582 POPULAR LECTURE ON THE PREVAILING EPIZOOTIC 
state the fact, that they cannot do so to an equal extent with 
those having the function of their lungs in an unimpaired state. 
A few years ago l had some conversation on this subject with 
Lord Althorp, to whose seat I went for the purpose of purchasing 
some of his stock to carry into France, with a view of improving 
the breed of cattle in that country; and, to do his lordship 
justice, 1 never met a man possessed of so just an opinion respect- 
ing the importance of the form of the chest and the soundness 
of the lungs in cattle as a necessary point to ensure fattening 
properties. 
In the present distemper, sometimes, though but rarely, tu- 
mours form on the sides and neck. The bowels are generally 
costive, and the feces fetid. 
Duration of the Disease . — From thirty-six hours to three weeks. 
Treatment . — Various are the means that have been had re- 
course to for the treatment of this disease, and all with the same 
want of success. One person prescribes that the animal should 
be bled, and the abstracted blood given with salt in the form 
of a drench. Never, during the whole of my professional ca- 
reer, have I heard of any thing so absurd in the shape of a 
remedy. To say the best of it, it is a most filthy practice. The 
quantity of salt given, in combination with the blood, would have 
just the same effect if administered in any other vehicle (water 
for example), salt being a purgative. Another prescribes drenches 
of ginger and caraway seeds ; with about as much effect might 
the animal be dosed with its own secretions. When the disease 
first made its appearance in this country, it yielded in the great 
majority of cases to bleeding largely from the jugular, blistering 
the sides, and giving a drench which I prescribed in a circular 
issued to the public by one of the agricultural societies, and 
which was composed of tartarized antimony, digitalis, and ni- 
trate of potassa. Although successful for the first few months, 
the disease suddenly became so changed in its character, wdth re- 
spect to the influence of medicines on the system, that, in the 
present form of the malady, the exhibition of these medicines is 
a means not at all calculated for its cure or alleviation. Indeed, 
I should say, that it is much more calculated to kill than cure, 
in the present type of the malady. 
The medicines which l now find to be the most efficacious are 
emetine, calomel, and opium. The other means are bleeding, 
blistering, and a due attention to the situation in which the ani- 
mals are placed for treatment. 
Locality . — When an animal is first observed to be affected 
with the distemper, it should be immediately brought into a well- 
ventilated, though by no means very cold, house or shed, in which 
should be placed sufficient straw to make a comfortable bed. The 
