-liver oil to the meal food ; or cod-liver oil with quinine, in capsules, may be given, either 
alternately with or instead of the chemical food. 
Cramp. — The most frequent sufferers from this affection are early chickens, which, if confined 
during damp or cold weather, rarely escape altogether, however hardy the breed. The first 
symptoms may be anything not quite right in their walking ; but very soon there is an evident 
tendency to contract the toes ; till at last, if not checked, the poor little sufferers have to walk 
on the knuckles, or outside of the foot, in a manner painful to witness. The bird also squats 
on its hocks. The great preventives are dry lodging and liberty , as chickens reared in an absolutely 
dry shed with free run out are almost invariably free from it. The treatment is also simple. If 
detected at an early stage, it will usually be sufficient to remove the whole brood to some place 
with a dry boarded floor, thickly covered with earth and kept clean. No floor is so bad for a 
permanent lodging ; but in this case a few days’ change indoors will often work wonders, and 
when recovered the brood may be put out again. If the toes are much contracted, however, the 
affected chicks should be taken away from the hen, and put in a wooden cage well sanded, in a 
dry and warm place near the fire. Good food with a little tonic should be given — say the No. 3 
page 1 41 — and several times daily the legs and feet must be bathed in water made comfortably 
warm, opening and expanding the toes well under the water, and working them gently backwards 
and forwards, afterwards drying them with a warm cloth and putting the birds back in the cage. 
The feet and legs may also be rubbed with turpentine, and we have known flannel bandages soaked 
in turpentine of great service, but this was probably in cases of rheumatism rather than cramp. At 
night they should be returned to the hen with the rest ; but every morning returned to the cage. 
Under this treatment improvement will generally be rapid ; indeed, we hardly ever had a case 
which did not yield to it unless of very long standing. Cramp in adult fowls can scarcely be 
distinguished from rheumatism, which see. 
Mr. Hinton adds that “opium in quarter-grain doses for a chick of three months old twice or 
thrice daily is a great addition to the treatment of this disease. In Malays I have noticed the 
cockerels only as subject to the complaint. When the bird is forced to walk, the feet are placed 
