540 
NEWS AND SUNDRIES. 
calf was born the mother was yet sucking her dam, never having 
been weaned. So states the St. Louis Midland Farmer. 
Pleuro-Pneumonia. —Three new cases of pleuro-pneumonia 
were recently discovered near West Chester, Penn. Thus far 
the disease has been confined to three dairy herds. All infected 
animals are promptly appraised, condemned, killed and. paid for 
by the State. The disease was introduced there by cows pur¬ 
chased at Baltimore.— P. Farmer. 
A Costly Medicine. —The most costly pharmaceutical prep¬ 
aration in the market at present is without doubt the ergotinine 
prepared by the manufacturing chemists Gehe & Co., of Dres¬ 
den, and containing the active principle of ergot of rye. It costs 
two hundred marks a gram, or something more than three dollars 
a grain. This is about twenty-one thousand dollars a pound 
avoirdupois, a price, in comparison with which, gold is “ dirt 
cheap.”— Coll. & Cl. Record. 
Application of Tincture of Iodine. —Dr. Louis Fitzpatrick 
has found, after many trials, the local application of tincture of 
iodine to exert a well-marked influence in checking the growth of 
styes. This is by far preferable to the nitrate of silver, which 
makes an unsightly mark, and often fails in its object. The 
early use of the iodine acts as a prompt abortive. To apply it 
the lids should be held apart by the thumb and index finger of 
the left hand, while the iodine is painted over the inflamed 
papilla with a fine camel-hair pencil. The lids should not be al¬ 
lowed to come in contact until the part touched is dry. A few 
such applications in the twenty-four hours are sufficient.— Am. 
Cultivator. 
Contagious Cattle Diseases. —Last week a committee, re¬ 
cently chosen by the cattle breeders of the West, met at Wash¬ 
ington with the Congressional Committees on Agriculture and 
the United States Cattle Commission, to devise some way of pre¬ 
venting the spread of contagious diseases of cattle, especially 
pleuro-pneumonia. It was finally decided to ask Congress to 
pass a law looking to that end, as it has been found that State 
