532 
I). B. MCCAPES. 
ity well sponged out, and the bitch made a good recovery. 
1 have never incised intestine, but some years ago was so un¬ 
fortunate as to include a loop of intestine in the wound. If 
pregnancy is found, and is not far advanced, the ovaries may 
be removed by torsion or scraping, and the horns left intact. 
If far advanced, I think it is better to close the wound with- 
out attempting their removal. 
It is hardly necessary to add that the operation should not 
be performed during lactation, or during the course of, or 
recovery from, an attack of sickness. 
BOTTOM DISEASE.* 
By D. B. MoCapes, Y.S., Vermillion, South Dakota. 
The above name is given to a disease which was first noticed 
upon the Missouri bottoms, and at that time it was supposed 
to exist there only. This latter supposition is erroneous, the 
disease appearing in all its stages upon the uplands as well. 
Yet, in support of the theory which formerly existed, it is 
still noticed that the majority of the cases are met with upon 
the bottom lands. The grass, both on the uplands and bot¬ 
toms, is very rich and is highly prized by feeders. If anything 
that upon the bottom land is regarded as the superior article. 
The disease dates back several years. The writer has had 
personal experience with it for eight years. The first knowl 
edge he had of it was when it appeared upon his father’s farm, 
which is on the high land, in the spring of 1881, and before 
fall had killed fourteen out of twenty-two head. It is not 
often that the disease affects such a large number, and for two 
or three years after that it was not so extensive, a lone case 
coming up occasionally, but it was always fatal. 
It apparently is not a contagious disease, as it is often no¬ 
ticed that out of one man’s ten or fifteen head one or two only 
take the disease and die, while all the rest remain perfectly 
healthy. This in brief is a history of bottom disease. 
*A paper presented at the meeting of the United States Veterinary Medical 
Association in Chicago. 
