CHAPTER XXX. 
THE DISEASES OF POULTRY. 
r.Y THE EDITOR. 
In a work like the present, not intended for the professional reader, it will be 
found more convenient for the purpose of reference, to arrange the diseases of 
poultry under the headings of the organs that are affected, than in any more 
strictly scientific order. In accordance, therefore, with this plan, they will be 
treated of in the following sections : — 
1. Diseases of the Brain and Nervous System ; 2, Diseases of the Digestive 
Organs ; 3. Diseases of the Lungs and Air Passages ; 4. Diseases of the Egg 
Organs ; 5. Diseases of the Limbs ; G. Diseases of the Skin ; 7. Fractures of the 
Bones. 
DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
APOPLEXY. 
Symptoms. — The symptoms of apoplexy are plain and decisive, — a fowl, 
apparently in the most robust health, falls down suddenly, and is found either dead 
or without sensation, or the power of motion. These symptoms are occasioned by 
the rupture of a vessel of the brain, and the consequent effusion of blood, which, 
by its pressure, produces the evil. 
Causes. — Apoplexy is almost invariably caused by a full habit of body ; it is 
therefore frequent in overfed birds, and is most common among laying hens, which 
are sometimes found dead on the nest, — the expulsive efforts required in laying 
being the immediate cause of the attack. Unnatural and over- stimulating food, as 
greaves, hemp, and a large proportion of pea or bean meal, greatly predisposes to 
the disease. 
Treatment. — In this disease much maybe done in the way of prevention, 
little towards cure in an actual attack ; the only hope consists in an instant and 
copious bleeding by opening a vein with a sharp-pointed penknife, or, still better, a 
lancet. The largest of the veins seen on the under side of the wing should be 
selected, and opened in a longitudinal direction, not cut across ; and so long as the 
thumb is pressed on the vein, at any point between the opening and the body, the 
blood will be found to flow freely. If the bird recovers, it should be kept quiet, 
and fed on light food for some time after the operation. 
