346 
.T. C. MICIIENER. 
trils. No swelling, soreness, or pain attending his efforts, he per¬ 
sists in trying to drink a long while, only stopping to cough occa¬ 
sionally, as if choked, hence the name choking distemper. He 
is feeble in his movements; lias very little use of his tail; soon 
goes down, unable to rise, lying* flat on his side ; legs extended ; 
has occasional nervous paroxysms, striking violently with all his 
legs; the tongue hangs loosely from the mouth, lips contracted, 
mouth partly open; stertorous breathing; cold sweat; death. 
Some cases die in four hours, many in from thirty-six to forty- 
eight. Those living over the tenth day usually recover, under 
good management. The paralysis is mostly general, although in 
some cases it is almost entirely confined to the par vagum, the 
power of deglutition being lost, but he is still active and strong 
upon his legs. Other cases lose the use of their limbs, but can 
swallow perfectly. In rare cases, one front leg will be weak and 
trembling; in others, one side of the face is paralyzed, the lips 
drawn to the opposite side. This disease is characterized by ab¬ 
sence of inflammatory symptoms, except a congestive form in the 
last stages of some cases. Pulse about normal, slightly inter¬ 
mittent, weak and compressible; surface of body cold ; sweats 
and tremors. 
We have this disease every year, and at all seasons. It is 
the most common disease of our district. When the paralysis is 
general and complete , they die, and are not many hours about it; 
when local or incomplete, many recover. Taking one time with 
another, about half recover under my treatment. In the par¬ 
ticular outbreak of which I now write, there were upwards of 
forty deaths and not a single recovery. It only lasted two weeks. 
In every case brewers’ grains, in a sour condition, were fed to the 
horses or stored in the barn. All those in the district that did 
not use the grains escaped the disease, and every horse that ate of 
that particular car load of sour grains died. Cows were not in¬ 
jured by them. I have known brewers’ grains to cause the dis¬ 
ease in other instances. In one case a farmer lost all of his 
horses, five head, from feeding oats that had a smut upon them 
that could be seen and smelt when they were agitated in the bin. 
Some of these oats were afterwards fed to horses in three differ¬ 
ent stables in Philadelphia, and killed them in a like manner. In 
