200 
The I i lustrated Book of Poultry. 
T. he bird must be put in a warm and dry place, and fed with warm and rather stimulating 
food. Internally, a little salicine in the water is the best remedy, and sometimes half a grain of 
opium twice daily is of marked benefit, the affected limbs are to be treated by rubbing in, 
morning and evening, some appropriate stimulating liniment, such as one part of turpentine to 
three of oil ; or the usual belladonna liniment; or Jacob’s Oil is very good for these cases. 
Chaulmoogra oil is another most valuable remedy, rubbing it in, and giving internally a drop of 
the oil three times a day. 
ROUP. — This formidable disease is now less dreaded than it was, in spite of the undoubted 
fact that it is most highly contagious. Of this there can be no doubt, the germs of the disease 
being communicated by drinking, or other contact, through the characteristic roupy discharge. 
The symptoms are at first those of catarrh or cold in a very aggravated form, with general 
feverishness, wasting, and a foetid, rather thick discharge from the nostrils. These last often 
become so clogged with it that it fills the eyes, and if neglected may entirely close those organs, 
and, then collecting, form a cheesy mass as large as a walnut. This swelling may require to be 
opened, and the cheesy matter extracted, but usually, bathing patiently with warm water will open 
the lids and allow of its removal without operation. 
The only disease which can be mistaken for roup is cold — which, if neglected, often indeed 
passes into roup, but is not difficult of distinction. Canker or ulceration we have already seen 
(see Diphtheria) really does appear to be very closely connected, if not due to the same virus. 
Whether mere cold can really develop into true roup, or whether roup is solely due to a specific 
virus , or, in other words, whether the general fever of severe catarrh can, independently of 
contagion, develop into the specific fever of roup, is at present unknown for certain. 
Roup is a protean disease, and this accounts for the great number of remedies. Nearly all 
such have been employed with great success in some cases, and hopelessly failed in others, 
according probably to the stage, or the particular symptoms, when the remedy is given : thus 
remedies of the copaiba class are useless at the early feverish stage, and febrifuges at a late period. 
It is only by considering these differences that success can be obtained with any uniformity. 
To be practical. Every fowl showing any symptoms of discharge from the nostrils or eyes 
should at once be isolated from the rest, and treated with aconite as under Catarrh. The usual 
homcepathic doses of aconite are totally inoperative (we speak from repeated trials of the system 
on fowls), but it is not too much to say that if every case could be treated with aconite in adequate 
doses on the first symptoms, a large proportion would be cut short. If roup contagion be 
suspected, it will be more certain not to medicate the water, but to drop ten drops of Fleming’s 
tincture in twenty teaspoonfuls of water, and give a spoonful every half-hour for the first day, 
and every hour the second. If successful, three or four times a day for a day or two longer, and 
some iron tonic, will complete the cure. While the discharge continues the head should be 
carefully sponged with diluted chlorinated soda solution, or in default of that with a teaspoonful of 
vinegar in a quarter-pint of warm water. 
Very probably, however, the discharge may gradually get thicker and more offensive, or may 
obstinately remain while the more feverish symptoms somewhat subside, and in any case aconite 
is only useful in the earlier stages of an attack. Then it will be best to give first a mild purge of 
half a teaspoonful of Epsom salts, followed by copaiba in some form. A capsule twice a day will 
do, but it is better to make up pills. Take, say, of balsam copaiba, one ounce ; liquorice in 
powder, half-ounce ; piperine, one drachm; magnesia, sufficient to make amass; and divide into 
sixty pills, giving one morning and evening. Mr. Vale’s pill, which has been very largely used, 
