PRIZE ESSAY: — PLEURO-PNEUMONIA AMONG CATTLE. 519 
Buildings which have previously been occupied by diseased 
cattle should undergo as complete a purification as possible. They 
should be first washed with a strong ley of pearl-ash or soda ; 
afterwards they may be tarred, and quick-lime scattered about the 
premises with water sprinkled upon it, if the place should be dry. 
But I feel I shall be guilty of a great omission if I did not impress 
upon the owners of cattle this additional precaution. They must 
not attach too much importance to disinfecting means ; for cases 
which have fallen under my own observation, and Fletcher’s more 
particularly, amply shew that the locality of the stabling itself, its 
imperfect drainage, the conditions of ventilation, &c., may, I will 
not simply say keep up, but even give rise to the disease ; and if 
this opinion be correct, it is quite evident that precautionary dis- 
infecting means will prove of little or no avail. 
So much with regard to external circumstances as precautionary 
means; but the success which has attended the treatment we have 
adopted in healthy cattle themselves, that is, the application of a 
seton in the dewlap, induces us to recommend its use in all cases 
when well-grounded apprehensions are entertained as regards the 
liability of cattle to the disease. 
Premonitory Symptoms. 
It is rare that we are called in at the commencement of this dis- 
ease ; but when we do see animals in that stage, the following 
symptoms usually present themselves. The first and most im- 
portant of these is a short husking cough, and to which I have 
so frequently alluded in former parts of this paper. This may 
continue for a variable period ; sometimes it is observed to com- 
mence but a short time previous to the appearance of other symp- 
toms of a less ambiguous nature, while in others it may hang upon 
the animal for some considerable time. Soon after this cough has 
set in a diminution of the natural secretions may be observed ; 
and if a cow be the subject of the disorder, her milk becomes 
scanty, and sometimes slightly altered in colour : I have also found 
it to coagulate upon the application of heat. The breathing is 
natural while the animal remains tranquil, but upon exertion, such 
as when driven to a short distance, for instance, it becomes acce- 
lerated and laboured. Appetite not perceptibly impaired, although 
the animal looks somewhat lank; pulse regular, no appreciable alter- 
ation in the temperature of the animal: in some instances diarrhoea 
sets in spontaneously, ; in others there is constipation : with the 
exception of the above mentioned symptoms, the animal appears 
tolerably healthy. 
Although these symptoms may and do exist in most cases for 
