y 
585 
BRONCHITIS IN CALVES. 
By Mr. Meyer, V.S., Newcastle-under-Line. 
I have lately met with this sadly fatal disease in several calves 
belonging to a neighbouring farmer. He had lost five before he 
consulted me; a sixth, which was nearly dead, I sent to my 
establishment, and thus had an opportunity of examining it soon 
after death. ,. , , 
The disease is accompanied by, or seems to be entirely de¬ 
pendent on, the existence of worms in the bronchial tubes ana 
air-passages into the lungs. I have sent you some specimens of 
them. They belong to the strongylus species, and are one ot 
the divisions of the Jilaria. They are from an inch and a hal o 
three inches in length, and, when viewed through a microscope, 
resemble so many silver eels. The disease, from its very pecu¬ 
liar nature, must almost invariably be fatal. 
The first symptoms which present themselves are a peculiar 
hoozing or dry husky cough. The animal soon begins to droop 
and lose flesh: and, as the disease advances, the breathing is 
sadly quickened, accompanied by an evident sense of oppression 
about the chest and a grunting noise, and the pulse beats one 
hundred times in a minute. The appetite is not much affected ; 
rumination continues, and the bowels are regular throughout the 
whole period of the disease. The discharge from the nose is ot 
a mucous and not a purulent character. 
The animal sometimes lingers from three to five weeks, the 
symptoms becoming more and more aggravated the countenance 
anxious and distressed—the ears drooping the eyes sunk in 
their orbits—the nostrils distended for air—the breathing more 
and more rapid, accompanied by this grunting distressing noise, 
and the beast is constantly restless: the emaciation and debility 
are extreme ; and, at length, the poor beast terminates its caieer 
from exhaustion and suffocation—the bronchial tubes, even to 
their minutest ramifications, being completely plugged up with 
knots of worms imbedded in mucus. It is a remarkable circum¬ 
stance, and deserving of attention, that the appetite continues 
good and the bowels regular to the very end of the case. 
Upon laying open the whole extent of the trachea or bronchial 
tubes, I found the lining membrane much less inflamed than 
could have possibly been expected. The inflammation was 
greater, however, in the bronchi than in the superior an pas- 
~A great quantity of worms occupied the larynx and fauces; 
