THE EASTERN CAMPAIGN. 
313 
then very small portions of bran and oilcake were given. It 
became necessary to have recourse to tonics to bring about 
rumination, and for this purpose the sulphate of iron was 
administered, with gentian, in a small quantity of warm water, 
three times a day. The infusion of mint, w T hich I alluded to 
in my last communication, was also exhibited, and certainly 
with very beneficial effects. 
The debility, on recovery from the attack, was extreme, 
many of the animals not regaining their strength until the 
following spring ; and many, alas! recovering only to sink 
under the intense cold and exposure in the Crimea. 
It must, however, be remembered, that most of our cattle 
had suffered both from want of food and water, and that 
since they had been in our possession, with the exception of 
what grass they were enabled to get on the mountains, they 
had been fed on dry barley and cut straw, a most pernicious 
food for cattle, and one from w r hich little nutriment can be 
derived by them, since the barley almost invariably passes 
through in its entire state, and without having in the least 
degree lost its germinating power. 
As soon as possible, doses of sulphate of magnesia and 
sulphur were administered every other day to the entire flock, 
but without preventing the infection from spreading. The 
mortality, however, became rapidly diminished, and the cases 
yielded much more readily to treatment. 
Our mortality was greater in the first instance from the 
want of attention on the part of those intrusted with the 
care of the animals. The English farriers neglected in many 
cases to give either gruel or medicine ; the foreign superin- 
tendants to report them sick ; and as all our cattle had to be 
driven a mile and a half twice a day to water, it was no 
unfrequent circumstance to have some of them drop down on 
the way and die. At other times they were merely drawn into 
the camp to die. These difficulties will always occur in all 
foreign land transports, composed, as ours was, of English, 
Poles, Hungarians, Italians, Turks, Greeks, Jews, and natives 
of almost every clime. By discharging some of the men, and 
selecting others who had obtained a little knowledge of the 
management of horned stock, by degrees a better order of 
things was at length established. 
The total number of deaths from this epizootic, in about 
two months, was 116 out of somewhere about 500 head of 
stock. This mortality, I feel persuaded, would not have been 
so great, but for the reasons already detailed. 
From the conflicting opinions that have been expressed in 
the different journals on this subject, I think it was wise on 
XXX. 42 
