diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:09:16 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:09:16 -0700 |
| commit | 0e942330e915e9fcb71b17b2a5bb117983978270 (patch) | |
| tree | 243b2aaf58c75bbe95f80f89ccd8c2bc3b5f2210 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37997-8.txt | 13634 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37997-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 249255 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37997-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 1016968 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37997-h/37997-h.htm | 17823 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37997-h/images/frontis.jpg | bin | 0 -> 141569 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37997-h/images/imagep034.jpg | bin | 0 -> 143817 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37997-h/images/imagep055.jpg | bin | 0 -> 136672 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37997-h/images/imagep209.jpg | bin | 0 -> 221367 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37997-h/images/imagep255.jpg | bin | 0 -> 112040 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37997.txt | 13634 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37997.zip | bin | 0 -> 249185 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
14 files changed, 45107 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/37997-8.txt b/37997-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6099355 --- /dev/null +++ b/37997-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13634 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The American Reformed Cattle Doctor, by George Dadd + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The American Reformed Cattle Doctor + +Author: George Dadd + +Release Date: November 12, 2011 [EBook #37997] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN REFORMED CATTLE *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Kosker, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain works at the +University of Michigan\'s Making of America collection.) + + + + + + +[Illustration: A West Highland Ox + +The Property of Mr. Elliott of East Ham Essex.] + + + + + THE + AMERICAN REFORMED + CATTLE DOCTOR; + + CONTAINING + THE NECESSARY INFORMATION + FOR + PRESERVING THE HEALTH AND CURING THE DISEASES + OF + OXEN, COWS, SHEEP, AND SWINE, + WITH + A GREAT VARIETY OF ORIGINAL RECIPES, + AND + VALUABLE INFORMATION IN REFERENCE TO + FARM AND DAIRY MANAGEMENT; + WHEREBY + EVERY MAN CAN BE HIS OWN CATTLE DOCTOR. + + + + + THE PRINCIPLES TAUGHT IN THIS WORK ARE, THAT ALL MEDICATION + SHALL BE SUBSERVIENT TO NATURE; THAT ALL MEDICINAL AGENTS + MUST BE SANATIVE IN THEIR OPERATION, AND ADMINISTERED WITH + A VIEW OF AIDING THE VITAL POWERS, INSTEAD OF DEPRESSING, + AS HERETOFORE, WITH THE LANCET AND POISON. + + + + + BY + G. H. DADD, M. D., VETERINARY PRACTITIONER, + AUTHOR OF "ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HORSE." + + + + + BOSTON: + PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY, + 110 WASHINGTON STREET. + 1851. + + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by + + G. H. DADD, M. D., + + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the + District of Massachusetts. + + STEREOTYPED AT THE + BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION, 9 + + + CATTLE. + + Importance of supplying Cattle with pure Water, 15 + Remarks on feeding Cattle, 17 + The Barn and Feeding Byre, 21 + Milking, 24 + Knowledge of Agricultural and Animal Chemistry + important to Farmers, 25 + On Breeding, 30 + The Bull, 34 + Value of Different Breeds of Cows, 35 + Method of preparing Rennet, as practised in England, 36 + Making Cheese, 37 + Gloucester Cheese, 38 + Chester Cheese, 39 + Stilton Cheese, 40 + Dunlop Cheese, 41 + Green Cheese, 42 + Making Butter, 44 + Washing Butter, 45 + Coloring Butter, 46 + Description of the Organs of Digestion in Cattle, 47 + Respiration and Structure of the Lungs, 53 + Circulation of the Blood, 54 + The Heart viewed externally, 55 + Remarks on Blood-letting, 58 + Efforts of Nature to remove Disease, 67 + Proverbs of the Veterinary Reformers, 70 + An Inquiry concerning the Souls of Brutes, 72 + The Reformed Practice--Synoptical View of the + Prominent Systems of Medicine, 75 + Creed of the Reformers, 79 + True Principles, 80 + Inflammation, 88 + Remarks, showing that very little is known of the + Nature and Treatment of Disease, 94 + Nature, Treatment, and Causes of Disease in Cattle, 105 + Pleuro-Pneumonia, 107 + Locked-Jaw, 115 + Inflammatory Diseases, 121 + Inflammation of the Stomach, (Gastritis,) 121 + Inflammation of the Lungs, (Pneumonia,) 122 + Inflammation of the Bowels, (Enteritis.--Inflammation + of the Fibro-Muscular Coat of the Intestines,) 124 + Inflammation of the Peritoneal Coat of the Intestines, + (Peritonitis,) 125 + Inflammation of the Kidneys, (Nephritis,) 125 + Inflammation of the Bladder, (Cystitis,) 126 + Inflammation of the Womb, 126 + Inflammation of the Brain, (Phrenitis,) 127 + Inflammation of the Eye, 128 + Inflammation of the Liver, (Hepatitis,) 128 + Jaundice, or Yellows, 130 + Diseases of the Mucous Surface, 132 + Catarrh, or Hoose, 133 + Epidemic Catarrh, 134 + Malignant Epidemic, (Murrain,) 135 + Diarrhoea, (Looseness of the Bowels,) 136 + Dysentery, 138 + Scouring Rot, 139 + Disease of the Ear, 140 + Serous Membranes, 140 + Dropsy, 141 + Hoove, or "Blasting," 144 + Joint Murrain, 147 + Black Quarter, 149 + Open Joint, 151 + Swellings of Joints, 152 + Sprain of the Fetlock, 153 + Strain of the Hip, 154 + Foul in the Foot, 154 + Red Water, 157 + Black Water, 160 + Thick Urine, 160 + Rheumatism, 161 + Blain, 162 + Thrush, 163 + Black Tongue, 163 + Inflammation of the Throat and its Appendages, 163 + Bronchitis, 164 + Inflammation of Glands, 164 + Loss of Cud, 166 + Colic, 166 + Spasmodic Colic, 167 + Constipation, 168 + Falling down of the Fundament, 171 + Calving, 171 + Embryotomy, 175 + Falling of the Calf-Bed, or Womb, 176 + Garget, 177 + Sore Teats, 178 + Chapped Teats and Chafed Udder, 178 + Fever, 178 + Milk or Puerperal Fever, 182 + Inflammatory Fever, 183 + Typhus Fever, 186 + Horn Ail in Cattle, 189 + Abortion in Cows, 191 + Cow-Pox, 194 + Mange, 195 + Hide-bound, 196 + Lice, 196 + Importance of keeping the Skin of Animals in a + Healthy State, 197 + Spaying Cows, 201 + Operation of Spaying, 204 + + + SHEEP. + + Preliminary Remarks, 209 + Staggers, 219 + Foot Rot, 220 + Rot, 221 + Epilepsy, 222 + Red Water, 223 + Cachexy, or General Debility, 224 + Loss of Appetite, 224 + Foundering, (Rheumatism,) 224 + Ticks, 225 + Scab, or Itch, 225 + Diarrhoea, 227 + Dysentery, 227 + Constipation, or Stretches, 228 + Scours, 230 + Dizziness, 231 + Jaundice, 232 + Inflammation of the Kidneys, 232 + Worms, 233 + Diseases of the Stomach from eating Poisonous Plants, 233 + Sore Nipples, 234 + Fractures, 234 + Common Catarrh and Epidemic Influenza, 235 + Castrating Lambs, 236 + Nature of Sheep, 237 + The Ram, 238 + Leaping, 239 + Argyleshire Breeders, 239 + Fattening Sheep, 240 + Improvement in Sheep, 244 + Description of the Different Breeds of Sheep, 249 + Teeswater Breed, 249 + Lincolnshire Breed, 250 + Dishley Breed, 250 + Cotswold Breed, 250 + Romney Marsh Breed, 251 + Devonshire Breed, 251 + Dorsetshire Breed, 251 + Wiltshire Breed, 252 + South Down Breed, 252 + Herdwick Breed, 253 + Cheviot Breed, 253 + Merino Breed, 253 + Welsh Sheep, 254 + + + SWINE. + + Preliminary Remarks, 255 + Natural History of the Hog, 259 + Generalities, 262 + General Debility, or Emaciation, 263 + Epilepsy, or Fits, 264 + Rheumatism, 264 + Measles, 265 + Ophthalmia, 266 + Vermin, 266 + Red Eruption, 267 + Dropsy, 267 + Catarrh, 267 + Colic, 268 + Diarrhoea, 268 + Frenzy, 268 + Jaundice, 269 + Soreness of the Feet, 269 + Spaying, 270 + Various Breeds of Swine, 271 + Berkshire Breed, 271 + Hampshire Breed, 271 + Shropshire Breed, 272 + Chinese Breed, 272 + Boars and Sows for Breeding, 272 + Rearing Pigs, 273 + Fattening Hogs, 275 + Method of Curing Swine's Flesh, 277 + + + APPENDIX. + + On the Action of Medicines, 279 + Clysters, 281 + Forms of Clysters, 283 + Infusions, 286 + Antispasmodics, 287 + Fomentations, 287 + Mucilages, 289 + Washes, 289 + Physic for Cattle, 290 + Mild Physic for Cattle, 291 + Poultices, 292 + Styptics, to arrest Bleeding, 296 + Absorbents, 296 + Forms of Absorbents, 297 + + VETERINARY MATERIA MEDICA, embracing a List of the + various Remedies used by the Author of this Work + in the Practice of Medicine on Cattle, Sheep, + and Swine, 299 + General Remarks on Medicines, 312 + Properties of Plants, 315 + Potato, 316 + + TREATMENT OF DISEASE IN DOGS--Preliminary Remarks, 323 + Distemper, 325 + Fits, 326 + Worms, 327 + Mange, 328 + Internal Abscess of the Ear, 329 + Ulceration of the Ear, 329 + Inflammation of the Bowels, 329 + Inflammation of the Bladder, 330 + Asthma, 331 + Piles, 331 + Dropsy, 332 + Sore Throat, 332 + Sore Ears, 332 + Sore Feet, 333 + Wounds, 333 + Sprains, 333 + Scalds, 334 + Ophthalmia, 334 + Weak Eyes, 335 + Fleas and Vermin, 335 + Hydrophobia, 335 + + MALIGNANT MILK SICKNESS of the Western States, or + Contagious Typhus, 339 + + BONE DISORDER IN COWS, 351 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +There is no period in the history of the United States when our domestic +animals have ranked so high as at the present time; yet there is no +subject on which there is such a lamentable want of knowledge as the +proper treatment of their diseases. + +Governor Briggs, in a recent letter to the author, says, "You have my +thanks, and, in my opinion, are entitled to the thanks of the community, +for entering upon this important work. While the subject has engaged the +attention of scientific men in other countries, it has been too long +neglected in our own. Cruelty and ignorance have marked our treatment to +diseased animals. Ignorant himself both of the disease and the remedy, +the owner has been in the habit of administering the popular remedy of +every neighbor who had no better powers of knowing what should be done +than himself, until the poor animal, if the disease would not have +proved fatal, is left alone, until death, with a friendly hand, puts a +period to his sufferings: he is, however, often destroyed by the amount +or destructive character of the remedies, or else by the cruel mode of +administering them. I am persuaded that the community will approve of +your exertions, and find it to their interest to support and sustain +your system." + +The author has labored for several years to substitute a safer and a +more efficient system of medication in the treatment of diseased +animals, and at the same time to point out to the American people the +great benefits they will derive from the diffusion of veterinary +education. + +That many thousands of our most valuable cattle die under the treatment, +which consists of little else than blood-letting, purging, and +blistering, no one will deny; and these dangerous and destructive agents +are frequently administered by men who are totally unacquainted with the +nature of the agents they prescribe. But a better day is dawning; +veterinary information is loudly called for--demanded; and the farmers +will have it; _but it must be a safer and a more efficient system than +that heretofore practised_. + +The object of the veterinary art is not only congenial with human +medicine, but the very same paths that lead to a knowledge of the +diseases of man lead also to a knowledge of those of brutes. + +Our domestic animals deserve consideration at our hands. We have tried +all manner of experiments on them for the benefit of science; and +science and scientific men should do something to repay the debt, by +alleviating their sufferings and improving their condition. We are told +that physicians of all ages have applied themselves to the dissection of +animals, and that it was by analogy that those of Greece and Rome judged +of the structure of the human body. For example, the Greeks and Arabians +confined themselves to the dissection of apes and other quadrupeds. +Galen has given us the anatomy of the ape for that of man; and it is +clear that his dissections were restricted to brutes, when he says, that +"if learned physicians have been guilty of gross errors, it is because +they neglected to dissect animals." We advocate the establishment of +veterinary schools, and the cultivation of our reformed system of +veterinary medicine, on the broad principles of humanity. These poor +animals are as susceptible to pain and suffering as we are. Has not the +Almighty given us dominion over them, and placed them under our +protection? Have we done our duty by them? Can we render a good account +of our stewardship? + +In almost every department of science the spirit of inquiry is abroad, +investigation is active; yet, in this department, every thing is left to +chance and ignorance. Men of all professions find it for their interest +to protect property. The merchant, previous to sending his vessel on a +voyage to a distant port, seeks out a skilful navigator to pilot that +vessel into her desired haven with safety. He protects his property. We +protect our property against the ravages of fire by insurance--we defend +our houses from the lightning by conducting that fluid down the sides of +the building into the earth. And shall we not protect our animals? Is +not property invested in live stock as valuable, in proportion, as that +invested in real estate? Can we permit live stock to degenerate and die +prematurely from a want of knowledge of the fundamental laws of their +being? Can we look on and see their heart's blood drawn from them--their +flesh setoned, burned, and blistered--simply because it was the +misguided custom of our ancestors? + +We appeal to the American people at large. They have great encouragement +to educate young men in this important branch of study; for the +beneficial results will be, that the diseases of all classes of domestic +animals will be better understood, and the great losses which this +country sustains will, in a few years, be materially diminished. This is +not all. The value of live stock will be increased at least twenty-five +per cent! + +Look for a moment at the amount of capital invested in live stock; and +from these statistics the reader will perceive that not only the +farmers, but the whole nation, will be enriched. There are in the United +States at least 6,000,000 horses and mules; these, at the rate of $50 +per head, amount to $300,000,000. It is also estimated that there are +20,000,000 of neat cattle; reckon these at $25 per head, and we get the +snug little sum of $500,000,000. We have also 20,000,000 sheep, worth +the same number of dollars. The number of swine have been computed at +24,000,000; and these, at $3 per head, give us $72,000,000. Hence the +reader will see that the capital invested in this class of live stock +reaches the enormous sum of $892,000,000. Add the 25 per cent. just +alluded to, and we get a clear gain of $223,000,000. This sum would be +sufficient to build veterinary schools and colleges capable of affording +ample accommodations to every farmer's son in the Union. Hence we +entreat the farming community to ponder on these subjects. They have +only to say the word, and schools for the dissemination of veterinary +information shall spring up in every section of the Union. + +Does the reader wish to know how the _farmers_ can accomplish this +important object? We answer, there are four millions of men engaged in +agricultural pursuits. Their number is three times greater than that of +those engaged in navigation, the learned professions, commerce, and +manufactures. Hence they have the numerical power to control the +government of these United States, and of course can plead their own +cause in the halls of congress, and vote their own supplies for +educational purposes. + +When the author first commenced a warfare against the lancet and other +destructive agents, his only hopes of success were based on the +coöperation of this mighty host of husbandmen; he well knew that there +were many prejudices to be overcome, and none greater than those +existing among his brethren of the same profession. The farmers have +just begun to see the absurdity of bleeding an animal to death, with a +view of saving life; or pouring down their throats powerful and +destructive agents, with a view of making one disease to cure another! +If the cattle doctors, then, will not reform, they must be reformed +through the giant influence of popular opinion. Already the cry is, and +it emanates from some of the most influential agriculturists in the +country,--"_No more blood-letting!_" "_Use your poisons on yourselves._" + +To the cattle-rearing interest, at the hands of many of whom the author +has received aid and encouragement, the following pages are dedicated; +they are intended to furnish them with practical information, with a +view of preventing disease, increasing the value of their stock, and +restoring them to health when sick. + +In reference to our reformed system of veterinary medication, it will be +sufficient, in the present place, just to glance at the fundamental +principles. In the succeeding pages these principles will be more fully +explained. We contemplate the animal system as a complicated piece of +mechanism, subject to the uncompromising and immutable laws of nature, +as they are written upon the face of animate nature by the finger of +Omnipotence. + +All our intentions of cure being in accordance with nature's laws, +(viz., promoting the integrity of the living powers,) we have termed our +system a _physiological_ one, though it is sometimes termed _botanic_, +in allusion to the fact that most of our remedial agents are derived +from the vegetable kingdom. We recognize a conservative or healing power +in the animal economy, whose unerring indications we endeavor to follow; +considering nature the physician, and the doctor her servant. + +Our system proposes, under all circumstances, to restore the diseased +organs to a healthy state, by coöperating with the vitality remaining in +those organs, by the exhibition of sanative means, and, under all +circumstances, to assist, and not oppose, nature in her curative +processes. Poisonous substances, blood-letting, or processes of cure +that act pathologically, cannot be used by us. The laws of animal life +are physiological: they never were, nor ever will be, pathological. + +The agents we use are just as we find them in the forest and the field, +compounded by the Great Physician. Hence the reader will perceive that +our aim is to depart from the popular debilitating and life-destroying +practice, and approach as near as possible to the sanative. + +G. H. D. + + + + +THE + +AMERICAN + +REFORMED CATTLE DOCTOR. + + + + +IMPORTANCE OF SUPPLYING CATTLE WITH PURE WATER. + + +In order to prevent many of the diseases to which cattle are liable, it +is important that they be supplied with pure water. Cattle have often +been known to turn away from the filthy fluid found in some troughs, +which abound in slime and decayed vegetable matter; and, indeed, the +common stagnated pond water is no better than the former. Such water +has, in former years, proved itself to be a serious cause of disease; +and, at the present day, death is running riot among the stock of our +western, and also our northern farmers, when, to our certain knowledge, +the cause exists, in some cases, under their very noses. The farmers +ofttimes see their best stock sicken and die without any apparent cause; +and the cattle doctors are running rough-shod through the _materia +medica_, pouring down the throats of the poor brutes salts by the pound, +castor oil by the quart; aloes, lard, and a host of kindred trash, +follow in rapid succession, converting the stomach into a sort of +apothecary's shop; setons are inserted in the "dewlap;" the horns are +bored, and sometimes sawed off; and, as a last resort, the animals are +blistered and bled. They sometimes recover, in spite of the violence +done to the constitution; yet they drag out a low form of vitality, +living, it may be said, yet half dead, until some friendly epidemic +puts a period to their sufferings. + +The author's attention was first called to this subject on reading an +article in an English work, the substance of which is as follows: A +number of working oxen were put into a pasture, in which was a pond, +considered to abound in good water. Soon after putting them there, they +were attacked with scouring, upon which they were immediately removed to +another field. The scouring continued. They still, however, drank at the +same pond. They were shifted to another piece of very sweet pasture +without arresting the disease. The farmer thought it evident that the +pastures were not the cause of the disease; and, contrary to the advice +of his friends, who affirmed that the spring was always noticed for the +excellence of its water, fenced his pond round, so that the cattle could +not drink; they were then driven to a distance and watered. The scouring +gradually disappeared. The farmer now proceeded to examine the suspected +pond; and, on stirring the water, he found it all alive with small +creatures. He now stirred into the water a quantity of lime, and soon +after an immense number of animalculæ were seen dead on the surface. In +a short time, the cattle drank of this water without any injurious +results. + +There is no doubt but that inferior kinds of water produce derangement +of the digestive organs, and subsequently loss of flesh, debility, &c. +We have frequently made _post mortem_ examinations of animals that have +died from disease induced by debility, and have often found a large +number of worms in the stomach and intestines, which, we firmly believe, +had their origin either primarily from the water itself, or subsequently +from its effects on the digestive function. + +All decayed animal and vegetable matter tends to corrupt water, and +render it unfit for the purposes of life. Now, if the farmer has the +best spring in the world, and the water shall flow from it, as it +sometimes does, through whole fields of gutter or dike, abounding in +decayed filth, such water will be impregnated with agents that will more +or less affect its purity. + + + + +REMARKS ON FEEDING CATTLE. + + +Many of the most complicated diseases of cattle originate from the food: +for example, it may be given in too large quantities--more than is +needed to build up and repair the waste that is constantly going on. The +consequence is, the animals get into a state of plethora, which is known +by heaviness, dulness, unwillingness to move; there is a disposition to +sleep, and they will lie down and often go to sleep in damp places. A +chill of the extremities, or collapse of the capillaries, takes place, +resulting in diseases of the lungs and pleura. At other times, if driven +a short distance, and made to walk fast, they are liable to disease of +the brain and other organs, which frequently terminates fatally. + +The food may be of such a nature as shall be very difficult of +digestion, such as cornstalks, foxgrass, frosted turnips, &c. The clover +and grasses may abound in woody fibre, in consequence of being cut too +late; they will then require more than the usual amount of gastric +fluids to insalivate them, and more time to masticate, and, finally, +extract their nutrimental properties. The stomach becomes overworked, +producing sympathetic diseases of the brain and nervous structures. The +stomach not being able to act on fibrous matter with the same despatch +as on softer materials, the former accumulates in its different +compartments, distends the viscera, interferes with the motion of the +diaphragm, presses on the liver, seriously interfering with the +bile-secreting process. In order to prevent the grass and clover from +becoming tough and fibrous, it should be mowed early, and while in +flower, and should be afterwards almost constantly attended to, if the +weather is favorable; the more it is scattered about, the better will it +be made, and the more effectually will its fragrance and other good +qualities be preserved. + +The food may also be deficient in nutriment. The effects of insufficient +food are too well known to need much description: debility includes them +all; it invades every function of the animal economy. And as life is +the sum of the powers that resist disease, if disease is only the +instrument of death, it follows, of course, that whatever enfeebles +life, or, in other words, produces debility, must predispose to disease. + +Many cattle, during the winter, live on bad hay, which does not appear +to contain any of that saccharine and mucilaginous matter which is found +in good hay. When the spring comes, they are turned out to grass, and +thus regain their flesh. Many, however, die in consequence of the sudden +change. + +It has been satisfactorily proved that fat cattle, of the best quality, +may be produced by feeding them on boiled food. + +Dr. Whitlaw says, "On one occasion, a number of cows were selected from +a large stock, for the express purpose of making the trial: they were +such as appeared to be of the best kind, and those that gave the richest +milk. In order to ascertain what particular food would produce the best +milk, different species of grass and clover were tried separately, and +the quality and flavor of the butter were found to vary very much. But +what was of the most importance, many of the grasses were found to be +coated with silecia, or decomposed sand, too hard and insoluble for the +stomachs of cattle. In consequence of this, the grass was cut and well +steamed, and it was found to be readily digested; and the butter, that +was made from the milk, much firmer, better flavored, and would keep +longer without salt than any other kind. Another circumstance that +attended the experiment was that, in all the various grasses and grain +that were intended by our Creator as food for man or beast, the various +oils that enter into their composition were so powerfully assimilated or +combined with the other properties of the farinaceous plants, that the +oil partook of the character of essential oil, and was not so easily +evaporated as that of poisonous vegetables; and experience has proved +that the same quantity of grass, steamed and given to the cattle, will +produce more butter than when given in its dry state. This fact being +established from numerous experiments, then there must be a great saving +and superiority in this mode of feeding. The meat of such cattle is +more wholesome, tender, and better flavored than when fed in the +ordinary way." (For process of steaming, see Dadd's work on the Horse, +p. 67.) + +A mixed diet (boiled) is supposed to be the most economical for +fattening cattle. "A Scotchman, who fattens 150 head of Galloway cattle, +annually, finds it most profitable to feed with bruised flaxseed, boiled +with meal or barley, oats or Indian corn, at the rate of one part +flaxseed to three parts meal, by weight,--the cooked compound to be +afterwards mixed with cut straw or hay. From four to twelve pounds of +the compound are given to each beast per day." The editor of the Albany +Cultivator adds, "Would it not be well for some of our farmers, who +stall-feed cattle, to try this or a similar mode? We are by no means +certain that the ordinary food (meaning, probably, bad hay and +cornstalks) would pay the expense of cooking; but flaxseed is known to +be highly nutritious, and the cooking would not only facilitate its +digestion, but it would serve, by mixing, to render the other food +palatable, and, by promoting the appetite and health of the animal, +would be likely to hasten its thrift." + +Mr. Hutton, who has long been celebrated for producing exceedingly fat +cattle at a small cost, estimates that cost as follows:-- + + s. d. + "13 lbs. of linseed, bruised, or 2 lbs. per day for six + days, and 1 lb. for Sunday, 1 9 + + 32 lbs. of ground corn, or 5 lbs. per day for six days, + and 2-1/2 lbs. for Sunday, at 1 d. per lb., 2 8 + + 35 lbs. of turnips, given twice a day for six days, + and thrice on Sunday, 1 6 + + Oats, 1-1/2 d.: labor on each beast, 6 d., 7-1/2 + --------- + Total cost of each beast per week, 6 6-1/2 + +"The horses, cows, and young stock are also fed on this food, evidently +with great advantage." + +Mr. Workington, a successful dairyman, combining cut feed and oil-cake +with different sorts of green food, found that, by giving a middle-sized +cow sixteen pounds of green food and two of boiled hay, with two pounds +of ground oil cake, (_linseed would be preferable_,) and eight pounds of +cut straw, the daily expense of her keep was only 5-1/2 d., (about ten +cents.) The oil-cake he found to be much more productive of milk when +given with steamed food, than when employed without it. Varying their +food from time to time is found to be of much more advantage to the cow; +and this may probably arise from the additional relish with which the +animal eats, or from the superior excitement of a new stimulus on the +different secretions. + +The following table represents the nutritive properties in each article +of food:-- + + ------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+-------- + | | Husk, or |Starch, |Gluten, | | + | | woody |gum, and|albumen,| Fatty |Saline + | Water. | fibre. | sugar. | &c. | matter |matter + ------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+-------- + Oats, | 16 | 20 | 45 | 11 | 6 | 2.5 + Beans, | 14 | 8 to 11 | 40 | 26 | 2.5 | 3 + Pease, | 14 | 9 | 50 | 24 | 2.1 | 3 + Indian corn,| 14 | 6 | 70 | 12 | 5 to 9 | 1.5 + Barley, | 15 | 14 | 52 | 13.5 | 2 to 3 | 3 + Meadow hay, | 14 | 30 | 40 | 7.1 | 2 to 5 |5 to 10 + Clover hay, | 14 | 25 | 40 | 9.3 | 3 to 5 | 9 + Pea straw, |10 to 15| 25 | 45 | 12.3 | 1.5 |4 to 5 + Oat straw, | 12 | 45 | 35 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 6 + Carrots, | 85 | 3 | 10 | 1.5 | 0.4 |1 to 2 + Linseed, | 9.2 | 8 to 9 | 35.3 | 20.3 | 20.0 | 6.3 + Bran, | 13.1 | 53.6 | 2 | 19.3 | 4.7 | 7.3 + ------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+-------- + +The most nutritious grasses are those which abound in sugar, starch, and +gluten. Sugar is an essential element in the formation of good milk; +hence the sweet-scented grasses are the most profitable to cultivate and +feed to milch cows. At the same time, the farmer, if he does not, ought +to know that large quantities of saccharine matter are extracted from +clover and sweet grasses by the bees. Mr. White tells us that, "on a +farm situated a few miles from London, the eldest son of the occupier +had the management and profit of the bees given him, which induced him +to increase the number of stocks beyond what had ever been kept on the +farm before. It so happened that the sheep did not thrive so well as in +former years, and on the farmer complaining at the cause to his man, as +they had plenty of keep, the man replied, '_You will never have fat +sheep so long as you suffer my young master to keep so many stocks of +bees; they suck all the honey from the flowers, so that the clover is +not half so nourishing, and does not produce half such good milk._'" Had +this man been acquainted with agricultural and animal chemistry, he +would have had a clear conception of the seeming absurdity. All our +labor or efforts to improve stock or crops will be fruitless, unless +guided by chemical science. We must have sugar, starch, gluten, and +other materials, to perfect animal organization. The animal may be in +good health, the different functions free and unobstructed, and possess +the power of reproducing the species; yet, if fed on substances which +lack the materials necessary to the composition of bones, blood-vessels, +and nerves, sooner or later its health becomes impaired. Reader, if you +own cattle, and wish to preserve their health, give them boiled food +occasionally; let them have their meals at regular hours, in sufficient +quantity, and no more, unless they are intended for the butcher; then, +an extra allowance may be given, with a view of fattening. They should +be well littered, and the barns well ventilated; finally, keep them +clean, avoid undue exposure, and govern them in a spirit of kindness and +mercy. + + + + +THE BARN AND FEEDING BYRE. + + +It is well known that the more cleanly and comfortable cattle are kept, +and the better the order in which their food is presented to them, the +better they will thrive, and the more profitable they will be to the +owner. Dr. Gunthier remarks, that "constant confinement to the barn is +opposed to the nature of oxen, and becomes the source of numberless +diseases. Endeavors are made to promote the lacteal secretion in cows, +and the fattening of oxen, by means of heat: for this purpose, stables +[barns] are converted into real stoves, either by not making them +sufficiently large, or by crowding them to excess, or by preventing the +access of air from without; and all this without recollecting that the +skin, thus over-excited, must necessarily fall into a state of atony in +a short time. Besides, the moist heat and the emanations of the dung +cannot fail to exercise a destructive influence on the lungs and entire +system. To these causes if we add the absolute want of exercise and the +excess of food, we shall not be surprised at the number of diseases +resulting from these different practices, and at the extraordinary forms +which they ofttimes assume. + +"Persons propose to themselves, by feeding in the barn, to augment the +mass of dung; and the beasts are left in their excrement, sometimes up +to the very knees. Seldom is there any care taken to cleanse their skin, +and still less attention is directed to the feet. What wonder, then, if +they exhibit so many forms of disease?" + +The byre recommended by Mr. Lawson consists of two apartments--an inner +apartment, or byre for feeding the cattle, and an outer apartment, or +barn for containing the fodder. The byre is constructed at right angles +with the barn, as follows: "At the distance of about three feet and a +half from the side of the building, within, there are constructed, on +the ground, in a straight line, a trough, having ten partitions for +feeding ten animals. The troughs are so constructed, that there is a +small and gradual declivity from the first or innermost to the last or +outermost one; and the partitions separating them being made with a +small arch at the bottom, a bucket of water, poured in at the uppermost, +runs out at the last one through a spout in the wall; and a sweep of the +broom carries off the whole remains of the food, rendering all the +troughs quite clean and sweet. The whole food of the cattle is thus kept +perfectly clean at all times. + +"In a line with the feeding troughs, and immediately over them, runs a +strong beam of wood, from one end of the byre to the other; which is +strengthened by two strong upright supporters to the roof, placed at +equal distances from the ends of the byre; and the main beam is again +subdivided by the cattle stakes and chains, so as to keep each of the +ten oxen opposite to his own feeding trough and stall. + +"The three and a half feet of space between the troughs and outer wall, +lighted by a glazed window, is the cattle feeder's walk, who passes +along it in front of the cattle, and, with a basket, deposits before +each of the cattle the food into the feeding trough of each. To prevent +any of the cattle from choking on small pieces of turnips, &c., as they +are very apt to do, the chains at the stakes are contrived of such a +length, that no ox can raise his head too high when eating; for in this +way, it is observed, cattle are generally choked. + +"At the distance of about six feet eight inches from the feeding +troughs, and parallel to them, is a dung grove and urine gutter. Here +too, like the trough, there is a gradual declivity; so that the moment +the urine passes from the cattle, it runs to the lowest end of the +gutter, whence it is conveyed through the outer wall, in a spout, and +deposited in the urinarium outside of the building. At this place is a +large enclosed space, occupied as a compost dung-court. Here all sorts +of stuff are collected for increasing the manure, such as fat, earth, +cleanings of roads, ditches, ponds, rotten vegetables, &c.; and the +urine from the byre, being caused to run over all these collected +together, which is done very easily by a couple of wooden spouts, moved +backwards and forwards to the urinarium at pleasure, renders the whole +mass, in a short time, a rich compost dunghill; and this is done by the +urine alone, which, in general, is totally lost. The dung of the byre, +again, is cleared several times each day, and deposited in the +dung-court. Along the edge of the dung-court a few low sheds are +constructed, in which swine are kept, and these consume the refuse of +the food. + +"In the side wall of the byre, and opposite to the heads of the cattle, +are constructed three ventilators; these are placed at the distance of +about two feet four inches from the ground, in the inside of the byre, +and pass out just under the roof. The inside openings of these are about +thirteen inches in length, seven in breadth, and nine in depth; and they +serve two good purposes. The breath of cattle being superficially +lighter than atmospheric air, the consequence is, that in some byres the +cattle are kept in a constant heat and sweat, because their breath and +heat have no way to escape; whereas, by means of the ventilators, the +air of the barn is kept in proper circulation, which conduces as much to +the health of the cattle as to the preservation of the walls and timber +of the byre, by drying up the moisture produced from the breath and +sweat of the cattle, which is found to injure those parts of the +building." + + + + +MILKING. + + +The operation of milking should, if possible, always be performed by the +same person, and in the most gentle manner; the violent tugging at the +teats by an inexperienced hand is apt to make the animal irritable and +uneasy during the operation, and unwilling to be milked. Many of the +diseases of the teats and udder can be traced to violence done to the +parts under the operation of milking. Young animals are often unwilling +to be milked: here a little patience and kindness will perform wonders. + +It is not the quantity of milk that gives value to the dairy cow; for +the milk of one good cow will make more butter than that of two poor +ones, each giving the same quantity of milk. Its most abundant +principles are cream, caseous matter or curd, and whey. In these are +also contained a saccharine matter, (sugar of milk,) muriate and +phosphate of potassa, phosphate of lime, acetic acid, acetate of +potassa, and a trace of acetate of iron. The three principal +constituents (cream, curd, and whey) can easily be separated: thus the +cream rises to the surface, and the curd and whey will separate if the +milk becomes sour, or a little rennet is poured into it. When milk is +intended to be made into cheese, no part of the cream should be +separated. Good cheese is, consequently, rarely produced in those +dairies where much butter is made; the former being robbed for the sake +of the latter. + +Sir J. Sinclair says, "If a few spoonfuls of milk are left in the udder +of the cow at milking; if any of the implements used in the dairy are +allowed to be tainted by neglect; if the dairy-house be kept dirty, or +out of order; if the milk is either too hot or too cold at coagulation; +if too much or too little rennet is put into the milk; if the whey is +not speedily taken off; if too much or too little salt is applied; if +butter is too slowly or too hastily churned; or if other minute +attentions are neglected, the milk will be in a great measure lost. If +these nice operations occurred once a month, or once a week, they might +be easily guarded against; but as they require to be observed during +every stage of the process, and almost every hour of the day, the most +vigilant attention must be kept up during the whole season." + + + + +A KNOWLEDGE OF AGRICULTURAL AND ANIMAL CHEMISTRY IMPORTANT TO FARMERS. + + +It is a well-known fact that plants require for their germination and +growth different constituents of soil, and that animals require +different forms of food to build up the waste, and promote the living +integrity--the vital powers. + +Its order to supply the materials necessary for animal and vegetable +nutrition, we require alternate changes--the former in the diet, and the +latter in the soil. Experience has proved that the cultivation of a +plant for several successive years on the same soil impoverishes it, or +the plant degenerates. On the contrary, if a piece of land be suffered +to lie uncultivated for a short time, it will yield, in spite of the +loss of time, a greater quantity of grain; for, during the interval of +rest, the soil regains its original equilibrium. It has been +satisfactorily demonstrated that a fruit-tree cannot be made to grow and +bring forth good fruit on the same spot where another of the same +species has stood; at least not until a lapse of years. This is a fact +worth knowing, for it applies more or less to all forms of vegetation. +Another fact of experience is, that some plants thrive on the same soil +only after a lapse of years, while others may be cultivated in close +succession, _provided the soil is kept in equilibrium by artificial +means_; these are subsoiling, &c. Some kinds of plants improve the sod, +while others impoverish or exhaust it. Professor Liebig tells us, +"turnips, cabbages, beets, oats, and rye are considered to belong to the +class which impoverish the soil; while by wheat, hops, madder, hemp, and +poppies, it is supposed to be entirely exhausted." Many of our farmers +expend large sums of money in the purchase of manure, with a view of +improving the soil; and they suppose that their crops will be abundant +in proportion to the amount of manure; yet many have discovered that, in +spite of the extra expense and labor, the produce of their farms +decreased. + +The alternation of crops seems destined to effect a great change in +agriculture. A French chemist informs us that the roots of plants imbibe +matter of every kind from the soil, and thus necessarily abstract a +number of substances, which are not adapted to the purposes of +nutrition, and that they are ultimately expelled by the excretory +vessels, and return to the soil as excrement. The excrementitious +portion of the food also returns to the soil. Now, as excrement cannot +be assimilated by the same animal or plant that ejected it, without +danger to the organs of digestion or eliminations, it follows that the +more vegetable excrement the soil contains, the more unfitted must it be +for plants of the same species; yet these excrementitious matters may, +however, still be capable of assimilation by another kind of plant, +which would absorb them from the soil, and render it again fertile for +the first. In connection with this, it has been observed that several +plants will flourish when growing beside each other; but it is not good +policy to sow two kinds of seed together: on the other hand, some plants +mutually prevent each other's development. The same happens if young +cattle are suffered to graze and sleep in the barn together; the one +lives at the expense of the other, which soon shows evidences of +disease. The injurious effects of permitting young children to sleep +with aged relatives are known to many of our readers; yet some parents +see their children sicken and die without knowing the why or wherefore. +From such facts as these,--which we might multiply to an indefinite +extent, were it necessary,--we learn that nature's laws are immutable +and uncompromising; and woe be to the man that transgresses them: they +are a part of the divine law, which cannot be set at nought with +impunity. + +Ignorance on these important subjects has existed too long: yet we +perceive in the distant horizon a ray of intellectual light, streaming +through our schools and agricultural societies. The result will be, that +succeeding generations will be better acquainted with nature's laws, +from which shall flow untold blessings. Chemistry teaches us that +animals and vegetables are composed of a vast number of different +compounds, which are nearly all produced by the same elementary +principles. Vegetables consist of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen; and the +same substances, with the addition of nitrogen, are the principal +constituents of the animal economy. In a word, all the constituents of +animal creation have actually been discovered in vegetables: this has, +we presume, led to the conclusion that "all flesh is grass." + +Many horticulturists complain that certain fruits and seeds have "_run +out_," or degenerated. Has the stately oak, the elm, or the cedar +degenerated? No. Each has preserved its identity, and will continue so +to do, at least just as the Divine Artist intended they should, unless +man, by his fancied improvements, interferes; and here, reader, permit +us to ask if you ever knew a piece of nature's mechanism improved by +human agency. Can we make a light better adapted to the wants of +animate and inanimate creation than that which the sun, moon, and stars +afford? Whenever we attempt to improve on immutable laws, as they are +written on the face of creation, that moment we prevent the full and +free play of these laws. Hence the practice of grafting scions of +delicious fruit-trees on stock of an inferior order compromises its +identity; and successive crops will show unmistakable evidences of +encroachment. A son of the lamented Mr. Phinney tells us that he had +some very fine sows, that he was desirous of breeding from, with a view +of making "improvements." He bred in a close degree of relationship: in +a short time, to use his own expression, "their sides appeared like two +boards nailed together." Does the farmer wish to know how to prevent +seeds and fruit "running out"? Let him study chemistry. Chemistry +furnishes the information; it also teaches the husbandman the fact, that +to put a plant, composed of certain essential elements, on a soil +destitute of those elements,--or to graft a scion, requiring a certain +amount of sap or juice, on a stock destitute of such sap or juice, +expecting that they will germinate, grow to perfection, and preserve +their identity,--would be just as absurd as to expect that a dry sow +would nourish a sucking pig. + +Agriculture being based on the equilibrium of the soils, a knowledge of +chemistry is indispensable to every one who is desirous of keeping pace +with the reforms of the age; for it is through the medium of that +science alone that we are enabled to ascertain with certainty how this +equilibrium is disturbed by the growth of vegetation. Then is it not a +matter of deep interest to the farmer to know how this equilibrium is +restored? + +Does the farmer wish to know what kind of soil is necessary to nourish +and mature a plant? Chemistry solves the problem. Does the farmer wish +to know how to improve the soil? Let him refer to chemistry. Chemistry +will teach the farmer how to analyze the soil; by that means he will +learn which of the constituent elements of the plants and soil are +constant, and which are changeable. By making an analysis of the soil +at different periods, through the process of germination, growth, and +maturity, we are enabled to ascertain the amount of excretory elements +given out. Bergman tells us that he found, by analysis, in "100 parts of +fertile soil, coarse silex 30 parts, silecia 30 parts, carbonate of lime +30 parts:" hence the fertility of the soil diminishes in proportion as +one or the other of these elements predominates. + +Ashes of wheat contain, among other elementary substances, 48 parts of +silecia. Now, what farmer could expect to raise a good crop of wheat +from a soil destitute of silecious earth, since this earth constitutes a +large amount of the earthy part of wheat? There is no barrier to +agricultural improvement so effectual as for farmers to continue their +old customs purely because their forefathers did so. But prejudices are +fast dying away before the rays of intellectual illumination; the +farmers are fast seceding from the supposed infallibles of their +forefathers, and will soon become "book" as well as practical +husbandmen. "Book farming," assisted by practical knowledge, teaches +that manures require admixture of milder materials to mitigate their +force; for some of them communicate a disgusting or offensive quality to +vegetables. They are charged with imparting a biting and acrimonious +taste to radishes and turnips. Potatoes and grapes are known to borrow +the foul taint of the ground. Millers observe a strong, disagreeable +odor in the meal of wheat that grew upon land highly charged with the +rotten recrements of cities. Stable dung is known to impart a +disagreeable flavor to vegetables. + +The same effects may be illustrated in the animal kingdom. Ducks are +rendered so ill tasted from stuffing down garbage as sometimes to be +offensive to the palate when cooked. The quality of pork is known by the +food of the swine, and the peculiar flavor of water-fowl is rationally +traced to the fish they devour. Thus a portion of the elements of manure +and nutrimental matter passes into the living bodies without being +entirely subdued. For example, we can alter the color of the cow's milk +by mixing madder or saffron in the food; the odor may be influenced by +garlic; the flavor may be altered by pine and wormwood; and lastly, the +medicinal effect may be influenced. + +In the cultivation of grass the farmer will find it to his advantage to +cultivate none but the best kinds; the whole pasture lands will then be +filled with valuable grass seeds. The number of grass seeds worth +cultivating is but few, and these should be sown separately. It is bad +policy to sow different kinds of grass seed together--just as bad as to +sow wheat, oats, turnips, and corn promiscuously. + +The reason why the farmers, as a community, will be benefited by sowing +none but the best seed is, because grass seeds are distributed through +neighboring pastures by the winds, and there take root. Now, if the +neighboring pastures abound in inferior grasses, the fields will soon be +filled with useless plants, which are very difficult to be got rid of. +We refer those of our readers who desire to make themselves acquainted +with animal chemistry to Professor Liebig's work on that science. + + + + +ON BREEDING. + + +Large sums of money have, from time to time, been expended with a view +of improving stock, and many superior cattle have been introduced into +this country; yet, after a few generations, the beautiful form and +superior qualities of the originals are nearly lost, and the importer +finds to his cost that the produce is no better than that of his +neighbors. What are the causes of this deterioration? We are told--and +experience confirms the fact--that "like produces like." Good qualities +and perfect organization are perpetuated by a union of animals +possessing those properties: of course it follows, that malformation, +hereditary taints, and vices are transmitted and aggravated. + +The destructive practice of breeding "in and in," or, in other words, +selecting animals of the same family, is one of the first causes of +degeneracy; and this destructive practice has proved equally unfortunate +in the human family. Physical defects are the result of the +intermarriage of near relatives. In Spain, the deformed and feeble state +of the aristocracy arises from their alliances being confined to the +same class of relatives through successive generations. But we need not +go to Spain to verify such facts. Go into our churchyards, and read on +the tombstones the names of thousands of infants,--gems withered in the +bud,--young men, and maidens, cut down and consigned to a premature +grave; and then prove, if you can, that early marriages and near +alliances are not the chief causes of this great mortality. + +Mr. Colman, in an article on live stock, says, "There seems to be a +limit beyond which no person can go. The particular breed may be altered +and improved, but an entirely new breed cannot be produced; and in every +departure from the original there is a constant tendency to revert back +to it. The stock of the improved Durham cattle seems to establish this +fact. If we have the true history of it, it is a cross of a Teeswater +bull with a Galloway cow. The Teeswater or Yorkshire stock are a large, +coarse-boned animal: the object of this cross was to get a smaller bone +and greater compactness. By attempting to carry this improvement, if I +may so call it, still further by breeding continually in and in, that +is, with members of the same family, in a close degree of affinity, the +power of continuing the species seems to become extinct; at least it +approximates to such a result. On the other hand, by wholly neglecting +all selection, and without an occasional good cross with an animal of +some foreign blood, there appears a tendency to revert back to the +large-boned, long-legged animal, from which the _improvement_ began. + +"There are, however, several instances of superior animals bred in the +closest affinity; whilst, in a very great majority of cases, the failure +has been excessive." + +Overtaxing the generative powers of the male is another cause of +deterioration. The reader is probably aware of the woful results +attending too frequent sexual intercourse. If he has not given this +subject the attention it demands, then let him read the records of our +lunatic asylums: they tell a sad tale of woe, and prove to demonstration +that, before the blast of this dire tornado, _sexual excess_, lofty +minds, the suns and stars of our intellectual world, are suddenly +blotted out. It spares neither age, sex, profession, nor kind. Dr. White +relates a case which substantiates the truth of our position. "The +Prince of Wales, who afterwards became George the Fourth, had a stud +horse of very superior qualities. His highness caused a few of his own +mares to be bred to this stallion, and the produce proved every way +worthy of the sire. This horse was kept at Windsor for public covering +without charge, except the customary groom's fee of half a guinea. The +groom, anxious to pocket as many half guineas as possible, persuaded all +he could to avail themselves of the prince's liberality. The result was, +that, being kept in a stable without sufficient exercise, and covering +nearly one hundred mares yearly, the stock, although tolerably promising +in their early age, shot up into lank, weakly, awkward, good-for-nothing +creatures, to the entire ruin of the horse's character and sire. Some +gentlemen, aware of the cause, took pains to explain it, proving the +correctness of their statement by reference to the first of the horses +got, which were among the best horses in England." + +There is no doubt but that brutes are often endowed with extraordinary +powers for sexual indulgence; yet, when kept for the purpose alluded to, +without sufficient muscular exercise,--breathing impure air, and living +on the fat of the farm,--his services in constant requisition,--then it +is no wonder, that if, under these circumstances, the offspring are weak +and inefficient. + +Professor Youatt recommends that "valuable qualities once established, +which it is desirable to keep up, should thereafter be preserved by +occasional crosses with the best animals to be had of the same breed, +but of a different family. This is the great secret which has maintained +the blood horse in his great superiority." + +The live stock of our farmers frequently degenerates in a very short +space of time. The why and the wherefore is not generally understood; +neither will it be, until animal physiology shall be better understood +than it is at the present time. Men are daily violating the laws of +animal organization in more ways than one, in the breeding, rearing, and +general management of all kinds of domestic animals,--until the +different breeds are so amalgamated, that, in many cases, it is a +difficult task to ascertain, with any degree of certainty, their +pedigree. If a farmer has in his possession a bull of a favorite breed, +the neighboring stock-raisers avail themselves of his bullship's +services by sending as many cows to him as possible: the consequence is, +that the offspring got in the latter part of the season are good for +nothing. The cow also, at the time of impregnation, may be in a state of +debility, owing to some derangement in the organs of digestion; if so, +impregnation is very likely to make the matter worse; for great sympathy +exists between the organs of generation and those of digestion, and +females of every order suffer more or less from a disturbed state of the +stomach during the early months of pregnancy. In fact, during the whole +stage they should be considered far from a state of health. Add to this +the fact that impregnated cows are milked, (not generally, yet we know +of such cases:) the foetus is thus deprived of its due share of +nourishment, and the extra nutrimental agents, necessary for its growth +and development, must be furnished at the expense of the mother. She, in +her turn, soon shows unmistakable evidences of this "robbing Peter to +pay Paul" system, by her sunken eye, loss of flesh, &c., and often, +before she has seen her sixth month of pregnancy, liberates the foetus +by a premature birth--in short, pays the penalty of disobedience to the +immutable law of nature. On the other hand, should such a cow go safely +through the whole period of gestation and parturition, the offspring +will not be worth keeping, and the milk of the former will lack, in some +measure, those constituents which go to make good milk, and without +which it is almost worthless for making butter or cheese. A cow should +never be bred from unless she shall be in good health and flesh. If she +cannot be fatted, then she may be spayed. (See article _Spaying Cows_.) +By that means, her health will improve, and she will be made a permanent +milker. Degeneracy may arise from physical defects on the part of the +bull. It is well known that infirmities, faults, and defects are +communicated by the sexual congress to the parties as well as their +offspring. Hence a bull should never be bred to unless he possesses the +requisite qualifications of soundness, form, size, and color. There are +a great number of good-for-nothing bulls about the country, whose +services can be had for a trifle; under these circumstances, and when +they can be procured without the trouble of sending the cow even a short +distance, it will be difficult to effect a change. + +If the farming community desire to put a stop to this growing evil, let +them instruct their representatives to advocate the enactment of a law +prohibiting the breeding to bulls or stallions unless they shall possess +the necessary qualifications. + +[Illustration: A First Prize Short Horned Bull] + + +THE BULL. + +Mr. Lawson gives us the following description of a good bull. It would +be difficult to find one corresponding in all its details to this +description; yet it will give the reader an idea of what a good bull +ought to be. "The head of the bull should be rather long, and muzzle +fine; his eyes lively and prominent; his ears long and thin; his horns +white; his neck rising with a gentle curve from the shoulders, and small +and fine where it joins the head; his shoulders moderately broad at the +top, joining full to his chine and chest backwards, and to the neck-vein +forwards; his bosom open; breast broad, and projecting well before his +legs; his arms or fore thighs muscular, and tapering to his knees; his +legs straight, clean, and very fine boned; his chine and chest so full +as to leave no hollows behind the shoulders; the plates strong, to keep +his belly from sinking below the level of his breast; his back or loin +broad, straight, and flat; his ribs rising one above another, in such +a manner that the last rib shall be rather the highest, leaving only a +small space to the hips, the whole forming a round or barrel-like +carcass; his hips should be wide placed, round or globular, and a little +higher than the back; the quarters (from the hips to the rump) long, +and, instead of being square, as recommended by some, they should taper +gradually from the hips backwards; rump close to the tail; the tail +broad, well haired, and set on so as to be in the same horizontal line +with his back." + + +VALUE OF DIFFERENT BREEDS OF COWS. + +Mr. Culley, in speaking of the relative value of long and short horns, +says, "The long-horns excel in the thickness and firm texture of the +hide, in the length and closeness of the hair, in their beef being finer +grained and more mixed and marbled than that of the short-horns, in +weighing more in proportion to their size, and in giving richer milk; +but they are inferior to the short-horns in giving a less quantity of +milk, in weighing less upon the whole, in affording less fat when +killed, in being generally slower feeders, in being coarser made, and +more leathery or bullish in the under side of the neck. In a few words, +the long-horns excel in hide, hair, and quality of beef; the short-horns +in the quantity of beef, fat, and milk. Each breed has long had, and +probably may have, their particular advocates; but if I may hazard a +conjecture, is it not probable that both kinds may have their particular +advantages in different situations? Why not the thick, firm hides, and +long, closer set hair, of the one kind be a protection and security +against tempestuous winds and heavy fogs and rains, while a regular +season and mild climate are more suitable to the constitutions of the +short-horns? But it has hitherto been the misfortune of the short-horned +breeders to seek the largest and biggest boned ones for the best, +without considering that those are the best that bring the most money +for a given quantity of food. However, the ideas of our short-horned +breeders being now more enlarged, and their minds more open to +conviction, we may hope in a few years to see great improvements made +in that breed of cattle. + +"I would recommend to breeders of cattle to find out which breed is the +most profitable, and which are best adapted to the different situations, +and endeavor to improve that breed to the utmost, rather than try to +unite the particular qualities of two or more distinct breeds by +crossing, which is a precarious practice, for we generally find the +produce inherit the coarseness of both breeds, and rarely attain the +good properties which the pure distinct breeds individually possess. + +"Short-horned cows yield much milk; the long-horned give less, but the +cream is more abundant and richer. The same quantity of milk also yields +a greater proportion of cheese. The Polled or Galloway cows are +excellent milkers, and their milk is rich. The Suffolk duns are much +esteemed for the abundance of their milk, and the excellence of the +butter it produces. Ayrshire or Kyloe cows are much esteemed in +Scotland; and in England the improved breed of the long-horned cattle is +highly prized in many dairy districts. Every judicious selector, +however, will always, in making his choice, keep in view not only the +different sons and individuals of the animal, but also the nature of the +farm on which the cows are to be put, and the sort of manufactured +produce he is anxious to bring to market. The best age for a milch cow +is betwixt four, or five, and ten. When old, she will give more milk; +but it is of an inferior quality, and she is less easily supported." + + + + +METHOD OF PREPARING RENNET, AS PRACTISED IN ENGLAND. + + +Take the calf's maw, or stomach, and having taken out the curd contained +therein, wash it clean, and salt it thoroughly, inside and out, leaving +a white coat of salt over every part of it. Put it into an earthen jar, +or other vessel, and let it stand three or four days; in which time it +will have formed the salt and its own natural juice into a pickle. Take +it out of the jar, and hang it up for two or three days, to let the +pickle drain from it; resalt it; place it again in the jar; cover it +tight down with a paper, pierced with a large pin; and let it remain +thus till it is wanted for use. In this state it ought to be kept twelve +months; it may, however, in case of necessity, be used a few days after +it has received the second salting; but it will not be as strong as if +kept a longer time. To prepare the rennet for use, take a handful of the +leaves of the sweet-brier, the same quantity of rose and bramble leaves; +boil them in a gallon of water, with three or four handfuls of salt, +about a quarter of an hour; strain off the liquor, and, having let it +stand until perfectly cool, put it into an earthen vessel, and add to it +the maw prepared as above. To this add a sound, good lemon, stuck round +with about a quarter of an ounce of cloves, which give the rennet an +agreeable flavor. The longer the bag remains in the liquor, the +stronger, of course, will be the rennet. The amount, therefore, +requisite to turn a given quantity of milk, can only be ascertained by +daily use and observation. A sort of average may be something less than +a half pint of good rennet to fifty gallons of milk. In Gloucestershire, +they employ one third of a pint to coagulate the above quantity. + + + + +MAKING CHEESE. + + +IT is generally admitted that many dairy farmers pay more attention to +the quantity than the quality of this article of food; now, as cheese is +"a surly elf, digesting every thing but itself," (this of course applies +to some of the white oak specimens, which, like the Jew's razors, were +made to sell,) it is surely a matter of great importance that they +should attend more to the quality, especially if it be intended for +exportation. There is no doubt but the home consumption of good cheese +would soon materially increase, for many thousands of our citizens +refuse to eat of the miserable stuff "misnamed cheese." + +The English have long been celebrated for the superior quality of their +cheese; and we have thought that we cannot do a better service to our +dairy farmers than to give, in as few words as possible, the various +methods of making the different kinds of cheese, for which we are +indebted to Mr. Lawson's work on cattle. + +"It is to be observed, in general, that cheese varies in quality, +according as it has been made of milk of one meal, or two meals, or of +skimmed milk; and that the season of the year, the method of milking, +the preparation of the rennet, the mode of coagulation, the breaking and +gathering of the curd, the management of the cheese in the press, the +method of salting, and the management of the cheese-room, are all +objects of the highest importance to the cheese manufacturer; and yet, +notwithstanding this, the practice, in most of these respects, is still +regulated by little else than mere chance or custom, without the +direction of enlightened observation or the aid of well-conducted +experiment. + + +GLOUCESTER CHEESE. + +"In Gloucestershire, where the manufacture of cheese is perhaps as well +understood as in any part of the world, they make the best cheeses of a +single meal of milk; and, when this is done in the best manner, the +entire meal of milk is used, without any addition from a former meal. +But it not unfrequently happens that a portion of the milk is reserved +and set by to be skimmed for butter; and at the next milking this +proportion is added to the new milk, from which an equal quantity has +been taken for a similar purpose. One meal cheeses are principally made +here, and go by the name of _best making_, or simply _one meal cheeses_. +The cheeses are distinguished into _thin_ and _thick_, or _single_ and +_double_; the last having usually four to the hundred weight, (112 +pounds,) the other about twice that number. The best double Gloucester +is always made from new milk. + +"The true single Gloucester cheese is thought by many to be the best, in +point of flavor, of any we have. The season for making their thin or +single cheese is mostly from April to November; but the principal season +for the thick or double is confined to May, June, and the early part of +July. This is a busy season in the dairy; for at an earlier period the +milk is not rich enough, and if the cheese be made later in the summer, +they do not acquire sufficient age to be marketable next spring. Very +many cheeses, however, can be made even in winter from cows that are +well fed. The cows are milked in summer at a very early hour; generally +by four o'clock in the morning, before the day becomes hot, and the +animals restless and unruly. + + +CHESTER CHEESE. + +"After the milk has been strained, to free it from any impurities, it is +conveyed into a cooler placed upon feet like a table, having a spigot at +the bottom for drawing off the milk. This, when sufficiently cooled, is +drawn off into pans, and the cooler again filled. In so cases, the +cooler is large enough to hold a whole meal's milk at once. The rapid +cooling thus produced (which, however, is necessary only in hot weather, +and during the summer season) is found to be of essential utility in +retarding the process of fermentation, and thereby preventing putridity +from commencing in the milk before two meals of it can be put together. +Some have thought that the cheese might be improved by cooling the +evening's milk still more rapidly, and that this might be effected by +repeatedly drawing it off from and returning it into the cistern. When +the milk is too cold, a portion of it is warmed over the fire and mixed +with the rest. + +"The coloring matter, (annatto,) in Cheshire, is added by tying up as +much of the substance as is thought sufficient in a linen rag, and +putting it into a half pint of warm water, to stand over night. The +whole of this infusion is, in the morning, mixed with the milk in the +cheese-tub, and the rag dipped in the milk and rubbed on the palm of the +hand as long as any of the coloring matter can be made to come away. + +"The next operation is salting; and this is done, either by laying the +cheese, immediately after it comes out of the press, on a clean, fine +cloth in the vat, immersed in brine, to remain for several days, turning +it once every day at least; or by covering the upper surface of the +cheese with salt every time it is turned, and repeating the application +for three successive days, taking care to change the cloth twice during +the time. In each of these methods, the cheese, after being so treated, +is taken out of the vat, placed upon the salting bench, and the whole +surface of it carefully rubbed with salt daily for eight or ten days. If +it be large, a wooden hoop or a fillet of cloth is employed to prevent +renting. The cheese is then washed in warm water or whey, dried with a +cloth, and laid on what is called the _drying bench_. It remains there +for about a week, and is thence removed to the _keeping house_. In +Cheshire, it is found that the greatest quantity of salt used for a +cheese of sixty pounds is about three pounds; but the proportion of this +retained in the cheese has not been determined. + +"When, after salting and drying, the cheeses are deposited in the +cheese-room or store-house, they are smeared all over with fresh butter, +and placed on shelves fitted to the purpose, or on the floor. During the +first ten or fifteen days, smart rubbing is daily employed, and the +smearing with butter repeated. As long, however, as they are kept, they +should be every day turned; and the usual practice is to rub them three +times a week in summer and twice in winter. + + +STILTON CHEESE. + +"Stilton cheese is made by putting the night's cream into the morning's +new milk along with the rennet. When the curd has come, it is not +broken, as in making other cheese, but taken out whole, and put into a +sieve to drain gradually. While this is going on, it is gently pressed, +and, having become firm and dry, is put into a vat, and kept on a dry +board. These cheeses are exceedingly rich and valuable. They are called +the Parmesan of England, and weigh from ten to twelve pounds. The +manufacture of them is confined almost exclusively to Leicestershire, +though not entirely so. + + +DUNLOP CHEESE. + +"In Scotland, a species of cheese is produced, which has long been known +and celebrated under the name of _Dunlop_ cheese. The best cheese is +made by such as have a dozen or more cows, and consequently can make a +cheese every day; one half of the milk being immediately from the cow, +and the other of twelve hours' standing. Their method of making it is +simple. They endeavor to have the milk as near as may be to the heat of +new milk, when they apply the rennet, and whenever coagulation has taken +place, (which is generally in ten or twelve minutes,) they stir the curd +gently, and the whey, beginning to separate, is taken off as it gathers, +till the curd be pretty solid. When this happens, they put it into a +drainer with holes, and apply a weight. As soon as this has had its +proper effect, the curd is put back again into the cheese-tub, and, by +means of a sort of knife with three or four blades, is cut into very +small pieces, salted, and carefully mixed by the hand. It is now placed +in the vat, and put under the press. This is commonly a large stone of a +cubical shape, from half a ton to a ton in weight, fixed in a frame of +wood, and raised and lowered by an iron screw. The cheese is frequently +taken out, and the cloth changed; and as soon as it has been ascertained +that no more whey remains, it is removed, and placed on a dry board or +pine floor. It is turned and rubbed frequently with a hard, coarse +cloth, to prevent moulding or breeding mites. No coloring matter is +used in making Dunlop cheese, except by such as wish to imitate the +English cheese. + + +GREEN CHEESE. + +"Green cheese is made by steeping ever night, in a proper quantity of +milk, two parts of sage with one of marigold leaves, and a little +parsley, after being bruised, and then mixing the curd of the milk, thus +_greened_, as it is called, with the curd of the white milk. These may +be mixed irregularly or fancifully, according to the pleasure of the +operator. The management in other respects is the same as for common +cheese." + + * * * * * + +Mr. Colman says, "In conversation with one of the largest wholesale +cheesemongers and provision-dealers in the country, he suggested that +there were two great faults of the American cheese, which somewhat +prejudiced its sale in the English market. He is a person in whose +character and experience entire confidence may be placed. + +"The first fault was the softness of the rind. It often cracked, and the +cheese became spoiled from that circumstance. + +"The second fault is the acridness, or peculiar, smart, bitter taste +often found in American cheese. He thought this might be due, in part, +to some improper preparation or use of the rennet, and, in part, to some +kind of feed which the cows found in the pastures. + +"The rind may be made of any desired hardness, if the cheese be taken +from the press, and allowed to remain in brine, so strong that it will +take up no more salt, for four or five hours. There must be great care, +however, not to keep it too long in the brine. + +"The calf from which the rennet is to be taken should not be allowed to +suck on the day on which it is killed. The office of the rennet, or +stomach of the calf, is, to supply the gastric juice by which the +curdling of the milk is effected. If it has recently performed that +office, it will have become, to a degree, exhausted of its strength. Too +much rennet should not be applied. Dairymaids, in general, are anxious +to have the curd 'come soon,' and so apply an excessive quantity, to +which he thinks much of the acrid taste of the cheese is owing. Only so +much should be used as will produce the effect in about fifty minutes. +For the reason above given, the rennet should not, he says, be washed in +water when taken from the calf, as it exhausts its strength, but be +simply salted. + +"When any cream is taken from the milk to be made into butter, the +buttermilk should be returned to the milk of which the cheese is to be +made. The greatest care should be taken in separating the whey from the +cheese. When the pressing or handling is too severe, the whey that runs +from the curd will appear of a white color. This is owing to its +carrying off with it the small creamy particles of the cheese, which +are, in fact, the richest part of it. After the curd is cut or broken, +therefore, and not squeezed with the hand, and all the whey is allowed +to separate from it that can be easily removed, the curd should be taken +out of the tub with the greatest care, and laid upon a coarse cloth +attached to a frame like a sieve, and there suffered to drain until it +becomes quite dry and mealy, before being put into the press. The object +of pressing should be, not to express the whey, but to consolidate the +cheese. There should be no aim to make whey butter. All the butter +extracted from the whey is so much of the proper richness taken from the +cheese." + + + + +MAKING BUTTER. + + +It is a matter of impossibility to make a superior article of butter +from the milk of a cow in a diseased state; for if either of the organs +of secretion, absorption, digestion, or circulation, be deranged, we +cannot expect good blood. The milk being a secretion from the blood, it +follows that, in order to have good milk, we must have pure blood. A +great deal depends also on the food; certain pastures are more favorable +to the production of good milk than others. We know that many +vegetables, such as turnips, garlic, dandelions, will impart a +disagreeable flavor to the milk. On the other hand, sweet-scented +grasses and boiled food improve the quality, and, generally, increase +the quantity of the milk, provided, however, the digestive organs are in +a physiological state. + +The processes of making butter are various in different parts of the +United States. We are not prepared, from experience, to discuss the +relative merits of the different operations of churning; suffice it +to say, that the important improvements that have recently been made in +the construction of churns promise to be of great advantage to the +dairyman. + +The method of churning in England is considered to be favorable to the +production of good butter. From twelve to twenty hours in summer, and +about twice as long in winter, are permitted to elapse before the milk +is skimmed, after it has been put into the milk-pans. If, on applying +the tip of the finger to the surface, nothing adheres to it, the cream +may be properly taken off; and during the hot summer months, this should +always be done in the morning, before the dairy becomes warm. The cream +should then be deposited in a deep pan, placed in the coolest part of +the dairy, or in a cool cellar, where free air is admitted. In hot +weather, churning should be performed, if possible, every other day; but +if this is not convenient, the cream should be daily shifted into a +clean pan, and the churning should never be less frequent than twice a +week. This work should be performed in the coolest time of the day, and +in the coolest part of the house. Cold water should be applied to the +churn, first by filling it with this some time before the cream is +poured in, or it may be kept cool by the application of a wet cloth. +Such means are generally necessary, to prevent the too rapid +acidification of the cream, and formation of the butter. We are indebted +for much of the poor butter, (_cart-grease_ would be a more suitable +name,) in which our large cities abound, to want of due care in +churning: it should never be done too hastily, but--like "Billy Gray's" +drumming--well done. In winter the churn may be previously heated by +first filling it with hot water, the operation to be performed in a +moderately warm room. + +In churning, a moderate and uninterrupted motion should be kept up +during the whole process; for if the motion be too rapid, heat is +generated, which will give the butter a rank flavor; and if the motion +is relaxed, the butter will go back, as it is termed. + + +WASHING BUTTER. + +"When the operation is properly conducted, the butter, after some time, +suddenly forms, and is to be carefully collected and separated from the +buttermilk. But in doing this, it is not sufficient merely to pour off +the milk, or withdraw the butter from it; because a certain portion of +the caseous and serous parts of the milk still remains in the +interstices of the butter, and must be detached from it by washing, if +we would obtain it pure. In washing butter, some think it sufficient to +press the mass gently between the hands; others press it strongly and +frequently, repeating the washings till the water comes off quite clear. +The first method is preferable when the butter is made daily, for +immediate use, from new milk or cream; because the portions of such +adhering to it, or mixed with it, contribute to produce the sweet +agreeable flavor which distinguishes new cream. But when our object is +to prepare butter for keeping, we cannot repeat the washings too often, +since the presence of a small quantity of milk in it will, in less than +twelve hours after churning, cause it sensibly to lose its good +qualities. + +"The process of washing butter is usually nothing more than throwing it +into an earthen vessel of clear cool water, working it to and fro with +the hands, and changing the water until it comes off clear. A much +preferable method, however, and that which we believe is now always +practised by those who best understand the business, is to use two broad +pieces of wood, instead of the hands. This is to be preferred, not only +on account of its apparently greater cleanliness, but also because it is +of decided advantage to the quality of the butter. To this the warmth of +the hand gives always, more or less, a greasy appearance. The influence +of the heat of the hand is greater than might at first have been +suspected. It has always been remarked, that a person who has naturally +a warm hand never makes good butter." + + +COLORING BUTTER. + +As butter made in winter is generally pale or white, and its richness, +at the same time, inferior to that which is made during the summer +months, the idea of excellence has been associated with the yellow +color. Means are therefore employed, by those who prepare and sell +butter, to impart to it the yellow color where that is naturally +wanting. The substances mostly employed in England and Scotland are the +root of the carrot and the flowers of the marigold. The juice of either +of these is expressed and passed through a linen cloth. A small quantity +of it (and the proportion of it necessary is soon learned by experience) +is diluted with a little cream, and this mixture is added to the rest of +the cream when it enters the churn. So little of this coloring matter +unites with the butter, that it never communicates to it any peculiar +taste. + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANS OF DIGESTION IN CATTLE. + + +_Oesophagus_, or _Gullet_.--This tube extends from the mouth to the +stomach, and is the medium through which the food is conveyed to the +latter organ. This tube is furnished with spiral muscles, which run in +different directions. By this arrangement, the food ascends or descends +at the will of the animal. The inner coat of the gullet is a +continuation of the same membrane that lines the mouth, nostrils, &c. +The gullet passes down the neck, inclining to the left side of the +windpipe, until it reaches the diaphragm, through a perforation of which +it passes, and finally terminates in the stomach. The food, having +undergone a slight mastication by the action of the teeth, is formed +into a pellet, and, being both moistened and lubricated with saliva, +passes down the gullet, by the action of the muscles, and falls +immediately into the paunch, or rumen; here the food undergoes a process +of maceration, or trituration. The food, after remaining in this portion +of the stomach a short time, and being submitted to the united action of +heat and moisture, passes into another division of the stomach, called +_reticulum_, the inner surface of which abounds in cells: at the bottom, +and indeed in all parts of them there are glands, which secrete from the +blood the gastric fluids. This stomach possesses a property similar to +that of the bladder, viz., that of contracting upon its contents. In the +act of contracting, it squeezes out a portion of the partly masticated +food and fluids; the former comes within the spiral muscles, is embraced +by them, and thus ascends the gullet, and passes into the mouth for +remastication. The soft and fluid parts continue on to the many plus and +true digestive stomach. The second stomach again receives a portion from +the paunch, and the process is continued. + +Rumination and digestion, however, are mechanico-vital actions, and can +only be properly performed when the animal is in a healthy state. + +Now, a portion of the food, we just observed, had ascended the gullet +by the aid of spiral muscles, and entered the mouth; it is again +submitted to the action of the grinders, and a fresh supply of saliva; +it is at length swallowed a second time, and goes through the same +routine as that just described, passing into the manyplus or manifolds, +as it is termed. + +The manyplus abounds internally in a number of leaves, called laminæ. +Some of these are attached to the upper and lower portion of the +division, and also float loose, and penetrate into the oesophagian +canal. The laminæ have numerous projections on their surface, resembling +the papillæ to be found on the tongue. The action of this stomach is one +of alternate contraction and expansion: it secretes, however, like the +other compartments of the stomach, its due share of gastric fluids, with +a view not only of softening its contents, but for the purpose of +defending its own surface against friction. The mechanical action of the +stomach is communicated to it partly by the motion of the diaphragm, and +its own muscular arrangement. It will readily be perceived, that by this +joint action the food is submitted to a sort of grinding process. Hence +any over-distention of the viscera, from either food or gas, will +embarrass and prevent the free and full play of this organ. The papillæ, +or prominences, present a rough and sufficiently hard exterior to grind +down the food, unless it shall have escaped the reticulum in too fibrous +a form: foxgrass, cornstalks, and frosted turnips are very apt to make +sad havoc in this and other parts of the stomach, owing to their +unyielding nature; for the stomach, like other parts of the +organization, suffers from over-exertion, and a corresponding debility +ensues. + +The fourth division of the stomach of the ox is called _abomasum_. It +somewhat resembles the duodenum of the horse in its function, it being +the true digestive stomach. It is studded with numerous nerves, +blood-vessels, and small glands. It is a laboratory admirably fitted up +by the Divine Artist, and is capable of carrying on the chemico-vital +process as long as the animal lives, provided its healthy functions are +not impaired. The glands alluded to secrete from the blood a powerful +solvent, called the _gastric juice_, which is the agent in reducing the +food to chyme and chyle. This, however, is accomplished by the united +agency of the bile and pancreatic juice. Both these fluids are conveyed +into the abomasum by means of small tubes or canals. Secretions also +take place from the inner membrane of the intestines, and, as the result +of the united action of all these fluids, aided by the muscular motion +just alluded to, which is also communicated to the intestines, a +substance is formed called _chyle_, which is the most nutritious portion +of the food, and has a milky appearance. The chyle is received into a +set of very minute tubes, called _lacteals_, which are exceedingly +numerous, and arise by open mouths from the inner surface of the +abomasum and intestines. They receive the chyle; from thence it passes +into a receptacle, and finally into the thoracic duct. The thoracic duct +opens into a vein leading directly to the heart; so that whatever +portion of the chyle is not actually needed by the organism is +thoroughly mixed with the general mass of blood. That portion of chyme +which is not needed, or cannot be converted into chyle, descends into +the intestines, and is finally carried out of the body by the rectum. + +The manner in which the gastric fluids act on alimentary matter, is by +solution and chemical action; for cornstalks and foxgrass, that cannot +be dissolved by ammonia or alcohol, yield readily to the solvent power +of the gastric secretion. Bones and other hard substances are reduced to +a pulpy mass in the stomach of a dog; while, at the same time, many +bodies of delicate texture remain in the stomach, and ultimately are +ejected, without being affected by the gastric fluids. This different +action on different subjects is analogous to the operation of chemical +affinity, and corroborates the theory that digestion is effected by +solution and chemical action. + +_The Spleen_, or _Milt_, is an oblong, dark-colored substance, having +attachments to the paunch. It is composed of blood-vessels, nerves, and +lymphatics, united by cellular structure. It appears to serve as a +reservoir for the blood that may be designed for the secretions of bile +in the liver. P. M. Roget says, "Any theory that assigns a very +important function to the spleen will be overturned by the fact, that in +many animals the removal of this organ, far from being fatal, or +interrupting, in any sensible manner, the continuance of the functions, +seems to be borne with perfect impunity." Sir E. Home, Bichat, Leuret, +Lassaigne, and others, suppose that "the spleen serves as a receptacle +for the superfluous quantity of fluid taken into the stomach." + +_The Liver_ is a dense gland, of a lobulated structure, situated below +the diaphragm, or "skirt." It is supplied, like other organs, with +arterial blood, by vessels, called _hepatic_ arteries, which are sent +off from the great aorta. It receives also a large amount of venous +blood, which is distributed through its substance by a separate set of +vessels, derived from the venous system. The veins which receive the +blood that has circulated in the usual manner unite together into a +large trunk, called vena portæ, (gate vein,) and this vein, on entering +the liver, ramifies like an artery, and ultimately terminates in the +branches of the hepatic veins, which transmit the blood, in the ordinary +course of circulation, to the vena cava, (hollow vein.) Mr. Kiernan +says, "The hepatic veins, together with the lobules which surround them, +resemble, in their arrangement, the branches and leaves of a tree, the +substance of the lobules being disposed around the minute branches of +the veins like the parenchyma of a leaf around its fibres. The hepatic +veins may be divided into two classes, namely, those contained in +lobules, and those contained in canals formed by lobules. The first +class is composed of interlobular branches, one of which occupies the +centre of each lobule, and receives the blood from a plexus formed in +the lobule by the portal vein; and the second class of hepatic veins is +composed of all those vessels contained in canals formed by the lobules, +and including numerous small branches, as well as the large trunks +terminating in the inferior cava. The external surface of every lobule +is covered by an expansion of '_Glisson's capsule_,' by which it is +connected to, as well as separated from, contiguous lobules, and in +which branches of the hepatic duct, portal veins, and hepatic artery +ramify. The ultimate branches of the hepatic artery terminate in the +branches of the portal vein, where the blood they respectively contain +is mixed together, and from which mixed blood the bile is secreted by +the lobules, and conveyed away by the hepatic ducts. The remaining blood +is returned to the heart by the hepatic veins, the beginnings of which +occupy the centre of each lobule, and, when collected into trunks, pour +their contents into the inferior cava. Hence the blood which has +circulated through the liver, and has thereby lost its arterial +character, is, in common with that which is returning from other parts, +poured into the vena portæ, and contributes its share in furnishing +materials for the biliary secretion. The hepatic artery furnishes +nutrition to the liver itself." + +The bile, having been secreted, accumulates in the gall-bladder, where +it is kept for future use. When the healthy action of the fourth stomach +is interrupted, the bile is supposed to be reabsorbed,--it enters into +the different tissues, producing yellowness of the eyes; the malady is +then termed _yellows_, _jaundice_, &c. Sometimes the passage of the bile +is obstructed by calculi, or gall-stones; they have been found in great +numbers in oxen. + +_The Pancreas_ is composed of a number of lobules or glands; a small +duct proceeds from each; they unite and form a common canal, which +proceeds towards, and terminates in, the fourth stomach. The pancreatic +juice appears to be exceedingly analogous, both in its sensible +properties and chemical composition, to the saliva. + +"The recent researches of MM. Bouchardat, Sandras, Mialhe, Bareswil, and +Bernard himself, have placed beyond a doubt the existence of a ferment, +in some of the fluids which mix with the alimentary mass, destined to +convert starchy matters into sugar. They have proved that the gastric +juice has for its peculiar office the solution and digestion of azotized +substances. There remained to be ascertained the real agent for the +digestion of fatty matters; that is to say, the agent in the formation +of chyle out of those substances. + +"M. Bernard has proved that this remarkable office is performed by the +pancreatic juice; he has demonstrated the fact by three conclusive +proofs. + +"1. The pancreatic juice, pure and recently formed, forms an emulsion +with oils and fats with the greatest facility. This emulsion may be +preserved for a long time, and the fatty substance soon undergoes a +fermentation which separates its constituent acids. + +"2. The chyle only begins to appear in the lacteals below that part of +the intestinal tube where the pancreatic juice enters it to mix with the +alimentary matters. + +"3. In disorders of the pancreas, we find that the fatty matters, +contained in the food, pass entire in the evacuations." + +The above is an extract from the report of a body composed of several +members of the French Academy of Sciences. "M. Bernard" (continues the +report) "has exhibited to us the first of these experiments, and has +furnished us with the means of repeating it with the several varieties +of the gastric juice. We have not the slightest doubt on the subject. It +is incontestable that fatty substances are converted into an emulsion by +this juice, in a manner easy and persistent, and it is no less true that +the saliva, the gastric juice, and the bile are destitute of this +property. + +"The second demonstration can be given in various modes; but the author +has discovered, in the peculiar arrangement of the digestive apparatus +of the rabbit, an unexceptional means of obtaining it with the greatest +precision, and at will. The pancreatic juice enters the intestinal tube +of this animal about fourteen inches below the point where the bile is +poured in. Now, as long as the food is above the region where it mixes +with the pancreatic juice, there appears to be no formation and +separation of a milky chyle; nothing shows that the fatty matters are +reduced to an emulsion. On the contrary, as soon as the pancreatic juice +mixes with the alimentary matters, we observe the fat to be converted +into an emulsion, and a milky chyle to fill the corresponding lacteals. +Nothing can give an idea of the result of these experiments, which have +all the accuracy of a chemical operation performed in the laboratory, +and all the beauty of the most perfect injection. + +"We are not, therefore, surprised that divers pathological cases, +hitherto imperfectly understood, should come to confirm the views of M. +Bernard, by proving that, in diseases of the pancreas, fatty matters +have been observed to pass unchanged in the dejections. + +"The committee cannot hesitate to conclude that the author has perfectly +demonstrated his physiological propositions; that he has completed the +general characters of the theory of digestion, and that he has made +known the mode of formation of the fatty matter of the chyle, and the +manner of the digestion of the fatty matters." + +_The Kidneys._--Their office is, to secrete from the blood the useless +or excrementitious fluids in the form of urine. When the skin is +obstructed, the secretion is augmented, and profuse perspiration lessens +it. From a cavity in the centre of each kidney a canal or tube proceeds, +by which the urine is conveyed into the bladder. These tubes are named +_ureters_. As the ureters enter the bladder, they pass forward, a short +distance between its coats; which effectually prevents the urine from +taking a retrograde course. The urine is expelled by the muscular power +which the bladder possesses of contracting upon its contents. + + + + +RESPIRATION AND STRUCTURE OF THE LUNGS. + + +The organs of respiration are the larynx, the trachea, or windpipe, +bronchia, and the lungs. + +The air is expelled from the lungs principally by the action of the +muscles of respiration; and when these relax, the lungs expand by virtue +of their own elasticity. This may be exemplified by means of a sponge, +which may be compressed into a small compass by the hand, but, upon +opening the hand, the sponge returns to its natural size, and all its +cavities become filled with air. The purification of the blood in the +lungs is of vital importance, and indispensably necessary to the due +performance of all the functions; for if they be in a diseased +state,--either tuberculous, or having adhesions to the pleura, their +function will be impaired; the blood will appear black; loaded with +carbon; and the phlebotomizer will have the very best (worst) excuse for +taking away a few quarts with a view of purifying the remainder! The +trachea, or windpipe, after dividing into smaller branches, called +_bronchia_, again subdivides into innumerable other branches, the +extremities of which are composed of an infinite number of small cells, +which, with the ramifications of veins, arteries, nerves, and connecting +membranes, make up the whole mass or substance of the lungs. The +internal surface of the windpipe, bronchia, and air-cells, is lined with +a delicate membrane, highly organized with blood-vessels, &c. The whole +is invested with a thin, transparent membrane--a continuation of that +lining the chest, named _pleura_. It also covers the diaphragm, and, by +a duplication of its folds, forms a separation between the lobes of the +lungs. + + + + +CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD. + + +The blood contains the elements for building up, supplying the waste of, +and nourishing the whole animal economy. On making an examination of the +blood with a microscope, it is found full of little red globules, which +vary in their size and shape in different animals, and are more numerous +in the warm than in the cold-blooded. Probably this arises from the fact +that the latter absorb less oxygen than the former. When blood stands +for a time after being drawn, it separates into two parts. One is called +_serum_, and resembles the white of an egg; the other is the clot, or +crassamentum, and forms the red coagulum, or jelly-like substance. This +is accompanied by whitish tough threads, called _fibrine_. + + [Illustration: THE HEART VIEWED EXTERNALLY. + + _a_, the left ventricle; _b_, the right ventricle; _c_, _e_, _f_, the + aorta; _g_, _h_, _i_, the carotid and other arteries springing from the + aorta; _k_, the pulmonary artery; _l_, branches of the pulmonary artery + in the lungs; _m_, _m_, the pulmonary veins emptying into the left + auricle; _n_, the right auricle; _o_, the ascending vena cava; _q_, the + descending vena cava; _r_, the left auricle; _s_, the coronary vein and + artery. (See _Circulation of the Blood_, on the opposite page.)] + +When blood has been drawn from an animal, and it assumes a cupped or +hollow form, if serum, or buffy coat, remains on its surface, it denotes +an impoverished state; but if the whole, when coagulated, be of one +uniform mass, it indicates a healthy state of that fluid. The blood of a +young animal, provided it be in health, coagulates into a firm mass, +while that of an old or debilitated one is generally less dense, and +more easily separated. The power that propels the blood through the +different blood-vessels is a mechanico-vital power, and is accomplished +through the involuntary contractions and relaxations of the heart; from +certain parts of which arteries arise, in other parts veins terminate. +(See Plate.) + +The heart is invested with a strong membranous sac, called +_pericardium_, which adheres to the tendinous centre of the diaphragm, +and to the great vessels at its superior portion. The heart is +lubricated by a serous fluid, secreted within the pericardium, for the +purpose of guarding against friction. When an excess of fluid +accumulates within the sac, it is termed dropsy of the heart. The heart +is divided into four cavities, viz., two auricles, named from their +resemblance to an ear, and two ventricles, (as seen at _a_, _b_,) +forming the body. The left ventricle is smaller than the right, yet its +walls are much thicker and stronger than those of the latter: it is from +this part that the large trunk of the arteries proceed, called the +_great aorta_. The right cavity, or ventricle, is the receptacle for +blood returned by the venous structure after having gone the rounds of +the circulation; the veins terminating, as they approach the heart, in a +single vessel, called _vena cava_, (see plate, _o_, _q_, ascending and +descending portion.) The auricle on the left side of the heart receives +the blood that has been distributed through the lungs for purification. +Where the veins terminate in auricles, there are valves placed, to +prevent the blood from returning. For example, the blood proceeds out of +the heart along the aorta; the valve opens upwards; the blood also +moves upwards, and raises the valve, and passes through; the pressure +from above effectually closes the passage. The valves of the heart are +composed of elastic cartilage, which admits of free motion. They +sometimes, however, become ossified. The heart and its appendages are, +like other parts of the system, subject to various diseases, which are +frequently very little understood, yet often fatal. Now, the blood, +having passed through the veins and vena cava, flows into the right +auricle; and this, when distended, contracts, and forces its contents +into the right ventricle, which, contracting in its turn, propels the +blood into the pulmonary arteries, whose numerous ramifications bring it +in contact with the air-cells of the lungs. It then, being deprived of +its carbon, assumes a crimson color. Having passed through its proper +vessels, it accumulates in the left auricle. This also contracts, and +forces the blood through a valve into the left ventricle. This ventricle +then contracts in its turn, and the blood passes through another valve +into the great aorta, to go the round of the circulation and return in +the manner just described. + +Many interesting experiments have been made to estimate the quantity of +blood in an animal. "The weight of a dog," says Mr. Percival, "being +ascertained to be seventy-nine pounds, a puncture was made with the +lancet into the jugular vein, from which the blood was collected. The +vein having ceased to bleed, the carotid artery of the same side was +divided, but no blood came from it; in a few seconds afterwards, the +animal was dead. The weight of the carcass was now found to be +seventy-three and a half pounds; consequently it had sustained a loss of +five and a half pounds--precisely the measure of the blood drawn. It +appears from this experiment, that an animal will lose about one +fifteenth part of its weight of blood before it dies; though a less +quantity may so far debilitate the vital powers, as to be, though less +suddenly, equally fatal. In the human subject, the quantity of blood has +been computed at about one eighth part of the weight of the body; and as +such an opinion has been broached from the results of experiments on +quadrupeds, we may fairly take that to be about the proportion of it in +the horse; so that if we estimate the weight of a horse to be thirteen +hundred and forty-four pounds, the whole quantity of blood will amount +to eighty-four quarts, or one hundred and sixty-eight pounds; of which +about forty-five quarts, or ninety pounds, will commonly flow from the +jugular vein prior to death; though the loss of a much less quantity +will deprive the animal of life." + + + + +REMARKS ON BLOOD-LETTING. + + +The author has been, for several years, engaged in a warfare against the +use of the lancet in the treatment of the various diseases of animals. +When this warfare was first commenced, the prospect was poor indeed. The +lancet was the great anti-phlogistic of the allopathic school; it had +powerful, talented, and uncompromising advocates, who had been +accustomed to resort to it on all occasions, from the early settlement +of America up to that period. The great mass had followed in the +footsteps of their predecessors, supposing them to be infallible. Men +and animals were bled; rivers of blood have been drawn from their +systems; yet they often got well, and men looked upon the lancet as one +of the blessings of the age, when, in fact, it is the greatest curse +that ever afflicted this country: it has produced greater losses to +owners of domestic animals than did ever pestilence or disease. A few +philanthropic practitioners have, from time to time, in other countries, +as well as in this, labored during their life, and on their death-bed, +to convince the world of the destructive tendency of blood-letting in +human practice; but none that we know of ever had the moral courage to +wage a general warfare against the practice in the veterinary +department, until we commenced it. We have met with great success, and +have given the blood-letting gentry who practise it at the present day +("just to please their employers or to make out a case") a partial +quietus: in a few more years, unless they abandon their false theories, +their occupation, notwithstanding their pretensions to cure _secundum +artem_, will, like Othello's, be "gone." But we are not writing for +doctors. Our business is with the farmers--the lords of creation. The +former are mere lords of pukes and purges; they, like the farmers, have +the materials, however, to mould themselves into men of common sense; +but the fact is, they are hide-bound; they want a national sweat, to rid +their systems, especially their upper works, of the theories of Sydenham +and Paracelsus, which have shipwrecked many thousands of the medical +profession. They shut their eyes to the results of medical reform, and +cling, with all their soul, and with all their might, worthy a better +cause, to a system that "always was false." + +Lord Byron, like many other learned men, was well acquainted with the +impotency of the healing art, and held the lancet in utter abhorrence: +when beset, day and night, to be bled, the bard, in an angry tone, +exclaimed, "You are, I see, a d----d set of butchers; take away as much +blood as you like." "We seized the opportunity," says Dr. Milligan, "and +drew twenty ounces; yet the relief did not correspond to the hopes we +had formed." On the 17th, the bleeding was twice repeated, dangerous +symptoms still increasing, and on the 19th he expired, just about bled +to death. Washington, a man whose name is dear to every American, died +from the effects of an evil system of medication. He was attacked with +croup: his physician bled him, and gave him calomel and antimony. The +next day, physicians were called in, (to share the responsibility of the +butchery,) and he was subjected to two more copious bleedings: in all he +lost ninety ounces of blood. Which of our readers, at the present day, +would submit to such unwarrantable barbarity? We just said we were not +writing for doctors; yet we find ourselves off the track in thus +administering a small dose, as a sample of "_good and efficient +treatment_." + +In reference to the success attending our labors in veterinary reform, +we do not claim the whole credit: much of it is due to the intelligence +of the American farmers, in appreciating the value and importance of a +safer and a more effectual system of medication; such a system as we +advocate. They have witnessed the results attending the practice of +cattle doctors generally, and they have seen the results of our sanative +system of medication, and a great majority in Massachusetts have decided +in favor of the latter. We have demonstrated to the satisfaction of our +patrons, and we are ready and willing to repeat our experiments on +diseased animals for the satisfaction of others, in showing that we can +restore an animal, when suffering under acute attacks of disease, in a +few hours, when, by the popular method, it takes weeks and months, if +indeed they ever recover from the effects of the destructive agents +used. + +We are told that "horses and cattle are bled and get well immediately." +This may apply to some cases; but, in very many instances, the animals +are sent for a few weeks to "Dr. Green,"[1] to put them in the same +condition they were at the time of bleeding. But suppose that some +animals do get well after bleeding; is it thus proved that more would +not get well if no blood were drawn from any? A cow may fall down, and, +in so doing, lacerate her muscles, blood-vessels, &c., and lose a large +quantity of blood. She may get well, in spite of the violence and loss +of blood. So we say of blood-letting, if the abstraction of a certain +number of gallons of blood will kill a strong animal, then the +abstraction of a small quantity must injure it proportionately. + +There is in the animal economy a power, called the vital principle, +which always operates in favor of health. If the provocation be gentle, +and does not seriously derange the machinery, then this power may +overcome both it and any disease the animal may at the time labor under. +For example, a horse falls down in the street, perhaps laboring under a +temporary congestion of the brain: now, if he were let alone until +nature has restored an equilibrium of the circulating fluid and nervous +action, he would soon get up and proceed on his way, as many thousands +do when a knife or lancet is not to be had. But, unfortunately, people +are too hasty. The moment a beast has fallen, they are bound to have him +on his perpendiculars in double quick time. The teamster cannot wait for +nature; she is "too slow a coach" for him. He tries what virtue there is +in the whip; this failing, he obtains a knife, if one is to be had, and +"_starts the blood_." By this time, nature, about resuming her empire, +causes the horse to show signs of returning animation, and the credit is +awarded to the blood-starter. Animals are often bled when diseased, and +the prominent symptoms that previously marked the character of the +malady disappear, or give place to symptoms of another order, less +evident, and men have supposed that a cure is effected, when, in fact, +they have just sown the seeds of a future disease. We are not bound to +prove, in every case, how an animal gets well after two or three +repeated bleedings. It is enough for us to prove that this operation +always tends to death, which can easily be produced by opening the +carotid artery of an animal. + +Permit us, dear reader, at this stage of our article, to observe, that +"confession is good for the soul." We mean to put it in practice. So +here goes. We plead guilty to bleeding, blistering, calomelizing, +narcotizing, antimonializing, a great number of patients of the human +kind. We did it in our verdant days, because it was so scientific and +popular, and because we had been taught to reverence the stereotyped +practice of the allopathists. We have, however, done penance, and sought +forgiveness; and through the aid of a few men, devoted to medical +reform, we have been washed in the regenerating waters flowing through +the vineyard of reason and experience, and now advocate and observe the +self-regulating powers of the laws of life. On the other hand, we are +free from the charge of bleeding or poisoning domestic animals, and can +say, with a clear conscience, that we have never drawn a drop of blood +from a four-footed creature, (except in surgical operations, when it +could not be avoided;) neither will we, under any circumstances, resort +to the lancet; for we are convinced that blood-letting is a powerful +depressor of the vital powers. + +Blood is the fuel that keeps the lamp of life burning; if the fuel be +withdrawn, the light is extinguished. + +Professor Lobstein says, "So far from blood-letting being beneficial, it +is productive of the most serious consequences--a cruel practice, and a +scourge to humanity. How many thousands are sent by it to an untimely +grave! Without blood there is no heat, no motion in the body." + +Dr. Reid says, "If the employment of the lancet was abolished +altogether, it would perhaps save annually a greater number of lives +than pestilence ever destroyed." + +The fact of blood-letting having been practised by horse and cattle +doctors from time immemorial is certainly not a clear proof of its +utility, nor is it a sufficient recommendation that it may be practised +with safety. During my professional career, the preconceived theories +have commanded a due share of consideration; and, when weighed in the +scale of uninfluenced experience, they never failed of falling short. If +we grant that any deviation from the healthy state denotes debility of +one or more functions, then whatever has a tendency to debilitate +further cannot restore the animal to health. The following case will +serve to illustrate our position: "A horse was brought to be bled, +merely because he had been accustomed to it at that season of the year. +I did not examine him minutely; but as the groom stated there was +nothing amiss with him, I directed a moderate quantity of blood to be +drawn. About five pints were taken off; and while the operator was +pinning up the wound, the horse fell. He appeared to suffer much pain, +and had considerable difficulty of breathing. In this state he remained +twelve hours, and then died. Judging from the appearances at the post +mortem examination, it is probable that a loss of a moderate quantity of +blood caused a fatal interruption of the functions of the heart." + +It is strange that such cases as these do not open men's eyes, and +compel them to acknowledge that there is something wrong in the medical +world. Such cases as these furnish us with unanswerable arguments +against blood-letting; for as the blood, which is the natural stimulus +of, and gives strength to, the organs, is withdrawn, its abstraction +leaves all those organs less capable of self-defence. + +Horse and cattle doctors have recommended bleeding when animals have +been fed too liberally, or if their systems abound in morbific matter. +Now, the most sensible course would be, provided the animal had been +overfed, to reduce the quantity of food, or, in other words, remove the +cause. If the secretions are vitiated, or in a morbid state, then +regulate them by the means laid down in this work. For we cannot purify +a well of water by abstracting a few buckets; neither can we purify the +whole mass of blood by taking away a few quarts; for that which is left +will still be impure. If the different parts had between them partitions +impervious to fluids, then there would be some sense in drawing out of +the vessels over-filled; but unfortunately, if you draw from one, you +draw from all the rest. + +In every disease wherein bleeding has been used, complete recovery has +been protracted, and the animal manifests the debility by swelled legs +and other unmistakable evidences. In some cases, however, the ill +effects of the loss of blood, unless excessive, are not always +immediately perceived; yet such animals, in after years, are subject to +staggers, and diseases of the lungs, pleura, and peritoneum. + +Dr. Beach says, "The blood is properly called the _vital fluid_, and the +life of a person is said to be in the blood.[2] We know that just in +proportion to the loss of this substance are our vigor and strength +taken from us. When taken from the system by accident or the lancet, it +is succeeded by great prostration of strength, and a derangement of all +the functions of the body. These effects are invariably, in a greater +or less degree, consequent on bleeding. Is it not, then, reasonable to +suppose, that what will debilitate the strongest constitution in a state +of health, will be attended with most serious evils when applied to a +person laboring under any malady? Is it not like throwing spirits on a +fire to extinguish it? + +"Bleeding is resorted to in all inflammatory complaints; but did +practitioners know the nature and design of inflammation, their +treatment would be different. In fever it is produced by an increased +action of the heart and arteries, to expel acrid and noxious humors, and +should be promoted until the irritating matter is dislodged from the +system. This should be effected, in general, by opening the outlets of +the body, inducing perspiration; to produce which a preternatural degree +of heat or inflammation must be excited by internal remedies. Fever is +nothing more or less than a wholesome and salutary effort of nature to +throw off some morbific matter; and, therefore, every means to lessen +this indication proves injurious. Bleeding, in consequence of the +debility it produces, prevents such indication from being fulfilled." + +The inveterate phlebotomizers recommend and practise bleeding when "_the +animal has too much blood_." There may be at times too much blood, and +at others too little; but suppose there is--has any body found out any +better method of reducing what they please to term an excess, than that +of regular exercise in the open air, combined with a less quantity of +fodder than usual? Or has any body found out any method of making good +healthy blood, other than the slow process of nature, as exhibited in +the results of digestion, secretion, circulation, and nutrition? Have +they discovered any artificial means of restoring the blood to its +healthful quantity when it is deficient? Have they found any means of +purifying the blood, save the healthful operations of nature's secreting +and excreting laboratory? Finally, have they found any safety-valve or +outlet for the reduction of this excess other than the excrementitious +vessels? And if they have, are they better able to adjust the pressure +on that valve than He who made the whole machinery, and knows the +relative strength of all its parts? In an article on blood-letting, +found in the Farmer's Cyclopædia, the author says, "In summer, bleeding +is often necessary to prevent fevers." Now, it is evident that nature's +preventives are air, exercise, food, water, and sleep. Attention to the +rules laid down in this work, under the heads of _Watering_, _Feeding_, +&c., will be more satisfactory and less dangerous than that recommended +by the Cyclopædia. If the directions given in the latter were fully +carried out, the stock of our farms would be swept away as by the blast +of a tornado. Such a barbarous system would entail universal misery and +degeneracy on all classes of live stock; and we might then exclaim, +"They are living, yet half dead--victims to an inconsistent system of +medication!" But thanks to a discerning public, they just begin to see +the absurdity and wickedness of draining the system of the living +principles. Veterinary reform has germinated in the New England States, +and, in spite of all opposition, has struck its roots deep into the +minds of a class of men who have the means and power to send forth its +healing branches, and apply them to their own interest and the welfare +of their stock. + +The same author continues: "Some farmers bleed horses three or four +times a year." We hope the farmers have too much good sense to follow +the wicked example of the former. Frequent bleeding is an indirect mode +of butchery--killing by inches; for it gives to the blood-vessels the +power to contract and adapt themselves to the measure of blood that +remains. It impoverishes the blood, and leads to hydrothorax, +(accumulation of water in the chest,) and materially shortens life. +Mackintosh says, "Some are bled who cannot bear it, and others who do +not require it; and the result is death." The conservative power of life +always operates in favor of health, and resists the encroachments upon +her province with all her might, and often recovers the dominion; but by +frequent bleedings, she is exhausted, and, on taking a little more blood +than usual, the animal drops down and dies; and the owner attributes to +disease what, in fact, is the result of bad treatment. + +"Patients who recover after general and copious bleedings have been +employed, may attribute their recovery to the strength of their +constitution. + +"If you should ask a modern _Sangrado_ what was most necessary in the +treatment of disease, doubtless he would reply, 'Bleeding.' + +"Our modern pathologists, surgeons and others, think bleeding the +_factotum_ in all maladies; it is the _ne plus ultra_, when drawn in +large quantities. Blood-letting, say these authors, is not only the most +powerful and important, but the most generally used, of all our +remedies. Scarcely a case of acute, or, indeed, of chronic, disease +occurs in which it does not become necessary to consider the propriety +of having recourse to the lancet." (??) To what extent blood-letting is +carried, in our modern age, may be learned by reading Youatt and others, +who recommend it "when animals rub themselves, and the hair falls off; +when the eyes appear dull and languid, red or inflamed; in all +inflammatory complaints, as of the brain, lungs, kidneys, bowels, womb, +bladder, and joints; in all bruises, hurts, wounds, and all other +accidents; in cold, catarrh, paralysis, and locked-jaw." Yet, strange to +say, one of these authors qualifies his recommendations as follows: "No +man, however wise, can tell exactly how much blood ought to be taken in +a given case." Now, it is well known that the draining of blood from a +vein, though it diminishes the vital resistance, and lessens the volume +of fluids, does not mend the matter; for it thus gives to cold and +atmospheric agents the ascendant influence. A collapse takes place, the +secretions become impaired, the animal refuses its food, "looks +dumpish," &c. + +We might continue this article to an indefinite length; but as we shall, +in the following pages, have occasion to refer to the use of the lancet +as a destructive agent, we conclude it with the following remarks of an +English physician: "Our most valuable remedies against inflammation are +but ill adapted for curing that state of disease. They do not act +directly on the diseased part; the action is only indirect; therefore it +is imperfect. Bleeding, the best of any of these remedies, is in this +predicament." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] A piece of pasture land. + +[2] Then the life of an animal is also in the blood; and the same evil +consequences follow its abstraction. + + + + +EFFORTS OF NATURE TO REMOVE DISEASE. + + "Nature is ever busy, by the silent operations of her own forces, + in curing disease."--_Dixon._ + + +Whenever any irritating substance comes in contact with sensitive +surfaces, nature, or the _vis medicatrix naturæ_, goes immediately to +work to remove the offending cause: for example, should any substance +lodge on the mucous surface, within the nostril, although it be +imperceptible, as often happens when the hay is musty, it abounds in +particles whose specific gravity enables them to float in atmospheric +air; they are then inhaled in the act of respiration, and nature, in +order to wash off the offending matter, sends a quantity of fluid to the +part. The same process may be observed when a small piece of hay, or +other foreign matter, shall have fallen into the eye: the tears then +flow in great abundance, to prevent that delicate organ being injured. +"When a blister is applied to the surface, it first excites a genial +warmth, with inflammation of the skin; and nature, distressed, goes +instantly to work, separates the cuticle to form a bag, interposes serum +between the nerves and the offensive matter, then prepares another +cuticle, that, when the former, with the adhering substance, shall fall +off, the nervous papillæ may be again provided with a covering. + +"The same reasoning will apply to the operation of emetics and +cathartics; for not only is the peristaltic motion either greatly +quickened or inverted, according to the urgency of the distress, but +both the mucous glands and the exhalent arteries pour forth their fluids +in abundance to wash away the offending matter, which at one time acts +chemically, at others mechanically." + +If a horse, or an ox, be wounded in the foot with a nail, and a portion +of it is broken off and remains in the wound, inflammation sets in, +producing suppuration, and the nail is discharged. + +A few days ago, we were called to see a horse, said to have swelling on +the _tarsus_, (hock.) On an examination, it proved to be an abscess, +well developed; the matter could be distinctly felt at the most +prominent part. We should certainly have been justified (at least in the +eyes of the medical world; and then it would have looked so +"doctor-like"!) in displaying a case of instruments and opening the +tumor. If ulceration, gangrene, &c., set in and the horse ultimately +became lame, no blame could be attached to us, because the practice is +_scientific_!--recognized by the schools as good and efficient +treatment. What was to be done? Why, it was evident that we could not do +better than to aid nature. A relaxing, anti-spasmodic poultice was +confined to the parts, and in six hours after, the sac discharged its +contents, and with it a piece of splinter two inches in length. The pain +immediately ceased, and the animal is now free from lameness. We here +see the design of nature: the consequent inflammation was to produce +suppuration, and make an outlet for the splinter. + +Professor Kost says, "The laws of all organic life are remarkably +peculiar; they possess, in an eminent degree, the power of +self-regulation. When interrupted, disease, indeed, supervenes; but +unless the circumstances are particularly unfavorable, the physiological +state will soon be restored. All observation most clearly corroborates +this fact. The healing of wounds, restoration of fractured bones, +expulsion of obtruded substances, and particularly the manner in which +extravasated matter or pus is removed from internal organs, as in case +of abscess in the liver, in which exit may be gained by ulceration +through the parietes, or by an adhesion to and ulceration into the +intestines, or even by the adhesions to the diaphragm and lungs, in such +a manner as, by ulceration into the bronchia, a passage may be gained, +and the pus thus removed by expectoration,--all evince a most singular +conservative power. What is most remarkable in cases like the latter, +is, that the adhesions are so formed as to prevent the escape of the pus +into the peritoneal sac, which accident must inevitably prove fatal. + +"Some very interesting experiments have been performed to test the +restorative power of the different tissues of the animal body. If a +portion of the intestines of a dog be taken out, and tied, so as to +obstruct completely the passage, it will be found that the adjacent +portions of the intestine will reunite, the ligature will separate into +the canal and be discharged, and the gut will heal up so as to preserve +its normal continuity, and the animal, in a fortnight, will have +recovered entirely from the effects of this fearful operation. + +"When noxious or poisonous substances are thrown into any of the +cavities of the body from which their escape is impracticable, a cyst +will often form around them, and they thus become isolated from +absorption and the circulation, so as to prevent their doing harm. + +"The less remarkable instances of this character are of more common +occurrence; and the self-regulating power of the laws of life, alias +_vis conservatrix naturæ_, is so universally known and depended on, that +it is rare, indeed, that indisposed persons take medicine, until they +have first waited at least a little, to see what nature would do for +them; and they are seldom disappointed, as it may perhaps be safely +asserted, that nine tenths of all the attacks of disease (taking the +slight indispositions; for such are most of them, as they are checked +before they become severe) are warded off by the vital force, +unassisted. Such, then, are the facts deduced from observing the +operations of nature in disease _unassisted_." + +Dr. Beach says, "We are well aware, from what passes in the system +daily, that the Author of nature has wisely provided a principle which +is calculated to remove disease. It is very observable in fevers. No +sooner is noxious or morbid matter retained in the system, than there is +an increased action of the heart and arteries, to eliminate the existing +cause from the skin; or it may pass off by other outlets established +for that purpose. With what propriety, then, can this provision of +nature be denied, as it is by some? A noted professor in Philadelphia or +Baltimore ridicules this power in the constitution; he says to his +class, 'Kick nature out of doors.' It was this man, or a brother +professor, who exclaimed to his class, 'Give me mercury in one hand and +the lancet in the other, and I am prepared to cope with disease in every +shape and form.' I have not time to stop here, and comment upon such +palpable and dangerous doctrine. I have only to say, let the medical +historian record this sentiment, maintained in the highest medical +universities in America in the nineteenth century. I am pleased, +however, to observe, that all physicians do not coincide with such +views." + + + + +PROVERBS OF THE VETERINARY REFORMERS. + + +The merciful man is merciful to his domestic animals. + +"Avoid blood-letting and poisons, for they are powerful depressors of +the vital energies. There are two medical _fulcra_--reason and +experience. Experience precedes, reason follows; hence, reasoning not +founded on experience avails nothing. He who cures by simples need not +seek for compounds."--_Villanov._ + +"The physician _destitute of a knowledge of plants_ can never properly +judge of the power of a plant."--_Whitlaw._ + +"The vegetable kingdom is the most noble in medicines."--_Ibid._ + +"Innocent medicines, which approach as near to food as possible, +preserve health, while chemical compounds destroy it. Heroic medicines +(such are antimony, copper, corrosive sublimate, lead, opium, hellebore, +arsenic, belladonna) are like the sword in the hands of a madman. + +"Nature unassisted by art sometimes effects miracles."--_Whitlaw._ + +"It is the part of a wise physician to decline prescribing in a lost +case."--_Ibid._ Whenever there is free, full circulation of blood, there +is animal heat. If the heat of a part becomes deficient, the circulation +is correspondingly diminished. As soon as voluntary motion in a part +ceases, so soon the circulation becomes enfeebled; and if continued, the +part will wither and waste away. + +The strength and health of an animal depend on a due share of exercise, +pure air, and suitable food. Deprive an animal of these, and he will +cease to exist. We believe in the great doctrine that the duty of the +physician is to aid nature in protecting herself in the enjoyment of +health, by proper attention to breeding, rearing, ventilation, and +proper farm and stable management. + +"The tinsel glitter of fine-spun theory, or favorite hypothesis, which +prevails wherever allopathy hath been taught, so dazzles, flatters, and +charms human vanity and folly, that, so far from contributing to the +certain and speedy cure of diseases, it hath, in every age, proved the +bane and disgrace of healing art."--_Graham_, p. 15. + +"Those physicians generally become the most distinguished who soonest +emancipate themselves from the tyranny of the schools of +physic."--RUSH. + +"Availing ourselves of the privileges we possess, and animated by the +noblest impulses, let us cordially coöperate to give to medicine a new +direction, and attempt those great improvements which it imperiously +demands."--_Ther._, vol. i. p. 51. + +"It has been proved by allopathists themselves, that 'a physician should +be nature's servant;' that 'bleeding tends directly to subdue nature's +efforts;' that 'all poisons suddenly and rapidly destroy a great +proportion of the vitality of the system;' that whatever be the +quantity, use, or manner of application, all the influence they +inherently possess is injurious, and that they are not fatal in every +instance of their use only because nature overpowers them."--_Curtis._ + + + + +AN INQUIRY CONCERNING THE SOULS OF BRUTES. + + + "Are these then made in vain? Is man alone, + Of all the marvels of creative love, + Blest with a scintillation of His essence-- + The heavenly spark of reasonable soul? + And hath not yon sagacious dog, that finds + A meaning in the shepherd's idiot face; + Or the huge elephant, that lends his strength + To drag the stranded galley to the shore, + And strives with emulative pride t' excel + The mindless crowd of slaves that toil beside him; + Or the young generous war-horse, when he sniffs + The distant field of blood, and quick and shrill + Neighing for joy, instils a desperate courage + Into the veteran trooper's quailing heart,-- + Have they not all an evidence of soul, + (Of soul, the proper attribute of man,) + The same in kind, though meaner in degree? + Why should not that which hath been--be forever? + And death, O, can it be annihilation? + No,--though the stolid atheist fondly clings + To that last hope, how kindred to despair! + No,--'tis the struggling spirit's hour of joy, + The glad emancipation of the soul, + The moment when the cumbrous fetters drop, + And the bright spirit wings its way to heaven! + + "To say that God annihilated aught, + Were to declare that in an unwise hour + He planned and made somewhat superfluous. + Why should not the mysterious life that dwells + In reptiles as in man, and shows itself + In memory, gratitude, love, hate, and pride, + Still energize, and be, though death may crush + Yon frugal ant or thoughtless butterfly, + Or, with the simoom's pestilential gale + Strike down the patient camel in the desert? + + "There is one chain of intellectual soul, + In many links and various grades, throughout + The scale of nature; from the climax bright, + The first great Cause of all, Spirit supreme, + Incomprehensible, and unconfined, + To high archangels blazing near the throne, + Seraphim, cherubim, virtues, aids, and powers, + All capable of perfection in their kind;-- + To man, as holy from his Maker's hand + He stood in possible excellence complete, + (Man, who is destined now to brighter glories,-- + As nearer to the present God, in One + His Lord and Substitute,--than angels reach;) + Then man has fallen, with every varied shade + Of character and capability, + From him who reads his title to the skies, + Or grasps, with giant-mind, all nature's wonders, + Down to the monster-shaped, inhuman form, + Murderer, slavering fool, or blood-stained savage; + Then to the prudent elephant, the dog + Half-humanized, the docile Arab horse, + The social beaver, and contriving fox, + The parrot, quick in pertinent reply, + The kind-affectioned seal, and patriot bee, + The merchant-storing ant, and wintering swallow, + With all those other palpable emanations + And energies of one Eternal Mind + Pervading and instructing all that live, + Down to the sentient grass and shrinking clay. + In truth, I see not why the breath of life, + Thus omnipresent, and upholding all, + Should not return to Him and be immortal, + (I dare not say the same,) in some glad state + Originally destined for creation, + As well from brutish bodies, as from man. + The uncertain glimmer of analogy + Suggests the thought, and reason's shrewder guess; + Yet revelation whispers nought but this,-- + 'Our Father careth when a sparrow dies,' + And that 'the spirit of a brute descends,' + As to some secret and preserving Hades. + + "But for some better life, in what strange sort + Were justice, mixed with mercy, dealt to these? + Innocent slaves of sordid, guilty man, + Poor unthanked drudges, toiling to his will, + Pampered in youth, and haply starved in age, + Obedient, faithful, gentle, though the spur, + Wantonly cruel, or unsparing thong, + Weal your galled hides, or your strained sinews crack + Beneath the crushing load,--what recompense + Can He who gave you being render you, + If in the rank, full harvest of your griefs + Ye sink annihilated, to the shame + Of government unequal?--In that day + When crime is sentenced, shall the cruel heart + Boast uncondemned, because no tortured brute + Stands there accusing? Shall the embodied deeds + Of man not follow him, nor the rescued fly + Bear its kind witness to the saving hand? + Shall the mild Brahmin stand in equal sin + Regarding nature's menials, with the wretch + Who flays the moaning Abyssinian ox, + Or roasts the living bird, or flogs to death + The famishing pointer?--and must these again, + These poor, unguilty, uncomplaining victims, + Have no reward for life with its sharp pains?-- + They have my suffrage: Nineveh was spared, + Though Jonah prophesied its doom, for sake + Of sixscore thousand infants, and 'much cattle;' + And space is wide enough for every grain + Of the broad sands that curb our swelling seas, + Each separate in its sphere to stand apart + As far as sun from sun; there lacks not room, + Nor time, nor care, where all is infinite."--_Tupper._ + + + + +THE REFORMED PRACTICE. + +SYNOPTICAL VIEW OF THE PROMINENT SYSTEMS OF MEDICINE. + + +Some of our readers, especially the non-medical, may desire to know what +the following remarks, which appear to apply generally to the human +family, have to do with cattle doctoring. We answer them in the language +of Professor Percival. "The object of the veterinary art is not only +congenial with human medicine, but the very same paths which lead to a +knowledge of the diseases of man, lead also to a knowledge of those of +brutes. An accurate examination of the interior parts of their bodies; a +studious survey of the arrangement, structure, use, connection, and +relation of these parts, and of the laws by which they act; as also of +the nature and properties of the various food and other agents which the +earth so liberally provides for their support and cure,--these form, in +a great measure, the sound and sure foundation of all medical science, +whatever living individual animal be the subject of our consideration. +Whether we prescribe for a man, horse, dog, or cat, the laws of the +animal economy are the same; and one system, and that based upon +established facts, is to guide our practice in all. + +"The theory of medicine in the human subject is the theory of medicine +in the brute; it is the application of that theory--the practice +alone--that is different. + +"We might as well, in reference to the principles of each, attempt to +separate surgery from medicine, as insist that either of these arts, in +theory, is essentially different from the veterinary: every day's +experience serves to confirm this our belief, and in showing us how +often the diseases of animals arise from the same causes as those of a +man, exhibit the same indications, and require a similar method of cure. + +"The science of medicine, like others, consists of a collection of facts +of a common and not a specific character. These, therefore, admit of +arrangement into different systems, according to the notions of +theorists, and the various species of philosophy, brought to bear on the +subject. + +"The first regular system was founded by Hippocrates, about three +hundred and eighty years before Christ. It was founded upon _theory_, +and comprised the doctrines of the ancient dogmatic school. Its +pathology rested upon a supposed change of the humors of the body, +particularly the blood and bile; and here are the first elements of the +'_humoral pathology_.' Its remedial intentions were founded upon the +existence of the _'vis conservatrix' et 'medicatrix naturæ;'_ and, +although often maintaining direct antipathic principles of action, it +rested mainly on physo-dynamic influence for the accomplishment of its +therapeutic purposes. + +"About two hundred and ninety years before Christ, Philinus of Cos +introduced the ancient _Empiric System_, which was founded upon +_experience_ and _observation_. About one hundred years before the +Christian era, the _Methodic System_ was introduced by Asclepiades of +Bithynia. This system was got up with an avowed opposition to that of +Hippocrates, which was called 'a study of death.' Themison of Laodicea, +pupil of Asclepiades, gives an exposition of the fundamental principles +of the methodic system; and it seems that all physiological and +pathological action was considered to be dependent upon the _strictum_ +and _laxum_ of the organic pores, or increased and decreased secretion, +and that all medicines act only on two principles, _i. e._, by inducing +contraction and relaxation, or an increase and decrease of the +secretions. + +"It would seem that, in the first century of the Christian era, the +methodic system was divided into various subordinate ones--the +_Pneumatic_, _Episynthetic_, and _Eclectic_. The pneumatic system, which +was the most popular of the fragments of the methodic, was most indebted +to Athenæus of Attalia for its successful introduction. This system +contemplated the doctrine of the Stoics, which recognized the existence +of a spirit governing and directing every thing, and which, when +offended, would produce disease; hence the name _pneumatic_. The +indications of cure were more _moral_ than _physical_. Fire, air, water, +&c., were not considered elements, but their properties--heat, cold, +dryness, moisture, &c.--were alone entitled to the name. + +"In the second century, the _Galenic System_ was founded by Claudius +Galenus. This might, indeed, only be considered the revival of the +dogmatic or Hippocratean system. Galen professed to have selected what +he found valuable from all the prevailing systems, and has embraced the +elements and ruling spirit of the pneumatic school. Thus he explained +the operation of medicines by reference to their elementary +qualities,--that is, heat, cold, dryness, and moisture,--of each of +which he admitted four degrees. But he was governed by a prevailing +partiality for the system of Hippocrates, which, he states, was either +misunderstood or misrepresented by all theorists, ever since the +establishment of the empiric and methodic schools. He devoted most of +his time to commenting upon and embellishing it, and thus again +established a system, founded on reason, observation, and sound +induction, which maintained its character, without a rival, for more +than one thousand five hundred years. + +"Near the middle of the sixteenth century, Paracelsus introduced the +_Chemical System_. This was strongly opposed by Bellonius and Riverius, +who maintained the doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen. But the +presumptuous Paracelsus burned, 'in solemn state,' the works of the +ancients; and being succeeded by the indefatigable Van Helmont, the +whole science of medicine was overwhelmed by the mysticism of the +alchemical doctrines and languages. The chemical theory, in the main, +rejects the influence, or even the existence, of the _vis medicatrix +naturæ_, and explains all physiological, pathological, and therapeutic +operations upon abstract chemical laws. Thus chemical or inorganic +agents, and many of the most virulent poisons, as arsenic, mercury, +antimony, &c., were placed among the most prominent remedies. + +"Soon after the introduction of the chemical system, medical science, if +we make one exception, became less eccentric, but much less marked for +the permanency of its systems. Boerhaave ingeniously blended most of the +prominent doctrines of the Galenic and chemical systems; and by an +application of several of the newly-developed natural sciences, +especially mathematics and natural philosophy, he led his successors +into a more even path and fixed method of investigation; for no more do +we find any abstract physical laws the sole basis of a system. But these +were the highest honors allowed Boerhaave; his particular system was +soon subverted by Stahl, who proved the supreme superintendence of an +immaterial, vital principle, corresponding to that pointed out by +Hippocrates. To this he ascribes intelligence, if not moral attributes. +Hoffman led Cullen into the path that brought him into the fruitful +field of _nervous pathology_ and solidism, which, with a modification of +Stahl's ruling _immaterial essence_, formed the groundwork of his +admired system. + +"If, now, we except the eccentricities of Brown, comprising his system, +founded on the _sthenic_ and _asthenic_ diathesis, we find little +interruption to the general prevalence of the Cullenian system, till +nearly the present juncture. The succeeding authors, colleges, and +medical societies have only modified and amplified the general theory, +and regulated the practice into a comparative uniformity, which now +constitutes the popular _Allopathic System_. But notwithstanding the +comparatively settled state of medical science, it could not be supposed +that in this remarkable age of improvement, while all other liberal +sciences and arts are progressing as if prosecuted by superhuman agency, +medicine should fail to undergo corresponding improvement. + +"Several new systems of medicine date themselves within the last forty +years, viz.: 1. The _Homæopathic_, introduced by Hahnemann, and founded +upon the principle, _similia similibus curantur_. 2. The _Botanic_, +established by a new class of medical philosophers, within the last +twenty years. 3. The _Eclectic_, corresponding, in its essential +doctrines, with the ancient eclectic system." + + + + +CREED OF THE REFORMERS. + + +We believe that a perfect system of medical science is that which never +allows disease to exist at all; which prevents disease, instead of +curing it, by means of a perfect hygienic system, proper modes of life, +attention to diet, ventilation, and exercise. + +We believe that the next best system is that which, after disease has +made its appearance, promptly meets its development by the use of such +agencies as are perfectly in harmony with the laws of life and health, +and physiological in their action; such, for example, as water, air, +heat and cold, friction, food, drink, and medicines that are not usually +regarded as poisons, and are known to prove congenial to the animal +constitution. + +We have no attachment to any remedy which experience shows unsafe; but, +on the contrary, we rejoice in the success of every attempt to +substitute sanative for disease-creating agents, and believe that a +number of the articles which are still occasionally used in the old +school, will in time become obsolete, as medical science progresses. + +We hold that our opposition to any course of medical treatment should be +in proportion to the mischief it produces, entirely irrespective of +medical theories. Hence our hostility to the lancet. + +We do not profess to know more about anatomy, physiology, surgery, &c., +than our allopathic brethren; but the superiority which our system +claims over others is, in the main, to be found in our therapeutic +agents, all of which are harmless, safe, and efficient. While they +arouse the energies of nature to resist the ravages of disease, they act +harmoniously with the vital principle, in the restoration of the system +from a pathological to the physiological state. + + + + +TRUE PRINCIPLES. + + +"Our objection to the old school," says Professor Curtis, "has ever +been, that they not only have no true principles to guide their +practice, but they have adopted, fixed, and obstinately adhered to +principles the very reverse of the true. They have resolved that, in +disease, nature turns a somerset--reverses all her normal laws, and +requires them to do the same. They have decreed that the best means and +processes to cure the sick are those which will most speedily kill them +when in health. In the face of all reason and common sense, they have +adhered to this doctrine and practice for the last three centuries, and +they have been constrained to confess that the destruction they have +produced on human life and health has far exceeded all that has been +effected by the sword, pestilence, and famine. Still they obstinately +persevere. They say their science is progressive--improving; yet its +progression consists in contriving new ways and means to take part of +the life's blood, and poison all the balance. + +"Medicine, being based on the laws of nature, is in itself an exact +science; and every process of the act should be directed by those laws. + +"Medicine is a demonstrative science, and all its processes should be +based on fixed laws, and be governed by positive inductions. Then, and +not till then, will it deserve to be ranked among the exact sciences, +and contemplated as a liberal art. + +"Truth is stationary; it never progresses. What was true in principle in +the days of Adam is so still. To talk of progress in principle is +ridiculous. Neither does a given practice progress. That which was ever +intrinsically good is so still. To talk, then, of the progress in +principles of medicine is absurd. We may learn the truth or error of +principles, and the comparative value or worthlessness of practices; but +the principles are still the same. This is our progress in knowledge, +not the progress of science or art. The constant changes that have taken +place in the adoption and rejection of various principles and practices +have ever been an injury to the healing art. Both truth and falsehood, +separately and combined, have been alternately received and rejected; +and this is that progress which is made in a circle, and not in lines +direct. The fault of the cultivators of medicine has been, not that they +never discovered the truth nor adopted the right practice, but that they +adopted wrong principles and practices as often as the right, and +rejected the right as readily as the wrong. They have ever been ready to +prove many, if not all things; but to cast off the bad and hold fast to +the good, they seem to have had but little discrimination and power. +They say truly, that the object of the healing art is to aid nature in +the prevention and cure of her diseases; yet, in practice, they do +violence to nature in the use of the lancet and poison." + +We are told by the professors of allopathy that their medicines +constitute a class of deadly poisons, (see "Pocket Pharmacopoeia;") +"that, when given with a scientific hand, in small doses, they cure +disease." We deny their power to cure. If antimony, corrosive sublimate, +&c., ever proved destructive, they always possess that power, and can +never be used with any degree of assurance that they will make a sick +animal well. On the other hand, we have abundant every-day evidence of +their ability to make a well animal sick at any time. What difference +does it make whether poisons are given with a scientific or an +unscientific hand? Does it alter the tendency which all poisons possess, +namely, that of rapidly depriving the system of vitality? + +The veterinary science was ushered into existence by men who practised +according to the doctrines of the theoretical schools. We may trace it +in its infancy when, in England, in the year 1788, it was rocked in the +cradle of allopathy by Sainbel, its texture varying to suit the skill of +Clark, Lawrence, Field, Blaine, and Coleman; yet with all their amount +of talent and wisdom, their pupils must acknowledge that the melancholy +triumph of disease over its victims clearly evinces that their combined +stock of knowledge is insufficient to perfect the veterinary science. +Dr. J. Bell says, "Anatomy is the basis of medical skill;" yet, in +another part of his work he says, "It enables the physician to +GUESS _at the seat, or causes, or consequences of disease_!" +This is what we propose hereafter to call the science--the science of +guessing! If such is the immense mortality in England, (amounting, as +Mr. Youatt states, in loss of cattle, alone, to $50,000,000,)--a country +that boasts of her veterinary institutions, and embraces within her +medical halo some of the brightest luminaries of the present +century,--what, we ask, is the mortality in the United States, where the +veterinary science scarcely has an existence, and where not one man in a +hundred can tell a disease of the bowels from one of the lungs? +Profiting by the experience of these men, we are in hopes to build up a +system of practice that will stand a tower of strength amid the rude +shock of medical theories. We have discovered that the lancet is a +powerful depressor of vitality, and that poisons derange, instead of +producing, healthy action. That they are generally resorted to in this +country, no one will deny, and often by men who are unacquainted with +the nature of the destructive agents they making use of. + +Hence our business, as reformers, is to expose error, and disseminate +true principles. In doing so, we must be guided by the light of reason, +and interpret aright the doctrines of nature as they are written by the +Creator on the tablets of the whole universe, animate and inanimate. + +In our reformed practice, we have true principles to guide us, which no +man can controvert; for they are based on the recognition of a curative +power in nature, identical with the vital principle, and governed by the +same laws that control its action in the healthy state. While, +therefore, this system must not change, it may improve; and while it +remains on the same foundation, it should progress. + +The necessity of aiding nature, in all our modes of medication, is the +only true principle which should guide us. This we do by the aid of +medicines known to be harmless, at the same time paying proper attention +to diet, ventilation, exercise, &c., rejecting all processes of cure +that depress the vital energy, or destroy the equilibrium of its action. + +Our reformed principles teach us that, "Fever is the same in its +essential character, under all circumstances and forms which it +exhibits. The different kinds, as they are called, are but varieties of +the same condition, produced by variations in the prevailing cause, or +the strength of vital resistance, or some other peculiarity of the +patient. Facts in abundance might be stated to justify this position. +Again, fever is not to be regarded as disease, but as a sanative effort; +in other words, as an increased or excited state of vital action, whose +tendency is to remove from the system any agents or causes that would +effect its integrity. Or, perhaps, it might be more properly said, that +fever is the effect, or symptom, of accumulated vital action--an index +pointing to the progress of causes, operating to ward off disease and +restore health. + +"Our indications of cure and modes of treatment are to be learned from +those manifestations of the vital operations uniformly witnessed in the +febrile state. If fever marks the action of the healing power of nature, +which we must copy to be successful, why should we not consult the +febrile phenomena for our rule of action? Now, what are the indications +of cure which we derive from this source? In other words, what are the +results which nature designs to accomplish through the instrumentality +of fever? They are, an equilibrium of the circulation, a +properly-proportioned action of all the organs, and an increased +depuration of the system, principally by cutaneous evacuations." + +Suppose the resistance of some local obstruction, as, for example, an +accumulation of partly digested food in the manyplus of the ox, and, for +want of a due portion of the gastric fluids to soften the mass and +prevent friction, it irritates the mucous covering of the laminæ. The +result is inflammation, (local fever,) then general excitement, +manifested in an increased state of the circulation generally. The +consequences of this general excitement of the mass of the circulation +are, a more equal distribution of the blood, and the stimulation of +every organ to do a part, according to its capacity, in removing +disease. In such cases, the cattle doctors, generally, suppose that the +inflammation is confined to the part, (manyplus;) yet it is evident that +nature has marshalled her forces and produced a like action on the +external surface. How can we prove that this is the case? By the heat, +and red surfaces of the membrane lining the nostril, by the accelerated +pulse, thirst, &c. Without heat there is no vitality in the system. Now, +if the surface be hot, it proves that a large quantity of blood is sent +there for the purpose of relieving the deranged internal organ. Hence +the reader will perceive, that the cattle doctor whose creed is, "The +more fever, the more blood-letting," must be one of the greatest +opponents nature has to deal with. Then it is no wonder that so many +cattle, sheep, and oxen die of fever. The practice of purging, in such a +case, would be almost as destructive as the former; for many articles +used as purges act on the mucous surfaces of the alimentary canal as +mechanical irritants. Nature would, in this case, have to recall her +forces from the surface, and concentrate them in the vicinity of parts +where they were not wanted, had not man's interference conflicted with +her well-planned arrangement, and made her "turn a somerset." When the +increased action and heat are manifested on the surface, does it not +prove that the different organs are acting harmoniously in self-defence? +And is not this action manifested through the same channels in a state +of health? Then why call it _disease_? + +If obstructions exist as the cause of fever, will the mode of evacuation +be different from that of health? Certainly not. Hence the marked +tendency of fever to evacuation by the skin or the bowels; the former by +perspiration, and the latter by diarrhoea. Fever, then, is a vital +action, and the reformers have correct principles. On the other hand, +the allopathists tell us that they know very little about fever, but +that it is disease, and they treat it as such; hence, then, five, ten, +and fourteen days' fever, and often the death of the patient. + +Our treatment is not directed with a view of combating the fever: we +generally aid it by following the indications which it presents; and we +often find it necessary, although the surface of the animal shall be +hot, and feverish symptoms appear, to use stimulants, (not alcoholic,) +combined with antispasmodics and relaxants. (See _Stimulants_, in the +APPENDIX.) This class of medicines, aided by warmth and +moisture, favors the cutaneous exhalation, and promotes the free and +full play of all the functions. + +That the allopathist has but few principles to guide him is evident from +the following quotations:-- + +Veterinary surgeon Haycock says, "The profession may flatter itself that +it is advancing: for my part, however, I see little or no advancement. +Our labors, for the last ten years, have been little more than a +repetition of what has gone before. Our books are things of shreds and +patches; the system which is followed in the investigation of disease, +in the treatment of disease, and in the reporting of it, is altogether +so crude and barbarous, that I am thoroughly ashamed of the whole +matter. + +"I have heard much noise about a _charter_, [which, we presume, means a +charter by which men may be licensed to kill _secundum artem_, and '_no +questions_ ASKED,'] the clamor of which may be compared to the +rattling of peas in a dried bladder, or to a storm in a horse-pond. I +have also read much which has been said about the _spirit_ of this +charter. Until I am convinced that it is the best term which can be +applied to it, verily the whole is a spirit; for no one, I am persuaded, +has ever yet discovered the substance.[3] It is not charters that we +want, _but it is that quiet spirit of earnestness which characterizes +the true laborer on science_. We require men who will labor for the +advancement of the profession from the pure love of the thing; we want, +in fact, a few John Fields, or men who know how to work, and who are +possessed of the will to do it." + +We hear a great deal said about sending young men from this country to +Europe to acquire the principles of the veterinary art, with a view to +public teaching. Now, it appears to us that the United States can boast +of as great a number of talented physicians, as well qualified to soon +learn and understand the fundamental principles of the veterinary art, +as their brethren of the old world. There is no country, probably, that +can boast of such an amount of talent, in every department of +literature and art, in proportion to the population, as the United +States. We know that the veterinary art, with one exception, had its +existence from human practitioners, received their fostering care and +attention, and grew with their growth. Have we not the materials, then, +in this country, to educate and qualify young men to practise this +important branch of science? Most certainly. Just send a few to us, for +example, and if we do not impart to them a better system of medication +than that practised in Europe, by which they will be enabled to treat +disease with more success and less deaths, then we will agree to "throw +physic to the dogs," and abandon our profession. + +The greatest part of the most valuable time of the students of +veterinary medicine is devoted to the study of pathology, in such a +manner as to afford little instruction. For example, we are told that in +"Bright's" disease of the kidneys they have detected albumen. What does +this amount to? Does it throw any rational light on the treatment other +than that proposed by us, of toning up the animal, and restoring the +healthy secretions? They have studied pathology to their hearts' +content; yet any intelligent farmer in this country, with a few simple +herbs, can beat them at curing disease. We would give details, were it +necessary. Suffice it to say, that it is done here every day, and often +through the aid of a little thoroughwort tea, or other harmless agent. +The pathologist may discover alterations in tissues, in the blood, and +the various organs, and tell us that herein lie the cause and seat of +disease; yet these changes themselves are but results, and preceding +these were other manifestations of disorder; therefore pathology must +always be imperfect, because it is a science of consequences. + +The most powerful microscopes have been used to discover the seat of +disease; yet this has not taught us to cure one single disease hitherto +incurable. + +The old school boast that their whole system of blood-letting, purging, +and poisoning is based on _enlightened experience_! yet their victims +have often discovered, by dear-bought "experience," (_many of whom are +now doing penance with ulcerated gums, rotten teeth, and foetid breath_,) +that, however valuable this "experience" may be to the M. D.'s, they, +the recipients, have not derived that benefit which they were led to +expect would accrue to them. From what has already been written in this +work, the reader, provided he divests himself of all prejudice, will +perceive that allopathic experience is not to be trusted, for their +principles are false; hence their experience is also false. Professor +Curtis, to whom we are indebted for much valuable information, says, "Do +not the old school argue that the most destructive agents in nature may +be made to '_aid the vital forces in the removal of disease_ by the +judicious application of them'? Does not Professor Harrison say, that +the lancet is the great anti-inflammatory agent of the _materia medica_, +that opium is the _magnum Dei donum_ (the great gift of God) for the +relief of pain, and that mercury is the great regulator of all the +secretions?" + +Anatomy and physiology are now being taught in our public schools. The +people will, ere long, constitute themselves umpires to decide when +doctors disagree. We apprehend it will then be hard work to convince the +intelligent and thinking part of the community that poisons and the +lancet are sanative agents. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] Mr. White says, "According to the present system of teaching in +these chartered institutions, there is very little benefit to be derived +by the student." + +Mr. Blane experienced in his own person the results of this imperfect +system of teaching. He was sent for to fire a valuable horse, and gives +the following account of it: "It was my first essay in firing on my own +account, and _fired_ as I was with my wishes to signalize myself, I +labored to enter my novitiate with all due honor. The farrier of the +village was ordered to attend, a sturdy old man, civil enough, but +looking as though impressed with no very high respect for a _gentleman +farrier's knowledge_. The horse was cast, awkwardly enough, and secured, +as will appear, even more so. I, however, proceeded to show the +superiority of the new over the old schools. I had just then left the +veterinary college, not as a pupil, but as a teacher, which I only +mention to mark the climax. On the very first application of the iron, +up started my patient, flinging me and my assistants in all directions +from him, while he trotted and snorted round the yard with rope, &c. at +his heels. As may be supposed, I was taken aback, and might have gone +back as I came, had not the old farrier, with much good humor, caught +the horse round the neck with his arms, and by some dexterous manoeuvre +brought him on his knees; when, with a jerk, as quick as unexpected, he +threw him at once on his side, when our immediate assistants fixed him, +and we proceeded. It is needless to remark that I retired mortified, and +left the village farrier lord of the ascendant." + +"It cannot be doubted that the best operators in this case are always +the common country farriers, who, from devoting themselves entirely to +the occupation, soon become proficient." + +This admission on the part of a regular graduate of a veterinary +institution of London shows that the veterinary science, as taught at +the present day, is a matter for reproach. The melancholy triumph of +disease over its victims shows that the science is mere moonshine; that, +in regard to its most important object, the _cure of disease_, it is +mere speculation, rich in theory, but poverty-stricken in its results. +Hence we have not only proof that the American people will be immense +gainers by availing themselves of the labors of reforms, but, as +interested individuals, they have great encouragement to favor our more +rational system of treatment. (For additional remarks on this subject, +see the author's work on the Horse, p. 105.) + + + + +INFLAMMATION. + + +Inflammation has generally been considered the great bugbear of the old +school, and the scarecrow of the cattle doctor. But what do they know +about it? Let us see. + +Dr. Thatcher says, "Numerous hypotheses or opinions respecting the true +nature and cause of inflammation have for ages been advanced, and for a +time sustained; but even at the present day, the various doctrines +appear to be considered altogether problematical." + +Professor Percival says, "Inflammation consists in an increased action +of the arteries, and may be either _healthy_ or _unhealthy_[4]--a +distinction that appears to relate to some peculiarity of the +constitution." + +We find inflammation described by most old school authors as disease, +and they treat it as such. Professor Payne says, "A great majority of +all the disorders to which the human frame is liable begin with +inflammation, or end in inflammation, or are accompanied by inflammation +in some part of their course, or resemble inflammation in their +symptoms. Most of the organic changes in different parts of the body +recognize inflammation as their cause, or lead to it as their effect. In +short, a very large share of the premature extinctions of human life in +general is more of less attributable to inflammation." + +The term _inflammation_ has long been employed by medical men to denote +the existence of an unusual degree of redness, pain, heat, and swelling +in any of the textures or organs of which the body is composed. +Professor Curtis says, "But as inflammation sometimes exists without the +exhibition of any of these symptoms, authors have been obliged to +describe it by its causes, in attendant symptoms, and its effects. It is +not more strange than true, that, after studying this subject for, _as +they say_, four thousand years, experimenting on it and with it, and +defining it, the sum of all their knowledge and definitions is +this--inflammation in the animal frame is either a simple or compound +action, increased or diminished, or a cessation of all action; it either +causes, or is caused, or is accompanied, by all the forms of disease to +which the body is subject; it is the only agent of cure in every case in +which a cure is effected; it destroys all that die, except by accident +or old age; it is both disease itself, and the only antidote to disease; +it is the pathological principle which lies at the base of all others; +it is that which the profession least of all understand." + +Who believes, then, that the science of medicine is based on a sure +foundation? + +The following selections from the allopathic works will prove what is +above stated. + +"Pure inflammation is rather an effort of nature than a disease; yet it +always implies disease or disturbance, inasmuch as there must be a +previous morbid or disturbed state to make such an effort +necessary."--_Hunter_, vol. iv. pp. 293, 294. + +"As inflammation is an action produced for the restoration of the most +simple injury in sound parts which goes beyond the power of union by the +first intention, we must look upon it as one of the most simple +operations in nature, whatever it may be when arising from disease, or +diseased parts. Inflammation is to be considered only a disturbed state +of parts, which requires a new but salutary mode of action to restore +them to that state wherein a natural mode of action alone is necessary. +Therefore inflammation in itself is not to be considered a disease, but +a salutary operation consequent either to some violence or to some +disease."--_Ibid._ vol. iv. p. 285. + +"A wound or bruise cannot recover itself but by inflammation_."--Ibid._ +p. 286. + +"From whatever cause inflammation arises, it appears to be nearly the +same in all; for in all it is an effort intended to bring about a +reinstatement of the parts to their natural function."--_Ibid._ p. 286. + +_Results of Inflammation._--"Inflammation is said to terminate in +resolution, effusion, adhesion, suppuration, ulceration, granulation, +cicatrization, and mortification. All these different terminations, +except the last, may be regarded as so many _vital_ processes, exerted +in different parts of the animal economy."--_Prof. Thompson_, p. 97. + +"Inflammation must needs occupy a large share of attention of both the +physician and the surgeon. In nine cases out of ten, the first question +which either of them asks himself, on being summoned to the patient, is, +_Have I to deal with inflammation here?_ It is constantly the object of +his treatment and watchful care. It affects all parts that are furnished +with blood-vessels, and it affects different parts very variously.... It +is by inflammation that wounds are closed and fractures repaired--that +parts adhere together when their adhesion is essential to the +preservation of the individual, and that foreign and hurtful matters are +conveyed out of the body. A cut finger, a deep sabre wound, alike +require inflammation to reunite the divided parts. Does ulceration occur +in the stomach or intestines, and threaten to penetrate through +them--inflammation will often forerun and provide against the +danger--glue the threatened membrane to whatever surface may be next +it.... The foot mortifies, is killed by injury or by exposure to +cold--inflammation will cut off the dead and useless part. An abscess +forms in the liver, or a large calculus concretes in the gall-bladder: +how is the pus or the calculus to be got rid of?... Partial inflammation +precedes and prepares for the expulsion; the liver or the gall-bladder +becomes adherent to the walls of the abdomen on the one hand, or to the +intestinal canal on the other; and then the surgeon may plunge his +lancet into the collection of pus, or the abscess; or the calculus may +cut its own way safely out of the body, through the skin or into the +bowels."--_Watson_, p. 94. + +"The salutary acts of restoration and prevention just adverted to, are +such as nature conducts and originates. But we are ourselves able, in +many instances, to direct and control the effect of inflammation--nay, +we can excite it at our pleasure; and, having excited it, we are able, +in a great degree, to regulate its course. And for this reason it +becomes, in skilful hands, an instrument of cure."--_Ibid._ p. 94. + +The above quotations are not complete. They are selections from the +sources whence they are drawn of those portions which testify that fever +and inflammation are one and the same thing, and that this same thing +consists in a salutary effort of nature to protect the organs of the +body from the action of the causes of disease, or to remove those causes +and their effects from the organs once diseased. That the same authors +teach the very contrary of all this in the same paragraphs, and often in +the same sentences, the following extracts will clearly prove:-- + +_Inflammation produces disease._--"When inflammation cannot accomplish +that salutary purpose, (a cure,) as in cancer, scrofula, &c., it does +mischief."--_Hunter_, p. 285. + +"Inflammation is occasionally the cause of disease."--_Ibid._ p. 286. + +"In one point of view, it may be considered as a disease +itself."--_Ibid._ + +"It may be divided into two kinds, the healthy and the unhealthy.... The +unhealthy admits of a vast variety," &c.--_Ibid._ + +"Inflammation often produces mortification or death in the inflamed +part."--_Ibid._ vol. iv. p. 305. + +"In the light of such authorities, it is surely not strange that no +definite knowledge can be obtained of the nature, character, or tendency +of inflammation. Of course, no one will dispute the proposition, that +medicine, as taught in the schools, is a superstructure without a +foundation, and should be wholly rejected."--_Prof. Curtis._ + +If the regulars have no correct theory of inflammation, then their +system of blood-letting is all wrong. This they acknowledge; for many +with whom we have lately conversed say, "We do not use the lancet so +often as formerly." One very good reason is, the sovereign people will +not let them. Would it not be better for them to abolish its use +altogether, as we have done, and avail themselves of the reform of the +age? + +The following remarks, selected from an address delivered by our +respected preceptor, Professor Brown, ought to be read by every friend +of humanity. + +"The very air groans with the bitter anathemas the people pronounce upon +calomel, antimony, copper, zinc, arsenic, arsenious acid, stramonium, +foxglove, belladonna, henbane, nux vomica, opium, morphia, and +narcotin. + +"Hear their bitter cries, borne on every breeze, 'Help! help! help!' See +the dim taper of life; it glimmers--'tis gone! Vitality struggled, and +struggled manfully to the last. The poisonous dose was repeated, till +the citadel was yielded up. + +"The doctor arrives and attempts to comfort and quiet the broken-hearted +widow, and helpless, dependent, fatherless children, by recounting the +frailties of poor human nature, and reminding them of the fact that all +men must die. + +"And thus the work of death goes on: the tenderest ties are severed; +children are left fatherless; parents are bereaved of their children; +families are reduced to fragments; society deprived of her best +citizens, and the world filled with misery, confusion, and poverty, in +consequence of an evil system of medication.... + +"The ball is in motion, the banner of medical reform waves gracefully +over our beloved country. Hosts of the right stripe are coming to the +rescue. Poisons are condemned, the lancet is growing dull, the effusion +of blood will soon cease, the battles are half fought, and the victory +is sure.... While we would have you adhere to the well-established, +fundamental principles of reformed medical science, as taught in this +school, we would have you recollect that discoveries in knowledge are +progressing.... Never entertain the foolish, absurd, and dangerous idea, +that because you have been to college, you have learned all that is to +be learned--that your education is finished, and you have nothing more +to learn. The college is a place where we go to learn how to learn, and +the world is the great university, in which our educational exercises +terminate with our last expiring breath." + +The author craves the reader's indulgence for introducing Dr. Brown's +remarks at this stage of the work. It is intended for a class of readers +(_the farmers_) who have not the time to make themselves acquainted with +all that is going on in the medical world. We aim to make the book +acceptable to that class of men. If we fail, the fault is in us, not in +our subjects. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[4] Inflammation is a vital action, and cannot be properly termed +_diseased_ action. The only action that can be properly termed +_diseased_ is the chemical action. + + + + +REMARKS, + +SHOWING THAT VERY LITTLE IS KNOWN OF THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF +DISEASE. + + +Mr. Percival details a case of peritonitis,[5] after the usual symptoms +in the early stage had subsided. "The horse's bowels became much +relaxed: suspecting that there was some disorder in the alimentary +canal, and that this was an effort of nature to get rid of it, I +promoted the diarrhoea by giving mild doses of cathartic medicine, in +combination with calomel!" [Nature did not require such assistance: warm +drinks, composed of marshmallows, or slippery elm, would have been just +the thing.] + +"On the third day from this, prolapsus ani (falling of the fundament) +made its appearance. After the return of the gut, the animal grew daily +duller, and more dejected, manifesting evident signs of considerable +inward disorder, though he showed none of acute pain; the diarrhoea +continued; swelling of the belly and tumefaction of the legs speedily +followed: eight pounds of blood were drawn, and two ounces of oil of +turpentine were given internally, and in spite of another bleeding, and +some subordinate measures, carried him off [the treatment, we presume] +in the course of a few hours. + +"Dissection: a slight blush pervaded the peritoneum; at least the +parietal portion of it, for the coats of the stomach and intestines +preserved their natural whiteness. About eight gallons of water were +measured out of the belly.[6] The abdominal viscera, as well as the +thoracic, showed no marks of disease." + +We have stated, in the preceding pages, that the farmers can generally +treat some cases of disease, by simple means, with much better success +than some of the regulars; yet there are exceptions. Some of them have +been inoculated with the virus of allopathy; and when an animal is taken +sick, and manifests evident signs of great derangement, they seem to +suppose that the more medicine they cram down the better, forgetting, +perhaps not knowing, that the province of the physician is to know when +to do nothing. Others err from want of judgment; and if they have an +animal sick, they send for the neighbors; each one has a favorite +remedy; down go castor oil, aloes, gin and molasses, in rapid +succession. "He has inflammation of the insides," says one; "give him +salts." No sooner said than done; the salts are hurried down, and, of +course, find their way into the paunch. These, together with a host of +medicines too numerous to mention, are tried without effect: all is +commotion within; fermentation commences; gas is evolved; the animal +gives signs of woe. As a last resort, paunching, bleeding, &c., follow; +perhaps the horns are bored, or some form of barbarity practised, and +the animal dies under the treatment. + +A case similar to the above came under our notice a few months since. A +cow, of a superior breed, was sent a few miles into the country to +winter. Having always had the very best of feed, the owner gave +particular instructions that she should be fed accordingly; instead of +which, however, she was fed on foxgrass and other indigestible matter, +in consequence of which she was attacked with acute indigestion, +(gastric fever, as it is generally called,) more popularly known, in +barn-yard language, as a "stoppage." A man professing to understand +_cow-doctoring_ was sent for, who, after administering "every thing he +could think of" without success, gave a mixture of hog's lard and castor +oil. When asked what indication he expected to fulfil, he replied, "My +object was to wake up the cow's ideas"! Unfortunately, he awoke the +wrong ideas; for the cow died. On making a post mortem examination, +about half a bushel of partly-masticated foxgrass was found in the +paunch, and the manyplus was distended beyond its physiological +capacity. On making an incision into it, the partly-digested food was +quite hard and dry, and the mucous covering of the laminæ--even the +laminæ themselves--could be detached with the slightest force. The +farmer will probably inquire, What ought to be done in such cases? +Before we answer the question, a few remarks on the nature of the +obstruction seem to be necessary. + +In the article _Description of the Organs of Digestion_, the reader will +learn the modes by which the food reaches the different compartments of +the stomach. In reference to the above case, the causes of derangement +are self-evident, which will be seen as we proceed. The animal had, +previous to the journey, (thirty miles,) received the greatest care and +attention; in short, she had been petted. Being pregnant at the time, +the stomach was more susceptible to derangement than at any other time. +The long journey could not act otherwise than unfavorably: first, +because it would fatigue the muscular system; secondly, because it would +irritate the nervous. Here, then, are the first causes; and it is +important, in all cases of a deviation from health, to ascertain, as +near as possible, the causes, and remove them. _This is considered the +first step towards a cure._ If we cannot remove the causes, we are +enabled, by an inquiry into them, to adopt the most efficient means for +the recovery of the animal. The animal having had a bountiful meal +before starting on the journey, and not being allowed sufficient time to +remasticate, (rumination is partially or totally suspended during active +exercise,) probably, combined with the above causes, an acute attack of +the stomach set in--subsided after a few days, and left those organs in +a debilitated state. The sudden change in diet also acted unfavorably, +especially as the foxgrass required more than ordinary gastric power to +reduce it to a pulpy mass, fit to enter the fourth, or true digestive +stomach. For want of a due share of vital action in the abomasum, +(fourth stomach,) it was unable to perform its part in the physiological +process of digestion; hence the accumulation found in the manyplus. The +causes of the detachment of laminæ, and the blanched appearances,--for +it was as white as new linen,--were partly chemical and partly +mechanical. The mechanical obstruction consisted in over-distention of +the manyplus from food, thereby obstructing the circulation of the blood +through its parietes, (walls,) and depriving it not only of nutriment, +from the nerves of nutrition, but paralyzing its secretive function. It +then became a prey to chemical action and decomposition. The indications +of cure were, to arouse the digestive organs by stimulants, then by +anti-spasmodic, relaxing, and tonic medicines, (for which see +APPENDIX:) the digestive organs would probably have recommenced +their healthy action, and the life of the animal might have been saved. +Oil and grease, of every description and kind, are not suitable remedies +to administer to cattle when laboring under indigestion; for at best +their action is purely mechanical, and cannot be assimilated by the +nutritive function so as to act medicinally. Linseed oil is, however, +absorbed and diffused. If the animal labors under obstinate +constipation, and it is evident that the obstruction is confined to the +intestines, then we may resort to a dose of oil. + +The reader will perceive the benefits to be derived from a knowledge of +animal physiology and veterinary medicine, when based upon sound +principles and common sense. He will also see the importance of having +educated and honorable men employed in cattle-doctoring. No doubt there +are such; but surely something is "rotten in Denmark;" for we are +repeatedly told by our patrons that they "judge of the merits of the +veterinary art by the men they find engaged in it." + +_Scientific Treatment of Colic, or Gripes._--"On the 5th September, +1824, a young bay mare was admitted into the infirmary with symptoms of +colic, for which she lost eight pounds of blood before she came in. The +following drench was prescribed to be given immediately: laudanum and +oil of turpentine, of each, three ounces, with the addition of six +ounces of decoction of aloes. In the course of half an hour, this was +repeated! But shortly after, she vomited the greater part by the mouth +and nostrils. No relief having been obtained, twelve pounds of blood +were taken from her, and the same drink was given. In another hour, this +drench was repeated; and, for the fourth time, during the succeeding +hour; both of which, before death, she rejected, as she had done the +second drink. Notwithstanding these active measures were promptly taken, +she died about three hours after her admission." (See Clark's _Essay on +Gripes_.) It appears that the doctors made short work of it. Twelve +ounces of laudanum, and the same of turpentine,[7] in three hours! But +this is "_secundum artem_" "skilful treatment"--a specimen of "science +and skill," and justifiable in every case where the symptoms are +"alarming." Let the reader, if he has ever seen a case of colic treated +by us, contrast the result. Had the case been treated with relaxing, +anti-spasmodic, carminative drinks, warmth and moisture externally, +injections internally, and frictions generally, the poor animal would, +probably, have been saved. We have attended many cases of the same sort, +and have not yet lost the first one. + +_Extraordinary case of "cattle doctoring"!--which ought to be termed +cattle-killing._--We were requested by Mr. S. of Waltham, December 18, +1850, to see a sick cow. The following is the history of the case: The +cow, as near as we could judge, was of native breed, in good condition, +and in her eighth pregnant month; pulse, 80 per minute; respirations, 36 +per minute; external surface, ears, horns, and legs, cold. She had not +dunged for several days. She was found lying on her belly, with her head +turned round towards the left side. She struggled occasionally, and +appeared to suffer from abdominal pain. She uttered a low, moaning sound +when pressure was made on the abdominal muscles. The following facts +were related to us by the owner, which we give in his own language. "I +bought the cow, and drove her about 200 miles to this place. She had +been here about a week, when I perceived she did not eat her feed as +well as usual. She became sick about nine days ago, I thought it best to +begin to doctor her! I employed a man who was reputed to be a pretty +good cattle doctor. She got pretty well dosed between us, for we first +gave her one pound of salts. The next day we gave her another pound. +Finding this also failed to have the desired effect, we gave her one +pound eight ounces more. She kept getting worse. We next gave her a +quart of urine. She still grew worse. Two table-spoonfuls of gunpowder +and a quarter of a pound of antimony were then given; still no +improvement. As a last resort, we gave her eight drops of croton oil; a +few hours afterwards, nine drops more were given; and a final dose of +twenty drops of the same article was administered. The cow rolled her +eyes as if she were about to die. I then called in the neighbors to kill +her, when one of them advised me to come and see you." The reader will +here perceive that we had a pretty desperate case; having been called in +just at the eleventh hour. We may here remark that the cow had been +under treatment nine days, during which time she had eaten scarcely any +food, and passed but very little excrement. The medicine had been given +at different stages during that period. There was evidently no +accumulation of excrement in the rectum, for she had been raked and +received several injections. + +As we were not requested to take charge of the case, the owner being +unwilling to incur additional expense, we, therefore, with a view of +giving present relief, and fulfilling the necessary indications, ordered +the following: + + Powdered slippery elm, 1 table-spoonful. + " caraways, 1 tea-spoonful. + " marshmallows, 1 table-spoonful. + " skullcap, 1 tea-spoonful. + " grains of paradise, 1 tea-spoonful. + +A sufficient quantity of boiling water to form it into the consistence +of thin gruel; a junk bottle full to be given every two hours. + +Directions were given to rub the ears and extremities until they were +warm, and the strength of the animal to be supported with thin flour +gruel. + +The indications to be fulfilled were as follows:-- + +1st. To lubricate the mucous surfaces, and defend them from the action +of the drugs. + +2d. To arouse the digestive function, and prevent the generation of +carbonic acid gas. + +3d. To allay nervous excitement, and remove spasms. + +Lastly. To equalize the circulation. + +The first indication can be fulfilled by slippery elm and marshmallows; +the second, by caraway seeds; the third, by skullcap; and the fourth, by +grains of paradise. + +We have not been able, up to the present time, to ascertain the result. + +Here, then, are a few examples of horse and cattle doctoring, which we +might multiply indefinitely, did we think it would benefit the reader. +We ask the reader to ponder on these facts, and then answer the +question, "What do horse and cattle doctors know about the treatment of +disease?" + +It gives us much pleasure, however, and probably it will the reader, to +know that a few of the veterinary surgeons of London are just beginning +to see the error of their ways. The following contribution to the +Veterinarian, from the pen of Veterinary Surgeon Haycock, will be read +with interest. The quotations are not complete. We only select those +portions which we deem most instructive to our readers. The disease to +which it alludes, _puerperal fever_, has made, and is at the present +time making, sad havoc among the stock of our cattle-growing interest; +and it stands us in hand to gather honey wherever we can find it. "Of +the various questions which present themselves to traders and owners of +cattle respecting puerperal fever, the following are, perhaps, a few of +the most important: First. At what period of their life are cows the +most liable to be attacked with puerperal fever? Secondly. At what +period after the animal has calved does the disease generally supervene? +Thirdly. What is the average rate of mortality amongst cows attacked +with this disease? Fourthly. What is the best method to pursue with +cattle, in order, if possible, to prevent the disease? Fifthly. What is +the best mode of treatment to be pursued with cattle when so attacked? +To these several questions I shall endeavor to reply as fully as my own +knowledge of the matter will allow me. They are questions which ought to +have been answered years ago; [so they would have been, doctor, if, as +Curtis says, your brethren had not been _progressing in a circle, +instead of direct lines_;] but no one appears to have thought it +necessary. They are questions of great importance to the agriculturist; +if they were fully answered, he would be able to form a pretty accurate +estimate as to the amount of risk he was likely at all times to incur +with respect to puerperal diseases of a febrile nature. For instance, +suppose it was fully ascertained, from data furnished by the correct +observations of a number of practitioners, at what period of the cow's +life the animal is most liable to be attacked with puerperal fever; the +agriculturist and cow-keeper would be able, in a considerable degree, to +guard against it, either by feeding the animal, or taking such other +steps as a like experience proved to be the best. It is of no earthly +use practitioners writing 'grandiloquent' papers upon diseases like +puerperal fever; or in their telling the world, that puerperal fever is +a disease of the nervous system; or that the name which is given to it +is very improper, _and not suggestive; or that bleeding and the +administration of a powerful purgative are proper to commence with_; +together with hosts of stereotyped statements of a like +nature--statements which are unceasingly repeated, and which are without +one jot of sound experience to substantiate them. [All good and sound +doctrine.] + +"Question First. _At what period of their lives are cows the most liable +to be attacked with puerperal fever?_ I have in my possession notes and +memoranda of twenty-nine cases of this disease, which notes and +memoranda I have collected from cases I have treated from the month of +July, 1842, to the month of July, 1849--a period of seven years; and +with reference to the above question the figures stand thus: Out of the +twenty-nine, three of them were attacked at the third parturient period, +five ditto at the fourth, sixteen at the fifth, two at the sixth, and +three at the eighth. + +"It appears, then, from the above numbers, that cows are the most liable +to puerperal fever at the fifth parturient period--a fact which is +noticed by Mr. Barlow. + +"Secondly. _At what period after the animal has calved does the disease +generally supervene?_ With reference to this question, the twenty-nine +cases stand thus:-- + + 5 cows immediately after parturition. + 8 " in 20 hours " " + 6 " in 23 " " " + 5 " in 24 " " " + 3 " in 30 " " " + 2 " in 36 " " " + 1 " in 72 " " " + +"It appears, then, from the above, that after the twentieth and +twenty-fourth hours, the animals, comparatively speaking, may be +considered as safe from the disease; and that after the seventy-second +or seventy-third hour, all danger may be considered as past, beyond +doubt. + +"Thirdly. _What is the average rate of mortality amongst cows attacked +with this disease?_ Out of the 29 cases, 12, I find, recovered and 17 +died; which loss is equivalent to somewhere about 59 per cent.--a loss +which, I am inclined to think, is not so great as that of many other +practitioners. [It will be still less if you reject poison as well as +the lancet.] + +"Mr. Cartwright, in the May number of the Veterinarian of the present +year, states that, 'Although I have seen at least a hundred cases, +chiefly in this neighborhood, [Whitchurch,] during the last twenty-five +years, yet I am almost ashamed to confess that I cannot call to +recollection that I ever cured a single case, [neither will you ever +cure one as long as the lancet and poison are coöperative,] nor have I +ever heard of a case ever being cured by any of the quacks in the +neighborhood.' [Of course not, for the quacks follow in the footsteps of +their prototypes, the _regular_ veterinary surgeons.] + +"Fourthly. _What is the best method to pursue with cattle, in order, if +possible, to_ PREVENT _the disease?_ This is a question which I +hope to see amply discussed by veterinarians. I have but little to offer +respecting it myself; but I labor under a kind of feeling that something +valuable may not only be said, but done, by way of prevention. With +reference to preventing the disease, Mr. Barlow, in his Essay, says, +'There is a pretty certain preventive in milking the cow some time +before calving in full _blood-letting_ before or immediately after; in +purgatives, very limited diet, and other depletive measures; each and +all tending to illustrate the necessity of a vascular state of the +system for its development!'" + +Mr. Haycock continues: "So far as my own experience is concerned, it is +at variance with almost every one of my observations. In the table which +I have given respecting question 2, the reader will recollect that I +stated that puerperal fever supervened in five cows immediately after +parturition. Now, it is worthy of remark, of these five cases, that +every animal had been milked many hours previous to calving. The full +udder, under such circumstances, is a powerful excitant to the uterus: +this is a well-known fact, and the consequence is, that if this natural +excitant be withdrawn, the action of the process at once becomes +diminished. I have known many cases, in addition to those already given, +where the parturient process was prolonged for hours in consequence of +the animal's being milked, in whom fever supervened almost immediately +afterwards. The prolonged process, I think, greatly weakens the animal, +and, as a natural result, the vital energies become less capable of +maintaining their normal integrity. With reference, again, to bleeding +and purging as preventives, I have nothing to offer in favor of either +mode. I do not believe that they are preventives. [Good, again, doctor: +you are one of the right stripe. It would give us pleasure to see a few +such as you on this side of the water.] First of all, we require to know +what percentage of calving cows are liable to be affected with puerperal +fever; then, whether that percentage becomes reduced in number in +consequence of such preventive measures being brought into force: these +are the only modes whereby the matter can be proved; and, so far as I +know, no one has ever brought the question to such a test. That bleeding +and purging are considered as preventives by people in general, I know +perfectly; but, like many other popular opinions, the thing which is +believed requires first to be proved ere it becomes truth. + +"I perfectly agree with Mr. Barlow in recommending spare diet. I regard +it, in fact, as the great preventive.... When I say spare diet, I do not +mean poor diet. The food should be good, but they should not have that +huge bulk of matter which they are capable of devouring, and which they +appear so much to desire. I should commence the process for eight or ten +days prior to calving, or even, with some animals, much earlier; and the +diet I would give should consist of beans, boiled linseed, and boiled +oats, with occasionally small portions of hay. I should not always feed +upon one mixture. I might occasionally substitute boiled barley in place +of oats; and when the time for calving was very near at hand, say within +a day or so, I should become more sparing with my hay, and more copious +with my allowance of bran. With regard to the diet after calving, I +should pursue much the same course I have named: perhaps for the first +thirty hours I might allow the animal nothing but gruel and bran mash, +in which I should mix a little oatmeal, or very thick gruel. I have +sometimes thought--_but hitherto it has not gone beyond a thought with +me_--that a broad cotton or linen bandage, fixed moderately tight round +the cow's body immediately after calving, might prove of some assistance +as a preventive. I have had no experience in its benefit myself; I +merely suggest the thing; and if it did nothing more, it would prevent, +in some measure, the animal from feeling that sensation of vacuity which +must necessarily exist immediately and for some time after calving, and +which, I think, under some conditions of the system, may be injurious to +the animal. I am told by a medical friend of mine, that he has known +puerperal fever produced in women solely from midwives' neglecting to +bandage them after delivery; at any rate, a bandage, or a broad belt +having straps and buckles attached, and placed securely round the cow's +body immediately after calving, and kept there for a day or two, could +do no harm, if it failed of doing good. + +"Fifthly. _Which is the best method of treatment to pursue with cows +when attacked with puerperal fever?_ Upon this question I feel that I +could say much; but at present I defer its consideration.... Suffice it +to say, then, that I never either bleed or administer purges. I used +once to do both, but my experience has shown me, in numerous cases, that +neither is necessary.... This malady I have written upon is fearfully +destructive; and if such diseases cannot be met with powers capable of +wrestling with it, I, for one, shall say that it is a stigma upon our +art--I will say that when we are most wanted, we are of the least use." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] Inflammation of the peritoneum. + +[6] Water very frequently accumulates in the belly or chest, after +blood-letting. + +[7] On remonstrating with a man who was about to administer half a pint +of turpentine to a cow, he replied, "She has no business to be a cow!" +We presume that some of the regulars have just as much, and not a +particle more, of the milk of animal kindness as this man seemed to +show. + + + + +NATURE, TREATMENT, AND CAUSES OF DISEASE IN CATTLE. + + +The pathology, or doctrine of diseases, is, as we have previously +stated, little understood. Many different causes have been assigned for +disease, and as many different modes of cure have been advocated. We +shall not discuss either the ancient or modern doctrines any further +than we conceive they interfere with correct principles. In doing so, we +shall endeavor to confine ourselves to truth, reason, and nature. + +We entirely discard the popular doctrine that _fever_ and _inflammation_ +are disease. We look upon them as simple acts of the constitution--sanative +in their nature. Then the reader may ask, "Why do you recommend medicine +for them?" We do not. We only prescribe medicine, for the purpose of aiding +nature to cure the diseases of which _they_ (the fever and inflammation) +are symptoms, and we do not expect to accomplish even that by medicine +alone. Ventilation, diet, and exercise, in nine cases out of ten, will do +more good than the destructive agents that have hitherto been used, and +christened "cattle medicines." + +The great secret of curing diseases is, by accurately observing the +indications of nature to carry off and cure disease, and by observing by +what critical evacuations she does at last cast off the morbid matter +which caused them, and so restores health. By thus observing, following, +and assisting _nature_, agreeably to her indications, our practice will +always be more satisfactory. + +Whenever the great outlets (skin, lungs, and kidneys) of the animal body +are obstructed, morbific and excrementitious substances are retained in +the system; they irritate, stimulate, and offend nature in such a +manner, that she always exerts her power to throw them off. And she acts +with great regularity in her endeavors to expel the offending matter, +and thus restore the animal to a healthy state. + +Suppose an animal to be attacked with disease, and fever supervenes; the +whole system is then aroused to cast out this disease: nature invariably +points to certain outlets, as the only passages through which the enemy +must evacuate the system; and it is the province of the physician to aid +in this wise and well-established effort; but when such means are +resorted to as in the case of the cow at Waltham, (p. 98,) instead of +rendering nature the necessary assistance, her powers and energies are +entirely crushed. + +Let us suppose a horse to have been exercised; during that exercise, +there is a determination of heat and fluids to the surface: the pores of +the skin expand and permit the fluids to make their exit: now, if the +horse is put into a cold stable, evaporation commences, leaving the +surface cold and the pores constricted, so that, after the circulating +system has rested a while, it commences a strong action again, to throw +off the remaining fluids that were thus suddenly arrested; there is no +chance for their escape, as the pores are closed; the skin then becomes +dry and harsh, the "coat stares," and the animal has, in common +parlance, taken cold, and "it has thrown him into a fever." Now, the +cold is the real enemy to be overcome, and the fever should be aided by +warmth, moisture, friction, and diffusables. If, at this stage, the cold +is removed, the fever will disappear; but if the disease (the cold) has +been allowed to advance until a general derangement or sympathetic +action is set up, and there is an accumulation of morbific matter in the +system, then the restorative process must be more powerful and +energetic; constantly bearing in mind that we must assist nature in her +endeavors to throw off whatever is the cause of her infirmities. Instead +of attacking the disease with the lancet and poison,--which is on the +principle of killing the horse to cure the fever,--we should use +remedies that are favorable to life. It matters not what organs are +affected; the means and processes are the same, and therefore the +division of inflammation and fever into a great number of parts +designated by as many names, and indicated by twenty times as many +complications of symptoms which may never be present, only serve to +bewilder the practitioner, and render his practice ineffectual. + + + + +PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. + + +As very little is, at present, known of the nature of this disease, we +give the reader the views of Mr. Dun, who received the gold medal +offered by the Agricultural Society for the best essay on this subject. + +"The causes of the disease, both immediate and remote, are subjects full +of interest and importance; and a knowledge of them not only aids in the +prevention of disease, but also leads the practitioner to form a more +correct prognosis, and to pursue the most approved course of treatment. +It is, however, unfortunate that the causes of pleuro-pneumonia have not +as yet been satisfactorily explained. No department of the history of +the disease is less understood, or more involved in doubt and +obscurity. But in this respect pleuro-pneumonia is not peculiar: it is +but one of an extensive class which embraces most epidemic and epizoötic +diseases. And if the causes which produce influenza, fevers, and +cholera, were clearly explained, those which produce pleuro-pneumonia +would, in all probability, be easy of solution. + +"Viewing the wide-spread and similar effects of pleuro-pneumonia, we may +surmise that they are referable to some common cause. And although much +difference of opinion exists upon this subject, it cannot be denied that +_contagion_ is a most active cause in the diffusion of the disease. +Indeed, a due consideration of the history and spread of +pleuro-pneumonia over all parts of the land will be sufficient to show +that, in certain stages of the disease, it possesses the power of +infecting animals apparently in a sound and healthy condition, and +otherwise unexposed to the action of any exciting cause. The peculiarity +of the progress of this disease, from the time that it first appeared in +England, is of itself no small evidence of its contagious nature. Its +slow and gradual progress is eminently characteristic of diffusion by +contagion; and not only were the earlier cases which occurred in this +island distinctly proved to have arisen from contact with the Irish +droves, but also subsequent cases, even up to the present day, show +numerous examples in which contagion is clearly and unequivocally +traceable.... Although pleuro-pneumonia is not produced by the action of +anyone of these circumstances alone, [referring to noxious effluvia, +&c.,] yet many of them must be considered as predisposing to the +disease; and although not its immediate exciting causes, yet, by +depressing the physical powers, they render the system more liable to +disease, and less able to withstand its assaults. Deficient ventilation, +filth, insufficient and bad food, may indeed predispose to the disease, +concentrate the animal effluvia, and become the _matrix_ and _nidus_ of +the organic poison; but still, not one, alone, of these circumstances, +or even all of them combined, can produce the disease in question. There +must be the subtle poison to call them into operation, the specific +influence to generate the disease." + +"On the other hand, it appears probable that the exciting cause, whether +it be contagion, or whatever else, cannot, of itself, generate the +disease; but that certain conditions or predisposing causes are +necessary to its existence, and without which its specific effects +cannot be produced. But although these _remote_ or _predisposing_ causes +are very numerous, they are often difficult of detection; nay, it is +sometimes impossible to tell to what the disease is referable, or upon +what weak point the exciting cause has fixed itself. A source of +perplexity results from the fact.... The predisposing causes of the +disease admit of many divisions and subdivisions; they may, however, be +considered under two general heads--_hereditary_ and _acquired_. + +"With reference to the former, we know that good points and properties +of an animal are transmitted from one generation to another; so also are +faults, and the tendencies to particular diseases. As in the same +families there is a similarity of external form, so is there also an +internal likeness, which accounts for the common nature of their +constitution, modified, however, by difference of age, sex, &c. + +"Among the acquired predisposing causes of pleuro-pneumonia may be +enumerated general debility, local weakness, resulting from previous +disease, irritants and stimulants, exposure to cold, damp or sudden +changes of temperature, the want of cleanliness, the breathing of an +atmosphere vitiated by the decomposition of animal or vegetable matters, +or laden with any other impurity. In short, under this head may be +included every thing which tends to lower the health and vigor of the +system, and consequently to increase the susceptibility to disease. + +"The primary symptoms of pleuro-pneumonia are generally obscure, and too +often excite but little attention or anxiety. As the disease steals on, +the animal becomes dull and dejected, and, if in the field, separates +itself from its fellows. It becomes uneasy, ceases to ruminate, and the +respirations are a little hurried. If it be a milk-cow, the lacteal +secretion is diminished, and the udder is hot and tender. The eyes are +dull, the head is lowered, nose protruded, and the nostrils expanded. +The urine generally becomes scanty and high-colored. It is seldom +thought that much is the matter with the animal until it ceases to eat; +but this criterion does not hold good in most cases of the disease, for +the animal at the outset still takes its food, and continues to do so +until the blood becomes impoverished and poisoned; it is then that the +system becomes deranged, the digestive process impaired, and fever +established. The skin adheres to the ribs, and there is tenderness along +the spine. Manipulation of the trachea, and percussion applied to the +sides, causes the animal to evince pain. Although the beast may have +been ill only three days, the number of pulsations are generally about +seventy per minute; but they are sometimes eighty, and even more. In the +first stage, the artery under the jaw feels full and large; but as the +disease runs on, the pulse rapidly becomes smaller, quicker, and more +oppressed. The breathing is labored, and goes on accelerating as the +local inflammation increases. The fore extremities are planted wide +apart, with the elbows turned out in order to arch the ribs, and form +fixed points for the action of those muscles which the animal brings +into operation to assist the respiratory process. In pleuro-pneumonia, +the hot stage of fever is never of long duration, [_simply because there +is not enough vitality in the system to keep up a continued fever_.] The +state of collapse quickly ensues, when the surface heat again decreases, +and the pulse becomes small and less distinct. We have now that low +typhoid fever so much to be dreaded, and which characterizes the disease +in common with epizoötics. + +"... The horse laboring under pleuro-pneumonia, or, indeed, any +pulmonary disease, will not lie down; but, in the same circumstances, +cattle do so as readily as in health. They do not, however, lie upon +their side, but couch upon the sternum, which is broad and flat, and +covered by a quantity of fibro-cellular substance, which serves as a +cushion; while the articulation between the lower extremities of the +ribs admits of lateral expansion of the chest. In this position cattle +generally lie towards the side principally affected, thus relieving the +sounder side, and enabling it to act more freely. There is sometimes a +shivering and general tremor, which may exist throughout the whole +course of the disease. (This is owing to a loss of equilibrium between +the nerves of nutrition and the circulation.) ... As the case advances +in severity, and runs on to an unfavorable termination, the pulse loses +its strength and becomes quicker. Respiration is in most cases attended +by a grunt at the commencement of expiration--a symptom, however, not +observable in the horse. The expired air is cold, and of a _noisome_ +odor. The animal crouches. There is sometimes an apparent knuckling over +at the fetlocks, caused by pain in the joints. This symptom is mostly +observable in cases when the pleura and pericardium are affected. The +animal grinds its teeth. The appetite has now entirely failed, and the +emaciation becomes extreme. The muscles, especially those employed in +respiration, become wasted; the belly is tucked, and the flanks heave; +the oppressive uneasiness is excessive; the strength fails, under the +convulsive efforts attendant upon respiration, and the poor animal dies. + +"In using means to prevent the occurrence of the disease, we should +endeavor to maintain in a sound and healthy tone the physical powers of +the stock, and to avoid whatever tends to depress the vital force. +Exposure to the influence of contagion [and infection] must be guarded +against, and, on the appearance of the disease, every precaution must be +used to prevent the healthy having communication with the sick. By a +steady pursuance, on the part of the stock proprietor, of these +precautionary measures, and by the exercise of care, prudence, and +attention, the virulence of the disease will, we are sure, be much +abated, and its progress checked." + +As the reader could not be benefited by our detailing the system of +medication pursued in England,--at least we should judge not, when we +take into consideration the great loss that attends their _best +efforts_,--we shall therefore proceed to inform the reader what the +treatment ought to be in the different stages of the disease. + + +_General Indication of Cure in Pleuro-Pneumonia._--Restore the +suppressed evacuations, or the secretions and excretions, if they are +obstructed. + +If bronchial irritation or a cough be present, shield and defend the +mucous surfaces from irritation. Relieve congestions by equalizing the +circulation. Support the powers of the system. Relieve all urgent +symptoms. + + * * * * * + +_Special Practice._--Suppose a cow to be attacked with a slight cough. +She appears dull, and is off her feed; pulse full, and bowels +constipated; and she is evidently out of condition. + +Then the medicines should be anti-spasmodic and relaxant, tonic, +diaphoretic, and lubricating. + +The following is a good example:-- + + Powdered golden seal, (tonic,) 1 table-spoonful. + " mandrake, (relaxant,) 2 tea-spoonfuls. + " lobelia, (anti-spasmodic,) 1 tea-spoonful. + " slippery elm or mallows, (lubricating,) 1 table-spoonful. + " hyssop tea, (diaphoretic,) 1 gallon. + +After straining the hyssop tea, mix with it the other ingredients, and +give a quart every two hours. + +In the mean time, administer the following injection:-- + + Powdered lobelia, } of each, half a + " ginger, } table-spoonful. + Boiling water, 1 gallon. + +When cool, inject. + +Particular attention must be paid to the general surface, If the surface +and the extremities are cold, then employ friction, warmth, and +moisture. The animal must be in a comfortable barn, neither too hot nor +too cold; if it be imperfectly ventilated, the atmosphere may be +improved by stirring a red-hot iron in vinegar or pyroligneous acid, or +by pouring either of these articles on heated bricks. The strength is to +be supported, provided the animal be in poor condition, with gruel, made +of flour and shorts, equal parts; but, as it frequently happens (in this +country) that animals in good flesh are attacked, in such case food +would be inadmissible. + +Suppose the animal to have been at pasture, and she is not observed to +be "ailing" until rumination is suspended. She then droops her head, and +has a cough, accompanied with difficult breathing, weakness in the legs, +and sore throat. Then, in addition to warmth, moisture, and friction, as +already directed, apply to the joints and throat the following: + + Boiling vinegar, 1 quart. + African cayenne, 1 table-spoonful. + +The throat being sore, the part should be rubbed gently. The joints may +be rubbed with energy for several minutes. The liquid must not be +applied too hot. + +Take + + Virginia snakeroot, } of each, 2 ounces. + Sage, } + Skullcap, (herb,) 1 ounce. + Pleurisy root, 1 ounce. + Infuse in boiling water, 1 gallon. + +After standing for the space of one hour, strain; then add a gill of +honey and an ounce of powdered licorice or slippery elm. Give a quart +every four hours. + +Should the cough be troublesome, give + + Balsam copaiba, 1 table-spoonful. + Sirup of garlic, 1 ounce. + Thin gruel, 1 quart. + +Give the whole at a dose, and repeat as occasion may require. A second +dose, however, should not be given until twelve hours have elapsed. + +Injections must not be overlooked, for several important indications can +be fulfilled by them. (For the different forms, see APPENDIX.) + +If the disease has assumed a typhus form, then the indications will +be,-- + +First. To equalize the circulation and nervous system, and maintain that +equilibrium. This is done by giving the following:-- + + Powdered African cayenne, 1 tea-spoonful. + " flagroot, 1 table-spoonful. + Skullcap, 1/2 ounce. + Marshmallows, 4 ounces. + +Put the whole of the ingredients into a gallon of water; boil for five +minutes; and, when cool, strain; sweeten with a small quantity of honey; +then give a quart every two hours. + +The next indication is, to counteract the tendency to putrescence. This +may be done by causing the animal to inhale the fumes of pyroligneous +acid, and by the internal use of bayberry bark. They are both termed +antiseptics. The usual method of generating vapor for inhalation is, by +first covering the animal's head with a horse-cloth, the corners of +which are suffered to fall below the animal's nose, and held by +assistants in such a manner as to prevent, as much as possible, the +escape of the vapor. A hot brick is then to be grasped in a pair of +tongs, and held about a foot beneath the nose. An assistant then pours +the acid, (_very gradually_,) on the brick. Half a pint of acid will be +sufficient for one steaming, provided it be used with discretion; for if +too much is poured on the brick at once, the temperature will be too +rapidly lowered. + +In reference to the internal use of bayberry, it may be well to remark, +that it is a powerful astringent and antiseptic, and should always be +combined with relaxing, lubricating medicines. Such are licorice and +slippery elm. + +The following may be given as a safe and efficient antiseptic drink:-- + + Powdered bayberry bark, half a table-spoonful. + " charcoal, 1 table-spoonful. + Slippery elm, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 1 gallon. + +Mix. Give a quart every two hours. + +The diet should consist of flour gruel and boiled carrots. Boiled +carrots may be allowed (provided the animal will eat them) during the +whole stage of the malady. + +The object of these examples of special practice is to direct the mind +of the farmer at once to something that will answer a given purpose, +without presuming to say that it is the best in the world for that +purpose. The reader will find in our _materia medica_ a number of +articles that will fulfil the same indications just as well. + + + + +LOCKED-JAW. + + +Mr. Youatt says, "Working cattle are most subject to locked-jaw, because +they may be pricked in shoeing; and because, after a hard day's work, +and covered with perspiration, they are sometimes turned out to graze +during a wet or cold night. Over-driving is not an uncommon cause of +locked-jaw in cattle. The drovers, from long experience, calculate the +average mortality among a drove of cattle in their journey from the +north to the southern markets; and at the head of the list of diseases, +and with the greatest number of victims, stands 'locked-jaw,' especially +if the principal drover is long absent from his charge." + +The treatment of locked-jaw, both in horses and cattle, has, hitherto, +been notoriously unsuccessful. This is not to be wondered at when we +take into consideration the destructive character of the treatment. + +"Take," says Mr. Youatt, "twenty-four pounds of blood from the animal; +or bleed him almost to fainting.... Give him Epsom salts in pound and a +half doses (!) until it operates. Purging being established, an attempt +must be made to allay the irritation of the nervous system by means of +sedatives; and the best drug is opium.[8] The dose should be a drachm +three times a day. [One fortieth part of the quantity here recommended +to be given in one day would kill a strong man who was not addicted to +its use.] At the same time, the action of the bowels must be kept up by +Epsom salts, or common salt, or sulphur, and the proportion of the +purgative and the sedative must be so managed, that the constitution +shall be under the influence of both.[9] A seton of black hellebore root +may be of service. It frequently produces a great deal of swelling and +inflammation.[10] ... If the disease terminates successfully, the beast +will be left sadly out of condition, and he will not thrive very +rapidly. He must, however, be got into fair plight, as prudence will +allow, and then sold; for he will rarely stand much work afterwards, or +carry any great quantity of flesh." The same happens to us poor mortals +when we have been dosed _secundum artem_. We resemble walking skeletons. + +Our own opinion of the disease is, that it is one of nervous origin, and +that the tonic spasm, always present in the muscles of voluntary +motion, is only symptomatic of derangement in the great, living +electro-galvanic battery, (the brain and spinal cord,) or in some of its +wires (nerves) of communication. + +Mr. Percival says, "Tetanus consists, in a spasmodic contraction, more +or less general, of the muscles of voluntary motion, and especially of +those that move the lower jaw; hence the vulgar name of it, +_locked-jaw_, and the technical one of _trismus_." + +In order to make ourselves clearly understood, and furnish the reader +with proper materials for him to prosecute his inquiries with success, a +few remarks on the origin of muscular motion seem to be absolutely +necessary. + +It is generally understood by medical men, and taught in the schools, +that there are in the animal economy four distinct systems of nerves. + +1st system. This consists of the sensitive nerves, which are distributed +to all parts of the animal economy endowed with feeling; and all +external impulses are reflected to the medulla oblongata, &c. (See +_Dadd's work on the Horse_, p. 127.) In short, these nerves are the +media through which the animal gets all his knowledge of external +relations. + +2d system. The motive. These proceed from nearly the same centre of +perception, and distribute themselves to all the muscles of voluntary +motion. It is evident that the muscle itself cannot perform its office +without the aid of the nerves, (electric wires;) for it has been proved +by experiment on the living animal, that when the posterior columns of +nervous matter, which pass down from the brain towards the tail, are +severed, then all voluntary motion ceases. Motion may, however, +continue; but it can only be compared to a ship at sea without a rudder, +having nothing to direct its course. It follows, then, that if the +nerves of motion and sensation are severed, there is no communication +between the parts to which they are distributed and the brain. And the +part, if its nutritive function be also paralyzed, will finally become +as insensible as a stone--wither and die. + +3d system. The respiratory. These are under the control of the will +only through the superior power, as manifested by the motive nerves. For +the animal will breathe whether it wishes to or not, as long as the +vital spark burns. + +4th system. The sympathetic, sometimes called _nutritive nerves_. They +are distributed to all the organs of digestion, absorption, circulation, +and secretion. These four nervous structures, or systems, must all be in +a physiological state, in order to carry on, with unerring certainty, +their different functions. If they are injured or diseased, then the +perceptions of external relations are but imperfectly conveyed to the +mind. (_Brutes have a mind._) On the other hand, if the brain, or its +appendages, spinal marrow, &c., be in a pathological state, then the +manifestations of _mind_ or _will_ are but imperfectly represented. Now, +it is evident to every reasonable man, that the nerves may become +diseased from various causes; and this explains the reason why +locked-jaw sometimes sets in without any apparent cause. The medical +world have then agreed to call it _idiopathic_. This term only serves to +bewilder us, and fails to throw the least light on the nature of the +malady, or its causes. Many men ridicule the idea of the nerves being +diseased, just because alterations in their structure are not evident to +the senses. We cannot see the atoms of water, nor even the myriads of +living beings abounding in single drop of water! yet no one doubts that +water contains many substances imperceptible to the naked eye. We know +that epizoötic diseases are wafted, by the winds, from one part of the +world to another; yet none of us have ever seen the specific virus. Can +any man doubt its existence? + +Hence it appears that diseases may exist in delicately-organized +filaments, without the cognizance of our external perceptions. + +It is further manifest that locked-jaw is only symptomatic of diseased +nervous structures, and that a pathological state of the nervous +filaments may be brought about independent of a prick of a nail, or +direct injury to a nerve. + +Hence, instead of tetanus consisting "in a spasmodic contraction of the +muscles of voluntary motion," it consists in a deranged state of the +nervous system; and the contracted state of the muscles is only +symptomatic of such derangement. Then what sense is there in blistering, +bleeding, and inserting setons in the dewlap? Of what use is it to treat +symptoms? Suppose a man to be attacked with hepatitis, (inflammation of +the liver:) he has a pain in the right shoulder. Suppose the physician +prescribes a plaster for the latter, without ascertaining the real +cause, or perhaps not knowing of its existence. We should then say that +the doctor only treated symptoms. "And he who treats symptoms never +cures disease." Suppose locked-jaw to have supervened from an attack of +acute indigestion: would it not be more rational to restore the lost +function? + +Suppose locked-jaw to have set in from irritating causes, such as bots +in the stomach, worms in the intestines, &c.: would bleeding remove +them? would it not render the system less capable of recovering its +physiological equilibrium, and resisting the irritation produced by +these animals on the delicate nervous tissues? + +Suppose, as Mr. Youatt says, that locked-jaw sets in "after turning the +animal out to graze during a cold night:" will a blister to the spine, +or a seton in the dewlap, restore the lost function of the skin? + +In short, would it not be more rational, in cases of locked-jaw, to +endeavor to restore the healthy action of all the functions, instead of +depressing them with the agents referred to? + +Then the question arises, What are the indications to be fulfilled? + +_First._ Restore the lost function. + +_Secondly._ Equalize the circulation, and maintain an equilibrium +between nervous and arterial action. + +_Thirdly._ Support the powers of life. + +_Fourthly._ If locked-jaw arise from a wound, then apply suitable +remedial agents to the part, and rescue the nervous system from a +pathological state. + +To fulfil the fourth indication, we commence the treatment as follows:-- + +Suppose the foot to have been pricked or wounded. We make an +examination of the part, and remove all extraneous matter. The following +poultice must then be applied: + + Powdered skunk cabbage, } + " lobelia, } equal parts. + " poplar bark, } + Indian meal, 1 pint. + +Make it of the proper consistence with boiling water. When sufficiently +cool, put it into a flannel bag, and secure it above the pastern. To be +renewed every twelve hours. After the second application, examine the +foot, and if suppuration has commenced, and matter can be felt, or seen, +a small puncture may be made, taking care not to let the knife penetrate +beyond the bony part of the hoof. + +In the mean time, prepare the following drink:-- + + Indian hemp or milkweed, (herb,) 1 ounce. + Powdered mandrake, 1 table-spoonful. + Powdered lobelia seeds, 1 tea-spoonful. + " poplar bark, (very fine,) 1 ounce. + +Make a tea, in the usual manner--about one gallon. After straining it +through a cloth, add the other ingredients, and give a quart every two +hours. + +A long-necked bottle is the most suitable vehicle in which to +administer; but it must be poured down in the most gradual manner. The +head should not be elevated too high. + +A liberal allowance of camomile tea may be resorted to, during the whole +stage of the disease. + +Next stimulate the external surface, by warmth and moisture, in the +following manner: Take about two quarts of vinegar, into which stir a +handful of lobelia; have a hot brick ready, (_the animal having a large +cloth, or blanket, thrown around him_;) pour the mixture gradually on +the brick, which is held over a bucket to prevent waste; the steam +arising will relax the surface. After repeating the operation, apply the +following mixture around the jaws, back, and extremities: take of +cayenne, skunk cabbage, and cypripedium, (lady's slipper,) powdered, +each two ounces, boiling vinegar two quarts; stir the mixture until +sufficiently cool, rub it well in with a coarse sponge; this will relax +the jaws a trifle, so that the animal can manage to suck up thin gruel, +which may be given warm, in any quantity. This process must be +persevered in; although it may not succeed in every case, yet it will be +more satisfactory than the blood-letting and poisoning system. No +medicine is necessary; the gruel will soften the fæces sufficiently; if +the rectum is loaded with fæces, give injections of an infusion of +lobelia. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] This is a narcotic vegetable poison; and although large quantities +have been occasionally given to the horse without apparent injury, +experience teaches us that poisons in general--notwithstanding the +various modes of their action, and the difference in their symptoms--all +agree in the abstraction of vitality from the system. Dr. Eberle says, +"Opiates never fail to operate perniciously on the whole organization." +Dr. Gallup says, "The practice of using opiates to mitigate pain is +greatly to be deprecated. It is probable that opium and its preparations +have done seven times the injury that they have rendered benefit on the +great scale of the civilized world. Opium is the most destructive of all +narcotics." + +[9] This is a perfect seesaw between efforts to kill and efforts to +cure. + +[10] Then it ought not to be used. + + + + +INFLAMMATORY DISEASES. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE STOMACH, (GASTRITIS.) + +Such a complicated piece of mechanism is the stomach of the ox, that +organ is particularly liable to disease. Inflammation, being the same as +local fever, (or a high grade of vital power, concentrated within a +small space,) may be produced by over-feeding, irritating and +indigestible food, or acrid, poisonous, and offensive medicines. The +farmer must remember that a small quantity of good, nutritious food, +capable of being easily penetrated by the gastric fluids, will repair +the waste that is going on, and improve the condition with more +certainty than an abundance of indifferent provender. + +_Cure._--The first indication will be to allay the irritability of the +stomach; this will moderate the irritation and lessen the fever. Make a +mucilaginous drink of slippery elm, or marshmallows, and give half a +pint every two hours. All irritating food and drink must be carefully +avoided, and the animal must be kept quiet; all irritating cordials, +"including the popular remedy, gin and molasses," must be avoided. These +never fail to increase the malady, and may occasion death. If there is +an improper accumulation of food in the viscera, the remedies will be, +relaxing clysters, abstinence from food, and a tea of sassafras and +mandrake, made thus:-- + + Sassafras, (_laurus sassafras_,) 1 ounce. + Mandrake, (_podophyllum peltatum_,) 4 drachms. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Let the mixture stand until quite cool, and give a pint every four +hours. + +Almost all animals, when suffering under acute symptoms, require +diluting, cooling drinks. This at once points out the use of water, or +any weak gruel of which water is the basis; the necessity of diluting +liquors is pointed out by the heat and dryness of the mouth, and +rigidity of the coat. + +When the thirst is great, the following forms a grateful and cooling +beverage: Take lemon balm, (_melissa officinalis_,) two ounces; boiling +water, two quarts; when cool, strain, and add half a tea-spoonful of +cream of tartar. Give half a pint at intervals of two hours. + +If the stomach continues to exhibit a morbid state, which may be known +by a profuse discharge of saliva from the mouth, then administer +camomile tea in small quantities: the addition of a little powdered +charcoal will prove beneficial. + +_Remarks._--Gastritis cannot be long present without other parts of the +system sharing the disturbance: it is then termed gastric fever. This +fever is the result of the local affection. Our object is, to get rid of +the local affection, and the fever will subside. Authors have invariably +recommended destructive remedies for the cure of gastritis; but they +generally fail of hitting the mark, and always do more or less injury. + +A light diet, rest, a clean bed of straw in a well-ventilated barn, will +generally perfect the cure. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS, (PNEUMONIA.) + +_Causes._--Errors in feeding, over-exertion, exposure in wet pastures, +or suffering the animal, when in a state of perspiration, to partake +too bountifully of cold water, are among the direct causes of a +derangement of vital equilibrium. Want of pure air for the purpose of +vitalizing the blood, the inhalation of noxious gases, and filth and +uncleanliness, may produce this disease in its worst form; yet it must +be borne in mind that the same exciting causes will not develop the same +form of disease in all animals. It altogether depends on the amount of +vital resistance, or what is termed the peculiar idiosyncrasy of the +animal. On the other hand, several animals often suffer from the same +form of disease, from causes varying in their general character. Hence +the reader will see that it would be needless, in fact impossible, to +point to the direct cause in each grade of disease. The least +obstruction to universal vital action will produce pneumonia in some +animals, while in others it may result in disease of the bowels. + +_Cure._--No special treatment can be successfully pursued in pneumonia; +for the lungs are not the only organs involved: no change of condition +can occur in the animal functions without the nervous system being more +or less deranged; for the latter is essential to all vital motions. +Hence disease, in every form, should be treated according to its +indications. A few general directions may, however, be found useful. The +first indication to be fulfilled is to equalize the blood. Flannels +saturated with warm vinegar should be applied to the extremities; they +may be folded round the legs, and renewed as often as they grow cold. +Poultices of slippery elm, applied to the feet, as hot as the animal can +bear them, have sometimes produced a better result than vinegar. If the +animal has shivering fits, and the whole surface is chilled, apply +warmth and moisture as recommended in article "_Locked-Jaw_." At the +same time, endeavor to promote the insensible perspiration by the +internal use of diaphoretics--_lobelia or thoroughwort tea_. A very good +diaphoretic and anti-spasmodic drink may be made thus:-- + + Lobelia, (herb) 2 ounces. + Spearmint, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Let the above stand for a few minutes; strain, then add two +table-spoonfuls of honey. Give half a pint every hour, taking care to +pour it down the oesophagus very gently, so as to insure its reaching +the fourth or true digestive stomach. The following clyster must be +given:-- + + Powdered lobelia, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +When sufficiently cool, inject with a common metal syringe. + +These processes should be repeated as the symptoms require, until the +animal gives evidence of relief; when a light diet of thin gruel will +perfect the cure. It must ever be borne in mind that in the treatment of +all forms of disease--those of the _lungs more especially_--the animal +must have pure, uncontaminated atmospheric air, and that any departure +from purity in the air which the animal respires, will counteract all +our efforts to cure. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS, (ENTERITIS,--INFLAMMATION OF THE +FIBRO-MUSCULAR COAT OF THE INTESTINES.) + +_Character._--Acute pain; the animal appears restless, and frequently +turns his head towards the belly; moans, and appears dull; frequent +small, hard pulse; cold feet and ears. + +_Causes._--Plethora, costiveness, or the sudden application of cold +either internally or externally, overworking, &c. + +_Cure._--In the early stages of the disease, all forms of medication +that are in any way calculated to arouse the peristaltic motion of the +intestines should be avoided; hence purges are certain destruction. +Relax the muscular structure by the application of a blanket or +horse-cloth wrung out in hot water. In this disease, it is generally +sufficient to apply warmth and moisture as near the parts affected as +possible; yet if the ears and legs are cold, the general application of +warmth and moisture will more speedily accomplish the relaxation of the +whole animal. After the application of the above, injections of a mild, +soothing character (slippery elm, or flaxseed tea) should be used very +liberally. A drink of any mucilaginous, lubricating, and innocent +substance may be given, such as mallows, linseed, Iceland moss, slippery +elm. During convalescence, the diet must be light and of an unirritating +character, such as boiled carrots, scalded meal, &c. + + +INFLAMMATION OF TILE PERITONEAL COAT OF THE INTESTINES, +(PERITONITIS.) + +This disease requires the same treatment as the latter malady. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS, (NEPHRITIS.) + +The usual symptoms are a quick pulse; loss of appetite; high-colored +urine, passed in small quantities, with difficulty and pain. Pressure on +the loins gives pain, and the animal will shrink on placing the hand +over the region of the kidneys. + +_Causes._--Cold, external injury, or injury from irritating substances, +that are often sent full tilt through the kidneys, as spirits of +turpentine, gin and molasses, saleratus. It is unnecessary to detail all +the causes of the disease: suffice it to say, that they exist in any +thing that can for a time obstruct the free and full play of the +different functions. + +_Treatment._--This, too, will consist in the invitation of the blood to +the surface and extremities, and by removing all irritating matter from +the system, _in the same manner as for inflammation of the bowels_. The +application of a poultice of ground hemlock, or a charge of gum hemlock, +will generally be found useful. The best drinks--and these should only +be allowed in small quantities--are gum arabic and marshmallow +decoctions. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER, (CYSTITIS.) + +During the latter months of pregnancy, the bladder is often in an +irritable state, and a frequent desire to void the urine is observed, +which frequently results from constipation. A peculiar sympathy exists +between the bladder and rectum; and when constipation is present, there +is a constant effort on the part of the animal to void the excrement. +This expulsive action also affects the bladder: hence the frequent +efforts to urinate. The irritable state of the bladder is caused by the +pressure of the loaded rectum on the neck of the former. + +The common soap-suds make a good injection, and will quickly soften the +hardened excrement; after which the following clyster may be used:-- + + Linseed tea, 3 quarts. + Cream of tartar, 1 ounce. + +After throwing into the rectum about one third of the above, press the +tail on the anus. The object is, to make it act as a fomentation in the +immediate vicinity of the parts. After the inflammation shall have +subsided, administer the following in a bottle, or horn:-- + + Powdered blackroot, (_leptandra virginica_,) half an ounce. + Warm water, 1 pint. + +Repeat the dose, if the symptoms are not relieved. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE WOMB. + +This may be treated in the same manner as the last-named disease. The +malady may be recognized by lassitude, loss of appetite, diminution in +the quantity, and deterioration in the quality, of the milk. As the +disease advances, there is often a fetid discharge from the parts; a +constant straining, which is attended with a frequent flow of urine. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE BRAIN, (PHRENITIS.) + +In this disease, the pia mater, arachnoid membrane, or the brain itself, +may be inflamed. It matters very little which of the above are deranged, +for the means of cure are the same. We have no method of making direct +application to either of the above, as they all lie within the cranium. +Neither can we act upon them medicinally except through the organs of +secretion, absorption, and circulation. Post mortem examinations reveal +to us evident marks of high inflammatory action, both in the substance +of the brain and in its membranes; and an effusion of blood, serum, or +of purulent matter, has been found in the ventricles of the brain. + +_Treatment._--The indications are, to equalize the circulation by warmth +and moisture externally, and maintain the action to the surface by +rubbing the legs with the following counter-irritant:-- + + Vinegar, 1 quart. + Common salt, 2 ounces. + +Set the mixture on the fire, (_in an earthen vessel_,) and allow it to +simmer for a few moments; then apply it to the legs. After the +circulation is somewhat equalized, give the following drench:-- + + Extract of butternut, half an ounce. + Tea of hyssop, 1 pint. + +A stimulating clyster may then be given, composed of warm water, into +which a few grains of powdered capsicum may be sprinkled. + +If due attention be paid to counter-irritation, and the head kept cool +by wet cloths, the chances of recovery are pretty certain. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE. + +This disease is too well known to require any description; we shall +therefore, at once, proceed to point out the ways and means for its +cure. + +_Treatment._--First wash the eyes with a weak decoction of camomile +flowers until they are well cleansed; then give a cooling drink, +composed of + + Cream of tartar, 1 ounce. + Decoction of lemon balm, 1 quart. + +Repeat this drink every six hours, until the bowels am moved. Should the +disease occur where these articles cannot be procured, give two ounces +of common salt in a pint of water. Should the eye still continue red and +swollen, give a dose of physic. (See _Physic for Cattle_.) + +If a film can be observed, wash with a decoction of powdered bloodroot; +and if a weeping remain, use the following astringent:-- + + Powdered bayberry bark, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 1 pint. + +When cool, pour off the clear liquor. It is then fit for use. + +Inflammation of the eye may assume different forms, but the above +treatment, combined with attention to rest, ventilation, a dark +location, and a light diet, will cover the whole ground. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER, (HEPATITIS.) + +Cattle very frequently show signs of diseased liver. Stall-fed oxen and +cows kept in cities are most liable to derangement of the liver; in such +animals, (after death,) there is an unusual yellowness of the fat. A +disease of the liver may exist for a long time without interfering much +with the general health. Mr. Youatt informs us that "a chronic form of +diseased liver may exist for some months, or years, not characterized by +any decided symptom, and but little interfering with health." + +_Symptoms._--Permanent yellowness of the eyes; quick pulse; dry muzzle; +hot mouth; considerable pain when pressure is made on the right side. +Occasionally the animal looks round and licks the spot over the region +of the liver. + +_Treatment._--First give half pint doses of thoroughwort tea, at +intervals of one hour, (_to the amount of two quarts_.) This will relax +the system, and equalize vital action. The following drench is then to +be given:-- + + Extract of butternut, half an ounce. + Warm water, 1 quart. + +If the butternut cannot be obtained, substitute a dose of physic. (See +APPENDIX.) Stimulate the bowels to action by injections of +soap-suds. If the extremities are cold, proceed to warm them in the +manner alluded to in article _Inflammation of the Bowels_. On the other +hand, if the surface of the body is hot and dry, and there is much fever +present, indicated by a quick pulse and dry muzzle, then bathe the whole +surface with weak saleratus water, sufficiently warm to relax the +external surface. The following fever drink may be given daily until +rumination again commences:-- + + Lemon balm, 2 ounces. + Cream of tartar, 1 ounce. + Honey, 1 gill. + Water, 2 quarts. + +First pour the boiling water on the balm; after standing a few minutes, +strain; then add the above ingredients. + + + + +JAUNDICE, OR YELLOWS. + +THIS disease is well known to every farmer; the yellow appearance of the +skin, mouth, eyes, and saliva at once betray its presence. It consists +in the absorption of unchanged bile into the circulation, which bile +becomes diffused, giving rise to the yellow appearances. + +In the treatment of jaundice, we first give a dose of physic, (see +APPENDIX,) and assist its operation by injections of weak lie, +made from wood ashes. The animal may roam about in the barn-yard, if the +weather will permit; or rub the external surface briskly with a wisp or +brush, which will answer the same purpose. The following may be given in +one dose, and repeated every day, or every other day, as the symptoms +may require:-- + + Powdered golden seal,(_hydrastus + canadensis_), 1 table-spoonful. + " slippery elm, 2 ounces. + +Water sufficient to make it of the consistence of gruel. + +Should a diarrhoea set in, it ought not to occasion alarm, but may be +considered as an effort of nature to rid the system of morbific matter. +It will be prudent, however, to watch the animal, and if the strength +and condition fail, then add to the last prescription a small quantity +of powdered gentian and caraway seeds. + +There are various forms of disease in the liver, yet the treatment will +not differ much from that of the last-named disease. There is no such +thing as a medicine for a particular symptom, in one form of disease, +that is not equally good for the same symptom in every form. In short, +there is no such thing as a specific. Any medicine that will promote the +healthy action of the liver in one form of jaundice will be equally good +for the same purpose in another form of that disease. + +Mr. Youatt states, "There are few diseases to which cattle are so +frequently subject, or which are so difficult to treat, as jaundice, or +yellows." Hence it is important that the farmer should know how and in +what manner the disease may be prevented. And he will succeed best who +understands the causes, which often exist in overworking the stomach, +with a desire to fatten. Men who raise cattle for the market often +attempt to get them in fine condition and flesh, without any regard to +the state of the digestive organs, the liver included; for the bile +which the latter secretes is absolutely necessary for the perfection of +the digestive process. They do not take into consideration the state of +the animals' health, the climate, the quality of food, and the quantity +best adapted to the digestive powers; and what is of still greater +importance, and too often overlooked, is, that all animals should be fed +at regular intervals. Some men suppose that so long as their cattle +shall have good food, without any regard to quantity,--if they eat all +day long, and cram their paunch to its utmost capacity,--they must +fatten; when, in fact, too much food deranges the whole digestive +apparatus. As soon as the paunch and stomach are overloaded, they press +on the liver, interfering with the bile-secreting process, producing +congestion and disorganization. + +Diseases of the liver may be produced by any thing that will for a time +suspend the process of rumination: the known sympathy that exists +between the stomach and liver explains this fact. + +Digestion, like every other vital process, requires a concentration of +power to accomplish it: now, if an ox should have a bountiful meal, and +then be driven several miles, the process of digestion, during the +journey, will be partly suspended. The act of compelling an ox to rise, +or annoying him in any way, will immediately suspend rumination, which +may result in an acute disease of the liver. In most cases, however, the +stomach is primarily affected. + +Dealers in cattle often overfeed the animals they are about to dispose +of, in order to improve their external appearance, and increase their +own profits: the consequence is, that such animals are in a state of +plethora, and are liable at any moment to be attacked with congestion of +the liver or brain. + +Again. If oxen are driven a long journey, and then turned into a pasture +abounding in highly nutritious grasses or clover, to which they are +unaccustomed, they fill the paunch to such an extent that it becomes a +matter of impossibility on the part of the animal to throw it up for +rumination; this mass of food, being submitted to the combined action of +heat and moisture, undergoes fermentation; carbonic acid gas is evolved; +the animal is then said to be "blown," "hoven," or "blasted." Post +mortem examination, in such cases, reveals a highly-congested state of +the liver and spleen. + +In fattening cattle, the injury done to the organs of digestion is not +always observed in the early stages; for the vital power, which wages a +warfare against all encroachments, endeavors to accommodate itself to +the increased bulk; yet, by continuing to give an excess of diet, it +finally yields up the citadel to the insidious foe. Chemical action then +overpowers the vital, and disease is the result. + +Thousands of valuable cattle are yearly destroyed by being too well, or, +rather, injudiciously fed. Many diseases of the liver and digestive +organs result from feeding on unwholesome, innutritious, and hard, +indigestible food. Bad water, and suffering the animal to partake too +bountifully of cold water when heated and fatigued, are among the direct +causes of disease. + + + + +DISEASES OF THE MUCOUS SURFACE. + + +The mucous membrane is a duplicature of the skin, and is folded into the +external orifices of the animal, as the mouth, ears, nose, lungs, +stomach, intestines, and bladder; but not being so much exposed to the +action of external agents, it is not so strong or thick as the skin. It +performs, however, nearly the same office as the skin. If the action of +one is suppressed, the other immediately commences the performance of +its office. Thus a common cold, which collapses the skin, immediately +stops insensible perspiration, which recedes to the mucous membrane, +producing a discharge from the nose, eyes, bowels, &c. So, when great +derangement of the mucous membrane exists, debilitating perspiration +succeeds. In the treatment of diseases of the mucous membrane, we +endeavor to remove the irritating causes from the organs affected, +restore the general tone of the system, and invite action to the +external surface. + + +CATARRH, OR HOOSE. + +This disease often arises from exposure to wet or cold weather, and from +the food being of a bad quality, or deficient in quantity. If the animal +is enfeebled by poor feed, old age, or any other cause, then there is +very little resistance offered against the encroachments of disease: +hence young beasts and cows after calving are often the victims. + +_Treatment._--It is necessary to attend to this disorder as soon as it +makes its appearance; for a common cold, neglected, often lays the +foundation of consumption. On the other hand, a little attention in the +early stages, and before sympathetic action sets in, would set all +right. The first indication to be fulfilled is to invite action to the +surface by friction and counter-irritants. The following liniment may be +applied to the feet and throat:-- + + Olive oil, 4 ounces. + Oil of cedar, 1 ounce. + Liquid ammonia, half an ounce. + +Rub the mixture in well; then give + + Gruel, 1 quart. + Powdered licorice, 1 ounce. + Composition, half a tea-spoonful. + +Give this at a dose, and repeat two or three times during the +twenty-four hours. A drink of any warm aromatic tea, _such as +pennyroyal, hyssop, catnip or aniseed will have a good effect_. The diet +should consist of scalded meal, boiled carrots, flaxseed, or any +substance that is light and easy of digestion. Should the discharge +increase and the eyelids swell, recourse must be had to vapor, which may +be raised by pouring vinegar on a hot brick; the latter held, with a +pair of tongs, beneath the animal's nose, at the same time covering the +head with a blanket. A small quantity of bayberry bark may occasionally +be blown up the nostrils from a quill. It is very important, during the +treatment, that the animal be in a warm situation, with a good bed of +straw to rest on. If the glands under the jaw enlarge, the following +mixture should be rubbed about the throat:-- + + Neat's foot oil, 4 ounces. + Hot drops, 2 ounces. + Vinegar, 1 gill. + +If the disease assumes a chronic form, and the animal is evidently +losing flesh, then give the following:-- + + Golden seal, powdered, 1 table-spoonful. + Caraway seeds, " 1 " + +Divide into three parts; which may be given daily, (in thin gruel,) +until the animal is convalescent. + + +EPIDEMIC CATARRH. + +This often prevails at particular seasons, and spreads over whole +districts, sometimes destroying a great number of cattle. It is a +disorder whose intensity varies considerably, being sometimes attended +with a high grade of fever, at other times quickly followed by general +debility. + +_Treatment._--This requires the same treatment as the last-named +disease, but only more thoroughly and perseveringly applied; for every +portion of the system seems to be affected, either through sympathetic +action or from the absorption of morbid matter. Hence we must aid the +vital power to maintain her empire and resist the encroachments on her +sanative operations by the use of antiseptics and stimulants. The +following is a good example:-- + + Powdered charcoal, 1 ounce. + " bayberry bark, half an ounce. + " pleurisy root, 1 ounce. + Honey, 1 table-spoonful. + Thin gruel, 1 quart. + + +MALIGNANT EPIDEMIC, (MURRAIN.) + +This disease has been more or less destructive from the time of Pharaoh +up to the present period. For information on the origin, progress, and +termination of this malignant distemper, the reader is referred to Mr. +Youatt's work on cattle. + +_Treatment._--The indications to be fulfilled are, first, to preserve +the system from putrescence, which can be done by the use of the +following drink:-- + + Powdered capsicum, 1 tea-spoonful. + " charcoal, 2 ounces. + Lime water, 4 ounces. + Sulphur, 1 tea-spoonful. + +Add to the capsicum, charcoal, and sulphur, a small quantity of gruel; +lastly, add the lime water. A second and similar dose may be given six +hours after the first, provided, however, the symptoms are not so +alarming. + +The next indication is, to break down the morbid action of the nervous +and vascular systems; for which the following may be given freely:-- + + Thoroughwort tea, 2 quarts. + Powdered assafoetida, 2 drachms. + +Aid the action of these remedies by the use of one of the following +injections:-- + + Powdered lobelia, 2 ounces. + Oil of peppermint, 20 drops. + Warm water, 2 quarts. + +_Another._ + + Infusion of camomile, 2 quarts. + Common salt, 4 ounces. + +In all cases of putrid or malignant fever, efforts should be made to +supply the system with caloric, (by the aid of stimulants,) promote the +secretions, and rid the system of morbific materials. + + +DIARRHOEA, (LOOSENESS OF THE BOWELS.) + +In the early stages of this disease, it is not always to be checked. It +is often a salutary operation of nature to rid the system of morbific +materials, and all that we can do with safety is, to sheathe and +lubricate the mucous surfaces, in order to protect them from the acrid +and stimulating properties of the agents to be removed from the +alimentary canal. + +When the disease, of which diarrhoea is only a symptom, proceeds from +exposure, apply warmth, moisture, friction, and stimulants to the +external surface, aided by the following lubricant:-- + + Powdered slippery elm, 1 ounce. + " charcoal, 1 table-spoonful. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Common starch, or flour, may be substituted for slippery elm. The +mixture should be given in pint doses, at intervals of two hours. When +the fecal discharges appear more natural and less frequent, a tea of +raspberry leaves or bayberry bark will complete the cure. + +When the disease assumes a chronic form, and the animal loses flesh, +the following tonic, stimulating, astringent drink is recommended:-- + + Infusion of camomile, 1 quart. + Powdered caraway seeds, 1 ounce. + Bayberry, powdered, half an ounce. + +Mix for one dose. + +_Remarks._--In the treatment of this disease, it is necessary for the +farmer to know, that through the instrumentality of the nervous +structure, there is constantly a sympathy kept up between the different +parts of the animal; whenever any part is affected, the corresponding +part feels the influence. Thus the external surface is opposed to the +internal, so that, if the function of the former be diminished, or +excessive, or suspended, that of the latter will soon become deranged; +and the restoration of the lost function is the only true way to effect +a cure. For example, if an animal be suffered to feed in wet lands, the +feet and external surface become cold; and hence diarrhoea, catarrh, +garget, dysentery, &c. If the circulation of the blood is obstructed by +exposure, we should restore the lost function by rubbing the surface, +and by the application of warmth and moisture. If the animal is in poor +condition, and there is not enough vitality to equalize the circulation, +give warm anti-spasmodics. (See APPENDIX.) In cases where +diarrhoea results from a want of power in the digestive organs to +assimilate the food, the latter acts on the mucous surfaces as a +mechanical irritant, producing inflammation, &c. Inflammation is the +concentration of the available vital force too much upon a small region +of the body, and it is invited there by irritation. Now, instead of the +popular error,--bleeding and purging,--the most rational way to proceed +is, to remove the cause of irritation, (no matter whether the stomach or +bowels are involved,) and invite the blood to the surface by means +already alluded to, and distribute it over the general system, so that +it will not be in excess any where. There is generally but little +difficulty in producing an equilibrium of action; the great point is to +sustain it. When the blood accumulates in a part, as in inflammation of +the bowels, the sensibility of the part is so highly exalted that the +least irritation causes a relapse; therefore the general treatment must +not be abandoned too early. + + +DYSENTERY. + +The disease is generally ushered in with some degree of fever; as, +trembling, hot and cold stages, dryness of the mouth, loss of appetite, +general prostration, drooping of the head and ears, heaving of the +flanks; there are frequent stools, yet these seldom consist of natural +excrement, but are of a viscid, mucous character; the animal is +evidently in pain during these discharges, and sometimes the fundament +appears excoriated. + +_Causes._--The cause of this complaint appears to be, generally, +exposure. Dr. White says, "Almost all the diseases of cattle arise +either from exposure to wet or cold weather, from their food being of a +bad quality, or deficient in quantity, or from the animal being changed +too suddenly from poor, unwholesome keep to rich pasture. It is +necessary to observe, also, that the animal is more liable to be injured +by exposure to wet and cold, when previously enfeebled by bad keep, old +age, or any other cause; and particularly when brought from a mild into +a cold situation. I have scarcely met with a disease that is not +attributable to a chill." + +_Treatment._--This must be much the same as in diarrhoea--sheathing +the mucous membrane, and inviting action to the surface. The animal must +be warmly housed, well littered, and the extremities clothed with +flannel bandages. The diet must consist of flour gruel, scalded meal. +Raspberry tea will be the most suitable drink. Much can be done by good +nursing. Mr. Ellman says, "If any of my cattle get into a low, weak +state, I generally recommend nursing, which, in most cases, is much +better than a doctor; [meaning some of the poor specimens always to be +found in large cities;] having often seen the beast much weakened, and +the stomach relaxed, by throwing in a quantity of medicine +injudiciously, and the animal lost; when, with good nursing, in all +probability, it might have been otherwise." + + +SCOURING ROT. + +_Cause._--Any thing that can reduce the vital energies. + +_Symptoms._--A gradual loss of flesh, although the animal often feeds +well and ruminates. The excrements are of a dark color, frothy, and +fetid, and, in the latter stages, appear to be only half digested. There +are many symptoms and different degrees of intensity, during the +progress of this disease, indicate the amount of destruction going on; +yet the author considers them unimportant in a practical point of view, +at least as far as the treatment is concerned; for the disease is so +analogous to dysentery, that the same indications are to be fulfilled in +both; more care, however, should be taken to prevent and subdue +mortification. + +In addition to the treatment recommended in article _Malignant +Epidemic_, the following injection may be substituted for the one +prescribed under that head:-- + + Powdered charcoal, a tea-cupful. + Common salt, 2 ounces. + Pyroligneous acid,[11] half a wine-glass. + Warm water, 2 quarts. + +Throw one quart of the above into the rectum, and the remainder six +hours after the first. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[11] Vinegar obtained from wood. + + + + +DISEASE OF THE EAR + + +Diseases of the ear are very rare in cattle; yet, as simple inflammatory +action does now and then occur, it is well that the farmer should be +able to recognize and treat it. + +_Symptoms._--An unnatural heat and tenderness about the base of the ear, +and the animal carries the head on one side. + +_Cure._--Fomentations of marshmallows; a light diet of scalded shorts; +an occasional drink of thoroughwort tea. These with a little rest, in a +comfortable barn, will perfect the cure. + +_Remarks._--If any irritating substance is suspected to have fallen into +the ear, efforts must be made to remove it: if it cannot be got at, a +small quantity of olive oil may be poured into the cavity; then, by +rotating the head, with the affected ear downwards, the substances will +often pass out. + + + + +SEROUS MEMBRANES. + + +These membranes derive their name from the serous or watery fluid they +secrete, by which their surface is constantly moistened. They are to be +found in the three cavities of the chest; namely, one on each side, +containing the right and left lung, and the intermediate cavity, +occupied by the heart. The portion of the membrane lining the lungs is +named the _pleura_, and that lining and covering the heart is called the +_pericardium_. The membrane lining the abdomen is named the +_peritoneum_. The ventricles of the brain are also lined by this +membrane. The serous membranes, after lining their respective cavities, +are extended still farther, by being reflected back upon the organs +enclosed in their cavities; hence, if it were possible to dissect these +membranes from off the parts which they invest, they would have the +appearance of a sac without an opening. In the natural state, these +membranes are exceedingly thin and transparent; but they become +thickened by disease, and lose their transparency. The excessive +discharge of fluids into cavities lined by these membranes constitutes +the different forms of dropsy, on which we shall now treat. + + + + +DROPSY. + + +This disease consists in the accumulation of fluid in a cavity of the +body, as the abdomen or belly, the chest, and ventricles of the brain, +or in the cellular membrane under the skin. As the treatment of the +several forms of dropsy requires that the same indications shall be +fulfilled,--viz., to equalize the circulation, invite action to the +surface, promote absorption, and invigorate the general system,--so it +matters but little whether the effusion takes place under the skin, +producing anasarca, or within the chest or abdomen. The popular +treatment, which comprehends blood-letting, physicking, and the use of +powerful diuretics, has proved notoriously unsuccessful. Blood-letting +is charged as one of the direct causes of dropsy: how then can it be +expected that a system that will produce this form of disease can ever +cure it? In reference to physicking, if the bowels are forced to remove +the excess of fluids in a short time, they become much exhausted, lose +their tone, and do not recover their healthy power for some time. Dr. +Curtis says, "May we not give diuretics and drastic cathartics in +dropsy? I answer, if you do, and carry off the fluids of the body in +those directions, as you sometimes may, you have not always removed the +cause of the disease, which was the closing of the surface, or stoppage +of some natural secretion, while you have rendered the patient liable to +other forms of disease, quite as much to be dreaded as the dropsy which +was exchanged for it." Mild diuretic medicines may, however, be given, +provided attention he paid at the same time to the lungs and external +surface. The kidneys, lungs, and external surface constitute the great +outlets through which the excess of fluids finds egress; and if one of +these functions be excited to dislodge an accumulation of fluid, without +the coöperation of the rest, the excessive action is sure to injure the +organ; hence it is an injurious practice, and ought to be rejected. + +_Causes._--Dropsy will occasionally be produced by the sudden stopping +of any evacuation; for example, if a diarrhoea be checked too +suddenly, it frequently results in dropsy of the belly. In pleurisy, and +when blood-letting has been practised to any extent, dropsy of the chest +will be the consequence. Exposure, poor diet, diseases of the liver and +spleen, want of exercise, and poisonous medicines are among the general +causes of dropsy. + +_Treatment._--It is a law of the animal economy that all fluids are +determined to those surfaces from which they can most readily escape. +Now, instead of cramming down nauseous and poisonous drugs, with a view +of carrying off the fluid by the kidneys, we should restore the lost +function of the external exhalents, by warmth, moisture, friction, and +the application of stimulating embrocations to the general surface. The +following embrocation may be applied to the spine, ears, belly, and +legs:-- + + Oil of cedar, 1 ounce. + Oil of juniper, 1 ounce. + Soft soap, 1 pound. + +A portion of the above should be rubbed in twice a day. + +The best medicine is the following:-- + + Powdered mandrake, 1 ounce. + " lobelia, 1 ounce. + Poplar bark, 2 ounces. + Lemon balm, 4 ounces. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +Let the whole stand in a covered vessel for an hour; then strain, and +add a gill of honey. Give half a pint every third hour. If the animal be +in poor condition, the diet must be nourishing and easy of digestion. +Flour gruel and scalded meal will be the most appropriate. A drink made +by steeping cleavers, or hyssop, in boiling water may be given at +discretion. + +If there is not sufficient vitality in the system to equalize the +circulation, (which may be known by the surface and extremities still +continuing cold,) the following drink will be found efficacious:-- + + Hyssop tea, 2 quarts. + Powdered cayenne, (African,) 1 tea-spoonful. + " licorice, 1 ounce. + +Mix. To be given at a dose, and repeated if necessary. Should +inflammatory symptoms make their appearance, omit the cayenne, and +substitute the same quantity of cream of tartar. + +The treatment of all the different forms of dropsy is upon the plan here +laid down. They are one and the same disease, only located in different +parts; and from predisposing causes the fluid is sometimes found in the +thorax, at others in the abdomen. Whenever costiveness occurs in dropsy, +the following laxative may be given:-- + + Wormwood, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Set them over the fire, and let them boil for a few moments; then add +two ounces of castile soap and a gill of molasses or honey. The whole to +be given at one dose. + +The operation of tapping has been performed, but with very little +success; for, unless the function of the skin be restored, the water +will again accumulate. If, however, the disease shall be treated +according to the principles here laid down, there is no good reason why +the operation should not prove successful. It may be performed for +dropsy of the belly in the following manner: Take a common trocar and +canula, and after pinching upwards a fold of the skin, about three +inches from the line, (_linea alba_,) or centre of the belly, and about +seven from the udder, push the trocar through the skin, muscles, &c., +into the abdominal cavity; withdraw the trocar, and the water will flow. +The operation is usually performed on the right side, taking care, +however, not to wound the milk vein, or artery. + + + + +HOOVE, OR "BLASTING." + + +When cattle or sheep are first turned into luxuriant pasture, after +being poorly fed, or laboring under any derangement of the digestive +organs, they are apt to be hoven, blown, or blasted. + +_Treatment._--Should the symptoms be very alarming, a flexible tube may +be passed down the gullet. This will generally allow a portion of gas to +escape, and thus afford temporary relief, until more efficient means are +resorted to. These consist in arousing the digestive organs to action, +by the following stimulant and carminative drink:-- + + Cardamom seeds, 1 ounce. + Fennel seeds, 1 ounce. + Powdered charcoal, 1 table-spoonful. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Let the mixture stand until sufficiently cool; then strain, and +administer in pint doses, every ten minutes. + +The following clyster should be given:-- + + Powdered lobelia, 2 ounces. + " charcoal, 6 ounces. + Common salt, 1 table-spoonful. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +When cool, strain, and inject. + +If the animal is only blasted in a moderate degree, this treatment will +generally prove successful. Some practitioners recommend puncturing the +rumen or paunch; but there is always great danger attending it, and at +best it is only a palliative: the process of fermentation will continue +while the materials still remain in the paunch. Some cattle doctors make +a large incision into the paunch, and shovel out the contents with the +hand; but the remedy is quite as bad as the disease. For example, Mr. +Youatt tells us that "a cow had eaten a large quantity of food, and was +hoven. A neighbor, who was supposed to know a great deal about cattle, +made an incision into the paunch; the gas escaped, a great portion of +the food was removed with the hand, and the animal appeared to be +considerably relieved; but rumination did not return. On the following +day, the animal was dull; she refused her food, but was eager to drink. +She became worse and worse, and on the sixth day she died." + +In all dangerous cases of hoove, we must not forget that our remedies +may be aided by the external application of warmth and moisture; +flannels wrung out in hot water should be secured to the belly; at the +same time, the legs and brisket should be rubbed with tincture of +assafoetida. These remedies must be repeated until the animal is +relieved. Steady and long-continued perseverance in rubbing the abdomen +often succeeds in liberating the gas. If the animal recovers, he should +be fed, very sparingly, on scalded food, consisting of equal parts of +meal and shorts, with the addition of a few grains of caraway seeds. A +drink composed of the following ingredients will aid in rapidly +restoring the animal to health:-- + + Marshmallows, 2 ounces. + Linseed, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Set the mixture near the fire, and allow it to macerate for a short +time; after straining through a sieve or coarse cloth, it may be given +and repeated at discretion. + +_Remarks._--As prevention is much more convenient and less expensive +than the fashionable system of making a chemical laboratory of the poor +brute's stomach, the author would remind owners of stock that the +practice of turning the latter into green, succulent pasture when the +ground is damp, or permitting them to remain exposed to the night air, +is among the direct causes of hoove. The ox and many other animals are +governed by the same laws of nature to which man owes allegiance, and +any departure from the legitimate teachings, as they are fundamentally +ingrafted in the animate kingdom by the Omnipotent Creator, is sure to +subject us to the penalty. We are told that, during the night, noxious +gases and poisonous miasmata emanate from the soil, and that plants +throw off excrementitious matters, which assume a gaseous form, and are +more or less destructive. Now, these animals have no better powers of +resisting the encroachments on their organization (through the agency of +these deleterious gases) than we have; they must have atmospheric air to +vitalize the blood; any impurity in the air they breathe must impair +their health. Still, however, the powers of resistance are greater in +some than in others; this explains the reason why all do not suffer. +Sometimes, the gases are not in sufficient quantities to produce instant +death, but only derange the general health; yet if an animal be turned +into a pasture, the herbage and soil of which give out an excess of +nitrogen and carbonic acid, the animal will die; just as a man will, if +you lower him into a well abounding in either of these destructive +agents. From these brief remarks, the farmer will see the importance of +housing domestic animals at night. + + + + +JOINT MURRAIN. + + +This malady, in its early stages, assumes different forms; sometimes +making its appearance under a high grade of vital action, commonly +called inflammatory fever, and known by the red appearance of the +sclerotica, (white of the eye,) hurried breathing, expanded nostrils, +hot tongue, and dry muzzle, pulse full and bounding, manifestations of +pain, &c. &c. Different animals show, according to local or +constitutional peculiarities, different symptoms. + +This disease, in consequence of its assuming different forms during its +progress, has a host of names applied to it, which rather embarrass than +assist the farmer. We admit that there are numerous tissues to be +obstructed; and if the disease were named from the tissue, it would have +as many names as there are tissues. If it were named from the location, +which often happens, then we get as many names as there are locations; +for example, horn ail, black leg, quarter evil, joint murrain, foot rot, +&c. In the above disease, the whole system partakes more or less of +constitutional disturbance; therefore it is of no use, except when we +want to avail ourselves of local applications, to decide what particular +muscle, blood-vessel, or nerve is involved, seeing that the only +rational treatment consists in acting on all the nerves, blood-vessels, +and muscles, and that this can only be accomplished through the healthy +operations of nature's secreting and excreting processes. The +indications of cure, according to the reformed principles, are, to relax +spasm, as in locked-jaw, stoppages of the bladder or intestines, +obstructed surfaces, &c.; to contract and strengthen weak and relaxed +organs, as in general or local debility, diarrhoea, scouring, lampas, +&c.; to stimulate inactive parts, as in black leg, joint murrain, +quarter ill, foot rot; to equalize the circulation, and distribute the +blood to the external surface and extremities, as in congestions; to +furnish the animal with sufficient nutriment for its growth and +development. No matter what the nature of disease may be, the treatment +should be conducted on these principles. + +The farmer will overcome a host of obstacles, that might otherwise fall +in his way, in the treatment of joint murrain, when he learns that this +malady, together with black leg, quarter ill or evil, black quarter, and +dry gangrene are all analogous: by the different names are meant their +grades. In the early or mild forms, it consists of congestion in the +veins or venous radicles, and effusions into the cellular tissue. When +chemical action overpowers the vital, decomposition sets in; it then +assumes a putrid type; mortification, or a destruction of organic +integrity, is the result. + +_Causes._--Its proximate causes exist in any thing that can for a time +interrupt the free and full play of any part of the vital machinery. Its +direct cause may be found in over-feeding, miasma, exposure, poisonous +plants, poor diet, &c. The milk of diseased cows is a frequent cause of +black leg in young calves. The reason why the disease is more likely to +manifest itself in the legs is, because they are more exposed, by the +feet coming in contact with damp ground, and because the blood has a +kind of up-hill work to perform. + +_Treatment._--In the early stages of joint murrain and its kindred +maladies, if inflammatory fever is present, the first and most important +step is to relax the external surface, as directed in article +_Pneumonia_, p. 107. Should the animal be in a situation where it is not +convenient to do so, give the following anti-spasmodic:-- + + Thoroughwort, 1 ounce. + Lemon balm, 2 ounces. + Garlic, bruised, a few kernels. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +Allow the infusion to stand until cool; then strain, and give it a dose. + +If the bowels are constipated, inject the following:-- + + Soft soap, half a pint. + Warm water, 2 quarts. + +Rub the joints with the following embrocation:-- + + Oil of cedar, } equal parts. + Fir balsam, } + +Keep the animal on warm, bland teas, such as catnip, pennyroyal, lemon +balm, and a light diet of powdered slippery elm gruel. + + + + +BLACK QUARTER. + + +_Symptoms._--Rapid decomposition, known by the pain which the slightest +pressure gives the animal. Carbonic acid gas is evolved from the +semi-putrid state of the system, which finds its way into the cellular +tissue, beneath the skin. A crackling noise can then be heard and felt +by pressing the finger on the hide. + +_Causes._--Among the chief causes are the blood-letting and scouring +systems recommended by writers on cattle doctoring. In the inflammatory +stage, we are told, "The first and most important step is copious +bleeding. As much blood must be taken as the animal will bear to lose; +and the stream must flow on until the beast staggers or threatens to +fall. Here, more than in any other disease, there must be no foolish +directions about quantities. [_The heroic practice!_] As much blood must +be taken away as can be got; for it is only by the bold and persevering +use of the lancet that a malady can be subdued that runs its course so +rapidly." (See Youatt, p. 359.) From these directions we are led to +suppose that there are some hopes of bleeding the animal to life; for +the author above quoted seems to entertain no apprehension of bleeding +the animal to death. Mr. Percival and other veterinary writers inform +us, that "an animal will lose about one fifteenth part of its weight of +blood before it dies; though a less quantity may so far debilitate the +vital powers, as to be, though less suddenly, equally fatal." The latter +portion of the sentence means simply this; that if the bleeding does +not give the animal its quietus on the spot, it will produce black +quarter, gangrene, &c., which will be "equally fatal." In the latter +stages of the disease now under consideration, and, indeed, in dry +gangrene, there is a tendency to the complete destruction of life to the +parts involved: hence our remedies should be in harmony with the vital +operations. We should relax, stimulate, and cleanse the whole system, +and arouse every part to healthy action, by the aid of vapor, +injections, stimulating applications, poultices of charcoal and +capsicum, to parts where there is danger of rapid mortification; lastly, +stimulating drinks to vitalize the blood, which only requires +distribution, instead of abstraction. + +In reference to the scouring system, (purging,) as a cause of +mortification, we leave the reader to form his own views, after reading +the following: "After abstracting as much blood as can be got away, +purging must immediately follow. A pound and a half of Epsom salts +dissolved in water or gruel, and poured down the throat as gently as +possible, should be our first dose. If this does not operate in the +course of six hours, another pound should be given; and after that, half +pound doses every six hours until the effect is produced"!!--_Youatt_, +p. 359. + +_Treatment._--As the natural tendency of these different maladies is the +complete destruction of life to all parts of the organization, efforts +must be made to depurate the whole animal, and arouse every part to +healthy action in the manner recommended under article _Joint Murrain_. +Antiseptics may be freely used in the following form:-- + + Powdered bayberry bark, 2 ounces. + " charcoal, 6 ounces. + " cayenne, 1 tea-spoonful. + " slippery elm, 1 ounce. + +Add boiling water sufficient to make it of the consistence of thin +gruel. + +All sores and foul ulcers may be washed with + + Pyroligneous acid, 1 ounce. + Water, 1 gill. + +_Another._ + + Chloride of lime, 1 ounce. + Water, 1 pint. + +_Another._ + + Chloride of soda, 1 ounce. + Water, 6 ounces. + +The affected parts should be often bathed with one of these washes. If +the disease is not arrested by these means, repeat them, and put the +animal on a diet of flour gruel. + + + + +OPEN JOINT. + + +Joints are liable to external injury from wounds or bruises, and, +although a joint may not be open in the first instance, subsequent +sloughing may expose its cavity. The ordinary effects of disease in +membranes covering joints are, a profuse discharge of joint oil, +(_synovia_,) and a thickening of the synovial membrane. Sometimes the +joint is cemented together; it is then termed anchylosis. + +_Treatment._--The first object is, to promote adhesion, by bringing the +edges of the wound together, and confining them in contact by stitches. +A pledget of lint or linen, previously moistened with tincture of myrrh, +should then be bound on with a bandage forming a figure 8 around the +joint. If the parts feel hot and appear inflamed, apply a bandage, which +may be kept constantly wet with cold water. If adhesion of the parts +does not take place, apply the following:-- + +Powdered bayberry bark, 1 ounce. + +Fir balsam, sufficient to form a thick, tenacious mass, which may be +spread thickly over the wound; lastly, a bandage. Should a fetid +discharge take place, poultice with + + Powdered charcoal, } equal parts. + " bayberry, } + +In cases where the nature of the injury will not admit of the wounded +edges being kept in contact, and a large surface is exposed, we must +promote granulation by keeping the parts clean, and by the daily +application of fir balsam. Unhealthy granulations may be kept down by +touching them with burnt alum, or sprinkling on their surface powdered +bloodroot. The author has treated several cases, in which there was no +hope of healing by the first intention, by the daily use of tincture of +capsicum, together with tonic, stimulating, astringent, antiseptic +poultices and fomentations, as the case seemed to require, and they +always terminated favorably. In all cases of injury to joints, rest and +a light diet are indispensable. + + + + +SWELLINGS OF JOINTS. + + +Swellings frequently arise from bruises and strains; they are sometimes, +however, connected with a rheumatic affection, caused by cold, exposure +to rain, or turning an animal into wet pasture lands after active +exercise. In the acute stage, known by tenderness, unnatural heat, and +lameness, the animal should be put on a light diet of scalded shorts, +&c.; the parts to be frequently bathed with cold water; and, if +practicable, a bandage may be passed around the limb, and kept moist +with the same. If the part still continues painful, take four ounces of +arnica flowers, moisten them with boiling water, when cool, bind them +around the part, and let them remain twenty-four hours. This seldom +fails. On the other hand, should the parts be in a chronic state, which +may be recognized by inactivity, coldness, &c., then the following +embrocation will restore the lost tone:-- + + Oil of wormwood, 1 ounce. + " " cedar, 1 ounce. + Hot drops, 4 ounces. + Vinegar, 1 pint. + +Mix, and rub the part faithfully night and morning. Friction with the +hand or a brush will materially assist to cure. In all cases where +suppuration has commenced, and matter can be distinctly felt, the sooner +the following poultice shall be applied, the better:-- + + Powdered slippery elm, } equal parts. + " linseed, } + +Boiling water sufficient to moisten; then add a wine-glass of vinegar. + +To be renewed every twelve hours, until the matter escapes. + + + + +SPRAIN OF THE FETLOCK. + + +Sprain, or _strain_, as it is commonly termed, sometimes arises from +violent exertions; at other times, by the animal unexpectedly treading +on some uneven surface. + +_Treatment._--First wash the foot clean, then carefully examine the +cleft, and remove any substance that may have lodged there. A cotton +bandage folded around the claws and continued above the fetlock, kept +wet with the following lotion, will speedily reduce any excess of +inflammatory action that may exist:-- + + Acetic acid, 1 ounce. + Water, 1 pint. + +_Another._ + + Vinegar, 1 pint. + Water, 3 pints. + + + + +STRAIN OF THE HIP. + + +This may sometimes occur in working oxen. Rest is the principal remedy. +The part may, however, be bathed daily with the following:-- + + Wormwood, 4 ounces. + Scalding vinegar, 2 quarts. + +The liquor must be applied cold. + +_Strain of the knees_ or _shoulder_ may be treated in the same manner as +above. + + + + +FOUL IN THE FOOT. + + +A great deal of learned nonsense has been written on this subject, which +only serves to plunge the farmer into a labyrinth from which there is no +escape. The author will not trespass on the reader's patience so much as +to transcribe different authors' opinions in relation to the nature of +the disease and its treatment, but will proceed at once to point out a +common-sense explanation of its cause, and the proper mode of treating +it. + +The disease is analogous to foot rot in sheep, and is the consequence of +feeding in wet pastures, or suffering the animals to wallow in filth. A +large quantity of morbific or excrementitious matter is thrown off from +the system through the surfaces between the cleft. Now, should those +surfaces be obstructed by filth, or contracted by cold, the delicate +mouths of these excrementitious vessels, or outlets, are unable to rid +the parts of their morbid accumulations: these vessels become distended +beyond their usual capacity, communicate with each other, and, when no +longer able to contain this mass of useless material, an artificial +drain, in the form of "foot rot," is established, by which simple method +the parts recover their reciprocal equilibrium. In this case, as in +diarrhoea, we recognize a simple and sanative operation of nature's +law, which, if aided, will generally prove beneficial. + +That "foul in the foot" is caused by the sudden stoppage of some natural +evacuation is evident from the following facts: First, the disease is +most prevalent in cold, low, marshy countries, where the foot is kept +constantly moist. Secondly, the disease is neither contagious nor +epidemic. (See _Journal de Méd. Vét. et comparée_, 1826, p. 319.) + +_Treatment._--In all cases of obstruction to the depurating apparatus, +there is a loss of equilibrium between secretion and excretion. The +first indication is, to restore the lost function. Previously, however, +to doing so, the animal must be removed to a dry situation. The cause +once removed, the cure is easy, provided we merely assist nature and +follow her teachings. As warmth and moisture are known to relax all +animal fibre, the part should be relaxed, warmed, and cleansed, first by +warm water and soap, lastly by poultice; at the same time bearing in +mind that the object is not to produce or invite suppuration, (formation +of matter,) but only to liberate the excess of morbid materials that may +already be present: as soon as this is accomplished, the poultice should +be discontinued. + +_Poultice for Foul Feet._ + + Roots of marshmallows, bruised, half a pound. + Powdered charcoal, a handful. + " lobelia, a few ounces. + Meal, a tea-cupful. + Boiling water sufficient to soften the mass. + +_Another_. + + Powdered lobelia, } + Slippery elm, } equal parts. + Pond lily, bruised, } + +Mix with boiling water. Put the ingredients into a bag, and secure it +above the fetlock. + +Give the animal the following at a dose:-- + + Flowers of sulphur, half an ounce. + Powdered sassafras bark, 1 ounce. + Burdock, (any part of the plant,) 2 ounces. + +The above to be steeped in one quart of boiling water. When cool, +strain. All that is now needed is to keep the part cleansed, and at +rest. If a fetid smell still remains, wet the cleft, morning and +evening, with + + Chloride of soda, 1 ounce. + Water, 6 ounces. + +Mix. + +_Another._ + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Water, a pint. + +Mix. + +_Another._ + + Common salt, 1 table-spoonful. + Vinegar, a wine-glass. + Water, 1 quart. + +Whenever any fungous excrescence makes its appearance between the claws, +apply powdered bloodroot or burnt alum. + + + + +RED WATER. + + +This affection takes its name from the high color of the urine. It is +not, strictly speaking, a disease, but only a symptom of derangement, +caused by high feeding or the suppression of some natural discharge. If, +for example, the skin be obstructed, then the insensible perspiration +and excrementitious matter, which should pass through this great outlet, +find some other mode of egress; either the lungs of kidneys have to +perform the extra work. If the lot falls on the latter, and they are not +in a physiological state, they give evidence of febrile or inflammatory +action (caused by the irritating, acrid character of their secretion) in +the form of high-colored urine. In all cases of derangement in the +digestive apparatus, liver included, both in man and oxen, the urine is +generally high colored; and the use of diuretic medicines is +objectionable, for, at best, it would only be treating symptoms. We lay +it down as a fundamental principle, that those who treat symptoms alone +never cure disease, for the animal often dies a victim to the treatment, +instead of the malady. + +Whenever an animal is in a state of plethora, and the usual amount of +morbific matter cannot find egress, some portion of it is reabsorbed, +producing a deleterious effect: the urine will then be high colored, +plainly demonstrating that nature is making an effort to rid the system +of useless material, and will do so unless interfered with by the use of +means opposed to the cure, such as blood-letting, physicking, and +diuretics. + +The urine will appear high colored, and approach a red hue, in many cows +after calving, in inflammation of the womb, gastric fever, puerperal +fever, fevers generally, inflammation of the kidneys, indigestion; in +short, many forms of acute disease are accompanied by high-colored +urine. + +The treatment, like that of any other form of derangement, must be +general. Excite all parts of the system to healthy action. If the bowels +are constipated, give the following:-- + + Golden seal, 1 table-spoonful. + Thoroughwort tea, 2 quarts. + +To be given at a dose. Scalded shorts will be the most suitable food, if +any is required; but, generally, abstinence is necessary, especially if +the animal be fat. If the surface and extremities are cold, give an +infusion of pennyroyal, catnip, sage, or hyssop; and rub the belly and +legs with + + Hot vinegar, 1 quart. + Powdered lobelia or cayenne, 1 ounce. + +If the kidneys are inflamed,--which may be known by tenderness in the +region of the loins, and by the animal standing with the legs widely +separated,--the urine being of a dark red color, then, in addition to +the application of stimulating liniment to the belly and legs, a +poultice may be placed over the kidneys. + +_Poultice for inflamed Kidneys._ + + Slippery elm, 8 ounces. + Lobelia, 4 ounces. + Boiling water sufficient. + +_Another._ + + Linseed, } equal parts + Marshmallows, } + Boiling water sufficient. + +Lay the poultice on the loins, pass a cloth over it, and secure under +the belly. + +A drink of marshmallows is the only fluid that can with safety be +allowed. + +If the horns, ears, and surface are hot, sponge the whole surface with +weak lie or saleratus water, and give the following antifebrile drink:-- + + Lemon balm, 2 ounces. + Cream of tartar, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + Honey, 1 gill. + +When cold, strain, and give a pint every fifteen minutes. + +If the bowels are constipated, use injections of soap-suds. + +Suppose the animal to be in poor condition, hide bound, liver inactive, +the excrement of a dark color and fetid odor. Then use + + Powdered golden seal, 2 ounces. + " caraways, 1 ounce. + " cayenne, 1 tea-spoonful. + Poplar bark, or slippery elm, 2 ounces. + +Mix, divide into ten parts, and give one, in thin gruel, three times a +day. The animal should be fed on boiled carrots, scalded shorts, into +which a few handfuls of meal or flour may be stirred. In short, consider +the nature of the case; look beyond the symptoms, ascertain the cause, +and, if possible, remove it. An infusion of either of the following +articles may be given at discretion: marshmallows, linseed, juniper +berries, pond lily roots, poplar bark, or queen of the meadow. + +Mr. Cole remarks that "red water is most common in cows of weak +constitution, a general relaxation, poor blood, &c." + +In such cases, a nutritious diet, cleanliness, good nursing, friction on +the surface, comfortable quarters at night, and an occasional tonic will +accomplish wonders. + +_Tonic Mixture._ + + Powdered golden seal, 1 tea-spoonful. + " balmony, 2 tea-spoonfuls. + +Mix the above in shorts or meal. Repeat night and morning until +convalescence is established. In cases of great prostration, where it is +necessary to act with promptitude, the following infusion may be +substituted:-- + + Thoroughwort, } + Golden seal, } of each, 1 ounce. + Camomile flowers, } + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +After standing one hour, strain, and give a pint every four hours. + + + + +BLACK WATER. + + +My plan of treatment, in this malady, is similar to that for red water. +In both cases, it is indispensable to attend to the general health, to +promote the discharge of all the secretions, to remove all obstructions +to the full and free play of all parts of the living machinery. The same +remedies recommended in the preceding article are equally good in this +case, only they must be more perseveringly applied. + + + + +THICK URINE. + + +Whenever the urine is thick and turbid, deficient in quantity, or voided +with difficulty, either of the following prescriptions may be +administered:-- + + Juniper berries, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Strain. Dose, 1 pint every four hours. + +_Another._ + + Slippery elm, 1 ounce. + Poplar bark, 2 ounces. + +Make a tea; sweeten with molasses, and give pint doses every four hours. + +_Another._ + +Make a tea of cedar or pine boughs, sweeten with honey, and give it at +discretion. + + + + +RHEUMATISM. + + +Rheumatism thrives in cold, damp situations, and in wet, foggy weather. +It is often confined to the membranes of the large joints, and sometimes +consists in a deficiency of joint oil, (_synovia._) It is liable to +become chronic, and involve the fibro-muscular tissues. Acute rheumatism +is known by the pain and swelling in certain parts. Chronic rheumatism +is recognized by coldness, rigidity about the muscles, want of vital +action, &c. + +When lameness, after a careful examination, cannot be accounted for, and +is found to go off after exercise, and return again, it is probably +rheumatism. + + +_Treatment of Acute Rheumatism._--Bathe the parts with an infusion of +arnica flowers, made thus:-- + + Arnica flowers, 4 ounces. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +When sufficiently cool, it is fit for use. + +Give the following:-- + + Sulphur, 2 ounces. + Cream of tartar, 3 ounces. + Powdered pleurisy root, 1 ounce. + " licorice, 2 ounces. + Indian meal, 1 pound. + +Mix. Give a table-spoonful three times a day in the feed. A light diet +and rest are indispensable. + + +_Treatment of Chronic Rheumatism._--Put the animal on a generous diet, +and give an occasional spoonful of golden seal or balmony in the food, +and a drink of sassafras tea. The parts may be rubbed with stimulating +liniment, for which, see APPENDIX. + + + + +BLAIN. + + +Some veterinary writers describe this disease as "a watery tumor, +growing at the root of the tongue, and threatening suffocation. The +first symptoms are foaming at the mouth, gaping, and lolling out of the +tongue." + +The disease first originates in the mucous surfaces, which enter into +the mouth, throat, and stomach. It partakes somewhat of the character of +thrush, and requires nearly the same treatment. + +Make an infusion of raspberry leaves, to which add a small quantity of +borax or alum. Wash the mouth and tongue with the same by means of a +sponge. If there are any large pustules, open them with the point of a +penknife. After cleansing them, sprinkle with powdered bayberry bark, or +bloodroot. Rid the system of morbid matter by injection and physic, +(which see, in APPENDIX.) The following antiseptic drink will +then complete the cure:-- + +Make a tea of raspberry leaves by steeping two ounces in a quart of +boiling water; when cool, strain; then add + + Powdered charcoal, 2 ounces. + " bayberry bark, 1 ounce. + Honey, 2 table-spoonfuls. + +Give a pint every four hours. + +The diet should consist of scalded meal, boiled turnips, carrots, &c., +to which a small portion of salt may be added. If the glands under the +ears and around the throat are sympathetically affected, and swollen, +they must be rubbed twice a day with the stimulating liniment. (See +APPENDIX.) + +The disease is supposed, by some veterinarians, to originate in the +tongue, but post mortem examinations lead us to determine otherwise. Mr. +Youatt informs us that "post mortem examination shows intense +inflammation, or even gangrene, of the tongue, oesophagus, paunch, and +fourth stomach. The food in the paunch has a most offensive smell, and +that in the manyplus is hard and dry. Inflammation reaches to the small +intestines, which are covered with red and black patches in the +coecum, colon, and rectum." + + + + +THRUSH. + + +_Thrush_, and all eruptive diseases of the throat and internal surface, +are treated in the same manner as laid down in Blaine. + + + + +BLACK TONGUE. + + +Black Tongue appears when the system is deprived of vital force, as in +the last stages of blaine, &c. The indications to be fulfilled are the +same as in blaine, but applied with more perseverance. + + + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE THROAT AND ITS APPENDAGES.[12] + + +In many cases, if attended to immediately, nothing more will be +necessary than confining the animal to a light diet, with frequent +drinks of linseed tea, warmth and moisture applied locally in the form +of a slippery elm poultice, which may be kept in close contact with the +throat by securing it to the horns. But, in very severe attacks, mullein +leaves steeped in vinegar and applied to the parts, with an occasional +stimulating injection, (see APPENDIX,) together with a gruel +diet, are the only means of relief. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[12] This includes the larynx, pharynx, and trachea. + + + + +BRONCHITIS. + + +Bronchitis consists in a thickening of the fibrous and mucous surfaces +of the trachea, and generally results from maltreated hoose or catarrh. + +_Symptoms._--A dry, husky, wheezing cough, laborious breathing, hot +breath, and dry tongue. + +_Treatment._--Warm poultices of slippery elm or flaxseed, on the surface +of which sprinkle powdered lobelia. Apply them to the throat moderately +warm; if they are too hot they will prove injurious. In the first place +administer the following drink:-- + + Powdered licorice, 1 ounce. + " elecampane, half an ounce. + Slippery elm, 1 ounce. + +Boiling water sufficient to make it of the consistence of thin gruel. + +If there is great difficulty of breathing, add half a tea-spoon of +lobelia to the above, and repeat the dose night and morning. Linseed or +marshmallow tea is a valuable auxiliary in the treatment of this +disease. The animal should be comfortably housed, and the legs kept warm +by friction with coarse straw. + + + + +INFLAMMATION OF GLANDS. + + +There are numerous glandular bodies distributed over the animal +structure. Those to which the reader's attention is called are, first, +the parotid, situated beneath the ear; secondly, the sub-lingual, +beneath the tongue; lastly, the sub-maxillary, situated just within the +angle of the jaw. They are organized similarly to other glands, as the +kidneys, &c., possessing arteries, veins, lymphatics, &c., which +terminate in a common duct. They have also a ramification of nerves, and +the body of the gland has its own system of arterial vessels and +absorbents, which are enclosed by a serous membrane. They produce a +copious discharge of fluid, called saliva. Its use is to lubricate the +mouth, thereby preventing friction; also to lubricate the food, and +assist digestion. + +Inflammation of either of these glands may be known by the heat, +tenderness, enlargement, and difficulty of swallowing. They are usually +sympathetically affected, as in hoose, catarrh, influenza, &c., and +generally resume their natural state when these maladies disappear. + +_Treatment._--In the inflammatory stage, warm teas of marshmallows, or +slippery elm, and poultices of the same, are the best means yet known to +reduce it; they relax constricted or obstructed organs, and by being +directly applied to the parts affected, the more speedily and +effectually is the object accomplished. Two or three applications of +some relaxing poultice will be all that is needed; after which, apply + + Olive oil, or goose grease, 1 gill. + Spirits of camphor, 1 ounce. + Oil of cedar, 1 ounce. + Vinegar, half a gill. + +Mix. + +_Another._ + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Beef's gall, 1 gill. + Cayenne, 1 tea-spoonful. + +To be rubbed around the throat as occasion may require. All hard or +indigestible food will be injurious. + + + + +LOSS OF CUD. + + +Loss of Cud is a species of indigestion, and may be brought on by the +animal's eating greedily of some food to which it has been unaccustomed. +Loss of cud and loss of appetite are synonymous. + +_Compound for Loss of Cud._ + + Golden seal, powdered, 1 ounce. + Caraway, " 2 ounces. + Cream of tartar, half an ounce. + Powdered poplar bark, 2 ounces. + +Mix. Divide into six powders, and give one every four hours in a +sufficient quantity of camomile tea. + + + + +COLIC. + + +Colic is occasioned by a want of physiological power in the organs of +digestion, so that the food, instead of undergoing a chemico-vital +process, runs into fermentation, by which process carbonic acid gas is +evolved. + +_Symptoms._--The animal is evidently in pain, and appears very restless; +it occasionally turns its head, with an anxious gaze, to the left side, +which seems to be distended more than the right; there is an occasional +discharge of gas from the mouth and anus. + +_Treatment._--Give the following carminative:-- + + Powdered aniseed, half a tea-spoonful. + " cinnamon, " " + +To be given in a quart of spearmint tea, and repeated if necessary. + +_Another._ + + Powdered assafoetida, half a tea-spoon. + Thin gruel of slippery elm, 2 quarts. + Oil of aniseed, 20 drops. + +To be given at a dose. + +If the animal suffers much pain, apply fomentations to the belly, and +give the following injection:-- + + Powdered ginger, half an ounce. + Common salt, 1 table-spoonful. + Hot water, 1 gallon. + + + + +SPASMODIC COLIC. + + +This affection may be treated in the same manner as flatulent colic, +aided by warmth and moisture externally. The author has in many cases +cured animals of spasmodic colic with a little peppermint tea, brisk +friction upon the stomach and bowels, and an injection of warm water; +whereas, had the animals been compelled to swallow the usual amount of +gin, saleratus, castor oil, salts, and other nauseous, useless drugs, +they would probably have died. The reader, especially if he is an +advocate of the popular poisoning and blood-letting system, may ask, +What good can a little simple peppermint tea accomplish? We answer, +Nature delights in simples, and in all her operations invites us to +follow her example. The fact is, warm peppermint tea, although in the +estimation of the learned it is not entitled to any confidence as a +therapeutic agent, yet is an efficient anti-spasmodic in the hands of +reformers and common-sense farmers. It is evident that if any changes +are made in the symptoms, they ought to be for the better; yet under the +heroic practice they often grow worse. + + + + +CONSTIPATION. + + +In constipation there is a retention of the excrement, which becomes dry +and hard. It may arise from derangement of the liver and other parts of +the digestive apparatus: at other times, there is a loss of equilibrium +between the mucous and external surface, the secretion of the former +being deficient, and the external surface throwing off too much moisture +in the form of perspiration. In short, constipation, in nine cases out +of ten, is only a symptom of a more serious disorder in some important +function. The use of powerful purges is at all times attended with +danger, and in very many cases they fall short of accomplishing the +object. Mr. Youatt tells us that "a heifer had been feverish, and had +refused all food during five days; and four pounds of Epsom salts, and +the same quantity of treacle, and three fourths of a pint of castor oil, +and numerous injections, had been administered before any purgative +effect could be produced." Several cases have come under the author's +notice where large doses of aloes, salts, and castor oil had been given +without producing the least effect on the bowels, until within a few +minutes of the death of the animal. If the animal ever recovers from the +dangerous effects resulting from powerful purges, it is evident that the +delicate membranes lining the alimentary canal must lose their energy +and become torpid. All mechanical irritants--for purges are of that +class--divert the fluids of the body from the surface and kidneys, +producing watery discharges from the bowels. This may be exemplified by +a person taking a pinch of snuff; the irritating article comes in +contact with the mucous surfaces: they endeavor to wash off the +offending matter by secreting a quantity of fluid; this, together with +what is forced through the membranes in the act of sneezing, generally +accomplishes the purpose. A constant repetition of the vile habit +renders the parts less capable of self-defence; they become torpid, and +lose their natural power of resisting encroachments; finally, the +altered voice denotes the havoc made on the mucous membrane. This +explains the whole _modus operandi_ of artificial purging; and although, +in the latter case, the parts are not adapted to sneezing, yet there is +often a dreadful commotion, which has destroyed many thousands of +valuable animals. An eminent professor has said that "purgatives, +besides being uncertain and uncontrollable, often kill from the +dangerous debility they produce." The good results that sometimes appear +to follow the exhibition of irritating purges must be attributed to the +sanative action of the constitution, and not to the agent itself; and +the life of the patient depends, in all cases, on the existing ability +of the vital power to counteract the effects of purging, bleeding, +poisoning, and blistering. + +The author does not wish to give the reader occasion to conclude that +purgatives can be entirely dispensed with; on the contrary, he thinks +that in many cases they are decidedly beneficial, when given with +discretion, and when the nature of the disease requires them; yet even +such cases, too much confidence should not be placed on them, so as to +exclude other and sometimes more efficient remedies, which come under +the head of laxatives, aperients, &c. + +_Treatment._--If costiveness is suspected to be symptomatic of some +derangement, then a restoration of the general health will establish the +lost function of the bowels. In this case, purges are unnecessary; the +treatment will altogether depend on the symptoms. For example, suppose +the animal constipated; the white of the eye tinged yellow, head +drooping, and the animal is drowsy, and off its feed; then give the +following:-- + + Powdered mandrake, 1 tea-spoonful. + Castile soap, in shavings, quarter of an ounce. + Beef's gall, half a wine-glass. + Powdered capsicum, third of a table-spoon. + +Dissolve the soap in a small quantity of hot water, then mix the whole +in three pints of thin gruel. + +This makes a good aperient, and can be given with perfect safety in all +cases of constipation arising from derangement of the liver. The liquid +must be poured down the throat in a gradual manner, in order to insure +its reaching the fourth stomach. Aid the medicine by injections, and rub +the belly occasionally with straw. + +Suppose the bowels to be torpid during an attack of inflammation of the +brain; then it will be prudent to combine relaxants and anti-spasmodics, +in the following form:-- + + Extract of butternut, half an ounce. + Powdered skunk cabbage, " + Cream of tartar, " + Powdered lobelia, 2 drachms. + +First dissolve the butternut in two quarts of hot water; after which add +the remaining ingredients, and give it for a dose. The operation of this +prescription, like the preceding, must be aided by injection, friction, +and warm drinks made of hyssop or pine boughs. + +Suppose the bowels to be constipated, at the same time the animal is +hide-bound, in poor condition, &c.; the aperient must then be combined +with tonics, as follows:-- + + Extract of butternut, half an ounce. + Rochelle salt, 4 ounces. + Golden seal, 1 ounce. + Ginger, 1 tea-spoonful. + Hot water, 3 quarts. + +Dissolve and administer at a dose. In order to relieve the cold, +constricted, inactive state of the hide, recourse must be had to warmth, +moisture, and friction. A simple aperient of linseed oil may be given in +cases of stricture or intussusception of the bowels. The dose is one +pint. + + + + +FALLING DOWN OF THE FUNDAMENT. + + +Return the prolapsed part as quickly as possible by gently kneading the +parts within the rectum. In recent cases, the part should be washed with +an infusion of bayberry bark. (See APPENDIX.) The bowel may be +kept in position by applying a wad of cotton, kept wet with the +astringent infusion, confined with a bandage. A weak solution of alum +water may, however, be substituted, provided the bayberry or white oak +bark is not at hand. + +Should the parts appear swollen and much inflamed, apply a large +slippery elm poultice, on the surface of which sprinkle powdered white +oak or bayberry bark. This will soon lessen the swelling, so that the +rectum may be returned. + +The diet must be very sparing, consisting of flour gruel; and if the +bowels are in a relaxed state, add a small quantity of powdered +bayberry. + + + + +CALVING. + + +At the end of nine months, the period of the cow's gestation is +complete; but parturition does not always take place at that time; it is +sometimes earlier, at others later. "One hundred and sixteen cows had +their time of calving registered: fourteen of them calved from the two +hundred and forty-first day to the two hundred and sixty-sixth +day,--that is, eight months and one day to eight months and twenty-six +days; fifty-six from the two hundred and seventieth to the two hundred +and eightieth day; eighteen from the two hundred and eightieth to the +two hundred and ninetieth; twenty on the three hundredth day; five on +the three hundred and eighth day; consequently there were sixty-seven +days between the two extremities." + +Immediately before calving, the animal appears uneasy; the tail is +elevated; she shifts from place to place, and is frequently lying down +and getting up again. The labor pains then come on; and by the expulsive +power of the womb, the foetus, with the membranes enveloping it, is +pushed forward. At first, the membranes appear beyond the vagina, or +"shape," often in the form of a bladder of water; the membranes burst, +the water is discharged, and the head and fore feet of the calf protrude +beyond the shape. We are now supposing a case of natural labor. The body +next appears, and soon the delivery is complete. In a short time, a +gradual contraction of the womb takes place, and the cleansings +(afterbirth) are discharged. When the membranes are ruptured in the +early stage of calving, and before the outlet be sufficiently expanded, +the process is generally tedious and attended with danger; and this +danger arises in part from the premature escape of the fluids contained +within the membranes, which are intended, ultimately, to serve the +double purpose of expanding or dilating the passage, and lubricating the +parts, thereby facilitating the birth. + +Under these circumstances, it will be our duty to supply the latter +deficiency by carefully anointing the parts with olive oil; at the same +time, allow the animal a generous supply of slippery elm gruel: if she +refuses to partake of it, when offered in a bucket, it must be gently +poured down the throat from a bottle. At times, delivery is very slow; a +considerable time elapses before any part of the calf makes its +appearance. Here we have only to exercise patience; for if there is a +natural presentation, nature, being the best doctor under all +circumstances, will do the work in a more faithful manner unassisted +than when improperly assisted. "A meddlesome midwifery is bad." +Therefore the practice of attempting to hurry the process by driving the +animal about, or annoying her in any way, is very improper. In some +cases, however, when a wrong presentation is apparent, which seems to +render calving impracticable, we should, after smearing the hand with +lard, introduce it into the vagina, and endeavor to ascertain the +position of the calf, and change it when it is found unfavorable. When, +for example, the head presents without the fore legs, which are bent +under the breast, we may gently pass the hand along the neck, and, +having ascertained the position of the feet, we grasp them, and endeavor +to bring them forward, the cow at the same time being put into the most +favorable position, viz., the hind quarters being elevated. By this +means the calf can be gently pushed back, as the feet are advanced and +brought into the outlet. The calf being now in a natural position, we +wait patiently, and give nature an opportunity to perform her work. +Should the expulsive efforts cease, and the animal appear to be rapidly +sinking, no time must be lost; nature evidently calls for assistance, +but not in the manner usually resorted to, viz., that of placing a rope +around the head and feet of the calf, and employing the united strength +of several men to extract the foetus, without regard to position. Our +efforts must be directed to the mother; the calf is a secondary +consideration: the strength of the former, if it is failing, must be +supported; the expulsive power of the womb and abdominal muscles, now +feeble, must be aroused; and there are no means or processes that are +better calculated to fulfil these indications than that of administering +the following drink:-- + + Bethroot, 2 ounces. + Powdered cayenne, one third of a tea-spoon. + Motherwort, 1 ounce. + +Infuse in a gallon of boiling water. When cool, strain, then add a gill +of honey, and give it in pint doses, as occasion may require. + +Under this treatment, there is no difficulty in reëstablishing uterine +action. If, however, the labor is still tedious, the calf may be grasped +with both hands, and as soon as a pain or expulsive effort is evident, +draw the calf from side to side. While making this lateral motion, draw +the calf forward. Expulsion generally follows. + +If, on examination, it is clearly ascertained that the calf is lying in +an unnatural position,--for example, the calf may be in such a position +as to present its side across the outlet,--in such cases delivery is not +practicable unless the position is altered. Mr. White says, "I have seen +a heifer that it was found impossible to deliver. On examining her after +death, a very large calf was found lying quite across the mouth of the +uterus." In such cases, Mr. Lawson recommends that, "when every other +plan has failed for taming the calf, so as to put it in a favorable +position for delivery, the following has often succeeded: Let the cow be +thrown down in a proper position, and placed on her back; then, by means +of ropes and a pulley attached to a beam above, let the hind parts be +raised up, so as to be considerably higher than the fore parts; in this +position, the calf may be easily put back towards the bottom of the +uterus, so as to admit of being turned, or his head and fore legs +brought forward without difficulty." + +We must ever bear in mind the important fact that the successful +termination of the labor depends on the strength and ability of the +parent; that if these fail, however successful we may be in bringing +about a right presentation, the birth is still tedious, and we may +finally have to take the foetus away piecemeal; by which process the +cow's life is put in jeopardy. + +To avoid such an unfortunate occurrence, support the animal's strength +with camomile tea. The properties of camomile are antispasmodic, +carminative, and tonic--just what is wanted. + +Mr. White informs us that "instances sometimes occur of the calf's head +appearing only, and so large that it is found impossible to put it back. +When this is found to be the case, the calf should be killed, and +carefully extracted, by cutting off the head and other parts that +prevent the extraction; thus the cow's life will be saved." + +In cases of malformation of the head of the foetus, or when the +cranium is enormously distended by an accumulation of fluid within the +ventricles of the brain, after all other remedies, in the form of +fomentations, lubricating antispasmodic drinks, have failed, then +recourse must be had to embryotomy. + + + + +EMBRYOTOMY. + + +For the following method of performing the operation we are indebted to +Mr. Youatt's work. The details appeared in the London Veterinarian of +1831, and will illustrate the operation. M. Thibeaudeau, the operating +surgeon, says, "I was consulted respecting a Breton cow twenty years +old, which was unable to calve. I soon discovered the obstacle to the +delivery. The fore limbs presented themselves as usual; but the head and +neck were turned backwards, and fixed on the left side of the chest, +while the foetus lay on its right side, on the inferior portion of the +uterus." M. Thibeaudeau then relates the ineffectual efforts he made to +bring the foetus into a favorable position, and he at length found +that his only resource to save the mother was, to cut in pieces the +calf, which was now dead. "I amputated the left shoulder of the foetus," +says he, "in spite of the difficulties which the position of the head +and neck presented. Having withdrawn the limb, I made an incision +through all the cartilages of the ribs, and laid open the chest through +its whole extent, by which means I was enabled to extract all the +thoracic viscera. Thus having lessened the size of the calf, I was +enabled, by pulling at the remaining fore leg, to extract the foetus +without much resistance, although the head and neck were still bent upon +the chest. The afterbirth was removed immediately afterwards." This +shows the importance of making an early examination, to determine the +precise position of the foetus; for if the head had been discovered in +such position in the early stage of labor, it might have been brought +forward, and thus prevented the butchery. + + + + +FALLING OF THE CALF-BED, OR WOMB. + + +When much force used in extracting the calf, it sometimes happens that +the womb falls out, or is inverted; and great care is required in +putting it back, so that it may remain in that situation. + +_Treatment._--If the cow has calved during the night, in a cold +situation, and, from the exhausted state of the animal, we have reason +to suppose that the labor has been tedious, or that she has taken cold, +efforts must be made to restore the equilibrium. The following +restorative must be given:-- + + Motherwort tea, 2 quarts. + Hot drops, 1 table-spoonful. + Powdered cinnamon, 1 tea-spoonful. + +Give a pint every ten minutes, and support the animal with flour gruel. + +The uterus should be returned in the following manner: Place the cow in +such a position that the hind parts shall be higher than the fore. Wash +the uterus with warm water, into which sprinkle a small quantity of +powdered bayberry; remove any extraneous substance from the parts. A +linen cloth is then to be put under the womb, which is to be held by two +assistants. The cow should be made to rise, if lying down,--that being +the most favorable position,--and the operator is then to grasp the +mouth of the womb with both hands and return it. When so returned, one +hand is to be immediately withdrawn, while the other remains to prevent +that part from falling down again. The hand at liberty is then to grasp +another portion of the womb, which is to be pushed into the body, like +the former, and retained with one hand. This is to be repeated until the +whole of the womb is put back. If the womb does not contract, friction, +with a brush, around the belly and back, may excite contraction. An +attendant must, at the same time, apply a pad wetted with weak alum +water to the "shape," and keep it in close contact with the parts, while +the friction is going on. It is sometimes necessary to confine the pad +by a bandage. + + + + +GARGET. + + +In order to prevent this malady, the calf should be put to suck +immediately after the caw has cleansed it; and, if the bag is distended +with an overplus of milk, some of it should be milked off. If, however, +the teats or quarters become hot and tender, foment with an infusion of +elder or camomile flowers, which must be perseveringly applied, at the +same time drawing, in the most gentle manner, a small quantity of milk; +by which means the over-distended vessels will collapse to their healthy +diameter. An aperient must then be given, (see APPENDIX,) and +the animal be kept on a light diet. If there is danger of matter +forming, rub the bag with the following liniment:-- + + Goose oil, } equal parts. + Hot drops, } + +If the parts are exceedingly painful, wash with a weak lie, or wood +ashes, or sal soda. In spite of all our efforts, matter will sometimes +form. As soon as it is discovered, a lancet may be introduced, and the +matter evacuated; then wash the part clean, and apply the stimulating +liniment. (See APPENDIX.) + + + + +SORE TEATS. + + +First wash with castile soap and warm water; then apply the following:-- + + Lime water, } equal parts. + Linseed oil, } + + +CHAPPED TEATS AND CHAFED UDDER. + +These may be treated in the same manner. + +If the above preparation is not at hand, substitute bayberry tallow, +elder or marshmallow ointment. + + + + +FEVER. + + +_Description and Definition._--Fever is a powerful effort of the vital +principle to expel from the system morbific or irritating matter, or to +bring about a healthy action. The reason why veterinary practitioners +have not ascertained this fact heretofore is, because they have been +guided by false principles, to the exclusion of their own common +experience. Let them receive the truth of the definition we have given; +then the light will begin to shine, and medical darkness will be +rendered more visible. Fever, we have said, is a vital action--an effort +of the vital power to regain its equilibrium of action through the +system, and should never be subdued by the use of the lancet, or any +destructive agents that deprive the organs of the power to produce it. +Fever will be generally manifested in one or more of that combination of +signs known as follows: loss of appetite, increased velocity of the +pulse, difficult respiration, heaving at the flank, thirst, pain, and +swelling; some of which will be present, local or general, in greater or +less degree, in all forms of disease. When an animal has taken cold, +and there is power in the system to keep up a continual warfare against +encroachments, the disturbance of vital action being unbroken, the fever +is called pure or persistent. Emanations from animal or vegetable +substances in a state of decomposition or putrefaction, or the noxious +miasmata from marshy lands, if concentrated, and not sufficiently +diluted with atmospheric air, enter into the system, and produce a +specific effect. In order to dethrone the intruder, who keeps up a +system of aggression from one tissue to another, the vital power arrays +her artillery, in good earnest, to resist the invading foe; and if +furnished with the munitions of war in the form of sanative agents, she +generally conquers the enemy, and dictates her own terms. While the +forces are equally balanced, which may be known by a high grade of vital +action, it is also called _unbroken_ or _pure_ fever. The powers of the +system may become exhausted by efforts at relief, and the fever will be +periodically reduced; this form of fever is called _remittent_. By +remittent fever is to be understood this modification of vital action +which rests or abates, but does not go entirely off before a fresh +attack ensues. It is evident, in this case, also, that nature is busily +engaged in the work of establishing her empire; but being more +exhausted, she occasionally rests from her labors. It would be as absurd +to expect that the most accurate definition of fever in one animal would +correspond in all its details with another case, as to expect all +animals to be alike. There are many names given to fevers; for example, +in addition to the two already alluded to, we have milk or puerperal +fever, symptomatic, typhus, inflammatory, &c. Veterinary Surgeon +Percival, in an article on fever, says, "We have no more reason--not +near so much--to give fever a habitation in the abdomen, than we have to +enthrone it in the head; but it would appear from the full range of +observation, that no part of the body can be said to be unsusceptible of +inflammation, (local fever,) though, at the same time, no organ is +invariably or exclusively affected." + +From this we learn that disease always attacks the weakest organ, and +that our remedies should be adapted to act on all parts of the system. + +The same author continues, "All I wish to contend for is, that both +idiopathic and symptomatic fevers exhibit the same form, character, +species, and the same general means of cure; and that, were it not for +the local affection, it would be difficult or impossible to distinguish +them." + +Fever has always been the great bugbear, to scare the farmer and cattle +doctor into a wholesale system of blood-letting and purging; they +believe that the more fever the animal manifests, the more unwearied +must be their exertions. The author advises the farmer not to feel +alarmed about the fever; for when that is present it shows that the +vital principle is up and doing. Efforts should be made to open the +outlets of the body, through which the morbific materials may pass: the +fever will then subside. It will be difficult to make the community +credit this simple truth, because fever is quite a fashionable disease, +and it is an easy matter to make the farmer believe that his cow has a +very peculiar form of it, that requires an entirely different mode of +treatment from that of another form. Then it is very profitable to the +interested allopathic doctor, who can produce any amount of "learned +nonsense" to justify the ways and means, and support his theory. + +The author does not wish, at the present time, to enter into a learned +discussion of the merit or demerit of allopathy: the object of this work +is, to impart practical information to farmers and owners of stock. In +order to accomplish this object, an occasional reference to the +absurdities of the old school is unavoidable. + +A celebrated writer has said, "The very medicines [meaning those used by +the old school, which kill more than they ever cure] which aggravate and +protract the malady bind a laurel on the doctor's brow. When, at last, +the sick are saved by the living powers of nature struggling against +death and the physician, he receives all the credit of a miraculous +cure; he is lauded to the skies for delivering the sick from the details +of the most deadly symptoms of misery into which he himself had plunged +them, and out of which they never would have arisen, but by the +restorative efforts of that living power which at once triumphed over +poison, blood-letting, disease, and death." + +In the treatment of disease, and when fever is manifested by the signs +just enumerated, the object is, to invite the blood to the external +surface; or, in other words, equalize the circulation by warmth and +moisture; give diaphoretic or sudorific medicines, (see +APPENDIX,) with a view of relaxing the capillary structure, +ridding the system of morbific materials, and allaying the general +excitement. If the ears and legs are cold, rub them diligently with a +brush; if they again relapse into a cold state, rub them with +stimulating liniment, and bandage them with flannel. In short, to +contract, to stimulate, remove obstructions, and furnish the system with +the materials for self-defence, are the means to be resorted to in the +cure of fevers. + +We shall now give a few examples of the treatment of fever; from which +the reader will form some idea of the course to be pursued in other +forms not enumerated. But we may be asked why we make so many divisions +of fever when it is evidently a unit. We answer the question, in the +words of Professor Curtis, whose teachings first emancipated us from the +absurdity of allopathic theories. "These divisions were made by the +learned in physic, and we follow them out in their efforts to divide +what is in its nature indivisible, to satisfy the demands of the public, +and to give it in small crumbs to those practitioners of the art who +have not capacity enough to take in the whole at a single mouthful." + +In the treatment of fevers, we must endeavor to remove all intruding +agents, their influences and effects, and reëstablish a full, free, and +universal equilibrium throughout the system. "The means are," says +Professor Curtis, "antispasmodics, stimulants, and tonics, with +emollients to grease the wheels of life. Disprove these positions, and +we lay by the pen and 'throw physic to the dogs.' Adhere strictly to +them in the use of the best means, and you will do all that can be done +in the hour of need." + + +MILK OR PUERPERAL FEVER. + +_Treatment._--Aperients are exceedingly important in the early stages, +for they liberate any offending matter that may have accumulated in the +different compartments of the stomach or intestines, and deplete the +system with more certainty and less danger than blood-letting. + +_Aperient for Puerperal Fever._ + + Rochelle salts, 4 ounces. + Manna, 2 ounces. + Extract of butternut, half an ounce. + Dissolve in boiling water, 3 quarts. + +To be given at a dose. + +By the aid of one or more of the following drinks, the aperient will +generally operate:-- + +Give a bountiful supply of hyssop tea, sweetened with honey. Keep the +surface warm. + +Suppose the secretion of milk to be arrested; then apply warm +fomentations to the udder. + +Suppose the bowels to be torpid; then use injections of soap-suds and +salt. + +Suppose the animal to be in poor condition; then give the following:-- + + Powdered balmony or gentian, 1 ounce. + Golden seal, 1 ounce. + Flour gruel, 1 gallon. + +To be given in quart doses, every four hours. + +Suppose the bowels to be distended with gas; then give the following:-- + + Powdered caraways, 1 ounce. + Assafoetida, 1 tea-spoonful. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +To be given at a dose. + +Any of the above preparations may be repeated, as circumstances seem to +require. Yet it must be borne in mind that we are apt to do too much, +and that the province of the good physician is "to know when to do +nothing." The following case from Mr. Youatt's work illustrates this +fact:-- + +"A very singular variety of milk fever has already been hinted at. The +cow is down, but there is apparently nothing more the matter with her +than that she is unable to rise; she eats and drinks, and ruminates as +usual, and the evacuations are scarcely altered. In this state she +continues from ten days to a fortnight, and then she gets up well." Yes, +and many thousands more would "get up well," if they were only let +alone. Nature requires assistance sometimes; hence the need of doctors +and nurses. All, however, that is required of the doctor to do is, just +to attend to the calls of nature,--whose servant he is,--and bring her +what she wants to use in her own way. The nearer the remedies partake or +consist of air, water, warmth, and food, the more sure and certain are +they to do good. + +If a cow, in high condition, has just calved, appears restless, becomes +irritable, the eye and tongue protruding, and a total suspension of milk +takes place, we may conclude that there is danger of puerperal fever. No +time should be lost: the aperient must be given immediately; warm +injections must be thrown into the rectum, and the teats must be +industriously drawn, to solicit the secretion of milk. In this case, all +food should be withheld: "starve a fever" suits this case exactly. + + +INFLAMMATORY FEVER. + +Inflammatory fever manifests itself very suddenly. The animal may appear +well during the day, but at night it appears dull, refuses its food, +heaves at the flanks, seems uneasy, and sometimes delirious; the pulse +is full and bounding; the mouth hot; urine high colored and scanty. +Sometimes there are hot and cold stages. + +_Remarks._--When disease attacks any particular organ suddenly, or in an +acute form, inflammatory fever generally manifests itself. Now, disease +may attack the brain, the lungs, kidneys, spleen, bowels, pleura, or +peritoneum. Inflammatory fever may be present in each case. Now, it is +evident that the fever is not the real enemy to be overcome; it is only +a manifestation of disorder, not the cause of it. The skin may be +obstructed, thereby retaining excrementitious materials in the system: +the reabsorption of the latter produces fever; hence it is obvious that +a complete cure can only be effected by the removal of its causes, or, +rather, the restoration of the suppressed evacuations, secretions, or +excretions. + +It is very important that we observe and imitate nature in her method of +curing fever, which is, the restoration of the secretions, and, in many +cases, by sweat, or by diarrhoea; either of which processes will +remove the irritating or offending cause, and promote equilibrium of +action throughout the whole animal system. In fulfilling these +indications consists the whole art of curing fever. + +But says one, "It is a very difficult thing to sweat an ox." Then the +remedies should be more perseveringly applied. Warm, relaxing, +antispasmodic drinks should be freely allowed, and these should be aided +by warmth, moisture, and friction externally; and by injection, if +needed. If the ox does not actually sweat under this system of +medication, he will throw off a large amount of insensible perspiration. + +_Causes._--In addition to the causes already enumerated, are the +accumulation of excrementitious and morbific materials in the system. +Dr. Eberle says, "A large proportion of the recrementitious elements of +perspirable matter must, when the surface is obstructed, remain and +mingle with the blood, (unless speedily removed by the vicarious action +of some other emunctory,) and necessarily impart to this fluid qualities +that are not natural to it. Most assuredly the retention of materials +which have become useless to the system, and for whose constant +elimination nature has provided so extensive a series of emunctories as +the cutaneous exhalents, cannot be long tolerated by the animal economy +with entire impunity." + +Dr. White says, "Many of the diseases of horses and cattle are caused by +suppressed or checked perspiration; the various appearances they assume +depending, perhaps, in great measure, upon the suddenness with which +this discharge is stopped, and the state of the animal at the time it +takes place. + +"Cattle often suffer from being kept in cold, bleak situations, +particularly in the early part of spring, during the prevalence of an +easterly wind; in this case, the suppression of the discharge is more +gradual, and the diseases which result from it are slower in their +progress, consequently more insidious in their nature; and it often +happens that the animal is left in the same cold situation until the +disease is incurable." + +It seems probable that, in these cases, the perspiratory vessels +gradually lose their power, and that, at length, a total and permanent +suppression of that necessary discharge takes place; hence arise +inflammatory fever, consumption, decayed liver, rot, mesenteric +obstructions, and various other complaints. How necessary, therefore, is +it for proprietors of cattle to be provided with sheltered situations +for their stock! How many diseases might they prevent by such +precaution, and how much might they save, not only in preserving the +lives of their cattle, but in avoiding the expense (too often useless, +to say the least of it) of cattle doctoring! + +_Treatment._--We first give an aperient, (see APPENDIX,) to +deplete the system. The common practice is to deplete by blood-letting, +which only protracts the malady, and often brings on typhus, black +quarter, joint murrain, &c. Promote the secretions and excretions in the +manner already referred to under the head of _Puerperal Fever_; this +will relieve the stricture of the surface. A drink made from either of +the following articles should be freely given: lemon balm, wandering +milk weed, thoroughwort, or lady's slipper, made as follows:-- + +Take either of the above articles, 2 ounces. +Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +When cool, strain, and add a wine-glass of honey. + +If there is great thirst, and the mouth is hot and dry, the animal may +have a plentiful supply of water. + +If the malady threatens to assume a putrid or malignant type, add a +small quantity of capsicum and charcoal to the drink, and support the +strength of the animal with flour gruel. + + +TYPHUS FEVER. + +_Causes._--Sudden changes in the temperature of the atmosphere, the +animal being at the same time in a state of debility, unable to resist +external agencies. + +_Treatment._--Support the powers of the system through the means of +nutritious diet, in the form of flour gruel, scalded meal and shorts, +bran-water, &c. + +Give tonics, relaxants, and antispasmodics, in the following form:-- + + Powdered capsicum, 1 tea-spoonful. + " bloodroot, 1 ounce. + " cinnamon, half an ounce. + Thoroughwort or valerian, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 1 gallon. + +When cold, strain, and give a quart every two hours. + +Remove the contents of the rectum by injections of a stimulating +character, and invite action to the extremities by rubbing them with +stimulating liniment, (which see.) A drink of camomile tea should be +freely allowed; if diarrhoea sets in, add half a tea-spoon of bayberry +bark to every two quarts of the tea. + +These few examples of the treatment of fever will give the farmer an +idea of the author's manner of treating it, who can generally break up a +fever in a few hours, whereas the popular method of "smothering the +fire," as Mr. Youatt terms the blood-letting process, instead of curing, +will produce all forms of fever. Here is a specimen of the treatment, in +fever of a putrid type, recommended by Dr. Brocklesby. He says, +"Immediately upon refusing fodder, the beast should have three quarts of +blood taken away; and after twelve hours, two quarts more; after the +next twelve hours, about three pints may be let out; and after the +following twelve hours, diminish a pint of blood from the quantity taken +away at the preceding blood-letting; lastly, about a single pint should +be taken away in less than twelve hours after the former bleeding; so +that, when the beast has been blooded five times, in the manner here +proposed, the worst symptoms will, it is hoped, abate; but if the +difficulty and panting for breath continue very great, I see no reason +against repeated bleeding." (See Lawson's work on cattle, p. 312.) The +author has consulted several authorities on the treatment of typhus, and +finds that the use of the lancet is invariably recommended. We do not +expect to find, among our American farmers, any one so reckless, so lost +to the common feelings of humanity, and his own interest, as to follow +out the directions here given by Dr. B.; still blood-letting is +practised, to some extent, in every section of the Union, and will +continue to be the sheet-anchor of the cattle doctor just so long as the +influential and cattle-rearing community shall be kept in darkness to +its destructive tendency. Unfortunately for the poor dumb brute, +veterinary writers have from time immemorial been uncompromising +advocates for bleeding; and through the influence which their talents +and position confer, they have wielded the medical sceptre with a +despotism worthy of a better cause. It were a bootless task to attempt +to reform the disciples of allopathy; for, if you deprive them of the +lancet, and their _materia medica_ of poisons, they cannot practise. +They must be reformed through public opinion; and for this purpose we +publish our own experience, and that of others who have dared to assail +allopathy, with the moral certainty that they would expose themselves to +contempt, and be branded as "medical heretics." + +No treatment is scientific, in the estimation of some, unless it +includes the lancet, firing-iron, setons, boring horns, cramming down +salts by the pound, and castor oil by the quart. The object of this work +is to correct this erroneous notion, and show the _farming community_ +that a safer and more efficient system of medication has just sprung +into existence. When the principles of this reformed system of +medication are understood and practised, then the veterinary science +will be a very different thing from what it has heretofore been, and men +will hail it as a blessing instead of a "curse." They will then know the +power that really cures, and devise means of prevention. And here, +reader, permit us to introduce the opinions of an able advocate of +reform in human practice:[13] the same remarks apply to cattle; for they +are governed by the same universal laws that we are, and whether we +prescribe for a man or an ox, the laws of the animal economy are the +same, and require that the same indications shall be fulfilled. + +"A little examination into the consequences of blood-letting will prove +that, so far from its being beneficial, it is productive of the most +serious effects. + +"Nature has endowed the animal frame with the power of preparing, from +proper aliment, a certain quantity of blood. This vital fluid, +subservient to nutrition, is, by the amazing structure of the heart and +blood-vessels, circulated through the different parts of the system. A +certain natural balance between what is taken in and what passes off by +the several outlets of the body is, in a state of health, regularly +preserved. When this balance, so essential to health and life, is, +contrary to the laws of the animal constitution, interrupted, either a +deviation from a sound state is immediately perceived, or health from +that moment is rendered precarious. Blood-letting tends artificially to +destroy the natural balance in the constitution." (For more important +information on blood-letting, see the author's work on the Horse; also +page 58 of the present volume.) + +FOOTNOTE: + +[13] Dr. Beach. + + + + +HORN AIL IN CATTLE. + + +On applying the hand to the horn or horns of a sick beast, an unnatural +heat, or sometimes coldness, is felt: this enables us to judge of the +degree of sympathetic disturbance. And here, reader, permit us to +protest against a cruel practice, that is much in fashion, viz., that of +boring the horns with a gimlet; for it does not mend the matter one jot, +and at best it is only treating symptoms. The gimlet frequently +penetrates the frontal sinuses which communicate with the nasal +passages, and where mucous secretion, if vitiated or tenacious, will +accumulate. On withdrawing the gimlet, a small quantity of thick mucus, +often blood, escapes, and the interested operator will probably bore the +other horn. Now, it often happens that after the point of the gimlet has +passed through one side of the horn and bony structure, it suddenly +enters a sinus, and does not meet with any resistance until it reaches +the opposite side. Many a "mare's nest" has been found in this way, +usually announced as follows: "The horn is hollow!" Again, in aged +animals, the bony structure within the horn often collapses or shrinks, +forming a sinus or cavity within the horn: by boring in a lateral +direction, the gimlet enters it; the horn is then pronounced hollow! +and, according to the usual custom, must be doctored. An abscess will +sometimes form in the frontal sinuses, resulting from common catarrh or +"hoose;" the gimlet may penetrate the sac containing the pus, which thus +escapes; but it would escape, finally, through the nostrils, if it were +let alone. Here, again, the "horns are diseased;" and should the animal +recover, (which it would, eventually, without any interference,) the +recovery is strangely attributed to the boring process. An author, whose +name has escaped our memory, recommends "cow doctors to carry a gimlet +in their pocket." We say to such men, Lead yourselves not into +temptation! if you put a gimlet into your pocket, you will be very +likely to slip it into the cow's horn. Some men have a kind of +instinctive impulse to bore the cow's horns; we allude to those who are +unacquainted with the fact that "horn ail" is only a symptom of +derangement. It is no more a disease of the horns than it is of the +functions generally; for if there be an excess or deficiency of vital +action within or around the base of the horn, there must be a +corresponding deficiency or excess, as the case may be, in some other +region. + +"Horn ail," as it is improperly termed, we have said, may accompany +common catarrh, also that of an epidemic form; the horns will feel +unnatural if there be a determination of blood to the head: this might +be easily equalized by stimulating the external surface and extremities, +at the same time giving antispasmodic teas and regulating the diet. The +horns will feel cold whenever there is an unnatural distribution of the +blood, and this may arise from exposure, or suffering the animal to +wallow in filth. The author has been consulted in many cases of "horn +ail," in several of which there were slow fecal movements, or +constipation; the conjunctiva of the eyes were injected with yellow +fluid, and of course a deficiency of bile in the abomasum, or fourth +stomach; thus plainly showing that the animals were laboring under +derangement of the digestive organs. Our advice was, to endeavor to +promote a healthy action through the whole system; to stimulate the +digestive organs; to remove obstructions, both by injection, if +necessary, and by the use of aperients; lastly, to invite action to the +extremities, by stimulating liniments. Whenever these indications are +fulfilled, "horn ail" soon disappears. + + + + +ABORTION IN COWS. + + +Cows are particularly liable to the accident of "slinking the calf." The +common causes of abortion are, the respiration and ultimate absorption +of emanations from putrid animal remains, over-feeding, derangement of +the stomach, &c. The filthy, stagnant water they are often compelled to +drink is likewise a serious cause, not only of abortion, but also of +general derangement of the animal functions. Dr. White, V. S., tells us +that "a farm in England had been given up three successive times in +consequence of the loss the owners sustained by abortion in their +cattle. At length the fourth proprietor, after suffering considerably in +losses occasioned by abortion in his stock, suspected that the water of +his ponds, which was extremely filthy, might be the cause of the +mischief. He therefore dug three wells upon his farm, and, having fenced +round the pond to prevent the cattle from drinking there, caused them to +be supplied with the well water, in stone troughs erected for the +purpose; and from this moment the evil was remedied, and the quality of +the butter and cheese made on his farm was greatly improved. In order to +show," says the same author, "that the accident of abortion may arise +from a vitiated state of the digestive organs, I will here notice a few +circumstances tending to corroborate this opinion. In 1782, all the cows +of the farmer D'Euruse, in Picardy, miscarried. The period at which they +warped was about the fourth or fifth month. The accident was attributed +to the excessive heat of the preceding summer; but, as the water they +were in the habit of drinking was extremely bad, and they had been kept +on oat, wheat, and rye straw, it appears to me more probable, that the +great quantity of straw they were obliged to eat, in order to obtain +sufficient nourishment, and the injury sustained by the third stomach in +expressing the fluid parts of the masticated or ruminated mass, together +with the large quantity of water they drank, while kept on this dry +food, were the real causes of the miscarriage. + +"A farmer at Chariton, out of a dairy of twenty-eight cows, had sixteen +slip their calves at different periods of gestation. The summer had been +very dry; they had been pastured in a muddy place, which was flooded by +the Seine. Here the cows were generally up to their knees in mud and +water. In 1789, all the cows in a village near Mantes miscarried. All +the lands in this place were so stiff as to be, for some time, +impervious to water; and as a vast quantity of rain fell that year, the +pastures were for a time completely inundated, on which account the +grass became bad. This proves that keeping cows on food that is +deficient in nutritive properties, and difficult of digestion, is one of +the principal causes of miscarriage." Mr. Youatt says, "It is supposed +that the sight of a slipped calf, or the smell of putrid animal +substances, are apt to produce warping. Some curious cases of abortion, +which are worthy of notice, happened in the dairy of a French farmer. +For thirty years his cows had been subject to abortion. His cow-house +was large and well ventilated; his cows were in apparent health; they +were fed like others in the village; they drank the same water; there +was nothing different in the posture; he had changed his servants many +times in the course of thirty years; he pulled down the barn and +cow-house, and built another, on a different plan; he even, agreeably to +superstition, took away the aborted calf through the window, that the +curse of future abortion might not be entailed on the cow that passed +over the same threshold. To make all sure, he had broken through the +wall at the end of the cow-house, and opened a new door. But still the +trouble continued. Several of his cows had died in the act of abortion, +and he had replaced them by others; many had been sold, and their +vacancies filled up. He was advised to make a thorough change. This had +never occurred to him; but at once he saw the propriety of the counsel. +He sold every beast, and the pest was stayed, and never appeared in his +new stock. This was owing, probably, to sympathetic influence: the +result of such influence is as fatal as the direst contagion." + +My own opinion of this disease is, that it is one of nervous origin; +that there is a loss of equilibrium between the nerves of voluntary and +involuntary motion. The direct causes of this pathological state exist +in any thing that can derange the organs of digestion. Great sympathy is +known to exist between the organs of generation and the stomach: if the +latter be deranged, the former feels a corresponding influence, and the +sympathetic nerves are the media by which the change takes place. + +It invariably follows that, as soon as impregnation takes place, the +stomach from that moment takes on an irritable state, and is more +susceptible to the action of unfavorable agents. Thus the odor of putrid +substances cases nausea or relaxation when the animal is in a state of +pregnancy; otherwise, the same odor would not affect it in the least. +Professor Curtis says, "The nervous system constitutes the check lines +by which the vital spirit governs, as a coachman does his horses, the +whole motive apparatus of the animal economy; that every line, or +pencil, or ganglion of lines, in it, is antagonistic to some other line +or ganglion, so that, whenever the function of one is exalted, that of +some other is depressed. It follows, of course, that to equalize the +nervous action, and to sustain the equilibrium, is one of the most +important duties of the physician." + +In addition to the causes of abortion already enumerated, we may add +violent exercise, jumping dikes or hedges, sudden frights, and blows or +bruises. + +_Treatment._--When a cow has slipped her foetus, and appears in good +condition, the quantity of food usually given should be lessened. Give +the following drink every night for a week:-- + + Valerian, (herb,) 1 ounce. + Powdered skunk cabbage, 1 tea-spoonful. + +Steep in half a gallon of boiling water. When cold, strain and +administer. + +Suppose the animal to be in poor condition; then put her on a nourishing +diet, and give tonics and stimulants, as follows:-- + + Powdered gentian, 1 ounce. + " sassafras, 1 ounce. + Linseed or flaxseed, 1 pound. + +Mix. Divide into six portions, and give one, night and morning, in the +food, which ought to consist of scalded meal and shorts. A sufficient +quantity of hay should be allowed; yet grass will be preferable, if the +season permits. + +Suppose the animal to have received an injury; then rest and a scalded +diet are all that are necessary. As a means of prevention, see article +_Feeding_, page 17. + + + + +COW-POX. + + +This malady makes its appearance on the cow's teats in the form of small +pustules, which, after the inflammatory stage, suppurate. A small +quantity of matter then escapes, and forms a crust over the +circumference of each pustule. If the crust be suffered to remain until +new skin is formed beneath, they will heal without any interference. It +often happens, however, that, in the process of milking, the scabs are +rubbed off. The following wash must then be resorted to:-- + + Pyroligneous acid, a wine-glass. + Water, 1 pint. + +Wet the parts two or three times a day; medicine is unnecessary. A few +meals of scalded food will complete the cure. + + + + +MANGE. + + +"Mange may be generated either from excitement of the skin itself, or +through the medium of that sympathetic influence which is known to exist +between the skin and organs of digestion. We have, it appears to me, an +excellent illustration of this in the case of mange supervening upon +poverty--a fact too notorious to be disputed, though there may be +different ways of theorizing on it." + +Mr. Blanie says, "Mange has three origins--filth, debility, and +contagion." + + +_Treatment._--Rid the system of morbific materials with the following:-- + + Powdered sassafras, 2 ounces. + " charcoal, a handful. + Sulphur, 1 ounce. + +Mix, and divide into six parts; one to be given in the feed, night and +morning. The daily use of the following wash will then complete the +cure, provided proper attention be paid to the diet. + + _Wash for Mange._ + + Pyroligneous acid, 4 ounces. + Water, a pint. + +The mange is known to be infectious: this suggests the propriety of +removing the animal from the rest of the herd. + + + + +HIDE-BOUND. + + +This is seldom, if ever, a primary disease. The known sympathy existing +between the digestive organs and the skin enables us to trace the malady +to acute or chronic indigestion. + + +_Treatment._--The indications to be fulfilled are, to invite action to +the surface by the aid of warmth, moisture, friction, and stimulants, to +tone up the digestive organs, and relax the whole animal. The latter +indications are fulfilled by the use of the following:-- + + Powdered balmony, (snakehead,) 2 ounces. + " sassafras, 1 ounce. + Linseed, 2 pounds. + Sulphur, 1 ounce. + +Mix together, and divide the mass into eight equal parts, and give one +night and morning, in scalded shorts or meal; the better way, however, +is, to turn it down the throat. + +A few boiled carrots should be allowed, especially in the winter season, +for they possess peculiar remedial properties, which are generally +favorable to the cure. + + + + +LICE. + + +_Treatment._--Wash the skin, night and morning, with the following:-- + + Powdered lobelia seeds, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 1 quart. + +After standing a few hours, it is fit for use, and can be applied with a +sponge. + + + + +IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING THE SKIN OF ANIMALS IN A HEALTHY STATE. + + +This is a subject of great importance to the farmer; for many of the +diseases of cattle arise from the filthy, obstructed state of the +surface. This neglect of cleansing the hide of cattle arises, in some +cases, from the absurd notion (often expressed to the author) that the +hide of cattle is so thick and dense that they never sweat, except on +the muzzle! For the information of those who may have formed such an +absurd and dangerous notion, we give the views of Professor Bouley. "In +all animals, from the exterior tegumentary surface incessantly exhale +vaporous or gaseous matters, the products of chemical operations going +on in the interior of the organism, of which the uninterrupted +elimination is a necessary condition for the regular continuance of the +functions. Regarded in this point of view, the skin may be considered as +a dependency of the respiratory apparatus, of which it continues and +completes the function, by returning incessantly to the atmosphere the +combusted products, which are water and carbonic acid. + +"Therefore the skin, properly speaking, is an expiratory apparatus, +which, under ordinary conditions of the organism, exhales, in an +insensible manner, products analogous to those expired from the +pulmonary surface; with this difference, that the quantity of carbonic +acid is very much less considerable in the former than in the latter of +these exhalations; according to Burbach, the proportion of carbonic +acid, as inhaled by the skin, being to that expired by the lungs as 350 +to 23,450, or as 1 to 67. + +"The experiments made on inferior animals, such as frogs, toads, +salamanders, or fish, have demonstrated the waste by general +transpiration to be, in twenty-four hours, little less than half the +entire weight of the body." + +The same author remarks, "Direct experiment has shown, in the clearest +manner, the close relation of function existing between the perspiratory +and respiratory membranes." + +"M. Fourcault, with a view of observing, through different species of +animals, the effect of the suppression of perspiration, conceived the +notion of having the skins of certain live animals covered with varnish. +After having been suitably prepared, some by being plucked, others by +being shorn, he smeared them with varnish of variable composition; the +substances employed being tar, paste, glue, pitch, and other plastic +matters. Sometimes these, one or more of them, were spread upon parts, +sometimes upon the whole of the body. The effects of the operation have +varied, showing themselves, soon or late afterwards, decisively or +otherwise, according as the varnishing has been complete or general, or +only partial, thick, thin, &c. In every instance, the health of the +animal has undergone strange alterations, and life has been grievously +compromised. Those that have been submitted to experiment under our eyes +have succumbed in one, two, three days, and even at the expiration of +some hours." (See _London Veterinarian_ for 1850, p. 353.) + +In a subsequent number of the same work we find the subject resumed; +from which able production we select the following:-- + +"The suppression of perspiration has at all times been thought to have a +good deal to do with the production of disease. Without doubt this has +been exaggerated. But, allowing this exaggeration, is it not admitted by +all practitioners that causes which act through the medium of the skin +are susceptible, in sufficient degree, of being appreciated in the +circumstances ushering in the development of very many diseases, +especially those characterized by any active flux of the visceral +organs? For example, is it not an incontestable pathological fact, that +catarrhal, bronchial, pulmonic, and pleuritic affections, congestions of +the most alarming description in the vascular abdominal system of the +horse, inflammation of the peritoneum and womb following labor, +catarrhal inflammations of the bowels, even congestions of the feet, +&c., derive their origin, in a great number of instances, from cold +applied to the skin in a state of perspiration? What happens in the +organism after the application of such a cause? Is its effect +instantaneous? Let us see. Immediately on the repercussive action of +cold being felt by the skin, the vascular system of internal parts finds +itself filled with repelled blood. Though this effect, however, be +simply hydrostatic, the diseased phenomena consecutive on it are far +otherwise. + +"It is quite certain that, in the immense system of communicating +vessels forming the circulating apparatus, whenever any large quantity +of blood flows to any one particular part of the body, the other vessels +of the system must be comparatively empty.[14] The knowledge of this +organic hydrostatic fact it is that has given origin to the use of +revulsives under their various forms, and we all well know how much +service we derive from their use. + +"But in what does this diseased condition consist? Whereabouts is it +seated? + +"The general and undefined mode it has of showing its presence in the +organism points this out. Immediately subsequent to the action of the +cause, the actual seat of the generative condition of the disease about +to appear is the blood; this fluid it is which, having become actually +modified in its chemical compositions under the influence of the cause +that has momentarily obstructed the cutaneous exhalations, carries about +every where with it the disordered condition, and ultimately giving +rise, through it, to some local disease, as a sort of eruptive effort, +analogous in its object, but often less salutary in its effect; owing to +the functional importance of the part attacked, to the external +eruptions produced by the presence in the blood of virus, which alters +both its dynamic and chemical properties. + +"But what is the nature of this alteration? In this case, every clew to +the solution of this question fails us. We know well, when the +experiment is designedly prolonged, the blood grows black, as in +_asphyxia_, (loss of pulse,) through the combination with it of carbonic +acid, whose presence is opposed to the absorption of oxygen. But what +relation is there between this chemical alteration of blood here and the +modifications in composition it may undergo under the influence of +instantaneous suppression, but not persistent, of the cutaneous +exhalations and secretions? The experiments of Dr. Fourcault tend, on +the whole, to explain this. His experiments discover the primitive form +and almost the nature of the alteration the blood undergoes under the +influence of the cessation of the functions of the skin. They +demonstrate that under these conditions the regularity of the course of +this fluid is disturbed--that it has a tendency to accumulate and +stagnate within the internal organs: witness the abdominal pains so +frequently consequent on the application of plasters upon the skin, and +the congestions of the abdominal and pulmonary vascular systems met with +almost always on opening animals which have been suffocated through tar +or pitch plasters. + +"They prove, in fact, the thorough aptitude of impression of the nervous +system to blood altered in its chemical properties, while they afford us +an explication of the phenomena of depression, and muscular prostration, +and weakness, which accompany the beginning of disease consecutive on +the operation of cold. + +"How often do we put a stop to the ulterior development of disease by +restoring the function of the skin by mere [dry] friction, putting on +thick clothing, exposing to exciting fumigation, applying temporary +revulsives in the shape of mustard poultices, administering diffusible +stimuli made warm in drenches, trying every means to force the skin, and +so tend, by the reëstablishment of its exhalent functions, to permit +the elimination of blood saturated with carbonic matters opposed to the +absorption by it of oxygen! + +"Do we not here perceive, so to express ourselves, the evil enter and +depart through the skin? + +"M. Roche-Lubin gives an account of some lambs which were exposed, after +being shorn, to a humid icy cold succeeding upon summer heat. These +animals all died; and their post mortem examination disclosed nothing +further than a blackened condition of blood throughout the whole +circulating system, with stagnation in some organs, such as the liver, +the spleen, or abdominal vascular system. + +"From the foregoing disclosures, which might be multiplied if there was +need of it, we learn that the regularity or perversion of the functions +of the skin exercises an all-powerful influence over the conservation or +derangement of the health, and that very many diseases can be traced to +no other origin than the interruption, more or less, of these +functions." + +These remarks are valuable, inasmuch as they go to prove the importance, +in the treatment of disease, of a restoration of the lost function. Our +system of applying friction, warmth, and moisture to the external +surface, in all cases of internal disease, here finds, in the authors +just quoted, able advocates. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[14] What a destructive system, then, must blood-letting be, which +proposes to supply this deficiency in the empty vessels by opening a +vein and suffering the contents of the overcharged vessels to fall to +the ground! If the blood abstracted from the full veins could be +returned into those "empty" ones, then there would be some sense in +blood-letting. + + + + +SPAYING COWS. + + +The castration of cows has been practised for several years in different +parts of the world, with such remarkable success, that no one will doubt +there are advantages to be derived from it. For the benefit of those who +may have doubts on this subject, we give the opinions of a committee +appointed by the Rheims Academy to investigate the matter. + +"To the question put to the committee-- + +"1st. Is the spaying of cows a dangerous operation? + +"The answer is, This operation, in itself, involves no more danger than +many others of as bold a character, (as puncture of the rumen,) which +are performed without accident by men even strangers to the veterinary +art. Two minutes suffice for the extraction of the ovaries; two minutes +more for suturing the wound. + +"2dly. Will not the spaying of cows put an end to the production of the +species? + +"Without doubt, this is an operation which must be kept within bounds. +It is in the vicinity of large towns that most benefit will be derived +from it, where milk is most generally sought after, and where pasturage +is scanty, and consequently food for cows expensive. On this account it +is not the practice to raise calves about the environs of Paris. Indeed, +at Cormenteul, near Rheims, out of one hundred and forty-five cows kept, +not more than from ten to fifteen calves are produced yearly. + +"3dly. Is spaying attended with amelioration of the quality of the meat? + +"That cows fatten well after being spayed is an incontestable fact, long +known to agriculturists. + +"4thly. Does spaying prolong the period of lactation, and increase the +quantity of milk? + +"The cow will be found to give as much milk after eighteen months as +immediately after the operation; and there was found in quantity, in +favor of the spayed cows, a great difference. + +"5thly. Is the quality of the milk ameliorated by spaying? + +"To resolve this question, we have thought proper to make an appeal to +skilful chemists resident in the neighborhood; and they have determined +that the milk abounds more by one third in cheese and butter than that +of ordinary cows." + +Mr. Percival says, "No person hesitates to admit the advantages +derivable from the castration of bulls and stallions. I do not hesitate +to aver, that equal, if not double, advantages are to be derived from +the same operation when performed on cows." + +"It is to America we are indebted for this discovery. In 1832, an +American traveller, a lover of milk, no doubt, asked for some of a +farmer at whose house he was. Surprised at finding at this farm better +milk than he had met with elsewhere, he wished to know the reason of it. +After some hesitation, the farmer avowed, that he had been advised to +perform on his cows the same operation as was practised on the bulls. +The traveller was not long in spreading this information. The Veterinary +Society of the country took up the discovery, when it got known in +America. The English--those ardent admirers of beefsteaks and roast +beef--profited by the new procedure, as they know how to turn every +thing to account, and at once castrated their heifers, in order to +obtain a more juicy meat. + +"The Swiss, whose principal employment is agricultural, had the good +fortune to possess a man distinguished in his art, who foresaw, and was +anxious to realize, the advantages of castrating milch cows. M. Levrat, +veterinary surgeon at Lausanne, found in the government of his country +an enlightened assistant in his praiseworthy and useful designs, so +that, at the present day, instructions in the operation of spaying enter +into the requirements of the programme of the professors of agriculture, +and the gelders of the country are not permitted to exercise their +calling until they have proved their qualifications on the same +point."--_London Vet._ p. 274, 1850. + +For additional evidence in favor of spaying, see Albany Cultivator, p. +195, vol. vi. + +We have conversed with several farmers in this section of the United +States, and find, as a general thing, that they labor under the +impression that spaying is chiefly resorted to with a view of fattening +cattle for the market. We have, on all occasions, endeavored to correct +this erroneous conclusion, and at the same time to point out the +benefits to be derived from this practice. The quality of the milk is +superior, and the quantity is augmented. Many thousands of the miserable +specimens of cows, that the farmer, with all his care, and having, at +the same time an abundance of the best kind of provender, is unable to +fatten, might, after the operation of spaying, be easily fattened, and +rendered fit for the market; or, if they shall have had calves, they may +be made permanent, and, of course, profitable milkers. + +If a cow be in a weak, debilitated state, or, in other words, "out of +condition," she may turn out to be a source of great loss to the owner. +In the first place, her offspring will be weak and inefficient; +successive generations will deteriorate; and if the offspring be in a +close degree of relationship, they will scarcely be worth the trouble of +rearing. The spaying of such a cow, rather than she shall give birth to +weak and worthless offspring, would be a great blessing; for then one of +the first causes of degeneracy in live stock will have been removed. + +Again, a cow in poor condition is a curse to the farmer; for she is +often the medium through which epidemics, infectious diseases, puerperal +fever, &c., are communicated to other stock. If there are such diseases +in the vicinity, those in poor flesh are sure to be the first victims; +and they, coming in contact with others laboring under a temporary +indisposition, involve them in the general ruin. If prevention be +cheaper than cure,--and who doubts it?--then the farmer should avail +himself of the protection which spaying seems to hold out. + + +OPERATION OF SPAYING. + +The first and most important object in the successful performance of +this operation is to secure the cow, so that she shall not injure +herself, nor lie down, nor be able to kick or injure the operator. The +most convenient method of securing the cow is, to place her in the +trevis;[15] the hind legs should then be securely tied in the usual +manner: the band used for the purpose of raising the hind quarters when +being shod must be passed under the belly, and tightened just sufficient +to prevent the animal lying down. Having secured the band in this +position, we proceed, with the aid of two or more assistants, in case +the animal should be irritable, to perform the operation. And here, for +the benefit of that portion of our readers who desire to perform the +operation _secundum artem_, we detail the method recommended by Morin, a +French veterinary surgeon; although it has been, and can again be, +performed with a common knife, a curved needle, and a few silken threads +to close the external wound. The author is acquainted with a farmer, now +a resident of East Boston, who has performed this operation with +remarkable success, both in this country and Scotland, with no other +instruments than a common shoemaker's knife and a curved needle. The +fact is, the ultimate success of the operation does not depend so much +on the instruments as on the skill of the operator. If he is an +experienced man, understands the anatomy of the parts, and is well +acquainted, by actual experience, with the nature of the operation, then +the instruments become a matter of taste. The best operators are those +who devote themselves entirely to the occupation. (See Mr. Blane's +account of his "first essay in firing," p. 85, note.) Morin advises us +to secure the cow, by means of five rings, to the wall. (See Albany +Cultivator, vol. vi. p. 244, 1850.) "The cow being conveniently disposed +of, and the instruments and appliances,--such as curved scissors, upon a +table, a convex-edged bistoury, a straight one, and one buttoned at the +point, suture needle filled with double thread of desired length, +pledgets of lint of appropriate size and length, a mass of tow (in +pledgets) being collected in a shallow basket, held by an assistant,--we +place ourselves opposite to the left flank, our back turned a little +towards the head of the animal; we cut off the hair which covers the +hide in the middle of the flanks, at an equal distance between the back +and hip, for the space of thirteen or fourteen centimetres in +circumference; this done, we take the convex bistoury, and place it open +between our teeth, the edge out, the point to the left; then, with both +hands, we seize the hide in the middle of the flank, and form of it a +wrinkle of the requisite elevation, and running lengthwise of the body. + +"We then direct an assistant to seize, with his right hand, the right +side of this wrinkle. We then take the bistoury, and cut the wrinkle at +one stroke through the middle, the wrinkle having been suffered to go +down, a separation of the hide is presented of sufficient length to +enable us to introduce the hand; thereupon we separate the edges of the +hide with the thumb and fore finger of the left hand, and, in like +manner, we cut through the abdominal muscles, the iliac, (rather +obliquely,) and the lumbar, (cross,) for a distance of a centimetre +from the lower extremity of the incision made in the hide: this done, +armed with the straight bistoury, we make a puncture of the peritoneum, +at the upper extremity of the wound; we then introduce the buttoned +bistoury, and we move it obliquely from above to the lower part up to +the termination of the incision made in the abdominal muscles. The flank +being opened, we introduce the right hand into the abdomen, and direct +it along the right side of the cavity of the pelvis, behind the paunch +and underneath the rectum, where we find the horns of the uterus; after +we have ascertained the position of these viscera, we search for the +ovaries, which are at the extremity of the _cornua_, or horns, +(fallopian tubes,) and when we have found them, we seize them between +the thumb and fore finger, detach them completely from the ligaments +that keep them in their place, pull lightly, separating the cord, and +the vessels (uterine or fallopian tubes) at their place of union with +the ovarium, by means of the nails of the thumb and fore finger, which +presents itself at the point of touch; in fact, we break the cord, and +bring away the ovarium. + +"We then introduce again the hand in the abdominal cavity, and we +proceed in the same manner to extract the other ovarium. + +"This operation terminated, we, by the assistance of a needle, place a +suture of three or four double threads, waxed, at an equal distance, and +at two centimetres, or a little less, from the lips of the wound; +passing it through the divided tissues, we move from the left hand with +the piece of thread; having reached that point, we fasten with a double +knot; we place the seam in the intervals of the thread from the right, +and as we approach the lips of the wound, we fasten by a simple knot, +being careful not to close too tightly the lower part of the seam, so +that the suppuration, which may be established in the wound, may be able +to escape. + +"The operation effected, we cover up the wound with a pledget of lint, +kept in its place by three or four threads passed through the stitches, +and all is completed. + +"It happens, sometimes, that in cutting the muscles of which we have +before spoken, we cut one or two of the arteries, which bleed so much +that there is necessity for a ligature before opening the peritoneal +sac, because, if this precaution be omitted, blood will escape into the +abdomen, and may occasion the most serious consequences." + +The best time for spaying cows, with a view of making them permanent +milkers, is between the ages of five and seven, especially if they have +had two or three calves. If intended to be fattened for beef, the +operation should not be performed until the animal has passed its second +year, nor after the twelfth. + +We usually prepare the animal by allowing a scalded mash every night, +within a few days of the operation. The same precaution is observed +after the operation. + +If, after the operation, the animal appears dull and irritable, and +refuses her food, the following drink must be given:-- + + Valerian, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Set the mixture aside to cool. Then strain, and add infusion of +marshmallows (see APPENDIX) one quart; which may be given in +pint doses every two hours. + +If a bad discharge sets up from the wound,--but this will seldom happen, +unless the system abounds in morbific materials,--then, in addition to +the drink, wash the wound with + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Water, 2 quarts. + +Mix. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[15] Although we recommend that cows be confined in the trevis for the +purpose of performing this operation, it by no means follows that it +cannot be done as well in other ways. In fact, the trevis is +inadmissible where chloroform is used. The animal must be cast in order +to use that agent with any degree of safety. If the trevis is not at +hand, we should prefer to operate, having the cow secured to the floor, +or held in that position by trusty assistants. We lately operated on a +cow, the property of Mr. C. Drake of Holliston, in this state, under +very unfavorable circumstances; yet, as will appear from the +accompanying note, the cow is likely to do well, notwithstanding. The +history of the case is as follows: We were sent for by Mr. D. to see a +heifer having a swelling under the jaw, which proved to be a scirrhous +gland. After giving our opinion and prescribing the usual remedies, the +conversation turned upon spaying cattle; and Mr. D. remarked that he had +a five year old cow, on which we might, if we chose, operate. This we +rather objected to at first, as the cow was in a state of plethora, and +the stomach very much distended with food; yet, as the owner appeared +willing to share the responsibility, we consented to perform the +operation. The cow was accordingly cast, in the usual manner, she lying +on her right side, her head being firmly held by an assistant. We then +made an incision through the skin, muscles, and peritoneum. The hand was +then introduced, and each ovary in its turn brought as near to the +external wound as possible, and separated from its attachment with a +button-pointed bistoury. The wound was then brought together with four +interrupted sutures, and dressed as already described. Directions were +given to keep the animal quiet, and on a light diet: the calf, which was +four weeks old, to suckle as usual. The operation was performed on the +17th of January, 1851, and on the 27th, the following communication was +received:-- + + DR. DADD. + + Dear Sir: Agreeably to request, I will inform you as regards the + cow. I must say that, so far as appearances are concerned, she is + doing well. She has a good appetite, and chews her cud, and the + wound is not swelled or inflamed. + + Yours truly, + C. DRAKE. + + HOLLISTON, _Jan 27, 1851_. + + +[Illustration: Three South Down Wethers + +The Property of Mr. Jonas Webb of Babraham, near Cambridge, which +obtained Prizes in their respective classes at the Smithfield Cattle +Show, Decr. 1839.] + + + + +SHEEP. + + +PRELIMINARY REMARKS. + +Many of the diseases to which sheep are subject can be traced to want of +due care in their management. The common practice of letting them range +in marshy lands is one of the principal causes of disease. + +The feet of sheep are organized in such a manner as to be capable, when +in a healthy state, of eliminating from the system a large amount of +worn-out materials--excrementitious matter, which, if retained in the +system, would be injurious. The direct application of cold tends to +contract the mouths of excrementitious vessels, and the morbid matter +accumulates. This is not all. There are in the system numerous +outlets,--for example, the kidneys, lungs, surface, feet, &c. The health +of the animal depends on all these functions being duly performed. If a +certain function be interrupted for any length of time, it is sure to +derange the system. Diseases of the feet are very common in wet +situations, and are a source of great loss to the farming community. +Hence it becomes a matter of great importance to know how to manage them +so as to prevent diseases of the feet. + +Professor Simonds says, "No malady was probably so much feared by the +agriculturist as the rot; and with reason, for it was most destructive +to his hopes. It was commonly believed to be incurable, and therefore it +was all important to inquire into the causes which gave rise to it. +Some pastures were notorious for rotting sheep; on other lands, sheep, +under all ordinary circumstances, were pastured with impunity; but, as a +broad principle, it might be laid down that an excess of moisture is +prejudicial to the health of the animal. Sheep, by nature, are not only +erratic animals, wandering over a large space of ground, but are also +inhabitants of arid districts. The skill of man has increased and +improved the breed, and has naturalized the animal in moist and +temperate climates. But, nevertheless, circumstances now and then take +place which show that its nature is not entirely changed; thus, a wet +season occurs, the animals are exposed to the debilitating effects of +moisture, and the rot spreads among them to a fearful extent. The malady +is not confined to England or to Europe; it is found in Asia and Africa, +and occurs also in Egypt on the receding of the waters of the Nile. + +"These facts are valuable, because they show that the cause of the +disease is not local--that it is not produced by climate or temperature; +for it is found that animals in any temperature become affected, and on +any soil in certain seasons. A great deal had been written on rot in +sheep, which it were to be wished had not been. Many talented +individuals had devoted their time to its investigation, endeavoring to +trace out a cause for it, as if it originated from one cause alone. But +the facts here alluded to would show that it arose from more causes than +one. He had mentioned the circumstance with regard to land sometimes +producing rot, and sometimes not; but he would go a step further, and +ask, Was there any particular period of the year when animals were +subject to the attack? Undoubtedly there was. In the rainy season, the +heat and moisture combined would produce a most luxuriant herbage; but +that herbage would be deficient in nutriment, and danger would be run; +the large quantity of watery matter in the food acting as a direct +excitement to the abnormal functions of the digestive organs. Early +disturbance of the liver led to the accumulation of fat, (state of +plethora;) consequently, an animal being 'touched with the rot' thrived +much more than usual. This reminded him that the celebrated Bakewell was +said to be in the habit of placing his sheep on land notorious for +rotting them, in order to prevent other people from getting his stock, +and likewise to bring them earlier to market for the butcher." + +Referring to diseases of the liver, Professor S. remarked, that "the +bile in rot, in consequence of the derangement of the liver being +continued, lost the property of converting the chymous mass into +nutritious matter, and the animal fell away in condition. Every part of +the system was now supplied with impure blood, for we might as well +expect pure water from a poisoned fountain as pure blood when the +secretion of bile was unhealthy. This state of the liver and the system +was associated with the existence of parasites in the liver. + +"Some persons suppose that these parasites, which, from their particular +form, were called flukes, were the cause of the rot. They are only the +effect; yet it is to be remembered that they multiply so rapidly that +they become the cause of further diseased action. Sheep, in the earlier +stages of the affection, before their biliary ducts become filled with +flukes, may be restored; but, when the parasites existed in abundance, +there was no chance of the animal's recovery. Those persons who supposed +flukes to be the cause of rot had, perhaps, some reason for that +opinion. Flukes are oviparous; their ova mingle with the biliary +secretion, and thus find their way out of the intestinal canal into the +soil; as in the feculent matter of rotten sheep may be found millions of +flukes. A Mr. King, of Bath, (England,) had unhesitatingly given it as +his opinion that flukes were the cause of rot; believing that, if sheep +were pastured on land where the ova existed, they would be taken up with +the food, enter into the ramifications of the biliary ducts, and thus +contaminate the whole liver. There appeared some ground for this +assertion, because very little indeed was known with reference to the +duration of life in its latent form in the egg. How long the eggs of +birds would remain without undergoing change, if not placed under +circumstances favorable to the development of life in a more active +form, was undecided. It was the same with the ova of these parasites; so +long as they remained on the pasture they underwent no change; but place +them in the body of the animal, and subject them to the influence of +heat, &c., then those changes would commence which ended in the +production of perfect flukes. Take another illustration of the long +duration of latent life: Wheat had been locked up for hundreds of +years--nay, for thousands--in Egyptian mummies, without undergoing any +change, and yet, when planted, had been found prolific. + +... He was not, then, to say that rot was in all cases a curable +affection; but at the same time he was fully aware that many animals, +that are now considered incurable, might be restored, if sufficient +attention was given to them. About two years ago, he purchased seven or +eight sheep, all of them giving indisputable proof of rot in its +advanced stage. He intended them for experiment and dissection; but as +he did not require all of them, and during the winter season only he +could dissect, he kept some till summer. They were supplied with food of +nutritious quality, free from moisture; they were also protected from +all storms and changes of weather, being placed in a shed. The result +was, that without any medicine, two of these rotten sheep quite +recovered; and when he killed them, although he found that the liver had +undergone some change, still the animals would have lived on for years. +Rot, in its advanced stage, was a disease which might be considered as +analogous to dropsy. A serous fluid accumulates in various parts of the +body, chiefly beneath the cellular tissue; consequently, some called it +the _water_ rot, others the _fluke_ rot; but these were merely +indications of the same disease in different stages. If flukes were +present, it was evident that, in order to strike at the root of the +malady, they must get rid of these _entozoa_, and that could only be +effected by bringing about a healthy condition of the system. Nothing +that could be done by the application of medicine would act on them to +affect their vitality. It was only by strengthening their animal powers +that they were enabled to give sufficient tone to the system to throw +off the flukes; for this purpose many advocated salt. Salt was an +excellent stimulative to the digestive organs, and might also be of +service in restoring the biliary secretion, from the soda which it +contained. So well is its stimulative action known, that some +individuals always keep salt in the troughs containing the animal's +food. This was a preventive, they had good proof, seeing that it +mattered not how moist the soil might be in salt marshes; no sheep were +ever attacked by rot in them, whilst those sent there infected very +often came back free. Salt, therefore, must not be neglected; but then +came the question, Could they not do something more? He believed they +could give tonics with advantage.... + +"The principles he wished to lay down were, to husband the animals' +powers by placing them in a situation where they should not be exposed +to the debilitating effects of cold storms; to supply them with +nutritious food, and such as contained but a small quantity of water; +and, as a stimulant to the digestive organs, to mix it with salt." + +The remarks of Professor S. are valuable to the American farmer. First, +because they throw some light on the character of a disease but +imperfectly understood; secondly, they recommend a safe, efficient, and +common-sense method of treating it; and lastly, they recommend such +preventive measures as, in this enlightened age, every farmer must +acknowledge to be the better part of sheep doctoring. The reader will +easily perceive the reason why the food of sheep is injurious when wet +or saturated with its own natural juices, when he learns that the +digestive process is greatly retarded, unless the masticated food be +well saturated with the gastric fluid. If the gastric fluid cannot +pervade it, then fermentation takes place; by which process the +nutritive properties of the food are partly destroyed, and what remains +cannot be taken up before it passes from the vinous into the acetous or +putrefactive fermentation; the natural consequence is, that internal +disease ensues, which often gravitates to the feet, thereby producing +rot. This is not all. Such food does not furnish sufficient material to +replenish the daily waste and promote the living integrity. In short, it +produces debility, and debility includes one half the causes of disease. +It must be a matter of deep interest to the farmer to know how to +prevent disease in his flock, and improve their condition, &c.; for if +he possessed the requisite knowledge, he would not be compelled to offer +mutton at so low a rate as from three to four cents a pound, at which +price it is often sold in the Boston market. We have already alluded to +the fact that neat cattle can, with the requisite knowledge, be improved +at least twenty-five per cent.; and we may add, without fear of +contradiction, that the same applies to sheep. If, then, their value can +be increased in the same ratio as that of other classes of live stock, +how much will the proprietors of sheep gain by the operation? Suppose we +set down the number of sheep in the United States at twenty-seven +millions,--which will not fall far short of the mark,--and value them at +the low price of one dollar per head: we get a clear gain, in the +carcasses alone, of six millions seven hundred and fifty thousand +dollars. The increase in the quantity, and of course in the value, of +wool would pay the additional expenses incurred. It is a well-known fact +that, when General Washington left his estate to engage in the councils +of his country, his sheep then yielded five pounds of wool. At the time +of his return, the animals had so degenerated as to yield but two and a +half pounds per fleece. This was not altogether owing to the quality of +their food, but in part to want of due care in breeding. + +It is well known that many diseases are propagated and aggravated +through the sexual congress; and no matter how healthy the dam is, or +how much vital resistance she possesses,--if the male be weak and +diseased, the offspring will be more or less diseased at birth. (See +article _Breeding_.) + +Dr. Whitlaw observes, "The Deity has given power to man to ameliorate +his condition, as may be truly seen by strict attention to the laws of +nature. An attentive observer may soon perceive, that milk, butter, and +meat, of animals that feed on good herbage, in high and dry soils, are +the best; and that strong nourishment is the produce of those animals +that feed on bottom land; but those that feed on a marshy, wet soil +produce more acrid food, even admitting that the herbage be of the bland +and nutritious kind; but if it be composed in part of poisonous plants, +the sheep become diseased and rotten, much more so than cattle, for they +do not drink to the same degree, and therefore (particularly those that +chew the cud) are not likely to throw off the poison. Horses would be +more liable to disease than cattle were it not for their sagacity in +selecting the wholesome from the poisonous herbage. + +"A great portion of the mutton slaughtered is unfit for food, from the +fact that their lungs are often in a state of decomposition, their +livers much injured by insects, and their intestines in a state of +ulceration, from eating poisonous herbs." + +Linnæus says, "A dry place renders plants sapid; a succulent place, +insipid; and a watery place, corrosive." + +One farmer, in the vicinity of Sherburne, (England,) had, during the +space of a few weeks, lost nearly nine hundred sheep by the rot. The +fear of purchasing diseased mutton is so prevalent in families, that the +demand for mutton has become extremely limited. + +In the December number of the London Veterinarian we find an interesting +communication from the pen of Mr. Tavistock, V. S., which will throw +some light on the causes of disease in sheep. The substance of these +remarks is as follows: "On a large farm, situated in the fertile valley +of the Tavey, is kept a large flock of sheep, choice and well bred. It +is deemed an excellent sheep farm, and for some years no sheep could be +healthier than were his flock. About eighteen months ago, however, some +ewes were now and then found dead. This was attributed to some of the +many maladies sheep-flesh is 'heir to,' and thought no more about. Still +it did not cease; another and another died, from time to time, until at +length, it becoming a question of serious consequence, my attention was +called to them. I made, as opportunities occurred, minute post mortem +examinations. The sheep did not die rapidly, but one a week, and +sometimes one a fortnight, or even three weeks. No previous illness +whatever was manifested. They were always found dead in the attitude of +sleep; the countenance being tranquil and composed, not a blade of grass +disturbed by struggling; nor did any circumstance evidence that pain or +suffering was endured. It was evident that the death was sudden. We +fancied the ewes must obtain something poisonous from the herbage, and +the only place they could get any thing different from the other sheep +was in the orchards, since there the ewes went at the lambing time, and +occasionally through the summer. But so they had done for years before, +and yet contracted no disease. Well, then, the orchards were the +suspected spots, and it was deemed expedient to request Mr. Bartlett, a +botanist, to make a careful examination of the orchards, and give us his +opinion thereon. The following is the substance of his report:-- + +"The part of the estate to which the sheep unfortunately had access, +where the predisposing causes of disease prevailed, was an orchard, +having a gradual slope of about three quarters of a mile in extent, from +the high ground to the bed of the river, ranging about east and west; +the hills on each side being constituted of argillaceous strata of +laminated slate, which, although having an angle of inclination favoring +drainage on the slopes, yet in the valleys often became flat or +horizontal, and on which also accumulated the clays, and masses of rock, +in detached blocks, often to the depth of twenty feet--a state of things +which gives the valley surface and soil a very rugged and unequal +outline; the whole, at the same time, offering the greatest obstruction +to regular drainage. + +"These are spots selected for orchard draining in England; the truth +being lost sight of, that surfaces and soil for apple-tree growth +require the most perfect admixture with atmospheric elements, and the +freest outlet for the otherwise accumulating moisture, to prevent +dampness and acidity, the result of the shade of the tree itself, +produced by the fall of the leaf. + +"On this estate these things had never been dreamt of before planting +the orchards. The apple-tree, in short, as soon as its branches and +leaves spread with the morbid growth of a dozen years, aids itself in +the destructive process; the soil becomes yearly more poisonous, the +roots soon decay, and the tree falls to one side, as we witness daily, +while the herbage beneath and around becomes daily more unfit to sustain +animal life. Numerous forms of poisonous fungi, microscopic and +otherwise, are here at home, and nourished by the carburetted and other +forms of hydrogen gas hourly engendered and saturating the soil; while +on the dampest spots the less noxious portions of such hydrates are +assimilated by the mint plant in the shape of oil; and which disputes +with sour, poisonous, and blossomless grasses for the occupancy of the +surface, mingled with the still more noxious straggling forms of the +ethusa, occasionally the angelica, vison, conium, &c. + +"This state of things, brought into existence by this wretched and +barbarous mode of planting orchard valleys, usually reaches its +consummation in about thirty years, and sometimes much less, as in the +valley under notice. Thus it is that such spots, often the richest in +capabilities on the estate, (the deep soil being the waste and spoil of +the higher ground and slopes,) become a bane to every form of useful +vegetation; and, at the same time, are a hotbed of luxuriance to every +thing that is poisonous, destructive, and deleterious to almost every +form of animal life. And such an animal as the sheep, while feeding +among such herbage, would inhale a sufficiency of noxious gases, +especially in summer, through the nostrils alone, to produce disease +even in a few hours, though the herbage devoured should lie harmless in +the stomach. But with regard to the sheep in the present case, we fear +they had no choice in the matter, and were driven by hunger to feed, +being shut into these orchards; and thus not only ate the poisoned +grasses, but with every mouthful swallowed a portion of the +water-engendering mint, the acrid crowfoot, ranunculus leaves, &c., +surrounding every blade of grass; while the other essential elements of +vegetable poison, the most virulent forms of agarici and their spawn, +with other destructive fungi, were swallowed as a sauce to the whole. +This fearful state of things, to which sheep had access, soon manifested +its results; for although a hog or a badger might here fatten, yet to an +animal so susceptible to atmospheric influences, unwholesome, undrained +land, &c., as the sheep, the organization forbids the assimilation of +such food; and although a process of digestion goes on, yet its hydrous +results (if we may use such a term) not only overcharge the blood with +serum, but, through unnatural channels, cause effusion into the chest, +heart, veins, &c., when its effects are soon manifested in sudden and +quick dissolution, being found dead in the attitude of sleep." + +It is probable that the gases which arose from this imperfectly drained +estate played their part in the work of destruction; not only by coming +in immediate contact with the blood through the medium of the air-cells +in the lungs, but by mixing with the food in the process of digestion. +This may appear a new idea to those who have never given the subject a +thought; yet it is no less true. During the mastication of food, the +saliva possesses the remarkable property of enclosing air within its +globules. Professor Liebig tells us that "the saliva encloses air in the +shape of froth, in a far higher degree than even soap-suds. This air, by +means of the saliva, reaches the stomach with the food, and there its +oxygen enters into combination, while its nitrogen is given out through +the skin and lungs." This applies to pure air. Now, suppose the sheep +are feeding in pastures notorious for giving out noxious gases, and at +the same time the function of the skin or lungs is impaired; instead of +the "nitrogen" or noxious gases being set free, they will accumulate in +the alimentary canal and cellular tissues, to the certain destruction of +the living integrity. Prof. L. further informs us that "the longer +digestion continues,--that is, the greater resistance offered to the +solvent action by the food,--the more saliva, and consequently the more +air, enter the stomach." + + + + +STAGGERS. + + +This disease is known to have its origin in functional derangement of +the stomach; and owing to the sympathy that exists between the brain and +the latter, derangements are often overlooked, until they manifest +themselves by the animal's appearing dull and stupid, and separating +itself from the rest of the flock. An animal attacked with staggers is +observed to go round in a giddy manner; the optic nerve becomes +paralyzed, and the animal often appears blind. It sometimes continues to +feed well until it dies. + + +_Indications of Cure._--First, to remove the cause. If it exist in a too +generous supply of food, reduce the quantity. If, on the other hand, the +animal be in poor condition, a generous supply of nutritious food must +be allowed. + +Secondly, to impart healthy action to the digestive organs, and +lubricate their surfaces. + +Having removed the cause, take + + Powdered snakeroot, 1 ounce. + " slippery elm, 2 ounces. + " fennel seed, half an ounce. + +Mix. Half a table-spoonful may be given daily in warm water, or it may +be mixed in the food. + +_Another._ + + Powdered gentian, 1 ounce. + " poplar bark, 2 ounces. + " aniseed, half an ounce. + +Mix, and give as above. + +If the bowels are inactive, give a wine-glass of linseed oil. + +The animal should be kept free from all annoyance by dogs, &c.; for fear +indirectly influences the stomach through the pneumogastric nerves, by +which the secretion of the gastric juice is arrested, and an immediate +check is thus given to the process of digestion. For the same reason, +medicine should always be given in the food, if possible. In cases of +great prostration, accompanied with loss of appetite, much valuable time +would be lost. In such cases, we must have recourse to the bottle. + + + + +FOOT ROT. + + +When a sheep is observed to be lame, and, upon examination, matter can +be discovered, then pare away the hoof, and make a slight puncture, so +that the matter may escape; then wash the foot with the following +antiseptic lotion:-- + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Water, 3 ounces. + +Suppose that, on examination, the feet have a fetid odor; then apply the +following:-- + + Vinegar, half a pint. + Common salt, 1 table-spoonful. + Water, half a pint. + +Mix, and apply daily. At the same time, put the sheep in a dry place, +and give a dose of the following every morning:-- + + Powdered bayberry bark, half an ounce. + " flaxseed, 2 pounds. + " sulphur, 1 ounce. + " charcoal, 1 ounce. + " sassafras, 1 ounce. + +Mix. A handful to be given in the food twice a day. + + +_Remarks._--Foot rot is generally considered a local disease; yet should +it be neglected, or maltreated, the general system will share in the +local derangement. + + + + +ROT. + + +The progress of this disease is generally very slow, and a person +unaccustomed to the management of sheep would find some difficulty in +recognizing it. A practical eye would distinguish it, even at a +distance. The disease is known by one or more of the following symptoms: +The animal often remains behind the flock, shaking its head, with its +ears depressed; it allows itself to be seized, without any resistance. +The eye is dull and watery; the eyelids are swollen; the lips, gums, and +palate have a pale tint; the skin, which is of a yellowish white, +appears puffed, and retains the impression; the wool loses its +brightness, and is easily torn off; the urine is high colored, and the +excrement soft. As the disease progresses, there is loss of appetite, +great thirst, general emaciation, &c. + +The indications are, to improve the secretions, vitalize the blood, and +sustain the living powers. For which purpose, take + + Powdered charcoal, 2 ounces. + " ginger, 1 ounce. + " golden seal, 1 ounce. + Oatmeal, 1 pound. + +Mix. Feed to each animal a handful per day, unless rumination shall have +ceased; then omit the oatmeal, and give a tea-spoonful of the mixed +ingredients, in half a pint of hyssop, or horsemint tea. Continue as +occasion may require. + +The food should be boiled, if possible. The best kind, especially in the +latter stages of rot, is, equal parts of linseed and ground corn. + +If the urine is high colored, and the animal is thirsty, give an +occasional drink of + + Cleavers, (_galium aparine_,) 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +When cold, strain. Dose, one pint. To be repeated, if necessary. + + + + +EPILEPSY. + + +This is somewhat different from staggers, as the animal does not remain +quietly on the ground, but it suffers from convulsions, it kicks, rolls +its eyes, grinds its teeth, &c. The duration of the fit varies much, +sometimes it terminates at the expiration of a few minutes; at other +times, a quarter of an hour elapses before it is perfectly conscious. In +this malady, there is a loss of equilibrium between the nervous and +muscular systems, which may arise from hydatids in the brain, offering +mechanical obstructions to the conducting power of the nerves. This +malady may attack animals in apparently good health. We frequently see +children attacked with epilepsy (fits) without any apparent cause, and +when they are in good flesh. + +The symptoms are not considered dangerous, except by their frequent +repetition. + +The following may be given with a view of equalizing the circulation and +nervous action:-- + + Assafoetida, one third of a tea-spoonful. + Gruel made from slippery elm, 1 pint. + +Mix, while hot. Repeat the dose every other day. Make some change in the +food. Thus, if the animal has been fed on green fodder for any length of +time, let it have a few meals of shorts, meal, linseed, &c. The water +must be of the best quality. + +Suppose the animal to be in poor condition; then combine tonics and +alteratives in the following form:-- + + Assafoetida, 1 tea-spoonful. + Powdered golden seal, 1 ounce. + " slippery elm, 2 ounces. + Oatmeal, 1 pound. + +Mix thoroughly, and divide into eight equal parts. A powder to be given +every morning. + + + + +RED WATER. + + +This is nothing more nor less than a symptom of deranged function. The +cure consists in restoring healthy action to all parts of the animal +organization. For example, high-colored urine shows that there is too +much action on the internal surfaces, and too little on the external. +This at once points to the propriety of keeping the sheep in a warm +situation, in order to invite action to the skin. + +_Compound for Red Water._ + + Powdered slippery elm, } + " pleurisy root, } of each, 1 ounce. + " poplar bark, } + Indian meal, 1 pound. + +Mix. To be divided into ten parts, one of which may be given every +morning. + + + + +CACHEXY,[16] OR GENERAL DEBILITY. + + +_Indications of Cure._--First. To build up and promote the living +integrity by a generous diet, one or more of the following articles may +be scalded and given three times a day: carrots, parsnips, linseed, corn +meal, &c. + +Secondly. To remove morbific materials from the system, and restore the +lost functions, one of the following powders may be given, night and +morning, in the fodder:-- + + Powdered balmony, (snakehead,) 1 ounce. + " marshmallows, 1 ounce. + " common salt, 1 table-spoonful. + Linseed meal, 1 pound. + +Mix. Divide into ten powders. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[16] It implies a vitiated state of the solids and fluids. + + + + +LOSS OF APPETITE. + + +This is generally owing to a morbid state of the digestive organs. All +that is necessary in such case is, to restore the lost tone by the +exhibition of bitter tonics. A bountiful supply of camomile tea will +generally prove sufficient. If, however, the bowels are inactive, add to +the above a small portion of extract of butternut. The food should be +slightly salted. + + + + +FOUNDERING, (RHEUMATISM) + + +In this malady, the animal becomes slow in its movements; its walk is +characterized by rigidity of the muscular system, and, when lying down, +requires great efforts in order to rise. + + +_Causes._--Exposure to sudden changes in temperature, feeding on wet +lands, &c. + + +_Indications of Cure._--To equalize the circulation, invite and maintain +action to the external surface, and remove the cause. To fulfil the +latter indication, remove the animal to a dry, warm situation. + +The following antispasmodic and diaphoretic will complete the cure: +Powdered lady's slipper, (_cypripedium_,) 1 tea-spoonful. To be given +every morning in a pint of warm pennyroyal tea. + +If the malady does not yield in a few days, take + + Powdered sassafras bark, 1 tea-spoonful. + Boiling water, 1 pint. + Honey, 1 tea-spoonful. + +Mix, and repeat the dose every other morning. + + + + +TICKS. + + +Ticks, or, in short, any kind of insects, may be destroyed by dropping +on them a few drops of an infusion or tincture of lobelia seeds. + + + + +SCAB, OR ITCH. + + +Scab, itch, erysipelas, &c., all come under the head of cutaneous +diseases, and require nearly the same general treatment. The following +compound may be depended on as a safe and efficient remedy in either of +the above diseases:-- + + Sulphur, 2 ounces. + Powdered sassafras, 1 ounce. + +Honey, sufficient to amalgamate the above. Dose, a table-spoonful every +morning. To prevent the sheep from rubbing themselves, apply + + Pyroligneous acid, 1 gill. + Water, 1 quart. + +Mix, and wet the parts with a sponge. + + +_Remarks._--In reference to the scab, Dr. Gunther says, "Of all the +preservatives which have been proposed, inoculation is the best. It has +two advantages: first, the disease so occasioned is much more mitigated, +and very rarely proves fatal; in the next place, an entire flock may get +well from it in the space of fifteen days, whilst the natural form of +the disorder requires care and attention for at least six months. It has +been ascertained that the latter kills[17] more than one half of those +attacked; whilst among the sheep that have been inoculated, the greatest +proportion that die of it is one per cent." + +Whenever the scab makes its appearance, the whole flock should be +examined, and every one having the least abrasion eruption of the skin +should be put under medical treatment. + +In most cases, itch is the result of infection. A single sheep infected +with it is sufficient to infect a whole flock. If a few applications of +the pyroligneous wash, aided by the medicine, are not sufficient to +remove the malady, then recourse must be had to the following:-- + + Fir balsam, half a pint. + Sulphur, 1 ounce. + +Mix. Anoint the sores daily. + +The only additional treatment necessary in erysipelas is, to give a +bountiful supply of tea made of lemon balm, sweetened with honey. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[17] More likely the remedies. They are tobacco and corrosive +sublimate--destructive poisons. + + + + +DIARRHOEA. + + +This is not always to be considered as a disease, but in many cases it +proves salutary operation of nature; therefore it should not be too +suddenly checked. + +We commence the treatment by feeding on boiled meal. We then give +mucilaginous drink made from marshmallows, slippery elm, or poplar bark. +If, at the end of two days, symptoms of amendment have not made their +appearance, the following draught must be given:-- + +Make a strong infusion of raspberry leaves, to a pint of which add a +tea-spoonful of tincture of capsicum, (hot drops,) and one of charcoal. +To be repeated every morning, until healthy action is established. + + + + +DYSENTERY. + + +This malady may be treated in the same manner as diarrhoea. Should +blood and slime be voided in large quantities, the excrement emit a +fetid odor, and the animal waste rapidly, then, in addition to the +mucilaginous drink, administer the following:-- + + Powdered charcoal, 1 tea-spoonful. + " golden seal, half a tea-spoonful. + +To be given, in hardhack tea, as occasion may require. + +A small quantity of charcoal, given three times a day, with boiled food, +will frequently cure the disease, alone. + +Dysentery is sometimes mistaken for diarrhoea; but they may be +distinguished by the following characteristics:-- + +1st. Diarrhoea most frequently attacks weak animals; whereas dysentery +ofttimes attacks animals in good condition. + +2d. Dysentery generally attacks sheep in the hot months; on the other +hand, diarrhoea terminates at the commencement of the hot season. + +3d. In diarrhoea, there are scarcely any feverish symptoms, and no +straining before evacuation, as in dysentery. + +4th. In diarrhoea, the excrement is loose, but in other respects +natural, without any blood or slime; whereas in dysentery the fæces +consist of hard lumps, blood, and slime. + +5th. There is not that degree of fetor in the fæces, in diarrhoea, +which takes place in dysentery. + +6th. In dysentery, the appetite is totally gone; in diarrhoea, it is +generally better than usual. + +7th. Diarrhoea is not contagious; dysentery is supposed to be highly +so. + +8th. In dysentery, the animal wastes rapidly; but by diarrhoea, only a +temporary stop is put to thriving, after which it makes rapid advances +to strength, vigor, and proportion. + + + + +CONSTIPATION, OR STRETCHES. + + +By these terms are implied a preternatural or morbid detention and +hardening of the excrement; a disease to which all animals are subject, +unless proper attention be paid to their management. It mostly arises +from want of exercise, feeding on frosted oats, indigestible matter of +every kind, impure water, &c. Costiveness is often the case of flatulent +and spasmodic colic, and often of inflammation of the bowels. + +Mr. Morrill says, "I have always found that the quantity of medicine +necessary to act as an _opiate_ on this dry mass [alluding to that +found in the manyplus and intestines] will kill the animal. If I am +mistaken, I will take it kindly to be set right." You are quite right. + +Let us see what Professor J. A. Gallup says, in his Institutes of +Medicine, vol. ii. p. 187. "The practice of giving opiates to mitigate +pain, &c., is greatly to be deprecated; it is not only unjustifiable, +but should be esteemed unpardonable. It is probable that, for forty +years past, opium and its preparations have done _seven times the +injury_ that they have rendered benefit"--killed seven where they have +saved one! Page 298, he calls opium the "most destructive of all +narcotics," and wishes he could "speak through a lengthened trumpet, +that he might tingle the ears" of those who use and prescribe it. All +the opiates used by the allopathists contain more or less of this +poisonous drug. Opiates given with a view of softening mass alluded to +will certainly disappoint those who administer them; for, under the use +of such "palliatives," the digestive powers fail, and a general state of +feebleness and inactivity ensues, which exhausts the vital energies. + +It will be found in stretches, that other organs, as well as the +"manyplus," are not performing their part in the business of +physiological or healthy action, and they must be excited to perform +their work; for example, if the food remains in either of the stomachs +in the form of a hard mass, then the surface of the body is evaporating +too much moisture from the general system; the skin should be better +toned. Pure air is one of the best and most valuable of nature's tonics. +Let the flock have pure air to breathe, and sufficient room to use their +limbs, with proper diet, and there will be little occasion for medicine. + + +_Treatment._--The disease is to be obviated by proper attention to diet, +exercise, and ventilation; and when these fail, to have recourse to +bitter laxatives, injections, and aperients. The use of salts and castor +oil creates a necessity for their repetition, for they overwork the +mucous surfaces, and their delicate vessels lose their natural +sensibility, and become torpid. Scalded shorts are exceedingly valuable +in this complaint, as also are boiled carrots, parsnips, &e. + +The derangement must be treated according to its indications, thus:-- + +Suppose the digestive organs to be deranged, and rumination to have +ceased; then take a tea-spoonful of extract of butternut, and dissolve +it in a pint of thoroughwort tea, and give it at a dose. Use an +injection of soap-suds, if necessary. + +Suppose the excrement to be hard, coated with slime, and there be danger +of inflammation in the mucous surfaces; then give a wine-glass of +linseed oil,[18] to which add a raw egg. + +It is scarcely ever necessary to repeat the dose, provided the animal is +allowed a few scalded shorts. + +If the liver is supposed to be inactive, give, daily, a tea-spoonful of +golden seal in the food. + +If the animal void worms with the fæces, then give a tea made from cedar +boughs, or buds, to which add a small quantity of salt. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[18] Olive oil will answer the same purpose. + + + + +SCOURS. + + +In scours, the surface evaporates too little of the moisture, and should +be relaxed by diffusible stimulants in the form of ginger tea. The +treatment that we have found the most successful is as follows: take +four ounces raw linseed oil, two ounces of lime water; mix. Let this +quantity be given to a sheep on the first appearance of the above +disease; half the quantity will suffice for a lamb. Give about a +wine-glass full of ginger tea at intervals of four hours, or mix a small +quantity of ginger in the food. Let the animal be fed on gruel, or +mashes of ground meal. If the above treatment fails to arrest the +disease, add half a tea-spoonful of powdered bayberry bark. If the +extremities are cold, rub them with the tincture of capsicum. + + + + +DIZZINESS. + + +Mr. Gunther says, "Sheep are often observed to describe eccentric +circles for whole hours, then step forwards a pace, then again stop, and +turn round again. The older the disease, the more the animal turns, +until at length it does it even in a trot. The appetite goes on +diminishing, emaciation becomes more and more perceptible, and the state +of exhaustion terminates in death. On opening the skull, there are met, +either beneath the bones of the cranium, or beneath the dura mater,[19] +or in the brain itself, hydatids varying in number and size, sometimes a +single one, often from three to six, the size of which varies: according +as these worms occupy the right side or the left, the sheep turns to the +right or left; but if they exist on both sides, the turning takes place +to the one and the other alternately. + +"The animal very often does not turn, which happens when the worm is +placed on the median line; then the affected animal carries the head +down, and though it seems to move rapidly, it does not change place. +When the hydatid is situated on the posterior part of the brain, the +animal carries the head high, runs straight forward, and throws itself +on every object it meets." + +_Treatment._--Take + + Powdered worm seeds, (_chenopodium } 1 ounce. + anthelminticum_,) } + " sulphur, half an ounce. + " charcoal, 2 ounces. + Linseed, or flaxseed, 1 pound. + +Mix. Divide into eight parts, and feed one every morning. Make a drink +from the white Indian hemp, (_asclepias incarnata_,) one ounce of which +may be infused in a quart of water, one fourth to be given every night. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[19] The membrane which lines the interior of the skull. + + + + +JAUNDICE. + + +This malady generally involves the whole system in its deranged action. +It is recognized by the yellow tint of the conjunctiva, (white of the +eye,) and mucous membranes lining the nostrils and mouth. We generally +employ for its cure + + Powdered mandrake, 1 tea-spoonful. + " ginger, 1 tea-spoonful. + " golden seal, 2 tea-spoonfuls. + +Mix. Divide into two parts. Give one dose in the morning, and the other +at night. An occasional drink of camomile tea, a few bran mashes, and +boiled carrots, will complete the cure. + + + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS. + + +A derangement of these organs may result from external violence, or it +may depend on the animal having eaten stimulating or poisonous plants. + +Its symptoms are, pain in the region of the kidneys; the back is arched, +and the walk stiff and painful, with the legs widely separated; there is +a frequent desire to make water, and that is high colored or bloody; the +appetite is more or less impaired, and there is considerable thirst. + +The indications are, to lubricate the mucous surfaces, remove morbific +materials from the system, and improve the general health. + +We commence the treatment by giving + + Poplar bark, finely powdered, 1 ounce. + Pleurisy root, " " 1 tea-spoonful. + +Make a mucilage of the poplar bark, by stirring in boiling water; then +add the pleurisy root; the whole to be given in the course of +twenty-four hours. The diet should consist of a mixture of linseed, +boiled carrots, and meal. + + + + +WORMS. + + +The intestinal worms generally arise from impaired digestion. The +symptoms are, a diminution of rumination, wasting away of the body, and +frequent snorting, obstruction of the nostrils with mucus of a greater +or less thickness. + +_Compound for Worms._ + + Powdered worm seed, } + " skunk cabbage, } equal parts. + " ginger, } + +Dose, a tea-spoonful night and morning in the fodder. + + + + +DISEASES OF THE STOMACH FROM EATING POISONOUS PLANTS. + + +_Treatment._--Take the animal from pasture, and put it on a boiled diet, +of shorts, meal, linseed, and carrots. The following alterative may be +mixed in the food:-- + + Powdered marshmallows, 1 ounce. + " sassafras bark, 2 ounces. + " charcoal, 2 ounces. + " licorice, 2 ounces. + +Dose, one table-spoonful every night. + + + + +SORE NIPPLES. + + +Lambs often die of hunger, from their dams refusing them suck. The cause +of this is sore nipples, or some tumor in the udder, in which violent +pain is excited by the tugging of the lamb. Washing with poplar bark, or +anointing the teats with powdered borax and honey, will generally effect +a cure. + + + + +FRACTURES. + + +The mending of a broken bone, though somewhat tedious, is by no means +difficult, when the integuments are not torn. Let the limb be gently +distended, and the broken ends of the bone placed in contact with each +other. A piece of stiff leather, of pasteboard, or of thin shingle, +wrapped in a soft rag, is then to be laid along the limb, so that it may +extend an inch or two beyond the contiguous part. The splints are then +to be secured by a bandage of linen an inch and a half broad. After +being firmly rolled up, it should be passed spirally round the leg, +taking care that every turn of the bandage overlaps about two thirds of +the preceding one. When the inequality of the parts causes the margin to +slack, it must be reversed or folded over; that is, its upper margin +must become the lower, &c. The bandage should be moderately tight, so as +to support the parts without intercepting the circulation, and should be +so applied as to press equally on every part. The bandage may be +occasionally wet with a mixture of equal parts of vinegar and water. + + + + +COMMON CATARRH AND EPIDEMIC INFLUENZA. + + +The seat of the disease is in the mucous membrane, which is a +continuation of the external skin, folded into all the orifices of the +body, as the mouth, eyes, nose, ears, lungs, stomach, intestines and +bladder; its structure of arterial capillaries, veins, arteries, nerves, +&c., is similar to the external skin; its most extensive surfaces are +those of the lungs and intestines, the former of which is supposed to be +greater than the whole external surface of the body. + +The healthy office of this membrane is to furnish from the blood a fluid +called mucus, to lubricate its own surface, and protect it from the +action of materials taken into the system. The mucous membrane and the +external surface of the body seem to be a counterpart of each other, and +perform nearly the same offices; hence, if the action of one is +suppressed, the other commences the performance of its office; thus a +cold which closes the skin immediately stops the perspiration, which is +now forced through the mucous membrane, producing the discharge of +watery humors, pus intermixed with blood, dry cough, emaciation, &c. +There are two varieties of this disease; the first is called _common +catarrh_, which proceeds from cold taken in pasture that is not properly +drained, also from atmospheric changes; it may also proceed from acrid +or other irritating effluvia inhaled in the air, or from poisonous +substances taken in the stomach in the form of food. The second variety +is called _epidemic influenza_, and is produced by general causes; the +attack is sometimes sudden; although of nearly the same nature as the +first form, it is more obstinate, and the treatment must be more +energetic. It is very difficult to lay down correct rules for the +treatment of this malady, under its different forms and stages. The +principal object to be kept in view is, to equalize the circulation, +remove the irritating causes from the organs affected, and restore the +tone of the system. + +For this purpose, we make use of the following articles:-- + + Horehound, (herb,) 1 ounce. + Marshmallow, (root,) 1 ounce. + Powdered elecampane, (root,) half an ounce. + " licorice, " half an ounce. + Powdered cayenne, half a tea-spoonful. + Molasses, 2 table-spoonfuls. + Vinegar, 2 table-spoonfuls. + +Mix, pour on the whole one quart of boiling water, set it aside for two +hours, then strain through cotton cloth, and give a table-spoonful night +and morning.[20] If the bowels are constipated, a dose of linseed oil +should precede the mixture. No water should be allowed during the +treatment. + +The following injection may be used:-- + + Powdered bayberry bark, 1 ounce. + " gum arabic, half an ounce. + Boiling water, 1 pint. + +Stir occasionally while cooling, and strain as above. + +The legs and ears should be briskly rubbed with tincture of capsicum; +this latter acts as a counter-irritant, equalizes the circulation, and, +entering into the system, gives tone and vigor to the whole animal +economy. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[20] This preparation undergoes a process of fermentation in the course +of forty-eight hours, and should therefore only be made in sufficient +quantities for present use. + + + + +CASTRATING LAMBS. + + +The lambs are first driven into a small enclosure. Select the ewe from +the ram lambs, and let the former go. Two assistants are necessary. One +catches the lambs; the other is seated on a low bench for the purpose of +taking the lamb on his lap, where he holds it by the four legs. The +operator, having previously supplied himself with a piece of waxed silk +and the necessary implements, grasps the scrotum in his left hand. He +then makes an incision over the most prominent part of the testicle, +through the skin, cellular structure, &c. The testicle escapes from the +scrotum. A ligature is now passed around the spermatic artery, and tied, +and the cord is severed, bringing the testicle away at one stroke of the +knife. As soon as the operation is completed, the animal is released. +The evening is the best time for performing the operation, for then the +animal remains quiet during the night, and the wound heals kindly. + + + + +NATURE OF SHEEP. + + +"The sheep, though in most countries under the protection and control of +man, is not that stupid and contemptible animal that has been +represented. Amidst those numerous flocks which range without control on +extensive mountains, where they seldom depend upon the aid of man, it +will be found to assume very different character. In those situations, a +ram or a wether will boldly attack a single dog, and often come off +victorious; but when the danger is more alarming, they have recourse to +the collected strength of the whole flock. On such occasions, they draw +up into a compact body, placing the young and the females in the centre, +while the males take the foremost ranks; keeping close by each other. +Thus an armed front is presented to all quarters, and cannot be easily +attacked, without danger or destruction to the assailant. In this manner +they wait with firmness the approach of the enemy; nor does their +courage fail them in the moment of attack; for when the aggressor +advances to within a few yards of the line, the rams dart upon him with +such impetuosity, as to lay him dead at their feet, unless he save +himself by flight. Against the attack of a single dog, when in this +situation, they are perfectly secure." + + + + +THE RAM. + + +Mr. Lawson says, "It may be observed that the rams of different breeds +of sheep vary greatly in their forms, wools, and fleeces, and other +properties; but the following description, by that excellent +stock-farmer, Mr. Culley, deserves the attention of the breeder and +grazier. According to him, the head of the ram should be fine and small; +his nostrils wide and expanded; his eyes prominent, and rather bold or +daring; his ears thin; his collar fall from his breast and shoulders, +but tapering gradually all the way to where the neck and head join, +which should be very fine and graceful, being perfectly free from any +coarse leather hanging down; the shoulders full, which must, at the same +time, join so easy to the collar forward, and chine backward, as to +leave not the least hollow in either place; the mutton upon his arm or +fore thigh must come quite to the knee; his legs upright, with a clean +fine bone, being equally clear from superfluous skin and coarse, hairy +wool from the knee and hough downwards; the breast broad and well +forward, which will keep his fore legs at a proper width; his girt or +chest full and deep, and instead of a hollow between the shoulders, that +part by some called the fore flank should be quite full; the back and +loins broad, flat, and straight, from which the ribs must rise with a +fine circular arch; his belly straight; the quarters long and full, with +the mutton quite down to the hough, which should neither stand in nor +out; his twist, or junction of the inside of the thighs, deep, wide, and +full, which, with the broad breast, will keep his legs open and upright; +the whole body covered with a thin pelt, and that with fine, bright, +soft wool. + +"It is to be observed that the nearer any breed of sheep come up to the +above description, the nearer they approach towards excellence of +form." + + + + +LEAPING. + + +"The manner of treating rams has lately received a very great +improvement. Instead of turning them loose among the ewes at large, as +heretofore, and agreeably to universal practice, they are kept apart, in +a separate paddock, or small enclosure, with a couple of ewes only each, +to make them rest quietly; having the ewes of the flock brought to them +singly, and leaping each only once. By this judicious and accurate +regulation, a ram is enabled to impregnate near twice the number of ewes +he would do if turned loose among them, especially a young ram. In the +old practice, sixty or eighty ewes were esteemed the full number for a +ram. [Overtaxing the male gives rise to weak and worthless offspring.] + +"The period during which the rams are to go with the ewes must be +regulated by climate, and the quantity of spring food provided. It is of +great importance that lambs should be dropped as early as possible, that +they not only be well nursed, but have time to get stout, and able to +provide for themselves before the winter sets in. It is also of good +advantage to the ewes that they may get into good condition before the +rutting season. The ram has been known to live to the age of fifteen +years, and begins to procreate at one. When castrated, they are called +_wethers_; they then grow sooner fat, and the flesh becomes finer and +better flavored." + + + + +ARGYLESHIRE BREEDERS. + + +In Argyleshire, the principal circumstances attended to by the most +intelligent sheep-farmers are these: to stock lightly, which will mend +the size of the sheep, with the quantity and quality of the wool, and +also render them less subject to diseases; (in all these respects it is +allowed, by good judges, that five hundred sheep, kept well, will +return more profit than six hundred kept indifferently;) to select the +best lambs, and such as have the finest, closest, and whitest wool, for +tups and breeding ewes, and to cut and spay the worst; to get a change +of rams frequently, and of breeding ewes occasionally; to put the best +tups to the best ewes, which is considered necessary for bringing any +breed to perfection; not to top three-year-old ewes, (which, in bad +seasons especially, would render the lambs produced by them of little +value, as the lambs would not have a sufficiency of milk; and would also +tend to lessen the size of the stock;) to keep no rams above three, or +at most four years old, nor any breeding ewes above five or six; to +separate the rams from the 10th of October, for a month or six weeks, to +prevent the lambs from coming too early in the spring; to separate the +lambs between the 15th and 25th of June; to have good grass prepared for +them; and if they can, to keep them separate, and on good grass all +winter, that they may be better attended to, and have the better chance +of avoiding disease. A few, whose possessions allow them to do it, keep +not only their lambs, but also their wethers, ewes, &c., in separate +places, by which every man, having his own charge, can attend to it +better than if all were in common; and each kind has its pasture that +best suits it. + + + + +FATTENING SHEEP. + + +We are indebted to Mr. Cole, editor of the New England Farmer, for the +following article, which is worthy the attention of the reader:-- + +"Quietude and warmth contribute greatly to the fattening process. This +is a fact which has not only been developed by science, but proved by +actual practice. The manner in which these agents operate is simple, and +easily explained. Motion increases respiration, and the excess of +oxygen, thus taken, requires an increased quantity of carbon, which +would otherwise be expended in producing fat. So, likewise, _cold robs +the system of animal heat_; to supply which, more oxygen and more carbon +must be employed in extra combustion, to restore the diminution of +temperature. Nature enforces the restoration of warmth, by causing cold +to produce both hunger and a disposition for motion, supplying carbon by +the gratification of the former, and oxygen by the indulgence of the +latter. The above facts are illustrated by Lord Ducie:-- + +"One hundred sheep were placed in a shed, and ate twenty pounds of +Swedish turnips each per day; whilst another hundred, in the open air, +ate twenty-five pounds each; and at that rate for a certain period: the +former animals weighed each thirty pounds more than the latter; plainly +showing that, to a certain extent, _warmth is a substitute for food_. +This was also proved, by the same nobleman, in other experiments, which +also illustrated the effect of exercise. + +"No. 1. Five sheep were fed in the open air, between the 21st of +November and the 1st of December. They consumed ninety pounds of food +per day, the temperature being 44°. At the end of this time, they +weighed two pounds less than when first exposed. + +"No. 2. Five sheep were placed under shelter, and allowed to run at a +temperature of 49°. They consumed at first eighty-two pounds, then +seventy pounds, and increased in weight twenty-three pounds. + +"No. 3. Five sheep were placed in the same shed, but not allowed any +exercise. They ate at first sixty-four pounds, then fifty-eight pounds, +and increased in weight thirty pounds. + +"No. 4. Five sheep were kept in the dark, quiet and covered. They ate +thirty-five pounds per day, and increased in weight eight pounds. + +"A similar experiment was tried by Mr. Childers, M. P. He states, that +eighty Leicester sheep, in the open field, consumed fifty baskets of cut +turnips per day, besides oil cake. On putting them in a shed, they were +immediately able to consume only thirty baskets, and soon after but +twenty-five, being only one half the quantity required before; and yet +they fattened as rapidly as when eating the largest quantity. + +"From these experiments, it appears that the least quantity of food, +which is required for fattening, is when animals are kept closely +confined in warm shelters; and the greatest quantity when running at +large, exposed to all weather. But, although animals will fatten faster +for a certain time without exercise than with it, if they are closely +confined for any considerable time, and are at the same time full fed, +they become, in some measure, feverish; the proportion of fat becomes +too large, and the meat is not so palatable and healthy as when they are +allowed moderate exercise, in yards or small fields. + +"As to the kinds of food which may be used most advantageously in +fattening, this will generally depend upon what is raised upon the farm, +it being preferable, in most cases, to use the produce of the farm. +Sheep prefer beans to almost any other grain; but neither beans nor peas +are so fattening as some other grains, and are used most advantageously +along with them. Beans, peas, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, &c., may be +used along with Indian corn, or oil cake, or succulent food, making +various changes and mixtures, in order to furnish the variety of food +which is so much relished by the sheep, and which should ever be +attended to by the sheep fattener. This will prevent their being cloyed, +and will hasten the fattening process. A variety of food, says Mr. +Spooner, operates like cookery in the human subject, enabling more +sustenance to be taken. + +"The quantity of grain or succulent food, which it will be proper to +feed, will depend upon the size, age, and condition of the sheep; and +judgment must be used in ascertaining how much they can bear. Mr. +Childers states that sheep (New Leicester) fed with the addition of half +a pint of barley per sheep, per day, half a pound of linseed oil cake, +with hay, and a constant supply of salt, became ready for the butcher +in ten weeks; the gain of flesh and tallow, thirty-three pounds to forty +pounds per head. (One sheep gained fifty-five pounds in twelve weeks.) + +"This experiment shows what is about the largest amount of grain which +it is necessary or proper to feed to New Leicester sheep, at any time +while fattening. The average weight of forty New Leicester wethers, +before fattening, was found by Mr. Childers to be one hundred and +twenty-eight pounds each. By weighing an average lot of any other kind +of sheep, which are to be fattened, and by reference to the table of +comparative nutriment of the different kinds of food, a calculation may +be readily made, as to the largest amount, which will be necessary for +them, of any article of food whatever. + +"When sheep are first put up for fattening, they should be sorted, when +convenient, so as to put those of the same age, size, and condition, +each by themselves, so that each may have a fair chance to obtain its +proportion of food, and may be fed the proper length of time. + +"They should be fed moderately at first, gradually increasing the +quantity to the largest amount, and making the proper changes of food, +so as not to cloy them, nor produce acute diseases of the head or +intestines, and never feeding so much as to scour them. + +"Sheep, when fattening, should not be fed oftener than three times a +day, viz., morning, noon, and evening. In the intervals between feeding, +they may fill themselves well, and will have time sufficient for +rumination and digestion: these processes are interrupted by too +frequent feeding. But they should be fed with regularity, both as to the +quantity of food and the time when it is given. When convenient, they +should have access to water at all times; otherwise a full supply of it +should be furnished to them immediately after they have consumed each +foddering. + +"When sheep become extremely fat, whether purposely or not, it is +generally expedient to slaughter them. Permitting animals to become +alternately very fat and lean is injurious to all stock. Therefore, if +animals are too strongly inclined to fatten at an age when wanted for +breeding, their condition as to flesh should be regulated by the +quantity and quality of their food or pasture." + + + + +IMPROVEMENT IN SHEEP. + + +No country in the world is better calculated for raising sheep than the +United States. The diversity of climate, together with the abundance and +variety of the products of the soil, united with the industry and +perseverance of the agriculturist, renders this country highly favorable +for breeding, maturing, and improving the different kinds of sheep. The +American people, taken as a whole, are intellectually stronger than any +other nation with the like amount of population, on the face of the +globe; consequently they are all-powerful, "for the mind is mightier +than the sword." All that we aim at, in these pages, is to turn the +current of the American mind to the important subject of improvement in +the animal kingdom; to show them the great benefits they will derive +from practical experience in the management of all classes of live +stock; and, lastly, to show them the value and importance of the +veterinary profession, when flourishing under the genial influence of a +liberal community. If we can only succeed in arresting the attention of +American stock raisers, and they, on the other hand, direct their whole +attention to the matter, then, in a few years, America will outshine her +more favored European rivals, and feel proud of her improved stock. What +the American people have done during the last half century in the +improvement of the soil, manufactures, arts, and sciences, is an earnest +of what they can do in ameliorating the condition of all classes of live +stock, provided they take hold of the subject in good earnest. Let any +one who is acquainted with the subject of degeneration, its causes and +fatal results, not only in reference to the stock itself, but as regards +the pocket of the breeder, and the health of the whole community,--let +such a one go into our slaughter-houses and markets, and if he does not +see a wide field for improvement, then we will agree to let the subject +sink into oblivion. In order to show what a whole community can +accomplish when their efforts are directed to one object, let us look on +what a single individual, by his own industry and perseverance, has +accomplished simply in improving the breed of sheep. The person referred +to is Mr. Bakewell. His breeding animals were, in the first place, +selected from different breeds. These he crossed with the best to be +had. After the cross had been carried to the desired point, he confined +his selections to his own herds or flocks. He formed in his mind a +standard of perfection for each kind of animals, and to this he +constantly endeavored to bring them. That he was eminently successful in +the attainment of his object, cannot be denied. He began his farming +operations about 1750. In 1760, his rams did not sell for more than two +or three guineas per head. From this time he gradually advanced in +terms, and in 1770 he let some for twenty-five guineas a head for the +season. Marshall states that, in 1786, Bakewell let two thirds of a ram +(reserving a third for himself) to two breeders, for a hundred guineas +each, the entire services of the ram being rated at three hundred +guineas the season. It is also stated that he made that year, by letting +rams, more than one thousand pounds. + +"In 1789, he made twelve hundred guineas by three '_ram brothers_,' and +two thousand guineas from seven, and, from his whole letting, full three +thousand guineas. Six or seven other breeders made from five hundred to +a thousand guineas each by the same operation. The whole amount of +ram-letting of Bakewell's breed is said to have been not less, that +year, than ten thousand pounds, [forty-eight thousand dollars.] + +"It is true that still more extraordinary prices were obtained for the +use of rams of this breed after Mr. Bakewell's death. Pitt, in his +'Survey of Leicestershire,' mentions that, in 1795, Mr. Astley gave +three hundred guineas for the use of a ram of this breed, engaging, at +the same time, that he should serve _gratis_ twenty ewes owned by the +man of whom the ram was hired; making for the entire use of the ram, +that season, four hundred and twenty guineas. In 1796, Mr. Astley gave +for the use of the same ram three hundred guineas, and took forty ewes +to be served gratis. At the price charged for the service of the ram to +each ewe, the whole value for the season was five hundred guineas. He +served one hundred ewes. In 1797, the same ram was let to another person +at three hundred guineas, and twenty ewes sent with him; the serving of +which was reckoned at a hundred guineas, and the ram was restricted to +sixty more, which brought his value for the season to four hundred +guineas. Thus the ram made, in three seasons, the enormous sum of +_thirteen hundred guineas_. + +"We have nothing to do, at present, with the question whether the value +of these animals was not exaggerated. The actual superiority of the +breed over the stock of the country must have been obvious, and this +point we wish kept in mind. + +"This breed of sheep is continued to the present day, and it has been +remarked by a respected writer, that they will 'remain a lasting +monument of Bakewell's skill.' As to their origin, the testimony shows +them to have been of _mixed blood_; though no breed is more distinct in +its characters, or transmits its qualities with more certainty; and if +we were without any other example of successful crossing, the advocates +of the system might still point triumphantly to the Leicester or +Bakewell sheep. + +"But what are the opinions of our best modern breeders in regard to the +practicability of producing distinct breeds by crossing? Robert Smith, +of Burley, Rutlandshire, an eminent sheep-breeder, in an essay on the +'Breeding and Management of Sheep,' for which he received a prize from +the Royal Agricultural Society, (1847,) makes the following remarks: +'The crossing of pure breeds has been a subject of great interest +amongst every class of breeders. While all agree that the first cross +may be attended with good results, there exists a diversity of opinion +upon the future movements, or putting the crosses together. Having +tried experiments (and I am now pursuing them for confirmation) in every +way possible, I do not hesitate to express my opinion, that, by proper +and judicious crossing through several generations, a most valuable +breed of sheep may be raised and established; in support of which I may +mention the career of the celebrated Bakewell, who raised a _new_ +variety from other long-wooled breeds by dint of perseverance and +propagation, and which have subsequently corrected all other long-wooled +breeds.'" + +We have alluded to the low price of some of the mutton brought to the +Boston market. We do not wish the reader to infer that there is none +other to be had: on the contrary, we have occasionally seen as good +mutton there as in any European market. There are a number of practical +and worthy men engaged in improving the different kinds of live stock, +and preventing the degeneracy to which we refer. They have taken much +interest in that class of stock, and they have been abundantly rewarded +for their labor. But the great mass want more light on this subject, and +for this reason we endeavor to show the causes of degeneracy, to enable +them to avoid the errors of their forefathers. + +Mr. Roberts, of Pennsylvania, says, "Early in my experience, I witnessed +the renovation of a flock of what we call country sheep, that had been +too long propagated in the same blood. This was about the year 1798. An +imported ram from England, with heavy horns, very much resembling the +most vigorous Spanish Merinos, was obtained. The progeny were improved +in the quality of fleece, and in the vigor of constitution. On running +this stock in the same blood for some twelve years, a great +deterioration became apparent. A male was then obtained of the large +coarse-wooled Spanish stock: improvement in the vigor of the progeny was +again most obvious. A Tunis mountain ram was then obtained, with a +result equally favorable. In this process, fineness of fleece or weight +was less the object than the carcass. In 1810, a male of not quite pure +Merino blood was placed with the same stock of ewes; and a change of the +male from year to year, for some time, produced a superior Merino +stock. Wool of a marketable quality for fine cloths was now the object; +and it was not an unprofitable husbandry, when it would sell in the +fleece, unwashed, from eighty-six cents to one dollar. The Saxon stock +then became the rage, and the introduction of a tup of that country +diminished greatly the weight of the fleece, without adequately +improving its fineness. A male of the Spanish stock would give sometimes +nine pounds; and the marsh graziers say that they went as high as +fifteen pounds. Saxon males scarcely exceed five pounds, and the ewes +two and a half pounds. By running in the same blood, and poor keeping, +the fleece may be made finer, but it will be lightened in proportion, +and of a weak and infirm texture. There are few stock-keepers who have +mixed the Spanish with the Saxon breeds but what either do or will have +cause to regret it. In this part of the country, a real Spanish Merino +is not to be obtained. Sheep-raising has ceased to be a business of any +profit nearer to the maritime coast than our extensive mountain ranges, +whether for carcass or fleece. I sold, the last season, water-washed +wool, of very fine quality, for thirty cents per pound. At such a price +for wool, land near our seaports can be turned to better account, even +in these dull times, than wool-growing. Stock sheep do best in stony and +elevated locations, where they have to use diligence to pick the scanty +blade. Sheep on the sea-board region should be kept more for carcass +than fleece; and feeding, more than breeding, ought to be the object for +some one hundred miles from tide water. It is now a well-ascertained +fact, that health and vigor can only be perpetuated by not running too +long on the same blood. The evils I have witnessed were due to a want of +care on this head more than to any endemical quality in our climate. +Sheep kept on smooth land and soft pasture are liable to the foot rot. +The hoofs of the Merino require paring occasionally, for want of a stony +mountain side to ascend. It is no longer a problem that this is to be a +great wool-growing country, as well as a wool-consuming one. There is, +in our wool-growing country, land in abundance, held at a price that +will enable the wool-grower to produce the finest qualities at thirty +cents per pound, the cloths to be manufactured in proportion, and the +market to be steady. I have seen Merino wool, since 1810, range from one +dollar per pound to eighteen and three fourths cents, though I do not +recollect selling below twenty-two cents. The best variety of sheep +stock I have seen, putting fineness of fleece aside, was the mixed +Bakewell and South Down, imported by Mr. Smith, of New Jersey. The flesh +of the Merino has been pronounced of inferior flavor. This, however, +does not agree with my experience, as I have found the lambs command a +readier sale than any other, from being preferred by consumers." + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT BREEDS OF SHEEP. + + +Mr. Lawson tells us that "the variety in sheep is so great, that +scarcely any two countries produce sheep of the same kind. There is +found a manifest difference in all, either in the size, the covering, +the shape, or the horns." + + +TEESWATER BREED. + +"This is a breed of sheep said to be the largest in England. It is at +present the most prevalent in the rich, fine, fertile, enclosed lands on +the banks of the Tees, in Yorkshire. In this breed, which is supposed to +be from the same stock as those of the Lincolns, greater attention seems +to have been paid to size than wool. It is, however, a breed only +calculated for warm, rich pastures, where they are kept in small lots, +in small enclosures, and well supported with food in severe winter +seasons. The legs are longer, finer boned, and support a thicker and +more firm and heavy carcass than the Lincolnshires; the sheep are much +wider on the backs and sides, and afford a fatter and finer-grained +mutton. + + +LINCOLN SHIRE BREED. + +"This is a breed of sheep which is characterized by their having no +horns; white faces; long, thin, weak carcasses thick, rough, white legs; +bones large; pelts thick; slow feeding; mutton coarse grained; the wool +from ten to eighteen inches in length; and it is chiefly prevalent in +the district which gives the name, and other rich grazing ones. The new, +or improved Lincolns, have now finer bone, with broader loins and +trussed carcasses, are among the best, if not actually the best, +long-wooled stock we have. + + +THE DISHLEY BREED. + +"This is an improved breed of sheep, which is readily distinguished from +the other long-wooled sorts; having a fulness of form and substantial +width of carcass, with peculiar plainness and meekness of countenance; +the head long, thin, and leaning backward; the nose projecting forward; +the ears somewhat long, and standing backward; great fulness of the fore +quarters; legs of moderate length, and the finest bone; tail small; +fleece well covering the body, of the shortest and finest of the combing +wools, the length of staple six or seven inches. + + +COTSWOLD BREED. + +"This is a breed of sheep answering the following description: long, +coarse head, with a particularly blunt, wide nose; a top-knot of wool on +the forehead, running under the ears; rather long neck; great length and +breadth of back and loin; full thigh, with more substance in the hinder +than fore quarters; bone somewhat fine; legs not long; fleece soft, like +that of the Dishley, but in closeness and darkness of color bearing +more resemblance to short or carding wool. Although very fat, they have +all the appearance of sheep that are full of solid flesh, which would +come heavy to the scale. At two years and a half old, they have given +from eleven to fourteen pounds of wool each sheep; and, being fat, they +are indisputably among the larger breeds. + + +ROMNEY MARSH BREED. + +"This is a kind which is described, by Mr. Young, as being a breed of +sheep without horns; white faces and legs; rather long in the legs; good +size; body rather long, but well barrel-shaped; bones rather large. In +respect to the wool, it is fine, long, and of a delicate white color, +when in its perfect state. + + +DEVONSHIRE BREED. + +"This is a breed or sort of sheep which is chiefly distinguished by +having no horns; white faces and legs; thick necks; backs narrow, and +back-bones high; sides good; legs short, and bones large; and probably +without any material objection, being a variety of the common hornless +sort. Length of wool much the same as in the Romney Marsh breed. It is a +breed found to be prevalent in the district from which it has derived +its name, and is supposed to have received considerable improvement by +being crossed with the new Leicester, or Dishley. + + +THE DORSETSHIRE BREED. + +"This breed is known by having the face, nose, and legs white, head +rather long, but broad, and the forehead woolly, as in the Spanish sort; +the horn round and bold, middle-sized, and standing from the head; the +shoulders broad at top, but lower than the hind quarters; the back +tolerably straight; carcass deep, and loins broad; legs not long, nor +very fine in the bone; the wool is fine and short. It is a breed which +has the peculiar property of producing lambs at any period of the +season, even so early as September and October, so as to suit the +purposes of the lamb-suckler. + + +THE WILTSHIRE BREED. + +"This is a sort which has sometimes the title of _horned crocks_. The +writer on live stock distinguishes the breed as having a large head and +eyes; Roman nose; wide nostrils; horns bending down the cheeks; color +all white; wide bosom; deep, greyhound breast; back rather straight; +carcass substantial; legs short; bone coarse; fine middle wool, very +thin on the belly, which is sometimes bare. He supposes, with Culley, +that the basis of this breed is doubtless the Dorsets, enlarged by some +long-wooled cross; but how the horns came to take a direction so +contrary, is not easy, he thinks, to conjecture; he has sometimes +imagined it must be the result of some foreign, probably Tartarian +cross. + + +THE SOUTH DOWN BREED. + +"This is a valuable sort of sheep, which Culley has distinguished by +having no horns; gray faces and legs; fine bones; long, small necks; and +by being rather low before, high on the shoulder, and light in the fore +quarter; sides good; loin tolerably broad; back-bone rather high; thigh +full; twist good; mutton fine in grain and well flavored; wool short, +very close and fine; in the length of the staple from two to three +inches. It is a breed which prevails on the dry, chalky downs in Sussex, +as well as the hills of Surrey and Kent, and which has lately been much +improved, both in carcass and wool, being much enlarged forward, +carrying a good fore flank; and for the short, less fertile, hilly +pastures is an excellent sort, as feeding close. The sheep are hardy, +and disposed to fatten quickly; and where the ewes are full kept, they +frequently produce twin lambs, nearly in proportion of one third of the +whole, which are, when dropped, well wooled. + + +THE HERDWICK BREED. + +"This is a breed which is characterized by Mr. Culley as having no +horns, and the face and legs being speckled; the larger portion of +white, with fewer black spots, the purer the breed; legs fine, small, +clean; the lambs well covered when dropped; the wool, short, thick, and +matted in the fleece. It is a breed peculiar to the elevated, +mountainous tract of country at the head of the River Esk, and Duddon in +Cumberland, where they are let in herds, at an annual sum; whence the +name. At present, they are said to possess the property of being +extremely hardy in constitution, and capable of supporting themselves on +the rocky, bare mountains, with the trifling support of a little hay in +the winter season. + + +THE CHEVIOT BREED. + +"This breed of sheep is known by the want of horns; by the face and legs +being mostly white; little depth in the breast; narrow there and on the +chine; clean, fine, small-boned legs, and thin pelts; the wool partly +fine and partly coarse. It is a valuable breed of mountain sheep, where +the herbage is chiefly of the natural grass kind, which is the case in +the situations where these are found the most prevalent, and from which +they have obtained their name. It is a breed which has undergone much +improvement, within these few years, in respect to its form and other +qualities, and has been lately introduced into the most northern +districts; and from its hardiness, its affording a portion of fine wool, +and being quick in fattening, it is likely to answer well in such +situations. + + +THE MERINO BREED + +"In this breed of sheep, the males have horns, but the females are +without them. They have white faces and legs; the body not very perfect +in shape; rather long in the legs; fine in the bone; a production of +loose, pendulous skin under the neck; and the pelt fine and clear; the +wool very fine. It is a breed that is asserted by some to be tolerably +hardy, and to possess a disposition to fatten readily. + + +THE WELSH SHEEP. + +"These, which are the most general breed in the hill districts, are +small horned, and all over of a white color. They are neat, compact +sheep. There is likewise a polled, short-wooled sort of sheep in these +parts of the country, which are esteemed by some. The genuine Welsh +mutton, from its smallness and delicate flavor, is commonly well known, +highly esteemed, and sold at a high price." + +[Illustration: A Boar. + +Bred and fed by Willm. Fisher Hobbs, Esq. of Marks Hall, Coggleshall, +Essex for which a Prize of £10 was awarded at the Meeting of the R.A.S +of E. at Derby 1843.] + + + + +SWINE. + + +PRELIMINARY REMARKS. + +Swine have generally been considered "unclean," creatures of gross +habits, &c.; but these epithets are unjust: they are not, in their +nature, the unclean, gross, insensible brutes that mankind suppose them. +If they are unclean, they got their first lessons from the lords of +creation, by being confined in narrow, filthy sties--often deprived of +light, and pure air, by being shut up in dark, underground cellars, to +wallow in their own excrement; at other times, confined beneath stables, +dragging out their existence in a perfect hotbed of corruption--respiring +the emanations from the dung and urine of other animals; and often +compelled to satisfy the cravings of hunger by partaking of whatever +comes in their way. All manner of filth, including decaying and putrid +vegetable and animal substances, are considered good enough for the +hogs. And as long as they get such kind of trash, and no other, they +must eat it; the cravings of hunger must be satisfied. The Almighty has +endowed them with powerful organs of digestion; and as long as there is +any thing before them that the gastric fluids are capable of +assimilating, although it be disgusting to their very natures, rather +than suffer of hunger, they will partake of it. Much of the indigestible +food given to swine deranges the stomach, and destroys the powers of +assimilation, or, in other words, leaves it in morbid state. There is +then a constant sensation of hunger, a longing for any and every thing +within their reach. Does the reader wonder, then, at their morbid +tastes? What will man do under the same circumstances? Suppose him to be +the victim of dyspepsia or indigestion. In the early stages, he is +constantly catering to the appetite. At one time, he longs for acids; at +another, alkalies; now, he wants stimulants; then, refrigerants, &c. +Again: what will not a man do to satisfy the cravings of hunger? Will he +not eat his fellow, and drink of his blood? And all to satisfy the +craving of an empty stomach. + +We know from experience that, if young pigs are daily washed, and kept +on clean cooked food, they will not eat the common city "swill;" they +eat it only when compelled by hunger. When free from the control of man, +they show as much sagacity in the selection of their food as any other +animals; and, indeed, more than some, for they seldom get poisoned, like +the ox, in mistaking noxious for wholesome food. The Jews, as well as +our modern physiologists, consider the flesh of swine unfit for food. No +doubt some of it is, especially that reared under the unfavorable +circumstances alluded to above. But good home-fed pork, kept on good +country produce, and not too fat, is just as good food for man as the +flesh of oxen or sheep, notwithstanding the opinion of our medical +brethren to the contrary. Their flesh has long been considered as one of +the principal causes of scrofula, and other diseases too numerous to +mention: without doubt this is the case. But that good, healthy pork +should produce such results we are unwilling to admit. We force them to +load their stomachs with the rotten offal of large cities, and thus +derange their whole systems; they become loaded with fat; their systems +abound in morbific fluids; their lungs become tuberculous; their livers +enlarge; calcerous deposits or glandular disorganization sets in. Take +into consideration their inactive habits; not voluntary, for instinct +teaches them, when at liberty, to run, jump, and gambol, by which the +excess of carbon is thrown off. Depriving them of exercise may be +profitable to the breeder, but it induces a state of plethora. The +cellular structures of such an animal are distended to their utmost +capacity, preventing the full and free play of the vital machinery, +obstructing the natural outlets (excrementitious vessels) on the +external surface, and retaining in the system morbid materials that are +positively injurious. At the present time, there is on exhibition in +Boston a woman, styled the "fat girl;" she weighs four hundred and +ninety-five pounds. A casual observer could detect nothing in her +external appearance that denoted disease; yet she is liable to die at +any moment from congestion of the brain, lungs, or liver. Any one +possessing a knowledge of physiology would immediately pronounce her to +be in a pathological state. Hence, the laws of the animal economy being +uniform, we cannot arrive at any other conclusion in reference to the +same plethoric state in animals of an inferior order. + +Professor Liebig tells us that excess of carbon, in the form of food, +cannot be employed to make a part of any organ; it must be deposited in +the cellular tissue in the form of tallow or oil. This is the whole +secret of fattening. + +At every period of animal life, when there occurs a disproportion +between the carbon of the food and the inspired oxygen, the latter being +deficient,--which must happen beneath stables and in ill-constructed +hog-sties,--fat must be formed. + +Experience teaches us that in poultry the maximum of fat is obtained by +preventing them from taking exercise, and by a medium temperature. These +animals, in such circumstances, may be compared to a plant possessing in +the highest degree the power of converting all food into parts of its +own structure. The excess of the constituents of blood forms flesh and +other organized tissues, while that of starch, sugar, &c., is converted +into fat. When animals are fed on food destitute of nitrogen, only +certain parts of their structure increase in size. Thus, in a goose +fattened in the manner alluded to, the liver becomes three or four times +larger than in the same animal when well fed, with free motion; while we +cannot say that the organized structure of the liver is thereby +increased. The liver of a goose fed in the ordinary way is firm and +elastic; that of the imprisoned animal is soft and spongy. The +difference consists in a greater or less expansion of its cells, which +are filled with fat. Hence, when fat accumulates and free motion is +prevented, the animal is in a diseased state. Now, many tons of pork are +eaten in this diseased state, and it communicates disease to the human +family: they blame the pork, when, in fact, the pork raisers are often +more to blame. The reader is probably aware that some properties of food +pass into the living organism being assimilated by the digestive organs, +and produce an abnormal state. For example, the faculty of New York +have, time and again, testified to the destructive tendency of milk +drawn from cows fed in cities, without due exercise and ordinary care in +their management, giving it as their opinion that most of the diseases +of children are brought about by its use. If proof were necessary to +establish our position, we could cite it in abundance. A single case, +which happened in our own family, will suffice. A liver, taken from an +apparently healthy sow, (yet abounding in fat, and weighing about two +hundred pounds,) was prepared in the usual manner for dinner. We +observed, however, previous to its being cooked, that it was unusually +large; yet there was no appearance of disease about it; it was quite +firm. Each one partook of it freely. Towards night, and before partaking +of any other kind of food, we were all seized with violent pains in the +head, sickness at the stomach, and delirium: this continued for several +hours, when a diarrhoea set in, through which process the offending +matter was liberated, and each one rapidly recovered; pretty well +convinced, however, that we had had a narrow escape, and that the liver +was the sole cause of our misfortune. + +Hence the proper management of swine becomes a subject of great +importance; for, if more attention were paid to it, there would be less +disease in the human family. When we charge these animals with being +"unclean creatures of gross habits," let us consider whether we have +not, in some measure, contributed to make them what they are. + +Again: the hog has been termed "insensible," destitute of all those +finer feelings that characterize brutes of a higher order. Yet we have +"learned pigs," &c.--a proof that they can be taught something. A +celebrated writer tells us that no animal has a greater sympathy for +those of his own kind than the hog. The moment one of them gives a +signal, all within hearing rush to his assistance. They have been known +to gather round a dog that teased them and kill him on the spot; and if +a male and female be enclosed in a sty when young, and be afterwards +separated, the female will decline from the instant her companion is +removed, and will probably die--perhaps of what would be termed, in the +human family, a broken heart! + +In the Island of Minorca, hogs are converted into beasts of draught; a +cow, a sow, and two young horses, have been seen yoked together, and of +the four the sow drew the best. + +A gamekeeper of Sir H. Mildmay actually broke a sow to find game, and to +back and stand. + +Swine are frequently troubled with cutaneous diseases, which produce an +itching sensation; hence their desire to wallow and roll in the mire and +dirt. The lying down in wet, damp places relieves the irritation of the +external surface, and cools their bodies. This mud and filth, however, +in which they are often compelled to wallow, is by no means good or +wholesome for them. + + + + +NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HOG. + + +"The hog," says Professor Low, "is subject to remarkable changes of form +and characters, according to the situations in which he is placed. When +these characters assume a certain degree of permanence, a breed or +variety is formed; and there is none of the domestic animals which more +easily receives the characters we desire to impress upon it. This +arises from its rapid powers of increase, and the constancy with which +the characters of the parents are reproduced in the progeny. _There is +no kind of live stock that can be so easily improved by the breeder, and +so quickly rendered suitable for the purposes required._ + +"The body is large in proportion to the limbs, or, in other words, the +limbs are short in proportion to the body; the extremities are free from +coarseness; the chest is broad, and the trunk round. Possessing these +characters, the hog never fails to arrive at early maturity, and with a +smaller consumption of food than when he possesses a different +conformation. + +"The wild boar, which was undoubtedly the progenitor of all the European +varieties, and of the Chinese breed, was formerly a native of the +British Islands, and very common in the forests until the time of the +civil wars in that country." + +We are told, that the wild hog "is now spread over the temperate and +warmer parts of the old continent and its adjacent islands. His color +varies with age and climate, but is generally a dusky brown, with black +spots and streaks. His skin is covered with coarse hairs and bristles, +intersected with soft wool, and with coarser and longer bristles upon +the neck and spine, which he erects when in anger. He is a very bold and +powerful creature, and becomes more fierce and indocile with age. From +the form of his teeth, he is chiefly herbivorous in his habits, and +delights in roots, which his acute sense of smell and touch enables him +to discover beneath the surface. He also feeds on animal substances, +such as worms and larvæ, which he grubs up from the earth, the eggs of +birds, small reptiles, the young of animals, and occasionally carrion; +he even attacks venomous snakes with impunity. In the natural state, the +female produces a litter but once a year;[21] and in much smaller +numbers than when domesticated. She usually carries her young about four +months. + +"In the wild state, the hog has been known to live more than thirty +years; but when domesticated, he is usually slaughtered before he is two +years old. When the wild hog is tamed, it undergoes the following +amongst other changes in its conformation: the ears become less movable, +not being required to collect distant sounds; the formidable tusks of +the male diminish, not being necessary for self-defence; the muscles of +the neck become less developed, from not being so much exercised as in +the natural state; the head becomes more inclined, the back and loins +are lengthened, the body rendered more capacious, the limbs shorter and +less muscular; and anatomy proves that the stomach and intestinal canals +have also become proportionately extended along with the form of the +body. The habits and instincts of the animal change; it becomes diurnal +in its habits, not choosing the night for its search of food; is more +insatiate in its appetite, and the tendency to obesity increases. + +"The male, forsaking its solitary habits, becomes gregarious, and the +female produces her young more frequently, and in larger numbers. With +its diminished strength, and its want of active motion, the animal loses +its desire for liberty. + +"The true hog does not appear to be indigenous to America, but was taken +over by the early voyagers from the old world, and it is now spread and +multiplied throughout the continent. + +"The first settlers of North America and the United States carried with +them the swine of the parent country, and a few of the breeds still +retain traces of the old English character. From its nature and habits, +the hog was the most profitable and useful of all the animals bred by +the early settlers in the distant clearings. It was his surest resource +during the first years of toil and hardship." + +Their widely-extended foreign commerce afforded the Americans +opportunity of procuring the varieties from China, Africa, and other +countries. The large consumption of pork in the United States, and the +facilities for disposing of it abroad, will probably cause more +attention to be paid to the principles of breeding, rearing, feeding, +&c. The American farmers are doing good service in this department, and +any attempt on their part to improve the quality of pork ought to meet +with a corresponding encouragement from the community. We have no doubt +that many stock-raisers find their profits increase in proportion to the +care bestowed in rearing. Here is an example: A Mr. Hallock, of the town +of Coxsackie, has a sow which raised forty pigs within a year, which +sold for $275,--none of them being kept over nine months. Mr. Little, of +Poland, Ohio, states, in the Cultivator, that he has "a barrow three +years old, a full-blood Berkshire, which will now weigh nearly 1000 +pounds, live weight. He was weighed on the 3d of October, and then +brought down 880; since which he has improved rapidly, and will +doubtless reach the above figures. I have had this breed for seven years +_pure_,--descended from hogs brought from Albany and Buffalo, and a boar +imported by Mr. Fahnestock, of Pittsburg, Pa., from England, (the latter +a very large animal.) The stock have all been large and very +profitable--weighing, at seven to ten months old, from 250 to 300 +pounds. Several individuals have weighed over 400, and the sire of this +present one reached 750. This is, however, much the largest I have yet +raised." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[21] In the domesticated state, the sow is often permitted to have two +and even three litters in a year. This custom is very pernicious; it +debilitates the mother, overworks all parts of the living machinery, and +being in direct opposition to the laws of their being, their progeny +must degenerate. Then, again, let the reader take into consideration the +fact that members of the same litter impregnate each other, in the same +ratio, and he cannot but come to a conclusion that we have long since +arrived at--that these practices are among the chief causes of +deterioration. + + + + +GENERALITIES. + + +Dr. Gunther observes, that "the robust constitution of the pig causes it +to be less liable to fall sick than oxen and sheep. It would be still +less liable to disease, if persons manifested more judgment in the +choice of the animals to be reared, and if more care were shown in the +matter. With reference to the latter point, it is very true that the +voracity of the pig urges it to eat every thing it meets; but to keep it +in a state of health, it is, notwithstanding, necessary to restrict its +regimen to certain rules. The animal which it is proposed to fatten +should remain under the roof, and receive good food there, whilst the +others may be sent out for the greater part of the year, care being +taken to avoid fields that are damp and marshy, and that the pigs be +preserved from the dew. It is also of importance that they should not be +driven too hard during warm days. + +"There are two other points which deserve to be taken into +consideration, if we wish swine to thrive: these are, daily exercise in +the open air whenever the weather permits, and cleanliness in the sty. +Constant confinement throws them into what may be called a morbid state, +which renders their flesh less wholesome for man. The manner in which +the animal evinces its joy when set at liberty proves sufficiently how +disagreeable confinement is to it. A very general prejudice prevails, +viz., that dung and filth do not injure swine; this opinion, however, is +absurd." + + + + +GENERAL DEBILITY, OR EMACIATION. + + +The falling off in flesh, or wasting away, of swine is in most cases +owing to derangement in the digestive organs. The cure consists in +restoring the tone of these organs. We commence the treatment by putting +the animal on a boiled diet, consisting of bran, meal, or any wholesome +vegetable production. The following tonic and diffusible stimulant will +complete the cure:-- + + Powdered golden seal, } + " ginger, } equal parts. + +Dose, a tea-spoonful, repeated night and morning. + +When loss in condition is accompanied with cough and difficulty of +breathing, mix, in addition to the above, a few kernels of garlic with +the food. The drink should consist of pure water. Should the cough prove +troublesome, take a tea-spoonful of fir balsam, and the same quantity of +honey; to be given night and morning, either in the usual manner, or it +may be stirred into the food while hot. + + + + +EPILEPSY, OR FITS. + + +The symptoms are too well known to need any description. It is generally +caused by plethora, yet it may exist in an hereditary form. + + +_Treatment._--Feed with due care, and put the animal in a +well-ventilated and clean situation; give a bountiful supply of valerian +tea, and sprinkle a small quantity of scraped horseradish in the food; +or give + + Powdered assafoetida, 1 ounce. + " capsicum, 1 tea-spoonful. + Table salt, 1 table-spoonful. + +Mix. Give half a tea-spoonful daily. + + + + +RHEUMATISM. + + +_Causes._--Exposure, wallowing in filth, &c. + + +_Symptoms._--It is recognized by a muscular rigidity of the whole +system. The appetite is impaired, and the animal does not leave its sty +willingly. + + +_Treatment._--Keep the animal on a boiled diet, which should be given to +him warm. Remove the cause by avoiding exposure and filth, and give a +dose of the following: + + Powdered sulphur, } + " sassafras, } equal parts. + " cinnamon, } + +Dose, half a tea-spoonful, to be given in warm gruel. If this does not +give immediate relief, dip an old cloth in hot water, (of a proper +temperature,) and fold it round the animal's body. This may be repeated, +if necessary, until the muscular system is relaxed. The animal should be +wiped dry, and placed in a warm situation, with a good bed of straw. + + + + +MEASLES. + + +This disease is very common, yet is often overlooked. + + +_Symptoms._--It may be known by eruptions on the belly, ears, tongue, or +eyelids. Before the eruption appears, the animal is drowsy, the eyes are +dull, and there is sometimes loss of appetite, with vomiting. On the +other hand, if the disease shall have receded towards the internal +organs, its presence can only be determined by the general disturbance +of the digestive organs, and the appearance of a few eruptions beneath +the tongue. + + +_Treatment._--Remove the animal from its companions to a warm place, and +keep it on thin gruel. Give a tea-spoonful of sulphur daily, together +with a drink of bittersweet tea. The object is to invite action to the +surface, and maintain it there. If the eruption does not reappear on the +surface, rub it with the following liniment:-- + +Take one ounce of oil of cedar; dissolve in a wine-glass of alcohol; +then add half a pint of new rum and a tea-spoonful of sulphur. + +Almost all the diseases of the skin may be treated in the same manner. + + + + +OPHTHALMIA. + + +_Causes._--Sudden changes in temperature, unclean sties, want of pure +air, and imperfect light. + + +_Treatment._--Keep the animal on thin gruel, and allow two tea-spoonfuls +of cream of tartar per day. Wash the eyes with an infusion of +marshmallows, until a cure is effected. + + + + +VERMIN. + + +Some animals are covered with vermin, which even pierce the skin, and +sometimes come out by the mouth, nose, and eyes. + + +_Symptoms._--The animal is continually rubbing and scratching itself, or +burrowing in the dirt and mire. + + +_Treatment._--First wash the body with a strong lie of wood ashes or +weak saleratus water, then with an infusion of lobelia. Mix a +tea-spoonful of sulphur, and the same quantity of powdered charcoal, in +the food daily. + + + + +RED ERUPTION. + + +This disease is somewhat analogous to scarlet fever. It makes its +appearance in the form of red pustules on the back and belly, which +gradually extend to the whole body. The external remedy is:-- + + Powdered bloodroot, half an ounce. + Boiling vinegar, 1 pint. + +When cool, it should be rubbed on the external surface. + +The diet should consist of boiled vegetables, coarse meal, &c., with a +small dose of sulphur every night. + + + + +DROPSY. + + +_Symptoms._--The animal is sad and depressed, the appetite fails, +respiration is performed with difficulty, and the belly swells. + +_Treatment._--Keep the animal on a light, nutritive diet, and give a +handful of juniper berries, or cedar buds, daily. If these fail, give a +table-spoonful of fir balsam daily. + + + + +CATARRH. + + +_Symptoms._--Occasional fits of coughing, accompanied with a mucous +discharge from the nose and mouth. + + +_Causes._--Exposure to cold and damp weather. + + +_Treatment._--Give a liberal allowance of gruel made with powdered elm +or marshmallows, and give a tea-spoonful of balsam copaiba, or fir +balsam, every night. The animal must be kept comfortably warm. + + + + +COLIC. + + +Spasmodic and flatulent colic requires antispasmodics and carminatives, +in the following form:-- + +Powdered caraway seeds, 1 tea-spoonful. + " assafoetida, one third of a tea-spoonful. + +To be given at a dose in warm water, and repeated at the expiration of +an hour, provided relief is not obtained. + + + + +DIARRHOEA. + + +For the treatment of this malady, see division SHEEP, article +_Scours_. + + + + +FRENZY. + + +This makes its appearance suddenly. The animal, having remained in a +passive and stupid state, suddenly appears much disturbed, to such a +degree that it makes irregular movements, strikes its head against every +thing it meets, scrapes with its feet, places itself quite erect +alongside of the sty, bites any thing in its way, and frequently whirls +itself round, after which it suddenly becomes more tranquil. + + +_Treatment._--Give half an ounce of Rochelle salts, in a pint of +thoroughwort tea. If the bowels are not moved in the course of twelve +hours, repeat the dose. A light diet for a few days will generally +complete the cure. + + + + +JAUNDICE. + + +This disease is recognised by the yellow tint of the _conjunctiva_, +(white of the eye,) loss of appetite, &c. + +The remedy is,-- + + Powdered golden seal, half an ounce. + " sulphur, one fourth of an ounce. + " blue flag, half an ounce. + Flaxseed, 1 pound. + +Mix, and divide into four parts, and give one every night. The food must +be boiled, and a small quantity of salt added to it. + + + + +SORENESS OF THE FEET. + + +This often occurs to pigs that have travelled any distance: the feet +often become tender and sore. In such cases, they should be examined, +and all extraneous matter removed from the foot. Then wash with weak +lie. If the feet discharge fetid matter, wash with the following +mixture:-- + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Water, 4 ounces. + +In the treatment of diseased swine, the "issues," as they are called, +ought to be examined, and be kept free. They may be found on the inside +of the legs, just above the pastern joint. They seem to serve as a +drain or outlet for the morbid fluids of the body, and whenever they are +obstructed, local or general disturbance is sure to supervene. + + + + +SPAYING. + + +This is the operation of removing the ovaries of sows, in order to +prevent any future conception, and promote their fattening. (See article +_Spaying Cows_, p. 201.) It is usually performed by making incision in +the middle of the flank, on the left side, in order to extirpate or cut +off the ovaries, (female _testes_,) and then stitching up the wound, and +wetting the part with Turlington's balsam. An able writer on this +subject says, "The chief reason why a practice, which is beneficial in +so many points of view to the interests and advantages of the farmer, +has been so little attended to, is the difficulty which is constantly +experienced from the want of a sufficient number of expert and proper +persons to perform the operation. Such persons are far from being common +in any, much less in every district, as some knowledge, of a nature +which is not readily acquired, and much experience in the practice of +cutting, are indispensably necessary to the success of the undertaking. +When, however, the utility and benefits of the practice become better +understood and more fully appreciated by the farmer, and the operators +more numerous, greater attention and importance will be bestowed upon +it; as it is capable of relieving him from much trouble, of greatly +promoting his profits, and of benefiting him in various ways. The facts +are since well proved and ascertained, that animals which have undergone +this operation are more disposed to take on flesh, more quiet in their +habits, and capable of being managed with much greater ease and facility +in any way whatever, than they were before the operation was performed. +It may also have advantages in other ways in different sorts of +animals; it may render the filly nearly equal to the gelded colt for +several different uses; and the heifer nearly equal to the ox for all +sorts of farm labor. The females of some other sorts of animals may +likewise, by this means, be made to nearly equal the castrated males in +usefulness for a variety of purposes and intentions, and in all cases be +rendered a good deal more valuable, or manageable, than they are at +present." + + + + +VARIOUS BREEDS OF SWINE. + + +BERKSHIRE BREED. + +This breed is distinguished by being in general of a tawny, white, or +reddish color, spotted with black; large ears hanging over the eyes; +thick, close, and well made in the body; legs short; small in the bone; +having a disposition to fatten quickly. When well fed, the flesh is +fine. The above county has long been celebrated for its breed of swine. +The Berkshire breeders have made a very judicious use of the pug cross, +by not repeating it to the degree of taking away all shape and power of +growing flesh, in their stock. This breed is supposed by many to be the +most hardy, both in respect to their nature and the food on which they +are fed. Their powers of digestion are exceedingly energetic, and they +require constant good keep, or they will lose flesh very fast. They +thrive well in the United States, provided, however, due care is +exercised in breeding. + + +HAMPSHIRE BREED. + +This breed is distinguished by being longer in the body and neck, but +not of so compact a form as the Berkshire. They are mostly of a white +color, or spotted, and are easily fattened. The goodness of the +Hampshire hog is proverbial, and in England they are generally fattened +for hams. + + +SHROPSHIRE BREED. + +These are not so well formed as those of the Berkshire kind, or equal to +them in their disposition to fatten, or to be supported on such cheap +food. Their color is white or brinded. They are flat boned; deep and +flat sided; harsh, or rather wiry-haired; the ear large; head long, +sharp, and coarse; legs long; loin, although very substantial, yet not +sufficiently wide, considering the great extent of the whole frame. They +have been much improved by the Berkshire cross. + +There are various other breeds, which take their name from the different +counties in the mother country. Thus we have the Herefordshire, +Wiltshire, Yorkshire, &c. Yet they are not considered equal to those +already alluded to. Many of the different English breeds might, however, +serve to improve some species of breed in this country. + + +CHINESE BREED. + +This is of small size; the body being very close, compact, and well +formed; the legs very short; the flesh delicate and firm. The prevailing +color, in China, is white. They fatten very expeditiously on a small +quantity of food, and might be reared in the United States to good +advantage, especially for home consumption. + + + + +BOARS AND SOWS FOR BREEDING. + + +Mr. Lawson says, "The best stock may be expected from the boar at his +full growth, but no more than from three to five years old.[22] No sows +should be kept open for breeding unless they have large, capacious +bellies. + +"It may be remarked, in respect to the period of being with young, that +in the sow it is about four months; and the usual produce is about eight +to ten or twelve pigs in the large, but more in the smaller breeds. + +"In the ordinary management of swine, sows, after they have had a few +litters, may be killed; but no breeder should part with one while she +continues to bring good litters, and rear them with safety." + +Pregnant sows should always be lodged separately, especially at the time +of bringing forth their young, else the pigs would most probably be +devoured as they fall. The sow should also be attended with due care +while pigging, in order to preserve the pigs. It is found that dry, +warm, comfortable lodging is of almost as much importance as food. The +pigs may be weaned in about eight weeks, after which the sow requires +less food than she does while nursing. In the management of these +animals, it is of great utility and advantage to separate the males from +the females, as it lessens their sexual desires. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[22] Sows are generally bred from too early--before they come to +maturity. This not only stints their own growth, but their offspring +give evidence of deterioration. A sow should never be put to the boar +until she be a year old. + + + + +REARING PIGS. + + +"As the breeding of pigs is a business that affords the farmer a +considerable profit and advantage in various views, it is of essential +importance that he be provided with suitable kinds of food in abundance +for their support. Upon this being properly and effectually done, his +success and advantage will in a great measure depend. The crops capable +of being cultivated with the most benefit in this intention are, beans, +peas, barley, buckwheat, Indian corn, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, +Swedish turnips, cabbages, &c. + +"The sows considerably advanced in pig, and those with pigs, should be +fed in a better manner than the stone pigs. The former should be +supplied with boiled meal, potatoes, carrots, &c., so as to keep them in +good condition. The sows with pigs should be kept with the litters in +separate sties, and be still better fed than those with pig. When +dairying is practised, the wash of that kind which has been preserved +for that purpose while the dairying was profitable, must be given them, +with food of the root kind, such as carrots, parsnips, &c., in as large +proportions as they will need to keep them in condition." + +Pea-soup is an admirable article when given in this intention; it is +prepared by boiling six pecks of peas in about sixty gallons of water, +till they are well broken down and diffused in the fluid: it is then put +into a tub or cistern for use. When dry food is given in combination +with this, or of itself, the above writer advises oats, as being much +better than any other sort of grain for young pigs, barley not answering +nearly so well in this application. Oats coarsely ground have been found +very useful for young hogs, both in the form of wash with water, and +when made of a somewhat thicker consistence. But in cases where the sows +and pigs can be supported with dairy-wash and roots, as above, there +will be a considerable saving made, by avoiding the use of the expensive +articles of barley-meal, peas, or bran. + +Mr. Donaldson remarks, that in the usual mode, the pigs reared by the +farmer are fed, for some weeks after they are weaned, on whey or +buttermilk, or on bran or barley-meal mixed with water. They are +afterwards maintained on other food, as potatoes, carrots, the refuse of +the garden, kitchen, scullery, &c., together with such additions as they +can pick up in the farmyard. Sometimes they are sent into the fields at +the close of harvest, where they make a comfortable living for several +weeks on the gleanings of the crop; at other times, when the farm is +situated in the neighborhood of woods or forests, they are sent thither +to pick up the beech-nuts and acorns in the fall of the year; and when +they have arrived at a proper age for fattening, they are either put +into sties fitted up for the purpose, or sold to distillers, +starch-makers, dairymen, or cottagers. + +Nothing tends more effectually to preserve the health and promote the +growth of young pigs than the liberal use of hay tea. The tea should be +thickened with corn meal and shorts. This, given lukewarm, twice a day, +will quicken their growth, and give the meat a rich flavor. A few +parsnips[23] or carrots (boiled) may be made use of with much success. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[23] The Sussex (Eng.) Express says, "At our farm we have been in the +habit of employing parsnips for this purpose for some time. Upon +reference to our books, we find that on the 11th of October, 1847, we +put up two shotes of eleven weeks old, and fed them on skim milk and +parsnips for three months, when they were killed, weighing 231 and 238 +pounds. They were well fattened, firm in flesh, and the meat of +excellent flavor. The quantity of parsnips consumed by them was nine +bushels each." + + + + +FATTENING HOGS. + + +F. Dodge, of Danvers, Mass., states that, in the spring of 1848, he +"bought, from a drove, seven shotes, the total weight of which was 925 +pounds. The price paid for them was seven cents per pound. They were fed +an average of 184 days, and their average gain was 179 pounds of net +pork. The cost of the food they consumed was as follows:-- + + 68 bushels corn at 53 cents, $36 04 + 30 " " damaged, at 35 cents, 10 50 + 50 " " at 65 cents, 32 50 + 8 " meal at 65 cents, 5 20 + ------- + $84 24 + Add first cost of pigs, 64 75 + ------- + Making a total cost of $148 99 + +"The whole quantity of pork afforded by the pigs killed was 2178 pounds, +which was sold at 6-1/3 cents per pound, amounting to $141 57; leaving +a balance against the pigs of $7 42. The inference from this statement +is, that, at the above prices of grain, pork could not be profitably +produced at six and a half cents per pound. But it is suggested that +something might be saved by breeding the stock, instead of purchasing +shotes at seven cents per pound, live weight. It is thought, however, +that the manure afforded by the hogs would be of sufficient value to +more than overbalance any deficiency which might appear in the account +by only crediting the pork." + +The food in the above case was too costly. One half of it, mixed with +parsnips, carrots, beets, or turnips, would have answered the purpose +better. The balance would then have been in favor of the pigs. We are +told, by an able writer on swine, that they will feed greedily, and +thrive surprisingly, on most kinds of roots and tubers, such as carrots, +beets, parsnips, potatoes, &c., particularly when prepared by boiling. +It may be taken as a general rule, that boiled or prepared food is more +nutritious and fattening than raw cold food; the additional expense and +labor will be more than compensated by the increased weight and quality. + +Cornstalks might be used as food for swine by first cutting them[24] in +small pieces, and then boiling them until they are quite soft; a small +quantity of meal is then to be mixed in the fluid, and the stalks again +added, and fed to the pigs twice a day. + +Mr. P. Wing, of Farmersville, C. W., gives us his experience in feeding +swine; and he requests his brother farmers to make similar experiments +with various kinds of food, and, by preparing them in various ways, to +ascertain what way it will yield the most nutriment--that is, make the +most pork. He says,-- + +"I now give the result of feeding 100 bushels of good peas to sixteen +hogs, of various mixed breeds, as found in this section. The peas were +boiled until fine, making what I call thick soup. After having fed the +hogs on the same kind of food for two weeks, I gave them their morning +feed, and weighed each one separately, noting the weight. Twelve of them +were about eighteen months old; one was a three year old sow, and three +pigs were seven and half months old when weighed. I found their total +weight 4267 lbs.; and after consuming the above amount, which took +forty-two days, I weighed them again, and found that they had gained +1358 lbs.; and on the supposition that as they gained in flesh they +shrunk in offal, I estimated their net gain to have been 1400 lbs. Their +drink consisted of ten pails of whey per day. It was allowed to stand +forty-eight hours, and the cream was skimmed off. + +"I find that there is a great difference in breeds of hogs. The three +year old sow small framed, and pretty full-fleshed, weighing 504 lbs. +Her gain in the forty-two days was 66 lbs. The three pigs were from her, +and showed traces of three distinct breeds of hogs. Their first weight +and gain were as follows: the first weighed 253 lbs.--gain, 97 lbs.; the +second, 218 lbs.--gain, 75 lbs.; the third, 171 lbs.--gain, 46 lbs. When +butchered, the smallest one was the best pork, being the fattest. Two of +the most inferior of the hogs gained 1-1/2 lbs. per day; six, mixture of +the Berkshire, (I should think about one fourth,) gained 1-3/4 lbs. per +day; three of the common stock of our country gained 2-1/2 lbs.; and one +of a superior kind weighted 318 lbs., and in the forty-two days gained +134 lbs. They were weighed on the 20th September, the first time. They +were kept confined in a close pen, except once a week I let them out for +exercise, and to wallow, for the most pint of a day." + + + + +METHOD OF CURING SWINE'S FLESH. + + +"In the county of Kent, when pork is to be cured as bacon, it is the +practice to singe off the hairs by making a straw fire round the +carcass--an operation which is termed _swaling_. The skin, in this +process, should be kept perfectly free from dirt of all sorts. When the +flitches are cut out, they should be rubbed effectually with a mixture +of common salt and saltpetre, and afterwards laid in a trough, where +they are to continue three weeks or a month, according to their size, +keeping them frequently turned; and then, being taken out of the trough, +are to be dried by a slack fire, which will take up an equal portion of +time with the former; after which, they are to be hung up, or thrown +upon a rack, there to remain until wanted. But in curing bacon on the +continent, it is mostly the custom to have closets contrived in the +chimneys, for the purpose of drying and smoking by wood fires, which is +said to be more proper for the purpose. And a more usual mode of curing +this sort of meat is that of salting it down for pickled pork, which is +far more profitable than bacon. + +"In the county of Westmoreland, where the curing of hams has long been +practised with much success, the usual method is for them to be at first +rubbed very hard with bay salt; by some they are covered close up; by +others they are left on a stone bench, to allow the brine and blood to +run off. At the end of five days, they are again rubbed, as hard as they +were at first, with salt of the same sort, mixed with an ounce of +saltpetre to a ham. Having lain about a week, either on a stone bench or +in hogsheads amongst the brine, they are hung up, by some in the +chimney, amidst the smoke, whether of peat or coals; by others in places +where the smoke never reaches them. If not sold sooner, they are +suffered to remain there till the weather becomes warm. They are then +packed in hogsheads with straw or oatmeal husks, and sent to the place +of sale." + +A small portion of pyroligneous acid may be added to the brine. It is a +good antiseptic, and improves the flavor of ham and bacon. (See _Acid, +Pyroligneous_, in the _Materia Medica_.) + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +ON THE ACTION OF MEDICINES. + +In reference to the action of medicines and external agents on the +animal body, we would observe, that warmth and moisture always expand +it, and bayberry bark, tannin, and gum catechu always contract it; and +that these agents have these effects at all times (provided, however, +there be sufficient vitality in the part to manifest these peculiar +changes) and under all circumstances. If a blister be applied to the +external surface of an animal, and it produces irritation, it always has +a tendency to produce that effect, whatever part of the living organism +it may be applied to. So alcohol always has a tendency to stimulate; +whether given by the mouth, or rubbed on the external surface, it will +produce an excitement of nerves, heart, and arteries, and of course the +muscles partake of the influence. Again, marshmallows, gum acacia, +slippery elm, &c., always lubricate the mucous surfaces, quiet +irritation, and relieve inflammatory symptoms. + +It follows, of course, 1st. That when any other effects than those just +named are seen to follow the administration of these articles, they must +be attributed to the morbid state of the parts to which they are +applied; 2d. That a medicine which is good to promote a given effect in +one form of disease, will be equally good for the same purpose in +another form of disease in the same tissue. Thus, if an infusion of +mallows is good for inflammation of the stomach, and will lubricate the +surface, and allay irritation in that organ, then it is equally good for +the same purpose in inflammation of the bowels and bladder. What we wish +the reader to understand is this: that a medicine used for any +particular symptom in one form of disease, if it be a sanative agent, is +equally good for the same symptom in every form. Medical men range their +various remedies under different heads. Thus opium is called narcotic, +aloes purgative or cathartic, potass diuretic, &c. And because the same +results do not always follow the administration of these articles, they +are perplexed, and are compelled to try every new remedy, in hopes to +find a specific; not knowing that many of their _"best medicines"_ +(opium, for example) war against the vital principle, and as soon as +they get into the system, nature sets up a strong action to counteract +their effects; in short, to get them out of the system in the quickest +possible manner: sometimes they pass through the kidneys; at other +times, the intestinal canal, the lungs, or surface, afford them egress. +And because a certain agent does not always act in their hands with +unerring certainty, they seem to suppose that the same uncertainty +attends the administration of every article in the _materia medica_. The +medicines we recommend owe their diuretic, astringent, diaphoretic, and +cathartic powers to their aromatic, relaxing, antispasmodic, +lubricating, and irritating properties; and if we give them with a view +of producing a certain result, and they do not act just as we wish, it +is no proof that they have not done good. The fact is, all our medicines +act on the parts where nature is making the greatest efforts to restore +equilibrium; hence they relieve the constitution, whatever may be the +nature of their results. + +Many of the remedies recommended in this work are denounced by the +United States Dispensatory a "useless, inert," &c.; yet many of our most +celebrated physicians are in the daily habit of using them. Mr. Bracy +Clark, V. S., recommends tincture of allspice for gripes. And Mr. +Causer, an experienced veterinarian, says, "I ordered a dessert spoonful +(about two drachms) of tincture of gentian and bark to be given twice a +day in a case of gripes. Scarcely an hour after the animal had taken the +first dose, he began to eat some hay, and on the next day he ate every +thing that was offered him. After this, I ordered a quart of cold boiled +milk to be given him every morning and evening. By these means, together +with the good care of the coachman, he recovered his strength." Mr. +White, V. S., says, "I have been assured by a veterinary surgeon, that +he once cured a horse of gripes by a dose of hot water; and it is by no +means unlikely that a warm infusion of some of our medicinal herbs, such +as peppermint, pennyroyal, rosemary, &c., would be found effectual." + +Mr. Gibson says, "It is a fact that cannot be too generally known, that +an infusion of garlic has, to my certain knowledge, cured several cases +of epilepsy--a dreadful disease, that seems to have baffled, in most +instances, every effort of medical skill." + +An intelligent farmer assures Dr. White that he has had forty sheep at a +time hoven or blasted from feeding on vetches, and so swollen that he +hardly knew which would drop first. His usual remedy was a quart of +water for each sheep; and that generally had the desired effect, though +many died before it could be given. We might give our own experience in +favor of numberless simple agents, which we are in the constant habit of +using, were it necessary; suffice it to say, that at the present time we +use nothing else than simple means. + + + + +CLYSTERS. + + +_Remarks._--As the more general use of clysters is recommended by the +author, especially in acute diseases, he has thought proper to +introduce, in this part of the work, a few remarks on them, with +examples of their different forms. They serve not only to evacuate the +rectum of its contents, but assist to evacuate the intestines, and +serve also to convey nourishment into the system; as in cases of +locked-jaw, and great prostration. They soften the hardened excrement in +the rectum, and cause it to be expelled; besides, by their warm and +relaxing powers, they act as fomentations. A stimulating clyster in +congestion of the brain, or lungs, will relieve those parts by +counter-irritation. An animal that is unable to swallow may be supported +by nourishing clysters; for the lacteals, which open into the inner +cavity of the intestines, absorb, or take up, the nourishment, and +convey it into the thoracic duct, as already described. Some persons +deny the utility of injections. We are satisfied on that point, and are +able to convince any one, beyond a reasonable doubt, that fluids are +absorbed in the rectum, notwithstanding the opinion of some men to the +contrary. + +In administering clysters, it ought always to be observed that the +fluids should be neither too hot nor too cold: they should be about the +temperature of the blood. The common sixteen-ounce metal syringe, with a +wooden pipe about six inches in length, and gradually tapering from base +to point, is to be preferred. It is, after being oiled, much more easily +introduced into the fundament than one that is considerably smaller; +and, having a blunt point, there is no danger of hurting the animal, or +wounding the rectum. + +The following injections are suitable for all kinds of animals. The +quantity, however, should be regulated according to the size of the +patient. Thus a quart will suffice for a sheep or pig, while three or +four quarts are generally necessary in the case of horses and cattle. If +clysters are intended to have a nutritive effect, they must be +introduced in the most gentle manner, and not more than one pint should +be given at any one time, for fear of exciting the expulsive action of +the rectum. In constriction and intussusception of the intestines, and +when relaxing clysters are indicated, they should not be too long +persevered in, for falling of the rectum has been known, in many +instances, to arise from repeated injections. Efforts should be made to +relax the whole animal by warmth and moisture externally, and in the +use of antispasmodic teas, rather than to place too much dependence on +clysters. + + +FORMS OF CLYSTERS. + +_Laxative Clyster._ + + Warm water, 3 or 4 quarts. + Linseed oil, 8 ounces. + Common salt, (fine,) 1 table-spoonful. + +_Another._ + + Warm water, 4 quarts. + Soft soap, 1 gill. + Fine salt, half a table-spoonful. + +_Use._--Either of the above clysters is useful in obstinate +constipation, "stoppage," or whenever the excrement is hard and dark +colored. + +_Emollient Clyster_. + + Slippery elm bark, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Let them simmer over the fire for a few minutes, then strain through a +fine sieve, and inject. The following articles may be substituted for +elm: flaxseed, lily roots, gum arabic, poplar bark, Iceland moss. + +_Use._--In all cases of irritation and inflammation of the intestines +and bladder. + +_Stimulating Clyster._ + + Thin mucilage of slippery elm or linseed tea, 3 quarts. + African cayenne,[25] 1 tea-spoonful. + +_Another._ + + Powdered ginger, half a table-spoonful. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +When cool, inject. + +_Use._--In all cases, when the rectum and small intestines are inactive, +and loaded with excrement, or gas. + +_Anodyne Clyster._ + + Lady's slipper, (_cypripedium_,) 1 ounce. + Camomile flowers, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +Let the mixture stand a short time, then strain through a fine sieve, +when it will be fit for use. + +_Use._--To relieve pain and relax spasms. + +_Diuretic Clyster._ + + Linseed tea, 3 quarts. + Oil of juniper, 1 table-spoonful. + +Or, substitute for the latter, cream of tartar, half an ounce. + +_Use._--This form of clyster may be used with decided advantage in all +acute diseases of the urinary organs. This injection is useful in cases +of red water, both in cattle and sheep; and when the malady is supposed +to result from general or local debility, the addition of tonics (golden +seal or gentian[26]) will be indicated. + +_Astringent Clyster_. + +Take an infusion of hardhack, strain, and add a table-spoonful of +finely-pulverized charcoal to every three quarts of fluid. + +_Another._ + +An infusion of witch hazel. + +_Another._ + + Powdered bayberry bark, 1 table-spoonful. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +When cool, it is fit for use. + +_Use._--Astringent injections are used in all cases where it is desired +to contract the living fibre, as in scouring, dysentery, scouring rot, +diarrhoea, bloody flux, falling of the womb, fundament, &c. + +_Nourishing Clyster._ + +Nourishing clysters are composed of thin gruel made from flour, &c. + +_Injection for Worms._ + +Make an infusion of pomegranate, (rind of the fruit,) and inject every +night for a few days. This will rid the animal of worms that infest the +rectum; but if the animal is infested with the long, round worm, +(_teres_,) then half a pint of the above infusion must be given for a +few mornings, before feeding. + +_Another for Worms._ + + Powdered lobelia, 1 ounce. + Wood ashes, a handful. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +When cool, it is fit for use. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[24] Messrs. Parker & White, in Boston, have shown us an excellent +machine used for the purpose of cutting cornstalks. Every farmer should +have one in his possession. + +[25] A large portion of the cayenne found in the stores is adulterated +with logwood, and is positively injurious, as it would thus prove +astringent. + +[26] Their active properties may be extracted by infusion. + + + + +INFUSIONS. + + +These are made by steeping herbs, roots, and other medicinal substances +in boiling water. No particular rules can be laid down as to the +quantity of each article required: it will, however, serve as some sort +of a guide, to inform the reader that we generally use from one to two +ounces of the aromatic herbs and roots to every quart of fluid. A bitter +infusion, such as wormwood or camomile, requires less of the herb. All +kinds of infusions can be rendered palatable by the addition of a small +quantity of honey or molasses. As a general rule, the human palate is a +good criterion; for if an infusion be too strong or unpalatable for man, +it is unfit for cattle or sheep. We do not depend so much on the +strength of our agents: the great secret is to select the one best +adapted to the case in view. If it be an agent that is capable of acting +in concert with nature, then the weaker it is, the better. In short, +nature requires but slight assistance under all ordinary circumstances, +unless the animal is evidently suffering from debility; then our efforts +must act in concert with the living powers. We must select the most +nutritious food--that which can be easily converted into blood, bones, +and muscles. If, on the other hand, we gave an abundance of provender, +and it lacked the constituents necessary for the purposes in view, or +was of such an indigestible nature that its nutritive properties could +not be extracted by the gastric fluids, this would be just as bad as +giving improper medicines, both in reference to its quantity and +quality. + +An infusion of either of the following articles is valuable in colic, +both flatulent and spasmodic, in all classes of animals: caraways, +peppermint, spearmint, fennel-seed, angelica, bergamot, snakeroot, +aniseed, ginseng, &c. + + + + +ANTISPASMODICS. + + +By antispasmodics are meant those articles that assist, through their +physiological action, in relaxing the nervous and muscular systems. +Hence the reader will perceive, by the definition we have given of this +class of remedies, that we cannot recommend or employ the agents used by +our brethren of the allopathic school, for many of them act +pathologically. The class we use are simple, yet none the less +efficient. + +Professor Curtis says, when alluding to the action of medicinal agents, +"Experiments have shown that many vegetable substances, which seem in +themselves quite bland and harmless, are antidotes to various poisons. +Thus the skullcap (_scutellaria laterifolia_) is said to be a remedy for +hydrophobia, the _alisma plantago_ and _polemonium reptans_ for the +bites of serpents, and lobelia for the sting of insects. They are good; +but why? Because they are permanently relaxing and stimulating, and +depurate the whole system." + +Natural antispasmodics are warmth and moisture. The medicinal ones are +lobelia, Indian hemp, castor musk, ginseng, assafoetida, pleurisy +root, Virginia snakeroot, camomile, wormwood. The above are only +specimens. There is no limit to the number and variety of articles in +the vegetable kingdom that will act as antispasmodics or relaxants. They +may be given internally or applied externally: the effect is the same. + + + + +FOMENTATIONS. + + +This class of remedies is usually composed of relaxants, &c., of several +kinds, combined with tonics, stimulants, and anodynes. They are very +useful to relieve pain, to remove rigidity, to restore tone, and to +stimulate the parts to which they are applied. + +_Common Fomentation._ + + Wormwood, } + Tansy, } equal parts. + Hops, } + +Moisten them with equal parts of boiling water and vinegar, and apply +them blood warm. + +_Use._--For all kinds of bruises and sprains. They should be confined to +the injured parts, and kept moist with the superabundant fluid. When it +is not practicable to confine a fomentation to the injured parts, as in +shoulder or hip lameness, constant bathing with the decoction will +answer the same purpose. + +_Anodyne Fomentation._ + + Hops, a handful. + White poppy heads, 1 ounce. + Water and vinegar, equal parts. + +Simmer a few minutes. + +_Use._--In all painful bruises. + +_Relaxing Fomentation_ + + + Powdered lobelia, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Simmer for a few minutes, and when sufficiently cool, bathe the parts +with a soft sponge. + +_Use._--In all cases of stiff joints, and rigidity of the muscles. +Animals often lie down in wet pastures, from which rheumatism and +stiffness of the joints arise. In such cases, the animal must be taken +from grass for a few days, and the affected parts be faithfully bathed. + +_Stimulating Fomentation._ + +Cedar buds, or boughs, any quantity, to which add a small quantity of +red pepper and ginger, boiling water sufficient. + +_Use._--This will be found very efficacious in chronic lameness and +paralysis, for putrid sore throat, and when the glands are enlarged from +cold and catarrh. + + + + +MUCILAGES. + + +Mucilages are soft, bland substances, made by dissolving gum arabic in +hot water; or by boiling marshmallows, slippery elm, or lily roots, +until their mucilaginous properties are extracted. A table-spoonful of +either of the above articles, when powdered, will generally suffice for +a quart of water. + +_Use._--In all cases of catarrh, diarrhoea, inflammation of the +kidneys, womb, bladder, and intestines. They shield the mucous +membranes, and defend them from the action of poisons and drastic +cathartics. + + + + +WASHES. + + +Washes generally contain some medicinal agent, and are principally used +externally. + +_Wash for Diseases of the Feet._ + + Pyroligneous acid, 4 ounces. + Water, 8 ounces. + +_Use._--This wash excels every other in point of efficacy, and removes +rot and its kindred diseases sooner than any other. + +_Cooling Wash for the Eye._ + + Rain water, 1 pint. + Acetic acid, 20 drops. + +_Use._--In ophthalmia. + +_Tonic and Antispasmodic Wash._ + + Camomile flowers, half an ounce. + Boiling water, 1 pint. + +When cool, strain through fine linen. + +_Use._--In chronic diseases of the eye, and when a weeping remains after +an acute attack. + +_Wash for unhealthy (or ulcerated) Sores._ + +A weak solution of sal soda or wood ashes. + +_Wash for Diseases of the Skin._ + +Take one ounce of finely-pulverized charcoal, pour on it one ounce of +pyroligneous acid, then add a pint of water. Bottle, and keep it well +corked. It may be applied to the skin by means of a sponge. It is also +an excellent remedy for ill-conditioned ulcers. + + + + +PHYSIC FOR CATTLE. + + +Extract of butternut, (_juglans cinerea_,) half an ounce. +Cream of tartar, 1 tea-spoonful. +Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Mix. When cool, administer. + +_Another._ + + Extract of blackroot, (_leptandra + virginica_,) half an ounce. + Rochelle salts, 1 ounce. + Powdered ginger, 1/2 tea-spoonful. + +Dissolve in two quarts of warm water. + +_Another._ + + Powdered mandrake, 1 table-spoonful. + Cream of tartar, 1 tea-spoonful. + Hot water, 2 quarts. + +Here are three different forms of physic for cattle, which do not +debilitate the system, like aloes and salts, because they determine to +the surface as well as the bowels. They may be given in all cases where +purges are necessary. One third of the above forms will suffice for +sheep. + + +MILD PHYSIC FOR CATTLE. + + Sirup of buckthorn, 2 ounces. + Sulphur, half a table-spoonful. + Ginger, half a tea-spoonful. + Hot water, 2 quarts. + +_Aperient._ + + Linseed oil, 1 pint. + Yolks of two eggs. + +Mix. + +_Another._ + + Sweet oil, 1 pint. + Powdered cayenne, half a tea-spoonful. + +Mix. + +A sheep will require about one half of the above. + +_Stimulating Tincture._ + + Boiling vinegar, 1 pint. + Tincture of myrrh, 2 ounces. + Powdered capsicum, 2 tea-spoonfuls. + +_Use._--For external application in putrid sore throat. + +_Another._ + + Tincture of camphor, 4 ounces. + Oil of cedar, half an ounce. + Tincture of capsicum, (hot drops,) 4 ounces. + +To be rubbed around the throat night and morning. + +_Stimulating Tincture for Chronic Rheumatism._ + + Tincture of capsicum, 4 ounces. + Oil of cedar, 1 ounce. + Oil of wormwood, 1 ounce. + Vinegar, half a pint. + Goose grease, 1 gill. + +Mix. To be applied night and morning. The mixture should be kept in a +well-corked bottle, and shaken before being used. + + + + +POULTICES. + + +_Preliminary Remarks._--As oxen, sheep, and pigs are liable to have +accumulations of matter, in the form of abscess, resulting from injury +or from the natural termination of diseases, it becomes a matter of +importance that the farmer should rightly understand their character and +treatment. If a foreign substance enters the flesh, the formation of +matter is a part of the process by which nature rids the system of the +enemy. A poultice relaxing and lubricating will then be indicated. If, +however, the foreign body shall have entered at a point where it is +impossible to confine a poultice, then the suppurative stage may be +shortened by the application of relaxing fomentations, and lastly, by +stimulants. It is a law of the animal economy, that, unless there be +some obstacle, matter always seeks its exit by an external opening; and +it becomes part of our duty to aid nature in her efforts to accomplish +this salutary object. Nature requires aid in consequence of the +unyielding character of the hide, and the length of time it takes to +effect an opening through it. Animals are known to suffer immensely from +the pressure a large accumulation of pus makes on the surrounding +nerves, &c., and also from the reabsorption of this pus when it cannot +readily make its exit. This is not all; for, if pus accumulates, and +cannot in due time find an outlet, it produces destruction of the +blood-vessels, nerves, and surrounding tissues. These vessels are +distributed to the different surfaces; their supply of blood and nervous +energy being cut off, they decompose, and in their turn become pus, and +their open mouths allow the morbid matter to enter the circulation, and +thus poison the blood. Hence it becomes our duty, whenever matter can be +distinctly felt, to apply that sort of poultice which will be most +likely to aid nature. + +There is no article in the _materia medica_ of so much value to the +farmer as marshmallows; he cannot place too much value on it. Whether he +uses it in his own family or confines it exclusively to cattle practice, +it is equally valuable. It has numerous advantages over many similar +remedies: the most important one to the farmer is, that it can be +procured in this country at a small cost. We have used it for a number +of years, and in many cases we consider it our sheet-anchor. In short, +we cannot supply its place. + +Mr. Cobbett says, "I cannot help mentioning another herb, which is used +for medicinal purposes. I mean the marshmallows. It is amongst the most +valuable of plants that ever grew. Its leaves stewed, and applied wet, +will cure, and almost instantly cure, any cut, or bruise, or wound of +any sort. Poultices made of it will cure sprains; fomenting with it will +remove swellings; applications of the liquor will cure chafes made by +saddles and harness; and its operation, in all cases, is so quick that +it is hardly to be believed. Those who have this weed at hand need not +put themselves to the trouble and expense of sending to doctors and +farriers on trifling occasions. It signifies not whether the wound be +old or new. The mallows, if you have it growing near you, may be used +directly after it is gathered, merely washing off the dirt first. But +there should be some always ready in the house for use. It should be +gathered just before it blooms, and dried and preserved just in the same +manner as other herbs. It should be observed, however, that, if it +should happen not to be gathered at the best season, it may be gathered +at any time. I had two striking instances of the efficacy of mallows. A +neighboring farmer had cut his thumb in a very dangerous manner, and, +after a great deal of doctoring, it had got to such a pitch that his +hand was swelled to twice its natural size. I recommended the use of the +mallows to him, gave him a little bunch out of my store, (it being +winter time,) and his hand was well in four days. He could go out to his +work the very next day, after having applied the mallows over night. The +other instance was this. I had a valuable hog, that had been gored by a +cow. It had been in this state for two days before I knew of the +accident, and had eaten nothing. The gore was in the side, making a +large wound. I poured in the liquor in which the mallows had been +stewed, and rubbed the side well with it. The next day the hog got up +and began to eat. On examining the wound, I found it so far closed that +I did not think it right to disturb it. I bathed the side again; and in +two days the hog was turned out, and was running about along with the +rest. Now, a person must be criminally careless not to make provision of +this herb. Mine was nearly two years old when I made use of it upon the +last-mentioned occasion. If the use of this weed was generally adopted, +the art and mystery of healing wounds, and of curing sprains, +swellings, and other external maladies, would very quickly be reduced to +an unprofitable trade." + +_Lubricating and healing Poultice._ + + Powdered marshmallow roots, } + Marshmallow leaves, } equal parts. + +Moisten with boiling water, and apply. + +_Use._--In ragged cuts, wounds, and bruises. + +_Stimulating Poultice._ + + Indian meal, } + Slippery elm, } equal parts. + +Mix them together, and add sufficient boiling water to moisten the mass. +Spread it on a cloth, and sprinkle a small quantity of powdered cayenne +on its surface. + +_Use._--To stimulate ill-conditioned ulcers to healthy action. Where +there is danger of putrescence, add a small quantity of powdered +charcoal. + +_Poultice for Bruises._ + +Nothing makes so good a poultice for recent bruises as boiled carrots or +marshmallows. + +_Poultice to promote Suppuration._ + + Indian meal, a sufficient quantity. + Linseed, a handful. + Cayenne, 1 tea-spoonful. + +To be moistened with boiling vinegar, and applied at the usual +temperature. + + + + +STYPTICS, TO ARREST BLEEDING. + + +Witch hazel, (winter bloom,) bark or leaves, 2 ounces. + +Make a decoction with the smallest possible quantity of water, and if +the bleeding is from the nose, throw it up by means of a syringe; if +from the stomach, lungs, or bowels, add more water, and let the animal +drink it, and give some by injection. + +_Styptic to arrest external Bleeding._ + +Wet a piece of lint with tincture of muriate of iron, and bind it on the +part. + +There are various other styptics, such as alum water, strong tincture of +nutgalls, bloodroot, common salt, fine flour, &c. + + + + +ABSORBENTS. + + +_Remarks._--Absorbents are composed of materials partaking of an +alkaline character, and are used for the purpose of neutralizing acid +matter. The formation of an acid in the stomach arises from some +derangement of the digestive organs, sometimes brought on by the +improper quantity or quality of the food. It is useless, therefore, to +give absorbents, with a view of neutralizing acid, unless the former are +combined with tonics, or agents that are capable of restoring the +stomach to a healthy state. This morbid state of the stomach is +recognized in oxen by a disposition to eat all kinds of trash that comes +in their way, such as dirt, litter, &c. They are frequently licking +themselves, and often swallow a great deal of hair, which is formed into +balls in the stomach, and occasions serious irritation. Calves, when +fattening, are often fed so injudiciously, that the stomach is incapable +of reducing the food to chyme and chyle: the consequence is, that a +large amount of carbonic acid gas is evolved. Many calves and lambs die +from this cause. + +A mixture of chalk, saleratus, and soda is often given by farmers; yet +they do not afford permanent relief. They do some good by correcting the +acidity of the stomach; but the animals are often affected with +diarrhoea, or costiveness, loss of appetite, colic, and convulsions. +Attention to the diet would probably do more than all the medicine in +the world. Yet if they do get sick, something must be done. The best +forms of absorbents are the following: they restore healthy action to +the lost function at the same time that they neutralize the gas. + + +FORMS OF ABSORBENTS. + + Powdered charcoal, 1 table-spoonful. + " snakeroot, half a table-spoonful. + " caraways, 1 tea-spoonful. + Hot water, 1 quart. + +Mix. To be given at one dose, for a cow; half the quantity, or indeed +one third, is sufficient for a calf, sheep, or pig. + +_Another._ + + Powdered charcoal, 1 table-spoonful. + +To be given in thoroughwort tea, to which may be added a very small +portion of ginger. + +_Another, adapted to City Use._ + + Subcarbonate of soda, 1 tea-spoonful. + Tincture of gentian, 1 ounce. + Infusion of spearmint, 1 pint. + +Mix. Give a cow the whole at a dose, and repeat daily, for a short time, +if necessary. One half the quantity will suffice for a smaller animal. + +_Drink for Coughs._ + + Balm of Gilead buds, half an ounce. + Honey, 2 table-spoonfuls. + Vinegar, 1 wine-glassful. + Water, 1 pint. + +Set the mixture on the fire, in an earthen vessel; let it simmer a few +minutes. When cool, strain, and it is fit for use. Dose, a +wine-glassful, twice a day. + +_Another._ + + Balsam copaiba, 1 ounce. + Powdered licorice, 1 ounce. + Honey, 2 table-spoonfuls. + Boiling water, 1 quart. + +Rub the copaiba, licorice, and honey together in a mortar: after they +are well mixed, add the water. Dose, half a pint, night and morning. + +_Another._ + + Balsam of Tolu, half an ounce. + Powdered marshmallow roots, 1 ounce. + Honey, half a gill. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Min. Dose, half a pint, night and morning. + +_Drink for a Cow after Calving._ + + Bethwort, 1 ounce. + Marshmallows, 1 ounce. + +First make an infusion of bethwort by simmering it in a quart of water. +When cool, strain, and stir in the mallows. Dose, half a pint, every two +hours. + + + + +VETERINARY MATERIA MEDICA, + +EMBRACING A LIST OF THE VARIOUS REMEDIES USED BY THE AUTHOR OF THIS WORK +IN THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE ON CATTLE, SHEEP, AND SWINE. + + +ACACIA, CATECHU, or JAPAN EARTH. It is a +powerful astringent and tonic, and given, in half tea-spoonful doses, in +mucilage of slippery elm or mallows, is a valuable remedy in +diarrhoea, or excessive discharges of urine. + +ACACIA GUM makes a good mucilage, and is highly recommended in +diseases of the mucous surfaces and urinary organs. It is highly +nutritious, and consequently can be given with advantage in locked-jaw. + +ACETUM, (vinegar.) This is cooling, and a small portion of it, +with an equal quantity of honey, administered in thin gruel, makes an +excellent drink in fevers. Diluted with an equal quantity of water, it +is employed externally in bruises and sprains. It neutralizes +pestilential effluvia, and, combined with capsicum, makes a good +application for sore throat. + +ACID, PYROLIGNEOUS. This is one of the most valuable articles +in the whole _materia medica_. Diluted with equal parts of water, it is +applied to ill-conditioned sores and ulcers; it acts as an antiseptic +and stimulant. It is obtained from wood by destructive distillation in +close vessels. This acid is advantageously applicable to the +preservation of animal food. Mr. William Ramsay (_Edinburgh +Philosophical Journal_, iii. 21) has made some interesting experiments +on its use for this purpose. Herrings and other fish, simply dipped in +the acid and afterwards dried in the shade, were effectually preserved, +and, when eaten, were found very agreeable to the taste. Herrings +slightly cured with salt, by being sprinkled with it for six hours, then +drained, next immersed in pyroligneous acid for a few seconds, and +afterwards dried in the shade for two months, were found by Mr. Ramsay +to be of fine quality and flavor. Fresh beef, dipped in the acid, in +the summer season, for the short space of a minute, was perfectly sweet +in the following spring. Professor Silliman states, that one quart of +the acid added to the common pickle for a barrel of hams, at the time +they are laid down, will impart to them the smoked flavor as perfectly +as if they had undergone the common process of smoking. + +ALDER BARK, BLACK, (_prinos verticillatus_.) A strong decoction +makes an excellent wash for diseases of the skin, in all classes of +domestic animals. + +ALLIUM, (garlic.) This is used chiefly as an antispasmodic. It +improves all the secretions, and promotes the function of the skin and +kidneys. It is useful also to expel wind and worms. A few kernels may be +chopped fine and mixed with the food. When used for the purpose of +expelling worms, an ounce of the root should be boiled in a pint of +milk, and given in the morning, about an hour before feeding. + +ALOES. The best kind is brought from the Island of Socotra, and +is supposed to be more safe in its operation than the other kinds. In +consequence of the irritative properties of aloes, they are ill adapted +to cattle practice; and as a safer article has been recommended, (see +_Physic for Cattle_,) we have entirely dispensed with them. + +ALTHEA, (marshmallows.) See _Remarks on Poultices_. + +ALUM. It possesses powerful astringent properties, and, when +burnt and pulverized, is useful to remove proud flesh. + +AMMONIACUM. Gum ammoniacum is useful for chronic coughs. The +dose is two drachms daily, in a quart of gruel. + +ANISEED. A good carminative in flatulent colic. The dose is +about one ounce, infused in a quart of boiling water. + +ANTHEMIS, (camomile.) It is used as a tonic in derangement of +the digestive organs, &c. An ounce of the flowers may be infused in a +quart of water, and given when cool. It is useful also as an external +application in bruises and sprains. + +ASH BARK, WHITE. This is a useful remedy in loss of cud, +caused by disease of the liver. Dose, one ounce of the bark, infused in +boiling water. When cool, pour off the clear liquor. + +ASSAFOETIDA. This article is used as an antispasmodic. The +dose is from one to two drachms, administered in thin gruel. + +BALM, LEMON. See _Fever Drink_. + +BALM OF GILEAD BUDS. One ounce of the buds, after being infused +in boiling water and strained, makes a good drink for chronic coughs. + +BALMONY. A good tonic and vermifuge. + +BALSAM, CANADA, is a diuretic, and may be given in slippery +elm, in doses of one table-spoonful for diseases of the kidneys. + +BALSAM OF COPAIBA, or CAPIVI, is useful in all +diseases of the urinary organs, and, combined with powdered marshmallows +and water, makes a good cough drink. Dose, half an ounce. + +BALEAM OF TOLU. Used for the same purpose as the preceding. + +BARLEY. Barley water, sweetened with honey, is a useful drink +in fevers. + +BAYBERRY BARK. We have frequently prescribed this article in the +preceding pages as an antiseptic and astringent for scouring and +dysentery. + +BEARBERRY, (_uva ursi_.) This is a popular diuretic, and is +useful when combined with marshmallows. When the urine is thick and +deficient in quantity, or voided with difficulty, it may be given in the +following form:-- + + Powdered bearberry, 1 ounce. + " marshmallows, 2 ounces. + Indian meal, 2 pounds. + +Mix. Dose, half a pound daily, in the cow's feed. + +BITTER ROOT, (_apocynum androsæmifolium_.) Given in doses of +half an ounce of the powdered bark, it acts as an aperient, and is good +wherever an aperient is indicated. + +BLACKBERRY ROOT, (_rubus trivialis_.) A valuable remedy for +scours in sheep. + +BLACK ROOT, (_leptandra virginica_.) The extract is used as +physic, instead of aloes. (See _Physic for Cattle_.) A strong decoction +of the fresh roots will generally act as a cathartic on all classes of +animals. + +BLOODROOT, (_sanguinaria canadensis_.) It is used in our +practice as an escharotic. It acts on fungous excrescences, and is a +good substitute for nitrate of silver in the dispersion of all morbid +growth. One ounce of the powder, infused in boiling vinegar, is a +valuable application for rot and mange. + +BLUE FLAG, (_iris versicolor_.) The powdered root is a good +vermifuge. + +BONESET, (_eupatorium perfoliatum_.) This is a valuable +domestic remedy. Its properties are too well known to the farming +community to need any description. + +BORAX. This is a valuable remedy for eruptive diseases of the +tongue and mouth. Powdered and dissolved in water, it forms an +astringent, antiseptic wash. The usual form of prescription, in +veterinary practice, is,-- + + Powdered borax, half an ounce. + Honey, 2 ounces. + +Mix. + +BUCKTHORN, (_rhamnus catharticus_.) A sirup made from this +plant is a valuable aperient in cattle practice. The dose is from half +an ounce to two ounces. + +BURDOCK, (_arctium lappa_.) The leaves, steeped in vinegar, +make a good application for sore throat and enlarged glands. The seeds +are good to purify the blood, and may be given in the fodder. + +BUTTERNUT BARK, (_juglans cinerea_.) Extract of butternut makes +a good cathartic, in doses of half an ounce. It is much safer than any +known cathartic, and, given in doses of two drachms, in hot water, +combined with a small quantity of ginger, it forms a useful aperient and +alterative. In a constipated habit, attended with loss of cud, it is +invaluable. During the American revolution, when medicines were scarce, +this article was brought into use by the physicians, and was esteemed by +them an excellent substitute for the ordinary cathartics. + +CALAMUS, (_acorus calamus_.) A valuable remedy for loss of cud. + +CAMOMILE. See _Anthemis_. + +CANELLA BARK is an aromatic stimulant, and forms a good +stomachic. + +CAPSICUM. A pure stimulant. Useful in impaired digestion. + +CARAWAY SEED, (_carum carui_.) A pleasant carminative for +colic. + +CARDAMOM SEEDS. Used for the same purpose as the preceding. + +CASSIA BARK, (_laurus cinnamomum_.) Used as a diffusible +stimulant in flatulency. + +CATECHU, (see ACACIA.) + +CATNIP, (_nepeta cataria_.) An antispasmodic in colic. + +CEDAR BUDS. An infusion of the buds makes a good vermifuge for +sheep and pigs. + +CHARCOAL. This is a valuable remedy as an antiseptic for foul +ulcers, foot rot, &c. + +CLEAVERS, (_galium aparine_.) The expressed juice of the herb +acts on the skin and kidneys, increasing their secretions. One +tea-spoonful of the juice, given night and morning in a thin mucilage of +poplar bark, is an excellent remedy for dropsy, and diseases of the +urinary organs. An infusion of the herb, made by steeping one ounce of +the leaves and seeds in a quart of boiling water, may be substituted for +the expressed juice. + +COHOSH, BLACK, (_macrotrys racemosa_.) Useful in dropsy. + +COLTSFOOT, (_tussilago farfara_.) An excellent remedy for +cough. + +CRANESBILL, (_geranium maculatum_.) Useful in scours, +dysentery, and diarrhoea. + +DILL SEED, (_anethum graveolens_.) Its properties are the same +as caraways. + +DOCK, YELLOW, (_rumex crispus_.) Good for diseases of the liver +and of the skin. + +ELECAMPANE, (_inula helenium_.) An excellent remedy for cough +and asthma, and diseases of the skin. + +ELDER FLOWERS, (_sambucus canadensis_.) Used as an aperient for +sheep, in constipation. + +ELM BARK, (_ulmus fulva_.) This makes a good mucilage. See +Poultices. + +ESSENCE OF PEPPERMINT. Used for flatulent colic. One ounce is +the usual dose for a cow. To be given in warm water. + +FENNEL SEED. Useful to expel wind. + +FERN, MALE, (_aspidium felix mas_.) Used as a remedy for worms. + +FLAXSEED. A good lubricant, in cold and catarrh, and in +diseases of the mucous surfaces. It makes a good poultice. + +FLOWER OF SULPHUR. This is used extensively, in veterinary +practice, for diseases of the skin. It is a mild laxative. + +FUMIGATIONS. For foul barns and stables, take of + + Common salt, 4 ounces. + Manganese, 1 ounce and a half. + +Let these be well mixed, and placed in a shallow earthen vessel; then +pour on the mixture, gradually, sulphuric acid, four ounces. The +inhalation of the gas which arises from this mixture is highly +injurious; therefore, as soon as the acid is poured on, all persons +should leave the building, which should immediately be shut, and not +opened again for several hours. Dr. White, V. S., says, "This is the +only efficacious _fumigation_, it having been found that when glanderous +or infectious matter is exposed to it a short time, it is rendered +perfectly harmless." + +GALBANUM. This gum is used for similar purposes as gum ammoniac +and assafoetida. + +GALLS. They contain a large amount of tannin, and are +powerfully astringent. A strong decoction is useful to arrest +hemorrhage. + +GARLIC. See _Allium_. + +GENTIAN. This is a good tonic, and is often employed to remove +weakness of the stomach and indigestion. + +GINGER. A pure stimulant. Ginger tea is a useful remedy for +removing colic and flatulency, and is safer and better adapted to the +animal economy, where stimulants are indicated, than alcoholic +preparations. + +GINSENG, (_panax quinquefolium_.) It possesses tonic and +stimulant properties. + +GOLDEN SEAL, (_hydrastis canadensis_.) A good tonic, laxative, +and alterative. + +GOLDTHREAD, (_coptis trifolia_.) A strong infusion of this herb +makes a valuable application for eruptions and ulcerations of the mouth. +We use it in the following form:-- + + Goldthread, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 1 pint. + +Set the mixture aside to cool; then strain, and add a table-spoonful of +honey, and bathe the parts twice a day. + +GRAINS OF PARADISE. A warming, diffusible stimulant. + +HARDHACK, (_spiræa tomentosa_.) Its properties are astringent +and tonic. We have used it in cases of "scours" with great success. It +is better adapted to cattle practice in the form of extract, which is +prepared by evaporating the leaves, stems, or roots. The dose is from +one scruple to a drachm for a cow, and from ten grains to one scruple +and a half for a sheep, which may be given twice a day, in any bland +liquid. + +HONEY, (_mel_.) Honey is laxative, stimulant, and nutritious. +With vinegar, squills, or garlic, it forms a good cough mixture. +Combined with tonics, it forms a valuable gargle, and a detergent for +old sores and foul ulcers. + +HOPS, (_humulus_.) An infusion of hops is highly recommended in +derangement of the nervous system, and for allaying spasmodic twitchings +of the extremities. One ounce of the article may be infused in a quart +of boiling water, strained, and sweetened with honey, and given, in half +pint doses, every four hours. They are used as an external application, +in the form of fomentation, for bruises, &c. + +HOREHOUND, (_marrubium_.) This is a valuable remedy for catarrh +and chronic affections of the lungs. It is generally used, in the +author's practice, in the following form: An infusion is made in the +proportion of an ounce of the herb to a quart of boiling water. A small +quantity of powdered marshmallows is then stirred in, to make it of the +consistence of thin gruel. The dose is half a pint, night and morning. +For sheep and pigs half the quantity will suffice. + +HORSEMINT, (_monarda punctata_.) Like other mints, it is +antispasmodic and carminative. Useful in flatulent colic. + +HORSERADISH. The root scraped and fed to animals laboring under +loss of cud, from chronic disease of the digestive organs, and general +debility, is generally attended with beneficial results. If beaten into +paste with an equal quantity of powdered bloodroot, it makes a valuable +application for foul ulcers. + +HYSSOP, (_hyssopus officinalis_.) Hyssop tea, sweetened with +honey, is useful to promote perspiration in colds and catarrh. + +INDIAN HEMP, (_apocynum cannabinum_.) An infusion of this herb +acts as an aperient, and promotes the secretions. It may be prepared by +infusing an ounce of the powdered or bruised root in a quart of boiling +water, which must be placed in a warm situation for a few hours: it +should then be strained, and given in half pint doses, at intervals of +six hours. A gill of this mixture will sometimes purge a sheep. + +INDIGO, WILD, (_baptisia tinctoria_.) We have made some +experiments with the inner portion of the bark of this plant, and find +it to be very efficacious in the cure of eruptive diseases of the mouth +and tongue, lampas, and inflamed gums. A strong decoction (one ounce of +the bark boiled for a few minutes in a pint of water) makes a good wash +for old sores. A small quantity of powdered slippery elm, stirred into +the decoction while hot, makes a good emollient application to sore +teats and bruised udder. + +JUNIPER BERRIES, (_juniperus_.) These are used in dropsical +affections, in conjunction with tonics; also in diseases of the urinary +organs. + +KINO. This is a powerful astringent, and may be used in +diarrhoea, dysentery, and red water, after the inflammatory symptoms +have subsided. We occasionally use it in the following form for red +water and chronic dysentery:-- + + Powdered kino, 20 grains. + Thin flour gruel, 1 quart. + +To be given at a dose, and repeated night and morning, as occasion +requires. + +LADY'S SLIPPER, (_cypripedium pubescens_.) This is a valuable +nervine and antispasmodic, and has been used with great success, in my +practice, for allaying nervous irritability. It is a good substitute for +opium. It is, however, destitute of all the poisonous properties of the +latter. Dose for a cow, half a table-spoonful of the powder, night and +morning; to be given in bland fluid. + +LICORICE. Used principally to alleviate coughs. The following +makes an excellent cough remedy:-- + + Powdered licorice, 1 ounce. + Balsam of Tolu, 1 tea-spoonful. + Boiling water, 1 quart. + +To be given at a dose. + +LILY ROOT, (_nymphæa odorata_.) Used principally for poultices. + +LIME WATER. This article is used in diarrhoea, and when the +discharge of urine is excessive. Being an antacid, it is very usefully +employed when cattle are hoven or blown. It is unsafe to administer +alone, as it often deranges the digestive organs: it is therefore very +properly combined with tonics. The following will serve as an example:-- + + Lime water, 2 ounces. + Infusion of snakehead, (balmony,) 2 quarts. + +Dose, a quart, night and morning. + +LOBELIA, (herb,) (_lobelia inflata_.) This is an excellent +antispasmodic. It is used in the form of poultice for locked-jaw, and as +a relaxant in rigidity of the muscular structure. + +MANDRAKE, (_podophyllum peltatum_.) Used as physic for cattle, +(which see.) + +MARSHMALLOWS. See _Althea_ + +MEADOW CABBAGE ROOT, (_ictodes foetida_.) This plant is used +as an antispasmodic in asthma and chronic cough. Dose, a tea-spoonful of +the powder, night and morning; to be given in mucilage of slippery elm. + +MOTHERWORT, (_leonurus cardiaca_.) A tea of this herb is +valuable in protracted labor. + +MULLEIN, (_verbascum_.) The leaves steeped in vinegar make a +good application for sore throat. + +MYRRH. The only use we make of this article, in cattle +practice, is to prepare a tincture for wounds, as follows:-- + + Powdered myrrh, 2 ounces. + Proof spirit, 1 pint. + +Set it aside in a close-covered vessel for two weeks, then strain +through a fine sieve, and it is fit for use. + +OAK BARK, (_quercus alba_.) A decoction of oak bark is a good +astringent, and may be given internally, and also applied externally in +falling of the womb or fundament. + +OINTMENTS. We have long since discontinued the use of +ointments, from a conviction that they do not agree with the flesh of +cattle. Marshmallows, or tincture of myrrh, will heal a wound much +quicker than any greasy preparation. We have, however, often applied +fresh marshmallow ointment to chapped teats, and chafed udder, with +decided advantage. It is made as follows: Take of white wax, mutton +tallow, and linseed oil, each a pound; marshmallow leaves, two ounces. +First melt the wax and tallow, then add the oil, lastly a handful of +mallows. Simmer over a slow fire until the leaves are crisp, then strain +through a piece of flannel, and stir the mixture until cool. + +OLEUM LINI, (flaxseed oil.) This is a useful aperient and +laxative in cattle practice, and may be given in all cases of +constipation, provided, however, it is not accompanied with chronic +indigestion: if such be the case, a diffusible stimulant, combined with +a bitter tonic, (golden seal,) aided by an injection, will probably do +more good, as they will arouse the digestive function. The above +aperient may then be ventured on with safety. The dose for a cow is one +pint. + +OLIVE OIL. This is a useful aperient for sheep. The dose is +from half a gill to a gill. + +OPODELDOC. The different preparations of this article are used +for strains and bruises, after the inflammatory action has somewhat +subsided. + +_Liquid Opodeldoc._ + + Soft soap, 6 ounces. + New England rum, 1 pint and a half. + Vinegar, half a pint. + Oil of lavender, 2 ounces. + +The oil of lavender should first be dissolved in an equal quantity of +alcohol, and then added to the mixture. + +PENNYROYAL, (_hedeoma_.) This plant, administered in warm +infusion, promotes perspiration, and is good in flatulent colic. + +PEPPERMINT, (_mentha piperita_.) An ounce of the herb infused +in a quart of boiling water relieved spasmodic pains of the stomach and +bowels, and is a good carminative, (to expel wind,) provided the +alimentary canal is free from obstruction. + +PLANTAIN LEAVES, (_plantago major_.) This article is held in +high repute for the cure of hydrophobia and bites from poisonous +reptiles. The bruised leaves are applied to the parts; the powdered herb +and roots to be given internally at discretion. + +PLEURISY ROOT, (_asclepias tuberosa_.) We have given this +article a fair trial in cattle practice, and find it to be invaluable in +the treatment of catarrh, bronchitis, pleurisy, pneumonia, and +consumption. The form in which we generally prescribe it is,-- + + Powdered pleurisy root, half a table-spoonful. + " marshmallow roots, 1 ounce. + +Boiling water sufficient to make a thin mucilage. The addition of a +small quantity of honey increases its diaphoretic properties. + +POMEGRANATE, (_punica granatum_.) The rind of this article is a +powerful astringent, and is occasionally used to expel worms. A strong +decoction makes a useful wash for falling of the womb, or fundament. +Given as an infusion, in the proportion of half an ounce of the rind to +a quart of water, it will arrest diarrhoea. + +POPLAR, (_populus tremuloides_.) It possesses tonic, demulcent, +and alterative properties. It is often employed, in our practice, as a +local application, in the form of poultice. The infusion is a valuable +remedy in general debility, and in cases of diseased urinary organs. + +PRINCE'S PINE, (_chimaphila_.) This plant is a valuable remedy +in dropsy. It possesses diuretic and tonic properties. It does not +produce the same prostration that usually attends the administration of +diuretics, for its tonic property invigorates the kidneys, while, at the +same time, it increases the secretion of urine. The best way of +administering it is by decoction. It is made by boiling four ounces of +the fresh-bruised leaves in two quarts of water. After straining, a +table-spoonful of powdered marshmallows may be added, to be given in +pint doses, night and morning. + +PYROLIGNEOUS ACID. See _Acid_. + +RASPBERRY LEAVES, (_rubus strigosus_.) An infusion of this +plant may be employed with great advantage in cases of diarrhoea. + +ROMAN WORMWOOD, (_ambrosia artemisifolia_.) This plant is a +very bitter tonic, and vermifuge. An infusion may be advantageously +given in cases of general debility and loss of cud. A strong decoction +may be given to sheep and pigs that are infested with worms. If given +early in the morning, and before the animals are fed, it will generally +have the desired effect. + +ROSE, RED, (_rosa gallica_.) We have occasionally used the +infusion, and find it of great value as a wash for chronic ophthalmia. +The infusion is made by pouring a pint of boiling water on a quarter of +an ounce of the flowers. It is then strained through fine linen, when it +is fit for use. + +SASSAFRAS, (_laurus sassafras_.) The bark of sassafras root is +stimulant, and possesses alterative properties. We have used it +extensively, in connection with sulphur, for eruptive diseases, and for +measles in swine, in the following proportions:-- + + Powdered sassafras, 1 ounce. + " sulphur, half a table-spoonful. + +Mix, and divide into four parts, one of which may be given, night and +morning, in a hot mash. + +The pith of sassafras makes a valuable soothing and mucilaginous wash +for inflamed eyes. + +SENNA A safe and efficient aperient for cattle may be made by +infusing an ounce of senna in a quart of boiling water. When cool, +strain, then add, manna one ounce, powdered golden seal one +tea-spoonful. The whole to be given at a dose. + +SKULLCAP, (_scutellaria lateriflora_.) This is an excellent +nervine and antispasmodic. It is admirably adapted to the treatment of +locked-jaw, and derangement of the nervous system. An ounce of the +leaves may be infused in two quarts of boiling water. After straining, a +little honey may be added, and then administered, in pint doses, every +four hours. + +SNAKEROOT, VIRGINIA, (_aristolochia serpentaria_.) This +article, given by infusion in the proportion of half an ounce of the +root to a pint of water, acts as a stimulant and alterative. It is +admirably adapted to the treatment of chronic indigestion. + +SOAP. This article acts on all classes of animals, as a +laxative and antacid. It is useful in obstinate constipation of the +bowels, in diseases of the liver, and for softening hardened excrement +in the rectum. By combining castile soap with butternut, blackroot, +golden seal, or balmony, a good aperient is produced, which will +generally operate on the bowels in a few hours. + +SQUILL, (_scilla maritima_.) A tea-spoonful of the dried root, +given in a thin mucilage of marshmallows, is an excellent remedy for +cough, depending on an irritability of the lungs and mucous surfaces. + +SULPHUR. This is one of the most valuable articles in the +veterinary _materia medica_. It possesses laxative, diaphoretic and +alterative properties, and is extensively employed, both internally and +externally, for diseases of the skin. The dose for a cow is a +tea-spoonful daily. Its alterative effect may be increased by combining +it with sassafras, (which see.) + +SUNFLOWER, WILD, (_helianthus divaricatus_.) The seeds of this +plant, when bruised and given it any bland fluid, act as a diuretic and +antispasmodic. Half a table-spoonful of the seeds may be given at a +dose, and repeated as occasion requires. + +TOLU, BALSAM OF. This balsam is procured by making incisions +into the trunk of a tree which flourishes in Tolu and Peru. It has a +peculiar tendency to the mucous surfaces, and therefore is very properly +prescribed for epizoötic diseases of catarrhal nature. The dose is half +a table-spoonful every night, to be administered in a mucilage of +marshmallows. One half the quantity is sufficient for a sheep. + +VINEGAR. See _Acetum_. + +WITCH HAZEL BARK, (_hamamelis virginica_.) A decoction of this +bark is a valuable application for falling of the fundament, or womb. +Being a good astringent, an infusion of the leaves is good for scouring +in sheep. + +WORMSEED, (_chenopodium anthelminticum_.) A tea-spoonful of the +powdered seeds, given in a tea of snakeroot, is a good vermifuge: it +will, however, require repeated doses, and they should be given at least +an hour before the morning meal. + + + + +GENERAL REMARKS ON MEDICINES. + + +Here, reader, is our _materia medica_; wherein you will find a number of +harmless, yet efficient agents, that will, in the treatment of disease, +fulfil any and every indication to your entire satisfaction. They act +efficiently in the restoration of the diseased system to a healthy +state, without producing the slightest injury to the animal economy. The +Almighty has furnished us, if we did but know it, a healing balm for +every malady to which man and the lower animals are subject. Yet how +many of these precious gifts are disregarded for the more popular ones +of the chemist! Dr. Brown, professor of botany in the Ohio College, +says, "Of the twenty or more thousand species of plants recognized and +described by botanists, probably not more than one thousand have ever +been used in the art of healing; and not more than one fourth of that +number even have a place in our _materia medica_ at present. The +glorious results, however, attending the researches of those who have +preceded us, should inspire us with that confidence and spirit of +investigation which will ultimately result in the selection, +preparation, and systematic arrangement, of a full, convenient, and +efficient _materia medica_." Unfortunately, the medical fraternity, as +well as the farmers, have been accustomed to judge of the power of the +remedy by its effects, and not in proportion to its ultimate good. Thus, +if a pound of salts be given to a cow, and they produce liquid +stools,--in short, "operate well,"--they are styled a good medicine, +although they leave the mucous surface of the alimentary canal in a +weak, debilitated state, and otherwise impair the health; yet this is a +secondary consideration. For, if the symptoms of the present malady, for +which the salts were given, shall disappear, nothing is thought of the +after consequences. The cow may be constipated for several succeeding +days, and finally refuse her food; but who suspects that the salts were +the cause of it? Who believes that the abstraction of ninety ounces of +blood cut short the life of our beloved Washington? We do, and so do +others. We are told, in reference to the treatment of a given case, that +"the patient will grow worse before he can get better." What makes him +worse? The medicine, surely, and nothing else. Now, if ever symptoms are +altered, they should be for the better; and if the medicines recommended +in this work (provided, however, they are given with ordinary prudence) +ever make an animal worse, then we beg of the reader to avoid them as he +would a pest-house. This is not all. If any article in this _materia +medica_, when given, in the manner we recommend, to an animal in perfect +health, shall operate so as to derange such animal's health,--in short, +act pathologically,--then it does not deserve a place here, and should +not be depended on. But such will not be the result. We recommend +farmers to select and preserve a few of these herbs for family use; for +they are efficient in the cure of many diseases. And as the services of +a physician are not always to be had in small country towns, a little +experience in the use and application of simple articles to various +diseases seems to be absolutely necessary. It was by the aid of a few of +these and similar simple remedies, that we were enabled to preserve the +health of the passengers of that ill-fated ship, the Anglo-Saxon. The +following testimony has never, until the present time, been made public, +and we would not now make use of it, were it not that we wish to show +that there are men, and women too, that can appreciate our labors:-- + + "The undersigned, passengers in the Anglo-Saxon from Boston, + feeling it a duty they owe to Dr. G. H. Dadd, surgeon of the ship, + would here bear testimony to the valuable medical services and + advice rendered by him to us, whilst on shipboard; believing his + attendance has been conducive of the greatest benefit; at times + almost indispensable, not only during the short passage, but also + through the trying period subsequent to the wreck through all of + which, the coolness and devotion to the best interests of his + employers and of the passengers, exhibited by him, deserve at our + hands the highest terms of commendation. + + ROBERT EARLE, + S. C. AMES, + BENJAMIN CHAMPNEY, + LEWIS JONES, + HAMILTON G. WILD, + W. A. BARNES, + GIDEON D. SCULL, + W. ALLAN GAY, + ISAAC JENKINS, + PRESCOTT BIGELOW, + A. M. EARLE, + ROSALIE PELBY, + OPHELIA ANDERSON, + HELEN C. DOVE, + ELEANOR TERESA MCHUGH, + JOHN HILLS, + FRANCES BLENKAM, + HARRIET PHILLIPS, + LOUISA A. BIGELOW, + + EASTPORT, May 9, 1847." + +Notwithstanding this disaster, Enoch Train, Esq., of Boston, with a +liberality which does him credit, appointed us surgeon of the ship Mary +Ann, commanded by Captain Albert Brown; thus giving us a second +opportunity of proving what we had asserted, viz., _that the emigrants +might be brought to the United States in better condition, and with less +deaths, than had heretofore been done_. It must be remembered that about +this time the typhus, or ship fever, was making sad havoc amongst all +classes of men, and many talented professional men fell victims to the +dire malady. We left Liverpool at a sickly season, having on board two +hundred persons, and were fortunate enough to land them in this city, +all in good health. Several ships which sailed at the same time, bound +also to different ports in the United States, lost, on the passage, from +ten to twenty persons, although each ship was furnished with a medical +attendant. Here, then, is a proof that our agents cure while others +fail. + + + + +PROPERTIES OF PLANTS. + + +Professor Curtis tells us that "herbs, during their growth, preserve +their medicinal properties, commencing at the root, and continuing +upward, through the stem and leaves, to the flowers and seeds, until +fully grown. When the root begins to die, the properties ascend from it +towards the seed, where, at last, they are the strongest. Even the +virtues of the leaves, after they get their full growth, often go into +the seed, which will not be so well developed if the leaves are plucked +off early; as corn fills and ripens best when the leaves are left on the +stalks till they die. In the annual and biennial plants, the root is +worthless after the seed is ripe, and the stem also is of very little +value; what virtue there is residing in the bark and leaves also lose +their properties as fast as they lose their freshness. All leaves and +stems that have lost their color, or become shrivelled, while the roots +are in the earth, have lost much of their medicinal power, and should be +rejected from medicine." Seeds and fruit should be gathered when ripe or +fully matured. + +Flowers should be gathered just at the time they come into bloom. + +Leaves should be gathered when they have arrived at their full growth, +are green, and full of the juices of the plant. Barks should be gathered +as early in the spring as they will peel. + +Roots should be gathered in the fall, after they have perfectly matured, +or early in the spring, before they commence germinating and growing. + + + + +POTATO. + + +Boiled potatoes, mixed up with steamed cornstalks, shorts, &c., make an +excellent compound for fattening cattle; yet, at the present time, they +are too expensive for general use. We hope, however, that ere long our +farmers will take hold of this subject in good earnest,--we allude to +the causes of potato rot,--and restore this valuable article of food to +its original worth. A few remarks on this subject seem to be called for. + + +_Remarks on the Potato Rot._ + +Where are the fine, mealy, substantial "apples of the earth" gone?--and +Echo answers, "Where?" They are not to be found at the present day. The +farmers have suffered great losses, in some instances by a partial, and +in others by a total, failure of their crops. Numberless experiments +have been tried to prevent this great national calamity, yet they have +all proved abortive, for the simple reason that we have been only +treating the symptoms, while the disease has taken a firmer hold, and +hurried our subjects to a premature decay. Different theories have been +suggested with a view of explaining the causes of the potato rot, none +of which are satisfactory. We have the "fungous theory," "insect +theory," "moisture theory," "theory of _degeneration_," and "the +chemical theory of defective elements." In relation to the "fungous +theory" we observe that fungi inhabit decaying organic bodies. They are +considered to be a common pest to all kinds of plants, like parasites, +living at the expense of those plants. We do not expect to find fungi in +good healthy vegetables, at least while they possess a high grade of +vital action. It is only when morbid deposits and chemical agencies +overcome the integrity or vital affinity of the vegetable that fungous +growth commences. + +In the fungous development, the living parts of the vegetable are not +always destroyed; yet these fungi obstruct vital action by their +deposits or accumulations; hence the small vessels that lead from centre +to surface are partly paralyzed, and the power peculiar to all +vegetables of throwing off useless or excrementitious matter is +intercepted. This is not all. The process of imperceptible elimination, +which might restore the balance of power in any thing like a vigorous +plant, is thus impaired. + +Now, it is evident that the fungi are not the cause of the potato rot; +they are only the mere effects, the symptoms: preceding these were other +manifestations of disorder, and these manifestations, in their different +grades, might with equal propriety be charged as causes of the potato +rot. The deterioration of the potato has been going on in a gradual +manner for a long time. A mild form of disease has existed for a number +of years, making such imperceptible change that it has escaped the +observation of many until late years, when the article became so +unpalatable that our attention has been called to it in good earnest; +and by the aid of the microscope we have discovered the fungi. Has this +discovery benefited the agriculturist? Not a particle. + +The theory of degeneration, without doubt, will assist us to explain the +why and wherefore of the potato rot. But this is not all; the community +want to know the cause of this degeneracy. We have spent some time in +the investigation of this subject, and now give the public, in a +condensed form, our opinion of this matter. We may err, but our progress +is towards the full discovery of the _direct cause_, and the ways and +means best adapted to prevent this sad calamity. The potato came into +existence at a certain period in the history of the world. After its +discovery, it was taken from the mother soil, the land of its nativity, +planted in different parts of the world, and grew to apparent +perfection. Our opinion is, that the transplanting was one of the causes +of this degeneracy. It is generally known that indigenous plants do not +thrive so well on foreign soil as in their native; for example, the +plants of the sunny south cannot be made to flourish here in the same +degree of perfection as at the south; they require the genial warmth of +the sun's rays, which our northern climates lack. The soil, too, mast be +adapted to each particular plant. It is true we do cultivate them by +ingenuity and chemical agency; yet they seldom equal the original. Need +we ask the farmer if he can, from the soil of New England, produce a St. +Michael orange equal to one grown on its native soil? or if a squash +will grow in the deserts of Arabia? All vegetables, as well as animals, +possess a certain amount of vital power, which enables them to resist, +to a certain degree, all encroachments on their healthy operations. The +potato, having been deprived, in some measure, of its essential element, +lost its reciprocal equilibrium, and has ever since been a prey to +whatever destructive agents may be present, whether they exist in the +soil or atmosphere. Yet we conceive that its total destruction is +dependent on another cause, which has been entirely overlooked; for, in +spite of the gradual deterioration alluded to, the potato will, for a +number of years, continue to keep up a low form of vitality, and result +in something like a potato. In order to comprehend the subject, let us, +for a moment, consider the conditions necessary for the germination and +perfection of vegetable bodies. We shall then be able to decide as to +whether or not we have complied with such conditions. The first +condition is, we must have _a perfect germ_; secondly, _a ripe seed_; +and lastly, _nutrimental agents in the sail, composed of carbon, +hydrogen, and oxygen_. + +The potato requires but a small quantity of moisture to develop the +germinating principle; for we have every day evidences of its ability to +send forth its fibres, even in the open air. Now, the premature +development of these fibrous radicles, or roots, debilitates the tuber; +in short, we have a sick potato. Is the potato, under such +circumstances, a perfect germ? No. If you examine the potato, with its +roots and stem, you will find the cutis, or skin, and mucous membrane. +This external skin, _including that of plant, stalk, leaf, and ball_, is +to the potato what the skin and lungs are to animals; they, each of +them, absorb atmospheric food, and throw off excrementitious matter; the +roots and fibres are to the vegetable what the alimentary canal is to +the animal. A large portion of the food of vegetables is found in the +soil, and enters the vegetable system, through its capillary +circulation, by the process of imperceptible elimination and absorption. +Now, you must bear in mind that the fibres, stem, and leaves are +delicate and tender organs; they are studded with millions of little +pores, covered with a membrane of delicate texture, easily lacerated. +When these delicate organs are rudely torn off or lacerated, the potato +immediately gives evidence of the encroachments of disease; it shrinks, +withers, and, although the soil abounds in all that is necessary for its +growth and future development, it is not in a fit state to carry on the +chemico-vital process. We often take the potato from the soil with a +view of preserving it for seed, without any definite knowledge of the +exact time of its maturity; as the season arrives for again replanting, +the fibres are torn off, and the potato itself is often cut up into two +or three pieces; sometimes, however, the smaller potatoes are used for +seed. Both practices are open to strong objection. Oftentimes the cut +surfaces of the potato are exposed to atmospheric air; evaporation +commences, they lose their firm texture, and are more fit for swine than +for planting. + +The cause of the total destruction may exist in a loss of polarity! We +know that all organic and inorganic bodies are subject to the laws of +electricity--each has its polarity. Men who are engaged in mining can +testify that the stratification of the earth is alternately negative and +positive. The hemispheres of the earth are also governed by the same +law; for, if you take a magnetic needle and toss it up in this +hemisphere, which is negative, the positive end will come to the ground +first; but if you pass the magnetic equator, which crosses the common +equator in 23° 28', and then toss the needle up, its negative end will +fall downwards. Hence we infer that the potato has a polarity, just as +man has; and this is the reason of their definite character. Take a +bean, and destroy its polarity by cutting it into several pieces, as you +do the potato, and all the men on earth cannot make it germinate and +grow to perfection. It will die just as a man will, if you destroy the +polarity of his brain by wounding it. + +Take an egg, and destroy its polarity by making a small puncture through +it, and you can never get a chicken from it. A man or an animal will die +of locked-jaw, caused by a splinter entering the living organism; and +why? Because their electrical equilibrium, or their polarity is +destroyed. Some of our readers may desire to know how we can prove that +electricity plays a part in the germination and growth of animals and +vegetables. In verification of it, we will give a few examples. A dish +of salad may, by the aid of electricity, be raised in an hour. Hens' +eggs can be hatched by a similar process in a few hours, which would +require many days by animal heat. By the aid of electricity, water, +which consists of oxygen and hydrogen, may be decomposed, and its +elements set free. The poles of a galvanic battery may be applied to a +dead body, and that body made to imitate the functions of life. + +And lastly, it is through the medium of electrical attraction which +bodies have for each other, that all the chemical compositions and +decompositions depend. Bodies must be in opposite states of electricity +in order to produce a result. Now, if the polarity of the potato is +destroyed in the manner we have just alluded to, or should it be +destroyed by coming in contact with the blade of a knife, _the latter +conducting off the electrical current_, or by any other means, it must +deteriorate. We are told that "the potato has several germinating +points, and that a part will grow just as well as the whole." Such +reasoning will not stand the test of common experience. + +For example: the Almighty has endowed man with various faculties, and +the perfection of his organism depends on these faculties, as a whole. +Now, he may lose a leg, and yet be capable of performing the ordinary +duties of life; but this does not prove that he might not perform them +much better with both legs. So in reference to the potato. The fact of +its ability to reproduce its kind from a small portion of the whole--a +mere bud--should not satisfy us that a perfect germ is unnecessary. Then +the question arises, How shall we restore the original identity of this +valuable article of food? + +We have, in the early part of this work, recommended the farmers to +study the laws of vegetable physiology. This will furnish them with the +right kind of information. We would, however, suggest to those who are +desirous of making experiments, to comply with the conditions already +alluded to, viz., plant a perfect germ, by which means the potato may be +improved. Yet, in order to restore its identity, we must commence by +germinating from the seed, and plant that on soil abounding in the +constituents necessary for its development. Elevated land abounding in +small stones, and hill sides facing the south, are the best situations. +Potatoes should never be cultivated on the same spot for two successive +years. + +In relation to the insect theory, we would observe, that it throws no +light on the cause of the potato rot; for, in its gradual decay, that +vegetable undergoes various changes; the particles of which it is +composed assume new forms, and enter into new combinations; its +elementary substances are separated, giving birth to new compounds, some +of which result in an insect. We all know that animal and vegetable +bodies may remain in a state of putrefaction in water, and be dissolved +in the dust; yet some of their original atoms appear in a new system. +Hence the insect theory has no more to do with the cause of the potato +rot than the fungus. + + + + +TREATMENT OF DISEASE IN DOGS. + +PRELIMINARY REMARKS. + + +A good watch dog is of inestimable value to the farmer; and as very +little is at present understood of the nature and treatment of their +maladies, we have thought that a few general directions would be +acceptable, not only to the farmer, but to every man who loves a dog. We +have paid considerable attention to the treatment of disease in this +class of animals, and have generally found that must of their maladies +will yield very readily to our sanative agents. Most of the remedies +recommended by _allopathic_ writers for dogs, like those recommended for +horses and cattle, would at any time destroy the animal; consequently, +if it ever recovers, it does so in spite of the violence done to the +constitution. We hope to rescue the dog, as well as other classes of +domestic animals, from a cruel system of medication; for this we labor, +and to this work our life is devoted. We ask the reader to take into +consideration the destructive nature of the articles used on these +faithful animals. Some of them are the most destructive poisons that can +be found in the whole world. For example, several authors recommend, in +the treatment of disease in the canine race, the following:-- + +_Tartar emetic_, a very few grains of which will kill a man--yet +recommended for dogs. + +_Calomel_, a very fashionable remedy, used for producing ulcerated gums +and for rotting the teeth of thousands of the human family, as the +dentists can testify. Not fit for a dog, yet prescribed by most dog +fanciers. + +_Lunar caustic_, recommended by Mr. Lawson for fits; to be given +internally with cobwebs!! Our opinion is, that it would be likely to +give any four-footed creature "_fits_" that took it. + +Cowhage, corrosive sublimate, tin-filings, sugar of lead, white +precipitate, oil of turpentine, opium nitre--these, together with aloes, +jalap, tobacco, hellebore, and a very small proportion of sanative +agents, make up the list. In view of the great destruction that is +likely to attend the administration of these and kindred articles, we +have substituted others, which may be given with safety. Why should the +poor dog be compelled to swallow down such powerful and destructive +agents? He is entitled to better treatment, and we flatter ourselves +that wherever these pages shall be read, he will receive it. In +reference to the value of dogs, Mr. Lawson says, "Independent of his +beauty, vivacity, strength, and swiftness, he has the interior qualities +that must attract the attention and esteem of mankind. Intelligent, +humble, and sincere, the sole happiness of his life seems to be to +execute his master's commands. Obedient to his owner, and kind to all +his friends, to the rest he is indifferent. He knows a stranger by his +clothes, his voice, or his gestures, and generally forbids his approach +with marks of indignation. At night, when the guard of the house is +committed to his care, he seems proud of the charge; he continues a +watchful sentinel, goes his rounds, scents strangers at a distance, and +by barking gives them notice that he is on duty; if they attempt to +break in, he becomes fiercer, threatens, flies at them, and either +conquers alone, or alarms those who have more interest in coming to his +assistance. The flock and herd are even more obedient to the dog than to +the shepherd: he conducts them, guards them, and keeps them from +capriciously seeking danger; and their enemies he considers as his +own." + + + + +DISTEMPER. + + +_Symptoms._--If the animal is a watch dog, (such are usually confined in +the daytime,) the person who is in the daily habit of feeding him will +first observe a loss of appetite; the animal will appear dull and lazy; +shortly after, there is a watery discharge from the eyes and nose, +resembling that which accompanies catarrh. As the disease advances, +general debility supervenes, accompanied with a weakness of the hind +extremities. The secretions are morbid; for example, some are +constipated, and pass high-colored urine; others are suddenly attacked +with diarrhoea, scanty urine, and vomiting. Fits are not uncommon +during the progress of the disease. + +_Treatment._--If the animal is supposed to have eaten any improper food, +we commence the treatment by giving an emetic. + +_Emetic for Dogs._ + + Powdered lobelia, (herb,) 1 tea-spoonful. + Warm water, 1 wine-glass. + +Mix, and administer at a dose. + +(A table-spoonful of common salt and water will generally vomit a dog.) + +If this dose does not provoke emesis, it should not be repeated, for it +may act as a relaxant, and carry the morbid accumulations off by the +alimentary canal. If the bowels are constipated, use injections of +soap-suds. If the symptoms are complicated, the following medicine must +be prepared:-- + + Powdered mandrake, 1 table-spoonful. + " sulphur, 1 tea-spoonful. + " charcoal, 2 tea-spoonfuls. + " marshmallows, 1 table-spoonful. + +Mix. Divide the mass into six parts, and administer one in honey, night +and morning, for the first day; after which, a single powder, daily, +will suffice. The diet to consist of mush, together with a drink of thin +arrowroot. If, however, the animal be in a state of plethora, very +little food should be given him. + +If the strength fails, support it with beef tea. Should a diarrhoea +attend the malady, give an occasional drink of hardhack tea. + + + + +FITS. + + +Dogs are subject to epileptic fits, which are often attended with +convulsions. They attack dogs of all ages, and under every variety of +management. Dogs that are apparently healthy are often suddenly +attacked. The nervous system of the dog is very susceptible to external +agents; hence whatever raises any strong passion in them often produces +fits. Pointers and setters have often been known to suffer an attack +during the excitement of the chase. Fear will also produce fits; and +bitches, while suckling, if burdened with a number of pups, and not +having a sufficiency of nutriment to support the lacteal secretion, +often die in convulsive fits. Young puppies, while teething, are subject +to fits: simply scarifying their gums will generally give temporary +relief. Lastly, fits may be hereditary, or they may be caused by +derangement of the stomach. In all cases of fits, it is very necessary, +in order to treat them with success, that we endeavor, as far as +possible, to ascertain the causes, and remove them as far as lies in our +power: this accomplished, the cure is much easier. + +_Treatment._--Whenever the attack is sudden and violent, and the animal +is in good flesh, plunge him into a tub of warm water, and give an +injection of the same, to which a tea-spoonful of salt may be added. It +is very difficult, in fact improper, to give medicine during the fit; +but as soon as it is over, give + + Manna, 1 tea-spoonful. + Common salt, half a tea-spoonful. + +Add a small quantity of water, and give it at a dose. + +_Another._ + +Make an infusion of mullein leaves, and give to the amount of a +wine-glass every four hours. With a view of preventing a recurrence of +fits, keep the animal on a vegetable diet. If the bowels are +constipated, give thirty grains of extract of butternut, or, if that +cannot be readily procured, substitute an infusion of senna and manna, +to which a few caraways may be added. + +If the nervous system is deranged, which may be known by the +irritability attending it, then give a tea-spoonful of the powdered +nervine, (lady's slipper.) The diet must consist of boiled articles, and +the animal must be allowed to take exercise. + + + + +WORMS. + + +Worms may proceed from various causes; but they are seldom found in +healthy dogs. One of the principal causes is debility in the digestive +organs. + +_Indications of Cure._--To tone up the stomach and other organs,--by +which means the food is prevented from running into fermentation,--and +administer vermifuges. The following are good examples:-- + + Oil of wormseed, 1 tea-spoonful. + Powdered assafoetida, 30 grains. + +To be given every morning, fasting. Two doses will generally suffice. + +_Another._ + + Powdered mandrake, half a table-spoonful. + " Virginia snakeroot, 1 tea-spoonful. + +Divide into four doses, and give one every night, in honey. + +_Another._ + +Make an infusion of the sweet fern, (_comptonea asplenifolia_,) and give +an occasional drink, followed by an injection of the same. + +_Another._ + + Powdered golden seal, half a table-spoonful. + Common brown soap, 1 ounce. + +Rub them well together in a mortar, and form the mass into pills about +the size of a hazel-nut, and give one every night. + + + + +MANGE. + + +This disease is too well known to need any description. The following +are deemed the best cures:-- + +_External Application for Mange._ + + Powdered charcoal, half a table-spoonful. + " sulphur, 1 ounce. + Soft soap sufficient to form an ointment. + +To be applied externally for three successive days; at the end of which +time, the animal is to be washed with castile soap and warm water, and +afterwards wiped dry. + +The internal remedies consist of equal parts of sulphur and cream of +tartar, half a tea-spoonful of which may be given daily, in honey. + +When the disease becomes obstinate, and large, scabby eruptions appear +on various parts of the body, take + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Water, 1 pint. + +Wash the parts daily, and keep the animal on a light diet. + + + + +INTERNAL ABSCESS OF THE EAR. + + +In this complaint, the affected side is generally turned downwards, and +the dog is continually shaking his head. + +_Treatment._--In the early stages, foment the part twice a day with an +infusion of marshmallows. As soon as the abscess breaks, wash with an +infusion of raspberry leaves, and if a watery discharge continues, wash +with an infusion of white oak bark. + + + + +ULCERATION OF THE EAR. + + +External ulcerations should be washed twice a day with + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Water, 8 ounces. + +Mix. + +As soon as the ulcerations assume a healthy appearance, touch them with +Turlington's balsam or tincture of gum catechu. + + + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. + + +Whenever inflammation of the bowels makes its appearance, it is a sure +sign that there is a loss of equilibrium in the circulation; and this +disturbance may arise from a collapse of the external surface, or from +irritation produced by hardened excrement on the mucous membrane of the +intestines. An attack is recognized by acute pain in the abdominal +region. The dog gives signs of suffering when moved, and the bowels are +generally constipated. + +_Treatment._--Endeavor to equalize the circulation by putting the animal +into a warm bath, where he should remain about five minutes. When taken +out, the surface must be rubbed dry. Then give the following +injection:-- + + Linseed oil, 4 ounces. + Warm water, 1 gill. + +Mix. + +To allay the irritation of the bowels, give the following:-- + + Powdered pleurisy root, 1 tea-spoonful. + " marshmallow root, 1 table-spoonful. + +Mix, and divide into three parts; one to be given every four hours. + +Should vomiting be a predominant symptom, a small quantity of saleratus, +dissolved in spearmint tea, may be given. + +Should not this treatment give relief, make a fomentation of hops, and +apply it to the belly; and give half an ounce of manna. The only +articles of food and drink should consist of barley gruel and mush. If, +however, the dog betrays great heat, thirst, panting, and restlessness, +a small quantity of cream of tartar may be added to the barley gruel. +The bath and clysters may be repeated, if necessary. + + + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER. + + +This requires the same treatment as the preceding malady. + + + + +ASTHMA. + + +Dogs that are shut up in damp cellars, and deprived of pure air and +exercise, are frequently attacked with asthma. Old dogs are more liable +to asthma than young ones. + +_Treatment._--Endeavor to ascertain the cause, and remove it. Let the +animal take exercise in the open air. The diet to consist of cooked +vegetables; a small quantity of boiled meat may be allowed; raw meat +should not be given. + +_Compound for Asthma._ + + Powdered bloodroot, } + " lobelia, } of each, 1 tea-spoonful. + " marshmallows, } + " licorice, } + +Mix. Divide into twelve parts, and give one night and morning. If they +produce retching, reduce the quantity of lobelia. The object is not to +vomit, but to induce a state of nausea or relaxation. + + + + +PILES. + + +Piles are generally brought on by confinement, over-feeding, &c., and +show themselves by a red, sore, and protruded rectum. Dogs subject to +constipation are most likely to be attacked. + +_Treatment._--Give the animal half a tea-spoonful of sulphur for two or +three mornings, and wash the parts with an infusion of white oak bark. +If they are very painful, wash two or three times a day with an infusion +of hops, and keep the animal on a light diet. + + + + +DROPSY. + + +Dropsy is generally preceded by loss of appetite, cough, diminution of +natural discharge of urine, and costiveness. The abdomen shortly +afterwards begins to enlarge. + +_Treatment._--It is sometimes necessary to evacuate the fluid by +puncturing the abdomen; but this will seldom avail much unless the +general health is improved, and the suppressed secretions restored. The +following is the best remedy we know of:-- + + Powdered flagroot, } of each a quarter of + " male fern, } an ounce. + Scraped horseradish, a tea-spoonful. + +Mix. Divide into eight parts, and give one night and morning. Good +nutritious diet must be allowed. + + + + +SORE THROAT. + + +A strong decoction of mullein leaves applied to a sore throat will +seldom fail in curing it. + + + + +SORE EARS. + + +A dog's ears may become sore and scabby from being torn, or otherwise +injured. In such cases, they should be anointed with marshmallow +ointment. + + + + +SORE FEET. + + +If the feet become sore from any disease between the claws, apply a +poultice composed of equal parts of marshmallows and charcoal; after +which the following wash will complete the cure:-- + + Pyroligneous acid, 1 ounce. + Water, 6 ounces. + +Mix, and wash with a sponge twice a day. + + + + +WOUNDS. + + +Turlington's Balsam is the best application for wounds. Should a dog be +bitten by one that is mad, give him a tea-spoonful of lobelia in water, +and bind some of the same article on the wound. + + + + +SPRAINS. + + +For sprains of any part of the muscular structure, use one of the +following prescriptions:-- + + Oil of wormwood, 1 ounce. + Tincture of lobelia, 2 ounces. + Infusion of hops, 1 quart. + +Mix. Bathe the part twice a day. + +_Another._ + + Wormwood, } of each a handful. + Thoroughwort, } + New England rum, 1 pint. + +Set them in a warm place for a few hours, then bathe the part with the +liquid; and bind some of the herb on the part, if practicable. + + + + +SCALDS. + + +If a dog be accidentally scalded, apply, with as little delay as +possible,-- + + Lime water, } equal parts. + Linseed oil, } + + + + +OPHTHALMIA. + + +Ophthalmia is supposed to be contagious; yet a mild form may result from +external injury, as blows, bruises, or extraneous bodies introduced +under the eyelid. The eye is such a delicate and tender organ, that the +smallest particle of any foreign body lodging on its surface will cause +great pain and swelling. + +_Treatment._--Take a tea-spoonful of finely-pulverized marshmallow root, +add sufficient hot water to make a thin mucilage, and with this wash the +eye frequently. Keep the animal in a dark place, on a light diet; and if +the eyes are very red and tender, give a pill composed of twenty-nine +grains extract of butternut and ten grains cream of tartar. + +If purulent discharge sets in, bathe the eye with infusion of camomile +or red rose leaves, and give the following:-- + + Powdered pleurisy root, } + " bloodroot, } equal parts. + " sulphur, } + +Dose, half a table-spoonful daily. To be given in honey. When the +eyelids adhere together, wash with warm milk. + + + + +WEAK EYES. + + +It often happens that, after an acute attack, the eyes are left in a +weak state, when there is a copious secretion of fluid continually +running from them. In such cases, the eyes may be washed, night and +morning, with pure cold water, and the general health must be improved: +for the latter purpose, the following preparation is recommended:-- + + Manna, 1 ounce. + Powdered gentian, 1 tea-spoonful. + " mandrake, half a tea-spoonful. + +Rub them together in a mortar, and give a pill, about the size of a +hazel-nut, every night. If the manna is dry, a little honey will be +necessary to amalgamate the mass. + + + + +FLEAS AND VERMIN. + + +Fleas and vermin are very troublesome to dogs; yet they may easily be +got rid of by bathing the dog with an infusion of lobelia for two +successive mornings, and afterwards washing with water and castile soap. + + + + +HYDROPHOBIA. + + +Whenever one dog is bitten by another, and the latter is supposed to +labor under this dreadful malady, immediate steps should be taken to +arrest it; for a dog once bitten by another, whatever may be the stage +or intensity of the disease, is never safe. The disease may appear in a +few days; in some instances, it is prolonged for eight months. + +_Symptoms._--Mr. Lawson tells us that "the first symptom appears to be a +slight failure of the appetite, and a disposition to quarrel with other +dogs. A total loss of appetite generally succeeds. A mad dog will not +cry out on being struck, or show any sign of fear on being threatened. +In the height of the disorder, he will bite all other dogs, animals, or +men. When not provoked, he usually attacks only such as come in his way; +but, having no fear, it is very dangerous to strike or provoke him. The +eyes of mad dogs do not look red or fierce, but dull, and have a +peculiar appearance, not easy to be described. Mad dogs seldom bark, but +occasionally utter a most dismal and plaintive howl, expressive of +extreme distress, and which they who have once heard can never forget. +They do not froth at the mouth; but their lips and tongue appear dry and +foul, or slimy. They cannot swallow water." Mr. Lawson, and indeed many +veterinary practitioners, have come to the conclusion that all remedies +are fallacious![27] + +_Remarks._--In White's Dictionary we are informed that the tops of +yellow broom have been used for hydrophobia in the human subject with +great success; and we do not hesitate to say that they might be used +with equal success on beasts. Dr. Muller, of Vienna, has lately +published, in the _Gazette de Santé_, some facts which go to show that +the yellow broom is invaluable in the treatment of this malady. Dr. +White tells us that "M. Marochetti gave a decoction of yellow broom to +twenty-six persons who had been bitten by a mad dog, viz., nine men, +eleven women, and six children. Upon an examination of their tongues, he +discovered pimples in five men, three children, and in all the women. +The seven that were free from pimples took the decoction of broom six +weeks and recovered." + +The same author informs us that "M. Marochetti, during his residence at +Ukraine, in the year 1813, attended fifteen persons who had been bitten +by a mad dog. While he was making preparations for cauterizing the +wounds, some old men requested him to treat the unfortunate people +according to the directions of a peasant in the neighborhood, who had +obtained great reputation for the cure of hydrophobia. The peasant gave +to fourteen persons, placed under his care, a strong decoction of the +yellow broom; he examined, twice a day, the under part of the tongue, +where he had generally discovered little pimples, containing, as he +supposed, the hydrophobic poison. These pimples at length appeared, and +were observed by M. Marochetti himself. As they formed, the peasant +opened them, and cauterized the parts with a red-hot needle; after which +the patients gargled with the same decoction. The result of this +treatment was, that the fourteen patients returned cured, having drank +the decoction six weeks." The following case will prove the value of the +plantain, (_plantago major_.) We were called upon, October 25, 1850, to +see a dog, the property of Messrs. Stewart & Forbes, of Boston. From the +symptoms, we were led to suppose that the animal was in the incipient +stage of canine madness. We directed him to be securely fastened, kept +on a light diet, &c. The next day, a young Newfoundland pup was placed +in the cellar with the patient, who seized the little fellow, and +crushed his face and nose in a most shocking manner, both eyes being +almost obliterated. The poor pup lingered in excruciating torment until +the owner, considering it an act of charity, had it killed. This act of +ferocity on the part of the patient confirmed our suspicions as to the +nature of the malady. We commenced the treatment by giving him +tea-spoonful doses of powdered plantain, (_plantago major_,) night and +morning, in the food, and in the course of a fortnight, the eye (which, +during the early stage of the malady, had an unhealthy appearance) +assumed its natural state, and the appetite returned; in short, the dog +got rapidly well. We feel confident that, if this case had been +neglected, it might have terminated in canine madness. + +We are satisfied that the plantain possesses valuable antiseptic and +detergent properties. Dr. Beach tells us that "a negro at the south +obtained his freedom by disclosing a nostrum for the bites of snakes, +the basis of which was the plantain." A writer states that a toad, in +fighting with a spider, as often as it was bitten, retired a few steps, +ate of the plantain, and then renewed the attack. The person deprived it +of the plant, and it soon died. + +_Treatment._--Let the suspected dog be confined by himself, so that he +cannot do injury. Then take two ounces of lobelia, and one ounce of +sulphur, place them in a common wash tub, and add several gallons of +boiling water. As soon as it is sufficiently cool, plunge the dog into +it, and let him remain in it several minutes. Then give an infusion of +either of the following articles: yellow broom, plantain, or Greek +valerian, one ounce of the herb to a pint of water. An occasional +tea-spoonful of the powdered plantain may be allowed with the food, +which must be entirely vegetable. If the dog has been bitten, wash the +part with a strong infusion of lobelia, and bind some of the herb on the +part. The treatment should be continued for several days, or until the +animal recovers, and all danger is past. + +(For information on the causes of madness, the reader is referred to my +work on the Horse, p. 108.) + +FOOTNOTE: + +[27] They probably only allude to cauterization, cutting out the bitten +part, and the use of poisons. It cannot be expected that such processes +and agents should ever cure the disease. Let them try our agents before +they pronounce "all remedies fallacious." Let them try the _alisma +plantago_, (plantain,) yellow broom tops, _scutellaria_, (skullcap,) +lobelia, Greek valerian, &c. + + + + +MALIGNANT MILK SICKNESS OF THE WESTERN STATES, OR CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS. + + +This name applies to a disease said to be very fatal in the Western +States, attacking certain kinds of live stock, and also persons who make +use of the meat and dairy products of such cattle. + +The cause, nature, and treatment of this disease is so little understood +among medical men, and such an alarming mortality attends their +practice, that many of the inhabitants of the west and south-west depend +entirely on their domestic remedies. "It is in that country emphatically +one of the _opprobria medicorum_." Nor are the mineralites any more +successful in the treatment of other diseases incidental to the Great +West. Their Peruvian bark, _quinine_, and calomel, immense quantities of +which are used without any definite knowledge of their _modus operandi_, +fail in a great majority of cases. If they were only to substitute +powdered charcoal and sulphur for calomel, both in view of prevention +and cure, aided by good nursing, then the mortality would be materially +diminished. The success attending the treatment of upwards of sixty +cases of yellow fever, by Mrs. Shall, the proprietress of the City +Hotel, New Orleans, only one of which proved fatal, is attributed to +good nursing. She knew nothing of blood-letting, calomelizing, +narcotizing. The same success attended the practice of Dr. A. Hunn, of +Kentucky, in the treatment of typhus fever, (which resembles milk +sickness,) who cured every case by plunging his patients immediately +into a hot bath. + +"The whole indication of cure in this disease is to bring on reaction, +to recall the poison which is mixed with the blood and thrown to the +centre, which can only be done by inducing a copious perspiration in the +most prompt and energetic manner. If I mistake not, where sweating was +produced in this complaint, recovery invariably followed, while +bleeding, mercury, &c., only aggravated it." + +From such facts as these, as well as from numerous others, we may learn, +that disease is not under the control of the boasted science of +medicine, as practised by our allopathic brethren. Many millions of +animals, as well as members of the human family, have died from a +misapplication of medicine, and officious meddling. + +The destruction that in former years attended milk sickness may be +learned from the fact, that in the western settlements, its prevalence +often served as a cause to disband a community, and compel the +inhabitants to seek a location which enjoyed immunity from its +occurrence. The legislatures of several of the Western States have +offered rewards for the discovery of the origin of the milk sickness. No +one that we know of has ever yet claimed the reward. In view of the +great lack of information on this subject, we freely contribute our +mite, which may serve, in some degree, to dispel the impenetrable +mystery by which it is surrounded. + +We shall first show that it is not produced by the atmosphere alone, +which by some is supposed to be the cause. + +"It is often found to occupy an isolated spot, comprehending an area of +one hundred acres, whilst for a considerable distance around it is not +produced." + +If the disease had its sole origin in the atmosphere, it would not be +thus confirmed to a certain location; for every one knows, that the +gentlest zephyr would waft the enemy into the surrounding localities, +and there the work of destruction would commence. The reader is probably +aware that bodies whose specific gravity exceeds that of air, such as +grass, seeds, &c., are conveyed through that medium from one field to +another. The miasma of epidemics is said to be conveyed from one +district to another "on the wings of the wind." Hence, if milk sickness +was of atmospheric or even epidemic origin, it would prevail in +adjoining states. This is not the case; for we are told that "this fatal +disease seldom, if ever, prevails westward of the Alleghany Mountains or +in the bordering states." + +The atmosphere which surrounds this globe was intended by the divine +Artist for the purpose of respiration, and it is well adapted to that +purpose: it cannot be considered a pathological agent, or a cause of +disease. In crowded assemblies, and in close barns and stables, it may +hold in solution noxious gases, which, as we have already stated in +different parts of this work, are injurious to the lungs; but as regards +the atmosphere itself, in an uncontaminated state, it is a physiological +agent. It always preserves its identity, and is always represented by +the same equivalents of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid gas. Liebig +says, "One hundred volumes of air have been found, at every period and +in every climate, to contain twenty-one volumes of oxygen." + +Thus oxygen and nitrogen unite in certain equivalents: the result is +atmospheric air; and they cannot be made to unite in any other +proportions. Suppose the oxygen to be in excess, what would be the +result? A universal conflagration would commence; the hardest rocks, and +even the diamond, (considered almost indestructible,) would melt with +"fervent heat." If, on the other hand, nitrogen was in excess, then +every living thing, including both animal and vegetable, would instantly +die. Hence we infer that the atmosphere cannot be considered as the +cause of this disease. + +_Causes._--A creeping vine has been supposed to occasion the disease. +This cannot be the case, for it occurs very frequently when the ground +is covered with snow. We are satisfied, although we may not succeed in +satisfying the reader, that no one cause alone can produce the disease: +there must be a diminution of vital energy, and this diminution may +result, first, from poor diet. Dr. Graff tells us that the general +appearance of these infected districts is somewhat peculiar. The quality +of the soil is, in general, of an inferior description. The growth of +timber is not observed to be so luxuriant as in situations otherwise +similar, but is scrubby, and stunted in its perfect development, in many +instances simulating what in the west is denominated '_barrens_.' We can +easily conceive that these barrens do not furnish the proper amount of +carbon (in the form of food) for the metamorphosis of the tissues; and +if we take into consideration that the animal receives, during the day, +while in search of this food, a large supply of oxygen, and at the same +time the waste of the body is increased by the extra labor required to +select sufficient nutriment,--it being scanty in such situations,--then +it follows that this disproportion between the quantity of carbon in the +food, and that of oxygen absorbed by the skin and lungs, must induce a +diseased or abnormal condition. The animal is sometimes fat, at others +lean. Some of the cows attacked with this disease were fat, and in +apparent health, and nothing peculiar was observed until immediately +preceding the outbreak of the fatal symptoms. The presence of fat is +generally proof positive of an abnormal state; and in such cases the +liver is often diseased; the blood then becomes loaded with fat and oil, +and is finally deposited in the cellular tissues. The reader will now +understand how an animal accumulates fat, notwithstanding it be +furnished with insufficient diet. All that we wish to contend for is, +that in such cases vital resistance is compromised. We have observed +that, in the situation alluded to, vegetation was stunted, &c., and +knowing that vegetables are composed of nearly the same materials which +constitute animal organization,--the carbon or fat of the former being +deposited in the seeds and fruits, and that of the latter in the +cellular structure,--then we can arrive at but one conclusion, viz., +that any location unfavorable to vegetation is likewise ill adapted to +preserve the integrity of animal life. + +In connection with this, it must be remembered that during the night the +soil emits excrementitious vapors which are taken into the animal system +by the process of respiration. In the act of rumination, vapor is also +enclosed in the globules of saliva, and thus reach the stomach. Many +plants which during the day may be eaten with impunity by cattle, +actually become poisonous during the night! This, we are aware, will +meet with some opposition; to meet which we quote from Liebig:-- + +"How powerful, indeed, must the resistance appear which the vital force +supplies to leaves charged with oil of turpentine or tannic acid, when +we consider the affinity of oxygen for these compounds! + +"This intensity of action, or of resistance, the plant obtains by means +of the sun's light; the effect of which in chemical actions may be, and +is, compared to that of a very high temperature, (moderate red heat.) + +"During the night, an opposite process goes on in the plant; we see then +that the constituents of the leaves and green parts combine with the +oxygen of the air--a property which in daylight they did not possess. + +"From these facts we can draw no other conclusion but this: that the +intensity of the vital force diminishes with the abstraction of light; +that, with the approach of night, a state of equilibrium is established; +and that, in complete darkness, all those constituents of plants which, +during the day, possessed the power of separating oxygen from chemical +combinations, and of resisting its action, lose their power completely. + +"A precisely similar phenomenon is observed in animals. + +"The living animal body exhibits its peculiar manifestations of vitality +only at certain temperatures. When exposed to a certain degree of cold, +these vital phenomena entirely cease. + +"The abstraction of heat must, therefore, be viewed as quite equivalent +to a diminution of the vital energy; the resistance opposed by the vital +force to external causes of disturbance must diminish, in certain +temperatures, in the same ratio in which the tendency of the elements of +the body to combine with the oxygen of the air increases." + +_Secondly._ In the situations alluded to, we generally find poisonous +and noxious plants, with an abundance of decayed vegetable matter. An +English writer has said, "The farmers of England might advantageously +employ a million at least of additional laborers in clearing their wide +domains of noxious plants,[28] which would amply repay them in the +superior quality of their produce. They would then feel the truth of +that axiom in philosophy, "that he who can contrive to make two blades +of grass, or wholesome grain, grow where one poisonous plant grew +before, is a greater benefactor to the human race than all the +conquerors or heroes who have ever lived." The noxious plants found in +such abundance in the Western States are among the principal causes, +either directly or indirectly, of the great mortality among men, horses, +cattle, and sheep. The hay would be just as destructive as when in its +green state, were it not that, in the process of drying, the volatile +and poisonous properties of the buttercup, dandelion, poppy, and +hundreds of similar destructive plants found in the hay, evaporate. It +is evident that if animals have partaken of such plants, although death +in all cases do not immediately follow, there must be a deficiency of +vital resistance, or loss of equilibrium, and the animal is in a +negative state. It is consequently obvious that when in such a state it +is more liable to receive impressions from external agents--in short, is +more subject to disease, and this disease may assume a definite form, +regulated by location. + +_Thirdly._ A loss of vital resistance may result from drinking impure +water. (See _Watering_, p. 15.) Dr. Graff tells us that "another +peculiar appearance, which serves to distinguish these infected spots, +is the breaking forth of numerous feeble springs, called oozes, +furnishing but a trifling supply of water." Such water is generally +considered unwholesome, and will, of course, deprive the system of its +vital resistance, if partaken of. + +_Fourthly._ A loss of vital resistance may result from exposure; for it +is well known that cattle which have been regularly housed every night +have escaped the attacks of this malady, and that when suffered to +remain at large, they were frequently seized with it. + +_Lastly._ The indirect causes of milk fever exist in any thing that can +for a time prevent the free and full play of any part of the animal +functions. The direct causes of death are chemical action, resulting +from decomposition, which overcomes the vital principle. + +Professor Liebig tells us, that "chemical action is opposed by the vital +principle. The results produced depend upon the strength of their +respective actions; either an equilibrium of both powers is attained, or +the acting body yields to the superior force. If chemical action obtains +the ascendency, it acts as a poison." + +_Remarks._--Let us suppose that one, or a combination of the preceding +causes, has operated so as to produce an abnormal state in the system of +a cow. She is then suffered to remain in the unhealthy district during +the night: while there, exposed to the emanations from the soil, she +requires the whole force of her vital energies to ward off chemical +decompositions, and prevent encroachment on the various functions. A +contest commences between the vital force and chemical action, and, +after a hard conflict in their incessant endeavors to overcome each +other, the chemical agency obtains the ascendency, and disease of a +putrid type (milk fever) is the result. The disease may not immediately +be recognized, for the process of decomposition may be insidious; yet +the milk and flesh of such an animal may communicate the disease to man +and other animals. It is well known that almost any part of animal +bodies in a state of putrefaction, such as milk, cheese, muscle, pus, +&c., communicate their own state of decomposition to other bodies. Many +eminent medical men have lost their lives while dissecting, simply by +putrefactive matter coming in contact with a slight wound or puncture. +Dr. Graff made numerous experiments on dogs with the flesh, &c., of +animals having died of milk sickness. He says, "My trials with the +poisoned flesh were, for the most part, made on dogs, which I confined; +and I often watched the effect of the poison when administered at +regular intervals. In the space of forty-eight hours from the +commencement of the administration of either the butter, cheese, or +flesh, I have observed unequivocal appearances of their peculiar action, +while the appetite remains unimpaired until the expiration of the fourth +or fifth day." From the foregoing remarks, the reader will agree with +us, that the disease is of a putrid type, and has a definite character. +What is the reason of this definite character? All diseases are under +the control of the immutable laws of nature. They preserve their +identity in the same manner that races of men preserve theirs. Milk +sickness of the malignant type luxuriates in the locations referred to, +for the same reasons that yellow fever is peculiar to warm climates, and +consumption to cold ones; and that different localities have distinct +diseases; for example, ship fever, jail fever, &c. + +Before disease can attack, and develop itself in the bodies of men or +animals, the existing equilibrium of the vital powers must be disturbed; +and the most common causes of this disturbance we have already alluded +to. In reference to the milk, butter, cheese, &c., of infected animals, +and their adaptation to develop disease in man, and in other locations +than those referred to, we observe, that when a quantity, however small, +of contagious matter is introduced into the stomach, if its antiseptic +properties are the least deranged, the original disease (milk sickness) +is produced, just as a small quantity of yeast will ferment a whole +loaf. The transformation takes place through the medium of the blood, +and produces a body identical with, or similar to, the exciting or +contagious matter. The quantity of the latter must constantly augment; +for the state of change or decomposition which affects one particle of +the blood is imparted to others. The time necessary to accomplish it, +however, depends on the amount of vital resistance, and of course varies +in different animals. In process of time, the whole body becomes +affected, and in like manner it is communicated to other individuals; +and this may take place by simply respiring the carbonic acid gas, or +morbific materials from the lungs, of diseased animals in the infected +districts. + +We are told that the latent condition of the disease may be discovered +by subjecting the suspected animal to a violent degree of exercise. This +is a precaution practised by butchers before slaughtering animals in any +wise suspected of the poisonous contamination;[29] for according to the +intensity of the existing cause, or its dominion over the vital power, +it will be seized with tremors, spasms, convulsions, or even death. The +reader is, probably, aware that an excess of motion will sometimes +cause instant death; for both men and animals, supposed to be in +excellent health, are known to die suddenly from excessive labor. In +some cases of excess of muscular exertion, the active force in living +parts may be entirely destroyed in producing these violent mechanical +results: hence we have a loss of equilibrium between voluntary and +involuntary motion, and there is not sufficient vitality left to carry +on the latter. Professor Liebig says, "A stag may be hunted to death. +The condition of metamorphosis into which it has been brought by an +enormous consumption both of force and of oxygen continues when all +phenomena of motion have ceased, and the flesh becomes uneatable." A +perfect equilibrium, therefore, between the consumption of vital force +for the supply of waste, protecting the system from encroachments, and +for mechanical effects, must exist; the animal is then in health: the +contrary is obvious. + +_Treatment._--The greatest care must be taken to secure the patient good +nutritious food, pure air, and water. The food should consist of a +mixture of two or more of the following articles, which must be cooked: +linseed, parsnips, shorts, carrots, meal, apples, barley, oats, turnips, +slippery elm, oil cake, &c. We again remind the reader that no single or +compound medicine can be procured that will be suitable for every stage +of the disease; it must be treated according to its indications. Yet the +following compound, aided by warmth, moisture, and friction, externally, +will be found better than any medicine yet known. It consists of + + Powdered charcoal, 8 ounces. + " sulphur, 2 ounces. + Fine salt, 3 ounces. + Oatmeal, 2 pounds. + Mandrake, (_podophyllum peltatum_,) 1 ounce. + +After the ingredients are well mixed, divide the mass into fourteen +parts, and give one night and morning. + +_Special Treatment with reference to the Symptoms._--Suppose the animal +to be "off her feed," and the bowels are constipated; then give an +aperient composed of + + Extract of butternut, 2 drachms. + Powdered capsicum, one third of a tea-spoonful. + Thoroughwort tea, 2 quarts. + +To be given at a dose, taking care to pour it down the throat in a +gradual manner; for, if poured down too quick, it will fall into the +paunch. If the rectum is suspected to be loaded with excrement, make use +of the common soap-suds injection. + +If the animal appears to walk about without any apparent object in view, +there is reason to suppose that the brain is congested. This may be +verified if the _sclerotica_ (white of the eye) is of a deep red color. +The following will be indicated:-- + + Mandrake, (_podophyllum peltatum_,) 1 table-spoonful. + Sulphur, 1 tea-spoonful. + Cream of tartar, 1 tea-spoonful. + Hot water, 2 quarts. + +To be given at a dose. At the same time apply cold water to the head, +and rub the spine and legs (below the knees) with the following +counter-irritant:-- + + Powdered bloodroot or cayenne, 1 ounce. + " black pepper, half an ounce. + Boiling vinegar, 1 quart. + +Rub the mixture in while hot, with a piece of flannel. + +If a trembling of the muscular system is observed, then give + + Powdered ginger, } + " cinnamon, } of each half + " golden seal, } a tea-spoonful. + +To be given at a dose, in half a gallon of catnip tea. Aid the vital +powers in producing a crisis by the warmth and moisture, as directed in +the treatment of colds, &c. + +It is necessary to keep the rectum empty by means of injections, forms +of which will be found in this work. + +The remedies we here recommend can be safely and successfully used by +those unskilled in medicine; and, when aided by proper attention to the +diet, ventilation, and comfort of the patient, we do not hesitate to say +(provided, however, they are resorted to in the early stages) they will +cure forty-nine cases out of fifty, without the advice of a physician. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[28] The American farmers are just beginning to wake up on this subject, +and before long we hope to see our pasture lands free from all poisonous +plants. Dr. Whitlaw says, "A friend of mine had two fields cleared of +buttercups, dandelion, ox-eye, daisy, sorrel, hawk-weed, thistles, +mullein, and a variety of other poisonous or noxious plants: they were +dried, burnt, and their ashes strewed over the fields. He had them sown +as usual, and found that the crops of hay and pasturage were more than +double what they had been before. I was furnished with butter for two +successive summers during the months of July and August of 1827. The +butter kept for thirty days, and proved, at the end of that time, better +than that fresh churned and brought to the Brighton or Margate markets. +It would bear salting at that season of the year." + +[29] Unfortunately, they do not all practise it. Dr. Graff says, "There +is a murderous practice now carried on in certain districts, in which +the inhabitants will not themselves consume the butter and cheese +manufactured; but, with little solicitude for the lives or health of +others, they send it, in large quantities, to be sold in the cities of +the west, particularly Louisville, Kentucky, and St. Louis, Missouri. Of +the truth of this I am well apprised by actual observation; and I am as +certain that it has often caused death in those cities, when the medical +attendants viewed it as some anomalous form of disease, not suspecting +the means by which poison had been conveyed among them. Physicians of +the latter city, having been questioned particularly on this subject, +have mentioned to me a singular and often fatal disease, which appeared +in certain families, the cases occurring simultaneously, and all traces +of it disappearing suddenly, and which I cannot doubt were the result of +poisoned butter or cheese. This recklessness of human life it should be +our endeavor to prevent; and the heartless wretches who practise it +should be brought to suffer a punishment commensurate with the enormity +of their crime. From the wide extent of the country in which it is +carried on, we readily perceive the difficulties to be encountered in +the effort to put a stop to the practice. This being the case, our next +proper aim should be to investigate the nature of the cause, and +establish a more proper plan of treatment, by which it may be robbed of +its terrors, and the present large proportionate mortality diminished." + + + + +BONE DISORDER IN COWS. + + +We have frequently seen accounts, in various papers, of "bone disorder +in milch cows." The bony structure of animals is composed of vital +solids studded with crystallizations of saline carbonates and +phosphates, and is liable to take on morbid action similar to other +textures. Disease of the bones may originate constitutionally, or from +derangement of the digestive organs. We have, for example, _mollities +ossium_, (softening of the bones;) the disease, however, is very rare. +It may be known by the substance of the bones being soft and yielding, +liable to bend with small force. + +We have also _fragilitas ossium_, (brittleness of bones.) This is +characterized by the bony system being of a friable nature, and liable +to be fractured by slight force. We have in our possession the fragments +of the small pastern of a horse, the bone having been broken into +seventeen pieces, by a slight concussion, without any apparent injury to +the skin and cellular substance; not the slightest external injury could +be perceived. + +There are several other diseases of the bones, which, we presume, our +readers are acquainted with; such as _exostosis_, _caries_, &c., neither +of which apply to the malady under consideration. We merely mention +these for the purpose of showing that the bones are not exempt from +disease, any more than other structures; yet it does not always follow +that a lack of the phosphate of lime in cow's milk is a sure sign of +diseased bones. + +Reader, we do not like the term "_bone disorder_:" it does not throw the +least light on the nature of the malady; it savors too much of "_horn +ail_," "_tail ail_"--terms which only apply to symptoms. We are told +also that, in this disease, "_the bones threaten to cave in--have wasted +away_." If they do threaten to cave in, the best way we know of to give +them an outward direction is, to promote the healthy secretions and +excretions by a well-regulated diet, and to stimulate the digestive +organs to healthy action. If the bones "have wasted away," we should +like to have a few of them in our collection of morbid anatomy. That the +bones should waste away, and be capable of assuming their original shape +simply by feeding bone meal, is something never dreamt of in our +philosophy.[30] Besides, if the cows get well, (we are told they do,) +then we must infer that the bones possess the properties of sudden +expansion and contraction, similar to those of the muscles. It may be +well for us to observe, that not only the bones, but all parts of animal +organization, expand and contract in an imperceptible manner. Thus, up +to the period of puberty, all parts expand: old age comes on, and with +it a gradual wasting and collapse. This is a natural result--one of the +uncompromising laws of nature, over which human agency (bone meal +included) has not the least control. If the bones are diseased, it +results either from impaired digestion or a disproportion between the +carbon of the food and the oxygen respired; hence the "bone disorder," +not being persistent, is only a result--a symptom; and as such we view +it. As far as we have been able to ascertain the nature of the malady, +as manifested by the symptoms, (_caving in_, _wasting_, _absence of +phosphate of lime in the milk_, &c.,) we give it as our opinion,--and we +think our medical brethren will agree with us, (although we do not often +agree,)--that "bone disorder" is a symptom of a disease very prostrating +in its character, originating in the digestive organs; hence not +confined to the bones, but affecting all parts of the animal more or +less. And the only true plan of treatment consists in restoring healthy +action to the whole animal system. The ways and means of accomplishing +this object are various. If it is clearly ascertained that the animal +system is deficient in phosphate of lime, we see no good reason why bone +meal should not be included among our remedial agents; yet, as corn meal +and linseed contain a large amount of phosphate, we should prefer them +to bone dust, although we do not seriously object to its use. + +The value of food or remedial agents consists in their adaptation to +assimilation; in other words, an absence of chemical properties. These +may be very complex; yet, if they are only held together by a weak +chemical action, they readily yield to the vital principle, and are +transformed. Atoms of bones are held together by a strong chemical +affinity; and the vital principle, in order to convert bone dust into +component parts of the organism, must employ more force to transform +them than it would require for the same purpose when corn meal or +linseed were used, their chemical affinity being weaker than that of +bones. + +In the treatment of any disease, we always endeavor to ascertain its +causes, and, if possible, remove them; and whatever may be indicated we +endeavor to supply to the system. Thus, if phosphates were indicated, we +should use them. In cases of general debility, however, we should prefer +linseed or corn meal, aided by stimulants, to bone dust. Why not use the +bone dust for manure? The animal would then have the benefit of it in +its fodder. + +In reference to a deficiency of phosphate of lime in the milk, we would +observe, that it may result either from impaired digestion, (in such +cases, a large amount of that article may be expelled from the system in +the form of excrements,) or the food may lack it. We then have a sick +plant, for we believe that the phosphate of lime is as necessary for the +growth of the plant as it seems to be for animal development. If the +plant lacks this important constituent, then its vitality, as a whole, +will be impaired. This is all we desire to contend for in the animal, +viz., that the disease is general, and cannot be considered or treated +as a local affection. + +It has been observed that successive cultivation exhausts the soil, and +deprives it of the constituents necessary for vegetable development. If +so, it follows that there will be a deficiency of silecia, carbonate of +lime,--in short, a loss of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, not +of phosphate of lime alone. + +The fields might be made to produce the requisite amount of nutriment by +replacing every year, in the form of animal excrement, straw, +wood-ashes, and charcoal, as much as we remove from them in the form of +produce. An increase of crop can only be obtained when we add more to +the soil than we take away from it. + +"In Flanders, the yearly loss of the necessary matters in the soil is +completely restored by covering the fields with ashes of wood or bones, +which may, or may not, have been lixiviated. The great importance of +manuring with ashes has been long recognized by agriculturists as the +result of experience. So great a value, indeed, is attached to this +material in the vicinity of Marburg, and in the Wetterau,--two +well-known agricultural districts,--that it is transported, as a manure, +from the distance of eighteen or twenty-four miles. Its use will be at +once perceived, when it is considered that the ashes, after being washed +with water, contain silicate of potass exactly in the same proportion as +in the straw, and that their only other constituents are salts of +phosphoric acid." + +It is well known that phosphate of lime, potass, silecia, carbonate of +lime, magnesia, and soda are discharged in the excrement and urine of +the cow; and this happens when they are not adapted to assimilation as +well as when present in excess. If it is clearly proved that the bones +of a cow are weak, then we should be inclined to prescribe phosphates; +if they are brittle, we should prescribe gelatinous preparations; but +not in the form of bone dust: we should use linseed, which is known to +be rich in phosphates. At the same time, the general health must be +improved. + +It is well known that some cows cannot be fattened, although they have +an abundance of the best kind of fodder. In such cases, we find the +digestive organs deranged, which disturbs the equilibrium of the whole +animal economy. The food may then be said to be a direct cause of +disease. + +The effects of insufficient food are well known; debility includes them +all. If there is not sufficient carbon in the food, the animal is +deprived of the power of reproducing itself, and the cure consists in +supplying the deficiency. At the same time, every condition of nutrition +should be considered; and if the function of digestion is impaired, we +must look to those of absorption, circulation, and secretion also, for +they will be more or less involved. If the appetite is impaired, +accompanied by a loss of cud, it shows that the stomach is overloaded, +or that its function is suspended: stimulants and tonics are then +indicated. A voracious appetite indicates the presence of morbid +accumulations in the stomach and bowels, and they should be cleansed by +aperients; after which, a change of diet will generally effect a cure. +When gas accumulates in the intestines, we have evidence of a loss of +vital power in the digestive organs; fermentation takes place before the +food can be digested. + +The cure consists in restoring the lost function. Diarrhoea is +generally caused by exposure, (taking cold,) or by eating poisons and +irritating substances; the cure may be accomplished by removing the +cold, and cleansing the system of the irritants. Costiveness often +arises from the absorption of the fluids from the solids in their slow +progress through the intestines; exercise will then be indicated. An +occasional injection, however, may be given, if necessary. General +debility, we have said, may arise from insufficient food; to which we +may add the popular practice of milking the cow while pregnant, much of +which milk is yielded at the hazard of her own health and that of her +foetus. Whatever is taken away from the cow in the form of milk ought +to be replaced by the food. Proper attention, however, must be paid to +the state of the digestive organs: they must not be overtaxed with +indigestible substances. With this object in view, we recommend a mixed +diet; for no animal can subsist on a single article of food. Dogs die, +although fed on jelly; they cannot live upon white bread, sugar, or +starch, if these are given as food, to the exclusion of all other +substances. Neither can a horse or cow live on hay alone: they will, +sooner or later, give evidences of disease. They require stimulants. +Common salt is a good stimulant. This explains why salt hay should be +occasionally fed to milch cows; it not only acts as a stimulant, but is +also an antiseptic, preventing putrefaction, &c. + +A knowledge of the constituents of milk may aid the farmer in selecting +the substances proper for the nourishment of animals, and promotive of +the lacteal secretion; for much of the food contains those materials +united, though not always in the same form. "The constituents of milk +are cheese, or caseine--a compound containing nitrogen in large +proportion; butter, in which hydrogen abounds; and sugar of milk, a +substance with a large quantity of hydrogen and oxygen in the same +proportions as in water. It also contains, in solution, lactate of soda, +phosphate of lime, (the latter in very small quantities,) and common +salt; and a peculiar aromatic product exists in the butter, called +butyric acid."--_Liebig._ + +It is very difficult to explain the changes which the food undergoes in +the animal laboratory, (the stomach,) because that organ is under the +dominion of the vital force--an immaterial agency which the chemist +cannot control. Yet we are justified in furnishing the animal with the +elements of its own organization; for although they may not be deposited +in the different structures in their original atoms, they may be changed +into other compounds, somewhat similar. Liebig tells us that whether the +elements of non-azotized food take an immediate share in the act of +transformation of tissues, or whether their share in that process be an +indirect one, is a question probably capable of being resolved by +careful and cautious experiment and observation. It is possible that +these constituents of food, after undergoing some change, are carried +from the intestinal canal directly to the liver, and that there they are +converted into bile, where they meet with the products of the +metamorphosed tissues, and subsequently complete their course through +the circulation. + +This opinion appears more probable, when we reflect that as yet no trace +of starch or sugar has been detected in arterial blood, not even in +animals that have been fed exclusively with these substances. + +The following tables, from Liebig's Chemistry, will give the reader the +difference between what is taken into the system and what passes out. + +FOOD CONSUMED BY A COW IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. + + ------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + |Weight|Weight| | | | | Salts + Articles |in the|in the|Carbon.|Hydrogen.|Oxygen.|Nitrogen.| and + of food. |fresh | dry | | | | |earthly + |state.|state.| | | | |matters. + ------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Potatoes, | 15000| 4170| 1839.0| 241.9 | 1830.6| 50.0 | 208.5 + After grass,| 7500| 6315| 2974.4| 353.6 | 2204.0| 151.5 | 631.5 + Water, | 60000| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 50.0 + ------------+-------------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Total, | 82500| 10485| 4813.4| 595.5 | 4034.6| 201.5 | 889.0 + ------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + +EXCRETIONS OF A COW IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. + + ----------------------------------------------------------------------- + |Weight|Weight | | | | | Salts + Excretions.|in the|in the |Carbon.|Hydrogen.|Oxygen.|Nitrogen.| and + |fresh | dry | | | | |earthly + |state.|state. | | | | |matters. + -----------+------+-------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Excrements,| 28413| 4000.0| 1712.0| 208.0 | 1508.0| 92.0 | 480.0 + Urine, | 8200| 960.8| 261.4| 25.0 | 253.7| 36.5 | 384.2 + Milk, | 8539| 1150.6| 628.2| 99.0 | 321.0| 46.0 | 56.4 + -----------+------+-------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Total, | 45152| 6111.4| 2601.6| 332.0 | 2082.7| 174.5 | 920.6 + -----------+------+-------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Total of | | | | | | | + first part | 82500|10485.0| 4813.4| 595.5 | 4034.6| 201.5 | 889.0 + of this | | | | | | | + table, | | | | | | | + -----------+------+-------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Difference,| 37348| 4374.6| 2211.8| 263.5 | 1951.9| 27.0 | 31.6 + -----------+------+-------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + +FOOD CONSUMED BY A HORSE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. + + --------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------- + Articles|Weight|Weight| | | | | Salts + of food.|in the|in the|Carbon.|Hydrogen.|Oxygen.|Nitrogen.| and + |fresh | dry | | | | | earthy + |state.|state.| | | | |matters. + --------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------- + Hay, | 7500| 6465 | 2961.0| 323.2 | 2502.0| 97.0 | 581.8 + Oats, | 2270| 1927 | 977.0| 123.3 | 707.2| 42.4 | 77.1 + Water, | 16000| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 13.3 + --------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------- + Total,| 25770| 8392 | 3938.0| 446.5 | 3209.2| 139.4 | 672.2 + --------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------- + +EXCRETIONS OF A HORSE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. + + --------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + |Weight|Weight| | | | | Salts + Excretions. |in the|in the|Carbon.|Hydrogen.|Oxygen.|Nitrogen.| and + |fresh | dry | | | | | earthy + |state.|state.| | | | |matters. + --------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Urine, | 1330| 302 | 108.7| 11.5 | 34.1 | 37.8 | 109.9 + Excrements, | 14250| 3525 | 1364.4| 179.8 |1328.9 | 77.6 | 574.6 + | | | | | | | + --------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Total, | 15580| 3827 | 1472.9| 191.3 |1363.0 | 115.4 | 684.5 + --------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Total of first| | | | | | | + part of this| 25770| 8392 | 3938.0| 446.5 |3209.2 | 139.4 | 672.2 + table, | | | | | | | + --------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Difference, | 10190| 4565 | 2465.1| 255.2 |1846.2 | 24.0 | 12.3 + --------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + + The weights in these tables are given in grammes. 1 gramme is equal + to 15.44 grains Troy, very nearly. + +It will be seen from these tables that a large proportion of carbon, +hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and earthy matters are again returned to the +soil. From this we infer that more of these matters being present in the +food than were requisite for the purpose of assimilation, they were +removed from the system in the form of excrement. Two suggestions here +present themselves for the consideration of the farmer, viz., that the +manure increases in value in proportion to the richness of food, and +that more of the latter is often given to a cow than is necessary for +the manufacture of healthy chyle. + +In view, then, of preventing "bone disorder," which we have termed +_indigestion_, we should endeavor to ascertain what articles are best +for food, and learn, from the experience of others, what have been +universally esteemed as such, and, by trying them on our own animals, +prove whether we actually find them so. Scalded or boiled food is +better adapted to the stomach of animals than food otherwise prepared, +and is so much less injurious. The agents that act on the internal +system are those which, in quantities sufficient for an ordinary meal, +supply the animal system with stimulus and nutriment just enough for its +wants, and contain nothing in their nature inimical to the vital +operations. All such articles are properly termed food. (For treatment, +see _Hide-bound_, p. 196.) + +FOOTNOTE: + +[30] Whenever there is a deficiency of carbon, bone meal may assist to +support combustion in the lungs, and by that means restore healthy +action of the different functions, provided, however, the digestive +organs, aided by the vital power, can overcome the chemical action by +which the atoms of bone meal are held together. + + + +-----------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the | + | original document have been preserved. | + | | + | Typographical errors corrected in the text: | + | | + | Page 36 selecter changed to selector | + | Page 48 relaxents changed to relaxants | + | Page 54 bronchea changed to bronchi | + | Page 85 relaxents changed to relaxants | + | Page 112 relaxent changed to relaxant | + | Page 135 antispetics changed to antiseptics | + | Page 162 BLAINE changed to BLAIN | + | Page 181 crums changed to crumbs | + | Page 186 puarts changed to quarts | + | Page 236 Marshallow changed to Marshmallow | + | Page 247 Merinoes changed to Merinos | + | Page 307 cypripedum changed to cypripedium | + | Page 312 duretic changed to diuretic | + | Page 316 peal changed to peel | + | Page 341 similating changed to simulating | + +-----------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The American Reformed Cattle Doctor, by George Dadd + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN REFORMED CATTLE *** + +***** This file should be named 37997-8.txt or 37997-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/9/9/37997/ + +Produced by Barbara Kosker, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain works at the +University of Michigan\'s Making of America collection.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/37997-8.zip b/37997-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..34d0815 --- /dev/null +++ b/37997-8.zip diff --git a/37997-h.zip b/37997-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ac3bfa --- /dev/null +++ b/37997-h.zip diff --git a/37997-h/37997-h.htm b/37997-h/37997-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bbf7038 --- /dev/null +++ b/37997-h/37997-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,17823 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The American Reformed Cattle Doctor by G. H. Dadd, M. D. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + p { margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .5em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + h1 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h5,h6 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h2 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h3 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h4 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + a {text-decoration: none} /* no lines under links */ + div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + + .cen {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} /* centering paragraphs */ + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} /* small caps */ + .fakesc {font-size: 80%;} /* fake small caps, small font size */ + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} /* no indenting */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} /* block indent */ + .right {text-align: right; padding-right: 2em;} /* right aligning paragraphs */ + .img {text-align: center; padding: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} /* centering images */ + .tdr {text-align: right;} /* right align cell */ + .tdrb {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} /* right align cell */ + .tdc {text-align: center;} /* center align cell */ + .tdcl {text-align: center; border-left: .5pt black solid;} /* center align, border left */ + .tdclb {text-align: center; border-left: .5pt black solid; border-bottom: .5pt black solid;} /* center align, border left and bottom */ + .tdctb {text-align: center; border-top: .5pt black solid; border-bottom: .5pt black solid;} /* center align, top and bottom border */ + .tdctlb {text-align: center; border-top: .5pt black solid; border-left: .5pt black solid; border-bottom: .5pt black solid;} /* center align, top, left, bottom border */ + .tdl {text-align: left;} /* left align cell */ + .tdlb {text-align: left; border-bottom: .5pt black solid;} /* left align, border bottom */ + .tdlh {text-align: left; padding-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em;} /* hanging indent for TOC */ + .tdltb {text-align: left; border-top: .5pt black solid; border-bottom: .5pt black solid;} /* left align, top and bottom border */ + .tr {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 1em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} /* transcriber's notes */ + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + color: silver; + background-color: inherit; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers */ + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 90%;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right; font-size: 90%;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: text-top; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem span.pn { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + color: silver; background-color: inherit; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers in poems */ + + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The American Reformed Cattle Doctor, by George Dadd + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The American Reformed Cattle Doctor + +Author: George Dadd + +Release Date: November 12, 2011 [EBook #37997] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN REFORMED CATTLE *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Kosker, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain works at the +University of Michigan\'s Making of America collection.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<a href="images/frontis.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/frontis.jpg" width="75%" alt="A West Highland Ox" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">A West Highland Ox<br /> +The Property of Mr. Elliott of East Ham Essex.</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>THE</h4> +<h3>AMERICAN REFORMED</h3> +<h1>CATTLE DOCTOR;</h1> +<br /> +<h4>CONTAINING<br /> +THE NECESSARY INFORMATION<br /> +FOR<br /> +PRESERVING THE HEALTH AND CURING THE DISEASES<br /> +OF</h4> +<h2>OXEN, COWS, SHEEP, AND SWINE,</h2> +<h4>WITH<br /> +A GREAT VARIETY OF ORIGINAL RECIPES,<br /> +AND<br /> +VALUABLE INFORMATION IN REFERENCE TO</h4> +<h2>FARM AND DAIRY MANAGEMENT;</h2> +<h4>WHEREBY<br /> +EVERY MAN CAN BE HIS OWN CATTLE DOCTOR.</h4> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>THE PRINCIPLES TAUGHT IN THIS WORK ARE, THAT ALL MEDICATION<br /> +SHALL BE SUBSERVIENT TO NATURE; THAT ALL MEDICINAL AGENTS<br /> MUST BE +SANATIVE IN THEIR OPERATION, AND ADMINISTERED<br /> WITH A +VIEW OF AIDING THE VITAL POWERS, INSTEAD OF<br /> DEPRESSING, +AS HERETOFORE, WITH THE<br /> LANCET AND POISON.</h4> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h4>BY</h4> +<h2>G. H. DADD, M. D., VETERINARY PRACTITIONER,</h2> +<h4>AUTHOR OF "ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HORSE."</h4> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h3>BOSTON:<br /> +PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY,<br /> +<span class="smcap">110 Washington Street.</span><br /> +1851.</h3> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5> +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by<br /> +G. H. DADD, M. D.,<br /> +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +STEREOTYPED AT THE<br /> +BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.</h5> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<hr /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +<br /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="10%"> </td> + <td class="tdl" width="80%"> </td> + <td class="tdr" width="10%" style="font-size: 80%;">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap" colspan="2">Introduction,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="3">CATTLE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Importance of supplying Cattle with pure Water,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Remarks on feeding Cattle,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">The Barn and Feeding Byre,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Milking,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Knowledge of Agricultural and Animal Chemistry + important to Farmers,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">On Breeding,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">The Bull,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Value of different breeds of Cows,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Method of preparing Rennet, as practised in England,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Making Cheese,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Gloucester Cheese,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Chester Cheese,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Stilton Cheese,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Dunlop Cheese,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Green Cheese,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Making Butter,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Washing Butter,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Coloring Butter,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Description of the Organs of Digestion in Cattle,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Respiration and Structure of the Lungs,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Circulation of the Blood,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">The Heart viewed externally,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Remarks on Blood-letting,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Efforts of Nature to remove Disease,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Proverbs of the Veterinary Reformers,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">An Inquiry concerning the Souls of Brutes,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlh" colspan="2">The Reformed Practice—Synoptical View of the + Prominent Systems of Medicine,</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Creed of the Reformers,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">True Principles,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Inflammation,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlh" colspan="2">Remarks, showing that very little is known of the + Nature and Treatment of Disease,</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Nature, Treatment, and Causes of Disease in Cattle,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Pleuro-Pneumonia,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Locked-Jaw,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Inflammatory Diseases,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Inflammation of the Stomach, (Gastritis,)</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Inflammation of the Lungs, (Pneumonia,)</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdlh">Inflammation of the Bowels, (Enteritis.—Inflammation + of the Fibro-Muscular Coat of the Intestines,)</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdlh">Inflammation of the Peritoneal Coat of the Intestines, (Peritonitis,)</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Inflammation of the Kidneys, (Nephritis,)</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Inflammation of the Bladder, (Cystitis,)</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Inflammation of the Womb,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Inflammation of the Brain, (Phrenitis,)</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>Inflammation of the Eye,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Inflammation of the Liver, (Hepatitis,)</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Jaundice, or Yellows,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Diseases of the Mucous Surface,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Catarrh, or Hoose,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Epidemic Catarrh,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Malignant Epidemic, (Murrain,)</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Diarrhœa, (Looseness of the Bowels,)</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Dysentery,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Scouring Rot,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Disease of the Ear,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Serous Membranes,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Dropsy,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Hoove, or "Blasting,"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Joint Murrain,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Black Quarter,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Open Joint,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Swellings of Joints,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Sprain of the Fetlock,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Strain of the Hip,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Foul in the Foot,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Red Water,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Black Water,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Thick Urine,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Rheumatism,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Blain,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Thrush,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Black Tongue,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Inflammation of the Throat and its Appendages,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Bronchitis,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Inflammation of Glands,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Loss of Cud,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Colic,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Spasmodic Colic,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Constipation,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Falling down of the Fundament,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Calving,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Embryotomy,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_175">175</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Falling of the Calf-Bed, or Womb,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Garget,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Sore Teats,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Chapped Teats and Chafed Udder,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Fever,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Milk or Puerperal Fever,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Inflammatory Fever,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Typhus Fever,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Horn Ail in Cattle,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Abortion in Cows,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_191">191</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Cow-Pox,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Mange,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Hide-bound,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_196">196</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Lice,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_196">196</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Importance of keeping the Skin of Animals in a Healthy + State,</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Spaying Cows,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Operation of Spaying,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="3">SHEEP</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Preliminary Remarks,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Staggers,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Foot Rot,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Rot,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>Epilepsy,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Red Water,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Cachexy, or General Debility,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Loss of Appetite,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Foundering, (Rheumatism,)</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Ticks,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Scab, or Itch,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Diarrhœa,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Dysentery,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Constipation, or Stretches,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Scours,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_230">230</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Dizziness,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Jaundice,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Inflammation of the Kidneys,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Worms,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Diseases of the Stomach from eating Poisonous Plants,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Sore Nipples,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Fractures,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Common Catarrh and Epidemic Influenza,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Castrating Lambs,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Nature of Sheep,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">The Ram,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_238">238</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Leaping,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Argyleshire Breeders,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Fattening Sheep,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Improvement in Sheep,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Description of the Different Breeds of Sheep,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_249">249</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Teeswater Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_249">249</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Lincolnshire Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Dishley Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Cotswold Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Romney Marsh Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Devonshire Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Dorsetshire Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Wiltshire Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">South Down Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Herdwick Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Cheviot Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Merino Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Welsh Sheep,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="3">SWINE.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Preliminary Remarks,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Natural History of the Hog,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Generalities,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">General Debility, or Emaciation,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_263">263</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Epilepsy, or Fits,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Rheumatism,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Measles,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Ophthalmia,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Vermin,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Red Eruption,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Dropsy,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Catarrh,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Colic,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_268">268</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Diarrhœa,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_268">268</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Frenzy,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_268">268</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Jaundice,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Soreness of the Feet,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>Spaying,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_270">270</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Various Breeds of Swine,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Berkshire Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Hamphire Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Shropshire Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Chinese Breed,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Boars and Sows for Breeding,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Rearing Pigs,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Fattening Hogs,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_275">275</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Method of Curing Swine's Flesh,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_277">277</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="3">APPENDIX</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">On the Action of Medicines,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Clysters,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_281">281</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Forms of Clysters,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Infusions,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Antispasmodics,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_287">287</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Fomentations,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_287">287</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Mucilages,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Washes,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Physic for Cattle,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_290">290</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Mild Physic for Cattle,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_291">291</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Poultices,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_292">292</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Styptics, to arrest Bleeding,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_296">296</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Absorbents,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_296">296</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Forms of Absorbents,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_297">297</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlh" colspan="2">VETERINARY MATERIA MEDICA, embracing a List of the + various Remedies used by the Author of this work in the Practice of Medicine on + Cattle, Sheep, and Swine,</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">General Remarks on Medicines,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_312">312</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Properties of Plants,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_315">315</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Potato,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_316">316</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">TREATMENT OF DISEASE IN DOGS—Preliminary Remarks,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_323">323</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Distemper,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_325">325</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Fits,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_326">326</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Worms,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_327">327</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Mange,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_328">328</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Internal Abscess of the Ear,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_329">329</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Ulceration of the Ear,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_329">329</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Inflammation of the Bowels,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_329">329</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Inflammation of the Bladder,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_330">330</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Asthma,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_331">331</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Piles,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_331">331</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Dropsy,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Sore Throat,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Sore Ears,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Sore Feet,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_333">333</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Wounds,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_333">333</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Sprains,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_333">333</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Scalds,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Ophthalmia,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Weak Eyes,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Fleas and Vermin,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Hydrophobia,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlh" colspan="2">MALIGNANT MILK SICKNESS of the Western States, or + Contgious Typhus,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_339">339</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">BONE DISORDER IN COWS,</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_351">351</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>There is no period in the history of the United States when our domestic +animals have ranked so high as at the present time; yet there is no +subject on which there is such a lamentable want of knowledge as the +proper treatment of their diseases.</p> + +<p>Governor Briggs, in a recent letter to the author, says, "You have my +thanks, and, in my opinion, are entitled to the thanks of the community, +for entering upon this important work. While the subject has engaged the +attention of scientific men in other countries, it has been too long +neglected in our own. Cruelty and ignorance have marked our treatment to +diseased animals. Ignorant himself both of the disease and the remedy, +the owner has been in the habit of administering the popular remedy of +every neighbor who had no better powers of knowing what should be done +than himself, until the poor animal, if the disease would not have +proved fatal, is left alone, until death, with a friendly hand, puts a +period to his sufferings: he is, however, often destroyed by the amount +or destructive character of the remedies, or else by the cruel mode of +administering them. I am persuaded that the community will approve of +your exertions, and find it to their interest to support and sustain +your system."</p> + +<p>The author has labored for several years to substitute a safer and a +more efficient system of medication in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>treatment of diseased +animals, and at the same time to point out to the American people the +great benefits they will derive from the diffusion of veterinary +education.</p> + +<p>That many thousands of our most valuable cattle die under the treatment, +which consists of little else than blood-letting, purging, and +blistering, no one will deny; and these dangerous and destructive agents +are frequently administered by men who are totally unacquainted with the +nature of the agents they prescribe. But a better day is dawning; +veterinary information is loudly called for—demanded; and the farmers +will have it; <i>but it must be a safer and a more efficient system than +that heretofore practised</i>.</p> + +<p>The object of the veterinary art is not only congenial with human +medicine, but the very same paths that lead to a knowledge of the +diseases of man lead also to a knowledge of those of brutes.</p> + +<p>Our domestic animals deserve consideration at our hands. We have tried +all manner of experiments on them for the benefit of science; and +science and scientific men should do something to repay the debt, by +alleviating their sufferings and improving their condition. We are told +that physicians of all ages have applied themselves to the dissection of +animals, and that it was by analogy that those of Greece and Rome judged +of the structure of the human body. For example, the Greeks and Arabians +confined themselves to the dissection of apes and other quadrupeds. +Galen has given us the anatomy of the ape for that of man; and it is +clear that his dissections were restricted to brutes, when he says, that +"if learned physicians have been guilty of gross errors, it is because +they neglected to dissect animals." We advocate the establishment of +veterinary schools, and the cultivation of our reformed system of +veterinary medicine, on the broad principles of humanity. These poor +animals are as susceptible to pain and suffering as we are. Has not the +Almighty given us dominion over them, and placed them under our +protection? Have we done our duty by them? Can we render a good account +of our stewardship?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>In almost every department of science the spirit of inquiry is abroad, +investigation is active; yet, in this department, every thing is left to +chance and ignorance. Men of all professions find it for their interest +to protect property. The merchant, previous to sending his vessel on a +voyage to a distant port, seeks out a skilful navigator to pilot that +vessel into her desired haven with safety. He protects his property. We +protect our property against the ravages of fire by insurance—we defend +our houses from the lightning by conducting that fluid down the sides of +the building into the earth. And shall we not protect our animals? Is +not property invested in live stock as valuable, in proportion, as that +invested in real estate? Can we permit live stock to degenerate and die +prematurely from a want of knowledge of the fundamental laws of their +being? Can we look on and see their heart's blood drawn from them—their +flesh setoned, burned, and blistered—simply because it was the +misguided custom of our ancestors?</p> + +<p>We appeal to the American people at large. They have great encouragement +to educate young men in this important branch of study; for the +beneficial results will be, that the diseases of all classes of domestic +animals will be better understood, and the great losses which this +country sustains will, in a few years, be materially diminished. This is +not all. The value of live stock will be increased at least twenty-five +per cent!</p> + +<p>Look for a moment at the amount of capital invested in live stock; and +from these statistics the reader will perceive that not only the +farmers, but the whole nation, will be enriched. There are in the United +States at least 6,000,000 horses and mules; these, at the rate of $50 +per head, amount to $300,000,000. It is also estimated that there are +20,000,000 of neat cattle; reckon these at $25 per head, and we get the +snug little sum of $500,000,000. We have also 20,000,000 sheep, worth +the same number of dollars. The number of swine have been computed at +24,000,000; and these, at $3 per head, give us $72,000,000. Hence the +reader will see that the capital invested in this class of live stock +reaches the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>enormous sum of $892,000,000. Add the 25 per cent. just +alluded to, and we get a clear gain of $223,000,000. This sum would be +sufficient to build veterinary schools and colleges capable of affording +ample accommodations to every farmer's son in the Union. Hence we +entreat the farming community to ponder on these subjects. They have +only to say the word, and schools for the dissemination of veterinary +information shall spring up in every section of the Union.</p> + +<p>Does the reader wish to know how the <i>farmers</i> can accomplish this +important object? We answer, there are four millions of men engaged in +agricultural pursuits. Their number is three times greater than that of +those engaged in navigation, the learned professions, commerce, and +manufactures. Hence they have the numerical power to control the +government of these United States, and of course can plead their own +cause in the halls of congress, and vote their own supplies for +educational purposes.</p> + +<p>When the author first commenced a warfare against the lancet and other +destructive agents, his only hopes of success were based on the +coöperation of this mighty host of husbandmen; he well knew that there +were many prejudices to be overcome, and none greater than those +existing among his brethren of the same profession. The farmers have +just begun to see the absurdity of bleeding an animal to death, with a +view of saving life; or pouring down their throats powerful and +destructive agents, with a view of making one disease to cure another! +If the cattle doctors, then, will not reform, they must be reformed +through the giant influence of popular opinion. Already the cry is, and +it emanates from some of the most influential agriculturists in the +country,—"<i>No more blood-letting!</i>" "<i>Use your poisons on yourselves.</i>"</p> + +<p>To the cattle-rearing interest, at the hands of many of whom the author +has received aid and encouragement, the following pages are dedicated; +they are intended to furnish them with practical information, with a +view of preventing disease, increasing the value of their stock, and +restoring them to health when sick.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>In reference to our reformed system of veterinary medication, it will be +sufficient, in the present place, just to glance at the fundamental +principles. In the succeeding pages these principles will be more fully +explained. We contemplate the animal system as a complicated piece of +mechanism, subject to the uncompromising and immutable laws of nature, +as they are written upon the face of animate nature by the finger of +Omnipotence.</p> + +<p>All our intentions of cure being in accordance with nature's laws, +(viz., promoting the integrity of the living powers,) we have termed our +system a <i>physiological</i> one, though it is sometimes termed <i>botanic</i>, +in allusion to the fact that most of our remedial agents are derived +from the vegetable kingdom. We recognize a conservative or healing power +in the animal economy, whose unerring indications we endeavor to follow; +considering nature the physician, and the doctor her servant.</p> + +<p>Our system proposes, under all circumstances, to restore the diseased +organs to a healthy state, by coöperating with the vitality remaining in +those organs, by the exhibition of sanative means, and, under all +circumstances, to assist, and not oppose, nature in her curative +processes. Poisonous substances, blood-letting, or processes of cure +that act pathologically, cannot be used by us. The laws of animal life +are physiological: they never were, nor ever will be, pathological.</p> + +<p>The agents we use are just as we find them in the forest and the field, +compounded by the Great Physician. Hence the reader will perceive that +our aim is to depart from the popular debilitating and life-destroying +practice, and approach as near as possible to the sanative.</p> + +<p class="right">G. H. D.<br /></p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +<br /> + +<h2>THE AMERICAN<br /> REFORMED CATTLE DOCTOR.</h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>IMPORTANCE OF SUPPLYING CATTLE WITH PURE WATER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In order to prevent many of the diseases to which cattle are liable, it +is important that they be supplied with pure water. Cattle have often +been known to turn away from the filthy fluid found in some troughs, +which abound in slime and decayed vegetable matter; and, indeed, the +common stagnated pond water is no better than the former. Such water +has, in former years, proved itself to be a serious cause of disease; +and, at the present day, death is running riot among the stock of our +western, and also our northern farmers, when, to our certain knowledge, +the cause exists, in some cases, under their very noses. The farmers +ofttimes see their best stock sicken and die without any apparent cause; +and the cattle doctors are running rough-shod through the <i>materia +medica</i>, pouring down the throats of the poor brutes salts by the pound, +castor oil by the quart; aloes, lard, and a host of kindred trash, +follow in rapid succession, converting the stomach into a sort of +apothecary's shop; setons are inserted in the "dewlap;" the horns are +bored, and sometimes sawed off; and, as a last resort, the animals are +blistered and bled. They sometimes recover, in spite of the violence +done to the constitution; yet they drag out a low form of vitality, +living, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>it may be said, yet half dead, until some friendly epidemic +puts a period to their sufferings.</p> + +<p>The author's attention was first called to this subject on reading an +article in an English work, the substance of which is as follows: A +number of working oxen were put into a pasture, in which was a pond, +considered to abound in good water. Soon after putting them there, they +were attacked with scouring, upon which they were immediately removed to +another field. The scouring continued. They still, however, drank at the +same pond. They were shifted to another piece of very sweet pasture +without arresting the disease. The farmer thought it evident that the +pastures were not the cause of the disease; and, contrary to the advice +of his friends, who affirmed that the spring was always noticed for the +excellence of its water, fenced his pond round, so that the cattle could +not drink; they were then driven to a distance and watered. The scouring +gradually disappeared. The farmer now proceeded to examine the suspected +pond; and, on stirring the water, he found it all alive with small +creatures. He now stirred into the water a quantity of lime, and soon +after an immense number of animalculæ were seen dead on the surface. In +a short time, the cattle drank of this water without any injurious +results.</p> + +<p>There is no doubt but that inferior kinds of water produce derangement +of the digestive organs, and subsequently loss of flesh, debility, &c. +We have frequently made <i>post mortem</i> examinations of animals that have +died from disease induced by debility, and have often found a large +number of worms in the stomach and intestines, which, we firmly believe, +had their origin either primarily from the water itself, or subsequently +from its effects on the digestive function.</p> + +<p>All decayed animal and vegetable matter tends to corrupt water, and +render it unfit for the purposes of life. Now, if the farmer has the +best spring in the world, and the water shall flow from it, as it +sometimes does, through whole fields of gutter or dike, abounding in +decayed filth, such water will be impregnated with agents that will more +or less affect its purity.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>REMARKS ON FEEDING CATTLE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Many of the most complicated diseases of cattle originate from the food: +for example, it may be given in too large quantities—more than is +needed to build up and repair the waste that is constantly going on. The +consequence is, the animals get into a state of plethora, which is known +by heaviness, dulness, unwillingness to move; there is a disposition to +sleep, and they will lie down and often go to sleep in damp places. A +chill of the extremities, or collapse of the capillaries, takes place, +resulting in diseases of the lungs and pleura. At other times, if driven +a short distance, and made to walk fast, they are liable to disease of +the brain and other organs, which frequently terminates fatally.</p> + +<p>The food may be of such a nature as shall be very difficult of +digestion, such as cornstalks, foxgrass, frosted turnips, &c. The clover +and grasses may abound in woody fibre, in consequence of being cut too +late; they will then require more than the usual amount of gastric +fluids to insalivate them, and more time to masticate, and, finally, +extract their nutrimental properties. The stomach becomes overworked, +producing sympathetic diseases of the brain and nervous structures. The +stomach not being able to act on fibrous matter with the same despatch +as on softer materials, the former accumulates in its different +compartments, distends the viscera, interferes with the motion of the +diaphragm, presses on the liver, seriously interfering with the +bile-secreting process. In order to prevent the grass and clover from +becoming tough and fibrous, it should be mowed early, and while in +flower, and should be afterwards almost constantly attended to, if the +weather is favorable; the more it is scattered about, the better will it +be made, and the more effectually will its fragrance and other good +qualities be preserved.</p> + +<p>The food may also be deficient in nutriment. The effects of insufficient +food are too well known to need much description: debility includes them +all; it invades every function of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>the animal economy. And as life is +the sum of the powers that resist disease, if disease is only the +instrument of death, it follows, of course, that whatever enfeebles +life, or, in other words, produces debility, must predispose to disease.</p> + +<p>Many cattle, during the winter, live on bad hay, which does not appear +to contain any of that saccharine and mucilaginous matter which is found +in good hay. When the spring comes, they are turned out to grass, and +thus regain their flesh. Many, however, die in consequence of the sudden +change.</p> + +<p>It has been satisfactorily proved that fat cattle, of the best quality, +may be produced by feeding them on boiled food.</p> + +<p>Dr. Whitlaw says, "On one occasion, a number of cows were selected from +a large stock, for the express purpose of making the trial: they were +such as appeared to be of the best kind, and those that gave the richest +milk. In order to ascertain what particular food would produce the best +milk, different species of grass and clover were tried separately, and +the quality and flavor of the butter were found to vary very much. But +what was of the most importance, many of the grasses were found to be +coated with silecia, or decomposed sand, too hard and insoluble for the +stomachs of cattle. In consequence of this, the grass was cut and well +steamed, and it was found to be readily digested; and the butter, that +was made from the milk, much firmer, better flavored, and would keep +longer without salt than any other kind. Another circumstance that +attended the experiment was that, in all the various grasses and grain +that were intended by our Creator as food for man or beast, the various +oils that enter into their composition were so powerfully assimilated or +combined with the other properties of the farinaceous plants, that the +oil partook of the character of essential oil, and was not so easily +evaporated as that of poisonous vegetables; and experience has proved +that the same quantity of grass, steamed and given to the cattle, will +produce more butter than when given in its dry state. This fact being +established from numerous experiments, then there must be a great saving +and superiority in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>this mode of feeding. The meat of such cattle is +more wholesome, tender, and better flavored than when fed in the +ordinary way." (For process of steaming, see Dadd's work on the Horse, +p. 67.)</p> + +<p>A mixed diet (boiled) is supposed to be the most economical for +fattening cattle. "A Scotchman, who fattens 150 head of Galloway cattle, +annually, finds it most profitable to feed with bruised flaxseed, boiled +with meal or barley, oats or Indian corn, at the rate of one part +flaxseed to three parts meal, by weight,—the cooked compound to be +afterwards mixed with cut straw or hay. From four to twelve pounds of +the compound are given to each beast per day." The editor of the Albany +Cultivator adds, "Would it not be well for some of our farmers, who +stall-feed cattle, to try this or a similar mode? We are by no means +certain that the ordinary food (meaning, probably, bad hay and +cornstalks) would pay the expense of cooking; but flaxseed is known to +be highly nutritious, and the cooking would not only facilitate its +digestion, but it would serve, by mixing, to render the other food +palatable, and, by promoting the appetite and health of the animal, +would be likely to hasten its thrift."</p> + +<p>Mr. Hutton, who has long been celebrated for producing exceedingly fat +cattle at a small cost, estimates that cost as follows:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 018"> + <tr> + <td class="tdlh" width="80%"> </td> + <td class="tdrb" width="20%"><i>s. d.</i> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">"13 lbs. of linseed, bruised, or 2 lbs. per day for six days, and + 1 lb. for Sunday,</td> + <td class="tdrb">1 9 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">32 lbs. of ground corn, or 5 lbs. per day for six days, and 2-1/2 + lbs. for Sunday, at 1 d. per lb.,</td> + <td class="tdrb">2 8 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">35 lbs. of turnips, given twice a day for six days, and thrice on + Sunday,</td> + <td class="tdrb">1 6 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Oats, 1-1/2 d.: labor on each beast, 6 d.,</td> + <td class="tdrb" style="text-decoration: underline;"> 7-1/2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Total cost of each beast per week,</td> + <td class="tdrb">6 6-1/2</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> + +<p>"The horses, cows, and young stock are also fed on this food, evidently +with great advantage."</p> + +<p>Mr. Workington, a successful dairyman, combining cut feed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>and oil-cake +with different sorts of green food, found that, by giving a middle-sized +cow sixteen pounds of green food and two of boiled hay, with two pounds +of ground oil cake, (<i>linseed would be preferable</i>,) and eight pounds of +cut straw, the daily expense of her keep was only 5-1/2 d., (about ten +cents.) The oil-cake he found to be much more productive of milk when +given with steamed food, than when employed without it. Varying their +food from time to time is found to be of much more advantage to the cow; +and this may probably arise from the additional relish with which the +animal eats, or from the superior excitement of a new stimulus on the +different secretions.</p> + +<p>The following table represents the nutritive properties in each article +of food:—</p> + + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 018"> + <tr> + <td class="tdltb" width="18%"> </td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Water.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="14%">Husk, or woody fibre.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="14%">Starch, gum, and sugar.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="14%">Gluten, albumen, &c.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="14%">Fatty matter.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="14%">Saline matter.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oats,</td> + <td class="tdcl">16</td> + <td class="tdcl">20</td> + <td class="tdcl">45</td> + <td class="tdcl">11</td> + <td class="tdcl">6</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 2.5</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Beans,</td> + <td class="tdcl">15</td> + <td class="tdcl">8 to 11</td> + <td class="tdcl">40</td> + <td class="tdcl">26</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 2.5</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 3</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pease,</td> + <td class="tdcl">14</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 9</td> + <td class="tdcl">50</td> + <td class="tdcl">24</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 2.1</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 3</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Indian corn,</td> + <td class="tdcl">14</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 6</td> + <td class="tdcl">70</td> + <td class="tdcl">12</td> + <td class="tdcl">5 to 9</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 1.5</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Barley,</td> + <td class="tdcl">15</td> + <td class="tdcl">14</td> + <td class="tdcl">52</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 13.5</td> + <td class="tdcl">2 to 3</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 3</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Meadow hay,</td> + <td class="tdcl">14</td> + <td class="tdcl">30</td> + <td class="tdcl">40</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 7.1</td> + <td class="tdcl">2 to 5</td> + <td class="tdcl">5 to 10</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Clover hay,</td> + <td class="tdcl">14</td> + <td class="tdcl">25</td> + <td class="tdcl">40</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 9.3</td> + <td class="tdcl">3 to 5</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 9</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pea straw,</td> + <td class="tdcl">10 to 15</td> + <td class="tdcl">25</td> + <td class="tdcl">45</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 12.3</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 1.5</td> + <td class="tdcl">4 to 5</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oat straw,</td> + <td class="tdcl">12</td> + <td class="tdcl">45</td> + <td class="tdcl">35</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 1.3</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 0.8</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 6</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Carrots,</td> + <td class="tdcl">85</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 3</td> + <td class="tdcl">10</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 1.5</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 0.4</td> + <td class="tdcl">1 to 2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Linseed,</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 9.2</td> + <td class="tdcl">8 to 9</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 35.3</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 20.3</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 20.0</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 6.3</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlb">Bran,</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 13.1</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 53.6</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 2</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 19.3</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 4.7</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 7.3</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> + +<p>The most nutritious grasses are those which abound in sugar, starch, and +gluten. Sugar is an essential element in the formation of good milk; +hence the sweet-scented grasses are the most profitable to cultivate and +feed to milch cows. At the same time, the farmer, if he does not, ought +to know that large quantities of saccharine matter are extracted from +clover and sweet grasses by the bees. Mr. White tells us that, "on a +farm situated a few miles from London, the eldest son of the occupier +had the management and profit of the bees given him, which induced him +to increase the number of stocks beyond what had ever been kept on the +farm before. It so happened that the sheep did not thrive so well as in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>former years, and on the farmer complaining at the cause to his man, as +they had plenty of keep, the man replied, '<i>You will never have fat +sheep so long as you suffer my young master to keep so many stocks of +bees; they suck all the honey from the flowers, so that the clover is +not half so nourishing, and does not produce half such good milk.</i>'" Had +this man been acquainted with agricultural and animal chemistry, he +would have had a clear conception of the seeming absurdity. All our +labor or efforts to improve stock or crops will be fruitless, unless +guided by chemical science. We must have sugar, starch, gluten, and +other materials, to perfect animal organization. The animal may be in +good health, the different functions free and unobstructed, and possess +the power of reproducing the species; yet, if fed on substances which +lack the materials necessary to the composition of bones, blood-vessels, +and nerves, sooner or later its health becomes impaired. Reader, if you +own cattle, and wish to preserve their health, give them boiled food +occasionally; let them have their meals at regular hours, in sufficient +quantity, and no more, unless they are intended for the butcher; then, +an extra allowance may be given, with a view of fattening. They should +be well littered, and the barns well ventilated; finally, keep them +clean, avoid undue exposure, and govern them in a spirit of kindness and +mercy.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>THE BARN AND FEEDING BYRE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>It is well known that the more cleanly and comfortable cattle are kept, +and the better the order in which their food is presented to them, the +better they will thrive, and the more profitable they will be to the +owner. Dr. Gunthier remarks, that "constant confinement to the barn is +opposed to the nature of oxen, and becomes the source of numberless +diseases. Endeavors are made to promote the lacteal secretion in cows, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>and the fattening of oxen, by means of heat: for this purpose, stables +[barns] are converted into real stoves, either by not making them +sufficiently large, or by crowding them to excess, or by preventing the +access of air from without; and all this without recollecting that the +skin, thus over-excited, must necessarily fall into a state of atony in +a short time. Besides, the moist heat and the emanations of the dung +cannot fail to exercise a destructive influence on the lungs and entire +system. To these causes if we add the absolute want of exercise and the +excess of food, we shall not be surprised at the number of diseases +resulting from these different practices, and at the extraordinary forms +which they ofttimes assume.</p> + +<p>"Persons propose to themselves, by feeding in the barn, to augment the +mass of dung; and the beasts are left in their excrement, sometimes up +to the very knees. Seldom is there any care taken to cleanse their skin, +and still less attention is directed to the feet. What wonder, then, if +they exhibit so many forms of disease?"</p> + +<p>The byre recommended by Mr. Lawson consists of two apartments—an inner +apartment, or byre for feeding the cattle, and an outer apartment, or +barn for containing the fodder. The byre is constructed at right angles +with the barn, as follows: "At the distance of about three feet and a +half from the side of the building, within, there are constructed, on +the ground, in a straight line, a trough, having ten partitions for +feeding ten animals. The troughs are so constructed, that there is a +small and gradual declivity from the first or innermost to the last or +outermost one; and the partitions separating them being made with a +small arch at the bottom, a bucket of water, poured in at the uppermost, +runs out at the last one through a spout in the wall; and a sweep of the +broom carries off the whole remains of the food, rendering all the +troughs quite clean and sweet. The whole food of the cattle is thus kept +perfectly clean at all times.</p> + +<p>"In a line with the feeding troughs, and immediately over them, runs a +strong beam of wood, from one end of the byre <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>to the other; which is +strengthened by two strong upright supporters to the roof, placed at +equal distances from the ends of the byre; and the main beam is again +subdivided by the cattle stakes and chains, so as to keep each of the +ten oxen opposite to his own feeding trough and stall.</p> + +<p>"The three and a half feet of space between the troughs and outer wall, +lighted by a glazed window, is the cattle feeder's walk, who passes +along it in front of the cattle, and, with a basket, deposits before +each of the cattle the food into the feeding trough of each. To prevent +any of the cattle from choking on small pieces of turnips, &c., as they +are very apt to do, the chains at the stakes are contrived of such a +length, that no ox can raise his head too high when eating; for in this +way, it is observed, cattle are generally choked.</p> + +<p>"At the distance of about six feet eight inches from the feeding +troughs, and parallel to them, is a dung grove and urine gutter. Here +too, like the trough, there is a gradual declivity; so that the moment +the urine passes from the cattle, it runs to the lowest end of the +gutter, whence it is conveyed through the outer wall, in a spout, and +deposited in the urinarium outside of the building. At this place is a +large enclosed space, occupied as a compost dung-court. Here all sorts +of stuff are collected for increasing the manure, such as fat, earth, +cleanings of roads, ditches, ponds, rotten vegetables, &c.; and the +urine from the byre, being caused to run over all these collected +together, which is done very easily by a couple of wooden spouts, moved +backwards and forwards to the urinarium at pleasure, renders the whole +mass, in a short time, a rich compost dunghill; and this is done by the +urine alone, which, in general, is totally lost. The dung of the byre, +again, is cleared several times each day, and deposited in the +dung-court. Along the edge of the dung-court a few low sheds are +constructed, in which swine are kept, and these consume the refuse of +the food.</p> + +<p>"In the side wall of the byre, and opposite to the heads of the cattle, +are constructed three ventilators; these are placed at the distance of +about two feet four inches from the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>ground, in the inside of the byre, +and pass out just under the roof. The inside openings of these are about +thirteen inches in length, seven in breadth, and nine in depth; and they +serve two good purposes. The breath of cattle being superficially +lighter than atmospheric air, the consequence is, that in some byres the +cattle are kept in a constant heat and sweat, because their breath and +heat have no way to escape; whereas, by means of the ventilators, the +air of the barn is kept in proper circulation, which conduces as much to +the health of the cattle as to the preservation of the walls and timber +of the byre, by drying up the moisture produced from the breath and +sweat of the cattle, which is found to injure those parts of the +building."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3><a name="MILKING" id="MILKING"></a>MILKING.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The operation of milking should, if possible, always be performed by the +same person, and in the most gentle manner; the violent tugging at the +teats by an inexperienced hand is apt to make the animal irritable and +uneasy during the operation, and unwilling to be milked. Many of the +diseases of the teats and udder can be traced to violence done to the +parts under the operation of milking. Young animals are often unwilling +to be milked: here a little patience and kindness will perform wonders.</p> + +<p>It is not the quantity of milk that gives value to the dairy cow; for +the milk of one good cow will make more butter than that of two poor +ones, each giving the same quantity of milk. Its most abundant +principles are cream, caseous matter or curd, and whey. In these are +also contained a saccharine matter, (sugar of milk,) muriate and +phosphate of potassa, phosphate of lime, acetic acid, acetate of +potassa, and a trace of acetate of iron. The three principal +constituents (cream, curd, and whey) can easily be separated: thus the +cream rises to the surface, and the curd and whey will separate if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>the +milk becomes sour, or a little rennet is poured into it. When milk is +intended to be made into cheese, no part of the cream should be +separated. Good cheese is, consequently, rarely produced in those +dairies where much butter is made; the former being robbed for the sake +of the latter.</p> + +<p>Sir J. Sinclair says, "If a few spoonfuls of milk are left in the udder +of the cow at milking; if any of the implements used in the dairy are +allowed to be tainted by neglect; if the dairy-house be kept dirty, or +out of order; if the milk is either too hot or too cold at coagulation; +if too much or too little rennet is put into the milk; if the whey is +not speedily taken off; if too much or too little salt is applied; if +butter is too slowly or too hastily churned; or if other minute +attentions are neglected, the milk will be in a great measure lost. If +these nice operations occurred once a month, or once a week, they might +be easily guarded against; but as they require to be observed during +every stage of the process, and almost every hour of the day, the most +vigilant attention must be kept up during the whole season."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>A KNOWLEDGE OF AGRICULTURAL AND ANIMAL CHEMISTRY IMPORTANT TO FARMERS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>It is a well-known fact that plants require for their germination and +growth different constituents of soil, and that animals require +different forms of food to build up the waste, and promote the living +integrity—the vital powers.</p> + +<p>Its order to supply the materials necessary for animal and vegetable +nutrition, we require alternate changes—the former in the diet, and the +latter in the soil. Experience has proved that the cultivation of a +plant for several successive years on the same soil impoverishes it, or +the plant degenerates. On the contrary, if a piece of land be suffered +to lie uncultivated for a short time, it will yield, in spite of the +loss of time, a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>greater quantity of grain; for, during the interval of +rest, the soil regains its original equilibrium. It has been +satisfactorily demonstrated that a fruit-tree cannot be made to grow and +bring forth good fruit on the same spot where another of the same +species has stood; at least not until a lapse of years. This is a fact +worth knowing, for it applies more or less to all forms of vegetation. +Another fact of experience is, that some plants thrive on the same soil +only after a lapse of years, while others may be cultivated in close +succession, <i>provided the soil is kept in equilibrium by artificial +means</i>; these are subsoiling, &c. Some kinds of plants improve the sod, +while others impoverish or exhaust it. Professor Liebig tells us, +"turnips, cabbages, beets, oats, and rye are considered to belong to the +class which impoverish the soil; while by wheat, hops, madder, hemp, and +poppies, it is supposed to be entirely exhausted." Many of our farmers +expend large sums of money in the purchase of manure, with a view of +improving the soil; and they suppose that their crops will be abundant +in proportion to the amount of manure; yet many have discovered that, in +spite of the extra expense and labor, the produce of their farms +decreased.</p> + +<p>The alternation of crops seems destined to effect a great change in +agriculture. A French chemist informs us that the roots of plants imbibe +matter of every kind from the soil, and thus necessarily abstract a +number of substances, which are not adapted to the purposes of +nutrition, and that they are ultimately expelled by the excretory +vessels, and return to the soil as excrement. The excrementitious +portion of the food also returns to the soil. Now, as excrement cannot +be assimilated by the same animal or plant that ejected it, without +danger to the organs of digestion or eliminations, it follows that the +more vegetable excrement the soil contains, the more unfitted must it be +for plants of the same species; yet these excrementitious matters may, +however, still be capable of assimilation by another kind of plant, +which would absorb them from the soil, and render it again fertile for +the first. In connection with this, it has been observed that several +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>plants will flourish when growing beside each other; but it is not good +policy to sow two kinds of seed together: on the other hand, some plants +mutually prevent each other's development. The same happens if young +cattle are suffered to graze and sleep in the barn together; the one +lives at the expense of the other, which soon shows evidences of +disease. The injurious effects of permitting young children to sleep +with aged relatives are known to many of our readers; yet some parents +see their children sicken and die without knowing the why or wherefore. +From such facts as these,—which we might multiply to an indefinite +extent, were it necessary,—we learn that nature's laws are immutable +and uncompromising; and woe be to the man that transgresses them: they +are a part of the divine law, which cannot be set at nought with +impunity.</p> + +<p>Ignorance on these important subjects has existed too long: yet we +perceive in the distant horizon a ray of intellectual light, streaming +through our schools and agricultural societies. The result will be, that +succeeding generations will be better acquainted with nature's laws, +from which shall flow untold blessings. Chemistry teaches us that +animals and vegetables are composed of a vast number of different +compounds, which are nearly all produced by the same elementary +principles. Vegetables consist of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen; and the +same substances, with the addition of nitrogen, are the principal +constituents of the animal economy. In a word, all the constituents of +animal creation have actually been discovered in vegetables: this has, +we presume, led to the conclusion that "all flesh is grass."</p> + +<p>Many horticulturists complain that certain fruits and seeds have "<i>run +out</i>," or degenerated. Has the stately oak, the elm, or the cedar +degenerated? No. Each has preserved its identity, and will continue so +to do, at least just as the Divine Artist intended they should, unless +man, by his fancied improvements, interferes; and here, reader, permit +us to ask if you ever knew a piece of nature's mechanism improved by +human agency. Can we make a light better adapted to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>wants of +animate and inanimate creation than that which the sun, moon, and stars +afford? Whenever we attempt to improve on immutable laws, as they are +written on the face of creation, that moment we prevent the full and +free play of these laws. Hence the practice of grafting scions of +delicious fruit-trees on stock of an inferior order compromises its +identity; and successive crops will show unmistakable evidences of +encroachment. A son of the lamented Mr. Phinney tells us that he had +some very fine sows, that he was desirous of breeding from, with a view +of making "improvements." He bred in a close degree of relationship: in +a short time, to use his own expression, "their sides appeared like two +boards nailed together." Does the farmer wish to know how to prevent +seeds and fruit "running out"? Let him study chemistry. Chemistry +furnishes the information; it also teaches the husbandman the fact, that +to put a plant, composed of certain essential elements, on a soil +destitute of those elements,—or to graft a scion, requiring a certain +amount of sap or juice, on a stock destitute of such sap or juice, +expecting that they will germinate, grow to perfection, and preserve +their identity,—would be just as absurd as to expect that a dry sow +would nourish a sucking pig.</p> + +<p>Agriculture being based on the equilibrium of the soils, a knowledge of +chemistry is indispensable to every one who is desirous of keeping pace +with the reforms of the age; for it is through the medium of that +science alone that we are enabled to ascertain with certainty how this +equilibrium is disturbed by the growth of vegetation. Then is it not a +matter of deep interest to the farmer to know how this equilibrium is +restored?</p> + +<p>Does the farmer wish to know what kind of soil is necessary to nourish +and mature a plant? Chemistry solves the problem. Does the farmer wish +to know how to improve the soil? Let him refer to chemistry. Chemistry +will teach the farmer how to analyze the soil; by that means he will +learn which of the constituent elements of the plants and soil are +constant, and which are changeable. By making an analysis <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>of the soil +at different periods, through the process of germination, growth, and +maturity, we are enabled to ascertain the amount of excretory elements +given out. Bergman tells us that he found, by analysis, in "100 parts of +fertile soil, coarse silex 30 parts, silecia 30 parts, carbonate of lime +30 parts:" hence the fertility of the soil diminishes in proportion as +one or the other of these elements predominates.</p> + +<p>Ashes of wheat contain, among other elementary substances, 48 parts of +silecia. Now, what farmer could expect to raise a good crop of wheat +from a soil destitute of silecious earth, since this earth constitutes a +large amount of the earthy part of wheat? There is no barrier to +agricultural improvement so effectual as for farmers to continue their +old customs purely because their forefathers did so. But prejudices are +fast dying away before the rays of intellectual illumination; the +farmers are fast seceding from the supposed infallibles of their +forefathers, and will soon become "book" as well as practical +husbandmen. "Book farming," assisted by practical knowledge, teaches +that manures require admixture of milder materials to mitigate their +force; for some of them communicate a disgusting or offensive quality to +vegetables. They are charged with imparting a biting and acrimonious +taste to radishes and turnips. Potatoes and grapes are known to borrow +the foul taint of the ground. Millers observe a strong, disagreeable +odor in the meal of wheat that grew upon land highly charged with the +rotten recrements of cities. Stable dung is known to impart a +disagreeable flavor to vegetables.</p> + +<p>The same effects may be illustrated in the animal kingdom. Ducks are +rendered so ill tasted from stuffing down garbage as sometimes to be +offensive to the palate when cooked. The quality of pork is known by the +food of the swine, and the peculiar flavor of water-fowl is rationally +traced to the fish they devour. Thus a portion of the elements of manure +and nutrimental matter passes into the living bodies without being +entirely subdued. For example, we can alter the color of the cow's milk +by mixing madder or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>saffron in the food; the odor may be influenced by +garlic; the flavor may be altered by pine and wormwood; and lastly, the +medicinal effect may be influenced.</p> + +<p>In the cultivation of grass the farmer will find it to his advantage to +cultivate none but the best kinds; the whole pasture lands will then be +filled with valuable grass seeds. The number of grass seeds worth +cultivating is but few, and these should be sown separately. It is bad +policy to sow different kinds of grass seed together—just as bad as to +sow wheat, oats, turnips, and corn promiscuously.</p> + +<p>The reason why the farmers, as a community, will be benefited by sowing +none but the best seed is, because grass seeds are distributed through +neighboring pastures by the winds, and there take root. Now, if the +neighboring pastures abound in inferior grasses, the fields will soon be +filled with useless plants, which are very difficult to be got rid of. +We refer those of our readers who desire to make themselves acquainted +with animal chemistry to Professor Liebig's work on that science.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>ON BREEDING.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Large sums of money have, from time to time, been expended with a view +of improving stock, and many superior cattle have been introduced into +this country; yet, after a few generations, the beautiful form and +superior qualities of the originals are nearly lost, and the importer +finds to his cost that the produce is no better than that of his +neighbors. What are the causes of this deterioration? We are told—and +experience confirms the fact—that "like produces like." Good qualities +and perfect organization are perpetuated by a union of animals +possessing those properties: of course it follows, that malformation, +hereditary taints, and vices are transmitted and aggravated.</p> + +<p>The destructive practice of breeding "in and in," or, in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>other words, +selecting animals of the same family, is one of the first causes of +degeneracy; and this destructive practice has proved equally unfortunate +in the human family. Physical defects are the result of the +intermarriage of near relatives. In Spain, the deformed and feeble state +of the aristocracy arises from their alliances being confined to the +same class of relatives through successive generations. But we need not +go to Spain to verify such facts. Go into our churchyards, and read on +the tombstones the names of thousands of infants,—gems withered in the +bud,—young men, and maidens, cut down and consigned to a premature +grave; and then prove, if you can, that early marriages and near +alliances are not the chief causes of this great mortality.</p> + +<p>Mr. Colman, in an article on live stock, says, "There seems to be a +limit beyond which no person can go. The particular breed may be altered +and improved, but an entirely new breed cannot be produced; and in every +departure from the original there is a constant tendency to revert back +to it. The stock of the improved Durham cattle seems to establish this +fact. If we have the true history of it, it is a cross of a Teeswater +bull with a Galloway cow. The Teeswater or Yorkshire stock are a large, +coarse-boned animal: the object of this cross was to get a smaller bone +and greater compactness. By attempting to carry this improvement, if I +may so call it, still further by breeding continually in and in, that +is, with members of the same family, in a close degree of affinity, the +power of continuing the species seems to become extinct; at least it +approximates to such a result. On the other hand, by wholly neglecting +all selection, and without an occasional good cross with an animal of +some foreign blood, there appears a tendency to revert back to the +large-boned, long-legged animal, from which the <i>improvement</i> began.</p> + +<p>"There are, however, several instances of superior animals bred in the +closest affinity; whilst, in a very great majority of cases, the failure +has been excessive."</p> + +<p>Overtaxing the generative powers of the male is another cause of +deterioration. The reader is probably aware of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>woful results +attending too frequent sexual intercourse. If he has not given this +subject the attention it demands, then let him read the records of our +lunatic asylums: they tell a sad tale of woe, and prove to demonstration +that, before the blast of this dire tornado, <i>sexual excess</i>, lofty +minds, the suns and stars of our intellectual world, are suddenly +blotted out. It spares neither age, sex, profession, nor kind. Dr. White +relates a case which substantiates the truth of our position. "The +Prince of Wales, who afterwards became George the Fourth, had a stud +horse of very superior qualities. His highness caused a few of his own +mares to be bred to this stallion, and the produce proved every way +worthy of the sire. This horse was kept at Windsor for public covering +without charge, except the customary groom's fee of half a guinea. The +groom, anxious to pocket as many half guineas as possible, persuaded all +he could to avail themselves of the prince's liberality. The result was, +that, being kept in a stable without sufficient exercise, and covering +nearly one hundred mares yearly, the stock, although tolerably promising +in their early age, shot up into lank, weakly, awkward, good-for-nothing +creatures, to the entire ruin of the horse's character and sire. Some +gentlemen, aware of the cause, took pains to explain it, proving the +correctness of their statement by reference to the first of the horses +got, which were among the best horses in England."</p> + +<p>There is no doubt but that brutes are often endowed with extraordinary +powers for sexual indulgence; yet, when kept for the purpose alluded to, +without sufficient muscular exercise,—breathing impure air, and living +on the fat of the farm,—his services in constant requisition,—then it +is no wonder, that if, under these circumstances, the offspring are weak +and inefficient.</p> + +<p>Professor Youatt recommends that "valuable qualities once established, +which it is desirable to keep up, should thereafter be preserved by +occasional crosses with the best animals to be had of the same breed, +but of a different family. This is the great secret which has maintained +the blood horse in his great superiority."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>The live stock of our farmers frequently degenerates in a very short +space of time. The why and the wherefore is not generally understood; +neither will it be, until animal physiology shall be better understood +than it is at the present time. Men are daily violating the laws of +animal organization in more ways than one, in the breeding, rearing, and +general management of all kinds of domestic animals,—until the +different breeds are so amalgamated, that, in many cases, it is a +difficult task to ascertain, with any degree of certainty, their +pedigree. If a farmer has in his possession a bull of a favorite breed, +the neighboring stock-raisers avail themselves of his bullship's +services by sending as many cows to him as possible: the consequence is, +that the offspring got in the latter part of the season are good for +nothing. The cow also, at the time of impregnation, may be in a state of +debility, owing to some derangement in the organs of digestion; if so, +impregnation is very likely to make the matter worse; for great sympathy +exists between the organs of generation and those of digestion, and +females of every order suffer more or less from a disturbed state of the +stomach during the early months of pregnancy. In fact, during the whole +stage they should be considered far from a state of health. Add to this +the fact that impregnated cows are milked, (not generally, yet we know +of such cases:) the fœtus is thus deprived of its due share of +nourishment, and the extra nutrimental agents, necessary for its growth +and development, must be furnished at the expense of the mother. She, in +her turn, soon shows unmistakable evidences of this "robbing Peter to +pay Paul" system, by her sunken eye, loss of flesh, &c., and often, +before she has seen her sixth month of pregnancy, liberates the fœtus +by a premature birth—in short, pays the penalty of disobedience to the +immutable law of nature. On the other hand, should such a cow go safely +through the whole period of gestation and parturition, the offspring +will not be worth keeping, and the milk of the former will lack, in some +measure, those constituents which go to make good milk, and without +which it is almost worthless for making butter or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>cheese. A cow should +never be bred from unless she shall be in good health and flesh. If she +cannot be fatted, then she may be spayed. (See article <i>Spaying Cows</i>.) +By that means, her health will improve, and she will be made a permanent +milker. Degeneracy may arise from physical defects on the part of the +bull. It is well known that infirmities, faults, and defects are +communicated by the sexual congress to the parties as well as their +offspring. Hence a bull should never be bred to unless he possesses the +requisite qualifications of soundness, form, size, and color. There are +a great number of good-for-nothing bulls about the country, whose +services can be had for a trifle; under these circumstances, and when +they can be procured without the trouble of sending the cow even a short +distance, it will be difficult to effect a change.</p> + +<p>If the farming community desire to put a stop to this growing evil, let +them instruct their representatives to advocate the enactment of a law +prohibiting the breeding to bulls or stallions unless they shall possess +the necessary qualifications.</p> + +<div class="img"> +<a href="images/imagep034.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep034.jpg" width="75%" alt="A First Prize Short Horned Bull" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">A First Prize Short Horned Bull</p> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p class="cen">THE BULL.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lawson gives us the following description of a good bull. It would +be difficult to find one corresponding in all its details to this +description; yet it will give the reader an idea of what a good bull +ought to be. "The head of the bull should be rather long, and muzzle +fine; his eyes lively and prominent; his ears long and thin; his horns +white; his neck rising with a gentle curve from the shoulders, and small +and fine where it joins the head; his shoulders moderately broad at the +top, joining full to his chine and chest backwards, and to the neck-vein +forwards; his bosom open; breast broad, and projecting well before his +legs; his arms or fore thighs muscular, and tapering to his knees; his +legs straight, clean, and very fine boned; his chine and chest so full +as to leave no hollows behind the shoulders; the plates strong, to keep +his belly from sinking below the level of his breast; his back or loin +broad, straight, and flat; his ribs rising one above an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>other, in such +a manner that the last rib shall be rather the highest, leaving only a +small space to the hips, the whole forming a round or barrel-like +carcass; his hips should be wide placed, round or globular, and a little +higher than the back; the quarters (from the hips to the rump) long, +and, instead of being square, as recommended by some, they should taper +gradually from the hips backwards; rump close to the tail; the tail +broad, well haired, and set on so as to be in the same horizontal line +with his back."</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">VALUE OF DIFFERENT BREEDS OF COWS.</p> +<br /> + +<p>Mr. Culley, in speaking of the relative value of long and short horns, +says, "The long-horns excel in the thickness and firm texture of the +hide, in the length and closeness of the hair, in their beef being finer +grained and more mixed and marbled than that of the short-horns, in +weighing more in proportion to their size, and in giving richer milk; +but they are inferior to the short-horns in giving a less quantity of +milk, in weighing less upon the whole, in affording less fat when +killed, in being generally slower feeders, in being coarser made, and +more leathery or bullish in the under side of the neck. In a few words, +the long-horns excel in hide, hair, and quality of beef; the short-horns +in the quantity of beef, fat, and milk. Each breed has long had, and +probably may have, their particular advocates; but if I may hazard a +conjecture, is it not probable that both kinds may have their particular +advantages in different situations? Why not the thick, firm hides, and +long, closer set hair, of the one kind be a protection and security +against tempestuous winds and heavy fogs and rains, while a regular +season and mild climate are more suitable to the constitutions of the +short-horns? But it has hitherto been the misfortune of the short-horned +breeders to seek the largest and biggest boned ones for the best, +without considering that those are the best that bring the most money +for a given quantity of food. However, the ideas of our short-horned +breeders being now more enlarged, and their minds more open to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>conviction, we may hope in a few years to see great improvements made +in that breed of cattle.</p> + +<p>"I would recommend to breeders of cattle to find out which breed is the +most profitable, and which are best adapted to the different situations, +and endeavor to improve that breed to the utmost, rather than try to +unite the particular qualities of two or more distinct breeds by +crossing, which is a precarious practice, for we generally find the +produce inherit the coarseness of both breeds, and rarely attain the +good properties which the pure distinct breeds individually possess.</p> + +<p>"Short-horned cows yield much milk; the long-horned give less, but the +cream is more abundant and richer. The same quantity of milk also yields +a greater proportion of cheese. The Polled or Galloway cows are +excellent milkers, and their milk is rich. The Suffolk duns are much +esteemed for the abundance of their milk, and the excellence of the +butter it produces. Ayrshire or Kyloe cows are much esteemed in +Scotland; and in England the improved breed of the long-horned cattle is +highly prized in many dairy districts. Every judicious selector, +however, will always, in making his choice, keep in view not only the +different sons and individuals of the animal, but also the nature of the +farm on which the cows are to be put, and the sort of manufactured +produce he is anxious to bring to market. The best age for a milch cow +is betwixt four, or five, and ten. When old, she will give more milk; +but it is of an inferior quality, and she is less easily supported."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>METHOD OF PREPARING RENNET, AS PRACTISED IN ENGLAND.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Take the calf's maw, or stomach, and having taken out the curd contained +therein, wash it clean, and salt it thoroughly, inside and out, leaving +a white coat of salt over every part of it. Put it into an earthen jar, +or other vessel, and let it stand three or four days; in which time it +will have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>formed the salt and its own natural juice into a pickle. Take +it out of the jar, and hang it up for two or three days, to let the +pickle drain from it; resalt it; place it again in the jar; cover it +tight down with a paper, pierced with a large pin; and let it remain +thus till it is wanted for use. In this state it ought to be kept twelve +months; it may, however, in case of necessity, be used a few days after +it has received the second salting; but it will not be as strong as if +kept a longer time. To prepare the rennet for use, take a handful of the +leaves of the sweet-brier, the same quantity of rose and bramble leaves; +boil them in a gallon of water, with three or four handfuls of salt, +about a quarter of an hour; strain off the liquor, and, having let it +stand until perfectly cool, put it into an earthen vessel, and add to it +the maw prepared as above. To this add a sound, good lemon, stuck round +with about a quarter of an ounce of cloves, which give the rennet an +agreeable flavor. The longer the bag remains in the liquor, the +stronger, of course, will be the rennet. The amount, therefore, +requisite to turn a given quantity of milk, can only be ascertained by +daily use and observation. A sort of average may be something less than +a half pint of good rennet to fifty gallons of milk. In Gloucestershire, +they employ one third of a pint to coagulate the above quantity.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>MAKING CHEESE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>IT is generally admitted that many dairy farmers pay more attention to +the quantity than the quality of this article of food; now, as cheese is +"a surly elf, digesting every thing but itself," (this of course applies +to some of the white oak specimens, which, like the Jew's razors, were +made to sell,) it is surely a matter of great importance that they +should attend more to the quality, especially if it be intended for +exportation. There is no doubt but the home consumption of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>good cheese +would soon materially increase, for many thousands of our citizens +refuse to eat of the miserable stuff "misnamed cheese."</p> + +<p>The English have long been celebrated for the superior quality of their +cheese; and we have thought that we cannot do a better service to our +dairy farmers than to give, in as few words as possible, the various +methods of making the different kinds of cheese, for which we are +indebted to Mr. Lawson's work on cattle.</p> + +<p>"It is to be observed, in general, that cheese varies in quality, +according as it has been made of milk of one meal, or two meals, or of +skimmed milk; and that the season of the year, the method of milking, +the preparation of the rennet, the mode of coagulation, the breaking and +gathering of the curd, the management of the cheese in the press, the +method of salting, and the management of the cheese-room, are all +objects of the highest importance to the cheese manufacturer; and yet, +notwithstanding this, the practice, in most of these respects, is still +regulated by little else than mere chance or custom, without the +direction of enlightened observation or the aid of well-conducted +experiment.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">GLOUCESTER CHEESE.</p> + +<p>"In Gloucestershire, where the manufacture of cheese is perhaps as well +understood as in any part of the world, they make the best cheeses of a +single meal of milk; and, when this is done in the best manner, the +entire meal of milk is used, without any addition from a former meal. +But it not unfrequently happens that a portion of the milk is reserved +and set by to be skimmed for butter; and at the next milking this +proportion is added to the new milk, from which an equal quantity has +been taken for a similar purpose. One meal cheeses are principally made +here, and go by the name of <i>best making</i>, or simply <i>one meal cheeses</i>. +The cheeses are distinguished into <i>thin</i> and <i>thick</i>, or <i>single</i> and +<i>double</i>; the last having usually four to the hundred weight, (112 +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>pounds,) the other about twice that number. The best double Gloucester +is always made from new milk.</p> + +<p>"The true single Gloucester cheese is thought by many to be the best, in +point of flavor, of any we have. The season for making their thin or +single cheese is mostly from April to November; but the principal season +for the thick or double is confined to May, June, and the early part of +July. This is a busy season in the dairy; for at an earlier period the +milk is not rich enough, and if the cheese be made later in the summer, +they do not acquire sufficient age to be marketable next spring. Very +many cheeses, however, can be made even in winter from cows that are +well fed. The cows are milked in summer at a very early hour; generally +by four o'clock in the morning, before the day becomes hot, and the +animals restless and unruly.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">CHESTER CHEESE.</p> + +<p>"After the milk has been strained, to free it from any impurities, it is +conveyed into a cooler placed upon feet like a table, having a spigot at +the bottom for drawing off the milk. This, when sufficiently cooled, is +drawn off into pans, and the cooler again filled. In so cases, the +cooler is large enough to hold a whole meal's milk at once. The rapid +cooling thus produced (which, however, is necessary only in hot weather, +and during the summer season) is found to be of essential utility in +retarding the process of fermentation, and thereby preventing putridity +from commencing in the milk before two meals of it can be put together. +Some have thought that the cheese might be improved by cooling the +evening's milk still more rapidly, and that this might be effected by +repeatedly drawing it off from and returning it into the cistern. When +the milk is too cold, a portion of it is warmed over the fire and mixed +with the rest.</p> + +<p>"The coloring matter, (annatto,) in Cheshire, is added by tying up as +much of the substance as is thought sufficient in a linen rag, and +putting it into a half pint of warm water, to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>stand over night. The +whole of this infusion is, in the morning, mixed with the milk in the +cheese-tub, and the rag dipped in the milk and rubbed on the palm of the +hand as long as any of the coloring matter can be made to come away.</p> + +<p>"The next operation is salting; and this is done, either by laying the +cheese, immediately after it comes out of the press, on a clean, fine +cloth in the vat, immersed in brine, to remain for several days, turning +it once every day at least; or by covering the upper surface of the +cheese with salt every time it is turned, and repeating the application +for three successive days, taking care to change the cloth twice during +the time. In each of these methods, the cheese, after being so treated, +is taken out of the vat, placed upon the salting bench, and the whole +surface of it carefully rubbed with salt daily for eight or ten days. If +it be large, a wooden hoop or a fillet of cloth is employed to prevent +renting. The cheese is then washed in warm water or whey, dried with a +cloth, and laid on what is called the <i>drying bench</i>. It remains there +for about a week, and is thence removed to the <i>keeping house</i>. In +Cheshire, it is found that the greatest quantity of salt used for a +cheese of sixty pounds is about three pounds; but the proportion of this +retained in the cheese has not been determined.</p> + +<p>"When, after salting and drying, the cheeses are deposited in the +cheese-room or store-house, they are smeared all over with fresh butter, +and placed on shelves fitted to the purpose, or on the floor. During the +first ten or fifteen days, smart rubbing is daily employed, and the +smearing with butter repeated. As long, however, as they are kept, they +should be every day turned; and the usual practice is to rub them three +times a week in summer and twice in winter.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">STILTON CHEESE.</p> + +<p>"Stilton cheese is made by putting the night's cream into the morning's +new milk along with the rennet. When the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>curd has come, it is not +broken, as in making other cheese, but taken out whole, and put into a +sieve to drain gradually. While this is going on, it is gently pressed, +and, having become firm and dry, is put into a vat, and kept on a dry +board. These cheeses are exceedingly rich and valuable. They are called +the Parmesan of England, and weigh from ten to twelve pounds. The +manufacture of them is confined almost exclusively to Leicestershire, +though not entirely so.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">DUNLOP CHEESE.</p> + +<p>"In Scotland, a species of cheese is produced, which has long been known +and celebrated under the name of <i>Dunlop</i> cheese. The best cheese is +made by such as have a dozen or more cows, and consequently can make a +cheese every day; one half of the milk being immediately from the cow, +and the other of twelve hours' standing. Their method of making it is +simple. They endeavor to have the milk as near as may be to the heat of +new milk, when they apply the rennet, and whenever coagulation has taken +place, (which is generally in ten or twelve minutes,) they stir the curd +gently, and the whey, beginning to separate, is taken off as it gathers, +till the curd be pretty solid. When this happens, they put it into a +drainer with holes, and apply a weight. As soon as this has had its +proper effect, the curd is put back again into the cheese-tub, and, by +means of a sort of knife with three or four blades, is cut into very +small pieces, salted, and carefully mixed by the hand. It is now placed +in the vat, and put under the press. This is commonly a large stone of a +cubical shape, from half a ton to a ton in weight, fixed in a frame of +wood, and raised and lowered by an iron screw. The cheese is frequently +taken out, and the cloth changed; and as soon as it has been ascertained +that no more whey remains, it is removed, and placed on a dry board or +pine floor. It is turned and rubbed frequently with a hard, coarse +cloth, to prevent moulding or breeding mites. No coloring matter <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>is +used in making Dunlop cheese, except by such as wish to imitate the +English cheese.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">GREEN CHEESE.</p> + +<p>"Green cheese is made by steeping ever night, in a proper quantity of +milk, two parts of sage with one of marigold leaves, and a little +parsley, after being bruised, and then mixing the curd of the milk, thus +<i>greened</i>, as it is called, with the curd of the white milk. These may +be mixed irregularly or fancifully, according to the pleasure of the +operator. The management in other respects is the same as for common +cheese."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Mr. Colman says, "In conversation with one of the largest wholesale +cheesemongers and provision-dealers in the country, he suggested that +there were two great faults of the American cheese, which somewhat +prejudiced its sale in the English market. He is a person in whose +character and experience entire confidence may be placed.</p> + +<p>"The first fault was the softness of the rind. It often cracked, and the +cheese became spoiled from that circumstance.</p> + +<p>"The second fault is the acridness, or peculiar, smart, bitter taste +often found in American cheese. He thought this might be due, in part, +to some improper preparation or use of the rennet, and, in part, to some +kind of feed which the cows found in the pastures.</p> + +<p>"The rind may be made of any desired hardness, if the cheese be taken +from the press, and allowed to remain in brine, so strong that it will +take up no more salt, for four or five hours. There must be great care, +however, not to keep it too long in the brine.</p> + +<p>"The calf from which the rennet is to be taken should not be allowed to +suck on the day on which it is killed. The office of the rennet, or +stomach of the calf, is, to supply the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>gastric juice by which the +curdling of the milk is effected. If it has recently performed that +office, it will have become, to a degree, exhausted of its strength. Too +much rennet should not be applied. Dairymaids, in general, are anxious +to have the curd 'come soon,' and so apply an excessive quantity, to +which he thinks much of the acrid taste of the cheese is owing. Only so +much should be used as will produce the effect in about fifty minutes. +For the reason above given, the rennet should not, he says, be washed in +water when taken from the calf, as it exhausts its strength, but be +simply salted.</p> + +<p>"When any cream is taken from the milk to be made into butter, the +buttermilk should be returned to the milk of which the cheese is to be +made. The greatest care should be taken in separating the whey from the +cheese. When the pressing or handling is too severe, the whey that runs +from the curd will appear of a white color. This is owing to its +carrying off with it the small creamy particles of the cheese, which +are, in fact, the richest part of it. After the curd is cut or broken, +therefore, and not squeezed with the hand, and all the whey is allowed +to separate from it that can be easily removed, the curd should be taken +out of the tub with the greatest care, and laid upon a coarse cloth +attached to a frame like a sieve, and there suffered to drain until it +becomes quite dry and mealy, before being put into the press. The object +of pressing should be, not to express the whey, but to consolidate the +cheese. There should be no aim to make whey butter. All the butter +extracted from the whey is so much of the proper richness taken from the +cheese."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>MAKING BUTTER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>It is a matter of impossibility to make a superior article of butter +from the milk of a cow in a diseased state; for if either of the organs +of secretion, absorption, digestion, or circulation, be deranged, we +cannot expect good blood. The milk being a secretion from the blood, it +follows that, in order to have good milk, we must have pure blood. A +great deal depends also on the food; certain pastures are more favorable +to the production of good milk than others. We know that many +vegetables, such as turnips, garlic, dandelions, will impart a +disagreeable flavor to the milk. On the other hand, sweet-scented +grasses and boiled food improve the quality, and, generally, increase +the quantity of the milk, provided, however, the digestive organs are in +a physiological state.</p> + +<p>The processes of making butter are various in different parts of the +United States. We are not prepared, from experience, to discuss the +relative merits of the different operations of churning; suffice it +to say, that the important improvements that have recently been made in +the construction of churns promise to be of great advantage to the +dairyman.</p> + +<p>The method of churning in England is considered to be favorable to the +production of good butter. From twelve to twenty hours in summer, and +about twice as long in winter, are permitted to elapse before the milk +is skimmed, after it has been put into the milk-pans. If, on applying +the tip of the finger to the surface, nothing adheres to it, the cream +may be properly taken off; and during the hot summer months, this should +always be done in the morning, before the dairy becomes warm. The cream +should then be deposited in a deep pan, placed in the coolest part of +the dairy, or in a cool cellar, where free air is admitted. In hot +weather, churning should be performed, if possible, every other day; but +if this is not convenient, the cream should be daily shifted into a +clean pan, and the churning should never be less frequent than twice a +week. This work should be performed in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>coolest time of the day, and +in the coolest part of the house. Cold water should be applied to the +churn, first by filling it with this some time before the cream is +poured in, or it may be kept cool by the application of a wet cloth. +Such means are generally necessary, to prevent the too rapid +acidification of the cream, and formation of the butter. We are indebted +for much of the poor butter, (<i>cart-grease</i> would be a more suitable +name,) in which our large cities abound, to want of due care in +churning: it should never be done too hastily, but—like "Billy Gray's" +drumming—well done. In winter the churn may be previously heated by +first filling it with hot water, the operation to be performed in a +moderately warm room.</p> + +<p>In churning, a moderate and uninterrupted motion should be kept up +during the whole process; for if the motion be too rapid, heat is +generated, which will give the butter a rank flavor; and if the motion +is relaxed, the butter will go back, as it is termed.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">WASHING BUTTER.</p> + +<p>"When the operation is properly conducted, the butter, after some time, +suddenly forms, and is to be carefully collected and separated from the +buttermilk. But in doing this, it is not sufficient merely to pour off +the milk, or withdraw the butter from it; because a certain portion of +the caseous and serous parts of the milk still remains in the +interstices of the butter, and must be detached from it by washing, if +we would obtain it pure. In washing butter, some think it sufficient to +press the mass gently between the hands; others press it strongly and +frequently, repeating the washings till the water comes off quite clear. +The first method is preferable when the butter is made daily, for +immediate use, from new milk or cream; because the portions of such +adhering to it, or mixed with it, contribute to produce the sweet +agreeable flavor which distinguishes new cream. But when our object is +to prepare butter for keeping, we cannot repeat the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>washings too often, +since the presence of a small quantity of milk in it will, in less than +twelve hours after churning, cause it sensibly to lose its good +qualities.</p> + +<p>"The process of washing butter is usually nothing more than throwing it +into an earthen vessel of clear cool water, working it to and fro with +the hands, and changing the water until it comes off clear. A much +preferable method, however, and that which we believe is now always +practised by those who best understand the business, is to use two broad +pieces of wood, instead of the hands. This is to be preferred, not only +on account of its apparently greater cleanliness, but also because it is +of decided advantage to the quality of the butter. To this the warmth of +the hand gives always, more or less, a greasy appearance. The influence +of the heat of the hand is greater than might at first have been +suspected. It has always been remarked, that a person who has naturally +a warm hand never makes good butter."</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">COLORING BUTTER.</p> + +<p>As butter made in winter is generally pale or white, and its richness, +at the same time, inferior to that which is made during the summer +months, the idea of excellence has been associated with the yellow +color. Means are therefore employed, by those who prepare and sell +butter, to impart to it the yellow color where that is naturally +wanting. The substances mostly employed in England and Scotland are the +root of the carrot and the flowers of the marigold. The juice of either +of these is expressed and passed through a linen cloth. A small quantity +of it (and the proportion of it necessary is soon learned by experience) +is diluted with a little cream, and this mixture is added to the rest of +the cream when it enters the churn. So little of this coloring matter +unites with the butter, that it never communicates to it any peculiar +taste.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANS OF DIGESTION IN CATTLE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Œsophagus</i>, or <i>Gullet</i>.—This tube extends from the mouth to the +stomach, and is the medium through which the food is conveyed to the +latter organ. This tube is furnished with spiral muscles, which run in +different directions. By this arrangement, the food ascends or descends +at the will of the animal. The inner coat of the gullet is a +continuation of the same membrane that lines the mouth, nostrils, &c. +The gullet passes down the neck, inclining to the left side of the +windpipe, until it reaches the diaphragm, through a perforation of which +it passes, and finally terminates in the stomach. The food, having +undergone a slight mastication by the action of the teeth, is formed +into a pellet, and, being both moistened and lubricated with saliva, +passes down the gullet, by the action of the muscles, and falls +immediately into the paunch, or rumen; here the food undergoes a process +of maceration, or trituration. The food, after remaining in this portion +of the stomach a short time, and being submitted to the united action of +heat and moisture, passes into another division of the stomach, called +<i>reticulum</i>, the inner surface of which abounds in cells: at the bottom, +and indeed in all parts of them there are glands, which secrete from the +blood the gastric fluids. This stomach possesses a property similar to +that of the bladder, viz., that of contracting upon its contents. In the +act of contracting, it squeezes out a portion of the partly masticated +food and fluids; the former comes within the spiral muscles, is embraced +by them, and thus ascends the gullet, and passes into the mouth for +remastication. The soft and fluid parts continue on to the many plus and +true digestive stomach. The second stomach again receives a portion from +the paunch, and the process is continued.</p> + +<p>Rumination and digestion, however, are mechanico-vital actions, and can +only be properly performed when the animal is in a healthy state.</p> + +<p>Now, a portion of the food, we just observed, had ascended <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>the gullet +by the aid of spiral muscles, and entered the mouth; it is again +submitted to the action of the grinders, and a fresh supply of saliva; +it is at length swallowed a second time, and goes through the same +routine as that just described, passing into the manyplus or manifolds, +as it is termed.</p> + +<p>The manyplus abounds internally in a number of leaves, called laminæ. +Some of these are attached to the upper and lower portion of the +division, and also float loose, and penetrate into the œsophagian +canal. The laminæ have numerous projections on their surface, resembling +the papillæ to be found on the tongue. The action of this stomach is one +of alternate contraction and expansion: it secretes, however, like the +other compartments of the stomach, its due share of gastric fluids, with +a view not only of softening its contents, but for the purpose of +defending its own surface against friction. The mechanical action of the +stomach is communicated to it partly by the motion of the diaphragm, and +its own muscular arrangement. It will readily be perceived, that by this +joint action the food is submitted to a sort of grinding process. Hence +any over-distention of the viscera, from either food or gas, will +embarrass and prevent the free and full play of this organ. The papillæ, +or prominences, present a rough and sufficiently hard exterior to grind +down the food, unless it shall have escaped the reticulum in too fibrous +a form: foxgrass, cornstalks, and frosted turnips are very apt to make +sad havoc in this and other parts of the stomach, owing to their +unyielding nature; for the stomach, like other parts of the +organization, suffers from over-exertion, and a corresponding debility +ensues.</p> + +<p>The fourth division of the stomach of the ox is called <i>abomasum</i>. It +somewhat resembles the duodenum of the horse in its function, it being +the true digestive stomach. It is studded with numerous nerves, +blood-vessels, and small glands. It is a laboratory admirably fitted up +by the Divine Artist, and is capable of carrying on the chemico-vital +process as long as the animal lives, provided its healthy functions are +not impaired. The glands alluded to secrete from the blood <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>a powerful +solvent, called the <i>gastric juice</i>, which is the agent in reducing the +food to chyme and chyle. This, however, is accomplished by the united +agency of the bile and pancreatic juice. Both these fluids are conveyed +into the abomasum by means of small tubes or canals. Secretions also +take place from the inner membrane of the intestines, and, as the result +of the united action of all these fluids, aided by the muscular motion +just alluded to, which is also communicated to the intestines, a +substance is formed called <i>chyle</i>, which is the most nutritious portion +of the food, and has a milky appearance. The chyle is received into a +set of very minute tubes, called <i>lacteals</i>, which are exceedingly +numerous, and arise by open mouths from the inner surface of the +abomasum and intestines. They receive the chyle; from thence it passes +into a receptacle, and finally into the thoracic duct. The thoracic duct +opens into a vein leading directly to the heart; so that whatever +portion of the chyle is not actually needed by the organism is +thoroughly mixed with the general mass of blood. That portion of chyme +which is not needed, or cannot be converted into chyle, descends into +the intestines, and is finally carried out of the body by the rectum.</p> + +<p>The manner in which the gastric fluids act on alimentary matter, is by +solution and chemical action; for cornstalks and foxgrass, that cannot +be dissolved by ammonia or alcohol, yield readily to the solvent power +of the gastric secretion. Bones and other hard substances are reduced to +a pulpy mass in the stomach of a dog; while, at the same time, many +bodies of delicate texture remain in the stomach, and ultimately are +ejected, without being affected by the gastric fluids. This different +action on different subjects is analogous to the operation of chemical +affinity, and corroborates the theory that digestion is effected by +solution and chemical action.</p> + +<p><i>The Spleen</i>, or <i>Milt</i>, is an oblong, dark-colored substance, having +attachments to the paunch. It is composed of blood-vessels, nerves, and +lymphatics, united by cellular structure. It appears to serve as a +reservoir for the blood that may be designed for the secretions of bile +in the liver. P. M. Roget <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>says, "Any theory that assigns a very +important function to the spleen will be overturned by the fact, that in +many animals the removal of this organ, far from being fatal, or +interrupting, in any sensible manner, the continuance of the functions, +seems to be borne with perfect impunity." Sir E. Home, Bichat, Leuret, +Lassaigne, and others, suppose that "the spleen serves as a receptacle +for the superfluous quantity of fluid taken into the stomach."</p> + +<p><i>The Liver</i> is a dense gland, of a lobulated structure, situated below +the diaphragm, or "skirt." It is supplied, like other organs, with +arterial blood, by vessels, called <i>hepatic</i> arteries, which are sent +off from the great aorta. It receives also a large amount of venous +blood, which is distributed through its substance by a separate set of +vessels, derived from the venous system. The veins which receive the +blood that has circulated in the usual manner unite together into a +large trunk, called vena portæ, (gate vein,) and this vein, on entering +the liver, ramifies like an artery, and ultimately terminates in the +branches of the hepatic veins, which transmit the blood, in the ordinary +course of circulation, to the vena cava, (hollow vein.) Mr. Kiernan +says, "The hepatic veins, together with the lobules which surround them, +resemble, in their arrangement, the branches and leaves of a tree, the +substance of the lobules being disposed around the minute branches of +the veins like the parenchyma of a leaf around its fibres. The hepatic +veins may be divided into two classes, namely, those contained in +lobules, and those contained in canals formed by lobules. The first +class is composed of interlobular branches, one of which occupies the +centre of each lobule, and receives the blood from a plexus formed in +the lobule by the portal vein; and the second class of hepatic veins is +composed of all those vessels contained in canals formed by the lobules, +and including numerous small branches, as well as the large trunks +terminating in the inferior cava. The external surface of every lobule +is covered by an expansion of '<i>Glisson's capsule</i>,' by which it is +connected to, as well as separated from, contiguous lobules, and in +which branches of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>the hepatic duct, portal veins, and hepatic artery +ramify. The ultimate branches of the hepatic artery terminate in the +branches of the portal vein, where the blood they respectively contain +is mixed together, and from which mixed blood the bile is secreted by +the lobules, and conveyed away by the hepatic ducts. The remaining blood +is returned to the heart by the hepatic veins, the beginnings of which +occupy the centre of each lobule, and, when collected into trunks, pour +their contents into the inferior cava. Hence the blood which has +circulated through the liver, and has thereby lost its arterial +character, is, in common with that which is returning from other parts, +poured into the vena portæ, and contributes its share in furnishing +materials for the biliary secretion. The hepatic artery furnishes +nutrition to the liver itself."</p> + +<p>The bile, having been secreted, accumulates in the gall-bladder, where +it is kept for future use. When the healthy action of the fourth stomach +is interrupted, the bile is supposed to be reabsorbed,—it enters into +the different tissues, producing yellowness of the eyes; the malady is +then termed <i>yellows</i>, <i>jaundice</i>, &c. Sometimes the passage of the bile +is obstructed by calculi, or gall-stones; they have been found in great +numbers in oxen.</p> + +<p><i>The Pancreas</i> is composed of a number of lobules or glands; a small +duct proceeds from each; they unite and form a common canal, which +proceeds towards, and terminates in, the fourth stomach. The pancreatic +juice appears to be exceedingly analogous, both in its sensible +properties and chemical composition, to the saliva.</p> + +<p>"The recent researches of MM. Bouchardat, Sandras, Mialhe, Bareswil, and +Bernard himself, have placed beyond a doubt the existence of a ferment, +in some of the fluids which mix with the alimentary mass, destined to +convert starchy matters into sugar. They have proved that the gastric +juice has for its peculiar office the solution and digestion of azotized +substances. There remained to be ascertained the real agent for the +digestion of fatty matters; that is to say, the agent in the formation +of chyle out of those substances.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>"M. Bernard has proved that this remarkable office is performed by the +pancreatic juice; he has demonstrated the fact by three conclusive +proofs.</p> + +<p>"1. The pancreatic juice, pure and recently formed, forms an emulsion +with oils and fats with the greatest facility. This emulsion may be +preserved for a long time, and the fatty substance soon undergoes a +fermentation which separates its constituent acids.</p> + +<p>"2. The chyle only begins to appear in the lacteals below that part of +the intestinal tube where the pancreatic juice enters it to mix with the +alimentary matters.</p> + +<p>"3. In disorders of the pancreas, we find that the fatty matters, +contained in the food, pass entire in the evacuations."</p> + +<p>The above is an extract from the report of a body composed of several +members of the French Academy of Sciences. "M. Bernard" (continues the +report) "has exhibited to us the first of these experiments, and has +furnished us with the means of repeating it with the several varieties +of the gastric juice. We have not the slightest doubt on the subject. It +is incontestable that fatty substances are converted into an emulsion by +this juice, in a manner easy and persistent, and it is no less true that +the saliva, the gastric juice, and the bile are destitute of this +property.</p> + +<p>"The second demonstration can be given in various modes; but the author +has discovered, in the peculiar arrangement of the digestive apparatus +of the rabbit, an unexceptional means of obtaining it with the greatest +precision, and at will. The pancreatic juice enters the intestinal tube +of this animal about fourteen inches below the point where the bile is +poured in. Now, as long as the food is above the region where it mixes +with the pancreatic juice, there appears to be no formation and +separation of a milky chyle; nothing shows that the fatty matters are +reduced to an emulsion. On the contrary, as soon as the pancreatic juice +mixes with the alimentary matters, we observe the fat to be converted +into an emulsion, and a milky chyle to fill the corresponding lacteals. +Nothing can <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>give an idea of the result of these experiments, which have +all the accuracy of a chemical operation performed in the laboratory, +and all the beauty of the most perfect injection.</p> + +<p>"We are not, therefore, surprised that divers pathological cases, +hitherto imperfectly understood, should come to confirm the views of M. +Bernard, by proving that, in diseases of the pancreas, fatty matters +have been observed to pass unchanged in the dejections.</p> + +<p>"The committee cannot hesitate to conclude that the author has perfectly +demonstrated his physiological propositions; that he has completed the +general characters of the theory of digestion, and that he has made +known the mode of formation of the fatty matter of the chyle, and the +manner of the digestion of the fatty matters."</p> + +<p><i>The Kidneys.</i>—Their office is, to secrete from the blood the useless +or excrementitious fluids in the form of urine. When the skin is +obstructed, the secretion is augmented, and profuse perspiration lessens +it. From a cavity in the centre of each kidney a canal or tube proceeds, +by which the urine is conveyed into the bladder. These tubes are named +<i>ureters</i>. As the ureters enter the bladder, they pass forward, a short +distance between its coats; which effectually prevents the urine from +taking a retrograde course. The urine is expelled by the muscular power +which the bladder possesses of contracting upon its contents.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>RESPIRATION AND STRUCTURE OF THE LUNGS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The organs of respiration are the larynx, the trachea, or windpipe, +bronchia, and the lungs.</p> + +<p>The air is expelled from the lungs principally by the action of the +muscles of respiration; and when these relax, the lungs expand by virtue +of their own elasticity. This may be exemplified by means of a sponge, +which may be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>compressed into a small compass by the hand, but, upon +opening the hand, the sponge returns to its natural size, and all its +cavities become filled with air. The purification of the blood in the +lungs is of vital importance, and indispensably necessary to the due +performance of all the functions; for if they be in a diseased +state,—either tuberculous, or having adhesions to the pleura, their +function will be impaired; the blood will appear black; loaded with +carbon; and the phlebotomizer will have the very best (worst) excuse for +taking away a few quarts with a view of purifying the remainder! The +trachea, or windpipe, after dividing into smaller branches, called +<i>bronchia</i>, again subdivides into innumerable other branches, the +extremities of which are composed of an infinite number of small cells, +which, with the ramifications of veins, arteries, nerves, and connecting +membranes, make up the whole mass or substance of the lungs. The +internal surface of the windpipe, bronchia, and air-cells, is lined with +a delicate membrane, highly organized with blood-vessels, &c. The whole +is invested with a thin, transparent membrane—a continuation of that +lining the chest, named <i>pleura</i>. It also covers the diaphragm, and, by +a duplication of its folds, forms a separation between the lobes of the +lungs.</p> + +<div class="img"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +<a href="images/imagep055.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep055.jpg" width="35%" alt="THE HEART VIEWED EXTERNALLY." /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE HEART VIEWED EXTERNALLY.</p> + +<p class="noin" style="margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;"><i>a</i>, the left ventricle; <i>b</i>, the right ventricle; <i>c</i>, <i>e</i>, <i>f</i>, the +aorta; <i>g</i>, <i>h</i>, <i>i</i>, the carotid and other arteries springing from the +aorta; <i>k</i>, the pulmonary artery; <i>l</i>, branches of the pulmonary artery +in the lungs; <i>m</i>, <i>m</i>, the pulmonary veins emptying into the left +auricle; <i>n</i>, the right auricle; <i>o</i>, the ascending vena cava; <i>q</i>, the +descending vena cava; <i>r</i>, the left auricle; <i>s</i>, the coronary vein and +artery. (See <i>Circulation of the Blood</i>, on the opposite page.)</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The blood contains the elements for building up, supplying the waste of, +and nourishing the whole animal economy. On making an examination of the +blood with a microscope, it is found full of little red globules, which +vary in their size and shape in different animals, and are more numerous +in the warm than in the cold-blooded. Probably this arises from the fact +that the latter absorb less oxygen than the former. When blood stands +for a time after being drawn, it separates into two parts. One is called +<i>serum</i>, and resembles the white of an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>egg; the other is the clot, or +crassamentum, and forms the red coagulum, or jelly-like substance. This +is accompanied by whitish tough threads, called <i>fibrine</i>.</p> + +<p>When blood has been drawn from an animal, and it assumes a cupped or +hollow form, if serum, or buffy coat, remains on its surface, it denotes +an impoverished state; but if the whole, when coagulated, be of one +uniform mass, it indicates a healthy state of that fluid. The blood of a +young animal, provided it be in health, coagulates into a firm mass, +while that of an old or debilitated one is generally less dense, and +more easily separated. The power that propels the blood through the +different blood-vessels is a mechanico-vital power, and is accomplished +through the involuntary contractions and relaxations of the heart; from +certain parts of which arteries arise, in other parts veins terminate. +(See Plate.)</p> + +<p>The heart is invested with a strong membranous sac, called +<i>pericardium</i>, which adheres to the tendinous centre of the diaphragm, +and to the great vessels at its superior portion. The heart is +lubricated by a serous fluid, secreted within the pericardium, for the +purpose of guarding against friction. When an excess of fluid +accumulates within the sac, it is termed dropsy of the heart. The heart +is divided into four cavities, viz., two auricles, named from their +resemblance to an ear, and two ventricles, (as seen at <i>a</i>, <i>b</i>,) +forming the body. The left ventricle is smaller than the right, yet its +walls are much thicker and stronger than those of the latter: it is from +this part that the large trunk of the arteries proceed, called the +<i>great aorta</i>. The right cavity, or ventricle, is the receptacle for +blood returned by the venous structure after having gone the rounds of +the circulation; the veins terminating, as they approach the heart, in a +single vessel, called <i>vena cava</i>, (see plate, <i>o</i>, <i>q</i>, ascending and +descending portion.) The auricle on the left side of the heart receives +the blood that has been distributed through the lungs for purification. +Where the veins terminate in auricles, there are valves placed, to +prevent the blood from returning. For example, the blood proceeds out of +the heart along the aorta; the valve opens <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>upwards; the blood also +moves upwards, and raises the valve, and passes through; the pressure +from above effectually closes the passage. The valves of the heart are +composed of elastic cartilage, which admits of free motion. They +sometimes, however, become ossified. The heart and its appendages are, +like other parts of the system, subject to various diseases, which are +frequently very little understood, yet often fatal. Now, the blood, +having passed through the veins and vena cava, flows into the right +auricle; and this, when distended, contracts, and forces its contents +into the right ventricle, which, contracting in its turn, propels the +blood into the pulmonary arteries, whose numerous ramifications bring it +in contact with the air-cells of the lungs. It then, being deprived of +its carbon, assumes a crimson color. Having passed through its proper +vessels, it accumulates in the left auricle. This also contracts, and +forces the blood through a valve into the left ventricle. This ventricle +then contracts in its turn, and the blood passes through another valve +into the great aorta, to go the round of the circulation and return in +the manner just described.</p> + +<p>Many interesting experiments have been made to estimate the quantity of +blood in an animal. "The weight of a dog," says Mr. Percival, "being +ascertained to be seventy-nine pounds, a puncture was made with the +lancet into the jugular vein, from which the blood was collected. The +vein having ceased to bleed, the carotid artery of the same side was +divided, but no blood came from it; in a few seconds afterwards, the +animal was dead. The weight of the carcass was now found to be +seventy-three and a half pounds; consequently it had sustained a loss of +five and a half pounds—precisely the measure of the blood drawn. It +appears from this experiment, that an animal will lose about one +fifteenth part of its weight of blood before it dies; though a less +quantity may so far debilitate the vital powers, as to be, though less +suddenly, equally fatal. In the human subject, the quantity of blood has +been computed at about one eighth part of the weight of the body; and as +such an opinion has been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>broached from the results of experiments on +quadrupeds, we may fairly take that to be about the proportion of it in +the horse; so that if we estimate the weight of a horse to be thirteen +hundred and forty-four pounds, the whole quantity of blood will amount +to eighty-four quarts, or one hundred and sixty-eight pounds; of which +about forty-five quarts, or ninety pounds, will commonly flow from the +jugular vein prior to death; though the loss of a much less quantity +will deprive the animal of life."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>REMARKS ON BLOOD-LETTING.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The author has been, for several years, engaged in a warfare against the +use of the lancet in the treatment of the various diseases of animals. +When this warfare was first commenced, the prospect was poor indeed. The +lancet was the great anti-phlogistic of the allopathic school; it had +powerful, talented, and uncompromising advocates, who had been +accustomed to resort to it on all occasions, from the early settlement +of America up to that period. The great mass had followed in the +footsteps of their predecessors, supposing them to be infallible. Men +and animals were bled; rivers of blood have been drawn from their +systems; yet they often got well, and men looked upon the lancet as one +of the blessings of the age, when, in fact, it is the greatest curse +that ever afflicted this country: it has produced greater losses to +owners of domestic animals than did ever pestilence or disease. A few +philanthropic practitioners have, from time to time, in other countries, +as well as in this, labored during their life, and on their death-bed, +to convince the world of the destructive tendency of blood-letting in +human practice; but none that we know of ever had the moral courage to +wage a general warfare against the practice in the veterinary +department, until we commenced it. We have met with great success, and +have given the blood-letting gentry who practise it at the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>present day +("just to please their employers or to make out a case") a partial +quietus: in a few more years, unless they abandon their false theories, +their occupation, notwithstanding their pretensions to cure <i>secundum +artem</i>, will, like Othello's, be "gone." But we are not writing for +doctors. Our business is with the farmers—the lords of creation. The +former are mere lords of pukes and purges; they, like the farmers, have +the materials, however, to mould themselves into men of common sense; +but the fact is, they are hide-bound; they want a national sweat, to rid +their systems, especially their upper works, of the theories of Sydenham +and Paracelsus, which have shipwrecked many thousands of the medical +profession. They shut their eyes to the results of medical reform, and +cling, with all their soul, and with all their might, worthy a better +cause, to a system that "always was false."</p> + +<p>Lord Byron, like many other learned men, was well acquainted with the +impotency of the healing art, and held the lancet in utter abhorrence: +when beset, day and night, to be bled, the bard, in an angry tone, +exclaimed, "You are, I see, a d——d set of butchers; take away as much +blood as you like." "We seized the opportunity," says Dr. Milligan, "and +drew twenty ounces; yet the relief did not correspond to the hopes we +had formed." On the 17th, the bleeding was twice repeated, dangerous +symptoms still increasing, and on the 19th he expired, just about bled +to death. Washington, a man whose name is dear to every American, died +from the effects of an evil system of medication. He was attacked with +croup: his physician bled him, and gave him calomel and antimony. The +next day, physicians were called in, (to share the responsibility of the +butchery,) and he was subjected to two more copious bleedings: in all he +lost ninety ounces of blood. Which of our readers, at the present day, +would submit to such unwarrantable barbarity? We just said we were not +writing for doctors; yet we find ourselves off the track in thus +administering a small dose, as a sample of "<i>good and efficient +treatment</i>."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>In reference to the success attending our labors in veterinary reform, +we do not claim the whole credit: much of it is due to the intelligence +of the American farmers, in appreciating the value and importance of a +safer and a more effectual system of medication; such a system as we +advocate. They have witnessed the results attending the practice of +cattle doctors generally, and they have seen the results of our sanative +system of medication, and a great majority in Massachusetts have decided +in favor of the latter. We have demonstrated to the satisfaction of our +patrons, and we are ready and willing to repeat our experiments on +diseased animals for the satisfaction of others, in showing that we can +restore an animal, when suffering under acute attacks of disease, in a +few hours, when, by the popular method, it takes weeks and months, if +indeed they ever recover from the effects of the destructive agents +used.</p> + +<p>We are told that "horses and cattle are bled and get well immediately." +This may apply to some cases; but, in very many instances, the animals +are sent for a few weeks to "Dr. Green,"<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> to put them in the same +condition they were at the time of bleeding. But suppose that some +animals do get well after bleeding; is it thus proved that more would +not get well if no blood were drawn from any? A cow may fall down, and, +in so doing, lacerate her muscles, blood-vessels, &c., and lose a large +quantity of blood. She may get well, in spite of the violence and loss +of blood. So we say of blood-letting, if the abstraction of a certain +number of gallons of blood will kill a strong animal, then the +abstraction of a small quantity must injure it proportionately.</p> + +<p>There is in the animal economy a power, called the vital principle, +which always operates in favor of health. If the provocation be gentle, +and does not seriously derange the machinery, then this power may +overcome both it and any disease the animal may at the time labor under. +For example, a horse falls down in the street, perhaps laboring under a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>temporary congestion of the brain: now, if he were let alone until +nature has restored an equilibrium of the circulating fluid and nervous +action, he would soon get up and proceed on his way, as many thousands +do when a knife or lancet is not to be had. But, unfortunately, people +are too hasty. The moment a beast has fallen, they are bound to have him +on his perpendiculars in double quick time. The teamster cannot wait for +nature; she is "too slow a coach" for him. He tries what virtue there is +in the whip; this failing, he obtains a knife, if one is to be had, and +"<i>starts the blood</i>." By this time, nature, about resuming her empire, +causes the horse to show signs of returning animation, and the credit is +awarded to the blood-starter. Animals are often bled when diseased, and +the prominent symptoms that previously marked the character of the +malady disappear, or give place to symptoms of another order, less +evident, and men have supposed that a cure is effected, when, in fact, +they have just sown the seeds of a future disease. We are not bound to +prove, in every case, how an animal gets well after two or three +repeated bleedings. It is enough for us to prove that this operation +always tends to death, which can easily be produced by opening the +carotid artery of an animal.</p> + +<p>Permit us, dear reader, at this stage of our article, to observe, that +"confession is good for the soul." We mean to put it in practice. So +here goes. We plead guilty to bleeding, blistering, calomelizing, +narcotizing, antimonializing, a great number of patients of the human +kind. We did it in our verdant days, because it was so scientific and +popular, and because we had been taught to reverence the stereotyped +practice of the allopathists. We have, however, done penance, and sought +forgiveness; and through the aid of a few men, devoted to medical +reform, we have been washed in the regenerating waters flowing through +the vineyard of reason and experience, and now advocate and observe the +self-regulating powers of the laws of life. On the other hand, we are +free from the charge of bleeding or poisoning domestic animals, and can +say, with a clear conscience, that we have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>never drawn a drop of blood +from a four-footed creature, (except in surgical operations, when it +could not be avoided;) neither will we, under any circumstances, resort +to the lancet; for we are convinced that blood-letting is a powerful +depressor of the vital powers.</p> + +<p>Blood is the fuel that keeps the lamp of life burning; if the fuel be +withdrawn, the light is extinguished.</p> + +<p>Professor Lobstein says, "So far from blood-letting being beneficial, it +is productive of the most serious consequences—a cruel practice, and a +scourge to humanity. How many thousands are sent by it to an untimely +grave! Without blood there is no heat, no motion in the body."</p> + +<p>Dr. Reid says, "If the employment of the lancet was abolished +altogether, it would perhaps save annually a greater number of lives +than pestilence ever destroyed."</p> + +<p>The fact of blood-letting having been practised by horse and cattle +doctors from time immemorial is certainly not a clear proof of its +utility, nor is it a sufficient recommendation that it may be practised +with safety. During my professional career, the preconceived theories +have commanded a due share of consideration; and, when weighed in the +scale of uninfluenced experience, they never failed of falling short. If +we grant that any deviation from the healthy state denotes debility of +one or more functions, then whatever has a tendency to debilitate +further cannot restore the animal to health. The following case will +serve to illustrate our position: "A horse was brought to be bled, +merely because he had been accustomed to it at that season of the year. +I did not examine him minutely; but as the groom stated there was +nothing amiss with him, I directed a moderate quantity of blood to be +drawn. About five pints were taken off; and while the operator was +pinning up the wound, the horse fell. He appeared to suffer much pain, +and had considerable difficulty of breathing. In this state he remained +twelve hours, and then died. Judging from the appearances at the post +mortem examination, it is probable that a loss of a moderate quantity of +blood caused a fatal interruption of the functions of the heart."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>It is strange that such cases as these do not open men's eyes, and +compel them to acknowledge that there is something wrong in the medical +world. Such cases as these furnish us with unanswerable arguments +against blood-letting; for as the blood, which is the natural stimulus +of, and gives strength to, the organs, is withdrawn, its abstraction +leaves all those organs less capable of self-defence.</p> + +<p>Horse and cattle doctors have recommended bleeding when animals have +been fed too liberally, or if their systems abound in morbific matter. +Now, the most sensible course would be, provided the animal had been +overfed, to reduce the quantity of food, or, in other words, remove the +cause. If the secretions are vitiated, or in a morbid state, then +regulate them by the means laid down in this work. For we cannot purify +a well of water by abstracting a few buckets; neither can we purify the +whole mass of blood by taking away a few quarts; for that which is left +will still be impure. If the different parts had between them partitions +impervious to fluids, then there would be some sense in drawing out of +the vessels over-filled; but unfortunately, if you draw from one, you +draw from all the rest.</p> + +<p>In every disease wherein bleeding has been used, complete recovery has +been protracted, and the animal manifests the debility by swelled legs +and other unmistakable evidences. In some cases, however, the ill +effects of the loss of blood, unless excessive, are not always +immediately perceived; yet such animals, in after years, are subject to +staggers, and diseases of the lungs, pleura, and peritoneum.</p> + +<p>Dr. Beach says, "The blood is properly called the <i>vital fluid</i>, and the +life of a person is said to be in the blood.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> We know that just in +proportion to the loss of this substance are our vigor and strength +taken from us. When taken from the system by accident or the lancet, it +is succeeded by great prostration of strength, and a derangement of all +the functions <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>of the body. These effects are invariably, in a greater +or less degree, consequent on bleeding. Is it not, then, reasonable to +suppose, that what will debilitate the strongest constitution in a state +of health, will be attended with most serious evils when applied to a +person laboring under any malady? Is it not like throwing spirits on a +fire to extinguish it?</p> + +<p>"Bleeding is resorted to in all inflammatory complaints; but did +practitioners know the nature and design of inflammation, their +treatment would be different. In fever it is produced by an increased +action of the heart and arteries, to expel acrid and noxious humors, and +should be promoted until the irritating matter is dislodged from the +system. This should be effected, in general, by opening the outlets of +the body, inducing perspiration; to produce which a preternatural degree +of heat or inflammation must be excited by internal remedies. Fever is +nothing more or less than a wholesome and salutary effort of nature to +throw off some morbific matter; and, therefore, every means to lessen +this indication proves injurious. Bleeding, in consequence of the +debility it produces, prevents such indication from being fulfilled."</p> + +<p>The inveterate phlebotomizers recommend and practise bleeding when "<i>the +animal has too much blood</i>." There may be at times too much blood, and +at others too little; but suppose there is—has any body found out any +better method of reducing what they please to term an excess, than that +of regular exercise in the open air, combined with a less quantity of +fodder than usual? Or has any body found out any method of making good +healthy blood, other than the slow process of nature, as exhibited in +the results of digestion, secretion, circulation, and nutrition? Have +they discovered any artificial means of restoring the blood to its +healthful quantity when it is deficient? Have they found any means of +purifying the blood, save the healthful operations of nature's secreting +and excreting laboratory? Finally, have they found any safety-valve or +outlet for the reduction of this excess other than the excrementitious +vessels? And if they have, are they better able to adjust the pressure +on that valve than <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>He who made the whole machinery, and knows the +relative strength of all its parts? In an article on blood-letting, +found in the Farmer's Cyclopædia, the author says, "In summer, bleeding +is often necessary to prevent fevers." Now, it is evident that nature's +preventives are air, exercise, food, water, and sleep. Attention to the +rules laid down in this work, under the heads of <i>Watering</i>, <i>Feeding</i>, +&c., will be more satisfactory and less dangerous than that recommended +by the Cyclopædia. If the directions given in the latter were fully +carried out, the stock of our farms would be swept away as by the blast +of a tornado. Such a barbarous system would entail universal misery and +degeneracy on all classes of live stock; and we might then exclaim, +"They are living, yet half dead—victims to an inconsistent system of +medication!" But thanks to a discerning public, they just begin to see +the absurdity and wickedness of draining the system of the living +principles. Veterinary reform has germinated in the New England States, +and, in spite of all opposition, has struck its roots deep into the +minds of a class of men who have the means and power to send forth its +healing branches, and apply them to their own interest and the welfare +of their stock.</p> + +<p>The same author continues: "Some farmers bleed horses three or four +times a year." We hope the farmers have too much good sense to follow +the wicked example of the former. Frequent bleeding is an indirect mode +of butchery—killing by inches; for it gives to the blood-vessels the +power to contract and adapt themselves to the measure of blood that +remains. It impoverishes the blood, and leads to hydrothorax, +(accumulation of water in the chest,) and materially shortens life. +Mackintosh says, "Some are bled who cannot bear it, and others who do +not require it; and the result is death." The conservative power of life +always operates in favor of health, and resists the encroachments upon +her province with all her might, and often recovers the dominion; but by +frequent bleedings, she is exhausted, and, on taking a little more blood +than usual, the animal drops down and dies; and the owner attributes to +disease what, in fact, is the result of bad treatment.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>"Patients who recover after general and copious bleedings have been +employed, may attribute their recovery to the strength of their +constitution.</p> + +<p>"If you should ask a modern <i>Sangrado</i> what was most necessary in the +treatment of disease, doubtless he would reply, 'Bleeding.'</p> + +<p>"Our modern pathologists, surgeons and others, think bleeding the +<i>factotum</i> in all maladies; it is the <i>ne plus ultra</i>, when drawn in +large quantities. Blood-letting, say these authors, is not only the most +powerful and important, but the most generally used, of all our +remedies. Scarcely a case of acute, or, indeed, of chronic, disease +occurs in which it does not become necessary to consider the propriety +of having recourse to the lancet." (??) To what extent blood-letting is +carried, in our modern age, may be learned by reading Youatt and others, +who recommend it "when animals rub themselves, and the hair falls off; +when the eyes appear dull and languid, red or inflamed; in all +inflammatory complaints, as of the brain, lungs, kidneys, bowels, womb, +bladder, and joints; in all bruises, hurts, wounds, and all other +accidents; in cold, catarrh, paralysis, and locked-jaw." Yet, strange to +say, one of these authors qualifies his recommendations as follows: "No +man, however wise, can tell exactly how much blood ought to be taken in +a given case." Now, it is well known that the draining of blood from a +vein, though it diminishes the vital resistance, and lessens the volume +of fluids, does not mend the matter; for it thus gives to cold and +atmospheric agents the ascendant influence. A collapse takes place, the +secretions become impaired, the animal refuses its food, "looks +dumpish," &c.</p> + +<p>We might continue this article to an indefinite length; but as we shall, +in the following pages, have occasion to refer to the use of the lancet +as a destructive agent, we conclude it with the following remarks of an +English physician: "Our most valuable remedies against inflammation are +but ill adapted for curing that state of disease. They do not act +directly on the diseased part; the action is only indirect; therefore it +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>is imperfect. Bleeding, the best of any of these remedies, is in this +predicament."</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> A piece of pasture land.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Then the life of an animal is also in the blood; and the +same evil consequences follow its abstraction.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>EFFORTS OF NATURE TO REMOVE DISEASE.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Nature is ever busy, by the silent operations of her own forces, +in curing disease."—<i>Dixon.</i></p></div> +<br /> + +<p>Whenever any irritating substance comes in contact with sensitive +surfaces, nature, or the <i>vis medicatrix naturæ</i>, goes immediately to +work to remove the offending cause: for example, should any substance +lodge on the mucous surface, within the nostril, although it be +imperceptible, as often happens when the hay is musty, it abounds in +particles whose specific gravity enables them to float in atmospheric +air; they are then inhaled in the act of respiration, and nature, in +order to wash off the offending matter, sends a quantity of fluid to the +part. The same process may be observed when a small piece of hay, or +other foreign matter, shall have fallen into the eye: the tears then +flow in great abundance, to prevent that delicate organ being injured. +"When a blister is applied to the surface, it first excites a genial +warmth, with inflammation of the skin; and nature, distressed, goes +instantly to work, separates the cuticle to form a bag, interposes serum +between the nerves and the offensive matter, then prepares another +cuticle, that, when the former, with the adhering substance, shall fall +off, the nervous papillæ may be again provided with a covering.</p> + +<p>"The same reasoning will apply to the operation of emetics and +cathartics; for not only is the peristaltic motion either greatly +quickened or inverted, according to the urgency of the distress, but +both the mucous glands and the exhalent arteries pour forth their fluids +in abundance to wash away the offending matter, which at one time acts +chemically, at others mechanically."</p> + +<p>If a horse, or an ox, be wounded in the foot with a nail, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>and a portion +of it is broken off and remains in the wound, inflammation sets in, +producing suppuration, and the nail is discharged.</p> + +<p>A few days ago, we were called to see a horse, said to have swelling on +the <i>tarsus</i>, (hock.) On an examination, it proved to be an abscess, +well developed; the matter could be distinctly felt at the most +prominent part. We should certainly have been justified (at least in the +eyes of the medical world; and then it would have looked so +"doctor-like"!) in displaying a case of instruments and opening the +tumor. If ulceration, gangrene, &c., set in and the horse ultimately +became lame, no blame could be attached to us, because the practice is +<i>scientific</i>!—recognized by the schools as good and efficient +treatment. What was to be done? Why, it was evident that we could not do +better than to aid nature. A relaxing, anti-spasmodic poultice was +confined to the parts, and in six hours after, the sac discharged its +contents, and with it a piece of splinter two inches in length. The pain +immediately ceased, and the animal is now free from lameness. We here +see the design of nature: the consequent inflammation was to produce +suppuration, and make an outlet for the splinter.</p> + +<p>Professor Kost says, "The laws of all organic life are remarkably +peculiar; they possess, in an eminent degree, the power of +self-regulation. When interrupted, disease, indeed, supervenes; but +unless the circumstances are particularly unfavorable, the physiological +state will soon be restored. All observation most clearly corroborates +this fact. The healing of wounds, restoration of fractured bones, +expulsion of obtruded substances, and particularly the manner in which +extravasated matter or pus is removed from internal organs, as in case +of abscess in the liver, in which exit may be gained by ulceration +through the parietes, or by an adhesion to and ulceration into the +intestines, or even by the adhesions to the diaphragm and lungs, in such +a manner as, by ulceration into the bronchia, a passage may be gained, +and the pus thus removed by expectoration,—all evince a most singular +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>conservative power. What is most remarkable in cases like the latter, +is, that the adhesions are so formed as to prevent the escape of the pus +into the peritoneal sac, which accident must inevitably prove fatal.</p> + +<p>"Some very interesting experiments have been performed to test the +restorative power of the different tissues of the animal body. If a +portion of the intestines of a dog be taken out, and tied, so as to +obstruct completely the passage, it will be found that the adjacent +portions of the intestine will reunite, the ligature will separate into +the canal and be discharged, and the gut will heal up so as to preserve +its normal continuity, and the animal, in a fortnight, will have +recovered entirely from the effects of this fearful operation.</p> + +<p>"When noxious or poisonous substances are thrown into any of the +cavities of the body from which their escape is impracticable, a cyst +will often form around them, and they thus become isolated from +absorption and the circulation, so as to prevent their doing harm.</p> + +<p>"The less remarkable instances of this character are of more common +occurrence; and the self-regulating power of the laws of life, alias +<i>vis conservatrix naturæ</i>, is so universally known and depended on, that +it is rare, indeed, that indisposed persons take medicine, until they +have first waited at least a little, to see what nature would do for +them; and they are seldom disappointed, as it may perhaps be safely +asserted, that nine tenths of all the attacks of disease (taking the +slight indispositions; for such are most of them, as they are checked +before they become severe) are warded off by the vital force, +unassisted. Such, then, are the facts deduced from observing the +operations of nature in disease <i>unassisted</i>."</p> + +<p>Dr. Beach says, "We are well aware, from what passes in the system +daily, that the Author of nature has wisely provided a principle which +is calculated to remove disease. It is very observable in fevers. No +sooner is noxious or morbid matter retained in the system, than there is +an increased action of the heart and arteries, to eliminate the existing +cause from the skin; or it may pass off by other outlets established +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>for that purpose. With what propriety, then, can this provision of +nature be denied, as it is by some? A noted professor in Philadelphia or +Baltimore ridicules this power in the constitution; he says to his +class, 'Kick nature out of doors.' It was this man, or a brother +professor, who exclaimed to his class, 'Give me mercury in one hand and +the lancet in the other, and I am prepared to cope with disease in every +shape and form.' I have not time to stop here, and comment upon such +palpable and dangerous doctrine. I have only to say, let the medical +historian record this sentiment, maintained in the highest medical +universities in America in the nineteenth century. I am pleased, +however, to observe, that all physicians do not coincide with such +views."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>PROVERBS OF THE VETERINARY REFORMERS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The merciful man is merciful to his domestic animals.</p> + +<p>"Avoid blood-letting and poisons, for they are powerful depressors of +the vital energies. There are two medical <i>fulcra</i>—reason and +experience. Experience precedes, reason follows; hence, reasoning not +founded on experience avails nothing. He who cures by simples need not +seek for compounds."—<i>Villanov.</i></p> + +<p>"The physician <i>destitute of a knowledge of plants</i> can never properly +judge of the power of a plant."—<i>Whitlaw.</i></p> + +<p>"The vegetable kingdom is the most noble in medicines."—<i>Ibid.</i></p> + +<p>"Innocent medicines, which approach as near to food as possible, +preserve health, while chemical compounds destroy it. Heroic medicines +(such are antimony, copper, corrosive sublimate, lead, opium, hellebore, +arsenic, belladonna) are like the sword in the hands of a madman.</p> + +<p>"Nature unassisted by art sometimes effects +miracles."—<i>Whitlaw.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>"It is the part of a wise physician to decline prescribing in a lost +case."—<i>Ibid.</i> Whenever there is free, full circulation of blood, there +is animal heat. If the heat of a part becomes deficient, the circulation +is correspondingly diminished. As soon as voluntary motion in a part +ceases, so soon the circulation becomes enfeebled; and if continued, the +part will wither and waste away.</p> + +<p>The strength and health of an animal depend on a due share of exercise, +pure air, and suitable food. Deprive an animal of these, and he will +cease to exist. We believe in the great doctrine that the duty of the +physician is to aid nature in protecting herself in the enjoyment of +health, by proper attention to breeding, rearing, ventilation, and +proper farm and stable management.</p> + +<p>"The tinsel glitter of fine-spun theory, or favorite hypothesis, which +prevails wherever allopathy hath been taught, so dazzles, flatters, and +charms human vanity and folly, that, so far from contributing to the +certain and speedy cure of diseases, it hath, in every age, proved the +bane and disgrace of healing art."—<i>Graham</i>, p. 15.</p> + +<p>"Those physicians generally become the most distinguished who soonest +emancipate themselves from the tyranny of the schools of +physic."—<span class="smcap">Rush.</span></p> + +<p>"Availing ourselves of the privileges we possess, and animated by the +noblest impulses, let us cordially coöperate to give to medicine a new +direction, and attempt those great improvements which it imperiously +demands."—<i>Ther.</i>, vol. i. p. 51.</p> + +<p>"It has been proved by allopathists themselves, that 'a physician should +be nature's servant;' that 'bleeding tends directly to subdue nature's +efforts;' that 'all poisons suddenly and rapidly destroy a great +proportion of the vitality of the system;' that whatever be the +quantity, use, or manner of application, all the influence they +inherently possess is injurious, and that they are not fatal in every +instance of their use only because nature overpowers them."—<i>Curtis.</i></p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>AN INQUIRY CONCERNING THE SOULS OF BRUTES.</h3> +<br /> + +<div style="margin-left: 30%; margin-right: 15%;"><p class="noin"> +"Are these then made in vain? Is man alone,<br /> +Of all the marvels of creative love,<br /> +Blest with a scintillation of His essence—<br /> +The heavenly spark of reasonable soul?<br /> +And hath not yon sagacious dog, that finds<br /> +A meaning in the shepherd's idiot face;<br /> +Or the huge elephant, that lends his strength<br /> +To drag the stranded galley to the shore,<br /> +And strives with emulative pride t' excel<br /> +The mindless crowd of slaves that toil beside him;<br /> +Or the young generous war-horse, when he sniffs<br /> +The distant field of blood, and quick and shrill<br /> +Neighing for joy, instils a desperate courage<br /> +Into the veteran trooper's quailing heart,—<br /> +Have they not all an evidence of soul,<br /> +(Of soul, the proper attribute of man,)<br /> +The same in kind, though meaner in degree?<br /> +Why should not that which hath been—be forever?<br /> +And death, O, can it be annihilation?<br /> +No,—though the stolid atheist fondly clings<br /> +To that last hope, how kindred to despair!<br /> +No,—'tis the struggling spirit's hour of joy,<br /> +The glad emancipation of the soul,<br /> +The moment when the cumbrous fetters drop,<br /> +And the bright spirit wings its way to heaven!<br /> +<br /> +"To say that God annihilated aught,<br /> +Were to declare that in an unwise hour<br /> +He planned and made somewhat superfluous.<br /> +Why should not the mysterious life that dwells<br /> +In reptiles as in man, and shows itself<br /> +In memory, gratitude, love, hate, and pride,<br /> +Still energize, and be, though death may crush<br /> +Yon frugal ant or thoughtless butterfly,<br /> +Or, with the simoom's pestilential gale<br /> +Strike down the patient camel in the desert?<br /> +<br /> +"There is one chain of intellectual soul,<br /> +In many links and various grades, throughout<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +The scale of nature; from the climax bright,<br /> +The first great Cause of all, Spirit supreme,<br /> +Incomprehensible, and unconfined,<br /> +To high archangels blazing near the throne,<br /> +Seraphim, cherubim, virtues, aids, and powers,<br /> +All capable of perfection in their kind;—<br /> +To man, as holy from his Maker's hand<br /> +He stood in possible excellence complete,<br /> +(Man, who is destined now to brighter glories,—<br /> +As nearer to the present God, in One<br /> +His Lord and Substitute,—than angels reach;)<br /> +Then man has fallen, with every varied shade<br /> +Of character and capability,<br /> +From him who reads his title to the skies,<br /> +Or grasps, with giant-mind, all nature's wonders,<br /> +Down to the monster-shaped, inhuman form,<br /> +Murderer, slavering fool, or blood-stained savage;<br /> +Then to the prudent elephant, the dog<br /> +Half-humanized, the docile Arab horse,<br /> +The social beaver, and contriving fox,<br /> +The parrot, quick in pertinent reply,<br /> +The kind-affectioned seal, and patriot bee,<br /> +The merchant-storing ant, and wintering swallow,<br /> +With all those other palpable emanations<br /> +And energies of one Eternal Mind<br /> +Pervading and instructing all that live,<br /> +Down to the sentient grass and shrinking clay.<br /> +In truth, I see not why the breath of life,<br /> +Thus omnipresent, and upholding all,<br /> +Should not return to Him and be immortal,<br /> +(I dare not say the same,) in some glad state<br /> +Originally destined for creation,<br /> +As well from brutish bodies, as from man.<br /> +The uncertain glimmer of analogy<br /> +Suggests the thought, and reason's shrewder guess;<br /> +Yet revelation whispers nought but this,—<br /> +'Our Father careth when a sparrow dies,'<br /> +And that 'the spirit of a brute descends,'<br /> +As to some secret and preserving Hades.<br /> +<br /> +"But for some better life, in what strange sort<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +Were justice, mixed with mercy, dealt to these?<br /> +Innocent slaves of sordid, guilty man,<br /> +Poor unthanked drudges, toiling to his will,<br /> +Pampered in youth, and haply starved in age,<br /> +Obedient, faithful, gentle, though the spur,<br /> +Wantonly cruel, or unsparing thong,<br /> +Weal your galled hides, or your strained sinews crack<br /> +Beneath the crushing load,—what recompense<br /> +Can He who gave you being render you,<br /> +If in the rank, full harvest of your griefs<br /> +Ye sink annihilated, to the shame<br /> +Of government unequal?—In that day<br /> +When crime is sentenced, shall the cruel heart<br /> +Boast uncondemned, because no tortured brute<br /> +Stands there accusing? Shall the embodied deeds<br /> +Of man not follow him, nor the rescued fly<br /> +Bear its kind witness to the saving hand?<br /> +Shall the mild Brahmin stand in equal sin<br /> +Regarding nature's menials, with the wretch<br /> +Who flays the moaning Abyssinian ox,<br /> +Or roasts the living bird, or flogs to death<br /> +The famishing pointer?—and must these again,<br /> +These poor, unguilty, uncomplaining victims,<br /> +Have no reward for life with its sharp pains?—<br /> +They have my suffrage: Nineveh was spared,<br /> +Though Jonah prophesied its doom, for sake<br /> +Of sixscore thousand infants, and 'much cattle;'<br /> +And space is wide enough for every grain<br /> +Of the broad sands that curb our swelling seas,<br /> +Each separate in its sphere to stand apart<br /> +As far as sun from sun; there lacks not room,<br /> +Nor time, nor care, where all is infinite."—<i>Tupper.</i><br /> +</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>THE REFORMED PRACTICE.</h3> + +<p class="cen">SYNOPTICAL VIEW OF THE PROMINENT SYSTEMS OF MEDICINE.</p> +<br /> + +<p>Some of our readers, especially the non-medical, may desire to know what +the following remarks, which appear to apply generally to the human +family, have to do with cattle doctoring. We answer them in the language +of Professor Percival. "The object of the veterinary art is not only +congenial with human medicine, but the very same paths which lead to a +knowledge of the diseases of man, lead also to a knowledge of those of +brutes. An accurate examination of the interior parts of their bodies; a +studious survey of the arrangement, structure, use, connection, and +relation of these parts, and of the laws by which they act; as also of +the nature and properties of the various food and other agents which the +earth so liberally provides for their support and cure,—these form, in +a great measure, the sound and sure foundation of all medical science, +whatever living individual animal be the subject of our consideration. +Whether we prescribe for a man, horse, dog, or cat, the laws of the +animal economy are the same; and one system, and that based upon +established facts, is to guide our practice in all.</p> + +<p>"The theory of medicine in the human subject is the theory of medicine +in the brute; it is the application of that theory—the practice +alone—that is different.</p> + +<p>"We might as well, in reference to the principles of each, attempt to +separate surgery from medicine, as insist that either of these arts, in +theory, is essentially different from the veterinary: every day's +experience serves to confirm this our belief, and in showing us how +often the diseases of animals arise from the same causes as those of a +man, exhibit the same indications, and require a similar method of cure.</p> + +<p>"The science of medicine, like others, consists of a collection of facts +of a common and not a specific character. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>These, therefore, admit of +arrangement into different systems, according to the notions of +theorists, and the various species of philosophy, brought to bear on the +subject.</p> + +<p>"The first regular system was founded by Hippocrates, about three +hundred and eighty years before Christ. It was founded upon <i>theory</i>, +and comprised the doctrines of the ancient dogmatic school. Its +pathology rested upon a supposed change of the humors of the body, +particularly the blood and bile; and here are the first elements of the +'<i>humoral pathology</i>.' Its remedial intentions were founded upon the +existence of the <i>'vis conservatrix' et 'medicatrix naturæ;'</i> and, +although often maintaining direct antipathic principles of action, it +rested mainly on physo-dynamic influence for the accomplishment of its +therapeutic purposes.</p> + +<p>"About two hundred and ninety years before Christ, Philinus of Cos +introduced the ancient <i>Empiric System</i>, which was founded upon +<i>experience</i> and <i>observation</i>. About one hundred years before the +Christian era, the <i>Methodic System</i> was introduced by Asclepiades of +Bithynia. This system was got up with an avowed opposition to that of +Hippocrates, which was called 'a study of death.' Themison of Laodicea, +pupil of Asclepiades, gives an exposition of the fundamental principles +of the methodic system; and it seems that all physiological and +pathological action was considered to be dependent upon the <i>strictum</i> +and <i>laxum</i> of the organic pores, or increased and decreased secretion, +and that all medicines act only on two principles, <i>i. e.</i>, by inducing +contraction and relaxation, or an increase and decrease of the +secretions.</p> + +<p>"It would seem that, in the first century of the Christian era, the +methodic system was divided into various subordinate ones—the +<i>Pneumatic</i>, <i>Episynthetic</i>, and <i>Eclectic</i>. The pneumatic system, which +was the most popular of the fragments of the methodic, was most indebted +to Athenæus of Attalia for its successful introduction. This system +contemplated the doctrine of the Stoics, which recognized the existence +of a spirit governing and directing every thing, and which, when +offended, would produce disease; hence the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>name <i>pneumatic</i>. The +indications of cure were more <i>moral</i> than <i>physical</i>. Fire, air, water, +&c., were not considered elements, but their properties—heat, cold, +dryness, moisture, &c.—were alone entitled to the name.</p> + +<p>"In the second century, the <i>Galenic System</i> was founded by Claudius +Galenus. This might, indeed, only be considered the revival of the +dogmatic or Hippocratean system. Galen professed to have selected what +he found valuable from all the prevailing systems, and has embraced the +elements and ruling spirit of the pneumatic school. Thus he explained +the operation of medicines by reference to their elementary +qualities,—that is, heat, cold, dryness, and moisture,—of each of +which he admitted four degrees. But he was governed by a prevailing +partiality for the system of Hippocrates, which, he states, was either +misunderstood or misrepresented by all theorists, ever since the +establishment of the empiric and methodic schools. He devoted most of +his time to commenting upon and embellishing it, and thus again +established a system, founded on reason, observation, and sound +induction, which maintained its character, without a rival, for more +than one thousand five hundred years.</p> + +<p>"Near the middle of the sixteenth century, Paracelsus introduced the +<i>Chemical System</i>. This was strongly opposed by Bellonius and Riverius, +who maintained the doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen. But the +presumptuous Paracelsus burned, 'in solemn state,' the works of the +ancients; and being succeeded by the indefatigable Van Helmont, the +whole science of medicine was overwhelmed by the mysticism of the +alchemical doctrines and languages. The chemical theory, in the main, +rejects the influence, or even the existence, of the <i>vis medicatrix +naturæ</i>, and explains all physiological, pathological, and therapeutic +operations upon abstract chemical laws. Thus chemical or inorganic +agents, and many of the most virulent poisons, as arsenic, mercury, +antimony, &c., were placed among the most prominent remedies.</p> + +<p>"Soon after the introduction of the chemical system, medical science, if +we make one exception, became less eccentric, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>but much less marked for +the permanency of its systems. Boerhaave ingeniously blended most of the +prominent doctrines of the Galenic and chemical systems; and by an +application of several of the newly-developed natural sciences, +especially mathematics and natural philosophy, he led his successors +into a more even path and fixed method of investigation; for no more do +we find any abstract physical laws the sole basis of a system. But these +were the highest honors allowed Boerhaave; his particular system was +soon subverted by Stahl, who proved the supreme superintendence of an +immaterial, vital principle, corresponding to that pointed out by +Hippocrates. To this he ascribes intelligence, if not moral attributes. +Hoffman led Cullen into the path that brought him into the fruitful +field of <i>nervous pathology</i> and solidism, which, with a modification of +Stahl's ruling <i>immaterial essence</i>, formed the groundwork of his +admired system.</p> + +<p>"If, now, we except the eccentricities of Brown, comprising his system, +founded on the <i>sthenic</i> and <i>asthenic</i> diathesis, we find little +interruption to the general prevalence of the Cullenian system, till +nearly the present juncture. The succeeding authors, colleges, and +medical societies have only modified and amplified the general theory, +and regulated the practice into a comparative uniformity, which now +constitutes the popular <i>Allopathic System</i>. But notwithstanding the +comparatively settled state of medical science, it could not be supposed +that in this remarkable age of improvement, while all other liberal +sciences and arts are progressing as if prosecuted by superhuman agency, +medicine should fail to undergo corresponding improvement.</p> + +<p>"Several new systems of medicine date themselves within the last forty +years, viz.: 1. The <i>Homæopathic</i>, introduced by Hahnemann, and founded +upon the principle, <i>similia similibus curantur</i>. 2. The <i>Botanic</i>, +established by a new class of medical philosophers, within the last +twenty years. 3. The <i>Eclectic</i>, corresponding, in its essential +doctrines, with the ancient eclectic system."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>CREED OF THE REFORMERS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>We believe that a perfect system of medical science is that which never +allows disease to exist at all; which prevents disease, instead of +curing it, by means of a perfect hygienic system, proper modes of life, +attention to diet, ventilation, and exercise.</p> + +<p>We believe that the next best system is that which, after disease has +made its appearance, promptly meets its development by the use of such +agencies as are perfectly in harmony with the laws of life and health, +and physiological in their action; such, for example, as water, air, +heat and cold, friction, food, drink, and medicines that are not usually +regarded as poisons, and are known to prove congenial to the animal +constitution.</p> + +<p>We have no attachment to any remedy which experience shows unsafe; but, +on the contrary, we rejoice in the success of every attempt to +substitute sanative for disease-creating agents, and believe that a +number of the articles which are still occasionally used in the old +school, will in time become obsolete, as medical science progresses.</p> + +<p>We hold that our opposition to any course of medical treatment should be +in proportion to the mischief it produces, entirely irrespective of +medical theories. Hence our hostility to the lancet.</p> + +<p>We do not profess to know more about anatomy, physiology, surgery, &c., +than our allopathic brethren; but the superiority which our system +claims over others is, in the main, to be found in our therapeutic +agents, all of which are harmless, safe, and efficient. While they +arouse the energies of nature to resist the ravages of disease, they act +harmoniously with the vital principle, in the restoration of the system +from a pathological to the physiological state.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>TRUE PRINCIPLES.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"Our objection to the old school," says Professor Curtis, "has ever +been, that they not only have no true principles to guide their +practice, but they have adopted, fixed, and obstinately adhered to +principles the very reverse of the true. They have resolved that, in +disease, nature turns a somerset—reverses all her normal laws, and +requires them to do the same. They have decreed that the best means and +processes to cure the sick are those which will most speedily kill them +when in health. In the face of all reason and common sense, they have +adhered to this doctrine and practice for the last three centuries, and +they have been constrained to confess that the destruction they have +produced on human life and health has far exceeded all that has been +effected by the sword, pestilence, and famine. Still they obstinately +persevere. They say their science is progressive—improving; yet its +progression consists in contriving new ways and means to take part of +the life's blood, and poison all the balance.</p> + +<p>"Medicine, being based on the laws of nature, is in itself an exact +science; and every process of the act should be directed by those laws.</p> + +<p>"Medicine is a demonstrative science, and all its processes should be +based on fixed laws, and be governed by positive inductions. Then, and +not till then, will it deserve to be ranked among the exact sciences, +and contemplated as a liberal art.</p> + +<p>"Truth is stationary; it never progresses. What was true in principle in +the days of Adam is so still. To talk of progress in principle is +ridiculous. Neither does a given practice progress. That which was ever +intrinsically good is so still. To talk, then, of the progress in +principles of medicine is absurd. We may learn the truth or error of +principles, and the comparative value or worthlessness of practices; but +the principles are still the same. This is our progress in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>knowledge, +not the progress of science or art. The constant changes that have taken +place in the adoption and rejection of various principles and practices +have ever been an injury to the healing art. Both truth and falsehood, +separately and combined, have been alternately received and rejected; +and this is that progress which is made in a circle, and not in lines +direct. The fault of the cultivators of medicine has been, not that they +never discovered the truth nor adopted the right practice, but that they +adopted wrong principles and practices as often as the right, and +rejected the right as readily as the wrong. They have ever been ready to +prove many, if not all things; but to cast off the bad and hold fast to +the good, they seem to have had but little discrimination and power. +They say truly, that the object of the healing art is to aid nature in +the prevention and cure of her diseases; yet, in practice, they do +violence to nature in the use of the lancet and poison."</p> + +<p>We are told by the professors of allopathy that their medicines +constitute a class of deadly poisons, (see "Pocket Pharmacopœia;") +"that, when given with a scientific hand, in small doses, they cure +disease." We deny their power to cure. If antimony, corrosive sublimate, +&c., ever proved destructive, they always possess that power, and can +never be used with any degree of assurance that they will make a sick +animal well. On the other hand, we have abundant every-day evidence of +their ability to make a well animal sick at any time. What difference +does it make whether poisons are given with a scientific or an +unscientific hand? Does it alter the tendency which all poisons possess, +namely, that of rapidly depriving the system of vitality?</p> + +<p>The veterinary science was ushered into existence by men who practised +according to the doctrines of the theoretical schools. We may trace it +in its infancy when, in England, in the year 1788, it was rocked in the +cradle of allopathy by Sainbel, its texture varying to suit the skill of +Clark, Lawrence, Field, Blaine, and Coleman; yet with all their amount +of talent and wisdom, their pupils must acknowledge that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>the melancholy +triumph of disease over its victims clearly evinces that their combined +stock of knowledge is insufficient to perfect the veterinary science. +Dr. J. Bell says, "Anatomy is the basis of medical skill;" yet, in +another part of his work he says, "It enables the physician to +<span class="fakesc">GUESS</span> <i>at the seat, or causes, or consequences of disease</i>!" +This is what we propose hereafter to call the science—the science of +guessing! If such is the immense mortality in England, (amounting, as +Mr. Youatt states, in loss of cattle, alone, to $50,000,000,)—a country +that boasts of her veterinary institutions, and embraces within her +medical halo some of the brightest luminaries of the present +century,—what, we ask, is the mortality in the United States, where the +veterinary science scarcely has an existence, and where not one man in a +hundred can tell a disease of the bowels from one of the lungs? +Profiting by the experience of these men, we are in hopes to build up a +system of practice that will stand a tower of strength amid the rude +shock of medical theories. We have discovered that the lancet is a +powerful depressor of vitality, and that poisons derange, instead of +producing, healthy action. That they are generally resorted to in this +country, no one will deny, and often by men who are unacquainted with +the nature of the destructive agents they making use of.</p> + +<p>Hence our business, as reformers, is to expose error, and disseminate +true principles. In doing so, we must be guided by the light of reason, +and interpret aright the doctrines of nature as they are written by the +Creator on the tablets of the whole universe, animate and inanimate.</p> + +<p>In our reformed practice, we have true principles to guide us, which no +man can controvert; for they are based on the recognition of a curative +power in nature, identical with the vital principle, and governed by the +same laws that control its action in the healthy state. While, +therefore, this system must not change, it may improve; and while it +remains on the same foundation, it should progress.</p> + +<p>The necessity of aiding nature, in all our modes of medication, is the +only true principle which should guide us. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>This we do by the aid of +medicines known to be harmless, at the same time paying proper attention +to diet, ventilation, exercise, &c., rejecting all processes of cure +that depress the vital energy, or destroy the equilibrium of its action.</p> + +<p>Our reformed principles teach us that, "Fever is the same in its +essential character, under all circumstances and forms which it +exhibits. The different kinds, as they are called, are but varieties of +the same condition, produced by variations in the prevailing cause, or +the strength of vital resistance, or some other peculiarity of the +patient. Facts in abundance might be stated to justify this position. +Again, fever is not to be regarded as disease, but as a sanative effort; +in other words, as an increased or excited state of vital action, whose +tendency is to remove from the system any agents or causes that would +effect its integrity. Or, perhaps, it might be more properly said, that +fever is the effect, or symptom, of accumulated vital action—an index +pointing to the progress of causes, operating to ward off disease and +restore health.</p> + +<p>"Our indications of cure and modes of treatment are to be learned from +those manifestations of the vital operations uniformly witnessed in the +febrile state. If fever marks the action of the healing power of nature, +which we must copy to be successful, why should we not consult the +febrile phenomena for our rule of action? Now, what are the indications +of cure which we derive from this source? In other words, what are the +results which nature designs to accomplish through the instrumentality +of fever? They are, an equilibrium of the circulation, a +properly-proportioned action of all the organs, and an increased +depuration of the system, principally by cutaneous evacuations."</p> + +<p>Suppose the resistance of some local obstruction, as, for example, an +accumulation of partly digested food in the manyplus of the ox, and, for +want of a due portion of the gastric fluids to soften the mass and +prevent friction, it irritates the mucous covering of the laminæ. The +result is inflammation, (local fever,) then general excitement, +manifested in an increased state of the circulation generally. The +consequences <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>of this general excitement of the mass of the circulation +are, a more equal distribution of the blood, and the stimulation of +every organ to do a part, according to its capacity, in removing +disease. In such cases, the cattle doctors, generally, suppose that the +inflammation is confined to the part, (manyplus;) yet it is evident that +nature has marshalled her forces and produced a like action on the +external surface. How can we prove that this is the case? By the heat, +and red surfaces of the membrane lining the nostril, by the accelerated +pulse, thirst, &c. Without heat there is no vitality in the system. Now, +if the surface be hot, it proves that a large quantity of blood is sent +there for the purpose of relieving the deranged internal organ. Hence +the reader will perceive, that the cattle doctor whose creed is, "The +more fever, the more blood-letting," must be one of the greatest +opponents nature has to deal with. Then it is no wonder that so many +cattle, sheep, and oxen die of fever. The practice of purging, in such a +case, would be almost as destructive as the former; for many articles +used as purges act on the mucous surfaces of the alimentary canal as +mechanical irritants. Nature would, in this case, have to recall her +forces from the surface, and concentrate them in the vicinity of parts +where they were not wanted, had not man's interference conflicted with +her well-planned arrangement, and made her "turn a somerset." When the +increased action and heat are manifested on the surface, does it not +prove that the different organs are acting harmoniously in self-defence? +And is not this action manifested through the same channels in a state +of health? Then why call it <i>disease</i>?</p> + +<p>If obstructions exist as the cause of fever, will the mode of evacuation +be different from that of health? Certainly not. Hence the marked +tendency of fever to evacuation by the skin or the bowels; the former by +perspiration, and the latter by diarrhœa. Fever, then, is a vital +action, and the reformers have correct principles. On the other hand, +the allopathists tell us that they know very little about fever, but +that it is disease, and they treat it as such; hence, then, five, ten, +and fourteen days' fever, and often the death of the patient.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>Our treatment is not directed with a view of combating the fever: we +generally aid it by following the indications which it presents; and we +often find it necessary, although the surface of the animal shall be +hot, and feverish symptoms appear, to use stimulants, (not alcoholic,) +combined with antispasmodics and relaxants. (See <i>Stimulants</i>, in the +<span class="smcap">Appendix</span>.) This class of medicines, aided by warmth and +moisture, favors the cutaneous exhalation, and promotes the free and +full play of all the functions.</p> + +<p>That the allopathist has but few principles to guide him is evident from +the following quotations:—</p> + +<p>Veterinary surgeon Haycock says, "The profession may flatter itself that +it is advancing: for my part, however, I see little or no advancement. +Our labors, for the last ten years, have been little more than a +repetition of what has gone before. Our books are things of shreds and +patches; the system which is followed in the investigation of disease, +in the treatment of disease, and in the reporting of it, is altogether +so crude and barbarous, that I am thoroughly ashamed of the whole +matter.</p> + +<p>"I have heard much noise about a <i>charter</i>, [which, we presume, means a +charter by which men may be licensed to kill <i>secundum artem</i>, and '<i>no +questions</i> <span class="fakesc">ASKED</span>,'] the clamor of which may be compared to the +rattling of peas in a dried bladder, or to a storm in a horse-pond. I +have also read much which has been said about the <i>spirit</i> of this +charter. Until I am convinced that it is the best term which can be +applied to it, verily the whole is a spirit; for no one, I am persuaded, +has ever yet discovered the substance.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> It is not charters that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>we +want, <i>but it is that quiet spirit of earnestness which characterizes +the true laborer on science</i>. We require men who will labor for the +advancement of the profession from the pure love of the thing; we want, +in fact, a few John Fields, or men who know how to work, and who are +possessed of the will to do it."</p> + +<p>We hear a great deal said about sending young men from this country to +Europe to acquire the principles of the veterinary art, with a view to +public teaching. Now, it appears to us that the United States can boast +of as great a number of talented physicians, as well qualified to soon +learn and understand the fundamental principles of the veterinary art, +as their brethren of the old world. There is no country, probably, that +can boast of such an amount of talent, in every <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>department of +literature and art, in proportion to the population, as the United +States. We know that the veterinary art, with one exception, had its +existence from human practitioners, received their fostering care and +attention, and grew with their growth. Have we not the materials, then, +in this country, to educate and qualify young men to practise this +important branch of science? Most certainly. Just send a few to us, for +example, and if we do not impart to them a better system of medication +than that practised in Europe, by which they will be enabled to treat +disease with more success and less deaths, then we will agree to "throw +physic to the dogs," and abandon our profession.</p> + +<p>The greatest part of the most valuable time of the students of +veterinary medicine is devoted to the study of pathology, in such a +manner as to afford little instruction. For example, we are told that in +"Bright's" disease of the kidneys they have detected albumen. What does +this amount to? Does it throw any rational light on the treatment other +than that proposed by us, of toning up the animal, and restoring the +healthy secretions? They have studied pathology to their hearts' +content; yet any intelligent farmer in this country, with a few simple +herbs, can beat them at curing disease. We would give details, were it +necessary. Suffice it to say, that it is done here every day, and often +through the aid of a little thoroughwort tea, or other harmless agent. +The pathologist may discover alterations in tissues, in the blood, and +the various organs, and tell us that herein lie the cause and seat of +disease; yet these changes themselves are but results, and preceding +these were other manifestations of disorder; therefore pathology must +always be imperfect, because it is a science of consequences.</p> + +<p>The most powerful microscopes have been used to discover the seat of +disease; yet this has not taught us to cure one single disease hitherto +incurable.</p> + +<p>The old school boast that their whole system of blood-letting, purging, +and poisoning is based on <i>enlightened experience</i>! yet their victims +have often discovered, by dear-bought <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>"experience," (<i>many of whom are +now doing penance with ulcerated gums, rotten teeth, and fœtid breath</i>,) +that, however valuable this "experience" may be to the M. D.'s, they, +the recipients, have not derived that benefit which they were led to +expect would accrue to them. From what has already been written in this +work, the reader, provided he divests himself of all prejudice, will +perceive that allopathic experience is not to be trusted, for their +principles are false; hence their experience is also false. Professor +Curtis, to whom we are indebted for much valuable information, says, "Do +not the old school argue that the most destructive agents in nature may +be made to '<i>aid the vital forces in the removal of disease</i> by the +judicious application of them'? Does not Professor Harrison say, that +the lancet is the great anti-inflammatory agent of the <i>materia medica</i>, +that opium is the <i>magnum Dei donum</i> (the great gift of God) for the +relief of pain, and that mercury is the great regulator of all the +secretions?"</p> + +<p>Anatomy and physiology are now being taught in our public schools. The +people will, ere long, constitute themselves umpires to decide when +doctors disagree. We apprehend it will then be hard work to convince the +intelligent and thinking part of the community that poisons and the +lancet are sanative agents.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Mr. White says, "According to the present system of +teaching in these chartered institutions, there is very little benefit +to be derived by the student."</p> + +<p class="noin">Mr. Blane experienced in his own person the results of this imperfect +system of teaching. He was sent for to fire a valuable horse, and gives +the following account of it: "It was my first essay in firing on my own +account, and <i>fired</i> as I was with my wishes to signalize myself, I +labored to enter my novitiate with all due honor. The farrier of the +village was ordered to attend, a sturdy old man, civil enough, but +looking as though impressed with no very high respect for a <i>gentleman +farrier's knowledge</i>. The horse was cast, awkwardly enough, and secured, +as will appear, even more so. I, however, proceeded to show the +superiority of the new over the old schools. I had just then left the +veterinary college, not as a pupil, but as a teacher, which I only +mention to mark the climax. On the very first application of the iron, +up started my patient, flinging me and my assistants in all directions +from him, while he trotted and snorted round the yard with rope, &c. at +his heels. As may be supposed, I was taken aback, and might have gone +back as I came, had not the old farrier, with much good humor, caught +the horse round the neck with his arms, and by some dexterous +manœuvre brought him on his knees; when, with a jerk, as quick as +unexpected, he threw him at once on his side, when our immediate +assistants fixed him, and we proceeded. It is needless to remark that I +retired mortified, and left the village farrier lord of the ascendant."</p> + +<p class="noin">"It cannot be doubted that the best operators in this case are always +the common country farriers, who, from devoting themselves entirely to +the occupation, soon become proficient."</p> + +<p class="noin">This admission on the part of a regular graduate of a veterinary +institution of London shows that the veterinary science, as taught at +the present day, is a matter for reproach. The melancholy triumph of +disease over its victims shows that the science is mere moonshine; that, +in regard to its most important object, the <i>cure of disease</i>, it is +mere speculation, rich in theory, but poverty-stricken in its results. +Hence we have not only proof that the American people will be immense +gainers by availing themselves of the labors of reforms, but, as +interested individuals, they have great encouragement to favor our more +rational system of treatment. (For additional remarks on this subject, +see the author's work on the Horse, p. 105.)</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>INFLAMMATION.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Inflammation has generally been considered the great bugbear of the old +school, and the scarecrow of the cattle doctor. But what do they know +about it? Let us see.</p> + +<p>Dr. Thatcher says, "Numerous hypotheses or opinions respecting the true +nature and cause of inflammation have for ages been advanced, and for a +time sustained; but even at the present day, the various doctrines +appear to be considered altogether problematical."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>Professor Percival says, "Inflammation consists in an increased action +of the arteries, and may be either <i>healthy</i> or <i>unhealthy</i><a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>—a +distinction that appears to relate to some peculiarity of the +constitution."</p> + +<p>We find inflammation described by most old school authors as disease, +and they treat it as such. Professor Payne says, "A great majority of +all the disorders to which the human frame is liable begin with +inflammation, or end in inflammation, or are accompanied by inflammation +in some part of their course, or resemble inflammation in their +symptoms. Most of the organic changes in different parts of the body +recognize inflammation as their cause, or lead to it as their effect. In +short, a very large share of the premature extinctions of human life in +general is more of less attributable to inflammation."</p> + +<p>The term <i>inflammation</i> has long been employed by medical men to denote +the existence of an unusual degree of redness, pain, heat, and swelling +in any of the textures or organs of which the body is composed. +Professor Curtis says, "But as inflammation sometimes exists without the +exhibition of any of these symptoms, authors have been obliged to +describe it by its causes, in attendant symptoms, and its effects. It is +not more strange than true, that, after studying this subject for, <i>as +they say</i>, four thousand years, experimenting on it and with it, and +defining it, the sum of all their knowledge and definitions is +this—inflammation in the animal frame is either a simple or compound +action, increased or diminished, or a cessation of all action; it either +causes, or is caused, or is accompanied, by all the forms of disease to +which the body is subject; it is the only agent of cure in every case in +which a cure is effected; it destroys all that die, except by accident +or old age; it is both disease itself, and the only antidote to disease; +it is the pathological principle which lies at the base <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>of all others; +it is that which the profession least of all understand."</p> + +<p>Who believes, then, that the science of medicine is based on a sure +foundation?</p> + +<p>The following selections from the allopathic works will prove what is +above stated.</p> + +<p>"Pure inflammation is rather an effort of nature than a disease; yet it +always implies disease or disturbance, inasmuch as there must be a +previous morbid or disturbed state to make such an effort +necessary."—<i>Hunter</i>, vol. iv. pp. 293, 294.</p> + +<p>"As inflammation is an action produced for the restoration of the most +simple injury in sound parts which goes beyond the power of union by the +first intention, we must look upon it as one of the most simple +operations in nature, whatever it may be when arising from disease, or +diseased parts. Inflammation is to be considered only a disturbed state +of parts, which requires a new but salutary mode of action to restore +them to that state wherein a natural mode of action alone is necessary. +Therefore inflammation in itself is not to be considered a disease, but +a salutary operation consequent either to some violence or to some +disease."—<i>Ibid.</i> vol. iv. p. 285.</p> + +<p>"A wound or bruise cannot recover itself but by inflammation<i>."—Ibid.</i> +p. 286.</p> + +<p>"From whatever cause inflammation arises, it appears to be nearly the +same in all; for in all it is an effort intended to bring about a +reinstatement of the parts to their natural function."—<i>Ibid.</i> p. 286.</p> + +<p><i>Results of Inflammation.</i>—"Inflammation is said to terminate in +resolution, effusion, adhesion, suppuration, ulceration, granulation, +cicatrization, and mortification. All these different terminations, +except the last, may be regarded as so many <i>vital</i> processes, exerted +in different parts of the animal economy."—<i>Prof. Thompson</i>, p. 97.</p> + +<p>"Inflammation must needs occupy a large share of attention of both the +physician and the surgeon. In nine cases out of ten, the first question +which either of them asks himself, on being summoned to the patient, is, +<i>Have I to deal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>with inflammation here?</i> It is constantly the object of +his treatment and watchful care. It affects all parts that are furnished +with blood-vessels, and it affects different parts very variously.... It +is by inflammation that wounds are closed and fractures repaired—that +parts adhere together when their adhesion is essential to the +preservation of the individual, and that foreign and hurtful matters are +conveyed out of the body. A cut finger, a deep sabre wound, alike +require inflammation to reunite the divided parts. Does ulceration occur +in the stomach or intestines, and threaten to penetrate through +them—inflammation will often forerun and provide against the +danger—glue the threatened membrane to whatever surface may be next +it.... The foot mortifies, is killed by injury or by exposure to +cold—inflammation will cut off the dead and useless part. An abscess +forms in the liver, or a large calculus concretes in the gall-bladder: +how is the pus or the calculus to be got rid of?... Partial inflammation +precedes and prepares for the expulsion; the liver or the gall-bladder +becomes adherent to the walls of the abdomen on the one hand, or to the +intestinal canal on the other; and then the surgeon may plunge his +lancet into the collection of pus, or the abscess; or the calculus may +cut its own way safely out of the body, through the skin or into the +bowels."—<i>Watson</i>, p. 94.</p> + +<p>"The salutary acts of restoration and prevention just adverted to, are +such as nature conducts and originates. But we are ourselves able, in +many instances, to direct and control the effect of inflammation—nay, +we can excite it at our pleasure; and, having excited it, we are able, +in a great degree, to regulate its course. And for this reason it +becomes, in skilful hands, an instrument of cure."—<i>Ibid.</i> p. 94.</p> + +<p>The above quotations are not complete. They are selections from the +sources whence they are drawn of those portions which testify that fever +and inflammation are one and the same thing, and that this same thing +consists in a salutary effort of nature to protect the organs of the +body from the action of the causes of disease, or to remove those causes +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>their effects from the organs once diseased. That the same authors +teach the very contrary of all this in the same paragraphs, and often in +the same sentences, the following extracts will clearly prove:—</p> + +<p><i>Inflammation produces disease.</i>—"When inflammation cannot accomplish +that salutary purpose, (a cure,) as in cancer, scrofula, &c., it does +mischief."—<i>Hunter</i>, p. 285.</p> + +<p>"Inflammation is occasionally the cause of disease."—<i>Ibid.</i> p. 286.</p> + +<p>"In one point of view, it may be considered as a disease +itself."—<i>Ibid.</i></p> + +<p>"It may be divided into two kinds, the healthy and the unhealthy.... The +unhealthy admits of a vast variety," &c.—<i>Ibid.</i></p> + +<p>"Inflammation often produces mortification or death in the inflamed +part."—<i>Ibid.</i> vol. iv. p. 305.</p> + +<p>"In the light of such authorities, it is surely not strange that no +definite knowledge can be obtained of the nature, character, or tendency +of inflammation. Of course, no one will dispute the proposition, that +medicine, as taught in the schools, is a superstructure without a +foundation, and should be wholly rejected."—<i>Prof. Curtis.</i></p> + +<p>If the regulars have no correct theory of inflammation, then their +system of blood-letting is all wrong. This they acknowledge; for many +with whom we have lately conversed say, "We do not use the lancet so +often as formerly." One very good reason is, the sovereign people will +not let them. Would it not be better for them to abolish its use +altogether, as we have done, and avail themselves of the reform of the +age?</p> + +<p>The following remarks, selected from an address delivered by our +respected preceptor, Professor Brown, ought to be read by every friend +of humanity.</p> + +<p>"The very air groans with the bitter anathemas the people pronounce upon +calomel, antimony, copper, zinc, arsenic, arsenious acid, stramonium, +foxglove, belladonna, henbane, nux vomica, opium, morphia, and +narcotin.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>"Hear their bitter cries, borne on every breeze, 'Help! help! help!' See +the dim taper of life; it glimmers—'tis gone! Vitality struggled, and +struggled manfully to the last. The poisonous dose was repeated, till +the citadel was yielded up.</p> + +<p>"The doctor arrives and attempts to comfort and quiet the broken-hearted +widow, and helpless, dependent, fatherless children, by recounting the +frailties of poor human nature, and reminding them of the fact that all +men must die.</p> + +<p>"And thus the work of death goes on: the tenderest ties are severed; +children are left fatherless; parents are bereaved of their children; +families are reduced to fragments; society deprived of her best +citizens, and the world filled with misery, confusion, and poverty, in +consequence of an evil system of medication....</p> + +<p>"The ball is in motion, the banner of medical reform waves gracefully +over our beloved country. Hosts of the right stripe are coming to the +rescue. Poisons are condemned, the lancet is growing dull, the effusion +of blood will soon cease, the battles are half fought, and the victory +is sure.... While we would have you adhere to the well-established, +fundamental principles of reformed medical science, as taught in this +school, we would have you recollect that discoveries in knowledge are +progressing.... Never entertain the foolish, absurd, and dangerous idea, +that because you have been to college, you have learned all that is to +be learned—that your education is finished, and you have nothing more +to learn. The college is a place where we go to learn how to learn, and +the world is the great university, in which our educational exercises +terminate with our last expiring breath."</p> + +<p>The author craves the reader's indulgence for introducing Dr. Brown's +remarks at this stage of the work. It is intended for a class of readers +(<i>the farmers</i>) who have not the time to make themselves acquainted with +all that is going on in the medical world. We aim to make the book +acceptable to that class of men. If we fail, the fault is in us, not in +our subjects.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Inflammation is a vital action, and cannot be properly +termed <i>diseased</i> action. The only action that can be properly termed +<i>diseased</i> is the chemical action.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>REMARKS,</h3> + +<p class="cen">SHOWING THAT VERY LITTLE IS KNOWN OF THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF +DISEASE.</p> +<br /> + +<p>Mr. Percival details a case of peritonitis,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> after the usual symptoms +in the early stage had subsided. "The horse's bowels became much +relaxed: suspecting that there was some disorder in the alimentary +canal, and that this was an effort of nature to get rid of it, I +promoted the diarrhœa by giving mild doses of cathartic medicine, in +combination with calomel!" [Nature did not require such assistance: warm +drinks, composed of marshmallows, or slippery elm, would have been just +the thing.]</p> + +<p>"On the third day from this, prolapsus ani (falling of the fundament) +made its appearance. After the return of the gut, the animal grew daily +duller, and more dejected, manifesting evident signs of considerable +inward disorder, though he showed none of acute pain; the diarrhœa +continued; swelling of the belly and tumefaction of the legs speedily +followed: eight pounds of blood were drawn, and two ounces of oil of +turpentine were given internally, and in spite of another bleeding, and +some subordinate measures, carried him off [the treatment, we presume] +in the course of a few hours.</p> + +<p>"Dissection: a slight blush pervaded the peritoneum; at least the +parietal portion of it, for the coats of the stomach and intestines +preserved their natural whiteness. About eight gallons of water were +measured out of the belly.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> The abdominal viscera, as well as the +thoracic, showed no marks of disease."</p> + +<p>We have stated, in the preceding pages, that the farmers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>can generally +treat some cases of disease, by simple means, with much better success +than some of the regulars; yet there are exceptions. Some of them have +been inoculated with the virus of allopathy; and when an animal is taken +sick, and manifests evident signs of great derangement, they seem to +suppose that the more medicine they cram down the better, forgetting, +perhaps not knowing, that the province of the physician is to know when +to do nothing. Others err from want of judgment; and if they have an +animal sick, they send for the neighbors; each one has a favorite +remedy; down go castor oil, aloes, gin and molasses, in rapid +succession. "He has inflammation of the insides," says one; "give him +salts." No sooner said than done; the salts are hurried down, and, of +course, find their way into the paunch. These, together with a host of +medicines too numerous to mention, are tried without effect: all is +commotion within; fermentation commences; gas is evolved; the animal +gives signs of woe. As a last resort, paunching, bleeding, &c., follow; +perhaps the horns are bored, or some form of barbarity practised, and +the animal dies under the treatment.</p> + +<p>A case similar to the above came under our notice a few months since. A +cow, of a superior breed, was sent a few miles into the country to +winter. Having always had the very best of feed, the owner gave +particular instructions that she should be fed accordingly; instead of +which, however, she was fed on foxgrass and other indigestible matter, +in consequence of which she was attacked with acute indigestion, +(gastric fever, as it is generally called,) more popularly known, in +barn-yard language, as a "stoppage." A man professing to understand +<i>cow-doctoring</i> was sent for, who, after administering "every thing he +could think of" without success, gave a mixture of hog's lard and castor +oil. When asked what indication he expected to fulfil, he replied, "My +object was to wake up the cow's ideas"! Unfortunately, he awoke the +wrong ideas; for the cow died. On making a post mortem examination, +about half a bushel of partly-masticated foxgrass was found in the +paunch, and the manyplus was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>distended beyond its physiological +capacity. On making an incision into it, the partly-digested food was +quite hard and dry, and the mucous covering of the laminæ—even the +laminæ themselves—could be detached with the slightest force. The +farmer will probably inquire, What ought to be done in such cases? +Before we answer the question, a few remarks on the nature of the +obstruction seem to be necessary.</p> + +<p>In the article <i>Description of the Organs of Digestion</i>, the reader will +learn the modes by which the food reaches the different compartments of +the stomach. In reference to the above case, the causes of derangement +are self-evident, which will be seen as we proceed. The animal had, +previous to the journey, (thirty miles,) received the greatest care and +attention; in short, she had been petted. Being pregnant at the time, +the stomach was more susceptible to derangement than at any other time. +The long journey could not act otherwise than unfavorably: first, +because it would fatigue the muscular system; secondly, because it would +irritate the nervous. Here, then, are the first causes; and it is +important, in all cases of a deviation from health, to ascertain, as +near as possible, the causes, and remove them. <i>This is considered the +first step towards a cure.</i> If we cannot remove the causes, we are +enabled, by an inquiry into them, to adopt the most efficient means for +the recovery of the animal. The animal having had a bountiful meal +before starting on the journey, and not being allowed sufficient time to +remasticate, (rumination is partially or totally suspended during active +exercise,) probably, combined with the above causes, an acute attack of +the stomach set in—subsided after a few days, and left those organs in +a debilitated state. The sudden change in diet also acted unfavorably, +especially as the foxgrass required more than ordinary gastric power to +reduce it to a pulpy mass, fit to enter the fourth, or true digestive +stomach. For want of a due share of vital action in the abomasum, +(fourth stomach,) it was unable to perform its part in the physiological +process of digestion; hence the accumulation found in the manyplus. The +causes of the detachment of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>laminæ, and the blanched appearances,—for +it was as white as new linen,—were partly chemical and partly +mechanical. The mechanical obstruction consisted in over-distention of +the manyplus from food, thereby obstructing the circulation of the blood +through its parietes, (walls,) and depriving it not only of nutriment, +from the nerves of nutrition, but paralyzing its secretive function. It +then became a prey to chemical action and decomposition. The indications +of cure were, to arouse the digestive organs by stimulants, then by +anti-spasmodic, relaxing, and tonic medicines, (for which see +<span class="smcap">Appendix</span>:) the digestive organs would probably have recommenced +their healthy action, and the life of the animal might have been saved. +Oil and grease, of every description and kind, are not suitable remedies +to administer to cattle when laboring under indigestion; for at best +their action is purely mechanical, and cannot be assimilated by the +nutritive function so as to act medicinally. Linseed oil is, however, +absorbed and diffused. If the animal labors under obstinate +constipation, and it is evident that the obstruction is confined to the +intestines, then we may resort to a dose of oil.</p> + +<p>The reader will perceive the benefits to be derived from a knowledge of +animal physiology and veterinary medicine, when based upon sound +principles and common sense. He will also see the importance of having +educated and honorable men employed in cattle-doctoring. No doubt there +are such; but surely something is "rotten in Denmark;" for we are +repeatedly told by our patrons that they "judge of the merits of the +veterinary art by the men they find engaged in it."</p> + +<p><i>Scientific Treatment of Colic, or Gripes.</i>—"On the 5th September, +1824, a young bay mare was admitted into the infirmary with symptoms of +colic, for which she lost eight pounds of blood before she came in. The +following drench was prescribed to be given immediately: laudanum and +oil of turpentine, of each, three ounces, with the addition of six +ounces of decoction of aloes. In the course of half an hour, this was +repeated! But shortly after, she vomited the greater part by the mouth +and nostrils. No relief having been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>obtained, twelve pounds of blood +were taken from her, and the same drink was given. In another hour, this +drench was repeated; and, for the fourth time, during the succeeding +hour; both of which, before death, she rejected, as she had done the +second drink. Notwithstanding these active measures were promptly taken, +she died about three hours after her admission." (See Clark's <i>Essay on +Gripes</i>.) It appears that the doctors made short work of it. Twelve +ounces of laudanum, and the same of turpentine,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> in three hours! But +this is "<i>secundum artem</i>" "skilful treatment"—a specimen of "science +and skill," and justifiable in every case where the symptoms are +"alarming." Let the reader, if he has ever seen a case of colic treated +by us, contrast the result. Had the case been treated with relaxing, +anti-spasmodic, carminative drinks, warmth and moisture externally, +injections internally, and frictions generally, the poor animal would, +probably, have been saved. We have attended many cases of the same sort, +and have not yet lost the first one.</p> + +<p><i>Extraordinary case of "cattle doctoring"!—which ought to be termed +cattle-killing.</i>—We were requested by Mr. S. of Waltham, December 18, +1850, to see a sick cow. The following is the history of the case: The +cow, as near as we could judge, was of native breed, in good condition, +and in her eighth pregnant month; pulse, 80 per minute; respirations, 36 +per minute; external surface, ears, horns, and legs, cold. She had not +dunged for several days. She was found lying on her belly, with her head +turned round towards the left side. She struggled occasionally, and +appeared to suffer from abdominal pain. She uttered a low, moaning sound +when pressure was made on the abdominal muscles. The following facts +were related to us by the owner, which we give in his own language. "I +bought the cow, and drove her about 200 miles to this place. She had +been here about a week, when I perceived she did <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>not eat her feed as +well as usual. She became sick about nine days ago, I thought it best to +begin to doctor her! I employed a man who was reputed to be a pretty +good cattle doctor. She got pretty well dosed between us, for we first +gave her one pound of salts. The next day we gave her another pound. +Finding this also failed to have the desired effect, we gave her one +pound eight ounces more. She kept getting worse. We next gave her a +quart of urine. She still grew worse. Two table-spoonfuls of gunpowder +and a quarter of a pound of antimony were then given; still no +improvement. As a last resort, we gave her eight drops of croton oil; a +few hours afterwards, nine drops more were given; and a final dose of +twenty drops of the same article was administered. The cow rolled her +eyes as if she were about to die. I then called in the neighbors to kill +her, when one of them advised me to come and see you." The reader will +here perceive that we had a pretty desperate case; having been called in +just at the eleventh hour. We may here remark that the cow had been +under treatment nine days, during which time she had eaten scarcely any +food, and passed but very little excrement. The medicine had been given +at different stages during that period. There was evidently no +accumulation of excrement in the rectum, for she had been raked and +received several injections.</p> + +<p>As we were not requested to take charge of the case, the owner being +unwilling to incur additional expense, we, therefore, with a view of +giving present relief, and fulfilling the necessary indications, ordered +the following:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 100"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered caraways,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered marshmallows,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered skullcap,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered grains of paradise,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> + +<p>A sufficient quantity of boiling water to form it into the consistence +of thin gruel; a junk bottle full to be given every two hours.</p> + +<p>Directions were given to rub the ears and extremities until <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>they were +warm, and the strength of the animal to be supported with thin flour +gruel.</p> + +<p>The indications to be fulfilled were as follows:—</p> + +<p>1st. To lubricate the mucous surfaces, and defend them from the action +of the drugs.</p> + +<p>2d. To arouse the digestive function, and prevent the generation of +carbonic acid gas.</p> + +<p>3d. To allay nervous excitement, and remove spasms.</p> + +<p>Lastly. To equalize the circulation.</p> + +<p>The first indication can be fulfilled by slippery elm and marshmallows; +the second, by caraway seeds; the third, by skullcap; and the fourth, by +grains of paradise.</p> + +<p>We have not been able, up to the present time, to ascertain the result.</p> + +<p>Here, then, are a few examples of horse and cattle doctoring, which we +might multiply indefinitely, did we think it would benefit the reader. +We ask the reader to ponder on these facts, and then answer the +question, "What do horse and cattle doctors know about the treatment of +disease?"</p> + +<p>It gives us much pleasure, however, and probably it will the reader, to +know that a few of the veterinary surgeons of London are just beginning +to see the error of their ways. The following contribution to the +Veterinarian, from the pen of Veterinary Surgeon Haycock, will be read +with interest. The quotations are not complete. We only select those +portions which we deem most instructive to our readers. The disease to +which it alludes, <i>puerperal fever</i>, has made, and is at the present +time making, sad havoc among the stock of our cattle-growing interest; +and it stands us in hand to gather honey wherever we can find it. "Of +the various questions which present themselves to traders and owners of +cattle respecting puerperal fever, the following are, perhaps, a few of +the most important: First. At what period of their life are cows the +most liable to be attacked with puerperal fever? Secondly. At what +period after the animal has calved does the disease generally supervene? +Thirdly. What is the average rate of mortality amongst cows attacked +with this disease? Fourthly. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>What is the best method to pursue with +cattle, in order, if possible, to prevent the disease? Fifthly. What is +the best mode of treatment to be pursued with cattle when so attacked? +To these several questions I shall endeavor to reply as fully as my own +knowledge of the matter will allow me. They are questions which ought to +have been answered years ago; [so they would have been, doctor, if, as +Curtis says, your brethren had not been <i>progressing in a circle, +instead of direct lines</i>;] but no one appears to have thought it +necessary. They are questions of great importance to the agriculturist; +if they were fully answered, he would be able to form a pretty accurate +estimate as to the amount of risk he was likely at all times to incur +with respect to puerperal diseases of a febrile nature. For instance, +suppose it was fully ascertained, from data furnished by the correct +observations of a number of practitioners, at what period of the cow's +life the animal is most liable to be attacked with puerperal fever; the +agriculturist and cow-keeper would be able, in a considerable degree, to +guard against it, either by feeding the animal, or taking such other +steps as a like experience proved to be the best. It is of no earthly +use practitioners writing 'grandiloquent' papers upon diseases like +puerperal fever; or in their telling the world, that puerperal fever is +a disease of the nervous system; or that the name which is given to it +is very improper, <i>and not suggestive; or that bleeding and the +administration of a powerful purgative are proper to commence with</i>; +together with hosts of stereotyped statements of a like +nature—statements which are unceasingly repeated, and which are without +one jot of sound experience to substantiate them. [All good and sound +doctrine.]</p> + +<p>"Question First. <i>At what period of their lives are cows the most liable +to be attacked with puerperal fever?</i> I have in my possession notes and +memoranda of twenty-nine cases of this disease, which notes and +memoranda I have collected from cases I have treated from the month of +July, 1842, to the month of July, 1849—a period of seven years; and +with reference to the above question the figures stand thus: Out <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>of the +twenty-nine, three of them were attacked at the third parturient period, +five ditto at the fourth, sixteen at the fifth, two at the sixth, and +three at the eighth.</p> + +<p>"It appears, then, from the above numbers, that cows are the most liable +to puerperal fever at the fifth parturient period—a fact which is +noticed by Mr. Barlow.</p> + +<p>"Secondly. <i>At what period after the animal has calved does the disease +generally supervene?</i> With reference to this question, the twenty-nine +cases stand thus:—</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 30%; margin-right: 20%;"><p class="noin"> +5 cows immediately after parturition.<br /> +8 cows in 20 hours after parturition.<br /> +6 cows in 23 hours after parturition.<br /> +5 cows in 24 hours after parturition.<br /> +3 cows in 30 hours after parturition.<br /> +2 cows in 36 hours after parturition.<br /> +1 cow in 72 hours after parturition. +</p></div> + +<p>"It appears, then, from the above, that after the twentieth and +twenty-fourth hours, the animals, comparatively speaking, may be +considered as safe from the disease; and that after the seventy-second +or seventy-third hour, all danger may be considered as past, beyond +doubt.</p> + +<p>"Thirdly. <i>What is the average rate of mortality amongst cows attacked +with this disease?</i> Out of the 29 cases, 12, I find, recovered and 17 +died; which loss is equivalent to somewhere about 59 per cent.—a loss +which, I am inclined to think, is not so great as that of many other +practitioners. [It will be still less if you reject poison as well as +the lancet.]</p> + +<p>"Mr. Cartwright, in the May number of the Veterinarian of the present +year, states that, 'Although I have seen at least a hundred cases, +chiefly in this neighborhood, [Whitchurch,] during the last twenty-five +years, yet I am almost ashamed to confess that I cannot call to +recollection that I ever cured a single case, [neither will you ever +cure one as long as the lancet and poison are coöperative,] nor have I +ever heard of a case ever being cured by any of the quacks in the +neighborhood.' [Of course not, for the quacks follow in the footsteps of +their prototypes, the <i>regular</i> veterinary surgeons.]</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>"Fourthly. <i>What is the best method to pursue with cattle, in order, if +possible, to</i> <span class="fakesc">PREVENT</span> <i>the disease?</i> This is a question which I +hope to see amply discussed by veterinarians. I have but little to offer +respecting it myself; but I labor under a kind of feeling that something +valuable may not only be said, but done, by way of prevention. With +reference to preventing the disease, Mr. Barlow, in his Essay, says, +'There is a pretty certain preventive in milking the cow some time +before calving in full <i>blood-letting</i> before or immediately after; in +purgatives, very limited diet, and other depletive measures; each and +all tending to illustrate the necessity of a vascular state of the +system for its development!'"</p> + +<p>Mr. Haycock continues: "So far as my own experience is concerned, it is +at variance with almost every one of my observations. In the table which +I have given respecting question 2, the reader will recollect that I +stated that puerperal fever supervened in five cows immediately after +parturition. Now, it is worthy of remark, of these five cases, that +every animal had been milked many hours previous to calving. The full +udder, under such circumstances, is a powerful excitant to the uterus: +this is a well-known fact, and the consequence is, that if this natural +excitant be withdrawn, the action of the process at once becomes +diminished. I have known many cases, in addition to those already given, +where the parturient process was prolonged for hours in consequence of +the animal's being milked, in whom fever supervened almost immediately +afterwards. The prolonged process, I think, greatly weakens the animal, +and, as a natural result, the vital energies become less capable of +maintaining their normal integrity. With reference, again, to bleeding +and purging as preventives, I have nothing to offer in favor of either +mode. I do not believe that they are preventives. [Good, again, doctor: +you are one of the right stripe. It would give us pleasure to see a few +such as you on this side of the water.] First of all, we require to know +what percentage of calving cows are liable to be affected with puerperal +fever; then, whether that percentage becomes reduced in number in +consequence <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>of such preventive measures being brought into force: these +are the only modes whereby the matter can be proved; and, so far as I +know, no one has ever brought the question to such a test. That bleeding +and purging are considered as preventives by people in general, I know +perfectly; but, like many other popular opinions, the thing which is +believed requires first to be proved ere it becomes truth.</p> + +<p>"I perfectly agree with Mr. Barlow in recommending spare diet. I regard +it, in fact, as the great preventive.... When I say spare diet, I do not +mean poor diet. The food should be good, but they should not have that +huge bulk of matter which they are capable of devouring, and which they +appear so much to desire. I should commence the process for eight or ten +days prior to calving, or even, with some animals, much earlier; and the +diet I would give should consist of beans, boiled linseed, and boiled +oats, with occasionally small portions of hay. I should not always feed +upon one mixture. I might occasionally substitute boiled barley in place +of oats; and when the time for calving was very near at hand, say within +a day or so, I should become more sparing with my hay, and more copious +with my allowance of bran. With regard to the diet after calving, I +should pursue much the same course I have named: perhaps for the first +thirty hours I might allow the animal nothing but gruel and bran mash, +in which I should mix a little oatmeal, or very thick gruel. I have +sometimes thought—<i>but hitherto it has not gone beyond a thought with +me</i>—that a broad cotton or linen bandage, fixed moderately tight round +the cow's body immediately after calving, might prove of some assistance +as a preventive. I have had no experience in its benefit myself; I +merely suggest the thing; and if it did nothing more, it would prevent, +in some measure, the animal from feeling that sensation of vacuity which +must necessarily exist immediately and for some time after calving, and +which, I think, under some conditions of the system, may be injurious to +the animal. I am told by a medical friend of mine, that he has known +puerperal fever produced in women solely from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>midwives' neglecting to +bandage them after delivery; at any rate, a bandage, or a broad belt +having straps and buckles attached, and placed securely round the cow's +body immediately after calving, and kept there for a day or two, could +do no harm, if it failed of doing good.</p> + +<p>"Fifthly. <i>Which is the best method of treatment to pursue with cows +when attacked with puerperal fever?</i> Upon this question I feel that I +could say much; but at present I defer its consideration.... Suffice it +to say, then, that I never either bleed or administer purges. I used +once to do both, but my experience has shown me, in numerous cases, that +neither is necessary.... This malady I have written upon is fearfully +destructive; and if such diseases cannot be met with powers capable of +wrestling with it, I, for one, shall say that it is a stigma upon our +art—I will say that when we are most wanted, we are of the least use."</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Inflammation of the peritoneum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Water very frequently accumulates in the belly or chest, +after blood-letting.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> On remonstrating with a man who was about to administer +half a pint of turpentine to a cow, he replied, "She has no business to +be a cow!" We presume that some of the regulars have just as much, and +not a particle more, of the milk of animal kindness as this man seemed +to show.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>NATURE, TREATMENT, AND CAUSES OF DISEASE IN CATTLE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The pathology, or doctrine of diseases, is, as we have previously +stated, little understood. Many different causes have been assigned for +disease, and as many different modes of cure have been advocated. We +shall not discuss either the ancient or modern doctrines any further +than we conceive they interfere with correct principles. In doing so, we +shall endeavor to confine ourselves to truth, reason, and nature.</p> + +<p>We entirely discard the popular doctrine that <i>fever</i> and <i>inflammation</i> +are disease. We look upon them as simple acts of the +constitution—sanative in their nature. Then the reader may ask, "Why do +you recommend medicine for them?" We do not. We only prescribe medicine, +for the purpose of aiding nature to cure the diseases of which <i>they</i> +(the fever and inflammation) are symptoms, and we do not expect to +accomplish even that by medicine alone. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>Ventilation, diet, and +exercise, in nine cases out of ten, will do more good than the +destructive agents that have hitherto been used, and christened "cattle +medicines."</p> + +<p>The great secret of curing diseases is, by accurately observing the +indications of nature to carry off and cure disease, and by observing by +what critical evacuations she does at last cast off the morbid matter +which caused them, and so restores health. By thus observing, following, +and assisting <i>nature</i>, agreeably to her indications, our practice will +always be more satisfactory.</p> + +<p>Whenever the great outlets (skin, lungs, and kidneys) of the animal body +are obstructed, morbific and excrementitious substances are retained in +the system; they irritate, stimulate, and offend nature in such a +manner, that she always exerts her power to throw them off. And she acts +with great regularity in her endeavors to expel the offending matter, +and thus restore the animal to a healthy state.</p> + +<p>Suppose an animal to be attacked with disease, and fever supervenes; the +whole system is then aroused to cast out this disease: nature invariably +points to certain outlets, as the only passages through which the enemy +must evacuate the system; and it is the province of the physician to aid +in this wise and well-established effort; but when such means are +resorted to as in the case of the cow at Waltham, (p. 98,) instead of +rendering nature the necessary assistance, her powers and energies are +entirely crushed.</p> + +<p>Let us suppose a horse to have been exercised; during that exercise, +there is a determination of heat and fluids to the surface: the pores of +the skin expand and permit the fluids to make their exit: now, if the +horse is put into a cold stable, evaporation commences, leaving the +surface cold and the pores constricted, so that, after the circulating +system has rested a while, it commences a strong action again, to throw +off the remaining fluids that were thus suddenly arrested; there is no +chance for their escape, as the pores are closed; the skin then becomes +dry and harsh, the "coat stares," and the animal has, in common +parlance, taken cold, and "it has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>thrown him into a fever." Now, the +cold is the real enemy to be overcome, and the fever should be aided by +warmth, moisture, friction, and diffusables. If, at this stage, the cold +is removed, the fever will disappear; but if the disease (the cold) has +been allowed to advance until a general derangement or sympathetic +action is set up, and there is an accumulation of morbific matter in the +system, then the restorative process must be more powerful and +energetic; constantly bearing in mind that we must assist nature in her +endeavors to throw off whatever is the cause of her infirmities. Instead +of attacking the disease with the lancet and poison,—which is on the +principle of killing the horse to cure the fever,—we should use +remedies that are favorable to life. It matters not what organs are +affected; the means and processes are the same, and therefore the +division of inflammation and fever into a great number of parts +designated by as many names, and indicated by twenty times as many +complications of symptoms which may never be present, only serve to +bewilder the practitioner, and render his practice ineffectual.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>PLEURO-PNEUMONIA.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>As very little is, at present, known of the nature of this disease, we +give the reader the views of Mr. Dun, who received the gold medal +offered by the Agricultural Society for the best essay on this subject.</p> + +<p>"The causes of the disease, both immediate and remote, are subjects full +of interest and importance; and a knowledge of them not only aids in the +prevention of disease, but also leads the practitioner to form a more +correct prognosis, and to pursue the most approved course of treatment. +It is, however, unfortunate that the causes of pleuro-pneumonia have not +as yet been satisfactorily explained. No department of the history of +the disease is less understood, or more involved in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>doubt and +obscurity. But in this respect pleuro-pneumonia is not peculiar: it is +but one of an extensive class which embraces most epidemic and epizoötic +diseases. And if the causes which produce influenza, fevers, and +cholera, were clearly explained, those which produce pleuro-pneumonia +would, in all probability, be easy of solution.</p> + +<p>"Viewing the wide-spread and similar effects of pleuro-pneumonia, we may +surmise that they are referable to some common cause. And although much +difference of opinion exists upon this subject, it cannot be denied that +<i>contagion</i> is a most active cause in the diffusion of the disease. +Indeed, a due consideration of the history and spread of +pleuro-pneumonia over all parts of the land will be sufficient to show +that, in certain stages of the disease, it possesses the power of +infecting animals apparently in a sound and healthy condition, and +otherwise unexposed to the action of any exciting cause. The peculiarity +of the progress of this disease, from the time that it first appeared in +England, is of itself no small evidence of its contagious nature. Its +slow and gradual progress is eminently characteristic of diffusion by +contagion; and not only were the earlier cases which occurred in this +island distinctly proved to have arisen from contact with the Irish +droves, but also subsequent cases, even up to the present day, show +numerous examples in which contagion is clearly and unequivocally +traceable.... Although pleuro-pneumonia is not produced by the action of +anyone of these circumstances alone, [referring to noxious effluvia, +&c.,] yet many of them must be considered as predisposing to the +disease; and although not its immediate exciting causes, yet, by +depressing the physical powers, they render the system more liable to +disease, and less able to withstand its assaults. Deficient ventilation, +filth, insufficient and bad food, may indeed predispose to the disease, +concentrate the animal effluvia, and become the <i>matrix</i> and <i>nidus</i> of +the organic poison; but still, not one, alone, of these circumstances, +or even all of them combined, can produce the disease in question. There +must be the subtle poison to call them into operation, the specific +influence to generate the disease."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>"On the other hand, it appears probable that the exciting cause, whether +it be contagion, or whatever else, cannot, of itself, generate the +disease; but that certain conditions or predisposing causes are +necessary to its existence, and without which its specific effects +cannot be produced. But although these <i>remote</i> or <i>predisposing</i> causes +are very numerous, they are often difficult of detection; nay, it is +sometimes impossible to tell to what the disease is referable, or upon +what weak point the exciting cause has fixed itself. A source of +perplexity results from the fact.... The predisposing causes of the +disease admit of many divisions and subdivisions; they may, however, be +considered under two general heads—<i>hereditary</i> and <i>acquired</i>.</p> + +<p>"With reference to the former, we know that good points and properties +of an animal are transmitted from one generation to another; so also are +faults, and the tendencies to particular diseases. As in the same +families there is a similarity of external form, so is there also an +internal likeness, which accounts for the common nature of their +constitution, modified, however, by difference of age, sex, &c.</p> + +<p>"Among the acquired predisposing causes of pleuro-pneumonia may be +enumerated general debility, local weakness, resulting from previous +disease, irritants and stimulants, exposure to cold, damp or sudden +changes of temperature, the want of cleanliness, the breathing of an +atmosphere vitiated by the decomposition of animal or vegetable matters, +or laden with any other impurity. In short, under this head may be +included every thing which tends to lower the health and vigor of the +system, and consequently to increase the susceptibility to disease.</p> + +<p>"The primary symptoms of pleuro-pneumonia are generally obscure, and too +often excite but little attention or anxiety. As the disease steals on, +the animal becomes dull and dejected, and, if in the field, separates +itself from its fellows. It becomes uneasy, ceases to ruminate, and the +respirations are a little hurried. If it be a milk-cow, the lacteal +secretion is diminished, and the udder is hot and tender. The eyes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>are +dull, the head is lowered, nose protruded, and the nostrils expanded. +The urine generally becomes scanty and high-colored. It is seldom +thought that much is the matter with the animal until it ceases to eat; +but this criterion does not hold good in most cases of the disease, for +the animal at the outset still takes its food, and continues to do so +until the blood becomes impoverished and poisoned; it is then that the +system becomes deranged, the digestive process impaired, and fever +established. The skin adheres to the ribs, and there is tenderness along +the spine. Manipulation of the trachea, and percussion applied to the +sides, causes the animal to evince pain. Although the beast may have +been ill only three days, the number of pulsations are generally about +seventy per minute; but they are sometimes eighty, and even more. In the +first stage, the artery under the jaw feels full and large; but as the +disease runs on, the pulse rapidly becomes smaller, quicker, and more +oppressed. The breathing is labored, and goes on accelerating as the +local inflammation increases. The fore extremities are planted wide +apart, with the elbows turned out in order to arch the ribs, and form +fixed points for the action of those muscles which the animal brings +into operation to assist the respiratory process. In pleuro-pneumonia, +the hot stage of fever is never of long duration, [<i>simply because there +is not enough vitality in the system to keep up a continued fever</i>.] The +state of collapse quickly ensues, when the surface heat again decreases, +and the pulse becomes small and less distinct. We have now that low +typhoid fever so much to be dreaded, and which characterizes the disease +in common with epizoötics.</p> + +<p>" ... The horse laboring under pleuro-pneumonia, or, indeed, any +pulmonary disease, will not lie down; but, in the same circumstances, +cattle do so as readily as in health. They do not, however, lie upon +their side, but couch upon the sternum, which is broad and flat, and +covered by a quantity of fibro-cellular substance, which serves as a +cushion; while the articulation between the lower extremities of the +ribs admits of lateral expansion of the chest. In this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>position cattle +generally lie towards the side principally affected, thus relieving the +sounder side, and enabling it to act more freely. There is sometimes a +shivering and general tremor, which may exist throughout the whole +course of the disease. (This is owing to a loss of equilibrium between +the nerves of nutrition and the circulation.) ... As the case advances +in severity, and runs on to an unfavorable termination, the pulse loses +its strength and becomes quicker. Respiration is in most cases attended +by a grunt at the commencement of expiration—a symptom, however, not +observable in the horse. The expired air is cold, and of a <i>noisome</i> +odor. The animal crouches. There is sometimes an apparent knuckling over +at the fetlocks, caused by pain in the joints. This symptom is mostly +observable in cases when the pleura and pericardium are affected. The +animal grinds its teeth. The appetite has now entirely failed, and the +emaciation becomes extreme. The muscles, especially those employed in +respiration, become wasted; the belly is tucked, and the flanks heave; +the oppressive uneasiness is excessive; the strength fails, under the +convulsive efforts attendant upon respiration, and the poor animal dies.</p> + +<p>"In using means to prevent the occurrence of the disease, we should +endeavor to maintain in a sound and healthy tone the physical powers of +the stock, and to avoid whatever tends to depress the vital force. +Exposure to the influence of contagion [and infection] must be guarded +against, and, on the appearance of the disease, every precaution must be +used to prevent the healthy having communication with the sick. By a +steady pursuance, on the part of the stock proprietor, of these +precautionary measures, and by the exercise of care, prudence, and +attention, the virulence of the disease will, we are sure, be much +abated, and its progress checked."</p> + +<p>As the reader could not be benefited by our detailing the system of +medication pursued in England,—at least we should judge not, when we +take into consideration the great loss that attends their <i>best +efforts</i>,—we shall therefore <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>proceed to inform the reader what the +treatment ought to be in the different stages of the disease.</p> + +<p><i>General Indication of Cure in Pleuro-Pneumonia.</i>—Restore the +suppressed evacuations, or the secretions and excretions, if they are +obstructed.</p> + +<p>If bronchial irritation or a cough be present, shield and defend the +mucous surfaces from irritation. Relieve congestions by equalizing the +circulation. Support the powers of the system. Relieve all urgent +symptoms.</p> + +<p><i>Special Practice.</i>—Suppose a cow to be attacked with a slight cough. +She appears dull, and is off her feed; pulse full, and bowels +constipated; and she is evidently out of condition.</p> + +<p>Then the medicines should be anti-spasmodic and relaxant, tonic, +diaphoretic, and lubricating.</p> + +<p>The following is a good example:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 113a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="55%">Powdered golden seal, (tonic,)</td> + <td class="tdl" width="35%">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered mandrake, (relaxant,)</td> + <td class="tdl">2 tea-spoonfuls.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered lobelia, (anti-spasmodic,)</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered slippery elm or mallows, (lubricating,)</td> + <td class="tdl" style="vertical-align: bottom;">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered hyssop tea, (diaphoretic,)</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gallon.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>After straining the hyssop tea, mix with it the other ingredients, and +give a quart every two hours.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, administer the following injection:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 113b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered lobelia,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1/2 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered ginger,</td> + <td class="tdl">1/2 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gallon.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When cool, inject.</p> + +<p>Particular attention must be paid to the general surface, If the surface +and the extremities are cold, then employ <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>friction, warmth, and +moisture. The animal must be in a comfortable barn, neither too hot nor +too cold; if it be imperfectly ventilated, the atmosphere may be +improved by stirring a red-hot iron in vinegar or pyroligneous acid, or +by pouring either of these articles on heated bricks. The strength is to +be supported, provided the animal be in poor condition, with gruel, made +of flour and shorts, equal parts; but, as it frequently happens (in this +country) that animals in good flesh are attacked, in such case food +would be inadmissible.</p> + +<p>Suppose the animal to have been at pasture, and she is not observed to +be "ailing" until rumination is suspended. She then droops her head, and +has a cough, accompanied with difficult breathing, weakness in the legs, +and sore throat. Then, in addition to warmth, moisture, and friction, as +already directed, apply to the joints and throat the following:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 114a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Boiling vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 quart.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">African cayenne,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The throat being sore, the part should be rubbed gently. The joints may +be rubbed with energy for several minutes. The liquid must not be +applied too hot.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 114b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Take</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Virginia snakeroot,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sage,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Skullcap, (herb),</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pleurisy root,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Infuse in boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gallon.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>After standing for the space of one hour, strain; then add a gill of +honey and an ounce of powdered licorice or slippery elm. Give a quart +every four hours.</p> + +<p>Should the cough be troublesome, give</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 114c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Balsam copaiba,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sirup of garlic,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Thin gruel,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 quart.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Give the whole at a dose, and repeat as occasion may <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>require. A second +dose, however, should not be given until twelve hours have elapsed.</p> + +<p>Injections must not be overlooked, for several important indications can +be fulfilled by them. (For the different forms, see <span class="smcap">Appendix</span>.)</p> + +<p>If the disease has assumed a typhus form, then the indications will +be,—</p> + +<p>First. To equalize the circulation and nervous system, and maintain that +equilibrium. This is done by giving the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 115"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered African cayenne,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered flagroot,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Skullcap,</td> + <td class="tdl">1/2 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Marshmallows,</td> + <td class="tdl">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Put the whole of the ingredients into a gallon of water; boil for five +minutes; and, when cool, strain; sweeten with a small quantity of honey; +then give a quart every two hours.</p> + +<p>The next indication is, to counteract the tendency to putrescence. This +may be done by causing the animal to inhale the fumes of pyroligneous +acid, and by the internal use of bayberry bark. They are both termed +antiseptics. The usual method of generating vapor for inhalation is, by +first covering the animal's head with a horse-cloth, the corners of +which are suffered to fall below the animal's nose, and held by +assistants in such a manner as to prevent, as much as possible, the +escape of the vapor. A hot brick is then to be grasped in a pair of +tongs, and held about a foot beneath the nose. An assistant then pours +the acid, (<i>very gradually,</i>) on the brick. Half a pint of acid will be +sufficient for one steaming, provided it be used with discretion; for if +too much is poured on the brick at once, the temperature will be too +rapidly lowered.</p> + +<p>In reference to the internal use of bayberry, it may be well to remark, +that it is a powerful astringent and antiseptic, and should always be +combined with relaxing, lubricating medicines. Such are licorice and +slippery elm.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>The following may be given as a safe and efficient antiseptic drink:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 116"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered bayberry bark,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1/2 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gallon.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Give a quart every two hours.</p> + +<p>The diet should consist of flour gruel and boiled carrots. Boiled +carrots may be allowed (provided the animal will eat them) during the +whole stage of the malady.</p> + +<p>The object of these examples of special practice is to direct the mind +of the farmer at once to something that will answer a given purpose, +without presuming to say that it is the best in the world for that +purpose. The reader will find in our <i>materia medica</i> a number of +articles that will fulfil the same indications just as well.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>LOCKED-JAW.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Mr. Youatt says, "Working cattle are most subject to locked-jaw, because +they may be pricked in shoeing; and because, after a hard day's work, +and covered with perspiration, they are sometimes turned out to graze +during a wet or cold night. Over-driving is not an uncommon cause of +locked-jaw in cattle. The drovers, from long experience, calculate the +average mortality among a drove of cattle in their journey from the +north to the southern markets; and at the head of the list of diseases, +and with the greatest number of victims, stands 'locked-jaw,' especially +if the principal drover is long absent from his charge."</p> + +<p>The treatment of locked-jaw, both in horses and cattle, has, hitherto, +been notoriously unsuccessful. This is not to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>be wondered at when we +take into consideration the destructive character of the treatment.</p> + +<p>"Take," says Mr. Youatt, "twenty-four pounds of blood from the animal; +or bleed him almost to fainting.... Give him Epsom salts in pound and a +half doses (!) until it operates. Purging being established, an attempt +must be made to allay the irritation of the nervous system by means of +sedatives; and the best drug is opium.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The dose should be a drachm +three times a day. [One fortieth part of the quantity here recommended +to be given in one day would kill a strong man who was not addicted to +its use.] At the same time, the action of the bowels must be kept up by +Epsom salts, or common salt, or sulphur, and the proportion of the +purgative and the sedative must be so managed, that the constitution +shall be under the influence of both.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> A seton of black hellebore root +may be of service. It frequently produces a great deal of swelling and +inflammation.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> ... If the disease terminates successfully, the beast +will be left sadly out of condition, and he will not thrive very +rapidly. He must, however, be got into fair plight, as prudence will +allow, and then sold; for he will rarely stand much work afterwards, or +carry any great quantity of flesh." The same happens to us poor mortals +when we have been dosed <i>secundum artem</i>. We resemble walking skeletons.</p> + +<p>Our own opinion of the disease is, that it is one of nervous origin, and +that the tonic spasm, always present in the muscles <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>of voluntary +motion, is only symptomatic of derangement in the great, living +electro-galvanic battery, (the brain and spinal cord,) or in some of its +wires (nerves) of communication.</p> + +<p>Mr. Percival says, "Tetanus consists, in a spasmodic contraction, more +or less general, of the muscles of voluntary motion, and especially of +those that move the lower jaw; hence the vulgar name of it, +<i>locked-jaw</i>, and the technical one of <i>trismus</i>."</p> + +<p>In order to make ourselves clearly understood, and furnish the reader +with proper materials for him to prosecute his inquiries with success, a +few remarks on the origin of muscular motion seem to be absolutely +necessary.</p> + +<p>It is generally understood by medical men, and taught in the schools, +that there are in the animal economy four distinct systems of nerves.</p> + +<p>1st system. This consists of the sensitive nerves, which are distributed +to all parts of the animal economy endowed with feeling; and all +external impulses are reflected to the medulla oblongata, &c. (See +<i>Dadd's work on the Horse</i>, p. 127.) In short, these nerves are the +media through which the animal gets all his knowledge of external +relations.</p> + +<p>2d system. The motive. These proceed from nearly the same centre of +perception, and distribute themselves to all the muscles of voluntary +motion. It is evident that the muscle itself cannot perform its office +without the aid of the nerves, (electric wires;) for it has been proved +by experiment on the living animal, that when the posterior columns of +nervous matter, which pass down from the brain towards the tail, are +severed, then all voluntary motion ceases. Motion may, however, +continue; but it can only be compared to a ship at sea without a rudder, +having nothing to direct its course. It follows, then, that if the +nerves of motion and sensation are severed, there is no communication +between the parts to which they are distributed and the brain. And the +part, if its nutritive function be also paralyzed, will finally become +as insensible as a stone—wither and die.</p> + +<p>3d system. The respiratory. These are under the control of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>the will +only through the superior power, as manifested by the motive nerves. For +the animal will breathe whether it wishes to or not, as long as the +vital spark burns.</p> + +<p>4th system. The sympathetic, sometimes called <i>nutritive nerves</i>. They +are distributed to all the organs of digestion, absorption, circulation, +and secretion. These four nervous structures, or systems, must all be in +a physiological state, in order to carry on, with unerring certainty, +their different functions. If they are injured or diseased, then the +perceptions of external relations are but imperfectly conveyed to the +mind. (<i>Brutes have a mind.</i>) On the other hand, if the brain, or its +appendages, spinal marrow, &c., be in a pathological state, then the +manifestations of <i>mind</i> or <i>will</i> are but imperfectly represented. Now, +it is evident to every reasonable man, that the nerves may become +diseased from various causes; and this explains the reason why +locked-jaw sometimes sets in without any apparent cause. The medical +world have then agreed to call it <i>idiopathic</i>. This term only serves to +bewilder us, and fails to throw the least light on the nature of the +malady, or its causes. Many men ridicule the idea of the nerves being +diseased, just because alterations in their structure are not evident to +the senses. We cannot see the atoms of water, nor even the myriads of +living beings abounding in single drop of water! yet no one doubts that +water contains many substances imperceptible to the naked eye. We know +that epizoötic diseases are wafted, by the winds, from one part of the +world to another; yet none of us have ever seen the specific virus. Can +any man doubt its existence?</p> + +<p>Hence it appears that diseases may exist in delicately-organized +filaments, without the cognizance of our external perceptions.</p> + +<p>It is further manifest that locked-jaw is only symptomatic of diseased +nervous structures, and that a pathological state of the nervous +filaments may be brought about independent of a prick of a nail, or +direct injury to a nerve.</p> + +<p>Hence, instead of tetanus consisting "in a spasmodic contraction of the +muscles of voluntary motion," it consists in a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>deranged state of the +nervous system; and the contracted state of the muscles is only +symptomatic of such derangement. Then what sense is there in blistering, +bleeding, and inserting setons in the dewlap? Of what use is it to treat +symptoms? Suppose a man to be attacked with hepatitis, (inflammation of +the liver:) he has a pain in the right shoulder. Suppose the physician +prescribes a plaster for the latter, without ascertaining the real +cause, or perhaps not knowing of its existence. We should then say that +the doctor only treated symptoms. "And he who treats symptoms never +cures disease." Suppose locked-jaw to have supervened from an attack of +acute indigestion: would it not be more rational to restore the lost +function?</p> + +<p>Suppose locked-jaw to have set in from irritating causes, such as bots +in the stomach, worms in the intestines, &c.: would bleeding remove +them? would it not render the system less capable of recovering its +physiological equilibrium, and resisting the irritation produced by +these animals on the delicate nervous tissues?</p> + +<p>Suppose, as Mr. Youatt says, that locked-jaw sets in "after turning the +animal out to graze during a cold night:" will a blister to the spine, +or a seton in the dewlap, restore the lost function of the skin?</p> + +<p>In short, would it not be more rational, in cases of locked-jaw, to +endeavor to restore the healthy action of all the functions, instead of +depressing them with the agents referred to?</p> + +<p>Then the question arises, What are the indications to be fulfilled?</p> + +<p><i>First.</i> Restore the lost function.</p> + +<p><i>Secondly.</i> Equalize the circulation, and maintain an equilibrium +between nervous and arterial action.</p> + +<p><i>Thirdly.</i> Support the powers of life.</p> + +<p><i>Fourthly.</i> If locked-jaw arise from a wound, then apply suitable +remedial agents to the part, and rescue the nervous system from a +pathological state.</p> + +<p>To fulfil the fourth indication, we commence the treatment as follows:—</p> + +<p>Suppose the foot to have been pricked or wounded. We <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>make an +examination of the part, and remove all extraneous matter. The following +poultice must then be applied:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 121a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered skunk cabbage,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered lobelia,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered poplar bark,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Indian meal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Make it of the proper consistence with boiling water. When sufficiently +cool, put it into a flannel bag, and secure it above the pastern. To be +renewed every twelve hours. After the second application, examine the +foot, and if suppuration has commenced, and matter can be felt, or seen, +a small puncture may be made, taking care not to let the knife penetrate +beyond the bony part of the hoof.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, prepare the following drink:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 121b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Indian hemp or milkweed, (herb,)</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered mandrake,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered lobelia seeds,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered poplar bark, (very fine,)</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Make a tea, in the usual manner—about one gallon. After straining it +through a cloth, add the other ingredients, and give a quart every two +hours.</p> + +<p>A long-necked bottle is the most suitable vehicle in which to +administer; but it must be poured down in the most gradual manner. The +head should not be elevated too high.</p> + +<p>A liberal allowance of camomile tea may be resorted to, during the whole +stage of the disease.</p> + +<p>Next stimulate the external surface, by warmth and moisture, in the +following manner: Take about two quarts of vinegar, into which stir a +handful of lobelia; have a hot brick ready, (<i>the animal having a large +cloth, or blanket, thrown around him</i>;) pour the mixture gradually on +the brick, which is held over a bucket to prevent waste; the steam +arising will relax the surface. After repeating the operation, apply the +following mixture around the jaws, back, and extremities: take of +cayenne, skunk cabbage, and cypripedium, (lady's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>slipper,) powdered, +each two ounces, boiling vinegar two quarts; stir the mixture until +sufficiently cool, rub it well in with a coarse sponge; this will relax +the jaws a trifle, so that the animal can manage to suck up thin gruel, +which may be given warm, in any quantity. This process must be +persevered in; although it may not succeed in every case, yet it will be +more satisfactory than the blood-letting and poisoning system. No +medicine is necessary; the gruel will soften the fæces sufficiently; if +the rectum is loaded with fæces, give injections of an infusion of +lobelia.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> This is a narcotic vegetable poison; and although large +quantities have been occasionally given to the horse without apparent +injury, experience teaches us that poisons in general—notwithstanding +the various modes of their action, and the difference in their +symptoms—all agree in the abstraction of vitality from the system. Dr. +Eberle says, "Opiates never fail to operate perniciously on the whole +organization." Dr. Gallup says, "The practice of using opiates to +mitigate pain is greatly to be deprecated. It is probable that opium and +its preparations have done seven times the injury that they have +rendered benefit on the great scale of the civilized world. Opium is the +most destructive of all narcotics."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> This is a perfect seesaw between efforts to kill and +efforts to cure.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Then it ought not to be used.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>INFLAMMATORY DISEASES.</h3> + +<p class="cen">INFLAMMATION OF THE STOMACH, (<span class="smcap">Gastritis.</span>)</p> +<br /> + +<p>Such a complicated piece of mechanism is the stomach of the ox, that +organ is particularly liable to disease. Inflammation, being the same as +local fever, (or a high grade of vital power, concentrated within a +small space,) may be produced by over-feeding, irritating and +indigestible food, or acrid, poisonous, and offensive medicines. The +farmer must remember that a small quantity of good, nutritious food, +capable of being easily penetrated by the gastric fluids, will repair +the waste that is going on, and improve the condition with more +certainty than an abundance of indifferent provender.</p> + +<p><i>Cure.</i>—The first indication will be to allay the irritability of the +stomach; this will moderate the irritation and lessen the fever. Make a +mucilaginous drink of slippery elm, or marshmallows, and give half a +pint every two hours. All irritating food and drink must be carefully +avoided, and the animal must be kept quiet; all irritating cordials, +"including the popular remedy, gin and molasses," must be avoided. These +never fail to increase the malady, and may occasion death. If there is +an improper accumulation of food in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>viscera, the remedies will be, +relaxing clysters, abstinence from food, and a tea of sassafras and +mandrake, made thus:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 123"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Sassafras, (<i>laurus sassafras</i>,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mandrake, (<i>podophyllum peltatum</i>,)</td> + <td class="tdl" style="vertical-align: bottom;">4 drachms.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Let the mixture stand until quite cool, and give a pint every four +hours.</p> + +<p>Almost all animals, when suffering under acute symptoms, require +diluting, cooling drinks. This at once points out the use of water, or +any weak gruel of which water is the basis; the necessity of diluting +liquors is pointed out by the heat and dryness of the mouth, and +rigidity of the coat.</p> + +<p>When the thirst is great, the following forms a grateful and cooling +beverage: Take lemon balm, (<i>melissa officinalis</i>,) two ounces; boiling +water, two quarts; when cool, strain, and add half a tea-spoonful of +cream of tartar. Give half a pint at intervals of two hours.</p> + +<p>If the stomach continues to exhibit a morbid state, which may be known +by a profuse discharge of saliva from the mouth, then administer +camomile tea in small quantities: the addition of a little powdered +charcoal will prove beneficial.</p> + +<p><i>Remarks.</i>—Gastritis cannot be long present without other parts of the +system sharing the disturbance: it is then termed gastric fever. This +fever is the result of the local affection. Our object is, to get rid of +the local affection, and the fever will subside. Authors have invariably +recommended destructive remedies for the cure of gastritis; but they +generally fail of hitting the mark, and always do more or less injury.</p> + +<p>A light diet, rest, a clean bed of straw in a well-ventilated barn, will +generally perfect the cure.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS, (<span class="smcap">Pneumonia.</span>)</p> + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—Errors in feeding, over-exertion, exposure in wet pastures, +or suffering the animal, when in a state of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>perspiration, to partake +too bountifully of cold water, are among the direct causes of a +derangement of vital equilibrium. Want of pure air for the purpose of +vitalizing the blood, the inhalation of noxious gases, and filth and +uncleanliness, may produce this disease in its worst form; yet it must +be borne in mind that the same exciting causes will not develop the same +form of disease in all animals. It altogether depends on the amount of +vital resistance, or what is termed the peculiar idiosyncrasy of the +animal. On the other hand, several animals often suffer from the same +form of disease, from causes varying in their general character. Hence +the reader will see that it would be needless, in fact impossible, to +point to the direct cause in each grade of disease. The least +obstruction to universal vital action will produce pneumonia in some +animals, while in others it may result in disease of the bowels.</p> + +<p><i>Cure.</i>—No special treatment can be successfully pursued in pneumonia; +for the lungs are not the only organs involved: no change of condition +can occur in the animal functions without the nervous system being more +or less deranged; for the latter is essential to all vital motions. +Hence disease, in every form, should be treated according to its +indications. A few general directions may, however, be found useful. The +first indication to be fulfilled is to equalize the blood. Flannels +saturated with warm vinegar should be applied to the extremities; they +may be folded round the legs, and renewed as often as they grow cold. +Poultices of slippery elm, applied to the feet, as hot as the animal can +bear them, have sometimes produced a better result than vinegar. If the +animal has shivering fits, and the whole surface is chilled, apply +warmth and moisture as recommended in article "<i>Locked-Jaw</i>." At the +same time, endeavor to promote the insensible perspiration by the +internal use of diaphoretics—<i>lobelia or thoroughwort tea</i>. A very good +diaphoretic and anti-spasmodic drink may be made thus:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 124"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Lobelia, (herb)</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Spearmint,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>Let the above stand for a few minutes; strain, then add two +table-spoonfuls of honey. Give half a pint every hour, taking care to +pour it down the œsophagus very gently, so as to insure its reaching +the fourth or true digestive stomach. The following clyster must be +given:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 125"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered Lobelia,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When sufficiently cool, inject with a common metal syringe.</p> + +<p>These processes should be repeated as the symptoms require, until the +animal gives evidence of relief; when a light diet of thin gruel will +perfect the cure. It must ever be borne in mind that in the treatment of +all forms of disease—those of the <i>lungs more especially</i>—the animal +must have pure, uncontaminated atmospheric air, and that any departure +from purity in the air which the animal respires, will counteract all +our efforts to cure.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS,<br /> (<span class="smcap">Enteritis,—Inflammation Of the +Fibro-Muscular Coat of the Intestines.</span>)</p> + +<p><i>Character.</i>—Acute pain; the animal appears restless, and frequently +turns his head towards the belly; moans, and appears dull; frequent +small, hard pulse; cold feet and ears.</p> + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—Plethora, costiveness, or the sudden application of cold +either internally or externally, overworking, &c.</p> + +<p><i>Cure.</i>—In the early stages of the disease, all forms of medication +that are in any way calculated to arouse the peristaltic motion of the +intestines should be avoided; hence purges are certain destruction. +Relax the muscular structure by the application of a blanket or +horse-cloth wrung out in hot water. In this disease, it is generally +sufficient to apply warmth and moisture as near the parts affected as +possible; yet if the ears and legs are cold, the general application of +warmth and moisture will more speedily accomplish the relaxation of the +whole animal. After the application of the above, injections of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>mild, +soothing character (slippery elm, or flaxseed tea) should be used very +liberally. A drink of any mucilaginous, lubricating, and innocent +substance may be given, such as mallows, linseed, Iceland moss, slippery +elm. During convalescence, the diet must be light and of an unirritating +character, such as boiled carrots, scalded meal, &c.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">INFLAMMATION OF TILE PERITONEAL COAT OF THE INTESTINES, +(<span class="smcap">Peritonitis.</span>)</p> + +<p>This disease requires the same treatment as the latter malady.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS, (<span class="smcap">Nephritis.</span>)</p> + +<p>The usual symptoms are a quick pulse; loss of appetite; high-colored +urine, passed in small quantities, with difficulty and pain. Pressure on +the loins gives pain, and the animal will shrink on placing the hand +over the region of the kidneys.</p> + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—Cold, external injury, or injury from irritating substances, +that are often sent full tilt through the kidneys, as spirits of +turpentine, gin and molasses, saleratus. It is unnecessary to detail all +the causes of the disease: suffice it to say, that they exist in any +thing that can for a time obstruct the free and full play of the +different functions.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—This, too, will consist in the invitation of the blood to +the surface and extremities, and by removing all irritating matter from +the system, <i>in the same manner as for inflammation of the bowels</i>. The +application of a poultice of ground hemlock, or a charge of gum hemlock, +will generally be found useful. The best drinks—and these should only +be allowed in small quantities—are gum arabic and marshmallow +decoctions.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER, (<span class="smcap">Cystitis.</span>)</p> + +<p>During the latter months of pregnancy, the bladder is often in an +irritable state, and a frequent desire to void the urine is observed, +which frequently results from constipation. A peculiar sympathy exists +between the bladder and rectum; and when constipation is present, there +is a constant effort on the part of the animal to void the excrement. +This expulsive action also affects the bladder: hence the frequent +efforts to urinate. The irritable state of the bladder is caused by the +pressure of the loaded rectum on the neck of the former.</p> + +<p>The common soap-suds make a good injection, and will quickly soften the +hardened excrement; after which the following clyster may be used:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 127a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Linseed tea,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">3 quarts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cream of tartar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>After throwing into the rectum about one third of the above, press the +tail on the anus. The object is, to make it act as a fomentation in the +immediate vicinity of the parts. After the inflammation shall have +subsided, administer the following in a bottle, or horn:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 127b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered blackroot, (<i>leptandra virginica</i>,)</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%" style="vertical-align: bottom;">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Warm water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Repeat the dose, if the symptoms are not relieved.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">INFLAMMATION OF THE WOMB.</p> + +<p>This may be treated in the same manner as the last-named disease. The +malady may be recognized by lassitude, loss of appetite, diminution in +the quantity, and deterioration in the quality, of the milk. As the +disease advances, there is often a fetid discharge from the parts; a +constant straining, which is attended with a frequent flow of urine.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>INFLAMMATION OF THE BRAIN, (<span class="smcap">Phrenitis.</span>)</p> + +<p>In this disease, the pia mater, arachnoid membrane, or the brain itself, +may be inflamed. It matters very little which of the above are deranged, +for the means of cure are the same. We have no method of making direct +application to either of the above, as they all lie within the cranium. +Neither can we act upon them medicinally except through the organs of +secretion, absorption, and circulation. Post mortem examinations reveal +to us evident marks of high inflammatory action, both in the substance +of the brain and in its membranes; and an effusion of blood, serum, or +of purulent matter, has been found in the ventricles of the brain.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—The indications are, to equalize the circulation by warmth +and moisture externally, and maintain the action to the surface by +rubbing the legs with the following counter-irritant:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 128a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 quart.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Common salt,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Set the mixture on the fire, (<i>in an earthen vessel</i>,) and allow it to +simmer for a few moments; then apply it to the legs. After the +circulation is somewhat equalized, give the following drench:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 128b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Extract of butternut,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Tea of hyssop,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>A stimulating clyster may then be given, composed of warm water, into +which a few grains of powdered capsicum may be sprinkled.</p> + +<p>If due attention be paid to counter-irritation, and the head kept cool +by wet cloths, the chances of recovery are pretty certain.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE.</p> + +<p>This disease is too well known to require any description; we shall +therefore, at once, proceed to point out the ways and means for its +cure.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—First wash the eyes with a weak decoction of camomile +flowers until they are well cleansed; then give a cooling drink, +composed of</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 129a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Cream of tartar,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Decoction of lemon balm,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 quart.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Repeat this drink every six hours, until the bowels am moved. Should the +disease occur where these articles cannot be procured, give two ounces +of common salt in a pint of water. Should the eye still continue red and +swollen, give a dose of physic. (See <i>Physic for Cattle</i>.)</p> + +<p>If a film can be observed, wash with a decoction of powdered bloodroot; +and if a weeping remain, use the following astringent:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 129b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered bayberry bark,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When cool, pour off the clear liquor. It is then fit for use.</p> + +<p>Inflammation of the eye may assume different forms, but the above +treatment, combined with attention to rest, ventilation, a dark +location, and a light diet, will cover the whole ground.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER, (<span class="smcap">Hepatitis.</span>)</p> + +<p>Cattle very frequently show signs of diseased liver. Stall-fed oxen and +cows kept in cities are most liable to derangement of the liver; in such +animals, (after death,) there is an unusual yellowness of the fat. A +disease of the liver may exist for a long time without interfering much +with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>general health. Mr. Youatt informs us that "a chronic form of +diseased liver may exist for some months, or years, not characterized by +any decided symptom, and but little interfering with health."</p> + +<p><i>Symptoms.</i>—Permanent yellowness of the eyes; quick pulse; dry muzzle; +hot mouth; considerable pain when pressure is made on the right side. +Occasionally the animal looks round and licks the spot over the region +of the liver.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—First give half pint doses of thoroughwort tea, at +intervals of one hour, (<i>to the amount of two quarts</i>.) This will relax +the system, and equalize vital action. The following drench is then to +be given:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 130a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Extract of butternut,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Warm water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 quart.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>If the butternut cannot be obtained, substitute a dose of physic. (See +<span class="smcap">Appendix</span>.) Stimulate the bowels to action by injections of +soap-suds. If the extremities are cold, proceed to warm them in the +manner alluded to in article <i>Inflammation of the Bowels</i>. On the other +hand, if the surface of the body is hot and dry, and there is much fever +present, indicated by a quick pulse and dry muzzle, then bathe the whole +surface with weak saleratus water, sufficiently warm to relax the +external surface. The following fever drink may be given daily until +rumination again commences:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 130b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Lemon balm,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cream of tartar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Honey,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gill.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>First pour the boiling water on the balm; after standing a few minutes, +strain; then add the above ingredients.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>JAUNDICE, OR YELLOWS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This disease is well known to every farmer; the yellow appearance of the +skin, mouth, eyes, and saliva at once betray its presence. It consists +in the absorption of unchanged bile into the circulation, which bile +becomes diffused, giving rise to the yellow appearances.</p> + +<p>In the treatment of jaundice, we first give a dose of physic, (see +<span class="smcap">Appendix</span>,) and assist its operation by injections of weak lie, +made from wood ashes. The animal may roam about in the barn-yard, if the +weather will permit; or rub the external surface briskly with a wisp or +brush, which will answer the same purpose. The following may be given in +one dose, and repeated every day, or every other day, as the symptoms +may require:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 131"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered golden seal, (<i>hydrastus canadensis</i>),</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%" style="vertical-align: bottom;">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounoces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Water sufficient to make it of the consistence of gruel.</p> + +<p>Should a diarrhœa set in, it ought not to occasion alarm, but may be +considered as an effort of nature to rid the system of morbific matter. +It will be prudent, however, to watch the animal, and if the strength +and condition fail, then add to the last prescription a small quantity +of powdered gentian and caraway seeds.</p> + +<p>There are various forms of disease in the liver, yet the treatment will +not differ much from that of the last-named disease. There is no such +thing as a medicine for a particular symptom, in one form of disease, +that is not equally good for the same symptom in every form. In short, +there is no such thing as a specific. Any medicine that will promote the +healthy action of the liver in one form of jaundice will be equally good +for the same purpose in another form of that disease.</p> + +<p>Mr. Youatt states, "There are few diseases to which cattle <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>are so +frequently subject, or which are so difficult to treat, as jaundice, or +yellows." Hence it is important that the farmer should know how and in +what manner the disease may be prevented. And he will succeed best who +understands the causes, which often exist in overworking the stomach, +with a desire to fatten. Men who raise cattle for the market often +attempt to get them in fine condition and flesh, without any regard to +the state of the digestive organs, the liver included; for the bile +which the latter secretes is absolutely necessary for the perfection of +the digestive process. They do not take into consideration the state of +the animals' health, the climate, the quality of food, and the quantity +best adapted to the digestive powers; and what is of still greater +importance, and too often overlooked, is, that all animals should be fed +at regular intervals. Some men suppose that so long as their cattle +shall have good food, without any regard to quantity,—if they eat all +day long, and cram their paunch to its utmost capacity,—they must +fatten; when, in fact, too much food deranges the whole digestive +apparatus. As soon as the paunch and stomach are overloaded, they press +on the liver, interfering with the bile-secreting process, producing +congestion and disorganization.</p> + +<p>Diseases of the liver may be produced by any thing that will for a time +suspend the process of rumination: the known sympathy that exists +between the stomach and liver explains this fact.</p> + +<p>Digestion, like every other vital process, requires a concentration of +power to accomplish it: now, if an ox should have a bountiful meal, and +then be driven several miles, the process of digestion, during the +journey, will be partly suspended. The act of compelling an ox to rise, +or annoying him in any way, will immediately suspend rumination, which +may result in an acute disease of the liver. In most cases, however, the +stomach is primarily affected.</p> + +<p>Dealers in cattle often overfeed the animals they are about to dispose +of, in order to improve their external appearance, and increase their +own profits: the consequence is, that such <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>animals are in a state of +plethora, and are liable at any moment to be attacked with congestion of +the liver or brain.</p> + +<p>Again. If oxen are driven a long journey, and then turned into a pasture +abounding in highly nutritious grasses or clover, to which they are +unaccustomed, they fill the paunch to such an extent that it becomes a +matter of impossibility on the part of the animal to throw it up for +rumination; this mass of food, being submitted to the combined action of +heat and moisture, undergoes fermentation; carbonic acid gas is evolved; +the animal is then said to be "blown," "hoven," or "blasted." Post +mortem examination, in such cases, reveals a highly-congested state of +the liver and spleen.</p> + +<p>In fattening cattle, the injury done to the organs of digestion is not +always observed in the early stages; for the vital power, which wages a +warfare against all encroachments, endeavors to accommodate itself to +the increased bulk; yet, by continuing to give an excess of diet, it +finally yields up the citadel to the insidious foe. Chemical action then +overpowers the vital, and disease is the result.</p> + +<p>Thousands of valuable cattle are yearly destroyed by being too well, or, +rather, injudiciously fed. Many diseases of the liver and digestive +organs result from feeding on unwholesome, innutritious, and hard, +indigestible food. Bad water, and suffering the animal to partake too +bountifully of cold water when heated and fatigued, are among the direct +causes of disease.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>DISEASES OF THE MUCOUS SURFACE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The mucous membrane is a duplicature of the skin, and is folded into the +external orifices of the animal, as the mouth, ears, nose, lungs, +stomach, intestines, and bladder; but not being so much exposed to the +action of external agents, it is not so strong or thick as the skin. It +performs, however, nearly the same office as the skin. If the action of +one is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>suppressed, the other immediately commences the performance of +its office. Thus a common cold, which collapses the skin, immediately +stops insensible perspiration, which recedes to the mucous membrane, +producing a discharge from the nose, eyes, bowels, &c. So, when great +derangement of the mucous membrane exists, debilitating perspiration +succeeds. In the treatment of diseases of the mucous membrane, we +endeavor to remove the irritating causes from the organs affected, +restore the general tone of the system, and invite action to the +external surface.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">CATARRH, OR HOOSE.</p> + +<p>This disease often arises from exposure to wet or cold weather, and from +the food being of a bad quality, or deficient in quantity. If the animal +is enfeebled by poor feed, old age, or any other cause, then there is +very little resistance offered against the encroachments of disease: +hence young beasts and cows after calving are often the victims.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—It is necessary to attend to this disorder as soon as it +makes its appearance; for a common cold, neglected, often lays the +foundation of consumption. On the other hand, a little attention in the +early stages, and before sympathetic action sets in, would set all +right. The first indication to be fulfilled is to invite action to the +surface by friction and counter-irritants. The following liniment may be +applied to the feet and throat:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 134a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Olive oil,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oil of cedar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Liquid ammonia,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Rub the mixture in well; then give</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 134b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Gruel,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 quart.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered licorice,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Composition,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Give this at a dose, and repeat two or three times during the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>twenty-four hours. A drink of any warm aromatic tea, <i>such as +pennyroyal, hyssop, catnip or aniseed will have a good effect</i>. The diet +should consist of scalded meal, boiled carrots, flaxseed, or any +substance that is light and easy of digestion. Should the discharge +increase and the eyelids swell, recourse must be had to vapor, which may +be raised by pouring vinegar on a hot brick; the latter held, with a +pair of tongs, beneath the animal's nose, at the same time covering the +head with a blanket. A small quantity of bayberry bark may occasionally +be blown up the nostrils from a quill. It is very important, during the +treatment, that the animal be in a warm situation, with a good bed of +straw to rest on. If the glands under the jaw enlarge, the following +mixture should be rubbed about the throat:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 135a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Neat's foot oil,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hot drops,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gill.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>If the disease assumes a chronic form, and the animal is evidently +losing flesh, then give the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 135b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Golden seal, powdered,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Caraway seeds, powdered,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Divide into three parts; which may be given daily, (in thin gruel,) +until the animal is convalescent.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">EPIDEMIC CATARRH.</p> + +<p>This often prevails at particular seasons, and spreads over whole +districts, sometimes destroying a great number of cattle. It is a +disorder whose intensity varies considerably, being sometimes attended +with a high grade of fever, at other times quickly followed by general +debility.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—This requires the same treatment as the last-named +disease, but only more thoroughly and perseveringly applied; for every +portion of the system seems to be affected, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>either through sympathetic +action or from the absorption of morbid matter. Hence we must aid the +vital power to maintain her empire and resist the encroachments on her +sanative operations by the use of antiseptics and stimulants. The +following is a good example:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 136a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered bayberry bark,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered pleurisy root,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Honey,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Thin gruel,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 quart.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">MALIGNANT EPIDEMIC, (<span class="smcap">Murrain.</span>)</p> + +<p>This disease has been more or less destructive from the time of Pharaoh +up to the present period. For information on the origin, progress, and +termination of this malignant distemper, the reader is referred to Mr. +Youatt's work on cattle.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—The indications to be fulfilled are, first, to preserve +the system from putrescence, which can be done by the use of the +following drink:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 136b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered capsicum,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Limewater,</td> + <td class="tdl">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Add to the capsicum, charcoal, and sulphur, a small quantity of gruel; +lastly, add the lime water. A second and similar dose may be given six +hours after the first, provided, however, the symptoms are not so +alarming.</p> + +<p>The next indication is, to break down the morbid action of the nervous +and vascular systems; for which the following may be given freely:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 136c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Thoroughwort tea,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered assafœtida,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 drachms.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>Aid the action of these remedies by the use of one of the following +injections:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 137a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered lobelia,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oil of peppermint,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 137b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Infusion of camomile,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Common salt,</td> + <td class="tdl">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>In all cases of putrid or malignant fever, efforts should be made to +supply the system with caloric, (by the aid of stimulants,) promote the +secretions, and rid the system of morbific materials.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">DIARRHŒA, (<span class="smcap">Looseness of the Bowels.</span>)</p> + +<p>In the early stages of this disease, it is not always to be checked. It +is often a salutary operation of nature to rid the system of morbific +materials, and all that we can do with safety is, to sheathe and +lubricate the mucous surfaces, in order to protect them from the acrid +and stimulating properties of the agents to be removed from the +alimentary canal.</p> + +<p>When the disease, of which diarrhœa is only a symptom, proceeds from +exposure, apply warmth, moisture, friction, and stimulants to the +external surface, aided by the following lubricant:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 137c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Common starch, or flour, may be substituted for slippery elm. The +mixture should be given in pint doses, at intervals of two hours. When +the fecal discharges appear more natural and less frequent, a tea of +raspberry leaves or bayberry bark will complete the cure.</p> + +<p>When the disease assumes a chronic form, and the animal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>loses flesh, +the following tonic, stimulating, astringent drink is recommended:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 138"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Infusion of camomile,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 quart.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered caraway seeds,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bayberry, powdered,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix for one dose.</p> + +<p><i>Remarks.</i>—In the treatment of this disease, it is necessary for the +farmer to know, that through the instrumentality of the nervous +structure, there is constantly a sympathy kept up between the different +parts of the animal; whenever any part is affected, the corresponding +part feels the influence. Thus the external surface is opposed to the +internal, so that, if the function of the former be diminished, or +excessive, or suspended, that of the latter will soon become deranged; +and the restoration of the lost function is the only true way to effect +a cure. For example, if an animal be suffered to feed in wet lands, the +feet and external surface become cold; and hence diarrhœa, catarrh, +garget, dysentery, &c. If the circulation of the blood is obstructed by +exposure, we should restore the lost function by rubbing the surface, +and by the application of warmth and moisture. If the animal is in poor +condition, and there is not enough vitality to equalize the circulation, +give warm anti-spasmodics. (See <span class="smcap">Appendix</span>.) In cases where +diarrhœa results from a want of power in the digestive organs to +assimilate the food, the latter acts on the mucous surfaces as a +mechanical irritant, producing inflammation, &c. Inflammation is the +concentration of the available vital force too much upon a small region +of the body, and it is invited there by irritation. Now, instead of the +popular error,—bleeding and purging,—the most rational way to proceed +is, to remove the cause of irritation, (no matter whether the stomach or +bowels are involved,) and invite the blood to the surface by means +already alluded to, and distribute it over the general system, so that +it will not be in excess any where. There is generally but little +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>difficulty in producing an equilibrium of action; the great point is to +sustain it. When the blood accumulates in a part, as in inflammation of +the bowels, the sensibility of the part is so highly exalted that the +least irritation causes a relapse; therefore the general treatment must +not be abandoned too early.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">DYSENTERY.</p> + +<p>The disease is generally ushered in with some degree of fever; as, +trembling, hot and cold stages, dryness of the mouth, loss of appetite, +general prostration, drooping of the head and ears, heaving of the +flanks; there are frequent stools, yet these seldom consist of natural +excrement, but are of a viscid, mucous character; the animal is +evidently in pain during these discharges, and sometimes the fundament +appears excoriated.</p> + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—The cause of this complaint appears to be, generally, +exposure. Dr. White says, "Almost all the diseases of cattle arise +either from exposure to wet or cold weather, from their food being of a +bad quality, or deficient in quantity, or from the animal being changed +too suddenly from poor, unwholesome keep to rich pasture. It is +necessary to observe, also, that the animal is more liable to be injured +by exposure to wet and cold, when previously enfeebled by bad keep, old +age, or any other cause; and particularly when brought from a mild into +a cold situation. I have scarcely met with a disease that is not +attributable to a chill."</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—This must be much the same as in diarrhœa—sheathing +the mucous membrane, and inviting action to the surface. The animal must +be warmly housed, well littered, and the extremities clothed with +flannel bandages. The diet must consist of flour gruel, scalded meal. +Raspberry tea will be the most suitable drink. Much can be done by good +nursing. Mr. Ellman says, "If any of my cattle get into a low, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>weak +state, I generally recommend nursing, which, in most cases, is much +better than a doctor; [meaning some of the poor specimens always to be +found in large cities;] having often seen the beast much weakened, and +the stomach relaxed, by throwing in a quantity of medicine +injudiciously, and the animal lost; when, with good nursing, in all +probability, it might have been otherwise."</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">SCOURING ROT.</p> + +<p><i>Cause.</i>—Any thing that can reduce the vital energies.</p> + +<p><i>Symptoms.</i>—A gradual loss of flesh, although the animal often feeds +well and ruminates. The excrements are of a dark color, frothy, and +fetid, and, in the latter stages, appear to be only half digested. There +are many symptoms and different degrees of intensity, during the +progress of this disease, indicate the amount of destruction going on; +yet the author considers them unimportant in a practical point of view, +at least as far as the treatment is concerned; for the disease is so +analogous to dysentery, that the same indications are to be fulfilled in +both; more care, however, should be taken to prevent and subdue +mortification.</p> + +<p>In addition to the treatment recommended in article <i>Malignant +Epidemic</i>, the following injection may be substituted for the one +prescribed under that head:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 140"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">a tea-cupful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Common salt,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pyroligneous acid<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a wine-glass.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Warm water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Throw one quart of the above into the rectum, and the remainder six +hours after the first.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Vinegar obtained from wood.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>DISEASE OF THE EAR</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Diseases of the ear are very rare in cattle; yet, as simple inflammatory +action does now and then occur, it is well that the farmer should be +able to recognize and treat it.</p> + +<p><i>Symptoms.</i>—An unnatural heat and tenderness about the base of the ear, +and the animal carries the head on one side.</p> + +<p><i>Cure.</i>—Fomentations of marshmallows; a light diet of scalded shorts; +an occasional drink of thoroughwort tea. These with a little rest, in a +comfortable barn, will perfect the cure.</p> + +<p><i>Remarks.</i>—If any irritating substance is suspected to have fallen into +the ear, efforts must be made to remove it: if it cannot be got at, a +small quantity of olive oil may be poured into the cavity; then, by +rotating the head, with the affected ear downwards, the substances will +often pass out.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SEROUS MEMBRANES.</h3> + +<p>These membranes derive their name from the serous or watery fluid they +secrete, by which their surface is constantly moistened. They are to be +found in the three cavities of the chest; namely, one on each side, +containing the right and left lung, and the intermediate cavity, +occupied by the heart. The portion of the membrane lining the lungs is +named the <i>pleura</i>, and that lining and covering the heart is called the +<i>pericardium</i>. The membrane lining the abdomen is named the +<i>peritoneum</i>. The ventricles of the brain are also lined by this +membrane. The serous membranes, after lining their respective cavities, +are extended still farther, by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>being reflected back upon the organs +enclosed in their cavities; hence, if it were possible to dissect these +membranes from off the parts which they invest, they would have the +appearance of a sac without an opening. In the natural state, these +membranes are exceedingly thin and transparent; but they become +thickened by disease, and lose their transparency. The excessive +discharge of fluids into cavities lined by these membranes constitutes +the different forms of dropsy, on which we shall now treat.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3><a name="DROPSY" id="DROPSY"></a>DROPSY.</h3> + +<p>This disease consists in the accumulation of fluid in a cavity of the +body, as the abdomen or belly, the chest, and ventricles of the brain, +or in the cellular membrane under the skin. As the treatment of the +several forms of dropsy requires that the same indications shall be +fulfilled,—viz., to equalize the circulation, invite action to the +surface, promote absorption, and invigorate the general system,—so it +matters but little whether the effusion takes place under the skin, +producing anasarca, or within the chest or abdomen. The popular +treatment, which comprehends blood-letting, physicking, and the use of +powerful diuretics, has proved notoriously unsuccessful. Blood-letting +is charged as one of the direct causes of dropsy: how then can it be +expected that a system that will produce this form of disease can ever +cure it? In reference to physicking, if the bowels are forced to remove +the excess of fluids in a short time, they become much exhausted, lose +their tone, and do not recover their healthy power for some time. Dr. +Curtis says, "May we not give diuretics and drastic cathartics in +dropsy? I answer, if you do, and carry off the fluids of the body in +those directions, as you sometimes may, you have not always removed the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>cause of the disease, which was the closing of the surface, or stoppage +of some natural secretion, while you have rendered the patient liable to +other forms of disease, quite as much to be dreaded as the dropsy which +was exchanged for it." Mild diuretic medicines may, however, be given, +provided attention he paid at the same time to the lungs and external +surface. The kidneys, lungs, and external surface constitute the great +outlets through which the excess of fluids finds egress; and if one of +these functions be excited to dislodge an accumulation of fluid, without +the coöperation of the rest, the excessive action is sure to injure the +organ; hence it is an injurious practice, and ought to be rejected.</p> + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—Dropsy will occasionally be produced by the sudden stopping +of any evacuation; for example, if a diarrhœig;a be checked too +suddenly, it frequently results in dropsy of the belly. In pleurisy, and +when blood-letting has been practised to any extent, dropsy of the chest +will be the consequence. Exposure, poor diet, diseases of the liver and +spleen, want of exercise, and poisonous medicines are among the general +causes of dropsy.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—It is a law of the animal economy that all fluids are +determined to those surfaces from which they can most readily escape. +Now, instead of cramming down nauseous and poisonous drugs, with a view +of carrying off the fluid by the kidneys, we should restore the lost +function of the external exhalents, by warmth, moisture, friction, and +the application of stimulating embrocations to the general surface. The +following embrocation may be applied to the spine, ears, belly, and +legs:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 144"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Oil of cedar,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oil of juniper,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Soft soap,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pound.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>A portion of the above should be rubbed in twice a day.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>The best medicine is the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 144a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered mandrake,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered lobelia,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Poplar bark,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Lemon balm,</td> + <td class="tdl">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Let the whole stand in a covered vessel for an hour; then strain, and +add a gill of honey. Give half a pint every third hour. If the animal be +in poor condition, the diet must be nourishing and easy of digestion. +Flour gruel and scalded meal will be the most appropriate. A drink made +by steeping cleavers, or hyssop, in boiling water may be given at +discretion.</p> + +<p>If there is not sufficient vitality in the system to equalize the +circulation, (which may be known by the surface and extremities still +continuing cold,) the following drink will be found efficacious:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 144b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Hyssop tea,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered cayenne, (African,)</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered licorice,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. To be given at a dose, and repeated if necessary. Should +inflammatory symptoms make their appearance, omit the cayenne, and +substitute the same quantity of cream of tartar.</p> + +<p>The treatment of all the different forms of dropsy is upon the plan here +laid down. They are one and the same disease, only located in different +parts; and from predisposing causes the fluid is sometimes found in the +thorax, at others in the abdomen. Whenever costiveness occurs in dropsy, +the following laxative may be given:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 144c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Wormwood,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Set them over the fire, and let them boil for a few moments; then add +two ounces of castile soap and a gill of molasses or honey. The whole to +be given at one dose.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>The operation of tapping has been performed, but with very little +success; for, unless the function of the skin be restored, the water +will again accumulate. If, however, the disease shall be treated +according to the principles here laid down, there is no good reason why +the operation should not prove successful. It may be performed for +dropsy of the belly in the following manner: Take a common trocar and +canula, and after pinching upwards a fold of the skin, about three +inches from the line, (<i>linea alba</i>,) or centre of the belly, and about +seven from the udder, push the trocar through the skin, muscles, &c., +into the abdominal cavity; withdraw the trocar, and the water will flow. +The operation is usually performed on the right side, taking care, +however, not to wound the milk vein, or artery.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>HOOVE, OR "BLASTING."</h3> +<br /> + +<p>When cattle or sheep are first turned into luxuriant pasture, after +being poorly fed, or laboring under any derangement of the digestive +organs, they are apt to be hoven, blown, or blasted.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Should the symptoms be very alarming, a flexible tube may +be passed down the gullet. This will generally allow a portion of gas to +escape, and thus afford temporary relief, until more efficient means are +resorted to. These consist in arousing the digestive organs to action, +by the following stimulant and carminative drink:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 145"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Cardamom seeds,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fennel seeds,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Let the mixture stand until sufficiently cool; then strain, and +administer in pint doses, every ten minutes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>The following clyster should be given:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 146"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered lobelia,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl">6 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Common salt,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When cool, strain, and inject.</p> + +<p>If the animal is only blasted in a moderate degree, this treatment will +generally prove successful. Some practitioners recommend puncturing the +rumen or paunch; but there is always great danger attending it, and at +best it is only a palliative: the process of fermentation will continue +while the materials still remain in the paunch. Some cattle doctors make +a large incision into the paunch, and shovel out the contents with the +hand; but the remedy is quite as bad as the disease. For example, Mr. +Youatt tells us that "a cow had eaten a large quantity of food, and was +hoven. A neighbor, who was supposed to know a great deal about cattle, +made an incision into the paunch; the gas escaped, a great portion of +the food was removed with the hand, and the animal appeared to be +considerably relieved; but rumination did not return. On the following +day, the animal was dull; she refused her food, but was eager to drink. +She became worse and worse, and on the sixth day she died."</p> + +<p>In all dangerous cases of hoove, we must not forget that our remedies +may be aided by the external application of warmth and moisture; +flannels wrung out in hot water should be secured to the belly; at the +same time, the legs and brisket should be rubbed with tincture of +assafœtida. These remedies must be repeated until the animal is +relieved. Steady and long-continued perseverance in rubbing the abdomen +often succeeds in liberating the gas. If the animal recovers, he should +be fed, very sparingly, on scalded food, consisting of equal parts of +meal and shorts, with the addition of a few grains of caraway seeds. A +drink composed of the following ingredients will aid in rapidly +restoring the animal to health:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 147"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>Marshmallows,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Linseed,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Set the mixture near the fire, and allow it to macerate for a short +time; after straining through a sieve or coarse cloth, it may be given +and repeated at discretion.</p> + +<p><i>Remarks.</i>—As prevention is much more convenient and less expensive +than the fashionable system of making a chemical laboratory of the poor +brute's stomach, the author would remind owners of stock that the +practice of turning the latter into green, succulent pasture when the +ground is damp, or permitting them to remain exposed to the night air, +is among the direct causes of hoove. The ox and many other animals are +governed by the same laws of nature to which man owes allegiance, and +any departure from the legitimate teachings, as they are fundamentally +ingrafted in the animate kingdom by the Omnipotent Creator, is sure to +subject us to the penalty. We are told that, during the night, noxious +gases and poisonous miasmata emanate from the soil, and that plants +throw off excrementitious matters, which assume a gaseous form, and are +more or less destructive. Now, these animals have no better powers of +resisting the encroachments on their organization (through the agency of +these deleterious gases) than we have; they must have atmospheric air to +vitalize the blood; any impurity in the air they breathe must impair +their health. Still, however, the powers of resistance are greater in +some than in others; this explains the reason why all do not suffer. +Sometimes, the gases are not in sufficient quantities to produce instant +death, but only derange the general health; yet if an animal be turned +into a pasture, the herbage and soil of which give out an excess of +nitrogen and carbonic acid, the animal will die; just as a man will, if +you lower him into a well abounding in either of these destructive +agents. From these brief remarks, the farmer will see the importance of +housing domestic animals at night.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>JOINT MURRAIN.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This malady, in its early stages, assumes different forms; sometimes +making its appearance under a high grade of vital action, commonly +called inflammatory fever, and known by the red appearance of the +sclerotica, (white of the eye,) hurried breathing, expanded nostrils, +hot tongue, and dry muzzle, pulse full and bounding, manifestations of +pain, &c. &c. Different animals show, according to local or +constitutional peculiarities, different symptoms.</p> + +<p>This disease, in consequence of its assuming different forms during its +progress, has a host of names applied to it, which rather embarrass than +assist the farmer. We admit that there are numerous tissues to be +obstructed; and if the disease were named from the tissue, it would have +as many names as there are tissues. If it were named from the location, +which often happens, then we get as many names as there are locations; +for example, horn ail, black leg, quarter evil, joint murrain, foot rot, +&c. In the above disease, the whole system partakes more or less of +constitutional disturbance; therefore it is of no use, except when we +want to avail ourselves of local applications, to decide what particular +muscle, blood-vessel, or nerve is involved, seeing that the only +rational treatment consists in acting on all the nerves, blood-vessels, +and muscles, and that this can only be accomplished through the healthy +operations of nature's secreting and excreting processes. The +indications of cure, according to the reformed principles, are, to relax +spasm, as in locked-jaw, stoppages of the bladder or intestines, +obstructed surfaces, &c.; to contract and strengthen weak and relaxed +organs, as in general or local debility, diarrhœa, scouring, lampas, +&c.; to stimulate inactive parts, as in black leg, joint murrain, +quarter ill, foot rot; to equalize the circulation, and distribute the +blood to the external surface and extremities, as in congestions; to +furnish the animal with sufficient nutriment for its growth and +development. No matter what the nature of disease may be, the treatment +should be conducted on these principles.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>The farmer will overcome a host of obstacles, that might otherwise fall +in his way, in the treatment of joint murrain, when he learns that this +malady, together with black leg, quarter ill or evil, black quarter, and +dry gangrene are all analogous: by the different names are meant their +grades. In the early or mild forms, it consists of congestion in the +veins or venous radicles, and effusions into the cellular tissue. When +chemical action overpowers the vital, decomposition sets in; it then +assumes a putrid type; mortification, or a destruction of organic +integrity, is the result.</p> + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—Its proximate causes exist in any thing that can for a time +interrupt the free and full play of any part of the vital machinery. Its +direct cause may be found in over-feeding, miasma, exposure, poisonous +plants, poor diet, &c. The milk of diseased cows is a frequent cause of +black leg in young calves. The reason why the disease is more likely to +manifest itself in the legs is, because they are more exposed, by the +feet coming in contact with damp ground, and because the blood has a +kind of up-hill work to perform.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—In the early stages of joint murrain and its kindred +maladies, if inflammatory fever is present, the first and most important +step is to relax the external surface, as directed in article +<i>Pneumonia</i>, p. 107. Should the animal be in a situation where it is not +convenient to do so, give the following anti-spasmodic:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 149a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Thoroughwort,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Lemon balm,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Garlic, bruised,</td> + <td class="tdl">a few kernels.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Allow the infusion to stand until cool; then strain, and give it a dose.</p> + +<p>If the bowels are constipated, inject the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 149b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Soft soap,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half a pint.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Warm water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>Rub the joints with the following embrocation:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 150"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Oil of cedar,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fir balsam,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Keep the animal on warm, bland teas, such as catnip, pennyroyal, lemon +balm, and a light diet of powdered slippery elm gruel.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>BLACK QUARTER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Symptoms.</i>—Rapid decomposition, known by the pain which the slightest +pressure gives the animal. Carbonic acid gas is evolved from the +semi-putrid state of the system, which finds its way into the cellular +tissue, beneath the skin. A crackling noise can then be heard and felt +by pressing the finger on the hide.</p> + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—Among the chief causes are the blood-letting and scouring +systems recommended by writers on cattle doctoring. In the inflammatory +stage, we are told, "The first and most important step is copious +bleeding. As much blood must be taken as the animal will bear to lose; +and the stream must flow on until the beast staggers or threatens to +fall. Here, more than in any other disease, there must be no foolish +directions about quantities. [<i>The heroic practice!</i>] As much blood must +be taken away as can be got; for it is only by the bold and persevering +use of the lancet that a malady can be subdued that runs its course so +rapidly." (See Youatt, p. 359.) From these directions we are led to +suppose that there are some hopes of bleeding the animal to life; for +the author above quoted seems to entertain no apprehension of bleeding +the animal to death. Mr. Percival and other veterinary writers inform +us, that "an animal will lose about one fifteenth part of its weight of +blood before it dies; though a less quantity may so far debilitate the +vital powers, as to be, though less suddenly, equally fatal." The latter +portion of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>the sentence means simply this; that if the bleeding does +not give the animal its quietus on the spot, it will produce black +quarter, gangrene, &c., which will be "equally fatal." In the latter +stages of the disease now under consideration, and, indeed, in dry +gangrene, there is a tendency to the complete destruction of life to the +parts involved: hence our remedies should be in harmony with the vital +operations. We should relax, stimulate, and cleanse the whole system, +and arouse every part to healthy action, by the aid of vapor, +injections, stimulating applications, poultices of charcoal and +capsicum, to parts where there is danger of rapid mortification; lastly, +stimulating drinks to vitalize the blood, which only requires +distribution, instead of abstraction.</p> + +<p>In reference to the scouring system, (purging,) as a cause of +mortification, we leave the reader to form his own views, after reading +the following: "After abstracting as much blood as can be got away, +purging must immediately follow. A pound and a half of Epsom salts +dissolved in water or gruel, and poured down the throat as gently as +possible, should be our first dose. If this does not operate in the +course of six hours, another pound should be given; and after that, half +pound doses every six hours until the effect is produced"!!—<i>Youatt</i>, +p. 359.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—As the natural tendency of these different maladies is the +complete destruction of life to all parts of the organization, efforts +must be made to depurate the whole animal, and arouse every part to +healthy action in the manner recommended under article <i>Joint Murrain</i>. +Antiseptics may be freely used in the following form:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 151"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered bayberry bark,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl">6 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered cayenne,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Add boiling water sufficient to make it of the consistence of thin +gruel.</p> + +<p>All sores and foul ulcers may be washed with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 152a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Pyroligneous acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gill.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>Another.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chloride of lime,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>Another.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chloride of soda,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">6 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The affected parts should be often bathed with one of these washes. If +the disease is not arrested by these means, repeat them, and put the +animal on a diet of flour gruel.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>OPEN JOINT.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Joints are liable to external injury from wounds or bruises, and, +although a joint may not be open in the first instance, subsequent +sloughing may expose its cavity. The ordinary effects of disease in +membranes covering joints are, a profuse discharge of joint oil, +(<i>synovia</i>,) and a thickening of the synovial membrane. Sometimes the +joint is cemented together; it is then termed anchylosis.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—The first object is, to promote adhesion, by bringing the +edges of the wound together, and confining them in contact by stitches. +A pledget of lint or linen, previously moistened with tincture of myrrh, +should then be bound on with a bandage forming a figure 8 around the +joint. If the parts feel hot and appear inflamed, apply a bandage, which +may be kept constantly wet with cold water. If adhesion of the parts +does not take place, apply the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 152b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered bayberry bark,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Fir balsam, sufficient to form a thick, tenacious mass, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> may be +spread thickly over the wound; lastly, a bandage. Should a fetid +discharge take place, poultice with</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 153"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered bayberry,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>In cases where the nature of the injury will not admit of the wounded +edges being kept in contact, and a large surface is exposed, we must +promote granulation by keeping the parts clean, and by the daily +application of fir balsam. Unhealthy granulations may be kept down by +touching them with burnt alum, or sprinkling on their surface powdered +bloodroot. The author has treated several cases, in which there was no +hope of healing by the first intention, by the daily use of tincture of +capsicum, together with tonic, stimulating, astringent, antiseptic +poultices and fomentations, as the case seemed to require, and they +always terminated favorably. In all cases of injury to joints, rest and +a light diet are indispensable.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SWELLINGS OF JOINTS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Swellings frequently arise from bruises and strains; they are sometimes, +however, connected with a rheumatic affection, caused by cold, exposure +to rain, or turning an animal into wet pasture lands after active +exercise. In the acute stage, known by tenderness, unnatural heat, and +lameness, the animal should be put on a light diet of scalded shorts, +&c.; the parts to be frequently bathed with cold water; and, if +practicable, a bandage may be passed around the limb, and kept moist +with the same. If the part still continues painful, take four ounces of +arnica flowers, moisten them with boiling water, when cool, bind them +around the part, and let them remain twenty-four hours. This seldom +fails. On the other hand, should the parts be in a chronic state, which +may be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>recognized by inactivity, coldness, &c., then the following +embrocation will restore the lost tone:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 154a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Oil of wormwood,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oil of cedar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hot drops,</td> + <td class="tdl">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, and rub the part faithfully night and morning. Friction with the +hand or a brush will materially assist to cure. In all cases where +suppuration has commenced, and matter can be distinctly felt, the sooner +the following poultice shall be applied, the better:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 154b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered linseed,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Boiling water sufficient to moisten; then add a wine-glass of vinegar.</p> + +<p>To be renewed every twelve hours, until the matter escapes.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SPRAIN OF THE FETLOCK.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Sprain, or <i>strain</i>, as it is commonly termed, sometimes arises from +violent exertions; at other times, by the animal unexpectedly treading +on some uneven surface.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—First wash the foot clean, then carefully examine the +cleft, and remove any substance that may have lodged there. A cotton +bandage folded around the claws and continued above the fetlock, kept +wet with the following lotion, will speedily reduce any excess of +inflammatory action that may exist:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 154c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Acetic acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span><i>Another.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 pints.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>STRAIN OF THE HIP.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This may sometimes occur in working oxen. Rest is the principal remedy. +The part may, however, be bathed daily with the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 155"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Wormwood,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Scalding vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The liquor must be applied cold.</p> + +<p><i>Strain of the knees</i> or <i>shoulder</i> may be treated in the same manner as +above.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>FOUL IN THE FOOT.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>A great deal of learned nonsense has been written on this subject, which +only serves to plunge the farmer into a labyrinth from which there is no +escape. The author will not trespass on the reader's patience so much as +to transcribe different authors' opinions in relation to the nature of +the disease and its treatment, but will proceed at once to point out a +common-sense explanation of its cause, and the proper mode of treating +it.</p> + +<p>The disease is analogous to foot rot in sheep, and is the consequence of +feeding in wet pastures, or suffering the animals to wallow in filth. A +large quantity of morbific or excrementitious matter is thrown off from +the system through the surfaces between the cleft. Now, should those +surfaces <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>be obstructed by filth, or contracted by cold, the delicate +mouths of these excrementitious vessels, or outlets, are unable to rid +the parts of their morbid accumulations: these vessels become distended +beyond their usual capacity, communicate with each other, and, when no +longer able to contain this mass of useless material, an artificial +drain, in the form of "foot rot," is established, by which simple method +the parts recover their reciprocal equilibrium. In this case, as in +diarrhœa, we recognize a simple and sanative operation of nature's +law, which, if aided, will generally prove beneficial.</p> + +<p>That "foul in the foot" is caused by the sudden stoppage of some natural +evacuation is evident from the following facts: First, the disease is +most prevalent in cold, low, marshy countries, where the foot is kept +constantly moist. Secondly, the disease is neither contagious nor +epidemic. (See <i>Journal de Méd. Vét. et comparée</i>, 1826, p. 319.)</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—In all cases of obstruction to the depurating apparatus, +there is a loss of equilibrium between secretion and excretion. The +first indication is, to restore the lost function. Previously, however, +to doing so, the animal must be removed to a dry situation. The cause +once removed, the cure is easy, provided we merely assist nature and +follow her teachings. As warmth and moisture are known to relax all +animal fibre, the part should be relaxed, warmed, and cleansed, first by +warm water and soap, lastly by poultice; at the same time bearing in +mind that the object is not to produce or invite suppuration, (formation +of matter,) but only to liberate the excess of morbid materials that may +already be present: as soon as this is accomplished, the poultice should +be discontinued.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 156"> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>Poultice for Foul Feet.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Roots of marshmallows, bruised,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half a pound.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl">a handful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered lobelia,</td> + <td class="tdl">a few ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Meal,</td> + <td class="tdl">a tea-cupful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Boiling water sufficient to soften the mass.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span><i>Another</i>.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered lobelia,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts,</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pond lily, bruised</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix with boiling water. Put the ingredients into a bag, and secure it +above the fetlock.</p> + +<p>Give the animal the following at a dose:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 157a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Flowers of sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sassafras bark,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Burdock, (any part of the plant,)</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The above to be steeped in one quart of boiling water. When cool, +strain. All that is now needed is to keep the part cleansed, and at +rest. If a fetid smell still remains, wet the cleft, morning and +evening, with</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 157b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Chloride of soda,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">6 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +Mix. + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 157c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>Another.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Pyroligneous acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">a pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +Mix. + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 157d"> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>Another.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Common salt,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 wine-glass.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 quart</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Whenever any fungous excrescence makes its appearance between the claws, +apply powdered bloodroot or burnt alum.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>RED WATER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This affection takes its name from the high color of the urine. It is +not, strictly speaking, a disease, but only a symptom of derangement, +caused by high feeding or the suppression of some natural discharge. If, +for example, the skin be obstructed, then the insensible perspiration +and excrementitious matter, which should pass through this great outlet, +find some other mode of egress; either the lungs of kidneys have to +perform the extra work. If the lot falls on the latter, and they are not +in a physiological state, they give evidence of febrile or inflammatory +action (caused by the irritating, acrid character of their secretion) in +the form of high-colored urine. In all cases of derangement in the +digestive apparatus, liver included, both in man and oxen, the urine is +generally high colored; and the use of diuretic medicines is +objectionable, for, at best, it would only be treating symptoms. We lay +it down as a fundamental principle, that those who treat symptoms alone +never cure disease, for the animal often dies a victim to the treatment, +instead of the malady.</p> + +<p>Whenever an animal is in a state of plethora, and the usual amount of +morbific matter cannot find egress, some portion of it is reabsorbed, +producing a deleterious effect: the urine will then be high colored, +plainly demonstrating that nature is making an effort to rid the system +of useless material, and will do so unless interfered with by the use of +means opposed to the cure, such as blood-letting, physicking, and +diuretics.</p> + +<p>The urine will appear high colored, and approach a red hue, in many cows +after calving, in inflammation of the womb, gastric fever, puerperal +fever, fevers generally, inflammation of the kidneys, indigestion; in +short, many forms of acute disease are accompanied by high-colored +urine.</p> + +<p>The treatment, like that of any other form of derangement, must be +general. Excite all parts of the system to healthy action. If the bowels +are constipated, give the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 159a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>Golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Thoroughwort tea,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given at a dose. Scalded shorts will be the most suitable food, if +any is required; but, generally, abstinence is necessary, especially if +the animal be fat. If the surface and extremities are cold, give an +infusion of pennyroyal, catnip, sage, or hyssop; and rub the belly and +legs with</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 159b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Hot vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 quart.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered lobelia or cayenne,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ouonce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>If the kidneys are inflamed,—which may be known by tenderness in the +region of the loins, and by the animal standing with the legs widely +separated,—the urine being of a dark red color, then, in addition to +the application of stimulating liniment to the belly and legs, a +poultice may be placed over the kidneys.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 159c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>Poultice for inflamed Kidneys.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">8 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Lobelia,</td> + <td class="tdl">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Boiling water sufficient.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>Another.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Linseed,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Marshmallows,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Boiling water sufficient.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Lay the poultice on the loins, pass a cloth over it, and secure under +the belly.</p> + +<p>A drink of marshmallows is the only fluid that can with safety be +allowed.</p> + +<p>If the horns, ears, and surface are hot, sponge the whole surface with +weak lie or saleratus water, and give the following antifebrile drink:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 159d"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Lemon balm,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cream of tartar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Honey,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gill.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When cold, strain, and give a pint every fifteen minutes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>If the bowels are constipated, use injections of soap-suds.</p> + +<p>Suppose the animal to be in poor condition, hide bound, liver inactive, +the excrement of a dark color and fetid odor. Then use</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 160a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered caraways,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered cayenne,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Poplar bark, or slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, divide into ten parts, and give one, in thin gruel, three times a +day. The animal should be fed on boiled carrots, scalded shorts, into +which a few handfuls of meal or flour may be stirred. In short, consider +the nature of the case; look beyond the symptoms, ascertain the cause, +and, if possible, remove it. An infusion of either of the following +articles may be given at discretion: marshmallows, linseed, juniper +berries, pond lily roots, poplar bark, or queen of the meadow.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cole remarks that "red water is most common in cows of weak +constitution, a general relaxation, poor blood, &c."</p> + +<p>In such cases, a nutritious diet, cleanliness, good nursing, friction on +the surface, comfortable quarters at night, and an occasional tonic will +accomplish wonders.</p> + +<p><i>Tonic Mixture.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 160b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered balmony,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 tea-spoonfuls.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix the above in shorts or meal. Repeat night and morning until +convalescence is established. In cases of great prostration, where it is +necessary to act with promptitude, the following infusion may be +substituted:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 160c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Thoroughwort,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Camomile flowers,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>After standing one hour, strain, and give a pint every four hours.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>BLACK WATER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>My plan of treatment, in this malady, is similar to that for red water. +In both cases, it is indispensable to attend to the general health, to +promote the discharge of all the secretions, to remove all obstructions +to the full and free play of all parts of the living machinery. The same +remedies recommended in the preceding article are equally good in this +case, only they must be more perseveringly applied.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>THICK URINE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Whenever the urine is thick and turbid, deficient in quantity, or voided +with difficulty, either of the following prescriptions may be +administered:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 161a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Juniper berries,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Strain. Dose, 1 pint every four hours.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 161b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Poplar bark,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Make a tea; sweeten with molasses, and give pint doses every four hours.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<p>Make a tea of cedar or pine boughs, sweeten with honey, and give it at +discretion.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>RHEUMATISM.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Rheumatism thrives in cold, damp situations, and in wet, foggy weather. +It is often confined to the membranes of the large joints, and sometimes +consists in a deficiency of joint oil, (<i>synovia.</i>) It is liable to +become chronic, and involve the fibro-muscular tissues. Acute rheumatism +is known by the pain and swelling in certain parts. Chronic rheumatism +is recognized by coldness, rigidity about the muscles, want of vital +action, &c.</p> + +<p>When lameness, after a careful examination, cannot be accounted for, and +is found to go off after exercise, and return again, it is probably +rheumatism.</p> + + +<p><i>Treatment of Acute Rheumatism.</i>—Bathe the parts with an infusion of +arnica flowers, made thus:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 162a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Arnica flowers,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When sufficiently cool, it is fit for use.</p> + +<p>Give the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 162b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cream of tartar,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered pleurisy root,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered licorice,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Indian meal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pound</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Give a table-spoonful three times a day in the feed. A light diet +and rest are indispensable.</p> + + +<p><i>Treatment of Chronic Rheumatism.</i>—Put the animal on a generous diet, +and give an occasional spoonful of golden seal or balmony in the food, +and a drink of sassafras tea. The parts may be rubbed with stimulating +liniment, for which, see <span class="smcap">Appendix</span>.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>BLAIN.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Some veterinary writers describe this disease as "a watery tumor, +growing at the root of the tongue, and threatening suffocation. The +first symptoms are foaming at the mouth, gaping, and lolling out of the +tongue."</p> + +<p>The disease first originates in the mucous surfaces, which enter into +the mouth, throat, and stomach. It partakes somewhat of the character of +thrush, and requires nearly the same treatment.</p> + +<p>Make an infusion of raspberry leaves, to which add a small quantity of +borax or alum. Wash the mouth and tongue with the same by means of a +sponge. If there are any large pustules, open them with the point of a +penknife. After cleansing them, sprinkle with powdered bayberry bark, or +bloodroot. Rid the system of morbid matter by injection and physic, +(which see, in <span class="smcap">Appendix</span>.) The following antiseptic drink will +then complete the cure:—</p> + +<p>Make a tea of raspberry leaves by steeping two ounces in a quart of +boiling water; when cool, strain; then add</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 163"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered bayberry bark,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Honey,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 table-spoonfuls.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Give a pint every four hours.</p> + +<p>The diet should consist of scalded meal, boiled turnips, carrots, &c., +to which a small portion of salt may be added. If the glands under the +ears and around the throat are sympathetically affected, and swollen, +they must be rubbed twice a day with the stimulating liniment. (See +<span class="smcap">Appendix</span>.)</p> + +<p>The disease is supposed, by some veterinarians, to originate in the +tongue, but post mortem examinations lead us to determine otherwise. Mr. +Youatt informs us that "post mortem examination shows intense +inflammation, or even gangrene, of the tongue, œsophagus, paunch, and +fourth stomach. The food in the paunch has a most offensive smell, and +that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>in the manyplus is hard and dry. Inflammation reaches to the small +intestines, which are covered with red and black patches in the +cœcum, colon, and rectum."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>THRUSH.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Thrush</i>, and all eruptive diseases of the throat and internal surface, +are treated in the same manner as laid down in Blaine.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>BLACK TONGUE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Black Tongue appears when the system is deprived of vital force, as in +the last stages of blaine, &c. The indications to be fulfilled are the +same as in blaine, but applied with more perseverance.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>INFLAMMATION OF THE THROAT AND ITS APPENDAGES.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></h3> +<br /> + +<p>In many cases, if attended to immediately, nothing more will be +necessary than confining the animal to a light diet, with frequent +drinks of linseed tea, warmth and moisture applied locally in the form +of a slippery elm poultice, which may be kept in close contact with the +throat by securing it to the horns. But, in very severe attacks, mullein +leaves steeped in vinegar and applied to the parts, with an occasional +stimulating injection, (see <span class="smcap">Appendix</span>,) together with a gruel +diet, are the only means of relief.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> This includes the larynx, pharynx, and trachea.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>BRONCHITIS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Bronchitis consists in a thickening of the fibrous and mucous surfaces +of the trachea, and generally results from maltreated hoose or catarrh.</p> + +<p><i>Symptoms.</i>—A dry, husky, wheezing cough, laborious breathing, hot +breath, and dry tongue.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Warm poultices of slippery elm or flaxseed, on the surface +of which sprinkle powdered lobelia. Apply them to the throat moderately +warm; if they are too hot they will prove injurious. In the first place +administer the following drink:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 165"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered licorice,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered elecampane,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Boiling water sufficient to make it of the consistence of thin gruel.</p> + +<p>If there is great difficulty of breathing, add half a tea-spoon of +lobelia to the above, and repeat the dose night and morning. Linseed or +marshmallow tea is a valuable auxiliary in the treatment of this +disease. The animal should be comfortably housed, and the legs kept warm +by friction with coarse straw.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>INFLAMMATION OF GLANDS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>There are numerous glandular bodies distributed over the animal +structure. Those to which the reader's attention is called are, first, +the parotid, situated beneath the ear; secondly, the sub-lingual, +beneath the tongue; lastly, the sub-maxillary, situated just within the +angle of the jaw. They <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>are organized similarly to other glands, as the +kidneys, &c., possessing arteries, veins, lymphatics, &c., which +terminate in a common duct. They have also a ramification of nerves, and +the body of the gland has its own system of arterial vessels and +absorbents, which are enclosed by a serous membrane. They produce a +copious discharge of fluid, called saliva. Its use is to lubricate the +mouth, thereby preventing friction; also to lubricate the food, and +assist digestion.</p> + +<p>Inflammation of either of these glands may be known by the heat, +tenderness, enlargement, and difficulty of swallowing. They are usually +sympathetically affected, as in hoose, catarrh, influenza, &c., and +generally resume their natural state when these maladies disappear.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—In the inflammatory stage, warm teas of marshmallows, or +slippery elm, and poultices of the same, are the best means yet known to +reduce it; they relax constricted or obstructed organs, and by being +directly applied to the parts affected, the more speedily and +effectually is the object accomplished. Two or three applications of +some relaxing poultice will be all that is needed; after which, apply</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 166a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Olive oil, or goose grease,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 gill.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Spirits of camphor,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oil of cedar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a gill.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 166b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Pyroligneous acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Beef's gall,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gill.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cayenne,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be rubbed around the throat as occasion may require. All hard or +indigestible food will be injurious.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>LOSS OF CUD.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Loss of Cud is a species of indigestion, and may be brought on by the +animal's eating greedily of some food to which it has been unaccustomed. +Loss of cud and loss of appetite are synonymous.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Compound for Loss of Cud.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 167a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Golden seal, powdered,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Caraway, powdered,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cream of tartar,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered poplar bark,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Divide into six powders, and give one every four hours in a +sufficient quantity of camomile tea.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>COLIC.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Colic is occasioned by a want of physiological power in the organs of +digestion, so that the food, instead of undergoing a chemico-vital +process, runs into fermentation, by which process carbonic acid gas is +evolved.</p> + +<p><i>Symptoms.</i>—The animal is evidently in pain, and appears very restless; +it occasionally turns its head, with an anxious gaze, to the left side, +which seems to be distended more than the right; there is an occasional +discharge of gas from the mouth and anus.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Give the following carminative:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 167b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered aniseed,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered cinnamon,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given in a quart of spearmint tea, and repeated if necessary.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 168a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered asafœtida,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half a tea-spoon.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Thin gruel of slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oil of aniseed,</td> + <td class="tdl">20 drops.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given at a dose.</p> + +<p>If the animal suffers much pain, apply fomentations to the belly, and +give the following injection:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 168b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered ginger,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Common salt,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hot water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gallon.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SPASMODIC COLIC.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This affection may be treated in the same manner as flatulent colic, +aided by warmth and moisture externally. The author has in many cases +cured animals of spasmodic colic with a little peppermint tea, brisk +friction upon the stomach and bowels, and an injection of warm water; +whereas, had the animals been compelled to swallow the usual amount of +gin, saleratus, castor oil, salts, and other nauseous, useless drugs, +they would probably have died. The reader, especially if he is an +advocate of the popular poisoning and blood-letting system, may ask, +What good can a little simple peppermint tea accomplish? We answer, +Nature delights in simples, and in all her operations invites us to +follow her example. The fact is, warm peppermint tea, although in the +estimation of the learned it is not entitled to any confidence as a +therapeutic agent, yet is an efficient anti-spasmodic in the hands of +reformers and common-sense farmers. It is evident that if any changes +are made in the symptoms, they ought to be for the better; yet under the +heroic practice they often grow worse.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>CONSTIPATION.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>In constipation there is a retention of the excrement, which becomes dry +and hard. It may arise from derangement of the liver and other parts of +the digestive apparatus: at other times, there is a loss of equilibrium +between the mucous and external surface, the secretion of the former +being deficient, and the external surface throwing off too much moisture +in the form of perspiration. In short, constipation, in nine cases out +of ten, is only a symptom of a more serious disorder in some important +function. The use of powerful purges is at all times attended with +danger, and in very many cases they fall short of accomplishing the +object. Mr. Youatt tells us that "a heifer had been feverish, and had +refused all food during five days; and four pounds of Epsom salts, and +the same quantity of treacle, and three fourths of a pint of castor oil, +and numerous injections, had been administered before any purgative +effect could be produced." Several cases have come under the author's +notice where large doses of aloes, salts, and castor oil had been given +without producing the least effect on the bowels, until within a few +minutes of the death of the animal. If the animal ever recovers from the +dangerous effects resulting from powerful purges, it is evident that the +delicate membranes lining the alimentary canal must lose their energy +and become torpid. All mechanical irritants—for purges are of that +class—divert the fluids of the body from the surface and kidneys, +producing watery discharges from the bowels. This may be exemplified by +a person taking a pinch of snuff; the irritating article comes in +contact with the mucous surfaces: they endeavor to wash off the +offending matter by secreting a quantity of fluid; this, together with +what is forced through the membranes in the act of sneezing, generally +accomplishes the purpose. A constant repetition of the vile habit +renders the parts less capable of self-defence; they become torpid, and +lose their natural power of resisting encroachments; finally, the +altered voice denotes the havoc <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>made on the mucous membrane. This +explains the whole <i>modus operandi</i> of artificial purging; and although, +in the latter case, the parts are not adapted to sneezing, yet there is +often a dreadful commotion, which has destroyed many thousands of +valuable animals. An eminent professor has said that "purgatives, +besides being uncertain and uncontrollable, often kill from the +dangerous debility they produce." The good results that sometimes appear +to follow the exhibition of irritating purges must be attributed to the +sanative action of the constitution, and not to the agent itself; and +the life of the patient depends, in all cases, on the existing ability +of the vital power to counteract the effects of purging, bleeding, +poisoning, and blistering.</p> + +<p>The author does not wish to give the reader occasion to conclude that +purgatives can be entirely dispensed with; on the contrary, he thinks +that in many cases they are decidedly beneficial, when given with +discretion, and when the nature of the disease requires them; yet even +such cases, too much confidence should not be placed on them, so as to +exclude other and sometimes more efficient remedies, which come under +the head of laxatives, aperients, &c.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—If costiveness is suspected to be symptomatic of some +derangement, then a restoration of the general health will establish the +lost function of the bowels. In this case, purges are unnecessary; the +treatment will altogether depend on the symptoms. For example, suppose +the animal constipated; the white of the eye tinged yellow, head +drooping, and the animal is drowsy, and off its feed; then give the +following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 170"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="55%">Powdered mandrake,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="45%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Castile soap, in shavings,</td> + <td class="tdl">quarter of an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Beef's gall,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a wine-glass.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered capsicum,</td> + <td class="tdl">third of a table-spoon.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Dissolve the soap in a small quantity of hot water, then mix the whole +in three pints of thin gruel.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>This makes a good aperient, and can be given with perfect safety in all +cases of constipation arising from derangement of the liver. The liquid +must be poured down the throat in a gradual manner, in order to insure +its reaching the fourth stomach. Aid the medicine by injections, and rub +the belly occasionally with straw.</p> + +<p>Suppose the bowels to be torpid during an attack of inflammation of the +brain; then it will be prudent to combine relaxants and anti-spasmodics, +in the following form:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 171a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Extract of butternut,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered skunk cabbage,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cream of tartar,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered lobelia,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 drachms.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>First dissolve the butternut in two quarts of hot water; after which add +the remaining ingredients, and give it for a dose. The operation of this +prescription, like the preceding, must be aided by injection, friction, +and warm drinks made of hyssop or pine boughs.</p> + +<p>Suppose the bowels to be constipated, at the same time the animal is +hide-bound, in poor condition, &c.; the aperient must then be combined +with tonics, as follows:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 171b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Extract of butternut,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Rochelle salt,</td> + <td class="tdl">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Ginger,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hot water,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Dissolve and administer at a dose. In order to relieve the cold, +constricted, inactive state of the hide, recourse must be had to warmth, +moisture, and friction. A simple aperient of linseed oil may be given in +cases of stricture or intussusception of the bowels. The dose is one +pint.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>FALLING DOWN OF THE FUNDAMENT.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Return the prolapsed part as quickly as possible by gently kneading the +parts within the rectum. In recent cases, the part should be washed with +an infusion of bayberry bark. (See <span class="smcap">Appendix</span>.) The bowel may be +kept in position by applying a wad of cotton, kept wet with the +astringent infusion, confined with a bandage. A weak solution of alum +water may, however, be substituted, provided the bayberry or white oak +bark is not at hand.</p> + +<p>Should the parts appear swollen and much inflamed, apply a large +slippery elm poultice, on the surface of which sprinkle powdered white +oak or bayberry bark. This will soon lessen the swelling, so that the +rectum may be returned.</p> + +<p>The diet must be very sparing, consisting of flour gruel; and if the +bowels are in a relaxed state, add a small quantity of powdered +bayberry.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>CALVING.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>At the end of nine months, the period of the cow's gestation is +complete; but parturition does not always take place at that time; it is +sometimes earlier, at others later. "One hundred and sixteen cows had +their time of calving registered: fourteen of them calved from the two +hundred and forty-first day to the two hundred and sixty-sixth +day,—that is, eight months and one day to eight months and twenty-six +days; fifty-six from the two hundred and seventieth to the two hundred +and eightieth day; eighteen from the two hundred and eightieth to the +two hundred and ninetieth; twenty on the three hundredth day; five on +the three hundred and eighth day; consequently there were sixty-seven +days between the two extremities."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>Immediately before calving, the animal appears uneasy; the tail is +elevated; she shifts from place to place, and is frequently lying down +and getting up again. The labor pains then come on; and by the expulsive +power of the womb, the fœtus, with the membranes enveloping it, is +pushed forward. At first, the membranes appear beyond the vagina, or +"shape," often in the form of a bladder of water; the membranes burst, +the water is discharged, and the head and fore feet of the calf protrude +beyond the shape. We are now supposing a case of natural labor. The body +next appears, and soon the delivery is complete. In a short time, a +gradual contraction of the womb takes place, and the cleansings +(afterbirth) are discharged. When the membranes are ruptured in the +early stage of calving, and before the outlet be sufficiently expanded, +the process is generally tedious and attended with danger; and this +danger arises in part from the premature escape of the fluids contained +within the membranes, which are intended, ultimately, to serve the +double purpose of expanding or dilating the passage, and lubricating the +parts, thereby facilitating the birth.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances, it will be our duty to supply the latter +deficiency by carefully anointing the parts with olive oil; at the same +time, allow the animal a generous supply of slippery elm gruel: if she +refuses to partake of it, when offered in a bucket, it must be gently +poured down the throat from a bottle. At times, delivery is very slow; a +considerable time elapses before any part of the calf makes its +appearance. Here we have only to exercise patience; for if there is a +natural presentation, nature, being the best doctor under all +circumstances, will do the work in a more faithful manner unassisted +than when improperly assisted. "A meddlesome midwifery is bad." +Therefore the practice of attempting to hurry the process by driving the +animal about, or annoying her in any way, is very improper. In some +cases, however, when a wrong presentation is apparent, which seems to +render calving impracticable, we should, after smearing the hand with +lard, introduce it into the vagina, and endeavor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>to ascertain the +position of the calf, and change it when it is found unfavorable. When, +for example, the head presents without the fore legs, which are bent +under the breast, we may gently pass the hand along the neck, and, +having ascertained the position of the feet, we grasp them, and endeavor +to bring them forward, the cow at the same time being put into the most +favorable position, viz., the hind quarters being elevated. By this +means the calf can be gently pushed back, as the feet are advanced and +brought into the outlet. The calf being now in a natural position, we +wait patiently, and give nature an opportunity to perform her work. +Should the expulsive efforts cease, and the animal appear to be rapidly +sinking, no time must be lost; nature evidently calls for assistance, +but not in the manner usually resorted to, viz., that of placing a rope +around the head and feet of the calf, and employing the united strength +of several men to extract the fœtus, without regard to position. Our +efforts must be directed to the mother; the calf is a secondary +consideration: the strength of the former, if it is failing, must be +supported; the expulsive power of the womb and abdominal muscles, now +feeble, must be aroused; and there are no means or processes that are +better calculated to fulfil these indications than that of administering +the following drink:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 174"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">Bethroot,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered cayenne,</td> + <td class="tdl">one third of a tea-spoon.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Motherwort,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Infuse in a gallon of boiling water. When cool, strain, then add a gill +of honey, and give it in pint doses, as occasion may require.</p> + +<p>Under this treatment, there is no difficulty in reëstablishing uterine +action. If, however, the labor is still tedious, the calf may be grasped +with both hands, and as soon as a pain or expulsive effort is evident, +draw the calf from side to side. While making this lateral motion, draw +the calf forward. Expulsion generally follows.</p> + +<p>If, on examination, it is clearly ascertained that the calf is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>lying in +an unnatural position,—for example, the calf may be in such a position +as to present its side across the outlet,—in such cases delivery is not +practicable unless the position is altered. Mr. White says, "I have seen +a heifer that it was found impossible to deliver. On examining her after +death, a very large calf was found lying quite across the mouth of the +uterus." In such cases, Mr. Lawson recommends that, "when every other +plan has failed for taming the calf, so as to put it in a favorable +position for delivery, the following has often succeeded: Let the cow be +thrown down in a proper position, and placed on her back; then, by means +of ropes and a pulley attached to a beam above, let the hind parts be +raised up, so as to be considerably higher than the fore parts; in this +position, the calf may be easily put back towards the bottom of the +uterus, so as to admit of being turned, or his head and fore legs +brought forward without difficulty."</p> + +<p>We must ever bear in mind the important fact that the successful +termination of the labor depends on the strength and ability of the +parent; that if these fail, however successful we may be in bringing +about a right presentation, the birth is still tedious, and we may +finally have to take the fœtus away piecemeal; by which process the +cow's life is put in jeopardy.</p> + +<p>To avoid such an unfortunate occurrence, support the animal's strength +with camomile tea. The properties of camomile are antispasmodic, +carminative, and tonic—just what is wanted.</p> + +<p>Mr. White informs us that "instances sometimes occur of the calf's head +appearing only, and so large that it is found impossible to put it back. +When this is found to be the case, the calf should be killed, and +carefully extracted, by cutting off the head and other parts that +prevent the extraction; thus the cow's life will be saved."</p> + +<p>In cases of malformation of the head of the fœtus, or when the +cranium is enormously distended by an accumulation of fluid within the +ventricles of the brain, after all other remedies, in the form of +fomentations, lubricating antispasmodic drinks, have failed, then +recourse must be had to embryotomy.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>EMBRYOTOMY.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>For the following method of performing the operation we are indebted to +Mr. Youatt's work. The details appeared in the London Veterinarian of +1831, and will illustrate the operation. M. Thibeaudeau, the operating +surgeon, says, "I was consulted respecting a Breton cow twenty years +old, which was unable to calve. I soon discovered the obstacle to the +delivery. The fore limbs presented themselves as usual; but the head and +neck were turned backwards, and fixed on the left side of the chest, +while the fœtus lay on its right side, on the inferior portion of the +uterus." M. Thibeaudeau then relates the ineffectual efforts he made to +bring the fœtus into a favorable position, and he at length found +that his only resource to save the mother was, to cut in pieces the +calf, which was now dead. "I amputated the left shoulder of the foetus," +says he, "in spite of the difficulties which the position of the head +and neck presented. Having withdrawn the limb, I made an incision +through all the cartilages of the ribs, and laid open the chest through +its whole extent, by which means I was enabled to extract all the +thoracic viscera. Thus having lessened the size of the calf, I was +enabled, by pulling at the remaining fore leg, to extract the fœtus +without much resistance, although the head and neck were still bent upon +the chest. The afterbirth was removed immediately afterwards." This +shows the importance of making an early examination, to determine the +precise position of the foetus; for if the head had been discovered in +such position in the early stage of labor, it might have been brought +forward, and thus prevented the butchery.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>FALLING OF THE CALF-BED, OR WOMB.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>When much force used in extracting the calf, it sometimes happens that +the womb falls out, or is inverted; and great care is required in +putting it back, so that it may remain in that situation.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—If the cow has calved during the night, in a cold +situation, and, from the exhausted state of the animal, we have reason +to suppose that the labor has been tedious, or that she has taken cold, +efforts must be made to restore the equilibrium. The following +restorative must be given:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 177"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Motherwort,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hot drops,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered cinnamon,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Give a pint every ten minutes, and support the animal with flour gruel.</p> + +<p>The uterus should be returned in the following manner: Place the cow in +such a position that the hind parts shall be higher than the fore. Wash +the uterus with warm water, into which sprinkle a small quantity of +powdered bayberry; remove any extraneous substance from the parts. A +linen cloth is then to be put under the womb, which is to be held by two +assistants. The cow should be made to rise, if lying down,—that being +the most favorable position,—and the operator is then to grasp the +mouth of the womb with both hands and return it. When so returned, one +hand is to be immediately withdrawn, while the other remains to prevent +that part from falling down again. The hand at liberty is then to grasp +another portion of the womb, which is to be pushed into the body, like +the former, and retained with one hand. This is to be repeated until the +whole of the womb is put back. If the womb does not contract, friction, +with a brush, around the belly and back, may excite contraction. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>An +attendant must, at the same time, apply a pad wetted with weak alum +water to the "shape," and keep it in close contact with the parts, while +the friction is going on. It is sometimes necessary to confine the pad +by a bandage.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>GARGET.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In order to prevent this malady, the calf should be put to suck +immediately after the caw has cleansed it; and, if the bag is distended +with an overplus of milk, some of it should be milked off. If, however, +the teats or quarters become hot and tender, foment with an infusion of +elder or camomile flowers, which must be perseveringly applied, at the +same time drawing, in the most gentle manner, a small quantity of milk; +by which means the over-distended vessels will collapse to their healthy +diameter. An aperient must then be given, (see <span class="smcap">Appendix</span>,) and +the animal be kept on a light diet. If there is danger of matter +forming, rub the bag with the following liniment:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 178"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Goose oil,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hot drops,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>If the parts are exceedingly painful, wash with a weak lie, or wood +ashes, or sal soda. In spite of all our efforts, matter will sometimes +form. As soon as it is discovered, a lancet may be introduced, and the +matter evacuated; then wash the part clean, and apply the stimulating +liniment. (See <span class="smcap">Appendix</span>.)</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SORE TEATS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>First wash with castile soap and warm water; then apply the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 179"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Lime water,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Linseed oil,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">CHAPPED TEATS AND CHAFED UDDER.</p> + +<p>These may be treated in the same manner.</p> + +<p>If the above preparation is not at hand, substitute bayberry tallow, +elder or marshmallow ointment.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>FEVER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Description and Definition.</i>—Fever is a powerful effort of the vital +principle to expel from the system morbific or irritating matter, or to +bring about a healthy action. The reason why veterinary practitioners +have not ascertained this fact heretofore is, because they have been +guided by false principles, to the exclusion of their own common +experience. Let them receive the truth of the definition we have given; +then the light will begin to shine, and medical darkness will be +rendered more visible. Fever, we have said, is a vital action—an effort +of the vital power to regain its equilibrium of action through the +system, and should never be subdued by the use of the lancet, or any +destructive agents that deprive the organs of the power to produce it. +Fever will be generally manifested in one or more of that combination of +signs known as follows: loss of appetite, increased velocity of the +pulse, difficult respiration, heaving at the flank, thirst, pain, and +swelling; some of which will be present, local or general, in greater or +less degree, in all forms of disease. When <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>an animal has taken cold, +and there is power in the system to keep up a continual warfare against +encroachments, the disturbance of vital action being unbroken, the fever +is called pure or persistent. Emanations from animal or vegetable +substances in a state of decomposition or putrefaction, or the noxious +miasmata from marshy lands, if concentrated, and not sufficiently +diluted with atmospheric air, enter into the system, and produce a +specific effect. In order to dethrone the intruder, who keeps up a +system of aggression from one tissue to another, the vital power arrays +her artillery, in good earnest, to resist the invading foe; and if +furnished with the munitions of war in the form of sanative agents, she +generally conquers the enemy, and dictates her own terms. While the +forces are equally balanced, which may be known by a high grade of vital +action, it is also called <i>unbroken</i> or <i>pure</i> fever. The powers of the +system may become exhausted by efforts at relief, and the fever will be +periodically reduced; this form of fever is called <i>remittent</i>. By +remittent fever is to be understood this modification of vital action +which rests or abates, but does not go entirely off before a fresh +attack ensues. It is evident, in this case, also, that nature is busily +engaged in the work of establishing her empire; but being more +exhausted, she occasionally rests from her labors. It would be as absurd +to expect that the most accurate definition of fever in one animal would +correspond in all its details with another case, as to expect all +animals to be alike. There are many names given to fevers; for example, +in addition to the two already alluded to, we have milk or puerperal +fever, symptomatic, typhus, inflammatory, &c. Veterinary Surgeon +Percival, in an article on fever, says, "We have no more reason—not +near so much—to give fever a habitation in the abdomen, than we have to +enthrone it in the head; but it would appear from the full range of +observation, that no part of the body can be said to be unsusceptible of +inflammation, (local fever,) though, at the same time, no organ is +invariably or exclusively affected."</p> + +<p>From this we learn that disease always attacks the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>weakest organ, and +that our remedies should be adapted to act on all parts of the system.</p> + +<p>The same author continues, "All I wish to contend for is, that both +idiopathic and symptomatic fevers exhibit the same form, character, +species, and the same general means of cure; and that, were it not for +the local affection, it would be difficult or impossible to distinguish +them."</p> + +<p>Fever has always been the great bugbear, to scare the farmer and cattle +doctor into a wholesale system of blood-letting and purging; they +believe that the more fever the animal manifests, the more unwearied +must be their exertions. The author advises the farmer not to feel +alarmed about the fever; for when that is present it shows that the +vital principle is up and doing. Efforts should be made to open the +outlets of the body, through which the morbific materials may pass: the +fever will then subside. It will be difficult to make the community +credit this simple truth, because fever is quite a fashionable disease, +and it is an easy matter to make the farmer believe that his cow has a +very peculiar form of it, that requires an entirely different mode of +treatment from that of another form. Then it is very profitable to the +interested allopathic doctor, who can produce any amount of "learned +nonsense" to justify the ways and means, and support his theory.</p> + +<p>The author does not wish, at the present time, to enter into a learned +discussion of the merit or demerit of allopathy: the object of this work +is, to impart practical information to farmers and owners of stock. In +order to accomplish this object, an occasional reference to the +absurdities of the old school is unavoidable.</p> + +<p>A celebrated writer has said, "The very medicines [meaning those used by +the old school, which kill more than they ever cure] which aggravate and +protract the malady bind a laurel on the doctor's brow. When, at last, +the sick are saved by the living powers of nature struggling against +death and the physician, he receives all the credit of a miraculous +cure; he is lauded to the skies for delivering the sick from the details +of the most deadly symptoms of misery into which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>he himself had plunged +them, and out of which they never would have arisen, but by the +restorative efforts of that living power which at once triumphed over +poison, blood-letting, disease, and death."</p> + +<p>In the treatment of disease, and when fever is manifested by the signs +just enumerated, the object is, to invite the blood to the external +surface; or, in other words, equalize the circulation by warmth and +moisture; give diaphoretic or sudorific medicines, (see +<span class="smcap">Appendix</span>,) with a view of relaxing the capillary structure, +ridding the system of morbific materials, and allaying the general +excitement. If the ears and legs are cold, rub them diligently with a +brush; if they again relapse into a cold state, rub them with +stimulating liniment, and bandage them with flannel. In short, to +contract, to stimulate, remove obstructions, and furnish the system with +the materials for self-defence, are the means to be resorted to in the +cure of fevers.</p> + +<p>We shall now give a few examples of the treatment of fever; from which +the reader will form some idea of the course to be pursued in other +forms not enumerated. But we may be asked why we make so many divisions +of fever when it is evidently a unit. We answer the question, in the +words of Professor Curtis, whose teachings first emancipated us from the +absurdity of allopathic theories. "These divisions were made by the +learned in physic, and we follow them out in their efforts to divide +what is in its nature indivisible, to satisfy the demands of the public, +and to give it in small crumbs to those practitioners of the art who +have not capacity enough to take in the whole at a single mouthful."</p> + +<p>In the treatment of fevers, we must endeavor to remove all intruding +agents, their influences and effects, and reëstablish a full, free, and +universal equilibrium throughout the system. "The means are," says +Professor Curtis, "antispasmodics, stimulants, and tonics, with +emollients to grease the wheels of life. Disprove these positions, and +we lay by the pen and 'throw physic to the dogs.' Adhere strictly to +them in the use of the best means, and you will do all that can be done +in the hour of need."</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>MILK OR PUERPERAL FEVER.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Aperients are exceedingly important in the early stages, +for they liberate any offending matter that may have accumulated in the +different compartments of the stomach or intestines, and deplete the +system with more certainty and less danger than blood-letting.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Aperient for Puerperal Fever.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 183a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Rochelle salts,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Manna,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Extract of butternut,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dissolve in boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given at a dose.</p> + +<p>By the aid of one or more of the following drinks, the aperient will +generally operate:—</p> + +<p>Give a bountiful supply of hyssop tea, sweetened with honey. Keep the +surface warm.</p> + +<p>Suppose the secretion of milk to be arrested; then apply warm +fomentations to the udder.</p> + +<p>Suppose the bowels to be torpid; then use injections of soap-suds and +salt.</p> + +<p>Suppose the animal to be in poor condition; then give the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 183b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered balmony or gentian,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Flour gruel,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gallon.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given in quart doses, every four hours.</p> + +<p>Suppose the bowels to be distended with gas; then give the following:—</p> +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 183c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered caraways,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Assafœtida,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given at a dose.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>Any of the above preparations may be repeated, as circumstances seem to +require. Yet it must be borne in mind that we are apt to do too much, +and that the province of the good physician is "to know when to do +nothing." The following case from Mr. Youatt's work illustrates this +fact:—</p> + +<p>"A very singular variety of milk fever has already been hinted at. The +cow is down, but there is apparently nothing more the matter with her +than that she is unable to rise; she eats and drinks, and ruminates as +usual, and the evacuations are scarcely altered. In this state she +continues from ten days to a fortnight, and then she gets up well." Yes, +and many thousands more would "get up well," if they were only let +alone. Nature requires assistance sometimes; hence the need of doctors +and nurses. All, however, that is required of the doctor to do is, just +to attend to the calls of nature,—whose servant he is,—and bring her +what she wants to use in her own way. The nearer the remedies partake or +consist of air, water, warmth, and food, the more sure and certain are +they to do good.</p> + +<p>If a cow, in high condition, has just calved, appears restless, becomes +irritable, the eye and tongue protruding, and a total suspension of milk +takes place, we may conclude that there is danger of puerperal fever. No +time should be lost: the aperient must be given immediately; warm +injections must be thrown into the rectum, and the teats must be +industriously drawn, to solicit the secretion of milk. In this case, all +food should be withheld: "starve a fever" suits this case exactly.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">INFLAMMATORY FEVER.</p> + +<p>Inflammatory fever manifests itself very suddenly. The animal may appear +well during the day, but at night it appears dull, refuses its food, +heaves at the flanks, seems uneasy, and sometimes delirious; the pulse +is full and bounding; the mouth hot; urine high colored and scanty. +Sometimes there are hot and cold stages.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span><i>Remarks.</i>—When disease attacks any particular organ suddenly, or in an +acute form, inflammatory fever generally manifests itself. Now, disease +may attack the brain, the lungs, kidneys, spleen, bowels, pleura, or +peritoneum. Inflammatory fever may be present in each case. Now, it is +evident that the fever is not the real enemy to be overcome; it is only +a manifestation of disorder, not the cause of it. The skin may be +obstructed, thereby retaining excrementitious materials in the system: +the reabsorption of the latter produces fever; hence it is obvious that +a complete cure can only be effected by the removal of its causes, or, +rather, the restoration of the suppressed evacuations, secretions, or +excretions.</p> + +<p>It is very important that we observe and imitate nature in her method of +curing fever, which is, the restoration of the secretions, and, in many +cases, by sweat, or by diarrhœa; either of which processes will +remove the irritating or offending cause, and promote equilibrium of +action throughout the whole animal system. In fulfilling these +indications consists the whole art of curing fever.</p> + +<p>But says one, "It is a very difficult thing to sweat an ox." Then the +remedies should be more perseveringly applied. Warm, relaxing, +antispasmodic drinks should be freely allowed, and these should be aided +by warmth, moisture, and friction externally; and by injection, if +needed. If the ox does not actually sweat under this system of +medication, he will throw off a large amount of insensible perspiration.</p> + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—In addition to the causes already enumerated, are the +accumulation of excrementitious and morbific materials in the system. +Dr. Eberle says, "A large proportion of the recrementitious elements of +perspirable matter must, when the surface is obstructed, remain and +mingle with the blood, (unless speedily removed by the vicarious action +of some other emunctory,) and necessarily impart to this fluid qualities +that are not natural to it. Most assuredly the retention of materials +which have become useless to the system, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>for whose constant +elimination nature has provided so extensive a series of emunctories as +the cutaneous exhalents, cannot be long tolerated by the animal economy +with entire impunity."</p> + +<p>Dr. White says, "Many of the diseases of horses and cattle are caused by +suppressed or checked perspiration; the various appearances they assume +depending, perhaps, in great measure, upon the suddenness with which +this discharge is stopped, and the state of the animal at the time it +takes place.</p> + +<p>"Cattle often suffer from being kept in cold, bleak situations, +particularly in the early part of spring, during the prevalence of an +easterly wind; in this case, the suppression of the discharge is more +gradual, and the diseases which result from it are slower in their +progress, consequently more insidious in their nature; and it often +happens that the animal is left in the same cold situation until the +disease is incurable."</p> + +<p>It seems probable that, in these cases, the perspiratory vessels +gradually lose their power, and that, at length, a total and permanent +suppression of that necessary discharge takes place; hence arise +inflammatory fever, consumption, decayed liver, rot, mesenteric +obstructions, and various other complaints. How necessary, therefore, is +it for proprietors of cattle to be provided with sheltered situations +for their stock! How many diseases might they prevent by such +precaution, and how much might they save, not only in preserving the +lives of their cattle, but in avoiding the expense (too often useless, +to say the least of it) of cattle doctoring!</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—We first give an aperient, (see <span class="smcap">Appendix</span>,) to +deplete the system. The common practice is to deplete by blood-letting, +which only protracts the malady, and often brings on typhus, black +quarter, joint murrain, &c. Promote the secretions and excretions in the +manner already referred to under the head of <i>Puerperal Fever</i>; this +will relieve the stricture of the surface. A drink made from either of +the following articles should be freely given: lemon balm, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>wandering +milk weed, thoroughwort, or lady's slipper, made as follows:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 187a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Take either of the above articles,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%" style="vertical-align: bottom;">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When cool, strain, and add a wine-glass of honey.</p> + +<p>If there is great thirst, and the mouth is hot and dry, the animal may +have a plentiful supply of water.</p> + +<p>If the malady threatens to assume a putrid or malignant type, add a +small quantity of capsicum and charcoal to the drink, and support the +strength of the animal with flour gruel.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">TYPHUS FEVER.</p> + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—Sudden changes in the temperature of the atmosphere, the +animal being at the same time in a state of debility, unable to resist +external agencies.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Support the powers of the system through the means of +nutritious diet, in the form of flour gruel, scalded meal and shorts, +bran-water, &c.</p> + +<p>Give tonics, relaxants, and antispasmodics, in the following form:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 187b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered capsicum,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered bloodroot,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered cinnamon,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Thoroughwort or valerian,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gallon</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When cold, strain, and give a quart every two hours.</p> + +<p>Remove the contents of the rectum by injections of a stimulating +character, and invite action to the extremities by rubbing them with +stimulating liniment, (which see.) A drink of camomile tea should be +freely allowed; if diarrhœa sets in, add half a tea-spoon of bayberry +bark to every two quarts of the tea.</p> + +<p>These few examples of the treatment of fever will give <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>the farmer an +idea of the author's manner of treating it, who can generally break up a +fever in a few hours, whereas the popular method of "smothering the +fire," as Mr. Youatt terms the blood-letting process, instead of curing, +will produce all forms of fever. Here is a specimen of the treatment, in +fever of a putrid type, recommended by Dr. Brocklesby. He says, +"Immediately upon refusing fodder, the beast should have three quarts of +blood taken away; and after twelve hours, two quarts more; after the +next twelve hours, about three pints may be let out; and after the +following twelve hours, diminish a pint of blood from the quantity taken +away at the preceding blood-letting; lastly, about a single pint should +be taken away in less than twelve hours after the former bleeding; so +that, when the beast has been blooded five times, in the manner here +proposed, the worst symptoms will, it is hoped, abate; but if the +difficulty and panting for breath continue very great, I see no reason +against repeated bleeding." (See Lawson's work on cattle, p. 312.) The +author has consulted several authorities on the treatment of typhus, and +finds that the use of the lancet is invariably recommended. We do not +expect to find, among our American farmers, any one so reckless, so lost +to the common feelings of humanity, and his own interest, as to follow +out the directions here given by Dr. B.; still blood-letting is +practised, to some extent, in every section of the Union, and will +continue to be the sheet-anchor of the cattle doctor just so long as the +influential and cattle-rearing community shall be kept in darkness to +its destructive tendency. Unfortunately for the poor dumb brute, +veterinary writers have from time immemorial been uncompromising +advocates for bleeding; and through the influence which their talents +and position confer, they have wielded the medical sceptre with a +despotism worthy of a better cause. It were a bootless task to attempt +to reform the disciples of allopathy; for, if you deprive them of the +lancet, and their <i>materia medica</i> of poisons, they cannot practise. +They must be reformed through public opinion; and for this purpose we +publish our own experience, and that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>of others who have dared to assail +allopathy, with the moral certainty that they would expose themselves to +contempt, and be branded as "medical heretics."</p> + +<p>No treatment is scientific, in the estimation of some, unless it +includes the lancet, firing-iron, setons, boring horns, cramming down +salts by the pound, and castor oil by the quart. The object of this work +is to correct this erroneous notion, and show the <i>farming community</i> +that a safer and more efficient system of medication has just sprung +into existence. When the principles of this reformed system of +medication are understood and practised, then the veterinary science +will be a very different thing from what it has heretofore been, and men +will hail it as a blessing instead of a "curse." They will then know the +power that really cures, and devise means of prevention. And here, +reader, permit us to introduce the opinions of an able advocate of +reform in human practice:<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> the same remarks apply to cattle; for they +are governed by the same universal laws that we are, and whether we +prescribe for a man or an ox, the laws of the animal economy are the +same, and require that the same indications shall be fulfilled.</p> + +<p>"A little examination into the consequences of blood-letting will prove +that, so far from its being beneficial, it is productive of the most +serious effects.</p> + +<p>"Nature has endowed the animal frame with the power of preparing, from +proper aliment, a certain quantity of blood. This vital fluid, +subservient to nutrition, is, by the amazing structure of the heart and +blood-vessels, circulated through the different parts of the system. A +certain natural balance between what is taken in and what passes off by +the several outlets of the body is, in a state of health, regularly +preserved. When this balance, so essential to health and life, is, +contrary to the laws of the animal constitution, interrupted, either a +deviation from a sound state is immediately perceived, or health from +that moment is rendered precarious. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>Blood-letting tends artificially to +destroy the natural balance in the constitution." (For more important +information on blood-letting, see the author's work on the Horse; also +page 58 of the present volume.)</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Dr. Beach.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>HORN AIL IN CATTLE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>On applying the hand to the horn or horns of a sick beast, an unnatural +heat, or sometimes coldness, is felt: this enables us to judge of the +degree of sympathetic disturbance. And here, reader, permit us to +protest against a cruel practice, that is much in fashion, viz., that of +boring the horns with a gimlet; for it does not mend the matter one jot, +and at best it is only treating symptoms. The gimlet frequently +penetrates the frontal sinuses which communicate with the nasal +passages, and where mucous secretion, if vitiated or tenacious, will +accumulate. On withdrawing the gimlet, a small quantity of thick mucus, +often blood, escapes, and the interested operator will probably bore the +other horn. Now, it often happens that after the point of the gimlet has +passed through one side of the horn and bony structure, it suddenly +enters a sinus, and does not meet with any resistance until it reaches +the opposite side. Many a "mare's nest" has been found in this way, +usually announced as follows: "The horn is hollow!" Again, in aged +animals, the bony structure within the horn often collapses or shrinks, +forming a sinus or cavity within the horn: by boring in a lateral +direction, the gimlet enters it; the horn is then pronounced hollow! +and, according to the usual custom, must be doctored. An abscess will +sometimes form in the frontal sinuses, resulting from common catarrh or +"hoose;" the gimlet may penetrate the sac containing the pus, which thus +escapes; but it would escape, finally, through the nostrils, if it were +let alone. Here, again, the "horns are diseased;" and should the animal +recover, (which it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>would, eventually, without any interference,) the +recovery is strangely attributed to the boring process. An author, whose +name has escaped our memory, recommends "cow doctors to carry a gimlet +in their pocket." We say to such men, Lead yourselves not into +temptation! if you put a gimlet into your pocket, you will be very +likely to slip it into the cow's horn. Some men have a kind of +instinctive impulse to bore the cow's horns; we allude to those who are +unacquainted with the fact that "horn ail" is only a symptom of +derangement. It is no more a disease of the horns than it is of the +functions generally; for if there be an excess or deficiency of vital +action within or around the base of the horn, there must be a +corresponding deficiency or excess, as the case may be, in some other +region.</p> + +<p>"Horn ail," as it is improperly termed, we have said, may accompany +common catarrh, also that of an epidemic form; the horns will feel +unnatural if there be a determination of blood to the head: this might +be easily equalized by stimulating the external surface and extremities, +at the same time giving antispasmodic teas and regulating the diet. The +horns will feel cold whenever there is an unnatural distribution of the +blood, and this may arise from exposure, or suffering the animal to +wallow in filth. The author has been consulted in many cases of "horn +ail," in several of which there were slow fecal movements, or +constipation; the conjunctiva of the eyes were injected with yellow +fluid, and of course a deficiency of bile in the abomasum, or fourth +stomach; thus plainly showing that the animals were laboring under +derangement of the digestive organs. Our advice was, to endeavor to +promote a healthy action through the whole system; to stimulate the +digestive organs; to remove obstructions, both by injection, if +necessary, and by the use of aperients; lastly, to invite action to the +extremities, by stimulating liniments. Whenever these indications are +fulfilled, "horn ail" soon disappears.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>ABORTION IN COWS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Cows are particularly liable to the accident of "slinking the calf." The +common causes of abortion are, the respiration and ultimate absorption +of emanations from putrid animal remains, over-feeding, derangement of +the stomach, &c. The filthy, stagnant water they are often compelled to +drink is likewise a serious cause, not only of abortion, but also of +general derangement of the animal functions. Dr. White, V. S., tells us +that "a farm in England had been given up three successive times in +consequence of the loss the owners sustained by abortion in their +cattle. At length the fourth proprietor, after suffering considerably in +losses occasioned by abortion in his stock, suspected that the water of +his ponds, which was extremely filthy, might be the cause of the +mischief. He therefore dug three wells upon his farm, and, having fenced +round the pond to prevent the cattle from drinking there, caused them to +be supplied with the well water, in stone troughs erected for the +purpose; and from this moment the evil was remedied, and the quality of +the butter and cheese made on his farm was greatly improved. In order to +show," says the same author, "that the accident of abortion may arise +from a vitiated state of the digestive organs, I will here notice a few +circumstances tending to corroborate this opinion. In 1782, all the cows +of the farmer D'Euruse, in Picardy, miscarried. The period at which they +warped was about the fourth or fifth month. The accident was attributed +to the excessive heat of the preceding summer; but, as the water they +were in the habit of drinking was extremely bad, and they had been kept +on oat, wheat, and rye straw, it appears to me more probable, that the +great quantity of straw they were obliged to eat, in order to obtain +sufficient nourishment, and the injury sustained by the third stomach in +expressing the fluid parts of the masticated or ruminated mass, together +with the large quantity of water they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>drank, while kept on this dry +food, were the real causes of the miscarriage.</p> + +<p>"A farmer at Chariton, out of a dairy of twenty-eight cows, had sixteen +slip their calves at different periods of gestation. The summer had been +very dry; they had been pastured in a muddy place, which was flooded by +the Seine. Here the cows were generally up to their knees in mud and +water. In 1789, all the cows in a village near Mantes miscarried. All +the lands in this place were so stiff as to be, for some time, +impervious to water; and as a vast quantity of rain fell that year, the +pastures were for a time completely inundated, on which account the +grass became bad. This proves that keeping cows on food that is +deficient in nutritive properties, and difficult of digestion, is one of +the principal causes of miscarriage." Mr. Youatt says, "It is supposed +that the sight of a slipped calf, or the smell of putrid animal +substances, are apt to produce warping. Some curious cases of abortion, +which are worthy of notice, happened in the dairy of a French farmer. +For thirty years his cows had been subject to abortion. His cow-house +was large and well ventilated; his cows were in apparent health; they +were fed like others in the village; they drank the same water; there +was nothing different in the posture; he had changed his servants many +times in the course of thirty years; he pulled down the barn and +cow-house, and built another, on a different plan; he even, agreeably to +superstition, took away the aborted calf through the window, that the +curse of future abortion might not be entailed on the cow that passed +over the same threshold. To make all sure, he had broken through the +wall at the end of the cow-house, and opened a new door. But still the +trouble continued. Several of his cows had died in the act of abortion, +and he had replaced them by others; many had been sold, and their +vacancies filled up. He was advised to make a thorough change. This had +never occurred to him; but at once he saw the propriety of the counsel. +He sold every beast, and the pest was stayed, and never appeared in his +new stock. This was owing, probably, to sympathetic influence: <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>the +result of such influence is as fatal as the direst contagion."</p> + +<p>My own opinion of this disease is, that it is one of nervous origin; +that there is a loss of equilibrium between the nerves of voluntary and +involuntary motion. The direct causes of this pathological state exist +in any thing that can derange the organs of digestion. Great sympathy is +known to exist between the organs of generation and the stomach: if the +latter be deranged, the former feels a corresponding influence, and the +sympathetic nerves are the media by which the change takes place.</p> + +<p>It invariably follows that, as soon as impregnation takes place, the +stomach from that moment takes on an irritable state, and is more +susceptible to the action of unfavorable agents. Thus the odor of putrid +substances cases nausea or relaxation when the animal is in a state of +pregnancy; otherwise, the same odor would not affect it in the least. +Professor Curtis says, "The nervous system constitutes the check lines +by which the vital spirit governs, as a coachman does his horses, the +whole motive apparatus of the animal economy; that every line, or +pencil, or ganglion of lines, in it, is antagonistic to some other line +or ganglion, so that, whenever the function of one is exalted, that of +some other is depressed. It follows, of course, that to equalize the +nervous action, and to sustain the equilibrium, is one of the most +important duties of the physician."</p> + +<p>In addition to the causes of abortion already enumerated, we may add +violent exercise, jumping dikes or hedges, sudden frights, and blows or +bruises.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—When a cow has slipped her fœtus, and appears in good +condition, the quantity of food usually given should be lessened. Give +the following drink every night for a week:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 194"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Valerian, (herb,)</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered skunk cabbage,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>Steep in half a gallon of boiling water. When cold, strain and +administer.</p> + +<p>Suppose the animal to be in poor condition; then put her on a nourishing +diet, and give tonics and stimulants, as follows:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 195a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered gentian,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sassafras,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Linseed or flaxseed,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pound.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Divide into six portions, and give one, night and morning, in the +food, which ought to consist of scalded meal and shorts. A sufficient +quantity of hay should be allowed; yet grass will be preferable, if the +season permits.</p> + +<p>Suppose the animal to have received an injury; then rest and a scalded +diet are all that are necessary. As a means of prevention, see article +<i>Feeding</i>, page 17.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>COW-POX.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This malady makes its appearance on the cow's teats in the form of small +pustules, which, after the inflammatory stage, suppurate. A small +quantity of matter then escapes, and forms a crust over the +circumference of each pustule. If the crust be suffered to remain until +new skin is formed beneath, they will heal without any interference. It +often happens, however, that, in the process of milking, the scabs are +rubbed off. The following wash must then be resorted to:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 195b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Pyroligneous acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">a wine-glass.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Wet the parts two or three times a day; medicine is unnecessary. A few +meals of scalded food will complete the cure.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>MANGE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"Mange may be generated either from excitement of the skin itself, or +through the medium of that sympathetic influence which is known to exist +between the skin and organs of digestion. We have, it appears to me, an +excellent illustration of this in the case of mange supervening upon +poverty—a fact too notorious to be disputed, though there may be +different ways of theorizing on it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Blanie says, "Mange has three origins—filth, debility, and +contagion."</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Rid the system of morbific materials with the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 196a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered sassafras,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 handful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, and divide into six parts; one to be given in the feed, night and +morning. The daily use of the following wash will then complete the +cure, provided proper attention be paid to the diet.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Wash for Mange.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 196b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Pyroligneous acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">a pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The mange is known to be infectious: this suggests the propriety of +removing the animal from the rest of the herd.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>HIDE-BOUND.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This is seldom, if ever, a primary disease. The known sympathy existing +between the digestive organs and the skin enables us to trace the malady +to acute or chronic indigestion.</p> + + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—The indications to be fulfilled are, to invite action to +the surface by the aid of warmth, moisture, friction, and stimulants, to +tone up the digestive organs, and relax the whole animal. The latter +indications are fulfilled by the use of the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 197a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="70%">Powdered balmony, (snakehead,)</td> + <td class="tdl" width="30%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sassafras,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Linseed,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 pounds.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix together, and divide the mass into eight equal parts, and give one +night and morning, in scalded shorts or meal; the better way, however, +is, to turn it down the throat.</p> + +<p>A few boiled carrots should be allowed, especially in the winter season, +for they possess peculiar remedial properties, which are generally +favorable to the cure.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>LICE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Wash the skin, night and morning, with the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 197b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered lobelia seeds,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 quart.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>After standing a few hours, it is fit for use, and can be applied with a +sponge.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING THE SKIN OF ANIMALS<br /> IN A HEALTHY STATE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This is a subject of great importance to the farmer; for many of the +diseases of cattle arise from the filthy, obstructed state of the +surface. This neglect of cleansing the hide of cattle arises, in some +cases, from the absurd notion (often expressed to the author) that the +hide of cattle is so thick and dense that they never sweat, except on +the muzzle! For the information of those who may have formed such an +absurd and dangerous notion, we give the views of Professor Bouley. "In +all animals, from the exterior tegumentary surface incessantly exhale +vaporous or gaseous matters, the products of chemical operations going +on in the interior of the organism, of which the uninterrupted +elimination is a necessary condition for the regular continuance of the +functions. Regarded in this point of view, the skin may be considered as +a dependency of the respiratory apparatus, of which it continues and +completes the function, by returning incessantly to the atmosphere the +combusted products, which are water and carbonic acid.</p> + +<p>"Therefore the skin, properly speaking, is an expiratory apparatus, +which, under ordinary conditions of the organism, exhales, in an +insensible manner, products analogous to those expired from the +pulmonary surface; with this difference, that the quantity of carbonic +acid is very much less considerable in the former than in the latter of +these exhalations; according to Burbach, the proportion of carbonic +acid, as inhaled by the skin, being to that expired by the lungs as 350 +to 23,450, or as 1 to 67.</p> + +<p>"The experiments made on inferior animals, such as frogs, toads, +salamanders, or fish, have demonstrated the waste by general +transpiration to be, in twenty-four hours, little less than half the +entire weight of the body."</p> + +<p>The same author remarks, "Direct experiment has shown, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>in the clearest +manner, the close relation of function existing between the perspiratory +and respiratory membranes."</p> + +<p>"M. Fourcault, with a view of observing, through different species of +animals, the effect of the suppression of perspiration, conceived the +notion of having the skins of certain live animals covered with varnish. +After having been suitably prepared, some by being plucked, others by +being shorn, he smeared them with varnish of variable composition; the +substances employed being tar, paste, glue, pitch, and other plastic +matters. Sometimes these, one or more of them, were spread upon parts, +sometimes upon the whole of the body. The effects of the operation have +varied, showing themselves, soon or late afterwards, decisively or +otherwise, according as the varnishing has been complete or general, or +only partial, thick, thin, &c. In every instance, the health of the +animal has undergone strange alterations, and life has been grievously +compromised. Those that have been submitted to experiment under our eyes +have succumbed in one, two, three days, and even at the expiration of +some hours." (See <i>London Veterinarian</i> for 1850, p. 353.)</p> + +<p>In a subsequent number of the same work we find the subject resumed; +from which able production we select the following:—</p> + +<p>"The suppression of perspiration has at all times been thought to have a +good deal to do with the production of disease. Without doubt this has +been exaggerated. But, allowing this exaggeration, is it not admitted by +all practitioners that causes which act through the medium of the skin +are susceptible, in sufficient degree, of being appreciated in the +circumstances ushering in the development of very many diseases, +especially those characterized by any active flux of the visceral +organs? For example, is it not an incontestable pathological fact, that +catarrhal, bronchial, pulmonic, and pleuritic affections, congestions of +the most alarming description in the vascular abdominal system of the +horse, inflammation of the peritoneum and womb following labor, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>catarrhal inflammations of the bowels, even congestions of the feet, +&c., derive their origin, in a great number of instances, from cold +applied to the skin in a state of perspiration? What happens in the +organism after the application of such a cause? Is its effect +instantaneous? Let us see. Immediately on the repercussive action of +cold being felt by the skin, the vascular system of internal parts finds +itself filled with repelled blood. Though this effect, however, be +simply hydrostatic, the diseased phenomena consecutive on it are far +otherwise.</p> + +<p>"It is quite certain that, in the immense system of communicating +vessels forming the circulating apparatus, whenever any large quantity +of blood flows to any one particular part of the body, the other vessels +of the system must be comparatively empty.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> The knowledge of this +organic hydrostatic fact it is that has given origin to the use of +revulsives under their various forms, and we all well know how much +service we derive from their use.</p> + +<p>"But in what does this diseased condition consist? Whereabouts is it +seated?</p> + +<p>"The general and undefined mode it has of showing its presence in the +organism points this out. Immediately subsequent to the action of the +cause, the actual seat of the generative condition of the disease about +to appear is the blood; this fluid it is which, having become actually +modified in its chemical compositions under the influence of the cause +that has momentarily obstructed the cutaneous exhalations, carries about +every where with it the disordered condition, and ultimately giving +rise, through it, to some local disease, as a sort of eruptive effort, +analogous in its object, but often less salutary in its effect; owing to +the functional importance of the part attacked, to the external +eruptions produced by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>presence in the blood of virus, which alters +both its dynamic and chemical properties.</p> + +<p>"But what is the nature of this alteration? In this case, every clew to +the solution of this question fails us. We know well, when the +experiment is designedly prolonged, the blood grows black, as in +<i>asphyxia</i>, (loss of pulse,) through the combination with it of carbonic +acid, whose presence is opposed to the absorption of oxygen. But what +relation is there between this chemical alteration of blood here and the +modifications in composition it may undergo under the influence of +instantaneous suppression, but not persistent, of the cutaneous +exhalations and secretions? The experiments of Dr. Fourcault tend, on +the whole, to explain this. His experiments discover the primitive form +and almost the nature of the alteration the blood undergoes under the +influence of the cessation of the functions of the skin. They +demonstrate that under these conditions the regularity of the course of +this fluid is disturbed—that it has a tendency to accumulate and +stagnate within the internal organs: witness the abdominal pains so +frequently consequent on the application of plasters upon the skin, and +the congestions of the abdominal and pulmonary vascular systems met with +almost always on opening animals which have been suffocated through tar +or pitch plasters.</p> + +<p>"They prove, in fact, the thorough aptitude of impression of the nervous +system to blood altered in its chemical properties, while they afford us +an explication of the phenomena of depression, and muscular prostration, +and weakness, which accompany the beginning of disease consecutive on +the operation of cold.</p> + +<p>"How often do we put a stop to the ulterior development of disease by +restoring the function of the skin by mere [dry] friction, putting on +thick clothing, exposing to exciting fumigation, applying temporary +revulsives in the shape of mustard poultices, administering diffusible +stimuli made warm in drenches, trying every means to force the skin, and +so tend, by the reëstablishment of its exhalent functions, to permit +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>the elimination of blood saturated with carbonic matters opposed to the +absorption by it of oxygen!</p> + +<p>"Do we not here perceive, so to express ourselves, the evil enter and +depart through the skin?</p> + +<p>"M. Roche-Lubin gives an account of some lambs which were exposed, after +being shorn, to a humid icy cold succeeding upon summer heat. These +animals all died; and their post mortem examination disclosed nothing +further than a blackened condition of blood throughout the whole +circulating system, with stagnation in some organs, such as the liver, +the spleen, or abdominal vascular system.</p> + +<p>"From the foregoing disclosures, which might be multiplied if there was +need of it, we learn that the regularity or perversion of the functions +of the skin exercises an all-powerful influence over the conservation or +derangement of the health, and that very many diseases can be traced to +no other origin than the interruption, more or less, of these +functions."</p> + +<p>These remarks are valuable, inasmuch as they go to prove the importance, +in the treatment of disease, of a restoration of the lost function. Our +system of applying friction, warmth, and moisture to the external +surface, in all cases of internal disease, here finds, in the authors +just quoted, able advocates.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> What a destructive system, then, must blood-letting be, +which proposes to supply this deficiency in the empty vessels by opening +a vein and suffering the contents of the overcharged vessels to fall to +the ground! If the blood abstracted from the full veins could be +returned into those "empty" ones, then there would be some sense in +blood-letting.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SPAYING COWS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The castration of cows has been practised for several years in different +parts of the world, with such remarkable success, that no one will doubt +there are advantages to be derived from it. For the benefit of those who +may have doubts on this subject, we give the opinions of a committee +appointed by the Rheims Academy to investigate the matter.</p> + +<p>"To the question put to the committee—</p> + +<p>"1st. Is the spaying of cows a dangerous operation?</p> + +<p>"The answer is, This operation, in itself, involves no more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>danger than +many others of as bold a character, (as puncture of the rumen,) which +are performed without accident by men even strangers to the veterinary +art. Two minutes suffice for the extraction of the ovaries; two minutes +more for suturing the wound.</p> + +<p>"2dly. Will not the spaying of cows put an end to the production of the +species?</p> + +<p>"Without doubt, this is an operation which must be kept within bounds. +It is in the vicinity of large towns that most benefit will be derived +from it, where milk is most generally sought after, and where pasturage +is scanty, and consequently food for cows expensive. On this account it +is not the practice to raise calves about the environs of Paris. Indeed, +at Cormenteul, near Rheims, out of one hundred and forty-five cows kept, +not more than from ten to fifteen calves are produced yearly.</p> + +<p>"3dly. Is spaying attended with amelioration of the quality of the meat?</p> + +<p>"That cows fatten well after being spayed is an incontestable fact, long +known to agriculturists.</p> + +<p>"4thly. Does spaying prolong the period of lactation, and increase the +quantity of milk?</p> + +<p>"The cow will be found to give as much milk after eighteen months as +immediately after the operation; and there was found in quantity, in +favor of the spayed cows, a great difference.</p> + +<p>"5thly. Is the quality of the milk ameliorated by spaying?</p> + +<p>"To resolve this question, we have thought proper to make an appeal to +skilful chemists resident in the neighborhood; and they have determined +that the milk abounds more by one third in cheese and butter than that +of ordinary cows."</p> + +<p>Mr. Percival says, "No person hesitates to admit the advantages +derivable from the castration of bulls and stallions. I do not hesitate +to aver, that equal, if not double, advantages are to be derived from +the same operation when performed on cows."</p> + +<p>"It is to America we are indebted for this discovery. In <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>1832, an +American traveller, a lover of milk, no doubt, asked for some of a +farmer at whose house he was. Surprised at finding at this farm better +milk than he had met with elsewhere, he wished to know the reason of it. +After some hesitation, the farmer avowed, that he had been advised to +perform on his cows the same operation as was practised on the bulls. +The traveller was not long in spreading this information. The Veterinary +Society of the country took up the discovery, when it got known in +America. The English—those ardent admirers of beefsteaks and roast +beef—profited by the new procedure, as they know how to turn every +thing to account, and at once castrated their heifers, in order to +obtain a more juicy meat.</p> + +<p>"The Swiss, whose principal employment is agricultural, had the good +fortune to possess a man distinguished in his art, who foresaw, and was +anxious to realize, the advantages of castrating milch cows. M. Levrat, +veterinary surgeon at Lausanne, found in the government of his country +an enlightened assistant in his praiseworthy and useful designs, so +that, at the present day, instructions in the operation of spaying enter +into the requirements of the programme of the professors of agriculture, +and the gelders of the country are not permitted to exercise their +calling until they have proved their qualifications on the same +point."—<i>London Vet.</i> p. 274, 1850.</p> + +<p>For additional evidence in favor of spaying, see Albany Cultivator, p. +195, vol. vi.</p> + +<p>We have conversed with several farmers in this section of the United +States, and find, as a general thing, that they labor under the +impression that spaying is chiefly resorted to with a view of fattening +cattle for the market. We have, on all occasions, endeavored to correct +this erroneous conclusion, and at the same time to point out the +benefits to be derived from this practice. The quality of the milk is +superior, and the quantity is augmented. Many thousands of the miserable +specimens of cows, that the farmer, with all his care, and having, at +the same time an abundance of the best kind of provender, is unable to +fatten, might, after the operation of spaying, be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>easily fattened, and +rendered fit for the market; or, if they shall have had calves, they may +be made permanent, and, of course, profitable milkers.</p> + +<p>If a cow be in a weak, debilitated state, or, in other words, "out of +condition," she may turn out to be a source of great loss to the owner. +In the first place, her offspring will be weak and inefficient; +successive generations will deteriorate; and if the offspring be in a +close degree of relationship, they will scarcely be worth the trouble of +rearing. The spaying of such a cow, rather than she shall give birth to +weak and worthless offspring, would be a great blessing; for then one of +the first causes of degeneracy in live stock will have been removed.</p> + +<p>Again, a cow in poor condition is a curse to the farmer; for she is +often the medium through which epidemics, infectious diseases, puerperal +fever, &c., are communicated to other stock. If there are such diseases +in the vicinity, those in poor flesh are sure to be the first victims; +and they, coming in contact with others laboring under a temporary +indisposition, involve them in the general ruin. If prevention be +cheaper than cure,—and who doubts it?—then the farmer should avail +himself of the protection which spaying seems to hold out.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">OPERATION OF SPAYING.</p> + +<p>The first and most important object in the successful performance of +this operation is to secure the cow, so that she shall not injure +herself, nor lie down, nor be able to kick or injure the operator. The +most convenient method of securing the cow is, to place her in the +trevis;<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> the hind legs <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>should then be securely tied in the usual +manner: the band used for the purpose of raising the hind quarters when +being shod must be passed under the belly, and tightened just sufficient +to prevent the animal lying down. Having secured the band in this +position, we proceed, with the aid of two or more assistants, in case +the animal should be irritable, to perform the operation. And here, for +the benefit of that portion of our readers who desire to perform the +operation <i>secundum artem</i>, we detail the method recommended by Morin, a +French veterinary surgeon; although it has been, and can again be, +performed with a common knife, a curved needle, and a few silken threads +to close the external wound. The author is acquainted with a farmer, now +a resident of East Boston, who has performed this operation with +remarkable success, both in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>this country and Scotland, with no other +instruments than a common shoemaker's knife and a curved needle. The +fact is, the ultimate success of the operation does not depend so much +on the instruments as on the skill of the operator. If he is an +experienced man, understands the anatomy of the parts, and is well +acquainted, by actual experience, with the nature of the operation, then +the instruments become a matter of taste. The best operators are those +who devote themselves entirely to the occupation. (See Mr. Blane's +account of his "first essay in firing," p. 85, note.) Morin advises us +to secure the cow, by means of five rings, to the wall. (See Albany +Cultivator, vol. vi. p. 244, 1850.) "The cow being conveniently disposed +of, and the instruments and appliances,—such as curved scissors, upon a +table, a convex-edged bistoury, a straight one, and one buttoned at the +point, suture needle filled with double thread of desired length, +pledgets of lint of appropriate size and length, a mass of tow (in +pledgets) being collected in a shallow basket, held by an assistant,—we +place ourselves opposite to the left flank, our back turned a little +towards the head of the animal; we cut off the hair which covers the +hide in the middle of the flanks, at an equal distance between the back +and hip, for the space of thirteen or fourteen centimetres in +circumference; this done, we take the convex bistoury, and place it open +between our teeth, the edge out, the point to the left; then, with both +hands, we seize the hide in the middle of the flank, and form of it a +wrinkle of the requisite elevation, and running lengthwise of the body.</p> + +<p>"We then direct an assistant to seize, with his right hand, the right +side of this wrinkle. We then take the bistoury, and cut the wrinkle at +one stroke through the middle, the wrinkle having been suffered to go +down, a separation of the hide is presented of sufficient length to +enable us to introduce the hand; thereupon we separate the edges of the +hide with the thumb and fore finger of the left hand, and, in like +manner, we cut through the abdominal muscles, the iliac, (rather +obliquely,) and the lumbar, (cross,) for a distance of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>a centimetre +from the lower extremity of the incision made in the hide: this done, +armed with the straight bistoury, we make a puncture of the peritoneum, +at the upper extremity of the wound; we then introduce the buttoned +bistoury, and we move it obliquely from above to the lower part up to +the termination of the incision made in the abdominal muscles. The flank +being opened, we introduce the right hand into the abdomen, and direct +it along the right side of the cavity of the pelvis, behind the paunch +and underneath the rectum, where we find the horns of the uterus; after +we have ascertained the position of these viscera, we search for the +ovaries, which are at the extremity of the <i>cornua</i>, or horns, +(fallopian tubes,) and when we have found them, we seize them between +the thumb and fore finger, detach them completely from the ligaments +that keep them in their place, pull lightly, separating the cord, and +the vessels (uterine or fallopian tubes) at their place of union with +the ovarium, by means of the nails of the thumb and fore finger, which +presents itself at the point of touch; in fact, we break the cord, and +bring away the ovarium.</p> + +<p>"We then introduce again the hand in the abdominal cavity, and we +proceed in the same manner to extract the other ovarium.</p> + +<p>"This operation terminated, we, by the assistance of a needle, place a +suture of three or four double threads, waxed, at an equal distance, and +at two centimetres, or a little less, from the lips of the wound; +passing it through the divided tissues, we move from the left hand with +the piece of thread; having reached that point, we fasten with a double +knot; we place the seam in the intervals of the thread from the right, +and as we approach the lips of the wound, we fasten by a simple knot, +being careful not to close too tightly the lower part of the seam, so +that the suppuration, which may be established in the wound, may be able +to escape.</p> + +<p>"The operation effected, we cover up the wound with a pledget of lint, +kept in its place by three or four threads passed through the stitches, +and all is completed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>"It happens, sometimes, that in cutting the muscles of which we have +before spoken, we cut one or two of the arteries, which bleed so much +that there is necessity for a ligature before opening the peritoneal +sac, because, if this precaution be omitted, blood will escape into the +abdomen, and may occasion the most serious consequences."</p> + +<p>The best time for spaying cows, with a view of making them permanent +milkers, is between the ages of five and seven, especially if they have +had two or three calves. If intended to be fattened for beef, the +operation should not be performed until the animal has passed its second +year, nor after the twelfth.</p> + +<p>We usually prepare the animal by allowing a scalded mash every night, +within a few days of the operation. The same precaution is observed +after the operation.</p> + +<p>If, after the operation, the animal appears dull and irritable, and +refuses her food, the following drink must be given:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 209a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Valerian,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Set the mixture aside to cool. Then strain, and add infusion of +marshmallows (see <span class="smcap">Appendix</span>) one quart; which may be given in +pint doses every two hours.</p> + +<p>If a bad discharge sets up from the wound,—but this will seldom happen, +unless the system abounds in morbific materials,—then, in addition to +the drink, wash the wound with</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 209b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Pyroligneous acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> +Although we recommend that cows be confined in the trevis +for the purpose of performing this operation, it by no means follows +that it cannot be done as well in other ways. In fact, the trevis is +inadmissible where chloroform is used. The animal must be cast in order +to use that agent with any degree of safety. If the trevis is not at +hand, we should prefer to operate, having the cow secured to the floor, +or held in that position by trusty assistants. We lately operated on a +cow, the property of Mr. C. Drake of Holliston, in this state, under +very unfavorable circumstances; yet, as will appear from the +accompanying note, the cow is likely to do well, notwithstanding. The +history of the case is as follows: We were sent for by Mr. D. to see a +heifer having a swelling under the jaw, which proved to be a scirrhous +gland. After giving our opinion and prescribing the usual remedies, the +conversation turned upon spaying cattle; and Mr. D. remarked that he had +a five year old cow, on which we might, if we chose, operate. This we +rather objected to at first, as the cow was in a state of plethora, and +the stomach very much distended with food; yet, as the owner appeared +willing to share the responsibility, we consented to perform the +operation. The cow was accordingly cast, in the usual manner, she lying +on her right side, her head being firmly held by an assistant. We then +made an incision through the skin, muscles, and peritoneum. The hand was +then introduced, and each ovary in its turn brought as near to the +external wound as possible, and separated from its attachment with a +button-pointed bistoury. The wound was then brought together with four +interrupted sutures, and dressed as already described. Directions were +given to keep the animal quiet, and on a light diet: the calf, which was +four weeks old, to suckle as usual. The operation was performed on the +17th of January, 1851, and on the 27th, the following communication was +received:—</p> + +<p class="smcap noin">Dr. Dadd.</p> + +<p class="noin">Dear Sir: Agreeably to request, I will inform you as regards the +cow. I must say that, so far as appearances are concerned, she is +doing well. She has a good appetite, and chews her cud, and the +wound is not swelled or inflamed.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span style="padding-right: 8em;">Yours truly,</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">C. Drake</span>.</p> +<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Holliston</span>, <i>Jan 27, 1851</i>.</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<a href="images/imagep209.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep209.jpg" width="75%" alt="Three South Down Wethers" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">Three South Down Wethers</p> + +<p class="noin" style="margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;">The Property of Mr. Jonas Webb of Babraham, near Cambridge, which +obtained Prizes in their respective classes at the Smithfield Cattle +Show, Decr. 1839.</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>SHEEP.</h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<h3>PRELIMINARY REMARKS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Many of the diseases to which sheep are subject can be traced to want of +due care in their management. The common practice of letting them range +in marshy lands is one of the principal causes of disease.</p> + +<p>The feet of sheep are organized in such a manner as to be capable, when +in a healthy state, of eliminating from the system a large amount of +worn-out materials—excrementitious matter, which, if retained in the +system, would be injurious. The direct application of cold tends to +contract the mouths of excrementitious vessels, and the morbid matter +accumulates. This is not all. There are in the system numerous +outlets,—for example, the kidneys, lungs, surface, feet, &c. The health +of the animal depends on all these functions being duly performed. If a +certain function be interrupted for any length of time, it is sure to +derange the system. Diseases of the feet are very common in wet +situations, and are a source of great loss to the farming community. +Hence it becomes a matter of great importance to know how to manage them +so as to prevent diseases of the feet.</p> + +<p>Professor Simonds says, "No malady was probably so much feared by the +agriculturist as the rot; and with reason, for it was most destructive +to his hopes. It was commonly believed to be incurable, and therefore it +was all important to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>inquire into the causes which gave rise to it. +Some pastures were notorious for rotting sheep; on other lands, sheep, +under all ordinary circumstances, were pastured with impunity; but, as a +broad principle, it might be laid down that an excess of moisture is +prejudicial to the health of the animal. Sheep, by nature, are not only +erratic animals, wandering over a large space of ground, but are also +inhabitants of arid districts. The skill of man has increased and +improved the breed, and has naturalized the animal in moist and +temperate climates. But, nevertheless, circumstances now and then take +place which show that its nature is not entirely changed; thus, a wet +season occurs, the animals are exposed to the debilitating effects of +moisture, and the rot spreads among them to a fearful extent. The malady +is not confined to England or to Europe; it is found in Asia and Africa, +and occurs also in Egypt on the receding of the waters of the Nile.</p> + +<p>"These facts are valuable, because they show that the cause of the +disease is not local—that it is not produced by climate or temperature; +for it is found that animals in any temperature become affected, and on +any soil in certain seasons. A great deal had been written on rot in +sheep, which it were to be wished had not been. Many talented +individuals had devoted their time to its investigation, endeavoring to +trace out a cause for it, as if it originated from one cause alone. But +the facts here alluded to would show that it arose from more causes than +one. He had mentioned the circumstance with regard to land sometimes +producing rot, and sometimes not; but he would go a step further, and +ask, Was there any particular period of the year when animals were +subject to the attack? Undoubtedly there was. In the rainy season, the +heat and moisture combined would produce a most luxuriant herbage; but +that herbage would be deficient in nutriment, and danger would be run; +the large quantity of watery matter in the food acting as a direct +excitement to the abnormal functions of the digestive organs. Early +disturbance of the liver led to the accumulation of fat, (state of +plethora;) consequently, an animal being 'touched with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>rot' thrived +much more than usual. This reminded him that the celebrated Bakewell was +said to be in the habit of placing his sheep on land notorious for +rotting them, in order to prevent other people from getting his stock, +and likewise to bring them earlier to market for the butcher."</p> + +<p>Referring to diseases of the liver, Professor S. remarked, that "the +bile in rot, in consequence of the derangement of the liver being +continued, lost the property of converting the chymous mass into +nutritious matter, and the animal fell away in condition. Every part of +the system was now supplied with impure blood, for we might as well +expect pure water from a poisoned fountain as pure blood when the +secretion of bile was unhealthy. This state of the liver and the system +was associated with the existence of parasites in the liver.</p> + +<p>"Some persons suppose that these parasites, which, from their particular +form, were called flukes, were the cause of the rot. They are only the +effect; yet it is to be remembered that they multiply so rapidly that +they become the cause of further diseased action. Sheep, in the earlier +stages of the affection, before their biliary ducts become filled with +flukes, may be restored; but, when the parasites existed in abundance, +there was no chance of the animal's recovery. Those persons who supposed +flukes to be the cause of rot had, perhaps, some reason for that +opinion. Flukes are oviparous; their ova mingle with the biliary +secretion, and thus find their way out of the intestinal canal into the +soil; as in the feculent matter of rotten sheep may be found millions of +flukes. A Mr. King, of Bath, (England,) had unhesitatingly given it as +his opinion that flukes were the cause of rot; believing that, if sheep +were pastured on land where the ova existed, they would be taken up with +the food, enter into the ramifications of the biliary ducts, and thus +contaminate the whole liver. There appeared some ground for this +assertion, because very little indeed was known with reference to the +duration of life in its latent form in the egg. How long the eggs of +birds would remain without undergoing change, if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>not placed under +circumstances favorable to the development of life in a more active +form, was undecided. It was the same with the ova of these parasites; so +long as they remained on the pasture they underwent no change; but place +them in the body of the animal, and subject them to the influence of +heat, &c., then those changes would commence which ended in the +production of perfect flukes. Take another illustration of the long +duration of latent life: Wheat had been locked up for hundreds of +years—nay, for thousands—in Egyptian mummies, without undergoing any +change, and yet, when planted, had been found prolific.</p> + +<p>... He was not, then, to say that rot was in all cases a curable +affection; but at the same time he was fully aware that many animals, +that are now considered incurable, might be restored, if sufficient +attention was given to them. About two years ago, he purchased seven or +eight sheep, all of them giving indisputable proof of rot in its +advanced stage. He intended them for experiment and dissection; but as +he did not require all of them, and during the winter season only he +could dissect, he kept some till summer. They were supplied with food of +nutritious quality, free from moisture; they were also protected from +all storms and changes of weather, being placed in a shed. The result +was, that without any medicine, two of these rotten sheep quite +recovered; and when he killed them, although he found that the liver had +undergone some change, still the animals would have lived on for years. +Rot, in its advanced stage, was a disease which might be considered as +analogous to dropsy. A serous fluid accumulates in various parts of the +body, chiefly beneath the cellular tissue; consequently, some called it +the <i>water</i> rot, others the <i>fluke</i> rot; but these were merely +indications of the same disease in different stages. If flukes were +present, it was evident that, in order to strike at the root of the +malady, they must get rid of these <i>entozoa</i>, and that could only be +effected by bringing about a healthy condition of the system. Nothing +that could be done by the application of medicine would act on them to +affect their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>vitality. It was only by strengthening their animal powers +that they were enabled to give sufficient tone to the system to throw +off the flukes; for this purpose many advocated salt. Salt was an +excellent stimulative to the digestive organs, and might also be of +service in restoring the biliary secretion, from the soda which it +contained. So well is its stimulative action known, that some +individuals always keep salt in the troughs containing the animal's +food. This was a preventive, they had good proof, seeing that it +mattered not how moist the soil might be in salt marshes; no sheep were +ever attacked by rot in them, whilst those sent there infected very +often came back free. Salt, therefore, must not be neglected; but then +came the question, Could they not do something more? He believed they +could give tonics with advantage....</p> + +<p>"The principles he wished to lay down were, to husband the animals' +powers by placing them in a situation where they should not be exposed +to the debilitating effects of cold storms; to supply them with +nutritious food, and such as contained but a small quantity of water; +and, as a stimulant to the digestive organs, to mix it with salt."</p> + +<p>The remarks of Professor S. are valuable to the American farmer. First, +because they throw some light on the character of a disease but +imperfectly understood; secondly, they recommend a safe, efficient, and +common-sense method of treating it; and lastly, they recommend such +preventive measures as, in this enlightened age, every farmer must +acknowledge to be the better part of sheep doctoring. The reader will +easily perceive the reason why the food of sheep is injurious when wet +or saturated with its own natural juices, when he learns that the +digestive process is greatly retarded, unless the masticated food be +well saturated with the gastric fluid. If the gastric fluid cannot +pervade it, then fermentation takes place; by which process the +nutritive properties of the food are partly destroyed, and what remains +cannot be taken up before it passes from the vinous into the acetous or +putrefactive fermentation; the natural consequence is, that internal +disease ensues, which often gravitates to the feet, thereby <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>producing +rot. This is not all. Such food does not furnish sufficient material to +replenish the daily waste and promote the living integrity. In short, it +produces debility, and debility includes one half the causes of disease. +It must be a matter of deep interest to the farmer to know how to +prevent disease in his flock, and improve their condition, &c.; for if +he possessed the requisite knowledge, he would not be compelled to offer +mutton at so low a rate as from three to four cents a pound, at which +price it is often sold in the Boston market. We have already alluded to +the fact that neat cattle can, with the requisite knowledge, be improved +at least twenty-five per cent.; and we may add, without fear of +contradiction, that the same applies to sheep. If, then, their value can +be increased in the same ratio as that of other classes of live stock, +how much will the proprietors of sheep gain by the operation? Suppose we +set down the number of sheep in the United States at twenty-seven +millions,—which will not fall far short of the mark,—and value them at +the low price of one dollar per head: we get a clear gain, in the +carcasses alone, of six millions seven hundred and fifty thousand +dollars. The increase in the quantity, and of course in the value, of +wool would pay the additional expenses incurred. It is a well-known fact +that, when General Washington left his estate to engage in the councils +of his country, his sheep then yielded five pounds of wool. At the time +of his return, the animals had so degenerated as to yield but two and a +half pounds per fleece. This was not altogether owing to the quality of +their food, but in part to want of due care in breeding.</p> + +<p>It is well known that many diseases are propagated and aggravated +through the sexual congress; and no matter how healthy the dam is, or +how much vital resistance she possesses,—if the male be weak and +diseased, the offspring will be more or less diseased at birth. (See +article <i>Breeding</i>.)</p> + +<p>Dr. Whitlaw observes, "The Deity has given power to man to ameliorate +his condition, as may be truly seen by strict attention to the laws of +nature. An attentive observer may soon perceive, that milk, butter, and +meat, of animals that feed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>on good herbage, in high and dry soils, are +the best; and that strong nourishment is the produce of those animals +that feed on bottom land; but those that feed on a marshy, wet soil +produce more acrid food, even admitting that the herbage be of the bland +and nutritious kind; but if it be composed in part of poisonous plants, +the sheep become diseased and rotten, much more so than cattle, for they +do not drink to the same degree, and therefore (particularly those that +chew the cud) are not likely to throw off the poison. Horses would be +more liable to disease than cattle were it not for their sagacity in +selecting the wholesome from the poisonous herbage.</p> + +<p>"A great portion of the mutton slaughtered is unfit for food, from the +fact that their lungs are often in a state of decomposition, their +livers much injured by insects, and their intestines in a state of +ulceration, from eating poisonous herbs."</p> + +<p>Linnæus says, "A dry place renders plants sapid; a succulent place, +insipid; and a watery place, corrosive."</p> + +<p>One farmer, in the vicinity of Sherburne, (England,) had, during the +space of a few weeks, lost nearly nine hundred sheep by the rot. The +fear of purchasing diseased mutton is so prevalent in families, that the +demand for mutton has become extremely limited.</p> + +<p>In the December number of the London Veterinarian we find an interesting +communication from the pen of Mr. Tavistock, V. S., which will throw +some light on the causes of disease in sheep. The substance of these +remarks is as follows: "On a large farm, situated in the fertile valley +of the Tavey, is kept a large flock of sheep, choice and well bred. It +is deemed an excellent sheep farm, and for some years no sheep could be +healthier than were his flock. About eighteen months ago, however, some +ewes were now and then found dead. This was attributed to some of the +many maladies sheep-flesh is 'heir to,' and thought no more about. Still +it did not cease; another and another died, from time to time, until at +length, it becoming a question of serious consequence, my attention was +called to them. I made, as opportunities occurred, minute post mortem +examinations. The sheep did <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>not die rapidly, but one a week, and +sometimes one a fortnight, or even three weeks. No previous illness +whatever was manifested. They were always found dead in the attitude of +sleep; the countenance being tranquil and composed, not a blade of grass +disturbed by struggling; nor did any circumstance evidence that pain or +suffering was endured. It was evident that the death was sudden. We +fancied the ewes must obtain something poisonous from the herbage, and +the only place they could get any thing different from the other sheep +was in the orchards, since there the ewes went at the lambing time, and +occasionally through the summer. But so they had done for years before, +and yet contracted no disease. Well, then, the orchards were the +suspected spots, and it was deemed expedient to request Mr. Bartlett, a +botanist, to make a careful examination of the orchards, and give us his +opinion thereon. The following is the substance of his report:—</p> + +<p>"The part of the estate to which the sheep unfortunately had access, +where the predisposing causes of disease prevailed, was an orchard, +having a gradual slope of about three quarters of a mile in extent, from +the high ground to the bed of the river, ranging about east and west; +the hills on each side being constituted of argillaceous strata of +laminated slate, which, although having an angle of inclination favoring +drainage on the slopes, yet in the valleys often became flat or +horizontal, and on which also accumulated the clays, and masses of rock, +in detached blocks, often to the depth of twenty feet—a state of things +which gives the valley surface and soil a very rugged and unequal +outline; the whole, at the same time, offering the greatest obstruction +to regular drainage.</p> + +<p>"These are spots selected for orchard draining in England; the truth +being lost sight of, that surfaces and soil for apple-tree growth +require the most perfect admixture with atmospheric elements, and the +freest outlet for the otherwise accumulating moisture, to prevent +dampness and acidity, the result of the shade of the tree itself, +produced by the fall of the leaf.</p> + +<p>"On this estate these things had never been dreamt of before planting +the orchards. The apple-tree, in short, as soon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>as its branches and +leaves spread with the morbid growth of a dozen years, aids itself in +the destructive process; the soil becomes yearly more poisonous, the +roots soon decay, and the tree falls to one side, as we witness daily, +while the herbage beneath and around becomes daily more unfit to sustain +animal life. Numerous forms of poisonous fungi, microscopic and +otherwise, are here at home, and nourished by the carburetted and other +forms of hydrogen gas hourly engendered and saturating the soil; while +on the dampest spots the less noxious portions of such hydrates are +assimilated by the mint plant in the shape of oil; and which disputes +with sour, poisonous, and blossomless grasses for the occupancy of the +surface, mingled with the still more noxious straggling forms of the +ethusa, occasionally the angelica, vison, conium, &c.</p> + +<p>"This state of things, brought into existence by this wretched and +barbarous mode of planting orchard valleys, usually reaches its +consummation in about thirty years, and sometimes much less, as in the +valley under notice. Thus it is that such spots, often the richest in +capabilities on the estate, (the deep soil being the waste and spoil of +the higher ground and slopes,) become a bane to every form of useful +vegetation; and, at the same time, are a hotbed of luxuriance to every +thing that is poisonous, destructive, and deleterious to almost every +form of animal life. And such an animal as the sheep, while feeding +among such herbage, would inhale a sufficiency of noxious gases, +especially in summer, through the nostrils alone, to produce disease +even in a few hours, though the herbage devoured should lie harmless in +the stomach. But with regard to the sheep in the present case, we fear +they had no choice in the matter, and were driven by hunger to feed, +being shut into these orchards; and thus not only ate the poisoned +grasses, but with every mouthful swallowed a portion of the +water-engendering mint, the acrid crowfoot, ranunculus leaves, &c., +surrounding every blade of grass; while the other essential elements of +vegetable poison, the most virulent forms of agarici and their spawn, +with other destructive fungi, were swallowed as a sauce to the whole. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>This fearful state of things, to which sheep had access, soon manifested +its results; for although a hog or a badger might here fatten, yet to an +animal so susceptible to atmospheric influences, unwholesome, undrained +land, &c., as the sheep, the organization forbids the assimilation of +such food; and although a process of digestion goes on, yet its hydrous +results (if we may use such a term) not only overcharge the blood with +serum, but, through unnatural channels, cause effusion into the chest, +heart, veins, &c., when its effects are soon manifested in sudden and +quick dissolution, being found dead in the attitude of sleep."</p> + +<p>It is probable that the gases which arose from this imperfectly drained +estate played their part in the work of destruction; not only by coming +in immediate contact with the blood through the medium of the air-cells +in the lungs, but by mixing with the food in the process of digestion. +This may appear a new idea to those who have never given the subject a +thought; yet it is no less true. During the mastication of food, the +saliva possesses the remarkable property of enclosing air within its +globules. Professor Liebig tells us that "the saliva encloses air in the +shape of froth, in a far higher degree than even soap-suds. This air, by +means of the saliva, reaches the stomach with the food, and there its +oxygen enters into combination, while its nitrogen is given out through +the skin and lungs." This applies to pure air. Now, suppose the sheep +are feeding in pastures notorious for giving out noxious gases, and at +the same time the function of the skin or lungs is impaired; instead of +the "nitrogen" or noxious gases being set free, they will accumulate in +the alimentary canal and cellular tissues, to the certain destruction of +the living integrity. Prof. L. further informs us that "the longer +digestion continues,—that is, the greater resistance offered to the +solvent action by the food,—the more saliva, and consequently the more +air, enter the stomach."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>STAGGERS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This disease is known to have its origin in functional derangement of +the stomach; and owing to the sympathy that exists between the brain and +the latter, derangements are often overlooked, until they manifest +themselves by the animal's appearing dull and stupid, and separating +itself from the rest of the flock. An animal attacked with staggers is +observed to go round in a giddy manner; the optic nerve becomes +paralyzed, and the animal often appears blind. It sometimes continues to +feed well until it dies.</p> + +<p><i>Indications of Cure.</i>—First, to remove the cause. If it exist in a too +generous supply of food, reduce the quantity. If, on the other hand, the +animal be in poor condition, a generous supply of nutritious food must +be allowed.</p> + +<p>Secondly, to impart healthy action to the digestive organs, and +lubricate their surfaces.</p> + +<p>Having removed the cause, take</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 222a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered snakeroot,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered fennel seed,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Half a table-spoonful may be given daily in warm water, or it may +be mixed in the food.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 222b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered gentian,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered poplar bark,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered aniseed,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, and give as above.</p> + +<p>If the bowels are inactive, give a wine-glass of linseed oil.</p> + +<p>The animal should be kept free from all annoyance by dogs, &c.; for fear +indirectly influences the stomach through the pneumogastric nerves, by +which the secretion of the gastric juice is arrested, and an immediate +check is thus given <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>to the process of digestion. For the same reason, +medicine should always be given in the food, if possible. In cases of +great prostration, accompanied with loss of appetite, much valuable time +would be lost. In such cases, we must have recourse to the bottle.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>FOOT ROT.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>When a sheep is observed to be lame, and, upon examination, matter can +be discovered, then pare away the hoof, and make a slight puncture, so +that the matter may escape; then wash the foot with the following +antiseptic lotion:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 223a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Pyroligneous acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Suppose that, on examination, the feet have a fetid odor; then apply the +following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 223b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half a pint.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Common salt,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, and apply daily. At the same time, put the sheep in a dry place, +and give a dose of the following every morning:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 223c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered bayberry bark,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered flaxseed,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 pounds.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sassafras,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. A handful to be given in the food twice a day.</p> + +<p><i>Remarks.</i>—Foot rot is generally considered a local disease; yet should +it be neglected, or maltreated, the general system will share in the +local derangement.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>ROT.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The progress of this disease is generally very slow, and a person +unaccustomed to the management of sheep would find some difficulty in +recognizing it. A practical eye would distinguish it, even at a +distance. The disease is known by one or more of the following symptoms: +The animal often remains behind the flock, shaking its head, with its +ears depressed; it allows itself to be seized, without any resistance. +The eye is dull and watery; the eyelids are swollen; the lips, gums, and +palate have a pale tint; the skin, which is of a yellowish white, +appears puffed, and retains the impression; the wool loses its +brightness, and is easily torn off; the urine is high colored, and the +excrement soft. As the disease progresses, there is loss of appetite, +great thirst, general emaciation, &c.</p> + +<p>The indications are, to improve the secretions, vitalize the blood, and +sustain the living powers. For which purpose, take</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 224"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered ginger,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oatmeal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pound.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Feed to each animal a handful per day, unless rumination shall have +ceased; then omit the oatmeal, and give a tea-spoonful of the mixed +ingredients, in half a pint of hyssop, or horsemint tea. Continue as +occasion may require.</p> + +<p>The food should be boiled, if possible. The best kind, especially in the +latter stages of rot, is, equal parts of linseed and ground corn.</p> + +<p>If the urine is high colored, and the animal is thirsty, give an +occasional drink of</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 225a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Cleavers, (<i>galium aparine</i>,)<span + class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When cold, strain. Dose, one pint. To be repeated, if necessary.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>EPILEPSY.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This is somewhat different from staggers, as the animal does not remain +quietly on the ground, but it suffers from convulsions, it kicks, rolls +its eyes, grinds its teeth, &c. The duration of the fit varies much, +sometimes it terminates at the expiration of a few minutes; at other +times, a quarter of an hour elapses before it is perfectly conscious. In +this malady, there is a loss of equilibrium between the nervous and +muscular systems, which may arise from hydatids in the brain, offering +mechanical obstructions to the conducting power of the nerves. This +malady may attack animals in apparently good health. We frequently see +children attacked with epilepsy (fits) without any apparent cause, and +when they are in good flesh.</p> + +<p>The symptoms are not considered dangerous, except by their frequent +repetition.</p> + +<p>The following may be given with a view of equalizing the circulation and +nervous action:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 225b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">Assafœtida,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">one-third of a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Gruel made from slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, while hot. Repeat the dose every other day. Make some change in the +food. Thus, if the animal has been fed on green fodder for any length of +time, let it have a few meals of shorts, meal, linseed, &c. The water +must be of the best quality.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>Suppose the animal to be in poor condition; then combine tonics and +alteratives in the following form:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 226a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Assafœtida,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oatmeal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pound.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix thoroughly, and divide into eight equal parts. A powder to be given +every morning.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>RED WATER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This is nothing more nor less than a symptom of deranged function. The +cure consists in restoring healthy action to all parts of the animal +organization. For example, high-colored urine shows that there is too +much action on the internal surfaces, and too little on the external. +This at once points to the propriety of keeping the sheep in a warm +situation, in order to invite action to the skin.</p> + +<p><i>Compound for Red Water.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 226b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered pleurisy root,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered poplar bark,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Indian meal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pound.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. To be divided into ten parts, one of which may be given every +morning.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>CACHEXY,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> OR GENERAL DEBILITY.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Indications of Cure.</i>—First. To build up and promote the living +integrity by a generous diet, one or more of the following articles may +be scalded and given three times a day: carrots, parsnips, linseed, corn +meal, &c.</p> + +<p>Secondly. To remove morbific materials from the system, and restore the +lost functions, one of the following powders may be given, night and +morning, in the fodder:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 227"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered balmony, (snakehead,)</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered marshmallows,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered common salt,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Linseed meal,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pound.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Divide into ten powders.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> It implies a vitiated state of the solids and fluids.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>LOSS OF APPETITE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This is generally owing to a morbid state of the digestive organs. All +that is necessary in such case is, to restore the lost tone by the +exhibition of bitter tonics. A bountiful supply of camomile tea will +generally prove sufficient. If, however, the bowels are inactive, add to +the above a small portion of extract of butternut. The food should be +slightly salted.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>FOUNDERING, (RHEUMATISM)</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In this malady, the animal becomes slow in its movements; its walk is +characterized by rigidity of the muscular <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>system, and, when lying down, +requires great efforts in order to rise.</p> + + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—Exposure to sudden changes in temperature, feeding on wet +lands, &c.</p> + + +<p><i>Indications of Cure.</i>—To equalize the circulation, invite and maintain +action to the external surface, and remove the cause. To fulfil the +latter indication, remove the animal to a dry, warm situation.</p> + +<p>The following antispasmodic and diaphoretic will complete the cure: +Powdered lady's slipper, (<i>cypripedium</i>,) 1 tea-spoonful. To be given +every morning in a pint of warm pennyroyal tea.</p> + +<p>If the malady does not yield in a few days, take</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 228"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered sassafras bark,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Honey,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, and repeat the dose every other morning.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>TICKS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Ticks, or, in short, any kind of insects, may be destroyed by dropping +on them a few drops of an infusion or tincture of lobelia seeds.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SCAB, OR ITCH.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Scab, itch, erysipelas, &c., all come under the head of cutaneous +diseases, and require nearly the same general treatment. The following +compound may be depended on as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>a safe and efficient remedy in either of +the above diseases:—</p> +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 229a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sassafras,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Honey, sufficient to amalgamate the above. Dose, a table-spoonful every +morning. To prevent the sheep from rubbing themselves, apply</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 229b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Pyroligneous acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 gill.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 quart.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, and wet the parts with a sponge.</p> + +<p><i>Remarks.</i>—In reference to the scab, Dr. Gunther says, "Of all the +preservatives which have been proposed, inoculation is the best. It has +two advantages: first, the disease so occasioned is much more mitigated, +and very rarely proves fatal; in the next place, an entire flock may get +well from it in the space of fifteen days, whilst the natural form of +the disorder requires care and attention for at least six months. It has +been ascertained that the latter kills<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> more than one half of those +attacked; whilst among the sheep that have been inoculated, the greatest +proportion that die of it is one per cent."</p> + +<p>Whenever the scab makes its appearance, the whole flock should be +examined, and every one having the least abrasion eruption of the skin +should be put under medical treatment.</p> + +<p>In most cases, itch is the result of infection. A single sheep infected +with it is sufficient to infect a whole flock. If a few applications of +the pyroligneous wash, aided by the medicine, are not sufficient to +remove the malady, then recourse must be had to the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 229c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Fir balsam,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half a pint.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Anoint the sores daily.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>The only additional treatment necessary in erysipelas is, to give a +bountiful supply of tea made of lemon balm, sweetened with honey.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> More likely the remedies. They are tobacco and corrosive +sublimate—destructive poisons.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>DIARRHŒA.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This is not always to be considered as a disease, but in many cases it +proves salutary operation of nature; therefore it should not be too +suddenly checked.</p> + +<p>We commence the treatment by feeding on boiled meal. We then give +mucilaginous drink made from marshmallows, slippery elm, or poplar bark. +If, at the end of two days, symptoms of amendment have not made their +appearance, the following draught must be given:—</p> + +<p>Make a strong infusion of raspberry leaves, to a pint of which add a +tea-spoonful of tincture of capsicum, (hot drops,) and one of charcoal. +To be repeated every morning, until healthy action is established.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>DYSENTERY.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This malady may be treated in the same manner as diarrhœa. Should +blood and slime be voided in large quantities, the excrement emit a +fetid odor, and the animal waste rapidly, then, in addition to the +mucilaginous drink, administer the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 230"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given, in hardhack tea, as occasion may require.</p> + +<p>A small quantity of charcoal, given three times a day, with boiled food, +will frequently cure the disease, alone.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>Dysentery is sometimes mistaken for diarrhœa; but they may be +distinguished by the following characteristics:—</p> + +<p>1st. Diarrhœa most frequently attacks weak animals; whereas dysentery +ofttimes attacks animals in good condition.</p> + +<p>2d. Dysentery generally attacks sheep in the hot months; on the other +hand, diarrhœa terminates at the commencement of the hot season.</p> + +<p>3d. In diarrhœa, there are scarcely any feverish symptoms, and no +straining before evacuation, as in dysentery.</p> + +<p>4th. In diarrhœa, the excrement is loose, but in other respects +natural, without any blood or slime; whereas in dysentery the fæces +consist of hard lumps, blood, and slime.</p> + +<p>5th. There is not that degree of fetor in the fæces, in diarrhœa, +which takes place in dysentery.</p> + +<p>6th. In dysentery, the appetite is totally gone; in diarrhœa, it is +generally better than usual.</p> + +<p>7th. Diarrhœa is not contagious; dysentery is supposed to be highly +so.</p> + +<p>8th. In dysentery, the animal wastes rapidly; but by diarrhœa, only a +temporary stop is put to thriving, after which it makes rapid advances +to strength, vigor, and proportion.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>CONSTIPATION, OR STRETCHES.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>By these terms are implied a preternatural or morbid detention and +hardening of the excrement; a disease to which all animals are subject, +unless proper attention be paid to their management. It mostly arises +from want of exercise, feeding on frosted oats, indigestible matter of +every kind, impure water, &c. Costiveness is often the case of flatulent +and spasmodic colic, and often of inflammation of the bowels.</p> + +<p>Mr. Morrill says, "I have always found that the quantity of medicine +necessary to act as an <i>opiate</i> on this dry mass <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>[alluding to that +found in the manyplus and intestines] will kill the animal. If I am +mistaken, I will take it kindly to be set right." You are quite right.</p> + +<p>Let us see what Professor J. A. Gallup says, in his Institutes of +Medicine, vol. ii. p. 187. "The practice of giving opiates to mitigate +pain, &c., is greatly to be deprecated; it is not only unjustifiable, +but should be esteemed unpardonable. It is probable that, for forty +years past, opium and its preparations have done <i>seven times the +injury</i> that they have rendered benefit"—killed seven where they have +saved one! Page 298, he calls opium the "most destructive of all +narcotics," and wishes he could "speak through a lengthened trumpet, +that he might tingle the ears" of those who use and prescribe it. All +the opiates used by the allopathists contain more or less of this +poisonous drug. Opiates given with a view of softening mass alluded to +will certainly disappoint those who administer them; for, under the use +of such "palliatives," the digestive powers fail, and a general state of +feebleness and inactivity ensues, which exhausts the vital energies.</p> + +<p>It will be found in stretches, that other organs, as well as the +"manyplus," are not performing their part in the business of +physiological or healthy action, and they must be excited to perform +their work; for example, if the food remains in either of the stomachs +in the form of a hard mass, then the surface of the body is evaporating +too much moisture from the general system; the skin should be better +toned. Pure air is one of the best and most valuable of nature's tonics. +Let the flock have pure air to breathe, and sufficient room to use their +limbs, with proper diet, and there will be little occasion for medicine.</p> + + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—The disease is to be obviated by proper attention to diet, +exercise, and ventilation; and when these fail, to have recourse to +bitter laxatives, injections, and aperients. The use of salts and castor +oil creates a necessity for their repetition, for they overwork the +mucous surfaces, and their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>delicate vessels lose their natural +sensibility, and become torpid. Scalded shorts are exceedingly valuable +in this complaint, as also are boiled carrots, parsnips, &c.</p> + +<p>The derangement must be treated according to its indications, thus:—</p> + +<p>Suppose the digestive organs to be deranged, and rumination to have +ceased; then take a tea-spoonful of extract of butternut, and dissolve +it in a pint of thoroughwort tea, and give it at a dose. Use an +injection of soap-suds, if necessary.</p> + +<p>Suppose the excrement to be hard, coated with slime, and there be danger +of inflammation in the mucous surfaces; then give a wine-glass of +linseed oil,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> to which add a raw egg.</p> + +<p>It is scarcely ever necessary to repeat the dose, provided the animal is +allowed a few scalded shorts.</p> + +<p>If the liver is supposed to be inactive, give, daily, a tea-spoonful of +golden seal in the food.</p> + +<p>If the animal void worms with the fæces, then give a tea made from cedar +boughs, or buds, to which add a small quantity of salt.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Olive oil will answer the same purpose.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SCOURS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In scours, the surface evaporates too little of the moisture, and should +be relaxed by diffusible stimulants in the form of ginger tea. The +treatment that we have found the most successful is as follows: take +four ounces raw linseed oil, two ounces of lime water; mix. Let this +quantity be given to a sheep on the first appearance of the above +disease; half the quantity will suffice for a lamb. Give about a +wine-glass full of ginger tea at intervals of four hours, or mix a small +quantity of ginger in the food. Let the animal be fed on gruel, or +mashes of ground meal. If the above treatment fails to arrest the +disease, add half a tea-spoonful of powdered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>bayberry bark. If the +extremities are cold, rub them with the tincture of capsicum.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>DIZZINESS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Mr. Gunther says, "Sheep are often observed to describe eccentric +circles for whole hours, then step forwards a pace, then again stop, and +turn round again. The older the disease, the more the animal turns, +until at length it does it even in a trot. The appetite goes on +diminishing, emaciation becomes more and more perceptible, and the state +of exhaustion terminates in death. On opening the skull, there are met, +either beneath the bones of the cranium, or beneath the dura mater,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> +or in the brain itself, hydatids varying in number and size, sometimes a +single one, often from three to six, the size of which varies: according +as these worms occupy the right side or the left, the sheep turns to the +right or left; but if they exist on both sides, the turning takes place +to the one and the other alternately.</p> + +<p>"The animal very often does not turn, which happens when the worm is +placed on the median line; then the affected animal carries the head +down, and though it seems to move rapidly, it does not change place. +When the hydatid is situated on the posterior part of the brain, the +animal carries the head high, runs straight forward, and throws itself +on every object it meets."</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Take</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 234"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered worm seeds, (<i>chenopodium anthelminticum</i>,)</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%" style="vertical-align: bottom;">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Linseed, or flaxseed,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pound.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>Mix. Divide into eight parts, and feed one every morning. Make a drink +from the white Indian hemp, (<i>asclepias incarnata</i>,) one ounce of which +may be infused in a quart of water, one fourth to be given every night.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> The membrane which lines the interior of the skull.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>JAUNDICE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This malady generally involves the whole system in its deranged action. +It is recognized by the yellow tint of the conjunctiva, (white of the +eye,) and mucous membranes lining the nostrils and mouth. We generally +employ for its cure</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 235"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered mandrake,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered ginger,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 tea-spoonfuls.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Divide into two parts. Give one dose in the morning, and the other +at night. An occasional drink of camomile tea, a few bran mashes, and +boiled carrots, will complete the cure.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>A derangement of these organs may result from external violence, or it +may depend on the animal having eaten stimulating or poisonous plants.</p> + +<p>Its symptoms are, pain in the region of the kidneys; the back is arched, +and the walk stiff and painful, with the legs widely separated; there is +a frequent desire to make water, and that is high colored or bloody; the +appetite is more or less impaired, and there is considerable thirst.</p> + +<p>The indications are, to lubricate the mucous surfaces, remove morbific +materials from the system, and improve the general health.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>We commence the treatment by giving</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 236a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Poplar bark, finely powdered,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pleurisy root, finely powdered,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Make a mucilage of the poplar bark, by stirring in boiling water; then +add the pleurisy root; the whole to be given in the course of +twenty-four hours. The diet should consist of a mixture of linseed, +boiled carrots, and meal.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>WORMS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The intestinal worms generally arise from impaired digestion. The +symptoms are, a diminution of rumination, wasting away of the body, and +frequent snorting, obstruction of the nostrils with mucus of a greater +or less thickness.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Compound for Worms.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 236b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered worm seed,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered skunk cabbage,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered ginger,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Dose, a tea-spoonful night and morning in the fodder.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>DISEASES OF THE STOMACH FROM EATING POISONOUS PLANTS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Take the animal from pasture, and put it on a boiled diet, +of shorts, meal, linseed, and carrots. The following alterative may be +mixed in the food:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 236c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered marshmallows,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sassafras bark,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl">Powdered licorice,</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Dose, one table-spoonful every night.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SORE NIPPLES.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Lambs often die of hunger, from their dams refusing them suck. The cause +of this is sore nipples, or some tumor in the udder, in which violent +pain is excited by the tugging of the lamb. Washing with poplar bark, or +anointing the teats with powdered borax and honey, will generally effect +a cure.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>FRACTURES.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The mending of a broken bone, though somewhat tedious, is by no means +difficult, when the integuments are not torn. Let the limb be gently +distended, and the broken ends of the bone placed in contact with each +other. A piece of stiff leather, of pasteboard, or of thin shingle, +wrapped in a soft rag, is then to be laid along the limb, so that it may +extend an inch or two beyond the contiguous part. The splints are then +to be secured by a bandage of linen an inch and a half broad. After +being firmly rolled up, it should be passed spirally round the leg, +taking care that every turn of the bandage overlaps about two thirds of +the preceding one. When the inequality of the parts causes the margin to +slack, it must be reversed or folded over; that is, its upper margin +must become the lower, &c. The bandage should be moderately tight, so as +to support the parts without intercepting the circulation, and should be +so applied as to press equally on every part. The bandage may be +occasionally wet with a mixture of equal parts of vinegar and water.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>COMMON CATARRH AND EPIDEMIC INFLUENZA.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The seat of the disease is in the mucous membrane, which is a +continuation of the external skin, folded into all the orifices of the +body, as the mouth, eyes, nose, ears, lungs, stomach, intestines and +bladder; its structure of arterial capillaries, veins, arteries, nerves, +&c., is similar to the external skin; its most extensive surfaces are +those of the lungs and intestines, the former of which is supposed to be +greater than the whole external surface of the body.</p> + +<p>The healthy office of this membrane is to furnish from the blood a fluid +called mucus, to lubricate its own surface, and protect it from the +action of materials taken into the system. The mucous membrane and the +external surface of the body seem to be a counterpart of each other, and +perform nearly the same offices; hence, if the action of one is +suppressed, the other commences the performance of its office; thus a +cold which closes the skin immediately stops the perspiration, which is +now forced through the mucous membrane, producing the discharge of +watery humors, pus intermixed with blood, dry cough, emaciation, &c. +There are two varieties of this disease; the first is called <i>common +catarrh</i>, which proceeds from cold taken in pasture that is not properly +drained, also from atmospheric changes; it may also proceed from acrid +or other irritating effluvia inhaled in the air, or from poisonous +substances taken in the stomach in the form of food. The second variety +is called <i>epidemic influenza</i>, and is produced by general causes; the +attack is sometimes sudden; although of nearly the same nature as the +first form, it is more obstinate, and the treatment must be more +energetic. It is very difficult to lay down correct rules for the +treatment of this malady, under its different forms and stages. The +principal object to be kept in view is, to equalize the circulation, +remove the irritating causes from the organs affected, and restore the +tone of the system.</p> + +<p>For this purpose, we make use of the following articles:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 239a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Horehound, (herb,)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Marshmallow, (root,)</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered elecampane, (root,)</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered licorice, (root,)</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered cayenne,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Molasses,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 table-spoonfuls.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 table-spoonfuls.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, pour on the whole one quart of boiling water, set it aside for two +hours, then strain through cotton cloth, and give a table-spoonful night +and morning.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> If the bowels are constipated, a dose of linseed oil +should precede the mixture. No water should be allowed during the +treatment.</p> + +<p>The following injection may be used:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="pgn 239b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered bayberry bark,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered gum arabic,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Stir occasionally while cooling, and strain as above.</p> + +<p>The legs and ears should be briskly rubbed with tincture of capsicum; +this latter acts as a counter-irritant, equalizes the circulation, and, +entering into the system, gives tone and vigor to the whole animal +economy.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> This preparation undergoes a process of fermentation in +the course of forty-eight hours, and should therefore only be made in +sufficient quantities for present use.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>CASTRATING LAMBS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The lambs are first driven into a small enclosure. Select the ewe from +the ram lambs, and let the former go. Two assistants are necessary. One +catches the lambs; the other is seated on a low bench for the purpose of +taking the lamb on his lap, where he holds it by the four legs. The +operator, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>having previously supplied himself with a piece of waxed silk +and the necessary implements, grasps the scrotum in his left hand. He +then makes an incision over the most prominent part of the testicle, +through the skin, cellular structure, &c. The testicle escapes from the +scrotum. A ligature is now passed around the spermatic artery, and tied, +and the cord is severed, bringing the testicle away at one stroke of the +knife. As soon as the operation is completed, the animal is released. +The evening is the best time for performing the operation, for then the +animal remains quiet during the night, and the wound heals kindly.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>NATURE OF SHEEP.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"The sheep, though in most countries under the protection and control of +man, is not that stupid and contemptible animal that has been +represented. Amidst those numerous flocks which range without control on +extensive mountains, where they seldom depend upon the aid of man, it +will be found to assume very different character. In those situations, a +ram or a wether will boldly attack a single dog, and often come off +victorious; but when the danger is more alarming, they have recourse to +the collected strength of the whole flock. On such occasions, they draw +up into a compact body, placing the young and the females in the centre, +while the males take the foremost ranks; keeping close by each other. +Thus an armed front is presented to all quarters, and cannot be easily +attacked, without danger or destruction to the assailant. In this manner +they wait with firmness the approach of the enemy; nor does their +courage fail them in the moment of attack; for when the aggressor +advances to within a few yards of the line, the rams dart upon him with +such impetuosity, as to lay him dead at their feet, unless he save +himself by flight. Against the attack of a single dog, when in this +situation, they are perfectly secure."</p> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>THE RAM.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Mr. Lawson says, "It may be observed that the rams of different breeds +of sheep vary greatly in their forms, wools, and fleeces, and other +properties; but the following description, by that excellent +stock-farmer, Mr. Culley, deserves the attention of the breeder and +grazier. According to him, the head of the ram should be fine and small; +his nostrils wide and expanded; his eyes prominent, and rather bold or +daring; his ears thin; his collar fall from his breast and shoulders, +but tapering gradually all the way to where the neck and head join, +which should be very fine and graceful, being perfectly free from any +coarse leather hanging down; the shoulders full, which must, at the same +time, join so easy to the collar forward, and chine backward, as to +leave not the least hollow in either place; the mutton upon his arm or +fore thigh must come quite to the knee; his legs upright, with a clean +fine bone, being equally clear from superfluous skin and coarse, hairy +wool from the knee and hough downwards; the breast broad and well +forward, which will keep his fore legs at a proper width; his girt or +chest full and deep, and instead of a hollow between the shoulders, that +part by some called the fore flank should be quite full; the back and +loins broad, flat, and straight, from which the ribs must rise with a +fine circular arch; his belly straight; the quarters long and full, with +the mutton quite down to the hough, which should neither stand in nor +out; his twist, or junction of the inside of the thighs, deep, wide, and +full, which, with the broad breast, will keep his legs open and upright; +the whole body covered with a thin pelt, and that with fine, bright, +soft wool.</p> + +<p>"It is to be observed that the nearer any breed of sheep come up to the +above description, the nearer they approach towards excellence of +form."</p> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>LEAPING.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"The manner of treating rams has lately received a very great +improvement. Instead of turning them loose among the ewes at large, as +heretofore, and agreeably to universal practice, they are kept apart, in +a separate paddock, or small enclosure, with a couple of ewes only each, +to make them rest quietly; having the ewes of the flock brought to them +singly, and leaping each only once. By this judicious and accurate +regulation, a ram is enabled to impregnate near twice the number of ewes +he would do if turned loose among them, especially a young ram. In the +old practice, sixty or eighty ewes were esteemed the full number for a +ram. [Overtaxing the male gives rise to weak and worthless offspring.]</p> + +<p>"The period during which the rams are to go with the ewes must be +regulated by climate, and the quantity of spring food provided. It is of +great importance that lambs should be dropped as early as possible, that +they not only be well nursed, but have time to get stout, and able to +provide for themselves before the winter sets in. It is also of good +advantage to the ewes that they may get into good condition before the +rutting season. The ram has been known to live to the age of fifteen +years, and begins to procreate at one. When castrated, they are called +<i>wethers</i>; they then grow sooner fat, and the flesh becomes finer and +better flavored."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>ARGYLESHIRE BREEDERS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In Argyleshire, the principal circumstances attended to by the most +intelligent sheep-farmers are these: to stock lightly, which will mend +the size of the sheep, with the quantity and quality of the wool, and +also render them less subject to diseases; (in all these respects it is +allowed, by good judges, that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>five hundred sheep, kept well, will +return more profit than six hundred kept indifferently;) to select the +best lambs, and such as have the finest, closest, and whitest wool, for +tups and breeding ewes, and to cut and spay the worst; to get a change +of rams frequently, and of breeding ewes occasionally; to put the best +tups to the best ewes, which is considered necessary for bringing any +breed to perfection; not to top three-year-old ewes, (which, in bad +seasons especially, would render the lambs produced by them of little +value, as the lambs would not have a sufficiency of milk; and would also +tend to lessen the size of the stock;) to keep no rams above three, or +at most four years old, nor any breeding ewes above five or six; to +separate the rams from the 10th of October, for a month or six weeks, to +prevent the lambs from coming too early in the spring; to separate the +lambs between the 15th and 25th of June; to have good grass prepared for +them; and if they can, to keep them separate, and on good grass all +winter, that they may be better attended to, and have the better chance +of avoiding disease. A few, whose possessions allow them to do it, keep +not only their lambs, but also their wethers, ewes, &c., in separate +places, by which every man, having his own charge, can attend to it +better than if all were in common; and each kind has its pasture that +best suits it.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>FATTENING SHEEP.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>We are indebted to Mr. Cole, editor of the New England Farmer, for the +following article, which is worthy the attention of the reader:—</p> + +<p>"Quietude and warmth contribute greatly to the fattening process. This +is a fact which has not only been developed by science, but proved by +actual practice. The manner in which these agents operate is simple, and +easily explained. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>Motion increases respiration, and the excess of +oxygen, thus taken, requires an increased quantity of carbon, which +would otherwise be expended in producing fat. So, likewise, <i>cold robs +the system of animal heat</i>; to supply which, more oxygen and more carbon +must be employed in extra combustion, to restore the diminution of +temperature. Nature enforces the restoration of warmth, by causing cold +to produce both hunger and a disposition for motion, supplying carbon by +the gratification of the former, and oxygen by the indulgence of the +latter. The above facts are illustrated by Lord Ducie:—</p> + +<p>"One hundred sheep were placed in a shed, and ate twenty pounds of +Swedish turnips each per day; whilst another hundred, in the open air, +ate twenty-five pounds each; and at that rate for a certain period: the +former animals weighed each thirty pounds more than the latter; plainly +showing that, to a certain extent, <i>warmth is a substitute for food</i>. +This was also proved, by the same nobleman, in other experiments, which +also illustrated the effect of exercise.</p> + +<p>"No. 1. Five sheep were fed in the open air, between the 21st of +November and the 1st of December. They consumed ninety pounds of food +per day, the temperature being 44°. At the end of this time, they +weighed two pounds less than when first exposed.</p> + +<p>"No. 2. Five sheep were placed under shelter, and allowed to run at a +temperature of 49°. They consumed at first eighty-two pounds, then +seventy pounds, and increased in weight twenty-three pounds.</p> + +<p>"No. 3. Five sheep were placed in the same shed, but not allowed any +exercise. They ate at first sixty-four pounds, then fifty-eight pounds, +and increased in weight thirty pounds.</p> + +<p>"No. 4. Five sheep were kept in the dark, quiet and covered. They ate +thirty-five pounds per day, and increased in weight eight pounds.</p> + +<p>"A similar experiment was tried by Mr. Childers, M. P. He states, that +eighty Leicester sheep, in the open field, consumed fifty baskets of cut +turnips per day, besides oil cake. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>On putting them in a shed, they were +immediately able to consume only thirty baskets, and soon after but +twenty-five, being only one half the quantity required before; and yet +they fattened as rapidly as when eating the largest quantity.</p> + +<p>"From these experiments, it appears that the least quantity of food, +which is required for fattening, is when animals are kept closely +confined in warm shelters; and the greatest quantity when running at +large, exposed to all weather. But, although animals will fatten faster +for a certain time without exercise than with it, if they are closely +confined for any considerable time, and are at the same time full fed, +they become, in some measure, feverish; the proportion of fat becomes +too large, and the meat is not so palatable and healthy as when they are +allowed moderate exercise, in yards or small fields.</p> + +<p>"As to the kinds of food which may be used most advantageously in +fattening, this will generally depend upon what is raised upon the farm, +it being preferable, in most cases, to use the produce of the farm. +Sheep prefer beans to almost any other grain; but neither beans nor peas +are so fattening as some other grains, and are used most advantageously +along with them. Beans, peas, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, &c., may be +used along with Indian corn, or oil cake, or succulent food, making +various changes and mixtures, in order to furnish the variety of food +which is so much relished by the sheep, and which should ever be +attended to by the sheep fattener. This will prevent their being cloyed, +and will hasten the fattening process. A variety of food, says Mr. +Spooner, operates like cookery in the human subject, enabling more +sustenance to be taken.</p> + +<p>"The quantity of grain or succulent food, which it will be proper to +feed, will depend upon the size, age, and condition of the sheep; and +judgment must be used in ascertaining how much they can bear. Mr. +Childers states that sheep (New Leicester) fed with the addition of half +a pint of barley per sheep, per day, half a pound of linseed oil cake, +with hay, and a constant supply of salt, became ready for the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>butcher +in ten weeks; the gain of flesh and tallow, thirty-three pounds to forty +pounds per head. (One sheep gained fifty-five pounds in twelve weeks.)</p> + +<p>"This experiment shows what is about the largest amount of grain which +it is necessary or proper to feed to New Leicester sheep, at any time +while fattening. The average weight of forty New Leicester wethers, +before fattening, was found by Mr. Childers to be one hundred and +twenty-eight pounds each. By weighing an average lot of any other kind +of sheep, which are to be fattened, and by reference to the table of +comparative nutriment of the different kinds of food, a calculation may +be readily made, as to the largest amount, which will be necessary for +them, of any article of food whatever.</p> + +<p>"When sheep are first put up for fattening, they should be sorted, when +convenient, so as to put those of the same age, size, and condition, +each by themselves, so that each may have a fair chance to obtain its +proportion of food, and may be fed the proper length of time.</p> + +<p>"They should be fed moderately at first, gradually increasing the +quantity to the largest amount, and making the proper changes of food, +so as not to cloy them, nor produce acute diseases of the head or +intestines, and never feeding so much as to scour them.</p> + +<p>"Sheep, when fattening, should not be fed oftener than three times a +day, viz., morning, noon, and evening. In the intervals between feeding, +they may fill themselves well, and will have time sufficient for +rumination and digestion: these processes are interrupted by too +frequent feeding. But they should be fed with regularity, both as to the +quantity of food and the time when it is given. When convenient, they +should have access to water at all times; otherwise a full supply of it +should be furnished to them immediately after they have consumed each +foddering.</p> + +<p>"When sheep become extremely fat, whether purposely or not, it is +generally expedient to slaughter them. Permitting animals to become +alternately very fat and lean is injurious to all stock. Therefore, if +animals are too strongly inclined to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>fatten at an age when wanted for +breeding, their condition as to flesh should be regulated by the +quantity and quality of their food or pasture."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>IMPROVEMENT IN SHEEP.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>No country in the world is better calculated for raising sheep than the +United States. The diversity of climate, together with the abundance and +variety of the products of the soil, united with the industry and +perseverance of the agriculturist, renders this country highly favorable +for breeding, maturing, and improving the different kinds of sheep. The +American people, taken as a whole, are intellectually stronger than any +other nation with the like amount of population, on the face of the +globe; consequently they are all-powerful, "for the mind is mightier +than the sword." All that we aim at, in these pages, is to turn the +current of the American mind to the important subject of improvement in +the animal kingdom; to show them the great benefits they will derive +from practical experience in the management of all classes of live +stock; and, lastly, to show them the value and importance of the +veterinary profession, when flourishing under the genial influence of a +liberal community. If we can only succeed in arresting the attention of +American stock raisers, and they, on the other hand, direct their whole +attention to the matter, then, in a few years, America will outshine her +more favored European rivals, and feel proud of her improved stock. What +the American people have done during the last half century in the +improvement of the soil, manufactures, arts, and sciences, is an earnest +of what they can do in ameliorating the condition of all classes of live +stock, provided they take hold of the subject in good earnest. Let any +one who is acquainted with the subject of degeneration, its causes and +fatal results, not only in reference to the stock itself, but as regards +the pocket of the breeder, and the health of the whole <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>community,—let +such a one go into our slaughter-houses and markets, and if he does not +see a wide field for improvement, then we will agree to let the subject +sink into oblivion. In order to show what a whole community can +accomplish when their efforts are directed to one object, let us look on +what a single individual, by his own industry and perseverance, has +accomplished simply in improving the breed of sheep. The person referred +to is Mr. Bakewell. His breeding animals were, in the first place, +selected from different breeds. These he crossed with the best to be +had. After the cross had been carried to the desired point, he confined +his selections to his own herds or flocks. He formed in his mind a +standard of perfection for each kind of animals, and to this he +constantly endeavored to bring them. That he was eminently successful in +the attainment of his object, cannot be denied. He began his farming +operations about 1750. In 1760, his rams did not sell for more than two +or three guineas per head. From this time he gradually advanced in +terms, and in 1770 he let some for twenty-five guineas a head for the +season. Marshall states that, in 1786, Bakewell let two thirds of a ram +(reserving a third for himself) to two breeders, for a hundred guineas +each, the entire services of the ram being rated at three hundred +guineas the season. It is also stated that he made that year, by letting +rams, more than one thousand pounds.</p> + +<p>"In 1789, he made twelve hundred guineas by three '<i>ram brothers</i>,' and +two thousand guineas from seven, and, from his whole letting, full three +thousand guineas. Six or seven other breeders made from five hundred to +a thousand guineas each by the same operation. The whole amount of +ram-letting of Bakewell's breed is said to have been not less, that +year, than ten thousand pounds, [forty-eight thousand dollars.]</p> + +<p>"It is true that still more extraordinary prices were obtained for the +use of rams of this breed after Mr. Bakewell's death. Pitt, in his +'Survey of Leicestershire,' mentions that, in 1795, Mr. Astley gave +three hundred guineas for the use of a ram of this breed, engaging, at +the same time, that he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>should serve <i>gratis</i> twenty ewes owned by the +man of whom the ram was hired; making for the entire use of the ram, +that season, four hundred and twenty guineas. In 1796, Mr. Astley gave +for the use of the same ram three hundred guineas, and took forty ewes +to be served gratis. At the price charged for the service of the ram to +each ewe, the whole value for the season was five hundred guineas. He +served one hundred ewes. In 1797, the same ram was let to another person +at three hundred guineas, and twenty ewes sent with him; the serving of +which was reckoned at a hundred guineas, and the ram was restricted to +sixty more, which brought his value for the season to four hundred +guineas. Thus the ram made, in three seasons, the enormous sum of +<i>thirteen hundred guineas</i>.</p> + +<p>"We have nothing to do, at present, with the question whether the value +of these animals was not exaggerated. The actual superiority of the +breed over the stock of the country must have been obvious, and this +point we wish kept in mind.</p> + +<p>"This breed of sheep is continued to the present day, and it has been +remarked by a respected writer, that they will 'remain a lasting +monument of Bakewell's skill.' As to their origin, the testimony shows +them to have been of <i>mixed blood</i>; though no breed is more distinct in +its characters, or transmits its qualities with more certainty; and if +we were without any other example of successful crossing, the advocates +of the system might still point triumphantly to the Leicester or +Bakewell sheep.</p> + +<p>"But what are the opinions of our best modern breeders in regard to the +practicability of producing distinct breeds by crossing? Robert Smith, +of Burley, Rutlandshire, an eminent sheep-breeder, in an essay on the +'Breeding and Management of Sheep,' for which he received a prize from +the Royal Agricultural Society, (1847,) makes the following remarks: +'The crossing of pure breeds has been a subject of great interest +amongst every class of breeders. While all agree that the first cross +may be attended with good results, there exists a diversity of opinion +upon the future movements, or putting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>the crosses together. Having +tried experiments (and I am now pursuing them for confirmation) in every +way possible, I do not hesitate to express my opinion, that, by proper +and judicious crossing through several generations, a most valuable +breed of sheep may be raised and established; in support of which I may +mention the career of the celebrated Bakewell, who raised a <i>new</i> +variety from other long-wooled breeds by dint of perseverance and +propagation, and which have subsequently corrected all other long-wooled +breeds.'"</p> + +<p>We have alluded to the low price of some of the mutton brought to the +Boston market. We do not wish the reader to infer that there is none +other to be had: on the contrary, we have occasionally seen as good +mutton there as in any European market. There are a number of practical +and worthy men engaged in improving the different kinds of live stock, +and preventing the degeneracy to which we refer. They have taken much +interest in that class of stock, and they have been abundantly rewarded +for their labor. But the great mass want more light on this subject, and +for this reason we endeavor to show the causes of degeneracy, to enable +them to avoid the errors of their forefathers.</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts, of Pennsylvania, says, "Early in my experience, I witnessed +the renovation of a flock of what we call country sheep, that had been +too long propagated in the same blood. This was about the year 1798. An +imported ram from England, with heavy horns, very much resembling the +most vigorous Spanish Merinos, was obtained. The progeny were improved +in the quality of fleece, and in the vigor of constitution. On running +this stock in the same blood for some twelve years, a great +deterioration became apparent. A male was then obtained of the large +coarse-wooled Spanish stock: improvement in the vigor of the progeny was +again most obvious. A Tunis mountain ram was then obtained, with a +result equally favorable. In this process, fineness of fleece or weight +was less the object than the carcass. In 1810, a male of not quite pure +Merino blood was placed with the same stock of ewes; and a change of the +male from year <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>to year, for some time, produced a superior Merino +stock. Wool of a marketable quality for fine cloths was now the object; +and it was not an unprofitable husbandry, when it would sell in the +fleece, unwashed, from eighty-six cents to one dollar. The Saxon stock +then became the rage, and the introduction of a tup of that country +diminished greatly the weight of the fleece, without adequately +improving its fineness. A male of the Spanish stock would give sometimes +nine pounds; and the marsh graziers say that they went as high as +fifteen pounds. Saxon males scarcely exceed five pounds, and the ewes +two and a half pounds. By running in the same blood, and poor keeping, +the fleece may be made finer, but it will be lightened in proportion, +and of a weak and infirm texture. There are few stock-keepers who have +mixed the Spanish with the Saxon breeds but what either do or will have +cause to regret it. In this part of the country, a real Spanish Merino +is not to be obtained. Sheep-raising has ceased to be a business of any +profit nearer to the maritime coast than our extensive mountain ranges, +whether for carcass or fleece. I sold, the last season, water-washed +wool, of very fine quality, for thirty cents per pound. At such a price +for wool, land near our seaports can be turned to better account, even +in these dull times, than wool-growing. Stock sheep do best in stony and +elevated locations, where they have to use diligence to pick the scanty +blade. Sheep on the sea-board region should be kept more for carcass +than fleece; and feeding, more than breeding, ought to be the object for +some one hundred miles from tide water. It is now a well-ascertained +fact, that health and vigor can only be perpetuated by not running too +long on the same blood. The evils I have witnessed were due to a want of +care on this head more than to any endemical quality in our climate. +Sheep kept on smooth land and soft pasture are liable to the foot rot. +The hoofs of the Merino require paring occasionally, for want of a stony +mountain side to ascend. It is no longer a problem that this is to be a +great wool-growing country, as well as a wool-consuming one. There is, +in our wool-growing country, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>land in abundance, held at a price that +will enable the wool-grower to produce the finest qualities at thirty +cents per pound, the cloths to be manufactured in proportion, and the +market to be steady. I have seen Merino wool, since 1810, range from one +dollar per pound to eighteen and three fourths cents, though I do not +recollect selling below twenty-two cents. The best variety of sheep +stock I have seen, putting fineness of fleece aside, was the mixed +Bakewell and South Down, imported by Mr. Smith, of New Jersey. The flesh +of the Merino has been pronounced of inferior flavor. This, however, +does not agree with my experience, as I have found the lambs command a +readier sale than any other, from being preferred by consumers."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT BREEDS OF SHEEP.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Mr. Lawson tells us that "the variety in sheep is so great, that +scarcely any two countries produce sheep of the same kind. There is +found a manifest difference in all, either in the size, the covering, +the shape, or the horns."</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">TEESWATER BREED.</p> + +<p>"This is a breed of sheep said to be the largest in England. It is at +present the most prevalent in the rich, fine, fertile, enclosed lands on +the banks of the Tees, in Yorkshire. In this breed, which is supposed to +be from the same stock as those of the Lincolns, greater attention seems +to have been paid to size than wool. It is, however, a breed only +calculated for warm, rich pastures, where they are kept in small lots, +in small enclosures, and well supported with food in severe winter +seasons. The legs are longer, finer boned, and support a thicker and +more firm and heavy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>carcass than the Lincolnshires; the sheep are much +wider on the backs and sides, and afford a fatter and finer-grained +mutton.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">LINCOLN SHIRE BREED.</p> + +<p>"This is a breed of sheep which is characterized by their having no +horns; white faces; long, thin, weak carcasses thick, rough, white legs; +bones large; pelts thick; slow feeding; mutton coarse grained; the wool +from ten to eighteen inches in length; and it is chiefly prevalent in +the district which gives the name, and other rich grazing ones. The new, +or improved Lincolns, have now finer bone, with broader loins and +trussed carcasses, are among the best, if not actually the best, +long-wooled stock we have.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">THE DISHLEY BREED.</p> + +<p>"This is an improved breed of sheep, which is readily distinguished from +the other long-wooled sorts; having a fulness of form and substantial +width of carcass, with peculiar plainness and meekness of countenance; +the head long, thin, and leaning backward; the nose projecting forward; +the ears somewhat long, and standing backward; great fulness of the fore +quarters; legs of moderate length, and the finest bone; tail small; +fleece well covering the body, of the shortest and finest of the combing +wools, the length of staple six or seven inches.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">COTSWOLD BREED.</p> + +<p>"This is a breed of sheep answering the following description: long, +coarse head, with a particularly blunt, wide nose; a top-knot of wool on +the forehead, running under the ears; rather long neck; great length and +breadth of back and loin; full thigh, with more substance in the hinder +than fore quarters; bone somewhat fine; legs not long; fleece soft, like +that of the Dishley, but in closeness and darkness of color <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>bearing +more resemblance to short or carding wool. Although very fat, they have +all the appearance of sheep that are full of solid flesh, which would +come heavy to the scale. At two years and a half old, they have given +from eleven to fourteen pounds of wool each sheep; and, being fat, they +are indisputably among the larger breeds.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">ROMNEY MARSH BREED.</p> + +<p>"This is a kind which is described, by Mr. Young, as being a breed of +sheep without horns; white faces and legs; rather long in the legs; good +size; body rather long, but well barrel-shaped; bones rather large. In +respect to the wool, it is fine, long, and of a delicate white color, +when in its perfect state.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">DEVONSHIRE BREED.</p> + +<p>"This is a breed or sort of sheep which is chiefly distinguished by +having no horns; white faces and legs; thick necks; backs narrow, and +back-bones high; sides good; legs short, and bones large; and probably +without any material objection, being a variety of the common hornless +sort. Length of wool much the same as in the Romney Marsh breed. It is a +breed found to be prevalent in the district from which it has derived +its name, and is supposed to have received considerable improvement by +being crossed with the new Leicester, or Dishley.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">THE DORSETSHIRE BREED.</p> + +<p>"This breed is known by having the face, nose, and legs white, head +rather long, but broad, and the forehead woolly, as in the Spanish sort; +the horn round and bold, middle-sized, and standing from the head; the +shoulders broad at top, but lower than the hind quarters; the back +tolerably straight; carcass deep, and loins broad; legs not long, nor +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>very fine in the bone; the wool is fine and short. It is a breed which +has the peculiar property of producing lambs at any period of the +season, even so early as September and October, so as to suit the +purposes of the lamb-suckler.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">THE WILTSHIRE BREED.</p> + +<p>"This is a sort which has sometimes the title of <i>horned crocks</i>. The +writer on live stock distinguishes the breed as having a large head and +eyes; Roman nose; wide nostrils; horns bending down the cheeks; color +all white; wide bosom; deep, greyhound breast; back rather straight; +carcass substantial; legs short; bone coarse; fine middle wool, very +thin on the belly, which is sometimes bare. He supposes, with Culley, +that the basis of this breed is doubtless the Dorsets, enlarged by some +long-wooled cross; but how the horns came to take a direction so +contrary, is not easy, he thinks, to conjecture; he has sometimes +imagined it must be the result of some foreign, probably Tartarian +cross.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">THE SOUTH DOWN BREED.</p> + +<p>"This is a valuable sort of sheep, which Culley has distinguished by +having no horns; gray faces and legs; fine bones; long, small necks; and +by being rather low before, high on the shoulder, and light in the fore +quarter; sides good; loin tolerably broad; back-bone rather high; thigh +full; twist good; mutton fine in grain and well flavored; wool short, +very close and fine; in the length of the staple from two to three +inches. It is a breed which prevails on the dry, chalky downs in Sussex, +as well as the hills of Surrey and Kent, and which has lately been much +improved, both in carcass and wool, being much enlarged forward, +carrying a good fore flank; and for the short, less fertile, hilly +pastures is an excellent sort, as feeding close. The sheep are hardy, +and disposed to fatten quickly; and where the ewes are full kept, they +frequently produce twin lambs, nearly in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>proportion of one third of the +whole, which are, when dropped, well wooled.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">THE HERDWICK BREED.</p> + +<p>"This is a breed which is characterized by Mr. Culley as having no +horns, and the face and legs being speckled; the larger portion of +white, with fewer black spots, the purer the breed; legs fine, small, +clean; the lambs well covered when dropped; the wool, short, thick, and +matted in the fleece. It is a breed peculiar to the elevated, +mountainous tract of country at the head of the River Esk, and Duddon in +Cumberland, where they are let in herds, at an annual sum; whence the +name. At present, they are said to possess the property of being +extremely hardy in constitution, and capable of supporting themselves on +the rocky, bare mountains, with the trifling support of a little hay in +the winter season.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">THE CHEVIOT BREED.</p> + +<p>"This breed of sheep is known by the want of horns; by the face and legs +being mostly white; little depth in the breast; narrow there and on the +chine; clean, fine, small-boned legs, and thin pelts; the wool partly +fine and partly coarse. It is a valuable breed of mountain sheep, where +the herbage is chiefly of the natural grass kind, which is the case in +the situations where these are found the most prevalent, and from which +they have obtained their name. It is a breed which has undergone much +improvement, within these few years, in respect to its form and other +qualities, and has been lately introduced into the most northern +districts; and from its hardiness, its affording a portion of fine wool, +and being quick in fattening, it is likely to answer well in such +situations.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">THE MERINO BREED</p> + +<p>"In this breed of sheep, the males have horns, but the females are +without them. They have white faces and legs; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>the body not very perfect +in shape; rather long in the legs; fine in the bone; a production of +loose, pendulous skin under the neck; and the pelt fine and clear; the +wool very fine. It is a breed that is asserted by some to be tolerably +hardy, and to possess a disposition to fatten readily.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">THE WELSH SHEEP.</p> + +<p>"These, which are the most general breed in the hill districts, are +small horned, and all over of a white color. They are neat, compact +sheep. There is likewise a polled, short-wooled sort of sheep in these +parts of the country, which are esteemed by some. The genuine Welsh +mutton, from its smallness and delicate flavor, is commonly well known, +highly esteemed, and sold at a high price."</p> + +<div class="img"> +<a href="images/imagep255.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep255.jpg" width="75%" alt="A Boar." /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">A Boar.</p> + +<p class="noin" style="margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;">Bred and fed by Willm. Fisher Hobbs, Esq. of Marks Hall, Coggleshall, +Essex for which a Prize of £10 was awarded at the Meeting of the R.A.S +of E. at Derby 1843.</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SWINE.</h3> +<br /> +<br /> +<h3>PRELIMINARY REMARKS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Swine have generally been considered "unclean," creatures of gross +habits, &c.; but these epithets are unjust: they are not, in their +nature, the unclean, gross, insensible brutes that mankind suppose them. +If they are unclean, they got their first lessons from the lords of +creation, by being confined in narrow, filthy sties—often deprived of +light, and pure air, by being shut up in dark, underground cellars, to +wallow in their own excrement; at other times, confined beneath stables, +dragging out their existence in a perfect hotbed of +corruption—respiring the emanations from the dung and urine of other +animals; and often compelled to satisfy the cravings of hunger by +partaking of whatever comes in their way. All manner of filth, including +decaying and putrid vegetable and animal substances, are considered good +enough for the hogs. And as long as they get such kind of trash, and no +other, they must eat it; the cravings of hunger must be satisfied. The +Almighty has endowed them with powerful organs of digestion; and as long +as there is any thing before them that the gastric fluids are capable of +assimilating, although it be disgusting to their very natures, rather +than suffer of hunger, they will partake of it. Much of the indigestible +food given to swine deranges the stomach, and destroys the powers of +assimilation, or, in other words, leaves it in morbid state. There is +then a constant sensation of hunger, a longing for any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>and every thing +within their reach. Does the reader wonder, then, at their morbid +tastes? What will man do under the same circumstances? Suppose him to be +the victim of dyspepsia or indigestion. In the early stages, he is +constantly catering to the appetite. At one time, he longs for acids; at +another, alkalies; now, he wants stimulants; then, refrigerants, &c. +Again: what will not a man do to satisfy the cravings of hunger? Will he +not eat his fellow, and drink of his blood? And all to satisfy the +craving of an empty stomach.</p> + +<p>We know from experience that, if young pigs are daily washed, and kept +on clean cooked food, they will not eat the common city "swill;" they +eat it only when compelled by hunger. When free from the control of man, +they show as much sagacity in the selection of their food as any other +animals; and, indeed, more than some, for they seldom get poisoned, like +the ox, in mistaking noxious for wholesome food. The Jews, as well as +our modern physiologists, consider the flesh of swine unfit for food. No +doubt some of it is, especially that reared under the unfavorable +circumstances alluded to above. But good home-fed pork, kept on good +country produce, and not too fat, is just as good food for man as the +flesh of oxen or sheep, notwithstanding the opinion of our medical +brethren to the contrary. Their flesh has long been considered as one of +the principal causes of scrofula, and other diseases too numerous to +mention: without doubt this is the case. But that good, healthy pork +should produce such results we are unwilling to admit. We force them to +load their stomachs with the rotten offal of large cities, and thus +derange their whole systems; they become loaded with fat; their systems +abound in morbific fluids; their lungs become tuberculous; their livers +enlarge; calcerous deposits or glandular disorganization sets in. Take +into consideration their inactive habits; not voluntary, for instinct +teaches them, when at liberty, to run, jump, and gambol, by which the +excess of carbon is thrown off. Depriving them of exercise may be +profitable to the breeder, but it induces a state of plethora. The +cellular structures of such an animal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>are distended to their utmost +capacity, preventing the full and free play of the vital machinery, +obstructing the natural outlets (excrementitious vessels) on the +external surface, and retaining in the system morbid materials that are +positively injurious. At the present time, there is on exhibition in +Boston a woman, styled the "fat girl;" she weighs four hundred and +ninety-five pounds. A casual observer could detect nothing in her +external appearance that denoted disease; yet she is liable to die at +any moment from congestion of the brain, lungs, or liver. Any one +possessing a knowledge of physiology would immediately pronounce her to +be in a pathological state. Hence, the laws of the animal economy being +uniform, we cannot arrive at any other conclusion in reference to the +same plethoric state in animals of an inferior order.</p> + +<p>Professor Liebig tells us that excess of carbon, in the form of food, +cannot be employed to make a part of any organ; it must be deposited in +the cellular tissue in the form of tallow or oil. This is the whole +secret of fattening.</p> + +<p>At every period of animal life, when there occurs a disproportion +between the carbon of the food and the inspired oxygen, the latter being +deficient,—which must happen beneath stables and in ill-constructed +hog-sties,—fat must be formed.</p> + +<p>Experience teaches us that in poultry the maximum of fat is obtained by +preventing them from taking exercise, and by a medium temperature. These +animals, in such circumstances, may be compared to a plant possessing in +the highest degree the power of converting all food into parts of its +own structure. The excess of the constituents of blood forms flesh and +other organized tissues, while that of starch, sugar, &c., is converted +into fat. When animals are fed on food destitute of nitrogen, only +certain parts of their structure increase in size. Thus, in a goose +fattened in the manner alluded to, the liver becomes three or four times +larger than in the same animal when well fed, with free motion; while we +cannot say that the organized structure of the liver is thereby +increased. The liver of a goose fed in the ordinary <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>way is firm and +elastic; that of the imprisoned animal is soft and spongy. The +difference consists in a greater or less expansion of its cells, which +are filled with fat. Hence, when fat accumulates and free motion is +prevented, the animal is in a diseased state. Now, many tons of pork are +eaten in this diseased state, and it communicates disease to the human +family: they blame the pork, when, in fact, the pork raisers are often +more to blame. The reader is probably aware that some properties of food +pass into the living organism being assimilated by the digestive organs, +and produce an abnormal state. For example, the faculty of New York +have, time and again, testified to the destructive tendency of milk +drawn from cows fed in cities, without due exercise and ordinary care in +their management, giving it as their opinion that most of the diseases +of children are brought about by its use. If proof were necessary to +establish our position, we could cite it in abundance. A single case, +which happened in our own family, will suffice. A liver, taken from an +apparently healthy sow, (yet abounding in fat, and weighing about two +hundred pounds,) was prepared in the usual manner for dinner. We +observed, however, previous to its being cooked, that it was unusually +large; yet there was no appearance of disease about it; it was quite +firm. Each one partook of it freely. Towards night, and before partaking +of any other kind of food, we were all seized with violent pains in the +head, sickness at the stomach, and delirium: this continued for several +hours, when a diarrhœa set in, through which process the offending +matter was liberated, and each one rapidly recovered; pretty well +convinced, however, that we had had a narrow escape, and that the liver +was the sole cause of our misfortune.</p> + +<p>Hence the proper management of swine becomes a subject of great +importance; for, if more attention were paid to it, there would be less +disease in the human family. When we charge these animals with being +"unclean creatures of gross habits," let us consider whether we have +not, in some measure, contributed to make them what they are.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>Again: the hog has been termed "insensible," destitute of all those +finer feelings that characterize brutes of a higher order. Yet we have +"learned pigs," &c.—a proof that they can be taught something. A +celebrated writer tells us that no animal has a greater sympathy for +those of his own kind than the hog. The moment one of them gives a +signal, all within hearing rush to his assistance. They have been known +to gather round a dog that teased them and kill him on the spot; and if +a male and female be enclosed in a sty when young, and be afterwards +separated, the female will decline from the instant her companion is +removed, and will probably die—perhaps of what would be termed, in the +human family, a broken heart!</p> + +<p>In the Island of Minorca, hogs are converted into beasts of draught; a +cow, a sow, and two young horses, have been seen yoked together, and of +the four the sow drew the best.</p> + +<p>A gamekeeper of Sir H. Mildmay actually broke a sow to find game, and to +back and stand.</p> + +<p>Swine are frequently troubled with cutaneous diseases, which produce an +itching sensation; hence their desire to wallow and roll in the mire and +dirt. The lying down in wet, damp places relieves the irritation of the +external surface, and cools their bodies. This mud and filth, however, +in which they are often compelled to wallow, is by no means good or +wholesome for them.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HOG.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"The hog," says Professor Low, "is subject to remarkable changes of form +and characters, according to the situations in which he is placed. When +these characters assume a certain degree of permanence, a breed or +variety is formed; and there is none of the domestic animals which more +easily receives the characters we desire to impress upon it. This +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>arises from its rapid powers of increase, and the constancy with which +the characters of the parents are reproduced in the progeny. <i>There is +no kind of live stock that can be so easily improved by the breeder, and +so quickly rendered suitable for the purposes required.</i></p> + +<p>"The body is large in proportion to the limbs, or, in other words, the +limbs are short in proportion to the body; the extremities are free from +coarseness; the chest is broad, and the trunk round. Possessing these +characters, the hog never fails to arrive at early maturity, and with a +smaller consumption of food than when he possesses a different +conformation.</p> + +<p>"The wild boar, which was undoubtedly the progenitor of all the European +varieties, and of the Chinese breed, was formerly a native of the +British Islands, and very common in the forests until the time of the +civil wars in that country."</p> + +<p>We are told, that the wild hog "is now spread over the temperate and +warmer parts of the old continent and its adjacent islands. His color +varies with age and climate, but is generally a dusky brown, with black +spots and streaks. His skin is covered with coarse hairs and bristles, +intersected with soft wool, and with coarser and longer bristles upon +the neck and spine, which he erects when in anger. He is a very bold and +powerful creature, and becomes more fierce and indocile with age. From +the form of his teeth, he is chiefly herbivorous in his habits, and +delights in roots, which his acute sense of smell and touch enables him +to discover beneath the surface. He also feeds on animal substances, +such as worms and larvæ, which he grubs up from the earth, the eggs of +birds, small reptiles, the young of animals, and occasionally carrion; +he even attacks venomous snakes with impunity. In the natural state, the +female produces a litter but once a year;<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>in much smaller +numbers than when domesticated. She usually carries her young about four +months.</p> + +<p>"In the wild state, the hog has been known to live more than thirty +years; but when domesticated, he is usually slaughtered before he is two +years old. When the wild hog is tamed, it undergoes the following +amongst other changes in its conformation: the ears become less movable, +not being required to collect distant sounds; the formidable tusks of +the male diminish, not being necessary for self-defence; the muscles of +the neck become less developed, from not being so much exercised as in +the natural state; the head becomes more inclined, the back and loins +are lengthened, the body rendered more capacious, the limbs shorter and +less muscular; and anatomy proves that the stomach and intestinal canals +have also become proportionately extended along with the form of the +body. The habits and instincts of the animal change; it becomes diurnal +in its habits, not choosing the night for its search of food; is more +insatiate in its appetite, and the tendency to obesity increases.</p> + +<p>"The male, forsaking its solitary habits, becomes gregarious, and the +female produces her young more frequently, and in larger numbers. With +its diminished strength, and its want of active motion, the animal loses +its desire for liberty.</p> + +<p>"The true hog does not appear to be indigenous to America, but was taken +over by the early voyagers from the old world, and it is now spread and +multiplied throughout the continent.</p> + +<p>"The first settlers of North America and the United States carried with +them the swine of the parent country, and a few of the breeds still +retain traces of the old English character. From its nature and habits, +the hog was the most profitable and useful of all the animals bred by +the early settlers in the distant clearings. It was his surest resource +during the first years of toil and hardship."</p> + +<p>Their widely-extended foreign commerce afforded the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>Americans +opportunity of procuring the varieties from China, Africa, and other +countries. The large consumption of pork in the United States, and the +facilities for disposing of it abroad, will probably cause more +attention to be paid to the principles of breeding, rearing, feeding, +&c. The American farmers are doing good service in this department, and +any attempt on their part to improve the quality of pork ought to meet +with a corresponding encouragement from the community. We have no doubt +that many stock-raisers find their profits increase in proportion to the +care bestowed in rearing. Here is an example: A Mr. Hallock, of the town +of Coxsackie, has a sow which raised forty pigs within a year, which +sold for $275,—none of them being kept over nine months. Mr. Little, of +Poland, Ohio, states, in the Cultivator, that he has "a barrow three +years old, a full-blood Berkshire, which will now weigh nearly 1000 +pounds, live weight. He was weighed on the 3d of October, and then +brought down 880; since which he has improved rapidly, and will +doubtless reach the above figures. I have had this breed for seven years +<i>pure</i>,—descended from hogs brought from Albany and Buffalo, and a boar +imported by Mr. Fahnestock, of Pittsburg, Pa., from England, (the latter +a very large animal.) The stock have all been large and very +profitable—weighing, at seven to ten months old, from 250 to 300 +pounds. Several individuals have weighed over 400, and the sire of this +present one reached 750. This is, however, much the largest I have yet +raised."</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> In the domesticated state, the sow is often permitted to +have two and even three litters in a year. This custom is very +pernicious; it debilitates the mother, overworks all parts of the living +machinery, and being in direct opposition to the laws of their being, +their progeny must degenerate. Then, again, let the reader take into +consideration the fact that members of the same litter impregnate each +other, in the same ratio, and he cannot but come to a conclusion that we +have long since arrived at—that these practices are among the chief +causes of deterioration.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>GENERALITIES.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Dr. Gunther observes, that "the robust constitution of the pig causes it +to be less liable to fall sick than oxen and sheep. It would be still +less liable to disease, if persons manifested more judgment in the +choice of the animals to be reared, and if more care were shown in the +matter. With <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>reference to the latter point, it is very true that the +voracity of the pig urges it to eat every thing it meets; but to keep it +in a state of health, it is, notwithstanding, necessary to restrict its +regimen to certain rules. The animal which it is proposed to fatten +should remain under the roof, and receive good food there, whilst the +others may be sent out for the greater part of the year, care being +taken to avoid fields that are damp and marshy, and that the pigs be +preserved from the dew. It is also of importance that they should not be +driven too hard during warm days.</p> + +<p>"There are two other points which deserve to be taken into +consideration, if we wish swine to thrive: these are, daily exercise in +the open air whenever the weather permits, and cleanliness in the sty. +Constant confinement throws them into what may be called a morbid state, +which renders their flesh less wholesome for man. The manner in which +the animal evinces its joy when set at liberty proves sufficiently how +disagreeable confinement is to it. A very general prejudice prevails, +viz., that dung and filth do not injure swine; this opinion, however, is +absurd."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>GENERAL DEBILITY, OR EMACIATION.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The falling off in flesh, or wasting away, of swine is in most cases +owing to derangement in the digestive organs. The cure consists in +restoring the tone of these organs. We commence the treatment by putting +the animal on a boiled diet, consisting of bran, meal, or any wholesome +vegetable production. The following tonic and diffusible stimulant will +complete the cure:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 268"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered ginger,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Dose, a tea-spoonful, repeated night and morning.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>When loss in condition is accompanied with cough and difficulty of +breathing, mix, in addition to the above, a few kernels of garlic with +the food. The drink should consist of pure water. Should the cough prove +troublesome, take a tea-spoonful of fir balsam, and the same quantity of +honey; to be given night and morning, either in the usual manner, or it +may be stirred into the food while hot.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>EPILEPSY, OR FITS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The symptoms are too well known to need any description. It is generally +caused by plethora, yet it may exist in an hereditary form.</p> + + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Feed with due care, and put the animal in a +well-ventilated and clean situation; give a bountiful supply of valerian +tea, and sprinkle a small quantity of scraped horseradish in the food; +or give</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 269"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered assafœtida,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered capsicum,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Table salt,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Give half a tea-spoonful daily.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>RHEUMATISM.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—Exposure, wallowing in filth, &c.</p> + +<p><i>Symptoms.</i>—It is recognized by a muscular rigidity of the whole +system. The appetite is impaired, and the animal does not leave its sty +willingly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span><i>Treatment.</i>—Keep the animal on a boiled diet, which should be given to +him warm. Remove the cause by avoiding exposure and filth, and give a +dose of the following:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 270"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sassafras,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered cinnamon,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Dose, half a tea-spoonful, to be given in warm gruel. If this does not +give immediate relief, dip an old cloth in hot water, (of a proper +temperature,) and fold it round the animal's body. This may be repeated, +if necessary, until the muscular system is relaxed. The animal should be +wiped dry, and placed in a warm situation, with a good bed of straw.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>MEASLES.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This disease is very common, yet is often overlooked.</p> + +<p><i>Symptoms.</i>—It may be known by eruptions on the belly, ears, tongue, or +eyelids. Before the eruption appears, the animal is drowsy, the eyes are +dull, and there is sometimes loss of appetite, with vomiting. On the +other hand, if the disease shall have receded towards the internal +organs, its presence can only be determined by the general disturbance +of the digestive organs, and the appearance of a few eruptions beneath +the tongue.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Remove the animal from its companions to a warm place, and +keep it on thin gruel. Give a tea-spoonful of sulphur daily, together +with a drink of bittersweet tea. The object is to invite action to the +surface, and maintain it there. If the eruption does not reappear on the +surface, rub it with the following liniment:—</p> + +<p>Take one ounce of oil of cedar; dissolve in a wine-glass <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>of alcohol; +then add half a pint of new rum and a tea-spoonful of sulphur.</p> + +<p>Almost all the diseases of the skin may be treated in the same manner.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>OPHTHALMIA.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—Sudden changes in temperature, unclean sties, want of pure +air, and imperfect light.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Keep the animal on thin gruel, and allow two tea-spoonfuls +of cream of tartar per day. Wash the eyes with an infusion of +marshmallows, until a cure is effected.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>VERMIN.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Some animals are covered with vermin, which even pierce the skin, and +sometimes come out by the mouth, nose, and eyes.</p> + +<p><i>Symptoms.</i>—The animal is continually rubbing and scratching itself, or +burrowing in the dirt and mire.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—First wash the body with a strong lie of wood ashes or +weak saleratus water, then with an infusion of lobelia. Mix a +tea-spoonful of sulphur, and the same quantity of powdered charcoal, in +the food daily.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>RED ERUPTION.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This disease is somewhat analogous to scarlet fever. It makes its +appearance in the form of red pustules on the back and belly, which +gradually extend to the whole body. The external remedy is:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 272"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered bloodroot,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When cool, it should be rubbed on the external surface.</p> + +<p>The diet should consist of boiled vegetables, coarse meal, &c., with a +small dose of sulphur every night.</p> +<br /> +<br/> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>DROPSY.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Symptoms.</i>—The animal is sad and depressed, the appetite fails, +respiration is performed with difficulty, and the belly swells.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Keep the animal on a light, nutritive diet, and give a +handful of juniper berries, or cedar buds, daily. If these fail, give a +table-spoonful of fir balsam daily.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>CATARRH.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Symptoms.</i>—Occasional fits of coughing, accompanied with a mucous +discharge from the nose and mouth.</p> + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—Exposure to cold and damp weather.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span><i>Treatment.</i>—Give a liberal allowance of gruel made with powdered elm +or marshmallows, and give a tea-spoonful of balsam copaiba, or fir +balsam, every night. The animal must be kept comfortably warm.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>COLIC.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Spasmodic and flatulent colic requires antispasmodics and carminatives, +in the following form:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 273"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">Powdered caraway seeds,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered assafœtida,</td> + <td class="tdl">one third of a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given at a dose in warm water, and repeated at the expiration of +an hour, provided relief is not obtained.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>DIARRHŒA.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>For the treatment of this malady, see division <span class="smcap">Sheep</span>, article +<i>Scours</i>.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>FRENZY.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This makes its appearance suddenly. The animal, having remained in a +passive and stupid state, suddenly appears much disturbed, to such a +degree that it makes irregular movements, strikes its head against every +thing it meets, scrapes with its feet, places itself quite erect +alongside of the sty, bites any thing in its way, and frequently whirls +itself round, after which it suddenly becomes more tranquil.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span><i>Treatment.</i>—Give half an ounce of Rochelle salts, in a pint of +thoroughwort tea. If the bowels are not moved in the course of twelve +hours, repeat the dose. A light diet for a few days will generally +complete the cure.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>JAUNDICE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This disease is recognised by the yellow tint of the <i>conjunctiva</i>, +(white of the eye,) loss of appetite, &c.</p> + +<p>The remedy is,—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 274a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">Powdered golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">one fourth of an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered blue flag,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Flaxseed,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pound.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, and divide into four parts, and give one every night. The food must +be boiled, and a small quantity of salt added to it.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SORENESS OF THE FEET.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This often occurs to pigs that have travelled any distance: the feet +often become tender and sore. In such cases, they should be examined, +and all extraneous matter removed from the foot. Then wash with weak +lie. If the feet discharge fetid matter, wash with the following +mixture:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 274b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Pyroligneous acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>In the treatment of diseased swine, the "issues," as they are called, +ought to be examined, and be kept free. They may be found on the inside +of the legs, just above the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>pastern joint. They seem to serve as a +drain or outlet for the morbid fluids of the body, and whenever they are +obstructed, local or general disturbance is sure to supervene.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SPAYING.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This is the operation of removing the ovaries of sows, in order to +prevent any future conception, and promote their fattening. (See article +<i>Spaying Cows</i>, p. 201.) It is usually performed by making incision in +the middle of the flank, on the left side, in order to extirpate or cut +off the ovaries, (female <i>testes</i>,) and then stitching up the wound, and +wetting the part with Turlington's balsam. An able writer on this +subject says, "The chief reason why a practice, which is beneficial in +so many points of view to the interests and advantages of the farmer, +has been so little attended to, is the difficulty which is constantly +experienced from the want of a sufficient number of expert and proper +persons to perform the operation. Such persons are far from being common +in any, much less in every district, as some knowledge, of a nature +which is not readily acquired, and much experience in the practice of +cutting, are indispensably necessary to the success of the undertaking. +When, however, the utility and benefits of the practice become better +understood and more fully appreciated by the farmer, and the operators +more numerous, greater attention and importance will be bestowed upon +it; as it is capable of relieving him from much trouble, of greatly +promoting his profits, and of benefiting him in various ways. The facts +are since well proved and ascertained, that animals which have undergone +this operation are more disposed to take on flesh, more quiet in their +habits, and capable of being managed with much greater ease and facility +in any way whatever, than they were before the operation was performed. +It may also have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>advantages in other ways in different sorts of +animals; it may render the filly nearly equal to the gelded colt for +several different uses; and the heifer nearly equal to the ox for all +sorts of farm labor. The females of some other sorts of animals may +likewise, by this means, be made to nearly equal the castrated males in +usefulness for a variety of purposes and intentions, and in all cases be +rendered a good deal more valuable, or manageable, than they are at +present."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>VARIOUS BREEDS OF SWINE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">BERKSHIRE BREED.</p> + +<p>This breed is distinguished by being in general of a tawny, white, or +reddish color, spotted with black; large ears hanging over the eyes; +thick, close, and well made in the body; legs short; small in the bone; +having a disposition to fatten quickly. When well fed, the flesh is +fine. The above county has long been celebrated for its breed of swine. +The Berkshire breeders have made a very judicious use of the pug cross, +by not repeating it to the degree of taking away all shape and power of +growing flesh, in their stock. This breed is supposed by many to be the +most hardy, both in respect to their nature and the food on which they +are fed. Their powers of digestion are exceedingly energetic, and they +require constant good keep, or they will lose flesh very fast. They +thrive well in the United States, provided, however, due care is +exercised in breeding.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">HAMPSHIRE BREED.</p> + +<p>This breed is distinguished by being longer in the body and neck, but +not of so compact a form as the Berkshire. They are mostly of a white +color, or spotted, and are easily <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>fattened. The goodness of the +Hampshire hog is proverbial, and in England they are generally fattened +for hams.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">SHROPSHIRE BREED.</p> + +<p>These are not so well formed as those of the Berkshire kind, or equal to +them in their disposition to fatten, or to be supported on such cheap +food. Their color is white or brinded. They are flat boned; deep and +flat sided; harsh, or rather wiry-haired; the ear large; head long, +sharp, and coarse; legs long; loin, although very substantial, yet not +sufficiently wide, considering the great extent of the whole frame. They +have been much improved by the Berkshire cross.</p> + +<p>There are various other breeds, which take their name from the different +counties in the mother country. Thus we have the Herefordshire, +Wiltshire, Yorkshire, &c. Yet they are not considered equal to those +already alluded to. Many of the different English breeds might, however, +serve to improve some species of breed in this country.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">CHINESE BREED.</p> + +<p>This is of small size; the body being very close, compact, and well +formed; the legs very short; the flesh delicate and firm. The prevailing +color, in China, is white. They fatten very expeditiously on a small +quantity of food, and might be reared in the United States to good +advantage, especially for home consumption.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>BOARS AND SOWS FOR BREEDING.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Mr. Lawson says, "The best stock may be expected from the boar at his +full growth, but no more than from three to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>five years old.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> No sows +should be kept open for breeding unless they have large, capacious +bellies.</p> + +<p>"It may be remarked, in respect to the period of being with young, that +in the sow it is about four months; and the usual produce is about eight +to ten or twelve pigs in the large, but more in the smaller breeds.</p> + +<p>"In the ordinary management of swine, sows, after they have had a few +litters, may be killed; but no breeder should part with one while she +continues to bring good litters, and rear them with safety."</p> + +<p>Pregnant sows should always be lodged separately, especially at the time +of bringing forth their young, else the pigs would most probably be +devoured as they fall. The sow should also be attended with due care +while pigging, in order to preserve the pigs. It is found that dry, +warm, comfortable lodging is of almost as much importance as food. The +pigs may be weaned in about eight weeks, after which the sow requires +less food than she does while nursing. In the management of these +animals, it is of great utility and advantage to separate the males from +the females, as it lessens their sexual desires.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Sows are generally bred from too early—before they come +to maturity. This not only stints their own growth, but their offspring +give evidence of deterioration. A sow should never be put to the boar +until she be a year old.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>REARING PIGS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"As the breeding of pigs is a business that affords the farmer a +considerable profit and advantage in various views, it is of essential +importance that he be provided with suitable kinds of food in abundance +for their support. Upon this being properly and effectually done, his +success and advantage will in a great measure depend. The crops capable +of being cultivated with the most benefit in this intention are, beans, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>peas, barley, buckwheat, Indian corn, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, +Swedish turnips, cabbages, &c.</p> + +<p>"The sows considerably advanced in pig, and those with pigs, should be +fed in a better manner than the stone pigs. The former should be +supplied with boiled meal, potatoes, carrots, &c., so as to keep them in +good condition. The sows with pigs should be kept with the litters in +separate sties, and be still better fed than those with pig. When +dairying is practised, the wash of that kind which has been preserved +for that purpose while the dairying was profitable, must be given them, +with food of the root kind, such as carrots, parsnips, &c., in as large +proportions as they will need to keep them in condition."</p> + +<p>Pea-soup is an admirable article when given in this intention; it is +prepared by boiling six pecks of peas in about sixty gallons of water, +till they are well broken down and diffused in the fluid: it is then put +into a tub or cistern for use. When dry food is given in combination +with this, or of itself, the above writer advises oats, as being much +better than any other sort of grain for young pigs, barley not answering +nearly so well in this application. Oats coarsely ground have been found +very useful for young hogs, both in the form of wash with water, and +when made of a somewhat thicker consistence. But in cases where the sows +and pigs can be supported with dairy-wash and roots, as above, there +will be a considerable saving made, by avoiding the use of the expensive +articles of barley-meal, peas, or bran.</p> + +<p>Mr. Donaldson remarks, that in the usual mode, the pigs reared by the +farmer are fed, for some weeks after they are weaned, on whey or +buttermilk, or on bran or barley-meal mixed with water. They are +afterwards maintained on other food, as potatoes, carrots, the refuse of +the garden, kitchen, scullery, &c., together with such additions as they +can pick up in the farmyard. Sometimes they are sent into the fields at +the close of harvest, where they make a comfortable living for several +weeks on the gleanings of the crop; at other times, when the farm is +situated in the neighborhood of woods or forests, they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>are sent thither +to pick up the beech-nuts and acorns in the fall of the year; and when +they have arrived at a proper age for fattening, they are either put +into sties fitted up for the purpose, or sold to distillers, +starch-makers, dairymen, or cottagers.</p> + +<p>Nothing tends more effectually to preserve the health and promote the +growth of young pigs than the liberal use of hay tea. The tea should be +thickened with corn meal and shorts. This, given lukewarm, twice a day, +will quicken their growth, and give the meat a rich flavor. A few +parsnips<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> or carrots (boiled) may be made use of with much success.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> The Sussex (Eng.) Express says, "At our farm we have been +in the habit of employing parsnips for this purpose for some time. Upon +reference to our books, we find that on the 11th of October, 1847, we +put up two shotes of eleven weeks old, and fed them on skim milk and +parsnips for three months, when they were killed, weighing 231 and 238 +pounds. They were well fattened, firm in flesh, and the meat of +excellent flavor. The quantity of parsnips consumed by them was nine +bushels each."</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>FATTENING HOGS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>F. Dodge, of Danvers, Mass., states that, in the spring of 1848, he +"bought, from a drove, seven shotes, the total weight of which was 925 +pounds. The price paid for them was seven cents per pound. They were fed +an average of 184 days, and their average gain was 179 pounds of net +pork. The cost of the food they consumed was as follows:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="55%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 280"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="80%">68 bushels corn at 53 cents,</td> + <td class="tdr" width="20%">$36 04</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">30 bushels corn damaged, at 35 cents,</td> + <td class="tdr">10 50</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">50 bushels corn at 65 cents,</td> + <td class="tdr">32 50</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">8 bushels meal at 65 cents,</td> + <td class="tdr" style="text-decoration: underline;"> 5 20</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr">$84 24</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Add first cost of pigs,</td> + <td class="tdr" style="text-decoration: underline;"> 64 75</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Making a total cost of</td> + <td class="tdr">$148 99</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>"The whole quantity of pork afforded by the pigs killed was 2178 pounds, +which was sold at 6-1/3 cents per pound, amounting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>to $141 57; leaving +a balance against the pigs of $7 42. The inference from this statement +is, that, at the above prices of grain, pork could not be profitably +produced at six and a half cents per pound. But it is suggested that +something might be saved by breeding the stock, instead of purchasing +shotes at seven cents per pound, live weight. It is thought, however, +that the manure afforded by the hogs would be of sufficient value to +more than overbalance any deficiency which might appear in the account +by only crediting the pork."</p> + +<p>The food in the above case was too costly. One half of it, mixed with +parsnips, carrots, beets, or turnips, would have answered the purpose +better. The balance would then have been in favor of the pigs. We are +told, by an able writer on swine, that they will feed greedily, and +thrive surprisingly, on most kinds of roots and tubers, such as carrots, +beets, parsnips, potatoes, &c., particularly when prepared by boiling. +It may be taken as a general rule, that boiled or prepared food is more +nutritious and fattening than raw cold food; the additional expense and +labor will be more than compensated by the increased weight and quality.</p> + +<p>Cornstalks might be used as food for swine by first cutting them<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> in +small pieces, and then boiling them until they are quite soft; a small +quantity of meal is then to be mixed in the fluid, and the stalks again +added, and fed to the pigs twice a day.</p> + +<p>Mr. P. Wing, of Farmersville, C. W., gives us his experience in feeding +swine; and he requests his brother farmers to make similar experiments +with various kinds of food, and, by preparing them in various ways, to +ascertain what way it will yield the most nutriment—that is, make the +most pork. He says,—</p> + +<p>"I now give the result of feeding 100 bushels of good peas to sixteen +hogs, of various mixed breeds, as found in this section. The peas were +boiled until fine, making what I call thick soup. After having fed the +hogs on the same kind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>of food for two weeks, I gave them their morning +feed, and weighed each one separately, noting the weight. Twelve of them +were about eighteen months old; one was a three year old sow, and three +pigs were seven and half months old when weighed. I found their total +weight 4267 lbs.; and after consuming the above amount, which took +forty-two days, I weighed them again, and found that they had gained +1358 lbs.; and on the supposition that as they gained in flesh they +shrunk in offal, I estimated their net gain to have been 1400 lbs. Their +drink consisted of ten pails of whey per day. It was allowed to stand +forty-eight hours, and the cream was skimmed off.</p> + +<p>"I find that there is a great difference in breeds of hogs. The three +year old sow small framed, and pretty full-fleshed, weighing 504 lbs. +Her gain in the forty-two days was 66 lbs. The three pigs were from her, +and showed traces of three distinct breeds of hogs. Their first weight +and gain were as follows: the first weighed 253 lbs.—gain, 97 lbs.; the +second, 218 lbs.—gain, 75 lbs.; the third, 171 lbs.—gain, 46 lbs. When +butchered, the smallest one was the best pork, being the fattest. Two of +the most inferior of the hogs gained 1-1/2 lbs. per day; six, mixture of +the Berkshire, (I should think about one fourth,) gained 1-3/4 lbs. per +day; three of the common stock of our country gained 2-1/2 lbs.; and one +of a superior kind weighted 318 lbs., and in the forty-two days gained +134 lbs. They were weighed on the 20th September, the first time. They +were kept confined in a close pen, except once a week I let them out for +exercise, and to wallow, for the most pint of a day."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>METHOD OF CURING SWINE'S FLESH.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"In the county of Kent, when pork is to be cured as bacon, it is the +practice to singe off the hairs by making a straw fire round the +carcass—an operation which is termed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span><i>swaling</i>. The skin, in this +process, should be kept perfectly free from dirt of all sorts. When the +flitches are cut out, they should be rubbed effectually with a mixture +of common salt and saltpetre, and afterwards laid in a trough, where +they are to continue three weeks or a month, according to their size, +keeping them frequently turned; and then, being taken out of the trough, +are to be dried by a slack fire, which will take up an equal portion of +time with the former; after which, they are to be hung up, or thrown +upon a rack, there to remain until wanted. But in curing bacon on the +continent, it is mostly the custom to have closets contrived in the +chimneys, for the purpose of drying and smoking by wood fires, which is +said to be more proper for the purpose. And a more usual mode of curing +this sort of meat is that of salting it down for pickled pork, which is +far more profitable than bacon.</p> + +<p>"In the county of Westmoreland, where the curing of hams has long been +practised with much success, the usual method is for them to be at first +rubbed very hard with bay salt; by some they are covered close up; by +others they are left on a stone bench, to allow the brine and blood to +run off. At the end of five days, they are again rubbed, as hard as they +were at first, with salt of the same sort, mixed with an ounce of +saltpetre to a ham. Having lain about a week, either on a stone bench or +in hogsheads amongst the brine, they are hung up, by some in the +chimney, amidst the smoke, whether of peat or coals; by others in places +where the smoke never reaches them. If not sold sooner, they are +suffered to remain there till the weather becomes warm. They are then +packed in hogsheads with straw or oatmeal husks, and sent to the place +of sale."</p> + +<p>A small portion of pyroligneous acid may be added to the brine. It is a +good antiseptic, and improves the flavor of ham and bacon. (See <i>Acid, +Pyroligneous</i>, in the <i>Materia Medica</i>.)</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> +<h2>APPENDIX.</h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h3>ON THE ACTION OF MEDICINES.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In reference to the action of medicines and external agents on the +animal body, we would observe, that warmth and moisture always expand +it, and bayberry bark, tannin, and gum catechu always contract it; and +that these agents have these effects at all times (provided, however, +there be sufficient vitality in the part to manifest these peculiar +changes) and under all circumstances. If a blister be applied to the +external surface of an animal, and it produces irritation, it always has +a tendency to produce that effect, whatever part of the living organism +it may be applied to. So alcohol always has a tendency to stimulate; +whether given by the mouth, or rubbed on the external surface, it will +produce an excitement of nerves, heart, and arteries, and of course the +muscles partake of the influence. Again, marshmallows, gum acacia, +slippery elm, &c., always lubricate the mucous surfaces, quiet +irritation, and relieve inflammatory symptoms.</p> + +<p>It follows, of course, 1st. That when any other effects than those just +named are seen to follow the administration of these articles, they must +be attributed to the morbid state of the parts to which they are +applied; 2d. That a medicine which is good to promote a given effect in +one form of disease, will be equally good for the same purpose in +another form of disease in the same tissue. Thus, if an infusion of +mallows is good for inflammation of the stomach, and will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>lubricate the +surface, and allay irritation in that organ, then it is equally good for +the same purpose in inflammation of the bowels and bladder. What we wish +the reader to understand is this: that a medicine used for any +particular symptom in one form of disease, if it be a sanative agent, is +equally good for the same symptom in every form. Medical men range their +various remedies under different heads. Thus opium is called narcotic, +aloes purgative or cathartic, potass diuretic, &c. And because the same +results do not always follow the administration of these articles, they +are perplexed, and are compelled to try every new remedy, in hopes to +find a specific; not knowing that many of their <i>"best medicines"</i> +(opium, for example) war against the vital principle, and as soon as +they get into the system, nature sets up a strong action to counteract +their effects; in short, to get them out of the system in the quickest +possible manner: sometimes they pass through the kidneys; at other +times, the intestinal canal, the lungs, or surface, afford them egress. +And because a certain agent does not always act in their hands with +unerring certainty, they seem to suppose that the same uncertainty +attends the administration of every article in the <i>materia medica</i>. The +medicines we recommend owe their diuretic, astringent, diaphoretic, and +cathartic powers to their aromatic, relaxing, antispasmodic, +lubricating, and irritating properties; and if we give them with a view +of producing a certain result, and they do not act just as we wish, it +is no proof that they have not done good. The fact is, all our medicines +act on the parts where nature is making the greatest efforts to restore +equilibrium; hence they relieve the constitution, whatever may be the +nature of their results.</p> + +<p>Many of the remedies recommended in this work are denounced by the +United States Dispensatory a "useless, inert," &c.; yet many of our most +celebrated physicians are in the daily habit of using them. Mr. Bracy +Clark, V. S., recommends tincture of allspice for gripes. And Mr. +Causer, an experienced veterinarian, says, "I ordered a dessert spoonful +(about two drachms) of tincture of gentian and bark to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>be given twice a +day in a case of gripes. Scarcely an hour after the animal had taken the +first dose, he began to eat some hay, and on the next day he ate every +thing that was offered him. After this, I ordered a quart of cold boiled +milk to be given him every morning and evening. By these means, together +with the good care of the coachman, he recovered his strength." Mr. +White, V. S., says, "I have been assured by a veterinary surgeon, that +he once cured a horse of gripes by a dose of hot water; and it is by no +means unlikely that a warm infusion of some of our medicinal herbs, such +as peppermint, pennyroyal, rosemary, &c., would be found effectual."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gibson says, "It is a fact that cannot be too generally known, that +an infusion of garlic has, to my certain knowledge, cured several cases +of epilepsy—a dreadful disease, that seems to have baffled, in most +instances, every effort of medical skill."</p> + +<p>An intelligent farmer assures Dr. White that he has had forty sheep at a +time hoven or blasted from feeding on vetches, and so swollen that he +hardly knew which would drop first. His usual remedy was a quart of +water for each sheep; and that generally had the desired effect, though +many died before it could be given. We might give our own experience in +favor of numberless simple agents, which we are in the constant habit of +using, were it necessary; suffice it to say, that at the present time we +use nothing else than simple means.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>CLYSTERS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Remarks.</i>—As the more general use of clysters is recommended by the +author, especially in acute diseases, he has thought proper to +introduce, in this part of the work, a few remarks on them, with +examples of their different forms. They serve not only to evacuate the +rectum of its contents, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>but assist to evacuate the intestines, and +serve also to convey nourishment into the system; as in cases of +locked-jaw, and great prostration. They soften the hardened excrement in +the rectum, and cause it to be expelled; besides, by their warm and +relaxing powers, they act as fomentations. A stimulating clyster in +congestion of the brain, or lungs, will relieve those parts by +counter-irritation. An animal that is unable to swallow may be supported +by nourishing clysters; for the lacteals, which open into the inner +cavity of the intestines, absorb, or take up, the nourishment, and +convey it into the thoracic duct, as already described. Some persons +deny the utility of injections. We are satisfied on that point, and are +able to convince any one, beyond a reasonable doubt, that fluids are +absorbed in the rectum, notwithstanding the opinion of some men to the +contrary.</p> + +<p>In administering clysters, it ought always to be observed that the +fluids should be neither too hot nor too cold: they should be about the +temperature of the blood. The common sixteen-ounce metal syringe, with a +wooden pipe about six inches in length, and gradually tapering from base +to point, is to be preferred. It is, after being oiled, much more easily +introduced into the fundament than one that is considerably smaller; +and, having a blunt point, there is no danger of hurting the animal, or +wounding the rectum.</p> + +<p>The following injections are suitable for all kinds of animals. The +quantity, however, should be regulated according to the size of the +patient. Thus a quart will suffice for a sheep or pig, while three or +four quarts are generally necessary in the case of horses and cattle. If +clysters are intended to have a nutritive effect, they must be +introduced in the most gentle manner, and not more than one pint should +be given at any one time, for fear of exciting the expulsive action of +the rectum. In constriction and intussusception of the intestines, and +when relaxing clysters are indicated, they should not be too long +persevered in, for falling of the rectum has been known, in many +instances, to arise from repeated injections. Efforts should be made to +relax the whole animal by warmth <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>and moisture externally, and in the +use of antispasmodic teas, rather than to place too much dependence on +clysters.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">FORMS OF CLYSTERS.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Laxative Clyster.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 288a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">Warm water,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">3 or 4 quarts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Linseed oil,</td> + <td class="tdl">8 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Common salt, (fine,)</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>Another.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Warm water,</td> + <td class="tdl">4 quarts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Soft soap,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gill.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fine salt,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—Either of the above clysters is useful in obstinate +constipation, "stoppage," or whenever the excrement is hard and dark +colored.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Emollient Clyster</i>.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 288b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Slippery elm bark,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Let them simmer over the fire for a few minutes, then strain through a +fine sieve, and inject. The following articles may be substituted for +elm: flaxseed, lily roots, gum arabic, poplar bark, Iceland moss.</p> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—In all cases of irritation and inflammation of the intestines +and bladder.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Stimulating Clyster.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 288c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Thin mucilage of slippery elm or linseed tea,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%" style="vertical-align: bottom;">3 quarts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">African cayenne,<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span><i>Another.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdeered ginger,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When cool, inject.</p> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—In all cases, when the rectum and small intestines are inactive, +and loaded with excrement, or gas.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Anodyne Clyster.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="55%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 289a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Lady's slipper, (<i>cypripedium</i>,)</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Camomile flowers,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Let the mixture stand a short time, then strain through a fine sieve, +when it will be fit for use.</p> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—To relieve pain and relax spasms.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Diuretic Clyster.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 289b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Linseed tea,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">3 quarts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oil of juniper,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Or, substitute for the latter, cream of tartar, half an ounce.</p> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—This form of clyster may be used with decided advantage in all +acute diseases of the urinary organs. This injection is useful in cases +of red water, both in cattle and sheep; and when the malady is supposed +to result from general or local debility, the addition of tonics (golden +seal or gentian<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a>) will be indicated.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Astringent Clyster</i>.</p> + +<p>Take an infusion of hardhack, strain, and add a table-spoonful of +finely-pulverized charcoal to every three quarts of fluid.</p> + +<p class="cen"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span><i>Another.</i></p> + +<p>An infusion of witch hazel.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 290a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered bayberry bark,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When cool, it is fit for use.</p> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—Astringent injections are used in all cases where it is desired +to contract the living fibre, as in scouring, dysentery, scouring rot, +diarrhœa, bloody flux, falling of the womb, fundament, &c.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Nourishing Clyster.</i></p> + +<p>Nourishing clysters are composed of thin gruel made from flour, &c.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Injection for Worms.</i></p> + +<p>Make an infusion of pomegranate, (rind of the fruit,) and inject every +night for a few days. This will rid the animal of worms that infest the +rectum; but if the animal is infested with the long, round worm, +(<i>teres</i>,) then half a pint of the above infusion must be given for a +few mornings, before feeding.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another for Worms.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 290b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered lobelia,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wood ashes,</td> + <td class="tdl">a handful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When cool, it is fit for use.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Messrs. Parker & White, in Boston, have shown us an +excellent machine used for the purpose of cutting cornstalks. Every +farmer should have one in his possession.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> A large portion of the cayenne found in the stores is +adulterated with logwood, and is positively injurious, as it would thus +prove astringent.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Their active properties may be extracted by infusion.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>INFUSIONS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>These are made by steeping herbs, roots, and other medicinal substances +in boiling water. No particular rules can be laid down as to the +quantity of each article required: it will, however, serve as some sort +of a guide, to inform the reader that we generally use from one to two +ounces of the aromatic herbs and roots to every quart of fluid. A bitter +infusion, such as wormwood or camomile, requires less of the herb. All +kinds of infusions can be rendered palatable by the addition of a small +quantity of honey or molasses. As a general rule, the human palate is a +good criterion; for if an infusion be too strong or unpalatable for man, +it is unfit for cattle or sheep. We do not depend so much on the +strength of our agents: the great secret is to select the one best +adapted to the case in view. If it be an agent that is capable of acting +in concert with nature, then the weaker it is, the better. In short, +nature requires but slight assistance under all ordinary circumstances, +unless the animal is evidently suffering from debility; then our efforts +must act in concert with the living powers. We must select the most +nutritious food—that which can be easily converted into blood, bones, +and muscles. If, on the other hand, we gave an abundance of provender, +and it lacked the constituents necessary for the purposes in view, or +was of such an indigestible nature that its nutritive properties could +not be extracted by the gastric fluids, this would be just as bad as +giving improper medicines, both in reference to its quantity and +quality.</p> + +<p>An infusion of either of the following articles is valuable in colic, +both flatulent and spasmodic, in all classes of animals: caraways, +peppermint, spearmint, fennel-seed, angelica, bergamot, snakeroot, +aniseed, ginseng, &c.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>ANTISPASMODICS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>By antispasmodics are meant those articles that assist, through their +physiological action, in relaxing the nervous and muscular systems. +Hence the reader will perceive, by the definition we have given of this +class of remedies, that we cannot recommend or employ the agents used by +our brethren of the allopathic school, for many of them act +pathologically. The class we use are simple, yet none the less +efficient.</p> + +<p>Professor Curtis says, when alluding to the action of medicinal agents, +"Experiments have shown that many vegetable substances, which seem in +themselves quite bland and harmless, are antidotes to various poisons. +Thus the skullcap (<i>scutellaria laterifolia</i>) is said to be a remedy for +hydrophobia, the <i>alisma plantago</i> and <i>polemonium reptans</i> for the +bites of serpents, and lobelia for the sting of insects. They are good; +but why? Because they are permanently relaxing and stimulating, and +depurate the whole system."</p> + +<p>Natural antispasmodics are warmth and moisture. The medicinal ones are +lobelia, Indian hemp, castor musk, ginseng, assafœtida, pleurisy +root, Virginia snakeroot, camomile, wormwood. The above are only +specimens. There is no limit to the number and variety of articles in +the vegetable kingdom that will act as antispasmodics or relaxants. They +may be given internally or applied externally: the effect is the same.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>FOMENTATIONS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This class of remedies is usually composed of relaxants, &c., of several +kinds, combined with tonics, stimulants, and anodynes. They are very +useful to relieve pain, to remove rigidity, to restore tone, and to +stimulate the parts to which they are applied.</p> + +<p class="cen"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span><i>Common Fomentation.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 293a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Wormwood,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Tansy,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hops,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Moisten them with equal parts of boiling water and vinegar, and apply +them blood warm.</p> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—For all kinds of bruises and sprains. They should be confined to +the injured parts, and kept moist with the superabundant fluid. When it +is not practicable to confine a fomentation to the injured parts, as in +shoulder or hip lameness, constant bathing with the decoction will +answer the same purpose.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Anodyne Fomentation.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 293b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Hops,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">a handful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">White poppy heads,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water and vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Simmer a few minutes.</p> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—In all painful bruises.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Relaxing Fomentation</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 293c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered lobelia</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Simmer for a few minutes, and when sufficiently cool, bathe the parts +with a soft sponge.</p> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—In all cases of stiff joints, and rigidity of the muscles. +Animals often lie down in wet pastures, from which rheumatism and +stiffness of the joints arise. In such cases, the animal must be taken +from grass for a few days, and the affected parts be faithfully bathed.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Stimulating Fomentation.</i></p> + +<p>Cedar buds, or boughs, any quantity, to which add a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>small quantity of +red pepper and ginger, boiling water sufficient.</p> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—This will be found very efficacious in chronic lameness and +paralysis, for putrid sore throat, and when the glands are enlarged from +cold and catarrh.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>MUCILAGES.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Mucilages are soft, bland substances, made by dissolving gum arabic in +hot water; or by boiling marshmallows, slippery elm, or lily roots, +until their mucilaginous properties are extracted. A table-spoonful of +either of the above articles, when powdered, will generally suffice for +a quart of water.</p> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—In all cases of catarrh, diarrhœa, inflammation of the +kidneys, womb, bladder, and intestines. They shield the mucous +membranes, and defend them from the action of poisons and drastic +cathartics.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>WASHES.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Washes generally contain some medicinal agent, and are principally used +externally.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Wash for Diseases of the Feet.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 294"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Pyroligneous acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">8 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—This wash excels every other in point of efficacy, and removes +rot and its kindred diseases sooner than any other.</p> + +<p class="cen"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span><i>Cooling Wash for the Eye.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 295a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Rain water,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 pint.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Acetic acid,</td> + <td class="tdl">20 drops.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—In ophthalmia.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Tonic and Antispasmodic Wash.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 295b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Camomile flowers,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>When cool, strain through fine linen.</p> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—In chronic diseases of the eye, and when a weeping remains after +an acute attack.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Wash for unhealthy (or ulcerated) Sores.</i></p> + +<p>A weak solution of sal soda or wood ashes.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Wash for Diseases of the Skin.</i></p> + +<p>Take one ounce of finely-pulverized charcoal, pour on it one ounce of +pyroligneous acid, then add a pint of water. Bottle, and keep it well +corked. It may be applied to the skin by means of a sponge. It is also +an excellent remedy for ill-conditioned ulcers.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>PHYSIC FOR CATTLE.</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 295c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="70%">Extract of butternut, (<i>juglans cinerea</i>,)</td> + <td class="tdl" width="30%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cream of tartar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. When cool, administer.</p> + +<p class="cen"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 296a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Extract of blackroot, (<i>leptandra virginica</i>,)</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%" style="vertical-align: bottom;">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Rochelle salts,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr > + <td class="tdl">Powdered ginger,</td> + <td class="tdl">1/2 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Dissolve in two quarts of warm water.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 296b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered mandrake,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cream of tartar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hot water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Here are three different forms of physic for cattle, which do not +debilitate the system, like aloes and salts, because they determine to +the surface as well as the bowels. They may be given in all cases where +purges are necessary. One third of the above forms will suffice for +sheep.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">MILD PHYSIC FOR CATTLE.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 296c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">Sirup of buckthorn,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Ginger,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hot water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p class="cen"><i>Aperient.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 296d"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Linseed oil,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 pint.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Yolks of two eggs.</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 296e"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Sweet oil,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 pint.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered cayenne,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix.</p> + +<p>A sheep will require about one half of the above.</p> + +<p class="cen"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span><i>Stimulating Tincture.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 297a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Boiling vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 pint.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Tincture of myrrh,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered capsicum,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 tea-spoonfuls.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—For external application in putrid sore throat.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 297b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Tincture of camphor,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oil of cedar,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Tincture of capsicum, (hot drops,)</td> + <td class="tdl">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be rubbed around the throat night and morning.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Stimulating Tincture for Chronic Rheumatism.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 297c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Tincture of capsicum,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oil of cedar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oil of wormwood,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a pint.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Goose grease,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gill.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. To be applied night and morning. The mixture should be kept in a +well-corked bottle, and shaken before being used.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>POULTICES.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Preliminary Remarks.</i>—As oxen, sheep, and pigs are liable to have +accumulations of matter, in the form of abscess, resulting from injury +or from the natural termination of diseases, it becomes a matter of +importance that the farmer should rightly understand their character and +treatment. If a foreign substance enters the flesh, the formation of +matter is a part of the process by which nature rids the system of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>the +enemy. A poultice relaxing and lubricating will then be indicated. If, +however, the foreign body shall have entered at a point where it is +impossible to confine a poultice, then the suppurative stage may be +shortened by the application of relaxing fomentations, and lastly, by +stimulants. It is a law of the animal economy, that, unless there be +some obstacle, matter always seeks its exit by an external opening; and +it becomes part of our duty to aid nature in her efforts to accomplish +this salutary object. Nature requires aid in consequence of the +unyielding character of the hide, and the length of time it takes to +effect an opening through it. Animals are known to suffer immensely from +the pressure a large accumulation of pus makes on the surrounding +nerves, &c., and also from the reabsorption of this pus when it cannot +readily make its exit. This is not all; for, if pus accumulates, and +cannot in due time find an outlet, it produces destruction of the +blood-vessels, nerves, and surrounding tissues. These vessels are +distributed to the different surfaces; their supply of blood and nervous +energy being cut off, they decompose, and in their turn become pus, and +their open mouths allow the morbid matter to enter the circulation, and +thus poison the blood. Hence it becomes our duty, whenever matter can be +distinctly felt, to apply that sort of poultice which will be most +likely to aid nature.</p> + +<p>There is no article in the <i>materia medica</i> of so much value to the +farmer as marshmallows; he cannot place too much value on it. Whether he +uses it in his own family or confines it exclusively to cattle practice, +it is equally valuable. It has numerous advantages over many similar +remedies: the most important one to the farmer is, that it can be +procured in this country at a small cost. We have used it for a number +of years, and in many cases we consider it our sheet-anchor. In short, +we cannot supply its place.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cobbett says, "I cannot help mentioning another herb, which is used +for medicinal purposes. I mean the marshmallows. It is amongst the most +valuable of plants that ever grew. Its leaves stewed, and applied wet, +will cure, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>almost instantly cure, any cut, or bruise, or wound of +any sort. Poultices made of it will cure sprains; fomenting with it will +remove swellings; applications of the liquor will cure chafes made by +saddles and harness; and its operation, in all cases, is so quick that +it is hardly to be believed. Those who have this weed at hand need not +put themselves to the trouble and expense of sending to doctors and +farriers on trifling occasions. It signifies not whether the wound be +old or new. The mallows, if you have it growing near you, may be used +directly after it is gathered, merely washing off the dirt first. But +there should be some always ready in the house for use. It should be +gathered just before it blooms, and dried and preserved just in the same +manner as other herbs. It should be observed, however, that, if it +should happen not to be gathered at the best season, it may be gathered +at any time. I had two striking instances of the efficacy of mallows. A +neighboring farmer had cut his thumb in a very dangerous manner, and, +after a great deal of doctoring, it had got to such a pitch that his +hand was swelled to twice its natural size. I recommended the use of the +mallows to him, gave him a little bunch out of my store, (it being +winter time,) and his hand was well in four days. He could go out to his +work the very next day, after having applied the mallows over night. The +other instance was this. I had a valuable hog, that had been gored by a +cow. It had been in this state for two days before I knew of the +accident, and had eaten nothing. The gore was in the side, making a +large wound. I poured in the liquor in which the mallows had been +stewed, and rubbed the side well with it. The next day the hog got up +and began to eat. On examining the wound, I found it so far closed that +I did not think it right to disturb it. I bathed the side again; and in +two days the hog was turned out, and was running about along with the +rest. Now, a person must be criminally careless not to make provision of +this herb. Mine was nearly two years old when I made use of it upon the +last-mentioned occasion. If the use of this weed was generally adopted, +the art and mystery of healing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>wounds, and of curing sprains, +swellings, and other external maladies, would very quickly be reduced to +an unprofitable trade."</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Lubricating and healing Poultice.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 300a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered marshmallow roots,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Marshmallow leaves,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Moisten with boiling water, and apply.</p> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—In ragged cuts, wounds, and bruises.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Stimulating Poultice.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 300b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Indian meal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Slippery elm,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix them together, and add sufficient boiling water to moisten the mass. +Spread it on a cloth, and sprinkle a small quantity of powdered cayenne +on its surface.</p> + +<p><i>Use.</i>—To stimulate ill-conditioned ulcers to healthy action. Where +there is danger of putrescence, add a small quantity of powdered +charcoal.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Poultice for Bruises.</i></p> + +<p>Nothing makes so good a poultice for recent bruises as boiled carrots or +marshmallows.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Poultice to promote Suppuration.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 300c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Indian meal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">a sufficient quantity.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Linseed,</td> + <td class="tdl">a handful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cayenne,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be moistened with boiling vinegar, and applied at the usual +temperature.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>STYPTICS, TO ARREST BLEEDING.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Witch hazel, (winter bloom,) bark or leaves, 2 ounces.</p> + +<p>Make a decoction with the smallest possible quantity of water, and if +the bleeding is from the nose, throw it up by means of a syringe; if +from the stomach, lungs, or bowels, add more water, and let the animal +drink it, and give some by injection.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Styptic to arrest external Bleeding.</i></p> + +<p>Wet a piece of lint with tincture of muriate of iron, and bind it on the +part.</p> + +<p>There are various other styptics, such as alum water, strong tincture of +nutgalls, bloodroot, common salt, fine flour, &c.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /><br /> +<h3>ABSORBENTS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Remarks.</i>—Absorbents are composed of materials partaking of an +alkaline character, and are used for the purpose of neutralizing acid +matter. The formation of an acid in the stomach arises from some +derangement of the digestive organs, sometimes brought on by the +improper quantity or quality of the food. It is useless, therefore, to +give absorbents, with a view of neutralizing acid, unless the former are +combined with tonics, or agents that are capable of restoring the +stomach to a healthy state. This morbid state of the stomach is +recognized in oxen by a disposition to eat all kinds of trash that comes +in their way, such as dirt, litter, &c. They are frequently licking +themselves, and often swallow a great deal of hair, which is formed into +balls in the stomach, and occasions serious irritation. Calves, when +fattening, are often fed so injudiciously, that the stomach is incapable +of reducing the food to chyme and chyle: the consequence is, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>that a +large amount of carbonic acid gas is evolved. Many calves and lambs die +from this cause.</p> + +<p>A mixture of chalk, saleratus, and soda is often given by farmers; yet +they do not afford permanent relief. They do some good by correcting the +acidity of the stomach; but the animals are often affected with +diarrhœa, or costiveness, loss of appetite, colic, and convulsions. +Attention to the diet would probably do more than all the medicine in +the world. Yet if they do get sick, something must be done. The best +forms of absorbents are the following: they restore healthy action to +the lost function at the same time that they neutralize the gas.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">FORMS OF ABSORBENTS.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 302a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered snakeroot,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered caraways,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hot water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 quart.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. To be given at one dose, for a cow; half the quantity, or indeed +one third, is sufficient for a calf, sheep, or pig.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 302b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given in thoroughwort tea, to which may be added a very small +portion of ginger.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another, adapted to City Use.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 302c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Subcarbonate of soda,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Tincture of gentian,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Infusion of spearmint,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Give a cow the whole at a dose, and repeat daily, for a short time, +if necessary. One half the quantity will suffice for a smaller animal.</p> + +<p class="cen"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span><i>Drink for Coughs.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 303a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Balm of Gilead buds,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Honey,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 table-spoonfuls.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 wine-glassful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Set the mixture on the fire, in an earthen vessel; let it simmer a few +minutes. When cool, strain, and it is fit for use. Dose, a +wine-glassful, twice a day.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 303b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Balsam copaiba,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered licorice,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Honey,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 table-spoonfuls.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 quart.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Rub the copaiba, licorice, and honey together in a mortar: after they +are well mixed, add the water. Dose, half a pint, night and morning.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 303c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Balsam of Tolu,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered marshmallow roots,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Honey,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a gill.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Min. Dose, half a pint, night and morning.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Drink for a Cow after Calving.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 303d"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Bethwort,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Marshnmallows,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>First make an infusion of bethwort by simmering it in a quart of water. +When cool, strain, and stir in the mallows. Dose, half a pint, every two +hours.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>VETERINARY MATERIA MEDICA,</h3> + +<p class="cen">EMBRACING A LIST OF THE VARIOUS REMEDIES USED BY THE AUTHOR OF THIS WORK +IN THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE ON CATTLE, SHEEP, AND SWINE.</p> +<br /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Acacia</span>, <span class="smcap">Catechu</span>, or <span class="smcap">Japan Earth</span>. It is a +powerful astringent and tonic, and given, in half tea-spoonful doses, in +mucilage of slippery elm or mallows, is a valuable remedy in +diarrhœa, or excessive discharges of urine.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Acacia Gum</span> makes a good mucilage, and is highly recommended in +diseases of the mucous surfaces and urinary organs. It is highly +nutritious, and consequently can be given with advantage in locked-jaw.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Acetum</span>, (vinegar.) This is cooling, and a small portion of it, +with an equal quantity of honey, administered in thin gruel, makes an +excellent drink in fevers. Diluted with an equal quantity of water, it +is employed externally in bruises and sprains. It neutralizes +pestilential effluvia, and, combined with capsicum, makes a good +application for sore throat.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Acid, Pyroligneous.</span> This is one of the most valuable articles +in the whole <i>materia medica</i>. Diluted with equal parts of water, it is +applied to ill-conditioned sores and ulcers; it acts as an antiseptic +and stimulant. It is obtained from wood by destructive distillation in +close vessels. This acid is advantageously applicable to the +preservation of animal food. Mr. William Ramsay (<i>Edinburgh +Philosophical Journal</i>, iii. 21) has made some interesting experiments +on its use for this purpose. Herrings and other fish, simply dipped in +the acid and afterwards dried in the shade, were effectually preserved, +and, when eaten, were found very agreeable to the taste. Herrings +slightly cured with salt, by being sprinkled with it for six hours, then +drained, next immersed in pyroligneous acid for a few seconds, and +afterwards dried in the shade for two months, were found by Mr. Ramsay +to be of fine quality <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>and flavor. Fresh beef, dipped in the acid, in +the summer season, for the short space of a minute, was perfectly sweet +in the following spring. Professor Silliman states, that one quart of +the acid added to the common pickle for a barrel of hams, at the time +they are laid down, will impart to them the smoked flavor as perfectly +as if they had undergone the common process of smoking.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alder Bark, Black</span>, (<i>prinos verticillatus</i>.) A strong decoction +makes an excellent wash for diseases of the skin, in all classes of +domestic animals.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Allium</span>, (garlic.) This is used chiefly as an antispasmodic. It +improves all the secretions, and promotes the function of the skin and +kidneys. It is useful also to expel wind and worms. A few kernels may be +chopped fine and mixed with the food. When used for the purpose of +expelling worms, an ounce of the root should be boiled in a pint of +milk, and given in the morning, about an hour before feeding.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aloes.</span> The best kind is brought from the Island of Socotra, and +is supposed to be more safe in its operation than the other kinds. In +consequence of the irritative properties of aloes, they are ill adapted +to cattle practice; and as a safer article has been recommended, (see +<i>Physic for Cattle</i>,) we have entirely dispensed with them.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Althea</span>, (marshmallows.) See <i>Remarks on Poultices</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alum.</span> It possesses powerful astringent properties, and, when +burnt and pulverized, is useful to remove proud flesh.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ammoniacum.</span> Gum ammoniacum is useful for chronic coughs. The +dose is two drachms daily, in a quart of gruel.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aniseed.</span> A good carminative in flatulent colic. The dose is +about one ounce, infused in a quart of boiling water.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Anthemis</span>, (camomile.) It is used as a tonic in derangement of +the digestive organs, &c. An ounce of the flowers may be infused in a +quart of water, and given when cool. It is useful also as an external +application in bruises and sprains.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ash Bark, White.</span> This is a useful remedy in loss of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>cud, +caused by disease of the liver. Dose, one ounce of the bark, infused in +boiling water. When cool, pour off the clear liquor.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Assafœtida.</span> This article is used as an antispasmodic. The +dose is from one to two drachms, administered in thin gruel.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Balm, Lemon.</span> See <i>Fever Drink</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Balm of Gilead Buds.</span> One ounce of the buds, after being infused +in boiling water and strained, makes a good drink for chronic coughs.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Balmony.</span> A good tonic and vermifuge.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Balsam, Canada</span>, is a diuretic, and may be given in slippery +elm, in doses of one table-spoonful for diseases of the kidneys.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Balsam of Copaiba</span>, or <span class="smcap">Capivi</span>, is useful in all +diseases of the urinary organs, and, combined with powdered marshmallows +and water, makes a good cough drink. Dose, half an ounce.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Baleam of Tolu.</span> Used for the same purpose as the preceding.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Barley.</span> Barley water, sweetened with honey, is a useful drink +in fevers.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bayberry Bark.</span>. We have frequently prescribed this article in +the preceding pages as an antiseptic and astringent for scouring and +dysentery.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bearberry</span>, (<i>uva ursi</i>.) This is a popular diuretic, and is +useful when combined with marshmallows. When the urine is thick and +deficient in quantity, or voided with difficulty, it may be given in the +following form:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 306"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered bearberry,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered marshmallows,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Indian meal,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 pounds.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Dose, half a pound daily, in the cow's feed.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bitter Root</span>, (<i>apocynum androsæmifolium</i>.) Given in doses of +half an ounce of the powdered bark, it acts as an aperient, and is good +wherever an aperient is indicated.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Blackberry Root</span>, (<i>rubus trivialis</i>.) A valuable remedy for +scours in sheep.</p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> + +<p><span class="smcap">Black Root</span>, (<i>leptandra virginica</i>.) The extract is used as +physic, instead of aloes. (See <i>Physic for Cattle</i>.) A strong decoction +of the fresh roots will generally act as a cathartic on all classes of +animals.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bloodroot</span>, (<i>sanguinaria canadensis</i>.) It is used in our +practice as an escharotic. It acts on fungous excrescences, and is a +good substitute for nitrate of silver in the dispersion of all morbid +growth. One ounce of the powder, infused in boiling vinegar, is a +valuable application for rot and mange.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Blue Flag</span>, (<i>iris versicolor</i>.) The powdered root is a good +vermifuge.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Boneset</span>, (<i>eupatorium perfoliatum</i>.) This is a valuable +domestic remedy. Its properties are too well known to the farming +community to need any description.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Borax.</span> This is a valuable remedy for eruptive diseases of the +tongue and mouth. Powdered and dissolved in water, it forms an +astringent, antiseptic wash. The usual form of prescription, in +veterinary practice, is,—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 307"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered borax,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Honey,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Buckthorn</span>, (<i>rhamnus catharticus</i>.) A sirup made from this +plant is a valuable aperient in cattle practice. The dose is from half +an ounce to two ounces.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Burdock</span>, (<i>arctium lappa</i>.) The leaves, steeped in vinegar, +make a good application for sore throat and enlarged glands. The seeds +are good to purify the blood, and may be given in the fodder.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Butternut Bark</span>, (<i>juglans cinerea</i>.) Extract of butternut makes +a good cathartic, in doses of half an ounce. It is much safer than any +known cathartic, and, given in doses of two drachms, in hot water, +combined with a small quantity of ginger, it forms a useful aperient and +alterative. In a constipated habit, attended with loss of cud, it is +invaluable. During <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>the American revolution, when medicines were scarce, +this article was brought into use by the physicians, and was esteemed by +them an excellent substitute for the ordinary cathartics.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Calamus</span>, (<i>acorus calamus</i>.) A valuable remedy for loss of cud.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Camomile.</span> See <i>Anthemis</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Canella Bark</span> is an aromatic stimulant, and forms a good +stomachic.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Capsicum.</span> A pure stimulant. Useful in impaired digestion.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Caraway Seed</span>, (<i>carum carui</i>.) A pleasant carminative for +colic.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cardamom Seeds.</span> Used for the same purpose as the preceding.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cassia Bark</span>, (<i>laurus cinnamomum</i>.) Used as a diffusible +stimulant in flatulency.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Catechu</span>, (see <span class="smcap">Acacia</span>.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Catnip</span>, (<i>nepeta cataria</i>.) An antispasmodic in colic.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cedar Buds.</span> An infusion of the buds makes a good vermifuge for +sheep and pigs.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Charcoal.</span> This is a valuable remedy as an antiseptic for foul +ulcers, foot rot, &c.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cleavers</span>, (<i>galium aparine</i>.) The expressed juice of the herb +acts on the skin and kidneys, increasing their secretions. One +tea-spoonful of the juice, given night and morning in a thin mucilage of +poplar bark, is an excellent remedy for dropsy, and diseases of the +urinary organs. An infusion of the herb, made by steeping one ounce of +the leaves and seeds in a quart of boiling water, may be substituted for +the expressed juice.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cohosh, Black</span>, (<i>macrotrys racemosa</i>.) Useful in dropsy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Coltsfoot</span>, (<i>tussilago farfara</i>.) An excellent remedy for +cough.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cranesbill</span>, (<i>geranium maculatum</i>.) Useful in scours, +dysentery, and diarrhœa.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dill Seed</span>, (<i>anethum graveolens</i>.) Its properties are the same +as caraways.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dock, Yellow</span>, (<i>rumex crispus</i>.) Good for diseases of the liver +and of the skin.</p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> + +<p><span class="smcap">Elecampane</span>, (<i>inula helenium</i>.) An excellent remedy for cough +and asthma, and diseases of the skin.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Elder Flowers</span>, (<i>sambucus canadensis</i>.) Used as an aperient for +sheep, in constipation.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Elm Bark</span>, (<i>ulmus fulva</i>.) This makes a good mucilage. See +Poultices.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Essence of Peppermint.</span> Used for flatulent colic. One ounce is +the usual dose for a cow. To be given in warm water.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fennel Seed.</span> Useful to expel wind.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fern, Male</span>, (<i>aspidium felix mas</i>.) Used as a remedy for worms.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Flaxseed.</span> A good lubricant, in cold and catarrh, and in +diseases of the mucous surfaces. It makes a good poultice.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Flower of Sulphur.</span> This is used extensively, in veterinary +practice, for diseases of the skin. It is a mild laxative.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fumigations.</span> For foul barns and stables, take of</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 309"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Common salt,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Manganese,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce and a half.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Let these be well mixed, and placed in a shallow earthen vessel; then +pour on the mixture, gradually, sulphuric acid, four ounces. The +inhalation of the gas which arises from this mixture is highly +injurious; therefore, as soon as the acid is poured on, all persons +should leave the building, which should immediately be shut, and not +opened again for several hours. Dr. White, V. S., says, "This is the +only efficacious <i>fumigation</i>, it having been found that when glanderous +or infectious matter is exposed to it a short time, it is rendered +perfectly harmless."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Galbanum.</span> This gum is used for similar purposes as gum ammoniac +and assafœtida.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Galls.</span> They contain a large amount of tannin, and are +powerfully astringent. A strong decoction is useful to arrest +hemorrhage.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Garlic.</span> See <i>Allium</i>.</p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentian.</span> This is a good tonic, and is often employed to remove +weakness of the stomach and indigestion.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ginger.</span> A pure stimulant. Ginger tea is a useful remedy for +removing colic and flatulency, and is safer and better adapted to the +animal economy, where stimulants are indicated, than alcoholic +preparations.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ginseng</span>, (<i>panax quinquefolium</i>.) It possesses tonic and +stimulant properties.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Golden Seal</span>, (<i>hydrastis canadensis</i>.) A good tonic, laxative, +and alterative.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Goldthread</span>, (<i>coptis trifolia</i>.) A strong infusion of this herb +makes a valuable application for eruptions and ulcerations of the mouth. +We use it in the following form:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 310"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Goldthread,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Set the mixture aside to cool; then strain, and add a table-spoonful of +honey, and bathe the parts twice a day.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Grains of Paradise.</span> A warming, diffusible stimulant.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hardhack</span>, (<i>spiræa tomentosa</i>.) Its properties are astringent +and tonic. We have used it in cases of "scours" with great success. It +is better adapted to cattle practice in the form of extract, which is +prepared by evaporating the leaves, stems, or roots. The dose is from +one scruple to a drachm for a cow, and from ten grains to one scruple +and a half for a sheep, which may be given twice a day, in any bland +liquid.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Honey</span>, (<i>mel</i>.) Honey is laxative, stimulant, and nutritious. +With vinegar, squills, or garlic, it forms a good cough mixture. +Combined with tonics, it forms a valuable gargle, and a detergent for +old sores and foul ulcers.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hops</span>, (<i>humulus</i>.) An infusion of hops is highly recommended in +derangement of the nervous system, and for allaying spasmodic twitchings +of the extremities. One ounce of the article may be infused in a quart +of boiling water, strained, and sweetened with honey, and given, in half +pint doses, every four hours. They are used as an external application, +in the form of fomentation, for bruises, &c.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Horehound</span>, (<i>marrubium</i>.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> This is a valuable remedy for catarrh +and chronic affections of the lungs. It is generally used, in the +author's practice, in the following form: An infusion is made in the +proportion of an ounce of the herb to a quart of boiling water. A small +quantity of powdered marshmallows is then stirred in, to make it of the +consistence of thin gruel. The dose is half a pint, night and morning. +For sheep and pigs half the quantity will suffice.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Horsemint</span>, (<i>monarda punctata</i>.) Like other mints, it is +antispasmodic and carminative. Useful in flatulent colic.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Horseradish.</span> The root scraped and fed to animals laboring under +loss of cud, from chronic disease of the digestive organs, and general +debility, is generally attended with beneficial results. If beaten into +paste with an equal quantity of powdered bloodroot, it makes a valuable +application for foul ulcers.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hyssop</span>, (<i>hyssopus officinalis</i>.) Hyssop tea, sweetened with +honey, is useful to promote perspiration in colds and catarrh.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Indian Hemp</span>, (<i>apocynum cannabinum</i>.) An infusion of this herb +acts as an aperient, and promotes the secretions. It may be prepared by +infusing an ounce of the powdered or bruised root in a quart of boiling +water, which must be placed in a warm situation for a few hours: it +should then be strained, and given in half pint doses, at intervals of +six hours. A gill of this mixture will sometimes purge a sheep.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Indigo, Wild</span>, (<i>baptisia tinctoria</i>.) We have made some +experiments with the inner portion of the bark of this plant, and find +it to be very efficacious in the cure of eruptive diseases of the mouth +and tongue, lampas, and inflamed gums. A strong decoction (one ounce of +the bark boiled for a few minutes in a pint of water) makes a good wash +for old sores. A small quantity of powdered slippery elm, stirred into +the decoction while hot, makes a good emollient application to sore +teats and bruised udder.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Juniper Berries</span>, (<i>juniperus</i>.) These are used in dropsical +affections, in conjunction with tonics; also in diseases of the urinary +organs.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kino</span>. This is a powerful astringent, and may be used in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>diarrhœa, dysentery, and red water, after the inflammatory symptoms +have subsided. We occasionally use it in the following form for red +water and chronic dysentery:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 312a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered kino,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">20 grains.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Thin flour gruel,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 quart.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given at a dose, and repeated night and morning, as occasion +requires.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lady's Slipper</span>, (<i>cypripedium pubescens</i>.) This is a valuable +nervine and antispasmodic, and has been used with great success, in my +practice, for allaying nervous irritability. It is a good substitute for +opium. It is, however, destitute of all the poisonous properties of the +latter. Dose for a cow, half a table-spoonful of the powder, night and +morning; to be given in bland fluid.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Licorice.</span> Used principally to alleviate coughs. The following +makes an excellent cough remedy:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 312b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered licorice,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Balsam of Tolu,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 quart.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given at a dose.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lily Root</span>, (<i>nymphæa odorata</i>.) Used principally for poultices.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lime Water.</span> This article is used in diarrhœa, and when the +discharge of urine is excessive. Being an antacid, it is very usefully +employed when cattle are hoven or blown. It is unsafe to administer +alone, as it often deranges the digestive organs: it is therefore very +properly combined with tonics. The following will serve as an example:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 312c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Lime water,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Infusion of snakehead, (balmony,)</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Dose, a quart, night and morning.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lobelia</span>, (herb,) (<i>lobelia inflata</i>.) This is an excellent +antispasmodic. It is used in the form of poultice for locked-jaw, and as +a relaxant in rigidity of the muscular structure.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mandrake</span>, (<i>podophyllum peltatum</i>.) Used as physic for cattle, +(which see.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Marshmallows.</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> See <i>Althea</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Meadow Cabbage Root</span>, (<i>ictodes fœtida</i>.) This plant is used +as an antispasmodic in asthma and chronic cough. Dose, a tea-spoonful of +the powder, night and morning; to be given in mucilage of slippery elm.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Motherwort</span>, (<i>leonurus cardiaca</i>.) A tea of this herb is +valuable in protracted labor.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mullein</span>, (<i>verbascum</i>.) The leaves steeped in vinegar make a +good application for sore throat.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Myrrh.</span> The only use we make of this article, in cattle +practice, is to prepare a tincture for wounds, as follows:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 313"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered myrrh,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Proof spirit,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Set it aside in a close-covered vessel for two weeks, then strain +through a fine sieve, and it is fit for use.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oak Bark</span>, (<i>quercus alba</i>.) A decoction of oak bark is a good +astringent, and may be given internally, and also applied externally in +falling of the womb or fundament.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ointments.</span> We have long since discontinued the use of +ointments, from a conviction that they do not agree with the flesh of +cattle. Marshmallows, or tincture of myrrh, will heal a wound much +quicker than any greasy preparation. We have, however, often applied +fresh marshmallow ointment to chapped teats, and chafed udder, with +decided advantage. It is made as follows: Take of white wax, mutton +tallow, and linseed oil, each a pound; marshmallow leaves, two ounces. +First melt the wax and tallow, then add the oil, lastly a handful of +mallows. Simmer over a slow fire until the leaves are crisp, then strain +through a piece of flannel, and stir the mixture until cool.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oleum Lini</span>, (flaxseed oil.) This is a useful aperient and +laxative in cattle practice, and may be given in all cases of +constipation, provided, however, it is not accompanied with chronic +indigestion: if such be the case, a diffusible stimulant, combined with +a bitter tonic, (golden seal,) aided by an injection, will probably do +more good, as they will arouse the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>digestive function. The above +aperient may then be ventured on with safety. The dose for a cow is one +pint.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Olive Oil.</span> This is a useful aperient for sheep. The dose is +from half a gill to a gill.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Opodeldoc.</span> The different preparations of this article are used +for strains and bruises, after the inflammatory action has somewhat +subsided.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Liquid Opodeldoc.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 314a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Soft soap,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">6 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">New England rum,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint and a half.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a pint.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oil of lavender,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The oil of lavender should first be dissolved in an equal quantity of +alcohol, and then added to the mixture.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pennyroyal</span>, (<i>hedeoma</i>.) This plant, administered in warm +infusion, promotes perspiration, and is good in flatulent colic.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Peppermint</span>, (<i>mentha piperita</i>.) An ounce of the herb infused +in a quart of boiling water relieved spasmodic pains of the stomach and +bowels, and is a good carminative, (to expel wind,) provided the +alimentary canal is free from obstruction.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Plantain Leaves</span>, (<i>plantago major</i>.) This article is held in +high repute for the cure of hydrophobia and bites from poisonous +reptiles. The bruised leaves are applied to the parts; the powdered herb +and roots to be given internally at discretion.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pleurisy Root</span>, (<i>asclepias tuberosa</i>.) We have given this +article a fair trial in cattle practice, and find it to be invaluable in +the treatment of catarrh, bronchitis, pleurisy, pneumonia, and +consumption. The form in which we generally prescribe it is,—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 314b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered pleurisy root,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half a table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered marshmallow roots,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Boiling water sufficient to make a thin mucilage. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>addition of a +small quantity of honey increases its diaphoretic properties.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pomegranate</span>, (<i>punica granatum</i>.) The rind of this article is a +powerful astringent, and is occasionally used to expel worms. A strong +decoction makes a useful wash for falling of the womb, or fundament. +Given as an infusion, in the proportion of half an ounce of the rind to +a quart of water, it will arrest diarrhœa.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Poplar</span>, (<i>populus tremuloides</i>.) It possesses tonic, demulcent, +and alterative properties. It is often employed, in our practice, as a +local application, in the form of poultice. The infusion is a valuable +remedy in general debility, and in cases of diseased urinary organs.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Prince's Pine</span>, (<i>chimaphila</i>.) This plant is a valuable remedy +in dropsy. It possesses diuretic and tonic properties. It does not +produce the same prostration that usually attends the administration of +diuretics, for its tonic property invigorates the kidneys, while, at the +same time, it increases the secretion of urine. The best way of +administering it is by decoction. It is made by boiling four ounces of +the fresh-bruised leaves in two quarts of water. After straining, a +table-spoonful of powdered marshmallows may be added, to be given in +pint doses, night and morning.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pyroligneous Acid.</span> See <i>Acid</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Raspberry Leaves</span>, (<i>rubus strigosus</i>.) An infusion of this +plant may be employed with great advantage in cases of diarrhœa.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roman Wormwood</span>, (<i>ambrosia artemisifolia</i>.) This plant is a +very bitter tonic, and vermifuge. An infusion may be advantageously +given in cases of general debility and loss of cud. A strong decoction +may be given to sheep and pigs that are infested with worms. If given +early in the morning, and before the animals are fed, it will generally +have the desired effect.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rose, Red</span>, (<i>rosa gallica</i>.) We have occasionally used the +infusion, and find it of great value as a wash for chronic ophthalmia. +The infusion is made by pouring a pint of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>boiling water on a quarter of +an ounce of the flowers. It is then strained through fine linen, when it +is fit for use.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sassafras</span>, (<i>laurus sassafras</i>.) The bark of sassafras root is +stimulant, and possesses alterative properties. We have used it +extensively, in connection with sulphur, for eruptive diseases, and for +measles in swine, in the following proportions:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 316"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">Powdered sassafras,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, and divide into four parts, one of which may be given, night and +morning, in a hot mash.</p> + +<p>The pith of sassafras makes a valuable soothing and mucilaginous wash +for inflamed eyes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Senna</span> A safe and efficient aperient for cattle may be made by +infusing an ounce of senna in a quart of boiling water. When cool, +strain, then add, manna one ounce, powdered golden seal one +tea-spoonful. The whole to be given at a dose.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Skullcap</span>, (<i>scutellaria lateriflora</i>.) This is an excellent +nervine and antispasmodic. It is admirably adapted to the treatment of +locked-jaw, and derangement of the nervous system. An ounce of the +leaves may be infused in two quarts of boiling water. After straining, a +little honey may be added, and then administered, in pint doses, every +four hours.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Snakeroot, Virginia</span>, (<i>aristolochia serpentaria</i>.) This +article, given by infusion in the proportion of half an ounce of the +root to a pint of water, acts as a stimulant and alterative. It is +admirably adapted to the treatment of chronic indigestion.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Soap.</span> This article acts on all classes of animals, as a +laxative and antacid. It is useful in obstinate constipation of the +bowels, in diseases of the liver, and for softening hardened excrement +in the rectum. By combining castile soap with butternut, blackroot, +golden seal, or balmony, a good aperient is produced, which will +generally operate on the bowels in a few hours.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Squill</span>, (<i>scilla maritima</i>.) A tea-spoonful of the dried root, +given in a thin mucilage of marshmallows, is an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>excellent remedy for +cough, depending on an irritability of the lungs and mucous surfaces.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sulphur.</span> This is one of the most valuable articles in the +veterinary <i>materia medica</i>. It possesses laxative, diaphoretic and +alterative properties, and is extensively employed, both internally and +externally, for diseases of the skin. The dose for a cow is a +tea-spoonful daily. Its alterative effect may be increased by combining +it with sassafras, (which see.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sunflower, Wild</span>, (<i>helianthus divaricatus</i>.) The seeds of this +plant, when bruised and given it any bland fluid, act as a diuretic and +antispasmodic. Half a table-spoonful of the seeds may be given at a +dose, and repeated as occasion requires.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tolu, Balsam of.</span> This balsam is procured by making incisions +into the trunk of a tree which flourishes in Tolu and Peru. It has a +peculiar tendency to the mucous surfaces, and therefore is very properly +prescribed for epizoötic diseases of catarrhal nature. The dose is half +a table-spoonful every night, to be administered in a mucilage of +marshmallows. One half the quantity is sufficient for a sheep.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Vinegar</span>. See <i>Acetum</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Witch Hazel Bark</span>, (<i>hamamelis virginica</i>.) A decoction of this +bark is a valuable application for falling of the fundament, or womb. +Being a good astringent, an infusion of the leaves is good for scouring +in sheep.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wormseed</span>, (<i>chenopodium anthelminticum</i>.) A tea-spoonful of the +powdered seeds, given in a tea of snakeroot, is a good vermifuge: it +will, however, require repeated doses, and they should be given at least +an hour before the morning meal.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>GENERAL REMARKS ON MEDICINES.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Here, reader, is our <i>materia medica</i>; wherein you will find a number of +harmless, yet efficient agents, that will, in the treatment of disease, +fulfil any and every indication to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>your entire satisfaction. They act +efficiently in the restoration of the diseased system to a healthy +state, without producing the slightest injury to the animal economy. The +Almighty has furnished us, if we did but know it, a healing balm for +every malady to which man and the lower animals are subject. Yet how +many of these precious gifts are disregarded for the more popular ones +of the chemist! Dr. Brown, professor of botany in the Ohio College, +says, "Of the twenty or more thousand species of plants recognized and +described by botanists, probably not more than one thousand have ever +been used in the art of healing; and not more than one fourth of that +number even have a place in our <i>materia medica</i> at present. The +glorious results, however, attending the researches of those who have +preceded us, should inspire us with that confidence and spirit of +investigation which will ultimately result in the selection, +preparation, and systematic arrangement, of a full, convenient, and +efficient <i>materia medica</i>." Unfortunately, the medical fraternity, as +well as the farmers, have been accustomed to judge of the power of the +remedy by its effects, and not in proportion to its ultimate good. Thus, +if a pound of salts be given to a cow, and they produce liquid +stools,—in short, "operate well,"—they are styled a good medicine, +although they leave the mucous surface of the alimentary canal in a +weak, debilitated state, and otherwise impair the health; yet this is a +secondary consideration. For, if the symptoms of the present malady, for +which the salts were given, shall disappear, nothing is thought of the +after consequences. The cow may be constipated for several succeeding +days, and finally refuse her food; but who suspects that the salts were +the cause of it? Who believes that the abstraction of ninety ounces of +blood cut short the life of our beloved Washington? We do, and so do +others. We are told, in reference to the treatment of a given case, that +"the patient will grow worse before he can get better." What makes him +worse? The medicine, surely, and nothing else. Now, if ever symptoms are +altered, they should be for the better; and if the medicines recommended +in this work <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>(provided, however, they are given with ordinary prudence) +ever make an animal worse, then we beg of the reader to avoid them as he +would a pest-house. This is not all. If any article in this <i>materia +medica</i>, when given, in the manner we recommend, to an animal in perfect +health, shall operate so as to derange such animal's health,—in short, +act pathologically,—then it does not deserve a place here, and should +not be depended on. But such will not be the result. We recommend +farmers to select and preserve a few of these herbs for family use; for +they are efficient in the cure of many diseases. And as the services of +a physician are not always to be had in small country towns, a little +experience in the use and application of simple articles to various +diseases seems to be absolutely necessary. It was by the aid of a few of +these and similar simple remedies, that we were enabled to preserve the +health of the passengers of that ill-fated ship, the Anglo-Saxon. The +following testimony has never, until the present time, been made public, +and we would not now make use of it, were it not that we wish to show +that there are men, and women too, that can appreciate our labors:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The undersigned, passengers in the Anglo-Saxon from Boston, +feeling it a duty they owe to Dr. G. H. Dadd, surgeon of the ship, +would here bear testimony to the valuable medical services and +advice rendered by him to us, whilst on shipboard; believing his +attendance has been conducive of the greatest benefit; at times +almost indispensable, not only during the short passage, but also +through the trying period subsequent to the wreck through all of +which, the coolness and devotion to the best interests of his +employers and of the passengers, exhibited by him, deserve at our +hands the highest terms of commendation.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 319"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap" width="50%">Robert Earle,</td> + <td class="tdl smcap" width="50%">A. M. Earle,</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">S. C. Ames,</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Rosalie Pelby,</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Benjamin Champney,</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Ophelia Anderson,</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Lewis Jones,</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Helen C. Dove,</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Hamilton G. Wild,</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Eleanor Teresa McHugh,</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">W. A. Barnes,</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">John Hills,</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Gideon D. Scull,</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Frances Blenkam,</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">W. Allan Gay,</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Harriet Phillips,</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Isaac Jenkins,</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Louisa A. Bigelow.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Prescott Bigelow,</td> + <td class="tdl smcap"> </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Eastport</span>, May 9, 1847."</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>Notwithstanding this disaster, Enoch Train, Esq., of Boston, with a +liberality which does him credit, appointed us surgeon of the ship Mary +Ann, commanded by Captain Albert Brown; thus giving us a second +opportunity of proving what we had asserted, viz., <i>that the emigrants +might be brought to the United States in better condition, and with less +deaths, than had heretofore been done</i>. It must be remembered that about +this time the typhus, or ship fever, was making sad havoc amongst all +classes of men, and many talented professional men fell victims to the +dire malady. We left Liverpool at a sickly season, having on board two +hundred persons, and were fortunate enough to land them in this city, +all in good health. Several ships which sailed at the same time, bound +also to different ports in the United States, lost, on the passage, from +ten to twenty persons, although each ship was furnished with a medical +attendant. Here, then, is a proof that our agents cure while others +fail.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>PROPERTIES OF PLANTS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Professor Curtis tells us that "herbs, during their growth, preserve +their medicinal properties, commencing at the root, and continuing +upward, through the stem and leaves, to the flowers and seeds, until +fully grown. When the root begins to die, the properties ascend from it +towards the seed, where, at last, they are the strongest. Even the +virtues of the leaves, after they get their full growth, often go into +the seed, which will not be so well developed if the leaves are plucked +off early; as corn fills and ripens best when the leaves are left on the +stalks till they die. In the annual and biennial plants, the root is +worthless after the seed is ripe, and the stem also is of very little +value; what virtue there is residing in the bark and leaves also lose +their properties as fast as they lose their freshness. All leaves and +stems that have lost their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>color, or become shrivelled, while the roots +are in the earth, have lost much of their medicinal power, and should be +rejected from medicine." Seeds and fruit should be gathered when ripe or +fully matured.</p> + +<p>Flowers should be gathered just at the time they come into bloom.</p> + +<p>Leaves should be gathered when they have arrived at their full growth, +are green, and full of the juices of the plant. Barks should be gathered +as early in the spring as they will peel.</p> + +<p>Roots should be gathered in the fall, after they have perfectly matured, +or early in the spring, before they commence germinating and growing.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>POTATO.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Boiled potatoes, mixed up with steamed cornstalks, shorts, &c., make an +excellent compound for fattening cattle; yet, at the present time, they +are too expensive for general use. We hope, however, that ere long our +farmers will take hold of this subject in good earnest,—we allude to +the causes of potato rot,—and restore this valuable article of food to +its original worth. A few remarks on this subject seem to be called for.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><i>Remarks on the Potato Rot.</i></p> + +<p>Where are the fine, mealy, substantial "apples of the earth" gone?—and +Echo answers, "Where?" They are not to be found at the present day. The +farmers have suffered great losses, in some instances by a partial, and +in others by a total, failure of their crops. Numberless experiments +have been tried to prevent this great national calamity, yet they have +all proved abortive, for the simple reason that we have been only +treating the symptoms, while the disease has taken a firmer hold, and +hurried our subjects to a premature decay. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>Different theories have been +suggested with a view of explaining the causes of the potato rot, none +of which are satisfactory. We have the "fungous theory," "insect +theory," "moisture theory," "theory of <i>degeneration</i>," and "the +chemical theory of defective elements." In relation to the "fungous +theory" we observe that fungi inhabit decaying organic bodies. They are +considered to be a common pest to all kinds of plants, like parasites, +living at the expense of those plants. We do not expect to find fungi in +good healthy vegetables, at least while they possess a high grade of +vital action. It is only when morbid deposits and chemical agencies +overcome the integrity or vital affinity of the vegetable that fungous +growth commences.</p> + +<p>In the fungous development, the living parts of the vegetable are not +always destroyed; yet these fungi obstruct vital action by their +deposits or accumulations; hence the small vessels that lead from centre +to surface are partly paralyzed, and the power peculiar to all +vegetables of throwing off useless or excrementitious matter is +intercepted. This is not all. The process of imperceptible elimination, +which might restore the balance of power in any thing like a vigorous +plant, is thus impaired.</p> + +<p>Now, it is evident that the fungi are not the cause of the potato rot; +they are only the mere effects, the symptoms: preceding these were other +manifestations of disorder, and these manifestations, in their different +grades, might with equal propriety be charged as causes of the potato +rot. The deterioration of the potato has been going on in a gradual +manner for a long time. A mild form of disease has existed for a number +of years, making such imperceptible change that it has escaped the +observation of many until late years, when the article became so +unpalatable that our attention has been called to it in good earnest; +and by the aid of the microscope we have discovered the fungi. Has this +discovery benefited the agriculturist? Not a particle.</p> + +<p>The theory of degeneration, without doubt, will assist us to explain the +why and wherefore of the potato rot. But <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>this is not all; the community +want to know the cause of this degeneracy. We have spent some time in +the investigation of this subject, and now give the public, in a +condensed form, our opinion of this matter. We may err, but our progress +is towards the full discovery of the <i>direct cause</i>, and the ways and +means best adapted to prevent this sad calamity. The potato came into +existence at a certain period in the history of the world. After its +discovery, it was taken from the mother soil, the land of its nativity, +planted in different parts of the world, and grew to apparent +perfection. Our opinion is, that the transplanting was one of the causes +of this degeneracy. It is generally known that indigenous plants do not +thrive so well on foreign soil as in their native; for example, the +plants of the sunny south cannot be made to flourish here in the same +degree of perfection as at the south; they require the genial warmth of +the sun's rays, which our northern climates lack. The soil, too, mast be +adapted to each particular plant. It is true we do cultivate them by +ingenuity and chemical agency; yet they seldom equal the original. Need +we ask the farmer if he can, from the soil of New England, produce a St. +Michael orange equal to one grown on its native soil? or if a squash +will grow in the deserts of Arabia? All vegetables, as well as animals, +possess a certain amount of vital power, which enables them to resist, +to a certain degree, all encroachments on their healthy operations. The +potato, having been deprived, in some measure, of its essential element, +lost its reciprocal equilibrium, and has ever since been a prey to +whatever destructive agents may be present, whether they exist in the +soil or atmosphere. Yet we conceive that its total destruction is +dependent on another cause, which has been entirely overlooked; for, in +spite of the gradual deterioration alluded to, the potato will, for a +number of years, continue to keep up a low form of vitality, and result +in something like a potato. In order to comprehend the subject, let us, +for a moment, consider the conditions necessary for the germination and +perfection of vegetable bodies. We shall then be able to decide as to +whether or not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>we have complied with such conditions. The first +condition is, we must have <i>a perfect germ</i>; secondly, <i>a ripe seed</i>; +and lastly, <i>nutrimental agents in the sail, composed of carbon, +hydrogen, and oxygen</i>.</p> + +<p>The potato requires but a small quantity of moisture to develop the +germinating principle; for we have every day evidences of its ability to +send forth its fibres, even in the open air. Now, the premature +development of these fibrous radicles, or roots, debilitates the tuber; +in short, we have a sick potato. Is the potato, under such +circumstances, a perfect germ? No. If you examine the potato, with its +roots and stem, you will find the cutis, or skin, and mucous membrane. +This external skin, <i>including that of plant, stalk, leaf, and ball</i>, is +to the potato what the skin and lungs are to animals; they, each of +them, absorb atmospheric food, and throw off excrementitious matter; the +roots and fibres are to the vegetable what the alimentary canal is to +the animal. A large portion of the food of vegetables is found in the +soil, and enters the vegetable system, through its capillary +circulation, by the process of imperceptible elimination and absorption. +Now, you must bear in mind that the fibres, stem, and leaves are +delicate and tender organs; they are studded with millions of little +pores, covered with a membrane of delicate texture, easily lacerated. +When these delicate organs are rudely torn off or lacerated, the potato +immediately gives evidence of the encroachments of disease; it shrinks, +withers, and, although the soil abounds in all that is necessary for its +growth and future development, it is not in a fit state to carry on the +chemico-vital process. We often take the potato from the soil with a +view of preserving it for seed, without any definite knowledge of the +exact time of its maturity; as the season arrives for again replanting, +the fibres are torn off, and the potato itself is often cut up into two +or three pieces; sometimes, however, the smaller potatoes are used for +seed. Both practices are open to strong objection. Oftentimes the cut +surfaces of the potato are exposed to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>atmospheric air; evaporation +commences, they lose their firm texture, and are more fit for swine than +for planting.</p> + +<p>The cause of the total destruction may exist in a loss of polarity! We +know that all organic and inorganic bodies are subject to the laws of +electricity—each has its polarity. Men who are engaged in mining can +testify that the stratification of the earth is alternately negative and +positive. The hemispheres of the earth are also governed by the same +law; for, if you take a magnetic needle and toss it up in this +hemisphere, which is negative, the positive end will come to the ground +first; but if you pass the magnetic equator, which crosses the common +equator in 23° 28', and then toss the needle up, its negative end will +fall downwards. Hence we infer that the potato has a polarity, just as +man has; and this is the reason of their definite character. Take a +bean, and destroy its polarity by cutting it into several pieces, as you +do the potato, and all the men on earth cannot make it germinate and +grow to perfection. It will die just as a man will, if you destroy the +polarity of his brain by wounding it.</p> + +<p>Take an egg, and destroy its polarity by making a small puncture through +it, and you can never get a chicken from it. A man or an animal will die +of locked-jaw, caused by a splinter entering the living organism; and +why? Because their electrical equilibrium, or their polarity is +destroyed. Some of our readers may desire to know how we can prove that +electricity plays a part in the germination and growth of animals and +vegetables. In verification of it, we will give a few examples. A dish +of salad may, by the aid of electricity, be raised in an hour. Hens' +eggs can be hatched by a similar process in a few hours, which would +require many days by animal heat. By the aid of electricity, water, +which consists of oxygen and hydrogen, may be decomposed, and its +elements set free. The poles of a galvanic battery may be applied to a +dead body, and that body made to imitate the functions of life.</p> + +<p>And lastly, it is through the medium of electrical <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>attraction which +bodies have for each other, that all the chemical compositions and +decompositions depend. Bodies must be in opposite states of electricity +in order to produce a result. Now, if the polarity of the potato is +destroyed in the manner we have just alluded to, or should it be +destroyed by coming in contact with the blade of a knife, <i>the latter +conducting off the electrical current</i>, or by any other means, it must +deteriorate. We are told that "the potato has several germinating +points, and that a part will grow just as well as the whole." Such +reasoning will not stand the test of common experience.</p> + +<p>For example: the Almighty has endowed man with various faculties, and +the perfection of his organism depends on these faculties, as a whole. +Now, he may lose a leg, and yet be capable of performing the ordinary +duties of life; but this does not prove that he might not perform them +much better with both legs. So in reference to the potato. The fact of +its ability to reproduce its kind from a small portion of the whole—a +mere bud—should not satisfy us that a perfect germ is unnecessary. Then +the question arises, How shall we restore the original identity of this +valuable article of food?</p> + +<p>We have, in the early part of this work, recommended the farmers to +study the laws of vegetable physiology. This will furnish them with the +right kind of information. We would, however, suggest to those who are +desirous of making experiments, to comply with the conditions already +alluded to, viz., plant a perfect germ, by which means the potato may be +improved. Yet, in order to restore its identity, we must commence by +germinating from the seed, and plant that on soil abounding in the +constituents necessary for its development. Elevated land abounding in +small stones, and hill sides facing the south, are the best situations. +Potatoes should never be cultivated on the same spot for two successive +years.</p> + +<p>In relation to the insect theory, we would observe, that it throws no +light on the cause of the potato rot; for, in its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>gradual decay, that +vegetable undergoes various changes; the particles of which it is +composed assume new forms, and enter into new combinations; its +elementary substances are separated, giving birth to new compounds, some +of which result in an insect. We all know that animal and vegetable +bodies may remain in a state of putrefaction in water, and be dissolved +in the dust; yet some of their original atoms appear in a new system. +Hence the insect theory has no more to do with the cause of the potato +rot than the fungus.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>TREATMENT OF DISEASE IN DOGS</h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<h3>PRELIMINARY REMARKS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>A good watch dog is of inestimable value to the farmer; and as very +little is at present understood of the nature and treatment of their +maladies, we have thought that a few general directions would be +acceptable, not only to the farmer, but to every man who loves a dog. We +have paid considerable attention to the treatment of disease in this +class of animals, and have generally found that must of their maladies +will yield very readily to our sanative agents. Most of the remedies +recommended by <i>allopathic</i> writers for dogs, like those recommended for +horses and cattle, would at any time destroy the animal; consequently, +if it ever recovers, it does so in spite of the violence done to the +constitution. We hope to rescue the dog, as well as other classes of +domestic animals, from a cruel system of medication; for this we labor, +and to this work our life is devoted. We ask the reader to take into +consideration the destructive nature of the articles used on these +faithful animals. Some of them are the most destructive poisons that can +be found in the whole world. For example, several authors recommend, in +the treatment of disease in the canine race, the following:—</p> + +<p><i>Tartar emetic</i>, a very few grains of which will kill a man—yet +recommended for dogs.</p> + +<p><i>Calomel</i>, a very fashionable remedy, used for producing ulcerated gums +and for rotting the teeth of thousands of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>human family, as the +dentists can testify. Not fit for a dog, yet prescribed by most dog +fanciers.</p> + +<p><i>Lunar caustic</i>, recommended by Mr. Lawson for fits; to be given +internally with cobwebs!! Our opinion is, that it would be likely to +give any four-footed creature "<i>fits</i>" that took it.</p> + +<p>Cowhage, corrosive sublimate, tin-filings, sugar of lead, white +precipitate, oil of turpentine, opium nitre—these, together with aloes, +jalap, tobacco, hellebore, and a very small proportion of sanative +agents, make up the list. In view of the great destruction that is +likely to attend the administration of these and kindred articles, we +have substituted others, which may be given with safety. Why should the +poor dog be compelled to swallow down such powerful and destructive +agents? He is entitled to better treatment, and we flatter ourselves +that wherever these pages shall be read, he will receive it. In +reference to the value of dogs, Mr. Lawson says, "Independent of his +beauty, vivacity, strength, and swiftness, he has the interior qualities +that must attract the attention and esteem of mankind. Intelligent, +humble, and sincere, the sole happiness of his life seems to be to +execute his master's commands. Obedient to his owner, and kind to all +his friends, to the rest he is indifferent. He knows a stranger by his +clothes, his voice, or his gestures, and generally forbids his approach +with marks of indignation. At night, when the guard of the house is +committed to his care, he seems proud of the charge; he continues a +watchful sentinel, goes his rounds, scents strangers at a distance, and +by barking gives them notice that he is on duty; if they attempt to +break in, he becomes fiercer, threatens, flies at them, and either +conquers alone, or alarms those who have more interest in coming to his +assistance. The flock and herd are even more obedient to the dog than to +the shepherd: he conducts them, guards them, and keeps them from +capriciously seeking danger; and their enemies he considers as his +own."</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>DISTEMPER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p><i>Symptoms.</i>—If the animal is a watch dog, (such are usually confined in +the daytime,) the person who is in the daily habit of feeding him will +first observe a loss of appetite; the animal will appear dull and lazy; +shortly after, there is a watery discharge from the eyes and nose, +resembling that which accompanies catarrh. As the disease advances, +general debility supervenes, accompanied with a weakness of the hind +extremities. The secretions are morbid; for example, some are +constipated, and pass high-colored urine; others are suddenly attacked +with diarrhœa, scanty urine, and vomiting. Fits are not uncommon +during the progress of the disease.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—If the animal is supposed to have eaten any improper food, +we commence the treatment by giving an emetic.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Emetic for Dogs.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 330a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered lobelia, (herb,)</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Warm water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 wine-glass.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, and administer at a dose.</p> + +<p>(A table-spoonful of common salt and water will generally vomit a dog.)</p> + +<p>If this dose does not provoke emesis, it should not be repeated, for it +may act as a relaxant, and carry the morbid accumulations off by the +alimentary canal. If the bowels are constipated, use injections of +soap-suds. If the symptoms are complicated, the following medicine must +be prepared:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 330b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered mandrake,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 tea-spoonfuls.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered marshmallows,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Divide the mass into six parts, and administer one in honey, night +and morning, for the first day; after which, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span>a single powder, daily, +will suffice. The diet to consist of mush, together with a drink of thin +arrowroot. If, however, the animal be in a state of plethora, very +little food should be given him.</p> + +<p>If the strength fails, support it with beef tea. Should a diarrhœa +attend the malady, give an occasional drink of hardhack tea.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>FITS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Dogs are subject to epileptic fits, which are often attended with +convulsions. They attack dogs of all ages, and under every variety of +management. Dogs that are apparently healthy are often suddenly +attacked. The nervous system of the dog is very susceptible to external +agents; hence whatever raises any strong passion in them often produces +fits. Pointers and setters have often been known to suffer an attack +during the excitement of the chase. Fear will also produce fits; and +bitches, while suckling, if burdened with a number of pups, and not +having a sufficiency of nutriment to support the lacteal secretion, +often die in convulsive fits. Young puppies, while teething, are subject +to fits: simply scarifying their gums will generally give temporary +relief. Lastly, fits may be hereditary, or they may be caused by +derangement of the stomach. In all cases of fits, it is very necessary, +in order to treat them with success, that we endeavor, as far as +possible, to ascertain the causes, and remove them as far as lies in our +power: this accomplished, the cure is much easier.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Whenever the attack is sudden and violent, and the animal +is in good flesh, plunge him into a tub of warm water, and give an +injection of the same, to which a tea-spoonful of salt may be added. It +is very difficult, in fact improper, to give medicine during the fit; +but as soon as it is over, give</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 332a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> +Manna,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Common salt,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Add a small quantity of water, and give it at a dose.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<p>Make an infusion of mullein leaves, and give to the amount of a +wine-glass every four hours. With a view of preventing a recurrence of +fits, keep the animal on a vegetable diet. If the bowels are +constipated, give thirty grains of extract of butternut, or, if that +cannot be readily procured, substitute an infusion of senna and manna, +to which a few caraways may be added.</p> + +<p>If the nervous system is deranged, which may be known by the +irritability attending it, then give a tea-spoonful of the powdered +nervine, (lady's slipper.) The diet must consist of boiled articles, and +the animal must be allowed to take exercise.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>WORMS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Worms may proceed from various causes; but they are seldom found in +healthy dogs. One of the principal causes is debility in the digestive +organs.</p> + +<p><i>Indications of Cure.</i>—To tone up the stomach and other organs,—by +which means the food is prevented from running into fermentation,—and +administer vermifuges. The following are good examples:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 332b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Oil of wormseed,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered assafœtida,</td> + <td class="tdl">30 grains</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given every morning, fasting. Two doses will generally suffice.</p> + +<p class="cen"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 333a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered mandrake,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half a table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered Virginia snakeroot,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Divide into four doses, and give one every night, in honey.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<p>Make an infusion of the sweet fern, (<i>comptonea asplenifolia</i>,) and give +an occasional drink, followed by an injection of the same.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 333b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half a table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Common brown soap,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Rub them well together in a mortar, and form the mass into pills about +the size of a hazel-nut, and give one every night.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>MANGE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This disease is too well known to need any description. The following +are deemed the best cures:—</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>External Application for Mange.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 333c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half a table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2">Soft soap sufficient to form an ointment.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be applied externally for three successive days; at the end of which +time, the animal is to be washed with castile soap and warm water, and +afterwards wiped dry.</p> + +<p>The internal remedies consist of equal parts of sulphur and cream of +tartar, half a tea-spoonful of which may be given daily, in honey.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>When the disease becomes obstinate, and large, scabby eruptions appear +on various parts of the body, take</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 334a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Pyroligneous acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Wash the parts daily, and keep the animal on a light diet.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>INTERNAL ABSCESS OF THE EAR.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In this complaint, the affected side is generally turned downwards, and +the dog is continually shaking his head.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—In the early stages, foment the part twice a day with an +infusion of marshmallows. As soon as the abscess breaks, wash with an +infusion of raspberry leaves, and if a watery discharge continues, wash +with an infusion of white oak bark.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>ULCERATION OF THE EAR.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>External ulcerations should be washed twice a day with</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 334b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Pyroligneous acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">8 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix.</p> + +<p>As soon as the ulcerations assume a healthy appearance, touch them with +Turlington's balsam or tincture of gum catechu.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Whenever inflammation of the bowels makes its appearance, it is a sure +sign that there is a loss of equilibrium in the circulation; and this +disturbance may arise from a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>collapse of the external surface, or from +irritation produced by hardened excrement on the mucous membrane of the +intestines. An attack is recognized by acute pain in the abdominal +region. The dog gives signs of suffering when moved, and the bowels are +generally constipated.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Endeavor to equalize the circulation by putting the animal +into a warm bath, where he should remain about five minutes. When taken +out, the surface must be rubbed dry. Then give the following +injection:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 335a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Linseed oil,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">4 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Warm water,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 gill.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix.</p> + +<p>To allay the irritation of the bowels, give the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 335b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered pleurisy root,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered marshmallow root,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, and divide into three parts; one to be given every four hours.</p> + +<p>Should vomiting be a predominant symptom, a small quantity of saleratus, +dissolved in spearmint tea, may be given.</p> + +<p>Should not this treatment give relief, make a fomentation of hops, and +apply it to the belly; and give half an ounce of manna. The only +articles of food and drink should consist of barley gruel and mush. If, +however, the dog betrays great heat, thirst, panting, and restlessness, +a small quantity of cream of tartar may be added to the barley gruel. +The bath and clysters may be repeated, if necessary.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This requires the same treatment as the preceding malady.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>ASTHMA.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Dogs that are shut up in damp cellars, and deprived of pure air and +exercise, are frequently attacked with asthma. Old dogs are more liable +to asthma than young ones.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Endeavor to ascertain the cause, and remove it. Let the +animal take exercise in the open air. The diet to consist of cooked +vegetables; a small quantity of boiled meat may be allowed; raw meat +should not be given.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Compound for Asthma.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 336"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered bloodroot,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered lobelia,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered marshmallows,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered licorice,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Divide into twelve parts, and give one night and morning. If they +produce retching, reduce the quantity of lobelia. The object is not to +vomit, but to induce a state of nausea or relaxation.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>PILES.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Piles are generally brought on by confinement, over-feeding, &c., and +show themselves by a red, sore, and protruded rectum. Dogs subject to +constipation are most likely to be attacked.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Give the animal half a tea-spoonful of sulphur for two or +three mornings, and wash the parts with an infusion of white oak bark. +If they are very painful, wash two or three times a day with an infusion +of hops, and keep the animal on a light diet.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>DROPSY.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Dropsy is generally preceded by loss of appetite, cough, diminution of +natural discharge of urine, and costiveness. The abdomen shortly +afterwards begins to enlarge.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—It is sometimes necessary to evacuate the fluid by +puncturing the abdomen; but this will seldom avail much unless the +general health is improved, and the suppressed secretions restored. The +following is the best remedy we know of:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 337"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">Powdered flagroot,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">a quarter of an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered male fern,</td> + <td class="tdl">a quarter of an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Scraped horseradish,</td> + <td class="tdl">a quarter of an ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Divide into eight parts, and give one night and morning. Good +nutritious diet must be allowed.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SORE THROAT.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>A strong decoction of mullein leaves applied to a sore throat will +seldom fail in curing it.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SORE EARS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>A dog's ears may become sore and scabby from being torn, or otherwise +injured. In such cases, they should be anointed with marshmallow +ointment.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SORE FEET.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>If the feet become sore from any disease between the claws, apply a +poultice composed of equal parts of marshmallows and charcoal; after +which the following wash will complete the cure:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 338a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Pyroligneous acid,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water,</td> + <td class="tdl">6 ounces.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix, and wash with a sponge twice a day.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>WOUNDS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Turlington's Balsam is the best application for wounds. Should a dog be +bitten by one that is mad, give him a tea-spoonful of lobelia in water, +and bind some of the same article on the wound.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SPRAINS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>For sprains of any part of the muscular structure, use one of the +following prescriptions:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 338b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Oil of wormwood,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Tincture of lobelia,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Infusion of hops,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 quart</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mix. Bathe the part twice a day.</p> + +<p class="cen"><i>Another.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 338c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Wormwood,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">a handful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Thoroughwort</td> + <td class="tdl">a handful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">New England rum,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 pint.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Set them in a warm place for a few hours, then bathe the part with the +liquid; and bind some of the herb on the part, if practicable.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>SCALDS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>If a dog be accidentally scalded, apply, with as little delay as +possible,—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 339a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Lime water,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Linseed oil,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>OPHTHALMIA.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Ophthalmia is supposed to be contagious; yet a mild form may result from +external injury, as blows, bruises, or extraneous bodies introduced +under the eyelid. The eye is such a delicate and tender organ, that the +smallest particle of any foreign body lodging on its surface will cause +great pain and swelling.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Take a tea-spoonful of finely-pulverized marshmallow root, +add sufficient hot water to make a thin mucilage, and with this wash the +eye frequently. Keep the animal in a dark place, on a light diet; and if +the eyes are very red and tender, give a pill composed of twenty-nine +grains extract of butternut and ten grains cream of tartar.</p> + +<p>If purulent discharge sets in, bathe the eye with infusion of camomile +or red rose leaves, and give the following:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 339b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered pleurisy root,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered bloodroot,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">equal parts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Dose, half a table-spoonful daily. To be given in honey. When the +eyelids adhere together, wash with warm milk.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>WEAK EYES.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>It often happens that, after an acute attack, the eyes are left in a +weak state, when there is a copious secretion of fluid continually +running from them. In such cases, the eyes may be washed, night and +morning, with pure cold water, and the general health must be improved: +for the latter purpose, the following preparation is recommended:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 340"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Manna,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered gentian,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered mandrake,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Rub them together in a mortar, and give a pill, about the size of a +hazel-nut, every night. If the manna is dry, a little honey will be +necessary to amalgamate the mass.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>FLEAS AND VERMIN.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Fleas and vermin are very troublesome to dogs; yet they may easily be +got rid of by bathing the dog with an infusion of lobelia for two +successive mornings, and afterwards washing with water and castile soap.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>HYDROPHOBIA.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Whenever one dog is bitten by another, and the latter is supposed to +labor under this dreadful malady, immediate steps should be taken to +arrest it; for a dog once bitten by another, whatever may be the stage +or intensity of the disease, is never safe. The disease may appear in a +few days; in some instances, it is prolonged for eight months.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span><i>Symptoms.</i>—Mr. Lawson tells us that "the first symptom appears to be a +slight failure of the appetite, and a disposition to quarrel with other +dogs. A total loss of appetite generally succeeds. A mad dog will not +cry out on being struck, or show any sign of fear on being threatened. +In the height of the disorder, he will bite all other dogs, animals, or +men. When not provoked, he usually attacks only such as come in his way; +but, having no fear, it is very dangerous to strike or provoke him. The +eyes of mad dogs do not look red or fierce, but dull, and have a +peculiar appearance, not easy to be described. Mad dogs seldom bark, but +occasionally utter a most dismal and plaintive howl, expressive of +extreme distress, and which they who have once heard can never forget. +They do not froth at the mouth; but their lips and tongue appear dry and +foul, or slimy. They cannot swallow water." Mr. Lawson, and indeed many +veterinary practitioners, have come to the conclusion that all remedies +are fallacious!<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p><i>Remarks.</i>—In White's Dictionary we are informed that the tops of +yellow broom have been used for hydrophobia in the human subject with +great success; and we do not hesitate to say that they might be used +with equal success on beasts. Dr. Muller, of Vienna, has lately +published, in the <i>Gazette de Santé</i>, some facts which go to show that +the yellow broom is invaluable in the treatment of this malady. Dr. +White tells us that "M. Marochetti gave a decoction of yellow broom to +twenty-six persons who had been bitten by a mad dog, viz., nine men, +eleven women, and six children. Upon an examination of their tongues, he +discovered pimples in five men, three children, and in all the women. +The seven <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>that were free from pimples took the decoction of broom six +weeks and recovered."</p> + +<p>The same author informs us that "M. Marochetti, during his residence at +Ukraine, in the year 1813, attended fifteen persons who had been bitten +by a mad dog. While he was making preparations for cauterizing the +wounds, some old men requested him to treat the unfortunate people +according to the directions of a peasant in the neighborhood, who had +obtained great reputation for the cure of hydrophobia. The peasant gave +to fourteen persons, placed under his care, a strong decoction of the +yellow broom; he examined, twice a day, the under part of the tongue, +where he had generally discovered little pimples, containing, as he +supposed, the hydrophobic poison. These pimples at length appeared, and +were observed by M. Marochetti himself. As they formed, the peasant +opened them, and cauterized the parts with a red-hot needle; after which +the patients gargled with the same decoction. The result of this +treatment was, that the fourteen patients returned cured, having drank +the decoction six weeks." The following case will prove the value of the +plantain, (<i>plantago major</i>.) We were called upon, October 25, 1850, to +see a dog, the property of Messrs. Stewart & Forbes, of Boston. From the +symptoms, we were led to suppose that the animal was in the incipient +stage of canine madness. We directed him to be securely fastened, kept +on a light diet, &c. The next day, a young Newfoundland pup was placed +in the cellar with the patient, who seized the little fellow, and +crushed his face and nose in a most shocking manner, both eyes being +almost obliterated. The poor pup lingered in excruciating torment until +the owner, considering it an act of charity, had it killed. This act of +ferocity on the part of the patient confirmed our suspicions as to the +nature of the malady. We commenced the treatment by giving him +tea-spoonful doses of powdered plantain, (<i>plantago major</i>,) night and +morning, in the food, and in the course of a fortnight, the eye (which, +during the early stage of the malady, had an unhealthy appearance) +assumed its natural state, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>the appetite returned; in short, the dog +got rapidly well. We feel confident that, if this case had been +neglected, it might have terminated in canine madness.</p> + +<p>We are satisfied that the plantain possesses valuable antiseptic and +detergent properties. Dr. Beach tells us that "a negro at the south +obtained his freedom by disclosing a nostrum for the bites of snakes, +the basis of which was the plantain." A writer states that a toad, in +fighting with a spider, as often as it was bitten, retired a few steps, +ate of the plantain, and then renewed the attack. The person deprived it +of the plant, and it soon died.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—Let the suspected dog be confined by himself, so that he +cannot do injury. Then take two ounces of lobelia, and one ounce of +sulphur, place them in a common wash tub, and add several gallons of +boiling water. As soon as it is sufficiently cool, plunge the dog into +it, and let him remain in it several minutes. Then give an infusion of +either of the following articles: yellow broom, plantain, or Greek +valerian, one ounce of the herb to a pint of water. An occasional +tea-spoonful of the powdered plantain may be allowed with the food, +which must be entirely vegetable. If the dog has been bitten, wash the +part with a strong infusion of lobelia, and bind some of the herb on the +part. The treatment should be continued for several days, or until the +animal recovers, and all danger is past.</p> + +<p>(For information on the causes of madness, the reader is referred to my +work on the Horse, p. 108.)</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> They probably only allude to cauterization, cutting out +the bitten part, and the use of poisons. It cannot be expected that such +processes and agents should ever cure the disease. Let them try our +agents before they pronounce "all remedies fallacious." Let them try the +<i>alisma plantago</i>, (plantain,) yellow broom tops, <i>scutellaria</i>, +(skullcap,) lobelia, Greek valerian, &c.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>MALIGNANT MILK SICKNESS OF THE WESTERN STATES,<br /> OR CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>This name applies to a disease said to be very fatal in the Western +States, attacking certain kinds of live stock, and also persons who make +use of the meat and dairy products of such cattle.</p> + +<p>The cause, nature, and treatment of this disease is so little understood +among medical men, and such an alarming mortality attends their +practice, that many of the inhabitants of the west and south-west depend +entirely on their domestic remedies. "It is in that country emphatically +one of the <i>opprobria medicorum</i>." Nor are the mineralites any more +successful in the treatment of other diseases incidental to the Great +West. Their Peruvian bark, <i>quinine</i>, and calomel, immense quantities of +which are used without any definite knowledge of their <i>modus operandi</i>, +fail in a great majority of cases. If they were only to substitute +powdered charcoal and sulphur for calomel, both in view of prevention +and cure, aided by good nursing, then the mortality would be materially +diminished. The success attending the treatment of upwards of sixty +cases of yellow fever, by Mrs. Shall, the proprietress of the City +Hotel, New Orleans, only one of which proved fatal, is attributed to +good nursing. She knew nothing of blood-letting, calomelizing, +narcotizing. The same success attended the practice of Dr. A. Hunn, of +Kentucky, in the treatment of typhus fever, (which resembles milk +sickness,) who cured every case by plunging his patients immediately +into a hot bath.</p> + +<p>"The whole indication of cure in this disease is to bring on reaction, +to recall the poison which is mixed with the blood and thrown to the +centre, which can only be done by inducing a copious perspiration in the +most prompt and energetic manner. If I mistake not, where sweating was +produced in this complaint, recovery invariably followed, while +bleeding, mercury, &c., only aggravated it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>From such facts as these, as well as from numerous others, we may learn, +that disease is not under the control of the boasted science of +medicine, as practised by our allopathic brethren. Many millions of +animals, as well as members of the human family, have died from a +misapplication of medicine, and officious meddling.</p> + +<p>The destruction that in former years attended milk sickness may be +learned from the fact, that in the western settlements, its prevalence +often served as a cause to disband a community, and compel the +inhabitants to seek a location which enjoyed immunity from its +occurrence. The legislatures of several of the Western States have +offered rewards for the discovery of the origin of the milk sickness. No +one that we know of has ever yet claimed the reward. In view of the +great lack of information on this subject, we freely contribute our +mite, which may serve, in some degree, to dispel the impenetrable +mystery by which it is surrounded.</p> + +<p>We shall first show that it is not produced by the atmosphere alone, +which by some is supposed to be the cause.</p> + +<p>"It is often found to occupy an isolated spot, comprehending an area of +one hundred acres, whilst for a considerable distance around it is not +produced."</p> + +<p>If the disease had its sole origin in the atmosphere, it would not be +thus confirmed to a certain location; for every one knows, that the +gentlest zephyr would waft the enemy into the surrounding localities, +and there the work of destruction would commence. The reader is probably +aware that bodies whose specific gravity exceeds that of air, such as +grass, seeds, &c., are conveyed through that medium from one field to +another. The miasma of epidemics is said to be conveyed from one +district to another "on the wings of the wind." Hence, if milk sickness +was of atmospheric or even epidemic origin, it would prevail in +adjoining states. This is not the case; for we are told that "this fatal +disease seldom, if ever, prevails westward of the Alleghany Mountains or +in the bordering states."</p> + +<p>The atmosphere which surrounds this globe was intended <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>by the divine +Artist for the purpose of respiration, and it is well adapted to that +purpose: it cannot be considered a pathological agent, or a cause of +disease. In crowded assemblies, and in close barns and stables, it may +hold in solution noxious gases, which, as we have already stated in +different parts of this work, are injurious to the lungs; but as regards +the atmosphere itself, in an uncontaminated state, it is a physiological +agent. It always preserves its identity, and is always represented by +the same equivalents of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid gas. Liebig +says, "One hundred volumes of air have been found, at every period and +in every climate, to contain twenty-one volumes of oxygen."</p> + +<p>Thus oxygen and nitrogen unite in certain equivalents: the result is +atmospheric air; and they cannot be made to unite in any other +proportions. Suppose the oxygen to be in excess, what would be the +result? A universal conflagration would commence; the hardest rocks, and +even the diamond, (considered almost indestructible,) would melt with +"fervent heat." If, on the other hand, nitrogen was in excess, then +every living thing, including both animal and vegetable, would instantly +die. Hence we infer that the atmosphere cannot be considered as the +cause of this disease.</p> + +<p><i>Causes.</i>—A creeping vine has been supposed to occasion the disease. +This cannot be the case, for it occurs very frequently when the ground +is covered with snow. We are satisfied, although we may not succeed in +satisfying the reader, that no one cause alone can produce the disease: +there must be a diminution of vital energy, and this diminution may +result, first, from poor diet. Dr. Graff tells us that the general +appearance of these infected districts is somewhat peculiar. The quality +of the soil is, in general, of an inferior description. The growth of +timber is not observed to be so luxuriant as in situations otherwise +similar, but is scrubby, and stunted in its perfect development, in many +instances simulating what in the west is denominated '<i>barrens</i>.' We can +easily conceive that these barrens do not furnish the proper <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span>amount of +carbon (in the form of food) for the metamorphosis of the tissues; and +if we take into consideration that the animal receives, during the day, +while in search of this food, a large supply of oxygen, and at the same +time the waste of the body is increased by the extra labor required to +select sufficient nutriment,—it being scanty in such situations,—then +it follows that this disproportion between the quantity of carbon in the +food, and that of oxygen absorbed by the skin and lungs, must induce a +diseased or abnormal condition. The animal is sometimes fat, at others +lean. Some of the cows attacked with this disease were fat, and in +apparent health, and nothing peculiar was observed until immediately +preceding the outbreak of the fatal symptoms. The presence of fat is +generally proof positive of an abnormal state; and in such cases the +liver is often diseased; the blood then becomes loaded with fat and oil, +and is finally deposited in the cellular tissues. The reader will now +understand how an animal accumulates fat, notwithstanding it be +furnished with insufficient diet. All that we wish to contend for is, +that in such cases vital resistance is compromised. We have observed +that, in the situation alluded to, vegetation was stunted, &c., and +knowing that vegetables are composed of nearly the same materials which +constitute animal organization,—the carbon or fat of the former being +deposited in the seeds and fruits, and that of the latter in the +cellular structure,—then we can arrive at but one conclusion, viz., +that any location unfavorable to vegetation is likewise ill adapted to +preserve the integrity of animal life.</p> + +<p>In connection with this, it must be remembered that during the night the +soil emits excrementitious vapors which are taken into the animal system +by the process of respiration. In the act of rumination, vapor is also +enclosed in the globules of saliva, and thus reach the stomach. Many +plants which during the day may be eaten with impunity by cattle, +actually become poisonous during the night! This, we are aware, will +meet with some opposition; to meet which we quote from Liebig:—</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>"How powerful, indeed, must the resistance appear which the vital force +supplies to leaves charged with oil of turpentine or tannic acid, when +we consider the affinity of oxygen for these compounds!</p> + +<p>"This intensity of action, or of resistance, the plant obtains by means +of the sun's light; the effect of which in chemical actions may be, and +is, compared to that of a very high temperature, (moderate red heat.)</p> + +<p>"During the night, an opposite process goes on in the plant; we see then +that the constituents of the leaves and green parts combine with the +oxygen of the air—a property which in daylight they did not possess.</p> + +<p>"From these facts we can draw no other conclusion but this: that the +intensity of the vital force diminishes with the abstraction of light; +that, with the approach of night, a state of equilibrium is established; +and that, in complete darkness, all those constituents of plants which, +during the day, possessed the power of separating oxygen from chemical +combinations, and of resisting its action, lose their power completely.</p> + +<p>"A precisely similar phenomenon is observed in animals.</p> + +<p>"The living animal body exhibits its peculiar manifestations of vitality +only at certain temperatures. When exposed to a certain degree of cold, +these vital phenomena entirely cease.</p> + +<p>"The abstraction of heat must, therefore, be viewed as quite equivalent +to a diminution of the vital energy; the resistance opposed by the vital +force to external causes of disturbance must diminish, in certain +temperatures, in the same ratio in which the tendency of the elements of +the body to combine with the oxygen of the air increases."</p> + +<p><i>Secondly.</i> In the situations alluded to, we generally find poisonous +and noxious plants, with an abundance of decayed vegetable matter. An +English writer has said, "The farmers of England might advantageously +employ a million at least of additional laborers in clearing their wide +domains of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span>noxious plants,<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> which would amply repay them in the +superior quality of their produce. They would then feel the truth of +that axiom in philosophy, "that he who can contrive to make two blades +of grass, or wholesome grain, grow where one poisonous plant grew +before, is a greater benefactor to the human race than all the +conquerors or heroes who have ever lived." The noxious plants found in +such abundance in the Western States are among the principal causes, +either directly or indirectly, of the great mortality among men, horses, +cattle, and sheep. The hay would be just as destructive as when in its +green state, were it not that, in the process of drying, the volatile +and poisonous properties of the buttercup, dandelion, poppy, and +hundreds of similar destructive plants found in the hay, evaporate. It +is evident that if animals have partaken of such plants, although death +in all cases do not immediately follow, there must be a deficiency of +vital resistance, or loss of equilibrium, and the animal is in a +negative state. It is consequently obvious that when in such a state it +is more liable to receive impressions from external agents—in short, is +more subject to disease, and this disease may assume a definite form, +regulated by location.</p> + +<p><i>Thirdly.</i> A loss of vital resistance may result from drinking impure +water. (See <i>Watering</i>, p. 15.) Dr. Graff tells us that "another +peculiar appearance, which serves to distinguish these infected spots, +is the breaking forth of numerous feeble springs, called oozes, +furnishing but a trifling supply <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>of water." Such water is generally +considered unwholesome, and will, of course, deprive the system of its +vital resistance, if partaken of.</p> + +<p><i>Fourthly.</i> A loss of vital resistance may result from exposure; for it +is well known that cattle which have been regularly housed every night +have escaped the attacks of this malady, and that when suffered to +remain at large, they were frequently seized with it.</p> + +<p><i>Lastly.</i> The indirect causes of milk fever exist in any thing that can +for a time prevent the free and full play of any part of the animal +functions. The direct causes of death are chemical action, resulting +from decomposition, which overcomes the vital principle.</p> + +<p>Professor Liebig tells us, that "chemical action is opposed by the vital +principle. The results produced depend upon the strength of their +respective actions; either an equilibrium of both powers is attained, or +the acting body yields to the superior force. If chemical action obtains +the ascendency, it acts as a poison."</p> + +<p><i>Remarks.</i>—Let us suppose that one, or a combination of the preceding +causes, has operated so as to produce an abnormal state in the system of +a cow. She is then suffered to remain in the unhealthy district during +the night: while there, exposed to the emanations from the soil, she +requires the whole force of her vital energies to ward off chemical +decompositions, and prevent encroachment on the various functions. A +contest commences between the vital force and chemical action, and, +after a hard conflict in their incessant endeavors to overcome each +other, the chemical agency obtains the ascendency, and disease of a +putrid type (milk fever) is the result. The disease may not immediately +be recognized, for the process of decomposition may be insidious; yet +the milk and flesh of such an animal may communicate the disease to man +and other animals. It is well known that almost any part of animal +bodies in a state of putrefaction, such as milk, cheese, muscle, pus, +&c., communicate their own state of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span>decomposition to other bodies. Many +eminent medical men have lost their lives while dissecting, simply by +putrefactive matter coming in contact with a slight wound or puncture. +Dr. Graff made numerous experiments on dogs with the flesh, &c., of +animals having died of milk sickness. He says, "My trials with the +poisoned flesh were, for the most part, made on dogs, which I confined; +and I often watched the effect of the poison when administered at +regular intervals. In the space of forty-eight hours from the +commencement of the administration of either the butter, cheese, or +flesh, I have observed unequivocal appearances of their peculiar action, +while the appetite remains unimpaired until the expiration of the fourth +or fifth day." From the foregoing remarks, the reader will agree with +us, that the disease is of a putrid type, and has a definite character. +What is the reason of this definite character? All diseases are under +the control of the immutable laws of nature. They preserve their +identity in the same manner that races of men preserve theirs. Milk +sickness of the malignant type luxuriates in the locations referred to, +for the same reasons that yellow fever is peculiar to warm climates, and +consumption to cold ones; and that different localities have distinct +diseases; for example, ship fever, jail fever, &c.</p> + +<p>Before disease can attack, and develop itself in the bodies of men or +animals, the existing equilibrium of the vital powers must be disturbed; +and the most common causes of this disturbance we have already alluded +to. In reference to the milk, butter, cheese, &c., of infected animals, +and their adaptation to develop disease in man, and in other locations +than those referred to, we observe, that when a quantity, however small, +of contagious matter is introduced into the stomach, if its antiseptic +properties are the least deranged, the original disease (milk sickness) +is produced, just as a small quantity of yeast will ferment a whole +loaf. The transformation takes place through the medium of the blood, +and produces a body identical with, or similar to, the exciting or +contagious matter. The quantity of the latter must constantly augment; +for the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>state of change or decomposition which affects one particle of +the blood is imparted to others. The time necessary to accomplish it, +however, depends on the amount of vital resistance, and of course varies +in different animals. In process of time, the whole body becomes +affected, and in like manner it is communicated to other individuals; +and this may take place by simply respiring the carbonic acid gas, or +morbific materials from the lungs, of diseased animals in the infected +districts.</p> + +<p>We are told that the latent condition of the disease may be discovered +by subjecting the suspected animal to a violent degree of exercise. This +is a precaution practised by butchers before slaughtering animals in any +wise suspected of the poisonous contamination;<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> for according to the +intensity of the existing cause, or its dominion over the vital power, +it will be seized with tremors, spasms, convulsions, or even death. The +reader is, probably, aware that an excess of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>motion will sometimes +cause instant death; for both men and animals, supposed to be in +excellent health, are known to die suddenly from excessive labor. In +some cases of excess of muscular exertion, the active force in living +parts may be entirely destroyed in producing these violent mechanical +results: hence we have a loss of equilibrium between voluntary and +involuntary motion, and there is not sufficient vitality left to carry +on the latter. Professor Liebig says, "A stag may be hunted to death. +The condition of metamorphosis into which it has been brought by an +enormous consumption both of force and of oxygen continues when all +phenomena of motion have ceased, and the flesh becomes uneatable." A +perfect equilibrium, therefore, between the consumption of vital force +for the supply of waste, protecting the system from encroachments, and +for mechanical effects, must exist; the animal is then in health: the +contrary is obvious.</p> + +<p><i>Treatment.</i>—The greatest care must be taken to secure the patient good +nutritious food, pure air, and water. The food should consist of a +mixture of two or more of the following articles, which must be cooked: +linseed, parsnips, shorts, carrots, meal, apples, barley, oats, turnips, +slippery elm, oil cake, &c. We again remind the reader that no single or +compound medicine can be procured that will be suitable for every stage +of the disease; it must be treated according to its indications. Yet the +following compound, aided by warmth, moisture, and friction, externally, +will be found better than any medicine yet known. It consists of</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 353"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered charcoal,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">8 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fine salt,</td> + <td class="tdl">3 ounces.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oatmeal,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 pounds.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mandrake, (<i>podophyllum peltatum</i>,)</td> + <td class="tdl" style="vertical-align: bottom;">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>After the ingredients are well mixed, divide the mass into fourteen +parts, and give one night and morning.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span><i>Special Treatment with reference to the Symptoms.</i>—Suppose the animal +to be "off her feed," and the bowels are constipated; then give an +aperient composed of</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 354a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">Extract of butternut,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="50%">2 drachms.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered capsicum,</td> + <td class="tdl">1/3 of a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Thoroughwort tea,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given at a dose, taking care to pour it down the throat in a +gradual manner; for, if poured down too quick, it will fall into the +paunch. If the rectum is suspected to be loaded with excrement, make use +of the common soap-suds injection.</p> + +<p>If the animal appears to walk about without any apparent object in view, +there is reason to suppose that the brain is congested. This may be +verified if the <i>sclerotica</i> (white of the eye) is of a deep red color. +The following will be indicated:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 354b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Mandrake, (<i>podophyllum peltatum</i>,)</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%" style="vertical-align: bottom;">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sulphur,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 table-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cream of tartar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hot water,</td> + <td class="tdl">2 quarts.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given at a dose. At the same time apply cold water to the head, +and rub the spine and legs (below the knees) with the following +counter-irritant:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 354c"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered bloodroot or cayenne,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">1 ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered black pepper,</td> + <td class="tdl">half an ounce.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boiling vinegar,</td> + <td class="tdl">1 quart.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Rub the mixture in while hot, with a piece of flannel.</p> + +<p>If a trembling of the muscular system is observed, then give</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 354d"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%">Powdered ginger,</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">half a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered cinnamon,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Powdered golden seal,</td> + <td class="tdl">half a tea-spoonful.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To be given at a dose, in half a gallon of catnip tea. Aid <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>the vital +powers in producing a crisis by the warmth and moisture, as directed in +the treatment of colds, &c.</p> + +<p>It is necessary to keep the rectum empty by means of injections, forms +of which will be found in this work.</p> + +<p>The remedies we here recommend can be safely and successfully used by +those unskilled in medicine; and, when aided by proper attention to the +diet, ventilation, and comfort of the patient, we do not hesitate to say +(provided, however, they are resorted to in the early stages) they will +cure forty-nine cases out of fifty, without the advice of a physician.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a>The +American farmers are just beginning to wake up on this +subject, and before long we hope to see our pasture lands free from all +poisonous plants. Dr. Whitlaw says, "A friend of mine had two fields +cleared of buttercups, dandelion, ox-eye, daisy, sorrel, hawk-weed, +thistles, mullein, and a variety of other poisonous or noxious plants: +they were dried, burnt, and their ashes strewed over the fields. He had +them sown as usual, and found that the crops of hay and pasturage were +more than double what they had been before. I was furnished with butter +for two successive summers during the months of July and August of 1827. +The butter kept for thirty days, and proved, at the end of that time, +better than that fresh churned and brought to the Brighton or Margate +markets. It would bear salting at that season of the year."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a>Unfortunately, +they do not all practise it. Dr. Graff +says, "There is a murderous practice now carried on in certain +districts, in which the inhabitants will not themselves consume the +butter and cheese manufactured; but, with little solicitude for the +lives or health of others, they send it, in large quantities, to be sold +in the cities of the west, particularly Louisville, Kentucky, and St. +Louis, Missouri. Of the truth of this I am well apprised by actual +observation; and I am as certain that it has often caused death in those +cities, when the medical attendants viewed it as some anomalous form of +disease, not suspecting the means by which poison had been conveyed +among them. Physicians of the latter city, having been questioned +particularly on this subject, have mentioned to me a singular and often +fatal disease, which appeared in certain families, the cases occurring +simultaneously, and all traces of it disappearing suddenly, and which I +cannot doubt were the result of poisoned butter or cheese. This +recklessness of human life it should be our endeavor to prevent; and the +heartless wretches who practise it should be brought to suffer a +punishment commensurate with the enormity of their crime. From the wide +extent of the country in which it is carried on, we readily perceive the +difficulties to be encountered in the effort to put a stop to the +practice. This being the case, our next proper aim should be to +investigate the nature of the cause, and establish a more proper plan of +treatment, by which it may be robbed of its terrors, and the present +large proportionate mortality diminished."</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h3>BONE DISORDER IN COWS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>We have frequently seen accounts, in various papers, of "bone disorder +in milch cows." The bony structure of animals is composed of vital +solids studded with crystallizations of saline carbonates and +phosphates, and is liable to take on morbid action similar to other +textures. Disease of the bones may originate constitutionally, or from +derangement of the digestive organs. We have, for example, <i>mollities +ossium</i>, (softening of the bones;) the disease, however, is very rare. +It may be known by the substance of the bones being soft and yielding, +liable to bend with small force.</p> + +<p>We have also <i>fragilitas ossium</i>, (brittleness of bones.) This is +characterized by the bony system being of a friable nature, and liable +to be fractured by slight force. We have in our possession the fragments +of the small pastern of a horse, the bone having been broken into +seventeen pieces, by a slight concussion, without any apparent injury to +the skin and cellular substance; not the slightest external injury could +be perceived.</p> + +<p>There are several other diseases of the bones, which, we presume, our +readers are acquainted with; such as <i>exostosis</i>, <i>caries</i>, &c., neither +of which apply to the malady under consideration. We merely mention +these for the purpose of showing that the bones are not exempt from +disease, any more than other structures; yet it does not always follow +that a lack of the phosphate of lime in cow's milk is a sure sign of +diseased bones.</p> + +<p>Reader, we do not like the term "<i>bone disorder</i>:" it does not throw the +least light on the nature of the malady; it savors too much of "<i>horn +ail</i>," "<i>tail ail</i>"—terms which only apply to symptoms. We are told +also that, in this disease, "<i>the bones threaten to cave in—have wasted +away</i>." If they do threaten to cave in, the best way we know of to give +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span>them an outward direction is, to promote the healthy secretions and +excretions by a well-regulated diet, and to stimulate the digestive +organs to healthy action. If the bones "have wasted away," we should +like to have a few of them in our collection of morbid anatomy. That the +bones should waste away, and be capable of assuming their original shape +simply by feeding bone meal, is something never dreamt of in our +philosophy.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> Besides, if the cows get well, (we are told they do,) +then we must infer that the bones possess the properties of sudden +expansion and contraction, similar to those of the muscles. It may be +well for us to observe, that not only the bones, but all parts of animal +organization, expand and contract in an imperceptible manner. Thus, up +to the period of puberty, all parts expand: old age comes on, and with +it a gradual wasting and collapse. This is a natural result—one of the +uncompromising laws of nature, over which human agency (bone meal +included) has not the least control. If the bones are diseased, it +results either from impaired digestion or a disproportion between the +carbon of the food and the oxygen respired; hence the "bone disorder," +not being persistent, is only a result—a symptom; and as such we view +it. As far as we have been able to ascertain the nature of the malady, +as manifested by the symptoms, (<i>caving in</i>, <i>wasting</i>, <i>absence of +phosphate of lime in the milk</i>, &c.,) we give it as our opinion,—and we +think our medical brethren will agree with us, (although we do not often +agree,)—that "bone disorder" is a symptom of a disease very prostrating +in its character, originating in the digestive organs; hence not +confined to the bones, but affecting all parts of the animal more or +less. And the only true plan of treatment consists in restoring healthy +action to the whole <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span>animal system. The ways and means of accomplishing +this object are various. If it is clearly ascertained that the animal +system is deficient in phosphate of lime, we see no good reason why bone +meal should not be included among our remedial agents; yet, as corn meal +and linseed contain a large amount of phosphate, we should prefer them +to bone dust, although we do not seriously object to its use.</p> + +<p>The value of food or remedial agents consists in their adaptation to +assimilation; in other words, an absence of chemical properties. These +may be very complex; yet, if they are only held together by a weak +chemical action, they readily yield to the vital principle, and are +transformed. Atoms of bones are held together by a strong chemical +affinity; and the vital principle, in order to convert bone dust into +component parts of the organism, must employ more force to transform +them than it would require for the same purpose when corn meal or +linseed were used, their chemical affinity being weaker than that of +bones.</p> + +<p>In the treatment of any disease, we always endeavor to ascertain its +causes, and, if possible, remove them; and whatever may be indicated we +endeavor to supply to the system. Thus, if phosphates were indicated, we +should use them. In cases of general debility, however, we should prefer +linseed or corn meal, aided by stimulants, to bone dust. Why not use the +bone dust for manure? The animal would then have the benefit of it in +its fodder.</p> + +<p>In reference to a deficiency of phosphate of lime in the milk, we would +observe, that it may result either from impaired digestion, (in such +cases, a large amount of that article may be expelled from the system in +the form of excrements,) or the food may lack it. We then have a sick +plant, for we believe that the phosphate of lime is as necessary for the +growth of the plant as it seems to be for animal development. If the +plant lacks this important constituent, then its vitality, as a whole, +will be impaired. This is all we desire to contend for in the animal, +viz., that the disease <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span>is general, and cannot be considered or treated +as a local affection.</p> + +<p>It has been observed that successive cultivation exhausts the soil, and +deprives it of the constituents necessary for vegetable development. If +so, it follows that there will be a deficiency of silecia, carbonate of +lime,—in short, a loss of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, not +of phosphate of lime alone.</p> + +<p>The fields might be made to produce the requisite amount of nutriment by +replacing every year, in the form of animal excrement, straw, +wood-ashes, and charcoal, as much as we remove from them in the form of +produce. An increase of crop can only be obtained when we add more to +the soil than we take away from it.</p> + +<p>"In Flanders, the yearly loss of the necessary matters in the soil is +completely restored by covering the fields with ashes of wood or bones, +which may, or may not, have been lixiviated. The great importance of +manuring with ashes has been long recognized by agriculturists as the +result of experience. So great a value, indeed, is attached to this +material in the vicinity of Marburg, and in the Wetterau,—two +well-known agricultural districts,—that it is transported, as a manure, +from the distance of eighteen or twenty-four miles. Its use will be at +once perceived, when it is considered that the ashes, after being washed +with water, contain silicate of potass exactly in the same proportion as +in the straw, and that their only other constituents are salts of +phosphoric acid."</p> + +<p>It is well known that phosphate of lime, potass, silecia, carbonate of +lime, magnesia, and soda are discharged in the excrement and urine of +the cow; and this happens when they are not adapted to assimilation as +well as when present in excess. If it is clearly proved that the bones +of a cow are weak, then we should be inclined to prescribe phosphates; +if they are brittle, we should prescribe gelatinous preparations; but +not in the form of bone dust: we should use linseed, which is known to +be rich in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>phosphates. At the same time, the general health must be +improved.</p> + +<p>It is well known that some cows cannot be fattened, although they have +an abundance of the best kind of fodder. In such cases, we find the +digestive organs deranged, which disturbs the equilibrium of the whole +animal economy. The food may then be said to be a direct cause of +disease.</p> + +<p>The effects of insufficient food are well known; debility includes them +all. If there is not sufficient carbon in the food, the animal is +deprived of the power of reproducing itself, and the cure consists in +supplying the deficiency. At the same time, every condition of nutrition +should be considered; and if the function of digestion is impaired, we +must look to those of absorption, circulation, and secretion also, for +they will be more or less involved. If the appetite is impaired, +accompanied by a loss of cud, it shows that the stomach is overloaded, +or that its function is suspended: stimulants and tonics are then +indicated. A voracious appetite indicates the presence of morbid +accumulations in the stomach and bowels, and they should be cleansed by +aperients; after which, a change of diet will generally effect a cure. +When gas accumulates in the intestines, we have evidence of a loss of +vital power in the digestive organs; fermentation takes place before the +food can be digested.</p> + +<p>The cure consists in restoring the lost function. Diarrhœa is +generally caused by exposure, (taking cold,) or by eating poisons and +irritating substances; the cure may be accomplished by removing the +cold, and cleansing the system of the irritants. Costiveness often +arises from the absorption of the fluids from the solids in their slow +progress through the intestines; exercise will then be indicated. An +occasional injection, however, may be given, if necessary. General +debility, we have said, may arise from insufficient food; to which we +may add the popular practice of milking the cow while pregnant, much of +which milk is yielded at the hazard of her own health and that of her +fœtus. Whatever is taken <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span>away from the cow in the form of milk ought +to be replaced by the food. Proper attention, however, must be paid to +the state of the digestive organs: they must not be overtaxed with +indigestible substances. With this object in view, we recommend a mixed +diet; for no animal can subsist on a single article of food. Dogs die, +although fed on jelly; they cannot live upon white bread, sugar, or +starch, if these are given as food, to the exclusion of all other +substances. Neither can a horse or cow live on hay alone: they will, +sooner or later, give evidences of disease. They require stimulants. +Common salt is a good stimulant. This explains why salt hay should be +occasionally fed to milch cows; it not only acts as a stimulant, but is +also an antiseptic, preventing putrefaction, &c.</p> + +<p>A knowledge of the constituents of milk may aid the farmer in selecting +the substances proper for the nourishment of animals, and promotive of +the lacteal secretion; for much of the food contains those materials +united, though not always in the same form. "The constituents of milk +are cheese, or caseine—a compound containing nitrogen in large +proportion; butter, in which hydrogen abounds; and sugar of milk, a +substance with a large quantity of hydrogen and oxygen in the same +proportions as in water. It also contains, in solution, lactate of soda, +phosphate of lime, (the latter in very small quantities,) and common +salt; and a peculiar aromatic product exists in the butter, called +butyric acid."—<i>Liebig.</i></p> + +<p>It is very difficult to explain the changes which the food undergoes in +the animal laboratory, (the stomach,) because that organ is under the +dominion of the vital force—an immaterial agency which the chemist +cannot control. Yet we are justified in furnishing the animal with the +elements of its own organization; for although they may not be deposited +in the different structures in their original atoms, they may be changed +into other compounds, somewhat similar. Liebig tells us that whether the +elements of non-azotized food take an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span>immediate share in the act of +transformation of tissues, or whether their share in that process be an +indirect one, is a question probably capable of being resolved by +careful and cautious experiment and observation. It is possible that +these constituents of food, after undergoing some change, are carried +from the intestinal canal directly to the liver, and that there they are +converted into bile, where they meet with the products of the +metamorphosed tissues, and subsequently complete their course through +the circulation.</p> + +<p>This opinion appears more probable, when we reflect that as yet no trace +of starch or sugar has been detected in arterial blood, not even in +animals that have been fed exclusively with these substances.</p> + +<p>The following tables, from Liebig's Chemistry, will give the reader the +difference between what is taken into the system and what passes out.</p> + +<p class="cen">FOOD CONSUMED BY A COW IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 362a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdctb" width="16%">Articles of food.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Weight in the fresh state.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Weight in the dry state.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Carbon.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Hydrogen.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Oxygen.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Nitrogen.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Salts and earthy matters.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Potatoes,</td> + <td class="tdcl">15000</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 4170 </td> + <td class="tdcl"> 1839.0</td> + <td class="tdcl">241.9</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 1830.7</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 50.0</td> + <td class="tdcl">208.5</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">After grass,</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 7500</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 6315 </td> + <td class="tdcl"> 2974.4</td> + <td class="tdcl">353.6</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 2204.0</td> + <td class="tdcl">151.5</td> + <td class="tdcl">631.5</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlb">Water,</td> + <td class="tdclb">60000</td> + <td class="tdclb">—</td> + <td class="tdclb">—</td> + <td class="tdclb">—</td> + <td class="tdclb">—</td> + <td class="tdclb">—</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 50.0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlb"> Total,</td> + <td class="tdclb">82500</td> + <td class="tdclb">10485</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 4813.4</td> + <td class="tdclb">595.5</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 4034.6</td> + <td class="tdclb">201.5</td> + <td class="tdclb">889.0</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<p class="cen">EXCRETIONS OF A COW IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 362b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdctb" width="16%">Excretions.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Weight in the fresh state.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Weight in the dry state.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Carbon.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Hydrogen.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Oxygen.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Nitrogen.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Salts and earthy matters.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Excrements,</td> + <td class="tdcl">28413</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 4000.0</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 1712.0</td> + <td class="tdcl">208.0</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 1508.0</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 92.0</td> + <td class="tdcl">480.0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Urine,</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 8200</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 960.8</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 261.4</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 25.0</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 253.7</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 36.5</td> + <td class="tdcl">384.2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlb">Milk,</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 8539</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 1150.6</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 628.2</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 99.0</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 321.0</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 46.0</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 56.4</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlb"> Total,</td> + <td class="tdclb">45152</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 6111.4</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 2601.6</td> + <td class="tdclb">332.0</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 2082.7</td> + <td class="tdclb">174.5</td> + <td class="tdclb">920.6</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlb">Total of first part of this table,</td> + <td class="tdclb" style="vertical-align: bottom;">82500</td> + <td class="tdclb" style="vertical-align: bottom;">10485.0</td> + <td class="tdclb" style="vertical-align: bottom;"> 4813.4</td> + <td class="tdclb" style="vertical-align: bottom;">595.5</td> + <td class="tdclb" style="vertical-align: bottom;"> 4034.6</td> + <td class="tdclb" style="vertical-align: bottom;">201.5</td> + <td class="tdclb" style="vertical-align: bottom;">889.0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlb">Difference,</td> + <td class="tdclb">37348</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 4374.6</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 2211.8</td> + <td class="tdclb">263.5</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 1951.9</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 27.0</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 31.6</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> +<p class="cen">FOOD CONSUMED BY A HORSE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 363a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdctb" width="16%">Articles of food.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Weight in the fresh state.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Weight in the dry state.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Carbon.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Hydrogen.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Oxygen.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Nitrogen.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Salts and earthy matters.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hay</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 7500</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 6465</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 2961.0</td> + <td class="tdcl">323.2</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 2502.0</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 97.0</td> + <td class="tdcl">581.8</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oats,</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 2270</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 1927</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 977.0</td> + <td class="tdcl">123.3</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 707.2</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 42.4</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 77.1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlb">Water,</td> + <td class="tdclb">16000</td> + <td class="tdclb">—</td> + <td class="tdclb">—</td> + <td class="tdclb">—</td> + <td class="tdclb">—</td> + <td class="tdclb">—</td> + <td class="tdclb">—</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlb"> Total,</td> + <td class="tdclb">25770</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 8392</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 3938.0</td> + <td class="tdclb">446.5</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 3209.2</td> + <td class="tdclb">139.4</td> + <td class="tdclb">672.2</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<p class="cen">EXCRETIONS OF A HORSE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 363b"> + <tr> + <td class="tdctb" width="16%">Excretions.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Weight in the fresh state.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Weight in the dry state.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Carbon.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Hydrogen.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Oxygen.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Nitrogen.</td> + <td class="tdctlb" width="12%">Salts and earthy matters.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Urine,</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 1330</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 302</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 108.7</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 11.5</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 34.1</td> + <td class="tdcl"> 37.8</td> + <td class="tdcl">109.9</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlb">Excrements,</td> + <td class="tdclb">14250</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 3525</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 1364.4</td> + <td class="tdclb">179.8</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 1328.9</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 77.6</td> + <td class="tdclb">574.6</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlb"> Total,</td> + <td class="tdclb">15580</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 3827</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 1472.9</td> + <td class="tdclb">191.3</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 1363.0</td> + <td class="tdclb">115.4</td> + <td class="tdclb">684/5</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlb">Total of first part of this table,</td> + <td class="tdclb">25770</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 8392</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 3938.0</td> + <td class="tdclb">446.5</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 3209.2</td> + <td class="tdclb">139.4</td> + <td class="tdclb">672.2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlb">Difference,</td> + <td class="tdclb">10190</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 4565</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 2465.1</td> + <td class="tdclb">255.2</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 1846.2</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 24.0</td> + <td class="tdclb"> 12.3</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The weights in these tables are given in grammes. 1 gramme is equal +to 15.44 grains Troy, very nearly.</p> + +<p>It will be seen from these tables that a large proportion of carbon, +hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and earthy matters are again returned to the +soil. From this we infer that more of these matters being present in the +food than were requisite for the purpose of assimilation, they were +removed from the system in the form of excrement. Two suggestions here +present themselves for the consideration of the farmer, viz., that the +manure increases in value in proportion to the richness of food, and +that more of the latter is often given to a cow than is necessary for +the manufacture of healthy chyle.</p> + +<p>In view, then, of preventing "bone disorder," which we have termed +<i>indigestion</i>, we should endeavor to ascertain what articles are best +for food, and learn, from the experience of others, what have been +universally esteemed as such, and, by trying them on our own animals, +prove whether we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>actually find them so. Scalded or boiled food is +better adapted to the stomach of animals than food otherwise prepared, +and is so much less injurious. The agents that act on the internal +system are those which, in quantities sufficient for an ordinary meal, +supply the animal system with stimulus and nutriment just enough for its +wants, and contain nothing in their nature inimical to the vital +operations. All such articles are properly termed food. (For treatment, +see <i>Hide-bound</i>, p. 196.)</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Whenever there is a deficiency of carbon, bone meal may +assist to support combustion in the lungs, and by that means restore +healthy action of the different functions, provided, however, the +digestive organs, aided by the vital power, can overcome the chemical +action by which the atoms of bone meal are held together.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Transcriber's Note</p> +<br /> +Some inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in +the original document has been preserved.<br /> +<br /> +Typographical errors corrected in the text:<br /> +<br /> +Page 36 selecter changed to selector<br /> +Page 48 relaxents changed to relaxants<br /> +Page 54 bronchea changed to bronchi<br /> +Page 85 relaxents changed to relaxants<br /> +Page 112 relaxent changed to relaxant<br /> +Page 135 antispetics changed to antiseptics<br /> +Page 162 BLAINE changed to BLAIN<br /> +Page 181 crums changed to crumbs<br /> +Page 186 puarts changed to quarts<br /> +Page 236 Marshallow changed to Marshmallow<br /> +Page 247 Merinoes changed to Merinos<br /> +Page 307 cypripedum changed to cypripedium<br /> +Page 312 duretic changed to diuretic<br /> +Page 316 peal changed to peel<br /> +Page 341 similating changed to simulating<br /> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The American Reformed Cattle Doctor, by George Dadd + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN REFORMED CATTLE *** + +***** This file should be named 37997-h.htm or 37997-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/9/9/37997/ + +Produced by Barbara Kosker, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain works at the +University of Michigan\'s Making of America collection.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> + + diff --git a/37997-h/images/frontis.jpg b/37997-h/images/frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..94fe7e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/37997-h/images/frontis.jpg diff --git a/37997-h/images/imagep034.jpg b/37997-h/images/imagep034.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f412d2c --- /dev/null +++ b/37997-h/images/imagep034.jpg diff --git a/37997-h/images/imagep055.jpg b/37997-h/images/imagep055.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc8762c --- /dev/null +++ b/37997-h/images/imagep055.jpg diff --git a/37997-h/images/imagep209.jpg b/37997-h/images/imagep209.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d487587 --- /dev/null +++ b/37997-h/images/imagep209.jpg diff --git a/37997-h/images/imagep255.jpg b/37997-h/images/imagep255.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5067f6a --- /dev/null +++ b/37997-h/images/imagep255.jpg diff --git a/37997.txt b/37997.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1377766 --- /dev/null +++ b/37997.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13634 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The American Reformed Cattle Doctor, by George Dadd + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The American Reformed Cattle Doctor + +Author: George Dadd + +Release Date: November 12, 2011 [EBook #37997] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN REFORMED CATTLE *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Kosker, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain works at the +University of Michigan\'s Making of America collection.) + + + + + + +[Illustration: A West Highland Ox + +The Property of Mr. Elliott of East Ham Essex.] + + + + + THE + AMERICAN REFORMED + CATTLE DOCTOR; + + CONTAINING + THE NECESSARY INFORMATION + FOR + PRESERVING THE HEALTH AND CURING THE DISEASES + OF + OXEN, COWS, SHEEP, AND SWINE, + WITH + A GREAT VARIETY OF ORIGINAL RECIPES, + AND + VALUABLE INFORMATION IN REFERENCE TO + FARM AND DAIRY MANAGEMENT; + WHEREBY + EVERY MAN CAN BE HIS OWN CATTLE DOCTOR. + + + + + THE PRINCIPLES TAUGHT IN THIS WORK ARE, THAT ALL MEDICATION + SHALL BE SUBSERVIENT TO NATURE; THAT ALL MEDICINAL AGENTS + MUST BE SANATIVE IN THEIR OPERATION, AND ADMINISTERED WITH + A VIEW OF AIDING THE VITAL POWERS, INSTEAD OF DEPRESSING, + AS HERETOFORE, WITH THE LANCET AND POISON. + + + + + BY + G. H. DADD, M. D., VETERINARY PRACTITIONER, + AUTHOR OF "ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HORSE." + + + + + BOSTON: + PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY, + 110 WASHINGTON STREET. + 1851. + + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by + + G. H. DADD, M. D., + + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the + District of Massachusetts. + + STEREOTYPED AT THE + BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION, 9 + + + CATTLE. + + Importance of supplying Cattle with pure Water, 15 + Remarks on feeding Cattle, 17 + The Barn and Feeding Byre, 21 + Milking, 24 + Knowledge of Agricultural and Animal Chemistry + important to Farmers, 25 + On Breeding, 30 + The Bull, 34 + Value of Different Breeds of Cows, 35 + Method of preparing Rennet, as practised in England, 36 + Making Cheese, 37 + Gloucester Cheese, 38 + Chester Cheese, 39 + Stilton Cheese, 40 + Dunlop Cheese, 41 + Green Cheese, 42 + Making Butter, 44 + Washing Butter, 45 + Coloring Butter, 46 + Description of the Organs of Digestion in Cattle, 47 + Respiration and Structure of the Lungs, 53 + Circulation of the Blood, 54 + The Heart viewed externally, 55 + Remarks on Blood-letting, 58 + Efforts of Nature to remove Disease, 67 + Proverbs of the Veterinary Reformers, 70 + An Inquiry concerning the Souls of Brutes, 72 + The Reformed Practice--Synoptical View of the + Prominent Systems of Medicine, 75 + Creed of the Reformers, 79 + True Principles, 80 + Inflammation, 88 + Remarks, showing that very little is known of the + Nature and Treatment of Disease, 94 + Nature, Treatment, and Causes of Disease in Cattle, 105 + Pleuro-Pneumonia, 107 + Locked-Jaw, 115 + Inflammatory Diseases, 121 + Inflammation of the Stomach, (Gastritis,) 121 + Inflammation of the Lungs, (Pneumonia,) 122 + Inflammation of the Bowels, (Enteritis.--Inflammation + of the Fibro-Muscular Coat of the Intestines,) 124 + Inflammation of the Peritoneal Coat of the Intestines, + (Peritonitis,) 125 + Inflammation of the Kidneys, (Nephritis,) 125 + Inflammation of the Bladder, (Cystitis,) 126 + Inflammation of the Womb, 126 + Inflammation of the Brain, (Phrenitis,) 127 + Inflammation of the Eye, 128 + Inflammation of the Liver, (Hepatitis,) 128 + Jaundice, or Yellows, 130 + Diseases of the Mucous Surface, 132 + Catarrh, or Hoose, 133 + Epidemic Catarrh, 134 + Malignant Epidemic, (Murrain,) 135 + Diarrhoea, (Looseness of the Bowels,) 136 + Dysentery, 138 + Scouring Rot, 139 + Disease of the Ear, 140 + Serous Membranes, 140 + Dropsy, 141 + Hoove, or "Blasting," 144 + Joint Murrain, 147 + Black Quarter, 149 + Open Joint, 151 + Swellings of Joints, 152 + Sprain of the Fetlock, 153 + Strain of the Hip, 154 + Foul in the Foot, 154 + Red Water, 157 + Black Water, 160 + Thick Urine, 160 + Rheumatism, 161 + Blain, 162 + Thrush, 163 + Black Tongue, 163 + Inflammation of the Throat and its Appendages, 163 + Bronchitis, 164 + Inflammation of Glands, 164 + Loss of Cud, 166 + Colic, 166 + Spasmodic Colic, 167 + Constipation, 168 + Falling down of the Fundament, 171 + Calving, 171 + Embryotomy, 175 + Falling of the Calf-Bed, or Womb, 176 + Garget, 177 + Sore Teats, 178 + Chapped Teats and Chafed Udder, 178 + Fever, 178 + Milk or Puerperal Fever, 182 + Inflammatory Fever, 183 + Typhus Fever, 186 + Horn Ail in Cattle, 189 + Abortion in Cows, 191 + Cow-Pox, 194 + Mange, 195 + Hide-bound, 196 + Lice, 196 + Importance of keeping the Skin of Animals in a + Healthy State, 197 + Spaying Cows, 201 + Operation of Spaying, 204 + + + SHEEP. + + Preliminary Remarks, 209 + Staggers, 219 + Foot Rot, 220 + Rot, 221 + Epilepsy, 222 + Red Water, 223 + Cachexy, or General Debility, 224 + Loss of Appetite, 224 + Foundering, (Rheumatism,) 224 + Ticks, 225 + Scab, or Itch, 225 + Diarrhoea, 227 + Dysentery, 227 + Constipation, or Stretches, 228 + Scours, 230 + Dizziness, 231 + Jaundice, 232 + Inflammation of the Kidneys, 232 + Worms, 233 + Diseases of the Stomach from eating Poisonous Plants, 233 + Sore Nipples, 234 + Fractures, 234 + Common Catarrh and Epidemic Influenza, 235 + Castrating Lambs, 236 + Nature of Sheep, 237 + The Ram, 238 + Leaping, 239 + Argyleshire Breeders, 239 + Fattening Sheep, 240 + Improvement in Sheep, 244 + Description of the Different Breeds of Sheep, 249 + Teeswater Breed, 249 + Lincolnshire Breed, 250 + Dishley Breed, 250 + Cotswold Breed, 250 + Romney Marsh Breed, 251 + Devonshire Breed, 251 + Dorsetshire Breed, 251 + Wiltshire Breed, 252 + South Down Breed, 252 + Herdwick Breed, 253 + Cheviot Breed, 253 + Merino Breed, 253 + Welsh Sheep, 254 + + + SWINE. + + Preliminary Remarks, 255 + Natural History of the Hog, 259 + Generalities, 262 + General Debility, or Emaciation, 263 + Epilepsy, or Fits, 264 + Rheumatism, 264 + Measles, 265 + Ophthalmia, 266 + Vermin, 266 + Red Eruption, 267 + Dropsy, 267 + Catarrh, 267 + Colic, 268 + Diarrhoea, 268 + Frenzy, 268 + Jaundice, 269 + Soreness of the Feet, 269 + Spaying, 270 + Various Breeds of Swine, 271 + Berkshire Breed, 271 + Hampshire Breed, 271 + Shropshire Breed, 272 + Chinese Breed, 272 + Boars and Sows for Breeding, 272 + Rearing Pigs, 273 + Fattening Hogs, 275 + Method of Curing Swine's Flesh, 277 + + + APPENDIX. + + On the Action of Medicines, 279 + Clysters, 281 + Forms of Clysters, 283 + Infusions, 286 + Antispasmodics, 287 + Fomentations, 287 + Mucilages, 289 + Washes, 289 + Physic for Cattle, 290 + Mild Physic for Cattle, 291 + Poultices, 292 + Styptics, to arrest Bleeding, 296 + Absorbents, 296 + Forms of Absorbents, 297 + + VETERINARY MATERIA MEDICA, embracing a List of the + various Remedies used by the Author of this Work + in the Practice of Medicine on Cattle, Sheep, + and Swine, 299 + General Remarks on Medicines, 312 + Properties of Plants, 315 + Potato, 316 + + TREATMENT OF DISEASE IN DOGS--Preliminary Remarks, 323 + Distemper, 325 + Fits, 326 + Worms, 327 + Mange, 328 + Internal Abscess of the Ear, 329 + Ulceration of the Ear, 329 + Inflammation of the Bowels, 329 + Inflammation of the Bladder, 330 + Asthma, 331 + Piles, 331 + Dropsy, 332 + Sore Throat, 332 + Sore Ears, 332 + Sore Feet, 333 + Wounds, 333 + Sprains, 333 + Scalds, 334 + Ophthalmia, 334 + Weak Eyes, 335 + Fleas and Vermin, 335 + Hydrophobia, 335 + + MALIGNANT MILK SICKNESS of the Western States, or + Contagious Typhus, 339 + + BONE DISORDER IN COWS, 351 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +There is no period in the history of the United States when our domestic +animals have ranked so high as at the present time; yet there is no +subject on which there is such a lamentable want of knowledge as the +proper treatment of their diseases. + +Governor Briggs, in a recent letter to the author, says, "You have my +thanks, and, in my opinion, are entitled to the thanks of the community, +for entering upon this important work. While the subject has engaged the +attention of scientific men in other countries, it has been too long +neglected in our own. Cruelty and ignorance have marked our treatment to +diseased animals. Ignorant himself both of the disease and the remedy, +the owner has been in the habit of administering the popular remedy of +every neighbor who had no better powers of knowing what should be done +than himself, until the poor animal, if the disease would not have +proved fatal, is left alone, until death, with a friendly hand, puts a +period to his sufferings: he is, however, often destroyed by the amount +or destructive character of the remedies, or else by the cruel mode of +administering them. I am persuaded that the community will approve of +your exertions, and find it to their interest to support and sustain +your system." + +The author has labored for several years to substitute a safer and a +more efficient system of medication in the treatment of diseased +animals, and at the same time to point out to the American people the +great benefits they will derive from the diffusion of veterinary +education. + +That many thousands of our most valuable cattle die under the treatment, +which consists of little else than blood-letting, purging, and +blistering, no one will deny; and these dangerous and destructive agents +are frequently administered by men who are totally unacquainted with the +nature of the agents they prescribe. But a better day is dawning; +veterinary information is loudly called for--demanded; and the farmers +will have it; _but it must be a safer and a more efficient system than +that heretofore practised_. + +The object of the veterinary art is not only congenial with human +medicine, but the very same paths that lead to a knowledge of the +diseases of man lead also to a knowledge of those of brutes. + +Our domestic animals deserve consideration at our hands. We have tried +all manner of experiments on them for the benefit of science; and +science and scientific men should do something to repay the debt, by +alleviating their sufferings and improving their condition. We are told +that physicians of all ages have applied themselves to the dissection of +animals, and that it was by analogy that those of Greece and Rome judged +of the structure of the human body. For example, the Greeks and Arabians +confined themselves to the dissection of apes and other quadrupeds. +Galen has given us the anatomy of the ape for that of man; and it is +clear that his dissections were restricted to brutes, when he says, that +"if learned physicians have been guilty of gross errors, it is because +they neglected to dissect animals." We advocate the establishment of +veterinary schools, and the cultivation of our reformed system of +veterinary medicine, on the broad principles of humanity. These poor +animals are as susceptible to pain and suffering as we are. Has not the +Almighty given us dominion over them, and placed them under our +protection? Have we done our duty by them? Can we render a good account +of our stewardship? + +In almost every department of science the spirit of inquiry is abroad, +investigation is active; yet, in this department, every thing is left to +chance and ignorance. Men of all professions find it for their interest +to protect property. The merchant, previous to sending his vessel on a +voyage to a distant port, seeks out a skilful navigator to pilot that +vessel into her desired haven with safety. He protects his property. We +protect our property against the ravages of fire by insurance--we defend +our houses from the lightning by conducting that fluid down the sides of +the building into the earth. And shall we not protect our animals? Is +not property invested in live stock as valuable, in proportion, as that +invested in real estate? Can we permit live stock to degenerate and die +prematurely from a want of knowledge of the fundamental laws of their +being? Can we look on and see their heart's blood drawn from them--their +flesh setoned, burned, and blistered--simply because it was the +misguided custom of our ancestors? + +We appeal to the American people at large. They have great encouragement +to educate young men in this important branch of study; for the +beneficial results will be, that the diseases of all classes of domestic +animals will be better understood, and the great losses which this +country sustains will, in a few years, be materially diminished. This is +not all. The value of live stock will be increased at least twenty-five +per cent! + +Look for a moment at the amount of capital invested in live stock; and +from these statistics the reader will perceive that not only the +farmers, but the whole nation, will be enriched. There are in the United +States at least 6,000,000 horses and mules; these, at the rate of $50 +per head, amount to $300,000,000. It is also estimated that there are +20,000,000 of neat cattle; reckon these at $25 per head, and we get the +snug little sum of $500,000,000. We have also 20,000,000 sheep, worth +the same number of dollars. The number of swine have been computed at +24,000,000; and these, at $3 per head, give us $72,000,000. Hence the +reader will see that the capital invested in this class of live stock +reaches the enormous sum of $892,000,000. Add the 25 per cent. just +alluded to, and we get a clear gain of $223,000,000. This sum would be +sufficient to build veterinary schools and colleges capable of affording +ample accommodations to every farmer's son in the Union. Hence we +entreat the farming community to ponder on these subjects. They have +only to say the word, and schools for the dissemination of veterinary +information shall spring up in every section of the Union. + +Does the reader wish to know how the _farmers_ can accomplish this +important object? We answer, there are four millions of men engaged in +agricultural pursuits. Their number is three times greater than that of +those engaged in navigation, the learned professions, commerce, and +manufactures. Hence they have the numerical power to control the +government of these United States, and of course can plead their own +cause in the halls of congress, and vote their own supplies for +educational purposes. + +When the author first commenced a warfare against the lancet and other +destructive agents, his only hopes of success were based on the +cooeperation of this mighty host of husbandmen; he well knew that there +were many prejudices to be overcome, and none greater than those +existing among his brethren of the same profession. The farmers have +just begun to see the absurdity of bleeding an animal to death, with a +view of saving life; or pouring down their throats powerful and +destructive agents, with a view of making one disease to cure another! +If the cattle doctors, then, will not reform, they must be reformed +through the giant influence of popular opinion. Already the cry is, and +it emanates from some of the most influential agriculturists in the +country,--"_No more blood-letting!_" "_Use your poisons on yourselves._" + +To the cattle-rearing interest, at the hands of many of whom the author +has received aid and encouragement, the following pages are dedicated; +they are intended to furnish them with practical information, with a +view of preventing disease, increasing the value of their stock, and +restoring them to health when sick. + +In reference to our reformed system of veterinary medication, it will be +sufficient, in the present place, just to glance at the fundamental +principles. In the succeeding pages these principles will be more fully +explained. We contemplate the animal system as a complicated piece of +mechanism, subject to the uncompromising and immutable laws of nature, +as they are written upon the face of animate nature by the finger of +Omnipotence. + +All our intentions of cure being in accordance with nature's laws, +(viz., promoting the integrity of the living powers,) we have termed our +system a _physiological_ one, though it is sometimes termed _botanic_, +in allusion to the fact that most of our remedial agents are derived +from the vegetable kingdom. We recognize a conservative or healing power +in the animal economy, whose unerring indications we endeavor to follow; +considering nature the physician, and the doctor her servant. + +Our system proposes, under all circumstances, to restore the diseased +organs to a healthy state, by cooeperating with the vitality remaining in +those organs, by the exhibition of sanative means, and, under all +circumstances, to assist, and not oppose, nature in her curative +processes. Poisonous substances, blood-letting, or processes of cure +that act pathologically, cannot be used by us. The laws of animal life +are physiological: they never were, nor ever will be, pathological. + +The agents we use are just as we find them in the forest and the field, +compounded by the Great Physician. Hence the reader will perceive that +our aim is to depart from the popular debilitating and life-destroying +practice, and approach as near as possible to the sanative. + +G. H. D. + + + + +THE + +AMERICAN + +REFORMED CATTLE DOCTOR. + + + + +IMPORTANCE OF SUPPLYING CATTLE WITH PURE WATER. + + +In order to prevent many of the diseases to which cattle are liable, it +is important that they be supplied with pure water. Cattle have often +been known to turn away from the filthy fluid found in some troughs, +which abound in slime and decayed vegetable matter; and, indeed, the +common stagnated pond water is no better than the former. Such water +has, in former years, proved itself to be a serious cause of disease; +and, at the present day, death is running riot among the stock of our +western, and also our northern farmers, when, to our certain knowledge, +the cause exists, in some cases, under their very noses. The farmers +ofttimes see their best stock sicken and die without any apparent cause; +and the cattle doctors are running rough-shod through the _materia +medica_, pouring down the throats of the poor brutes salts by the pound, +castor oil by the quart; aloes, lard, and a host of kindred trash, +follow in rapid succession, converting the stomach into a sort of +apothecary's shop; setons are inserted in the "dewlap;" the horns are +bored, and sometimes sawed off; and, as a last resort, the animals are +blistered and bled. They sometimes recover, in spite of the violence +done to the constitution; yet they drag out a low form of vitality, +living, it may be said, yet half dead, until some friendly epidemic +puts a period to their sufferings. + +The author's attention was first called to this subject on reading an +article in an English work, the substance of which is as follows: A +number of working oxen were put into a pasture, in which was a pond, +considered to abound in good water. Soon after putting them there, they +were attacked with scouring, upon which they were immediately removed to +another field. The scouring continued. They still, however, drank at the +same pond. They were shifted to another piece of very sweet pasture +without arresting the disease. The farmer thought it evident that the +pastures were not the cause of the disease; and, contrary to the advice +of his friends, who affirmed that the spring was always noticed for the +excellence of its water, fenced his pond round, so that the cattle could +not drink; they were then driven to a distance and watered. The scouring +gradually disappeared. The farmer now proceeded to examine the suspected +pond; and, on stirring the water, he found it all alive with small +creatures. He now stirred into the water a quantity of lime, and soon +after an immense number of animalculae were seen dead on the surface. In +a short time, the cattle drank of this water without any injurious +results. + +There is no doubt but that inferior kinds of water produce derangement +of the digestive organs, and subsequently loss of flesh, debility, &c. +We have frequently made _post mortem_ examinations of animals that have +died from disease induced by debility, and have often found a large +number of worms in the stomach and intestines, which, we firmly believe, +had their origin either primarily from the water itself, or subsequently +from its effects on the digestive function. + +All decayed animal and vegetable matter tends to corrupt water, and +render it unfit for the purposes of life. Now, if the farmer has the +best spring in the world, and the water shall flow from it, as it +sometimes does, through whole fields of gutter or dike, abounding in +decayed filth, such water will be impregnated with agents that will more +or less affect its purity. + + + + +REMARKS ON FEEDING CATTLE. + + +Many of the most complicated diseases of cattle originate from the food: +for example, it may be given in too large quantities--more than is +needed to build up and repair the waste that is constantly going on. The +consequence is, the animals get into a state of plethora, which is known +by heaviness, dulness, unwillingness to move; there is a disposition to +sleep, and they will lie down and often go to sleep in damp places. A +chill of the extremities, or collapse of the capillaries, takes place, +resulting in diseases of the lungs and pleura. At other times, if driven +a short distance, and made to walk fast, they are liable to disease of +the brain and other organs, which frequently terminates fatally. + +The food may be of such a nature as shall be very difficult of +digestion, such as cornstalks, foxgrass, frosted turnips, &c. The clover +and grasses may abound in woody fibre, in consequence of being cut too +late; they will then require more than the usual amount of gastric +fluids to insalivate them, and more time to masticate, and, finally, +extract their nutrimental properties. The stomach becomes overworked, +producing sympathetic diseases of the brain and nervous structures. The +stomach not being able to act on fibrous matter with the same despatch +as on softer materials, the former accumulates in its different +compartments, distends the viscera, interferes with the motion of the +diaphragm, presses on the liver, seriously interfering with the +bile-secreting process. In order to prevent the grass and clover from +becoming tough and fibrous, it should be mowed early, and while in +flower, and should be afterwards almost constantly attended to, if the +weather is favorable; the more it is scattered about, the better will it +be made, and the more effectually will its fragrance and other good +qualities be preserved. + +The food may also be deficient in nutriment. The effects of insufficient +food are too well known to need much description: debility includes them +all; it invades every function of the animal economy. And as life is +the sum of the powers that resist disease, if disease is only the +instrument of death, it follows, of course, that whatever enfeebles +life, or, in other words, produces debility, must predispose to disease. + +Many cattle, during the winter, live on bad hay, which does not appear +to contain any of that saccharine and mucilaginous matter which is found +in good hay. When the spring comes, they are turned out to grass, and +thus regain their flesh. Many, however, die in consequence of the sudden +change. + +It has been satisfactorily proved that fat cattle, of the best quality, +may be produced by feeding them on boiled food. + +Dr. Whitlaw says, "On one occasion, a number of cows were selected from +a large stock, for the express purpose of making the trial: they were +such as appeared to be of the best kind, and those that gave the richest +milk. In order to ascertain what particular food would produce the best +milk, different species of grass and clover were tried separately, and +the quality and flavor of the butter were found to vary very much. But +what was of the most importance, many of the grasses were found to be +coated with silecia, or decomposed sand, too hard and insoluble for the +stomachs of cattle. In consequence of this, the grass was cut and well +steamed, and it was found to be readily digested; and the butter, that +was made from the milk, much firmer, better flavored, and would keep +longer without salt than any other kind. Another circumstance that +attended the experiment was that, in all the various grasses and grain +that were intended by our Creator as food for man or beast, the various +oils that enter into their composition were so powerfully assimilated or +combined with the other properties of the farinaceous plants, that the +oil partook of the character of essential oil, and was not so easily +evaporated as that of poisonous vegetables; and experience has proved +that the same quantity of grass, steamed and given to the cattle, will +produce more butter than when given in its dry state. This fact being +established from numerous experiments, then there must be a great saving +and superiority in this mode of feeding. The meat of such cattle is +more wholesome, tender, and better flavored than when fed in the +ordinary way." (For process of steaming, see Dadd's work on the Horse, +p. 67.) + +A mixed diet (boiled) is supposed to be the most economical for +fattening cattle. "A Scotchman, who fattens 150 head of Galloway cattle, +annually, finds it most profitable to feed with bruised flaxseed, boiled +with meal or barley, oats or Indian corn, at the rate of one part +flaxseed to three parts meal, by weight,--the cooked compound to be +afterwards mixed with cut straw or hay. From four to twelve pounds of +the compound are given to each beast per day." The editor of the Albany +Cultivator adds, "Would it not be well for some of our farmers, who +stall-feed cattle, to try this or a similar mode? We are by no means +certain that the ordinary food (meaning, probably, bad hay and +cornstalks) would pay the expense of cooking; but flaxseed is known to +be highly nutritious, and the cooking would not only facilitate its +digestion, but it would serve, by mixing, to render the other food +palatable, and, by promoting the appetite and health of the animal, +would be likely to hasten its thrift." + +Mr. Hutton, who has long been celebrated for producing exceedingly fat +cattle at a small cost, estimates that cost as follows:-- + + s. d. + "13 lbs. of linseed, bruised, or 2 lbs. per day for six + days, and 1 lb. for Sunday, 1 9 + + 32 lbs. of ground corn, or 5 lbs. per day for six days, + and 2-1/2 lbs. for Sunday, at 1 d. per lb., 2 8 + + 35 lbs. of turnips, given twice a day for six days, + and thrice on Sunday, 1 6 + + Oats, 1-1/2 d.: labor on each beast, 6 d., 7-1/2 + --------- + Total cost of each beast per week, 6 6-1/2 + +"The horses, cows, and young stock are also fed on this food, evidently +with great advantage." + +Mr. Workington, a successful dairyman, combining cut feed and oil-cake +with different sorts of green food, found that, by giving a middle-sized +cow sixteen pounds of green food and two of boiled hay, with two pounds +of ground oil cake, (_linseed would be preferable_,) and eight pounds of +cut straw, the daily expense of her keep was only 5-1/2 d., (about ten +cents.) The oil-cake he found to be much more productive of milk when +given with steamed food, than when employed without it. Varying their +food from time to time is found to be of much more advantage to the cow; +and this may probably arise from the additional relish with which the +animal eats, or from the superior excitement of a new stimulus on the +different secretions. + +The following table represents the nutritive properties in each article +of food:-- + + ------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+-------- + | | Husk, or |Starch, |Gluten, | | + | | woody |gum, and|albumen,| Fatty |Saline + | Water. | fibre. | sugar. | &c. | matter |matter + ------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+-------- + Oats, | 16 | 20 | 45 | 11 | 6 | 2.5 + Beans, | 14 | 8 to 11 | 40 | 26 | 2.5 | 3 + Pease, | 14 | 9 | 50 | 24 | 2.1 | 3 + Indian corn,| 14 | 6 | 70 | 12 | 5 to 9 | 1.5 + Barley, | 15 | 14 | 52 | 13.5 | 2 to 3 | 3 + Meadow hay, | 14 | 30 | 40 | 7.1 | 2 to 5 |5 to 10 + Clover hay, | 14 | 25 | 40 | 9.3 | 3 to 5 | 9 + Pea straw, |10 to 15| 25 | 45 | 12.3 | 1.5 |4 to 5 + Oat straw, | 12 | 45 | 35 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 6 + Carrots, | 85 | 3 | 10 | 1.5 | 0.4 |1 to 2 + Linseed, | 9.2 | 8 to 9 | 35.3 | 20.3 | 20.0 | 6.3 + Bran, | 13.1 | 53.6 | 2 | 19.3 | 4.7 | 7.3 + ------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+-------- + +The most nutritious grasses are those which abound in sugar, starch, and +gluten. Sugar is an essential element in the formation of good milk; +hence the sweet-scented grasses are the most profitable to cultivate and +feed to milch cows. At the same time, the farmer, if he does not, ought +to know that large quantities of saccharine matter are extracted from +clover and sweet grasses by the bees. Mr. White tells us that, "on a +farm situated a few miles from London, the eldest son of the occupier +had the management and profit of the bees given him, which induced him +to increase the number of stocks beyond what had ever been kept on the +farm before. It so happened that the sheep did not thrive so well as in +former years, and on the farmer complaining at the cause to his man, as +they had plenty of keep, the man replied, '_You will never have fat +sheep so long as you suffer my young master to keep so many stocks of +bees; they suck all the honey from the flowers, so that the clover is +not half so nourishing, and does not produce half such good milk._'" Had +this man been acquainted with agricultural and animal chemistry, he +would have had a clear conception of the seeming absurdity. All our +labor or efforts to improve stock or crops will be fruitless, unless +guided by chemical science. We must have sugar, starch, gluten, and +other materials, to perfect animal organization. The animal may be in +good health, the different functions free and unobstructed, and possess +the power of reproducing the species; yet, if fed on substances which +lack the materials necessary to the composition of bones, blood-vessels, +and nerves, sooner or later its health becomes impaired. Reader, if you +own cattle, and wish to preserve their health, give them boiled food +occasionally; let them have their meals at regular hours, in sufficient +quantity, and no more, unless they are intended for the butcher; then, +an extra allowance may be given, with a view of fattening. They should +be well littered, and the barns well ventilated; finally, keep them +clean, avoid undue exposure, and govern them in a spirit of kindness and +mercy. + + + + +THE BARN AND FEEDING BYRE. + + +It is well known that the more cleanly and comfortable cattle are kept, +and the better the order in which their food is presented to them, the +better they will thrive, and the more profitable they will be to the +owner. Dr. Gunthier remarks, that "constant confinement to the barn is +opposed to the nature of oxen, and becomes the source of numberless +diseases. Endeavors are made to promote the lacteal secretion in cows, +and the fattening of oxen, by means of heat: for this purpose, stables +[barns] are converted into real stoves, either by not making them +sufficiently large, or by crowding them to excess, or by preventing the +access of air from without; and all this without recollecting that the +skin, thus over-excited, must necessarily fall into a state of atony in +a short time. Besides, the moist heat and the emanations of the dung +cannot fail to exercise a destructive influence on the lungs and entire +system. To these causes if we add the absolute want of exercise and the +excess of food, we shall not be surprised at the number of diseases +resulting from these different practices, and at the extraordinary forms +which they ofttimes assume. + +"Persons propose to themselves, by feeding in the barn, to augment the +mass of dung; and the beasts are left in their excrement, sometimes up +to the very knees. Seldom is there any care taken to cleanse their skin, +and still less attention is directed to the feet. What wonder, then, if +they exhibit so many forms of disease?" + +The byre recommended by Mr. Lawson consists of two apartments--an inner +apartment, or byre for feeding the cattle, and an outer apartment, or +barn for containing the fodder. The byre is constructed at right angles +with the barn, as follows: "At the distance of about three feet and a +half from the side of the building, within, there are constructed, on +the ground, in a straight line, a trough, having ten partitions for +feeding ten animals. The troughs are so constructed, that there is a +small and gradual declivity from the first or innermost to the last or +outermost one; and the partitions separating them being made with a +small arch at the bottom, a bucket of water, poured in at the uppermost, +runs out at the last one through a spout in the wall; and a sweep of the +broom carries off the whole remains of the food, rendering all the +troughs quite clean and sweet. The whole food of the cattle is thus kept +perfectly clean at all times. + +"In a line with the feeding troughs, and immediately over them, runs a +strong beam of wood, from one end of the byre to the other; which is +strengthened by two strong upright supporters to the roof, placed at +equal distances from the ends of the byre; and the main beam is again +subdivided by the cattle stakes and chains, so as to keep each of the +ten oxen opposite to his own feeding trough and stall. + +"The three and a half feet of space between the troughs and outer wall, +lighted by a glazed window, is the cattle feeder's walk, who passes +along it in front of the cattle, and, with a basket, deposits before +each of the cattle the food into the feeding trough of each. To prevent +any of the cattle from choking on small pieces of turnips, &c., as they +are very apt to do, the chains at the stakes are contrived of such a +length, that no ox can raise his head too high when eating; for in this +way, it is observed, cattle are generally choked. + +"At the distance of about six feet eight inches from the feeding +troughs, and parallel to them, is a dung grove and urine gutter. Here +too, like the trough, there is a gradual declivity; so that the moment +the urine passes from the cattle, it runs to the lowest end of the +gutter, whence it is conveyed through the outer wall, in a spout, and +deposited in the urinarium outside of the building. At this place is a +large enclosed space, occupied as a compost dung-court. Here all sorts +of stuff are collected for increasing the manure, such as fat, earth, +cleanings of roads, ditches, ponds, rotten vegetables, &c.; and the +urine from the byre, being caused to run over all these collected +together, which is done very easily by a couple of wooden spouts, moved +backwards and forwards to the urinarium at pleasure, renders the whole +mass, in a short time, a rich compost dunghill; and this is done by the +urine alone, which, in general, is totally lost. The dung of the byre, +again, is cleared several times each day, and deposited in the +dung-court. Along the edge of the dung-court a few low sheds are +constructed, in which swine are kept, and these consume the refuse of +the food. + +"In the side wall of the byre, and opposite to the heads of the cattle, +are constructed three ventilators; these are placed at the distance of +about two feet four inches from the ground, in the inside of the byre, +and pass out just under the roof. The inside openings of these are about +thirteen inches in length, seven in breadth, and nine in depth; and they +serve two good purposes. The breath of cattle being superficially +lighter than atmospheric air, the consequence is, that in some byres the +cattle are kept in a constant heat and sweat, because their breath and +heat have no way to escape; whereas, by means of the ventilators, the +air of the barn is kept in proper circulation, which conduces as much to +the health of the cattle as to the preservation of the walls and timber +of the byre, by drying up the moisture produced from the breath and +sweat of the cattle, which is found to injure those parts of the +building." + + + + +MILKING. + + +The operation of milking should, if possible, always be performed by the +same person, and in the most gentle manner; the violent tugging at the +teats by an inexperienced hand is apt to make the animal irritable and +uneasy during the operation, and unwilling to be milked. Many of the +diseases of the teats and udder can be traced to violence done to the +parts under the operation of milking. Young animals are often unwilling +to be milked: here a little patience and kindness will perform wonders. + +It is not the quantity of milk that gives value to the dairy cow; for +the milk of one good cow will make more butter than that of two poor +ones, each giving the same quantity of milk. Its most abundant +principles are cream, caseous matter or curd, and whey. In these are +also contained a saccharine matter, (sugar of milk,) muriate and +phosphate of potassa, phosphate of lime, acetic acid, acetate of +potassa, and a trace of acetate of iron. The three principal +constituents (cream, curd, and whey) can easily be separated: thus the +cream rises to the surface, and the curd and whey will separate if the +milk becomes sour, or a little rennet is poured into it. When milk is +intended to be made into cheese, no part of the cream should be +separated. Good cheese is, consequently, rarely produced in those +dairies where much butter is made; the former being robbed for the sake +of the latter. + +Sir J. Sinclair says, "If a few spoonfuls of milk are left in the udder +of the cow at milking; if any of the implements used in the dairy are +allowed to be tainted by neglect; if the dairy-house be kept dirty, or +out of order; if the milk is either too hot or too cold at coagulation; +if too much or too little rennet is put into the milk; if the whey is +not speedily taken off; if too much or too little salt is applied; if +butter is too slowly or too hastily churned; or if other minute +attentions are neglected, the milk will be in a great measure lost. If +these nice operations occurred once a month, or once a week, they might +be easily guarded against; but as they require to be observed during +every stage of the process, and almost every hour of the day, the most +vigilant attention must be kept up during the whole season." + + + + +A KNOWLEDGE OF AGRICULTURAL AND ANIMAL CHEMISTRY IMPORTANT TO FARMERS. + + +It is a well-known fact that plants require for their germination and +growth different constituents of soil, and that animals require +different forms of food to build up the waste, and promote the living +integrity--the vital powers. + +Its order to supply the materials necessary for animal and vegetable +nutrition, we require alternate changes--the former in the diet, and the +latter in the soil. Experience has proved that the cultivation of a +plant for several successive years on the same soil impoverishes it, or +the plant degenerates. On the contrary, if a piece of land be suffered +to lie uncultivated for a short time, it will yield, in spite of the +loss of time, a greater quantity of grain; for, during the interval of +rest, the soil regains its original equilibrium. It has been +satisfactorily demonstrated that a fruit-tree cannot be made to grow and +bring forth good fruit on the same spot where another of the same +species has stood; at least not until a lapse of years. This is a fact +worth knowing, for it applies more or less to all forms of vegetation. +Another fact of experience is, that some plants thrive on the same soil +only after a lapse of years, while others may be cultivated in close +succession, _provided the soil is kept in equilibrium by artificial +means_; these are subsoiling, &c. Some kinds of plants improve the sod, +while others impoverish or exhaust it. Professor Liebig tells us, +"turnips, cabbages, beets, oats, and rye are considered to belong to the +class which impoverish the soil; while by wheat, hops, madder, hemp, and +poppies, it is supposed to be entirely exhausted." Many of our farmers +expend large sums of money in the purchase of manure, with a view of +improving the soil; and they suppose that their crops will be abundant +in proportion to the amount of manure; yet many have discovered that, in +spite of the extra expense and labor, the produce of their farms +decreased. + +The alternation of crops seems destined to effect a great change in +agriculture. A French chemist informs us that the roots of plants imbibe +matter of every kind from the soil, and thus necessarily abstract a +number of substances, which are not adapted to the purposes of +nutrition, and that they are ultimately expelled by the excretory +vessels, and return to the soil as excrement. The excrementitious +portion of the food also returns to the soil. Now, as excrement cannot +be assimilated by the same animal or plant that ejected it, without +danger to the organs of digestion or eliminations, it follows that the +more vegetable excrement the soil contains, the more unfitted must it be +for plants of the same species; yet these excrementitious matters may, +however, still be capable of assimilation by another kind of plant, +which would absorb them from the soil, and render it again fertile for +the first. In connection with this, it has been observed that several +plants will flourish when growing beside each other; but it is not good +policy to sow two kinds of seed together: on the other hand, some plants +mutually prevent each other's development. The same happens if young +cattle are suffered to graze and sleep in the barn together; the one +lives at the expense of the other, which soon shows evidences of +disease. The injurious effects of permitting young children to sleep +with aged relatives are known to many of our readers; yet some parents +see their children sicken and die without knowing the why or wherefore. +From such facts as these,--which we might multiply to an indefinite +extent, were it necessary,--we learn that nature's laws are immutable +and uncompromising; and woe be to the man that transgresses them: they +are a part of the divine law, which cannot be set at nought with +impunity. + +Ignorance on these important subjects has existed too long: yet we +perceive in the distant horizon a ray of intellectual light, streaming +through our schools and agricultural societies. The result will be, that +succeeding generations will be better acquainted with nature's laws, +from which shall flow untold blessings. Chemistry teaches us that +animals and vegetables are composed of a vast number of different +compounds, which are nearly all produced by the same elementary +principles. Vegetables consist of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen; and the +same substances, with the addition of nitrogen, are the principal +constituents of the animal economy. In a word, all the constituents of +animal creation have actually been discovered in vegetables: this has, +we presume, led to the conclusion that "all flesh is grass." + +Many horticulturists complain that certain fruits and seeds have "_run +out_," or degenerated. Has the stately oak, the elm, or the cedar +degenerated? No. Each has preserved its identity, and will continue so +to do, at least just as the Divine Artist intended they should, unless +man, by his fancied improvements, interferes; and here, reader, permit +us to ask if you ever knew a piece of nature's mechanism improved by +human agency. Can we make a light better adapted to the wants of +animate and inanimate creation than that which the sun, moon, and stars +afford? Whenever we attempt to improve on immutable laws, as they are +written on the face of creation, that moment we prevent the full and +free play of these laws. Hence the practice of grafting scions of +delicious fruit-trees on stock of an inferior order compromises its +identity; and successive crops will show unmistakable evidences of +encroachment. A son of the lamented Mr. Phinney tells us that he had +some very fine sows, that he was desirous of breeding from, with a view +of making "improvements." He bred in a close degree of relationship: in +a short time, to use his own expression, "their sides appeared like two +boards nailed together." Does the farmer wish to know how to prevent +seeds and fruit "running out"? Let him study chemistry. Chemistry +furnishes the information; it also teaches the husbandman the fact, that +to put a plant, composed of certain essential elements, on a soil +destitute of those elements,--or to graft a scion, requiring a certain +amount of sap or juice, on a stock destitute of such sap or juice, +expecting that they will germinate, grow to perfection, and preserve +their identity,--would be just as absurd as to expect that a dry sow +would nourish a sucking pig. + +Agriculture being based on the equilibrium of the soils, a knowledge of +chemistry is indispensable to every one who is desirous of keeping pace +with the reforms of the age; for it is through the medium of that +science alone that we are enabled to ascertain with certainty how this +equilibrium is disturbed by the growth of vegetation. Then is it not a +matter of deep interest to the farmer to know how this equilibrium is +restored? + +Does the farmer wish to know what kind of soil is necessary to nourish +and mature a plant? Chemistry solves the problem. Does the farmer wish +to know how to improve the soil? Let him refer to chemistry. Chemistry +will teach the farmer how to analyze the soil; by that means he will +learn which of the constituent elements of the plants and soil are +constant, and which are changeable. By making an analysis of the soil +at different periods, through the process of germination, growth, and +maturity, we are enabled to ascertain the amount of excretory elements +given out. Bergman tells us that he found, by analysis, in "100 parts of +fertile soil, coarse silex 30 parts, silecia 30 parts, carbonate of lime +30 parts:" hence the fertility of the soil diminishes in proportion as +one or the other of these elements predominates. + +Ashes of wheat contain, among other elementary substances, 48 parts of +silecia. Now, what farmer could expect to raise a good crop of wheat +from a soil destitute of silecious earth, since this earth constitutes a +large amount of the earthy part of wheat? There is no barrier to +agricultural improvement so effectual as for farmers to continue their +old customs purely because their forefathers did so. But prejudices are +fast dying away before the rays of intellectual illumination; the +farmers are fast seceding from the supposed infallibles of their +forefathers, and will soon become "book" as well as practical +husbandmen. "Book farming," assisted by practical knowledge, teaches +that manures require admixture of milder materials to mitigate their +force; for some of them communicate a disgusting or offensive quality to +vegetables. They are charged with imparting a biting and acrimonious +taste to radishes and turnips. Potatoes and grapes are known to borrow +the foul taint of the ground. Millers observe a strong, disagreeable +odor in the meal of wheat that grew upon land highly charged with the +rotten recrements of cities. Stable dung is known to impart a +disagreeable flavor to vegetables. + +The same effects may be illustrated in the animal kingdom. Ducks are +rendered so ill tasted from stuffing down garbage as sometimes to be +offensive to the palate when cooked. The quality of pork is known by the +food of the swine, and the peculiar flavor of water-fowl is rationally +traced to the fish they devour. Thus a portion of the elements of manure +and nutrimental matter passes into the living bodies without being +entirely subdued. For example, we can alter the color of the cow's milk +by mixing madder or saffron in the food; the odor may be influenced by +garlic; the flavor may be altered by pine and wormwood; and lastly, the +medicinal effect may be influenced. + +In the cultivation of grass the farmer will find it to his advantage to +cultivate none but the best kinds; the whole pasture lands will then be +filled with valuable grass seeds. The number of grass seeds worth +cultivating is but few, and these should be sown separately. It is bad +policy to sow different kinds of grass seed together--just as bad as to +sow wheat, oats, turnips, and corn promiscuously. + +The reason why the farmers, as a community, will be benefited by sowing +none but the best seed is, because grass seeds are distributed through +neighboring pastures by the winds, and there take root. Now, if the +neighboring pastures abound in inferior grasses, the fields will soon be +filled with useless plants, which are very difficult to be got rid of. +We refer those of our readers who desire to make themselves acquainted +with animal chemistry to Professor Liebig's work on that science. + + + + +ON BREEDING. + + +Large sums of money have, from time to time, been expended with a view +of improving stock, and many superior cattle have been introduced into +this country; yet, after a few generations, the beautiful form and +superior qualities of the originals are nearly lost, and the importer +finds to his cost that the produce is no better than that of his +neighbors. What are the causes of this deterioration? We are told--and +experience confirms the fact--that "like produces like." Good qualities +and perfect organization are perpetuated by a union of animals +possessing those properties: of course it follows, that malformation, +hereditary taints, and vices are transmitted and aggravated. + +The destructive practice of breeding "in and in," or, in other words, +selecting animals of the same family, is one of the first causes of +degeneracy; and this destructive practice has proved equally unfortunate +in the human family. Physical defects are the result of the +intermarriage of near relatives. In Spain, the deformed and feeble state +of the aristocracy arises from their alliances being confined to the +same class of relatives through successive generations. But we need not +go to Spain to verify such facts. Go into our churchyards, and read on +the tombstones the names of thousands of infants,--gems withered in the +bud,--young men, and maidens, cut down and consigned to a premature +grave; and then prove, if you can, that early marriages and near +alliances are not the chief causes of this great mortality. + +Mr. Colman, in an article on live stock, says, "There seems to be a +limit beyond which no person can go. The particular breed may be altered +and improved, but an entirely new breed cannot be produced; and in every +departure from the original there is a constant tendency to revert back +to it. The stock of the improved Durham cattle seems to establish this +fact. If we have the true history of it, it is a cross of a Teeswater +bull with a Galloway cow. The Teeswater or Yorkshire stock are a large, +coarse-boned animal: the object of this cross was to get a smaller bone +and greater compactness. By attempting to carry this improvement, if I +may so call it, still further by breeding continually in and in, that +is, with members of the same family, in a close degree of affinity, the +power of continuing the species seems to become extinct; at least it +approximates to such a result. On the other hand, by wholly neglecting +all selection, and without an occasional good cross with an animal of +some foreign blood, there appears a tendency to revert back to the +large-boned, long-legged animal, from which the _improvement_ began. + +"There are, however, several instances of superior animals bred in the +closest affinity; whilst, in a very great majority of cases, the failure +has been excessive." + +Overtaxing the generative powers of the male is another cause of +deterioration. The reader is probably aware of the woful results +attending too frequent sexual intercourse. If he has not given this +subject the attention it demands, then let him read the records of our +lunatic asylums: they tell a sad tale of woe, and prove to demonstration +that, before the blast of this dire tornado, _sexual excess_, lofty +minds, the suns and stars of our intellectual world, are suddenly +blotted out. It spares neither age, sex, profession, nor kind. Dr. White +relates a case which substantiates the truth of our position. "The +Prince of Wales, who afterwards became George the Fourth, had a stud +horse of very superior qualities. His highness caused a few of his own +mares to be bred to this stallion, and the produce proved every way +worthy of the sire. This horse was kept at Windsor for public covering +without charge, except the customary groom's fee of half a guinea. The +groom, anxious to pocket as many half guineas as possible, persuaded all +he could to avail themselves of the prince's liberality. The result was, +that, being kept in a stable without sufficient exercise, and covering +nearly one hundred mares yearly, the stock, although tolerably promising +in their early age, shot up into lank, weakly, awkward, good-for-nothing +creatures, to the entire ruin of the horse's character and sire. Some +gentlemen, aware of the cause, took pains to explain it, proving the +correctness of their statement by reference to the first of the horses +got, which were among the best horses in England." + +There is no doubt but that brutes are often endowed with extraordinary +powers for sexual indulgence; yet, when kept for the purpose alluded to, +without sufficient muscular exercise,--breathing impure air, and living +on the fat of the farm,--his services in constant requisition,--then it +is no wonder, that if, under these circumstances, the offspring are weak +and inefficient. + +Professor Youatt recommends that "valuable qualities once established, +which it is desirable to keep up, should thereafter be preserved by +occasional crosses with the best animals to be had of the same breed, +but of a different family. This is the great secret which has maintained +the blood horse in his great superiority." + +The live stock of our farmers frequently degenerates in a very short +space of time. The why and the wherefore is not generally understood; +neither will it be, until animal physiology shall be better understood +than it is at the present time. Men are daily violating the laws of +animal organization in more ways than one, in the breeding, rearing, and +general management of all kinds of domestic animals,--until the +different breeds are so amalgamated, that, in many cases, it is a +difficult task to ascertain, with any degree of certainty, their +pedigree. If a farmer has in his possession a bull of a favorite breed, +the neighboring stock-raisers avail themselves of his bullship's +services by sending as many cows to him as possible: the consequence is, +that the offspring got in the latter part of the season are good for +nothing. The cow also, at the time of impregnation, may be in a state of +debility, owing to some derangement in the organs of digestion; if so, +impregnation is very likely to make the matter worse; for great sympathy +exists between the organs of generation and those of digestion, and +females of every order suffer more or less from a disturbed state of the +stomach during the early months of pregnancy. In fact, during the whole +stage they should be considered far from a state of health. Add to this +the fact that impregnated cows are milked, (not generally, yet we know +of such cases:) the foetus is thus deprived of its due share of +nourishment, and the extra nutrimental agents, necessary for its growth +and development, must be furnished at the expense of the mother. She, in +her turn, soon shows unmistakable evidences of this "robbing Peter to +pay Paul" system, by her sunken eye, loss of flesh, &c., and often, +before she has seen her sixth month of pregnancy, liberates the foetus +by a premature birth--in short, pays the penalty of disobedience to the +immutable law of nature. On the other hand, should such a cow go safely +through the whole period of gestation and parturition, the offspring +will not be worth keeping, and the milk of the former will lack, in some +measure, those constituents which go to make good milk, and without +which it is almost worthless for making butter or cheese. A cow should +never be bred from unless she shall be in good health and flesh. If she +cannot be fatted, then she may be spayed. (See article _Spaying Cows_.) +By that means, her health will improve, and she will be made a permanent +milker. Degeneracy may arise from physical defects on the part of the +bull. It is well known that infirmities, faults, and defects are +communicated by the sexual congress to the parties as well as their +offspring. Hence a bull should never be bred to unless he possesses the +requisite qualifications of soundness, form, size, and color. There are +a great number of good-for-nothing bulls about the country, whose +services can be had for a trifle; under these circumstances, and when +they can be procured without the trouble of sending the cow even a short +distance, it will be difficult to effect a change. + +If the farming community desire to put a stop to this growing evil, let +them instruct their representatives to advocate the enactment of a law +prohibiting the breeding to bulls or stallions unless they shall possess +the necessary qualifications. + +[Illustration: A First Prize Short Horned Bull] + + +THE BULL. + +Mr. Lawson gives us the following description of a good bull. It would +be difficult to find one corresponding in all its details to this +description; yet it will give the reader an idea of what a good bull +ought to be. "The head of the bull should be rather long, and muzzle +fine; his eyes lively and prominent; his ears long and thin; his horns +white; his neck rising with a gentle curve from the shoulders, and small +and fine where it joins the head; his shoulders moderately broad at the +top, joining full to his chine and chest backwards, and to the neck-vein +forwards; his bosom open; breast broad, and projecting well before his +legs; his arms or fore thighs muscular, and tapering to his knees; his +legs straight, clean, and very fine boned; his chine and chest so full +as to leave no hollows behind the shoulders; the plates strong, to keep +his belly from sinking below the level of his breast; his back or loin +broad, straight, and flat; his ribs rising one above another, in such +a manner that the last rib shall be rather the highest, leaving only a +small space to the hips, the whole forming a round or barrel-like +carcass; his hips should be wide placed, round or globular, and a little +higher than the back; the quarters (from the hips to the rump) long, +and, instead of being square, as recommended by some, they should taper +gradually from the hips backwards; rump close to the tail; the tail +broad, well haired, and set on so as to be in the same horizontal line +with his back." + + +VALUE OF DIFFERENT BREEDS OF COWS. + +Mr. Culley, in speaking of the relative value of long and short horns, +says, "The long-horns excel in the thickness and firm texture of the +hide, in the length and closeness of the hair, in their beef being finer +grained and more mixed and marbled than that of the short-horns, in +weighing more in proportion to their size, and in giving richer milk; +but they are inferior to the short-horns in giving a less quantity of +milk, in weighing less upon the whole, in affording less fat when +killed, in being generally slower feeders, in being coarser made, and +more leathery or bullish in the under side of the neck. In a few words, +the long-horns excel in hide, hair, and quality of beef; the short-horns +in the quantity of beef, fat, and milk. Each breed has long had, and +probably may have, their particular advocates; but if I may hazard a +conjecture, is it not probable that both kinds may have their particular +advantages in different situations? Why not the thick, firm hides, and +long, closer set hair, of the one kind be a protection and security +against tempestuous winds and heavy fogs and rains, while a regular +season and mild climate are more suitable to the constitutions of the +short-horns? But it has hitherto been the misfortune of the short-horned +breeders to seek the largest and biggest boned ones for the best, +without considering that those are the best that bring the most money +for a given quantity of food. However, the ideas of our short-horned +breeders being now more enlarged, and their minds more open to +conviction, we may hope in a few years to see great improvements made +in that breed of cattle. + +"I would recommend to breeders of cattle to find out which breed is the +most profitable, and which are best adapted to the different situations, +and endeavor to improve that breed to the utmost, rather than try to +unite the particular qualities of two or more distinct breeds by +crossing, which is a precarious practice, for we generally find the +produce inherit the coarseness of both breeds, and rarely attain the +good properties which the pure distinct breeds individually possess. + +"Short-horned cows yield much milk; the long-horned give less, but the +cream is more abundant and richer. The same quantity of milk also yields +a greater proportion of cheese. The Polled or Galloway cows are +excellent milkers, and their milk is rich. The Suffolk duns are much +esteemed for the abundance of their milk, and the excellence of the +butter it produces. Ayrshire or Kyloe cows are much esteemed in +Scotland; and in England the improved breed of the long-horned cattle is +highly prized in many dairy districts. Every judicious selector, +however, will always, in making his choice, keep in view not only the +different sons and individuals of the animal, but also the nature of the +farm on which the cows are to be put, and the sort of manufactured +produce he is anxious to bring to market. The best age for a milch cow +is betwixt four, or five, and ten. When old, she will give more milk; +but it is of an inferior quality, and she is less easily supported." + + + + +METHOD OF PREPARING RENNET, AS PRACTISED IN ENGLAND. + + +Take the calf's maw, or stomach, and having taken out the curd contained +therein, wash it clean, and salt it thoroughly, inside and out, leaving +a white coat of salt over every part of it. Put it into an earthen jar, +or other vessel, and let it stand three or four days; in which time it +will have formed the salt and its own natural juice into a pickle. Take +it out of the jar, and hang it up for two or three days, to let the +pickle drain from it; resalt it; place it again in the jar; cover it +tight down with a paper, pierced with a large pin; and let it remain +thus till it is wanted for use. In this state it ought to be kept twelve +months; it may, however, in case of necessity, be used a few days after +it has received the second salting; but it will not be as strong as if +kept a longer time. To prepare the rennet for use, take a handful of the +leaves of the sweet-brier, the same quantity of rose and bramble leaves; +boil them in a gallon of water, with three or four handfuls of salt, +about a quarter of an hour; strain off the liquor, and, having let it +stand until perfectly cool, put it into an earthen vessel, and add to it +the maw prepared as above. To this add a sound, good lemon, stuck round +with about a quarter of an ounce of cloves, which give the rennet an +agreeable flavor. The longer the bag remains in the liquor, the +stronger, of course, will be the rennet. The amount, therefore, +requisite to turn a given quantity of milk, can only be ascertained by +daily use and observation. A sort of average may be something less than +a half pint of good rennet to fifty gallons of milk. In Gloucestershire, +they employ one third of a pint to coagulate the above quantity. + + + + +MAKING CHEESE. + + +IT is generally admitted that many dairy farmers pay more attention to +the quantity than the quality of this article of food; now, as cheese is +"a surly elf, digesting every thing but itself," (this of course applies +to some of the white oak specimens, which, like the Jew's razors, were +made to sell,) it is surely a matter of great importance that they +should attend more to the quality, especially if it be intended for +exportation. There is no doubt but the home consumption of good cheese +would soon materially increase, for many thousands of our citizens +refuse to eat of the miserable stuff "misnamed cheese." + +The English have long been celebrated for the superior quality of their +cheese; and we have thought that we cannot do a better service to our +dairy farmers than to give, in as few words as possible, the various +methods of making the different kinds of cheese, for which we are +indebted to Mr. Lawson's work on cattle. + +"It is to be observed, in general, that cheese varies in quality, +according as it has been made of milk of one meal, or two meals, or of +skimmed milk; and that the season of the year, the method of milking, +the preparation of the rennet, the mode of coagulation, the breaking and +gathering of the curd, the management of the cheese in the press, the +method of salting, and the management of the cheese-room, are all +objects of the highest importance to the cheese manufacturer; and yet, +notwithstanding this, the practice, in most of these respects, is still +regulated by little else than mere chance or custom, without the +direction of enlightened observation or the aid of well-conducted +experiment. + + +GLOUCESTER CHEESE. + +"In Gloucestershire, where the manufacture of cheese is perhaps as well +understood as in any part of the world, they make the best cheeses of a +single meal of milk; and, when this is done in the best manner, the +entire meal of milk is used, without any addition from a former meal. +But it not unfrequently happens that a portion of the milk is reserved +and set by to be skimmed for butter; and at the next milking this +proportion is added to the new milk, from which an equal quantity has +been taken for a similar purpose. One meal cheeses are principally made +here, and go by the name of _best making_, or simply _one meal cheeses_. +The cheeses are distinguished into _thin_ and _thick_, or _single_ and +_double_; the last having usually four to the hundred weight, (112 +pounds,) the other about twice that number. The best double Gloucester +is always made from new milk. + +"The true single Gloucester cheese is thought by many to be the best, in +point of flavor, of any we have. The season for making their thin or +single cheese is mostly from April to November; but the principal season +for the thick or double is confined to May, June, and the early part of +July. This is a busy season in the dairy; for at an earlier period the +milk is not rich enough, and if the cheese be made later in the summer, +they do not acquire sufficient age to be marketable next spring. Very +many cheeses, however, can be made even in winter from cows that are +well fed. The cows are milked in summer at a very early hour; generally +by four o'clock in the morning, before the day becomes hot, and the +animals restless and unruly. + + +CHESTER CHEESE. + +"After the milk has been strained, to free it from any impurities, it is +conveyed into a cooler placed upon feet like a table, having a spigot at +the bottom for drawing off the milk. This, when sufficiently cooled, is +drawn off into pans, and the cooler again filled. In so cases, the +cooler is large enough to hold a whole meal's milk at once. The rapid +cooling thus produced (which, however, is necessary only in hot weather, +and during the summer season) is found to be of essential utility in +retarding the process of fermentation, and thereby preventing putridity +from commencing in the milk before two meals of it can be put together. +Some have thought that the cheese might be improved by cooling the +evening's milk still more rapidly, and that this might be effected by +repeatedly drawing it off from and returning it into the cistern. When +the milk is too cold, a portion of it is warmed over the fire and mixed +with the rest. + +"The coloring matter, (annatto,) in Cheshire, is added by tying up as +much of the substance as is thought sufficient in a linen rag, and +putting it into a half pint of warm water, to stand over night. The +whole of this infusion is, in the morning, mixed with the milk in the +cheese-tub, and the rag dipped in the milk and rubbed on the palm of the +hand as long as any of the coloring matter can be made to come away. + +"The next operation is salting; and this is done, either by laying the +cheese, immediately after it comes out of the press, on a clean, fine +cloth in the vat, immersed in brine, to remain for several days, turning +it once every day at least; or by covering the upper surface of the +cheese with salt every time it is turned, and repeating the application +for three successive days, taking care to change the cloth twice during +the time. In each of these methods, the cheese, after being so treated, +is taken out of the vat, placed upon the salting bench, and the whole +surface of it carefully rubbed with salt daily for eight or ten days. If +it be large, a wooden hoop or a fillet of cloth is employed to prevent +renting. The cheese is then washed in warm water or whey, dried with a +cloth, and laid on what is called the _drying bench_. It remains there +for about a week, and is thence removed to the _keeping house_. In +Cheshire, it is found that the greatest quantity of salt used for a +cheese of sixty pounds is about three pounds; but the proportion of this +retained in the cheese has not been determined. + +"When, after salting and drying, the cheeses are deposited in the +cheese-room or store-house, they are smeared all over with fresh butter, +and placed on shelves fitted to the purpose, or on the floor. During the +first ten or fifteen days, smart rubbing is daily employed, and the +smearing with butter repeated. As long, however, as they are kept, they +should be every day turned; and the usual practice is to rub them three +times a week in summer and twice in winter. + + +STILTON CHEESE. + +"Stilton cheese is made by putting the night's cream into the morning's +new milk along with the rennet. When the curd has come, it is not +broken, as in making other cheese, but taken out whole, and put into a +sieve to drain gradually. While this is going on, it is gently pressed, +and, having become firm and dry, is put into a vat, and kept on a dry +board. These cheeses are exceedingly rich and valuable. They are called +the Parmesan of England, and weigh from ten to twelve pounds. The +manufacture of them is confined almost exclusively to Leicestershire, +though not entirely so. + + +DUNLOP CHEESE. + +"In Scotland, a species of cheese is produced, which has long been known +and celebrated under the name of _Dunlop_ cheese. The best cheese is +made by such as have a dozen or more cows, and consequently can make a +cheese every day; one half of the milk being immediately from the cow, +and the other of twelve hours' standing. Their method of making it is +simple. They endeavor to have the milk as near as may be to the heat of +new milk, when they apply the rennet, and whenever coagulation has taken +place, (which is generally in ten or twelve minutes,) they stir the curd +gently, and the whey, beginning to separate, is taken off as it gathers, +till the curd be pretty solid. When this happens, they put it into a +drainer with holes, and apply a weight. As soon as this has had its +proper effect, the curd is put back again into the cheese-tub, and, by +means of a sort of knife with three or four blades, is cut into very +small pieces, salted, and carefully mixed by the hand. It is now placed +in the vat, and put under the press. This is commonly a large stone of a +cubical shape, from half a ton to a ton in weight, fixed in a frame of +wood, and raised and lowered by an iron screw. The cheese is frequently +taken out, and the cloth changed; and as soon as it has been ascertained +that no more whey remains, it is removed, and placed on a dry board or +pine floor. It is turned and rubbed frequently with a hard, coarse +cloth, to prevent moulding or breeding mites. No coloring matter is +used in making Dunlop cheese, except by such as wish to imitate the +English cheese. + + +GREEN CHEESE. + +"Green cheese is made by steeping ever night, in a proper quantity of +milk, two parts of sage with one of marigold leaves, and a little +parsley, after being bruised, and then mixing the curd of the milk, thus +_greened_, as it is called, with the curd of the white milk. These may +be mixed irregularly or fancifully, according to the pleasure of the +operator. The management in other respects is the same as for common +cheese." + + * * * * * + +Mr. Colman says, "In conversation with one of the largest wholesale +cheesemongers and provision-dealers in the country, he suggested that +there were two great faults of the American cheese, which somewhat +prejudiced its sale in the English market. He is a person in whose +character and experience entire confidence may be placed. + +"The first fault was the softness of the rind. It often cracked, and the +cheese became spoiled from that circumstance. + +"The second fault is the acridness, or peculiar, smart, bitter taste +often found in American cheese. He thought this might be due, in part, +to some improper preparation or use of the rennet, and, in part, to some +kind of feed which the cows found in the pastures. + +"The rind may be made of any desired hardness, if the cheese be taken +from the press, and allowed to remain in brine, so strong that it will +take up no more salt, for four or five hours. There must be great care, +however, not to keep it too long in the brine. + +"The calf from which the rennet is to be taken should not be allowed to +suck on the day on which it is killed. The office of the rennet, or +stomach of the calf, is, to supply the gastric juice by which the +curdling of the milk is effected. If it has recently performed that +office, it will have become, to a degree, exhausted of its strength. Too +much rennet should not be applied. Dairymaids, in general, are anxious +to have the curd 'come soon,' and so apply an excessive quantity, to +which he thinks much of the acrid taste of the cheese is owing. Only so +much should be used as will produce the effect in about fifty minutes. +For the reason above given, the rennet should not, he says, be washed in +water when taken from the calf, as it exhausts its strength, but be +simply salted. + +"When any cream is taken from the milk to be made into butter, the +buttermilk should be returned to the milk of which the cheese is to be +made. The greatest care should be taken in separating the whey from the +cheese. When the pressing or handling is too severe, the whey that runs +from the curd will appear of a white color. This is owing to its +carrying off with it the small creamy particles of the cheese, which +are, in fact, the richest part of it. After the curd is cut or broken, +therefore, and not squeezed with the hand, and all the whey is allowed +to separate from it that can be easily removed, the curd should be taken +out of the tub with the greatest care, and laid upon a coarse cloth +attached to a frame like a sieve, and there suffered to drain until it +becomes quite dry and mealy, before being put into the press. The object +of pressing should be, not to express the whey, but to consolidate the +cheese. There should be no aim to make whey butter. All the butter +extracted from the whey is so much of the proper richness taken from the +cheese." + + + + +MAKING BUTTER. + + +It is a matter of impossibility to make a superior article of butter +from the milk of a cow in a diseased state; for if either of the organs +of secretion, absorption, digestion, or circulation, be deranged, we +cannot expect good blood. The milk being a secretion from the blood, it +follows that, in order to have good milk, we must have pure blood. A +great deal depends also on the food; certain pastures are more favorable +to the production of good milk than others. We know that many +vegetables, such as turnips, garlic, dandelions, will impart a +disagreeable flavor to the milk. On the other hand, sweet-scented +grasses and boiled food improve the quality, and, generally, increase +the quantity of the milk, provided, however, the digestive organs are in +a physiological state. + +The processes of making butter are various in different parts of the +United States. We are not prepared, from experience, to discuss the +relative merits of the different operations of churning; suffice it +to say, that the important improvements that have recently been made in +the construction of churns promise to be of great advantage to the +dairyman. + +The method of churning in England is considered to be favorable to the +production of good butter. From twelve to twenty hours in summer, and +about twice as long in winter, are permitted to elapse before the milk +is skimmed, after it has been put into the milk-pans. If, on applying +the tip of the finger to the surface, nothing adheres to it, the cream +may be properly taken off; and during the hot summer months, this should +always be done in the morning, before the dairy becomes warm. The cream +should then be deposited in a deep pan, placed in the coolest part of +the dairy, or in a cool cellar, where free air is admitted. In hot +weather, churning should be performed, if possible, every other day; but +if this is not convenient, the cream should be daily shifted into a +clean pan, and the churning should never be less frequent than twice a +week. This work should be performed in the coolest time of the day, and +in the coolest part of the house. Cold water should be applied to the +churn, first by filling it with this some time before the cream is +poured in, or it may be kept cool by the application of a wet cloth. +Such means are generally necessary, to prevent the too rapid +acidification of the cream, and formation of the butter. We are indebted +for much of the poor butter, (_cart-grease_ would be a more suitable +name,) in which our large cities abound, to want of due care in +churning: it should never be done too hastily, but--like "Billy Gray's" +drumming--well done. In winter the churn may be previously heated by +first filling it with hot water, the operation to be performed in a +moderately warm room. + +In churning, a moderate and uninterrupted motion should be kept up +during the whole process; for if the motion be too rapid, heat is +generated, which will give the butter a rank flavor; and if the motion +is relaxed, the butter will go back, as it is termed. + + +WASHING BUTTER. + +"When the operation is properly conducted, the butter, after some time, +suddenly forms, and is to be carefully collected and separated from the +buttermilk. But in doing this, it is not sufficient merely to pour off +the milk, or withdraw the butter from it; because a certain portion of +the caseous and serous parts of the milk still remains in the +interstices of the butter, and must be detached from it by washing, if +we would obtain it pure. In washing butter, some think it sufficient to +press the mass gently between the hands; others press it strongly and +frequently, repeating the washings till the water comes off quite clear. +The first method is preferable when the butter is made daily, for +immediate use, from new milk or cream; because the portions of such +adhering to it, or mixed with it, contribute to produce the sweet +agreeable flavor which distinguishes new cream. But when our object is +to prepare butter for keeping, we cannot repeat the washings too often, +since the presence of a small quantity of milk in it will, in less than +twelve hours after churning, cause it sensibly to lose its good +qualities. + +"The process of washing butter is usually nothing more than throwing it +into an earthen vessel of clear cool water, working it to and fro with +the hands, and changing the water until it comes off clear. A much +preferable method, however, and that which we believe is now always +practised by those who best understand the business, is to use two broad +pieces of wood, instead of the hands. This is to be preferred, not only +on account of its apparently greater cleanliness, but also because it is +of decided advantage to the quality of the butter. To this the warmth of +the hand gives always, more or less, a greasy appearance. The influence +of the heat of the hand is greater than might at first have been +suspected. It has always been remarked, that a person who has naturally +a warm hand never makes good butter." + + +COLORING BUTTER. + +As butter made in winter is generally pale or white, and its richness, +at the same time, inferior to that which is made during the summer +months, the idea of excellence has been associated with the yellow +color. Means are therefore employed, by those who prepare and sell +butter, to impart to it the yellow color where that is naturally +wanting. The substances mostly employed in England and Scotland are the +root of the carrot and the flowers of the marigold. The juice of either +of these is expressed and passed through a linen cloth. A small quantity +of it (and the proportion of it necessary is soon learned by experience) +is diluted with a little cream, and this mixture is added to the rest of +the cream when it enters the churn. So little of this coloring matter +unites with the butter, that it never communicates to it any peculiar +taste. + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANS OF DIGESTION IN CATTLE. + + +_Oesophagus_, or _Gullet_.--This tube extends from the mouth to the +stomach, and is the medium through which the food is conveyed to the +latter organ. This tube is furnished with spiral muscles, which run in +different directions. By this arrangement, the food ascends or descends +at the will of the animal. The inner coat of the gullet is a +continuation of the same membrane that lines the mouth, nostrils, &c. +The gullet passes down the neck, inclining to the left side of the +windpipe, until it reaches the diaphragm, through a perforation of which +it passes, and finally terminates in the stomach. The food, having +undergone a slight mastication by the action of the teeth, is formed +into a pellet, and, being both moistened and lubricated with saliva, +passes down the gullet, by the action of the muscles, and falls +immediately into the paunch, or rumen; here the food undergoes a process +of maceration, or trituration. The food, after remaining in this portion +of the stomach a short time, and being submitted to the united action of +heat and moisture, passes into another division of the stomach, called +_reticulum_, the inner surface of which abounds in cells: at the bottom, +and indeed in all parts of them there are glands, which secrete from the +blood the gastric fluids. This stomach possesses a property similar to +that of the bladder, viz., that of contracting upon its contents. In the +act of contracting, it squeezes out a portion of the partly masticated +food and fluids; the former comes within the spiral muscles, is embraced +by them, and thus ascends the gullet, and passes into the mouth for +remastication. The soft and fluid parts continue on to the many plus and +true digestive stomach. The second stomach again receives a portion from +the paunch, and the process is continued. + +Rumination and digestion, however, are mechanico-vital actions, and can +only be properly performed when the animal is in a healthy state. + +Now, a portion of the food, we just observed, had ascended the gullet +by the aid of spiral muscles, and entered the mouth; it is again +submitted to the action of the grinders, and a fresh supply of saliva; +it is at length swallowed a second time, and goes through the same +routine as that just described, passing into the manyplus or manifolds, +as it is termed. + +The manyplus abounds internally in a number of leaves, called laminae. +Some of these are attached to the upper and lower portion of the +division, and also float loose, and penetrate into the oesophagian +canal. The laminae have numerous projections on their surface, resembling +the papillae to be found on the tongue. The action of this stomach is one +of alternate contraction and expansion: it secretes, however, like the +other compartments of the stomach, its due share of gastric fluids, with +a view not only of softening its contents, but for the purpose of +defending its own surface against friction. The mechanical action of the +stomach is communicated to it partly by the motion of the diaphragm, and +its own muscular arrangement. It will readily be perceived, that by this +joint action the food is submitted to a sort of grinding process. Hence +any over-distention of the viscera, from either food or gas, will +embarrass and prevent the free and full play of this organ. The papillae, +or prominences, present a rough and sufficiently hard exterior to grind +down the food, unless it shall have escaped the reticulum in too fibrous +a form: foxgrass, cornstalks, and frosted turnips are very apt to make +sad havoc in this and other parts of the stomach, owing to their +unyielding nature; for the stomach, like other parts of the +organization, suffers from over-exertion, and a corresponding debility +ensues. + +The fourth division of the stomach of the ox is called _abomasum_. It +somewhat resembles the duodenum of the horse in its function, it being +the true digestive stomach. It is studded with numerous nerves, +blood-vessels, and small glands. It is a laboratory admirably fitted up +by the Divine Artist, and is capable of carrying on the chemico-vital +process as long as the animal lives, provided its healthy functions are +not impaired. The glands alluded to secrete from the blood a powerful +solvent, called the _gastric juice_, which is the agent in reducing the +food to chyme and chyle. This, however, is accomplished by the united +agency of the bile and pancreatic juice. Both these fluids are conveyed +into the abomasum by means of small tubes or canals. Secretions also +take place from the inner membrane of the intestines, and, as the result +of the united action of all these fluids, aided by the muscular motion +just alluded to, which is also communicated to the intestines, a +substance is formed called _chyle_, which is the most nutritious portion +of the food, and has a milky appearance. The chyle is received into a +set of very minute tubes, called _lacteals_, which are exceedingly +numerous, and arise by open mouths from the inner surface of the +abomasum and intestines. They receive the chyle; from thence it passes +into a receptacle, and finally into the thoracic duct. The thoracic duct +opens into a vein leading directly to the heart; so that whatever +portion of the chyle is not actually needed by the organism is +thoroughly mixed with the general mass of blood. That portion of chyme +which is not needed, or cannot be converted into chyle, descends into +the intestines, and is finally carried out of the body by the rectum. + +The manner in which the gastric fluids act on alimentary matter, is by +solution and chemical action; for cornstalks and foxgrass, that cannot +be dissolved by ammonia or alcohol, yield readily to the solvent power +of the gastric secretion. Bones and other hard substances are reduced to +a pulpy mass in the stomach of a dog; while, at the same time, many +bodies of delicate texture remain in the stomach, and ultimately are +ejected, without being affected by the gastric fluids. This different +action on different subjects is analogous to the operation of chemical +affinity, and corroborates the theory that digestion is effected by +solution and chemical action. + +_The Spleen_, or _Milt_, is an oblong, dark-colored substance, having +attachments to the paunch. It is composed of blood-vessels, nerves, and +lymphatics, united by cellular structure. It appears to serve as a +reservoir for the blood that may be designed for the secretions of bile +in the liver. P. M. Roget says, "Any theory that assigns a very +important function to the spleen will be overturned by the fact, that in +many animals the removal of this organ, far from being fatal, or +interrupting, in any sensible manner, the continuance of the functions, +seems to be borne with perfect impunity." Sir E. Home, Bichat, Leuret, +Lassaigne, and others, suppose that "the spleen serves as a receptacle +for the superfluous quantity of fluid taken into the stomach." + +_The Liver_ is a dense gland, of a lobulated structure, situated below +the diaphragm, or "skirt." It is supplied, like other organs, with +arterial blood, by vessels, called _hepatic_ arteries, which are sent +off from the great aorta. It receives also a large amount of venous +blood, which is distributed through its substance by a separate set of +vessels, derived from the venous system. The veins which receive the +blood that has circulated in the usual manner unite together into a +large trunk, called vena portae, (gate vein,) and this vein, on entering +the liver, ramifies like an artery, and ultimately terminates in the +branches of the hepatic veins, which transmit the blood, in the ordinary +course of circulation, to the vena cava, (hollow vein.) Mr. Kiernan +says, "The hepatic veins, together with the lobules which surround them, +resemble, in their arrangement, the branches and leaves of a tree, the +substance of the lobules being disposed around the minute branches of +the veins like the parenchyma of a leaf around its fibres. The hepatic +veins may be divided into two classes, namely, those contained in +lobules, and those contained in canals formed by lobules. The first +class is composed of interlobular branches, one of which occupies the +centre of each lobule, and receives the blood from a plexus formed in +the lobule by the portal vein; and the second class of hepatic veins is +composed of all those vessels contained in canals formed by the lobules, +and including numerous small branches, as well as the large trunks +terminating in the inferior cava. The external surface of every lobule +is covered by an expansion of '_Glisson's capsule_,' by which it is +connected to, as well as separated from, contiguous lobules, and in +which branches of the hepatic duct, portal veins, and hepatic artery +ramify. The ultimate branches of the hepatic artery terminate in the +branches of the portal vein, where the blood they respectively contain +is mixed together, and from which mixed blood the bile is secreted by +the lobules, and conveyed away by the hepatic ducts. The remaining blood +is returned to the heart by the hepatic veins, the beginnings of which +occupy the centre of each lobule, and, when collected into trunks, pour +their contents into the inferior cava. Hence the blood which has +circulated through the liver, and has thereby lost its arterial +character, is, in common with that which is returning from other parts, +poured into the vena portae, and contributes its share in furnishing +materials for the biliary secretion. The hepatic artery furnishes +nutrition to the liver itself." + +The bile, having been secreted, accumulates in the gall-bladder, where +it is kept for future use. When the healthy action of the fourth stomach +is interrupted, the bile is supposed to be reabsorbed,--it enters into +the different tissues, producing yellowness of the eyes; the malady is +then termed _yellows_, _jaundice_, &c. Sometimes the passage of the bile +is obstructed by calculi, or gall-stones; they have been found in great +numbers in oxen. + +_The Pancreas_ is composed of a number of lobules or glands; a small +duct proceeds from each; they unite and form a common canal, which +proceeds towards, and terminates in, the fourth stomach. The pancreatic +juice appears to be exceedingly analogous, both in its sensible +properties and chemical composition, to the saliva. + +"The recent researches of MM. Bouchardat, Sandras, Mialhe, Bareswil, and +Bernard himself, have placed beyond a doubt the existence of a ferment, +in some of the fluids which mix with the alimentary mass, destined to +convert starchy matters into sugar. They have proved that the gastric +juice has for its peculiar office the solution and digestion of azotized +substances. There remained to be ascertained the real agent for the +digestion of fatty matters; that is to say, the agent in the formation +of chyle out of those substances. + +"M. Bernard has proved that this remarkable office is performed by the +pancreatic juice; he has demonstrated the fact by three conclusive +proofs. + +"1. The pancreatic juice, pure and recently formed, forms an emulsion +with oils and fats with the greatest facility. This emulsion may be +preserved for a long time, and the fatty substance soon undergoes a +fermentation which separates its constituent acids. + +"2. The chyle only begins to appear in the lacteals below that part of +the intestinal tube where the pancreatic juice enters it to mix with the +alimentary matters. + +"3. In disorders of the pancreas, we find that the fatty matters, +contained in the food, pass entire in the evacuations." + +The above is an extract from the report of a body composed of several +members of the French Academy of Sciences. "M. Bernard" (continues the +report) "has exhibited to us the first of these experiments, and has +furnished us with the means of repeating it with the several varieties +of the gastric juice. We have not the slightest doubt on the subject. It +is incontestable that fatty substances are converted into an emulsion by +this juice, in a manner easy and persistent, and it is no less true that +the saliva, the gastric juice, and the bile are destitute of this +property. + +"The second demonstration can be given in various modes; but the author +has discovered, in the peculiar arrangement of the digestive apparatus +of the rabbit, an unexceptional means of obtaining it with the greatest +precision, and at will. The pancreatic juice enters the intestinal tube +of this animal about fourteen inches below the point where the bile is +poured in. Now, as long as the food is above the region where it mixes +with the pancreatic juice, there appears to be no formation and +separation of a milky chyle; nothing shows that the fatty matters are +reduced to an emulsion. On the contrary, as soon as the pancreatic juice +mixes with the alimentary matters, we observe the fat to be converted +into an emulsion, and a milky chyle to fill the corresponding lacteals. +Nothing can give an idea of the result of these experiments, which have +all the accuracy of a chemical operation performed in the laboratory, +and all the beauty of the most perfect injection. + +"We are not, therefore, surprised that divers pathological cases, +hitherto imperfectly understood, should come to confirm the views of M. +Bernard, by proving that, in diseases of the pancreas, fatty matters +have been observed to pass unchanged in the dejections. + +"The committee cannot hesitate to conclude that the author has perfectly +demonstrated his physiological propositions; that he has completed the +general characters of the theory of digestion, and that he has made +known the mode of formation of the fatty matter of the chyle, and the +manner of the digestion of the fatty matters." + +_The Kidneys._--Their office is, to secrete from the blood the useless +or excrementitious fluids in the form of urine. When the skin is +obstructed, the secretion is augmented, and profuse perspiration lessens +it. From a cavity in the centre of each kidney a canal or tube proceeds, +by which the urine is conveyed into the bladder. These tubes are named +_ureters_. As the ureters enter the bladder, they pass forward, a short +distance between its coats; which effectually prevents the urine from +taking a retrograde course. The urine is expelled by the muscular power +which the bladder possesses of contracting upon its contents. + + + + +RESPIRATION AND STRUCTURE OF THE LUNGS. + + +The organs of respiration are the larynx, the trachea, or windpipe, +bronchia, and the lungs. + +The air is expelled from the lungs principally by the action of the +muscles of respiration; and when these relax, the lungs expand by virtue +of their own elasticity. This may be exemplified by means of a sponge, +which may be compressed into a small compass by the hand, but, upon +opening the hand, the sponge returns to its natural size, and all its +cavities become filled with air. The purification of the blood in the +lungs is of vital importance, and indispensably necessary to the due +performance of all the functions; for if they be in a diseased +state,--either tuberculous, or having adhesions to the pleura, their +function will be impaired; the blood will appear black; loaded with +carbon; and the phlebotomizer will have the very best (worst) excuse for +taking away a few quarts with a view of purifying the remainder! The +trachea, or windpipe, after dividing into smaller branches, called +_bronchia_, again subdivides into innumerable other branches, the +extremities of which are composed of an infinite number of small cells, +which, with the ramifications of veins, arteries, nerves, and connecting +membranes, make up the whole mass or substance of the lungs. The +internal surface of the windpipe, bronchia, and air-cells, is lined with +a delicate membrane, highly organized with blood-vessels, &c. The whole +is invested with a thin, transparent membrane--a continuation of that +lining the chest, named _pleura_. It also covers the diaphragm, and, by +a duplication of its folds, forms a separation between the lobes of the +lungs. + + + + +CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD. + + +The blood contains the elements for building up, supplying the waste of, +and nourishing the whole animal economy. On making an examination of the +blood with a microscope, it is found full of little red globules, which +vary in their size and shape in different animals, and are more numerous +in the warm than in the cold-blooded. Probably this arises from the fact +that the latter absorb less oxygen than the former. When blood stands +for a time after being drawn, it separates into two parts. One is called +_serum_, and resembles the white of an egg; the other is the clot, or +crassamentum, and forms the red coagulum, or jelly-like substance. This +is accompanied by whitish tough threads, called _fibrine_. + + [Illustration: THE HEART VIEWED EXTERNALLY. + + _a_, the left ventricle; _b_, the right ventricle; _c_, _e_, _f_, the + aorta; _g_, _h_, _i_, the carotid and other arteries springing from the + aorta; _k_, the pulmonary artery; _l_, branches of the pulmonary artery + in the lungs; _m_, _m_, the pulmonary veins emptying into the left + auricle; _n_, the right auricle; _o_, the ascending vena cava; _q_, the + descending vena cava; _r_, the left auricle; _s_, the coronary vein and + artery. (See _Circulation of the Blood_, on the opposite page.)] + +When blood has been drawn from an animal, and it assumes a cupped or +hollow form, if serum, or buffy coat, remains on its surface, it denotes +an impoverished state; but if the whole, when coagulated, be of one +uniform mass, it indicates a healthy state of that fluid. The blood of a +young animal, provided it be in health, coagulates into a firm mass, +while that of an old or debilitated one is generally less dense, and +more easily separated. The power that propels the blood through the +different blood-vessels is a mechanico-vital power, and is accomplished +through the involuntary contractions and relaxations of the heart; from +certain parts of which arteries arise, in other parts veins terminate. +(See Plate.) + +The heart is invested with a strong membranous sac, called +_pericardium_, which adheres to the tendinous centre of the diaphragm, +and to the great vessels at its superior portion. The heart is +lubricated by a serous fluid, secreted within the pericardium, for the +purpose of guarding against friction. When an excess of fluid +accumulates within the sac, it is termed dropsy of the heart. The heart +is divided into four cavities, viz., two auricles, named from their +resemblance to an ear, and two ventricles, (as seen at _a_, _b_,) +forming the body. The left ventricle is smaller than the right, yet its +walls are much thicker and stronger than those of the latter: it is from +this part that the large trunk of the arteries proceed, called the +_great aorta_. The right cavity, or ventricle, is the receptacle for +blood returned by the venous structure after having gone the rounds of +the circulation; the veins terminating, as they approach the heart, in a +single vessel, called _vena cava_, (see plate, _o_, _q_, ascending and +descending portion.) The auricle on the left side of the heart receives +the blood that has been distributed through the lungs for purification. +Where the veins terminate in auricles, there are valves placed, to +prevent the blood from returning. For example, the blood proceeds out of +the heart along the aorta; the valve opens upwards; the blood also +moves upwards, and raises the valve, and passes through; the pressure +from above effectually closes the passage. The valves of the heart are +composed of elastic cartilage, which admits of free motion. They +sometimes, however, become ossified. The heart and its appendages are, +like other parts of the system, subject to various diseases, which are +frequently very little understood, yet often fatal. Now, the blood, +having passed through the veins and vena cava, flows into the right +auricle; and this, when distended, contracts, and forces its contents +into the right ventricle, which, contracting in its turn, propels the +blood into the pulmonary arteries, whose numerous ramifications bring it +in contact with the air-cells of the lungs. It then, being deprived of +its carbon, assumes a crimson color. Having passed through its proper +vessels, it accumulates in the left auricle. This also contracts, and +forces the blood through a valve into the left ventricle. This ventricle +then contracts in its turn, and the blood passes through another valve +into the great aorta, to go the round of the circulation and return in +the manner just described. + +Many interesting experiments have been made to estimate the quantity of +blood in an animal. "The weight of a dog," says Mr. Percival, "being +ascertained to be seventy-nine pounds, a puncture was made with the +lancet into the jugular vein, from which the blood was collected. The +vein having ceased to bleed, the carotid artery of the same side was +divided, but no blood came from it; in a few seconds afterwards, the +animal was dead. The weight of the carcass was now found to be +seventy-three and a half pounds; consequently it had sustained a loss of +five and a half pounds--precisely the measure of the blood drawn. It +appears from this experiment, that an animal will lose about one +fifteenth part of its weight of blood before it dies; though a less +quantity may so far debilitate the vital powers, as to be, though less +suddenly, equally fatal. In the human subject, the quantity of blood has +been computed at about one eighth part of the weight of the body; and as +such an opinion has been broached from the results of experiments on +quadrupeds, we may fairly take that to be about the proportion of it in +the horse; so that if we estimate the weight of a horse to be thirteen +hundred and forty-four pounds, the whole quantity of blood will amount +to eighty-four quarts, or one hundred and sixty-eight pounds; of which +about forty-five quarts, or ninety pounds, will commonly flow from the +jugular vein prior to death; though the loss of a much less quantity +will deprive the animal of life." + + + + +REMARKS ON BLOOD-LETTING. + + +The author has been, for several years, engaged in a warfare against the +use of the lancet in the treatment of the various diseases of animals. +When this warfare was first commenced, the prospect was poor indeed. The +lancet was the great anti-phlogistic of the allopathic school; it had +powerful, talented, and uncompromising advocates, who had been +accustomed to resort to it on all occasions, from the early settlement +of America up to that period. The great mass had followed in the +footsteps of their predecessors, supposing them to be infallible. Men +and animals were bled; rivers of blood have been drawn from their +systems; yet they often got well, and men looked upon the lancet as one +of the blessings of the age, when, in fact, it is the greatest curse +that ever afflicted this country: it has produced greater losses to +owners of domestic animals than did ever pestilence or disease. A few +philanthropic practitioners have, from time to time, in other countries, +as well as in this, labored during their life, and on their death-bed, +to convince the world of the destructive tendency of blood-letting in +human practice; but none that we know of ever had the moral courage to +wage a general warfare against the practice in the veterinary +department, until we commenced it. We have met with great success, and +have given the blood-letting gentry who practise it at the present day +("just to please their employers or to make out a case") a partial +quietus: in a few more years, unless they abandon their false theories, +their occupation, notwithstanding their pretensions to cure _secundum +artem_, will, like Othello's, be "gone." But we are not writing for +doctors. Our business is with the farmers--the lords of creation. The +former are mere lords of pukes and purges; they, like the farmers, have +the materials, however, to mould themselves into men of common sense; +but the fact is, they are hide-bound; they want a national sweat, to rid +their systems, especially their upper works, of the theories of Sydenham +and Paracelsus, which have shipwrecked many thousands of the medical +profession. They shut their eyes to the results of medical reform, and +cling, with all their soul, and with all their might, worthy a better +cause, to a system that "always was false." + +Lord Byron, like many other learned men, was well acquainted with the +impotency of the healing art, and held the lancet in utter abhorrence: +when beset, day and night, to be bled, the bard, in an angry tone, +exclaimed, "You are, I see, a d----d set of butchers; take away as much +blood as you like." "We seized the opportunity," says Dr. Milligan, "and +drew twenty ounces; yet the relief did not correspond to the hopes we +had formed." On the 17th, the bleeding was twice repeated, dangerous +symptoms still increasing, and on the 19th he expired, just about bled +to death. Washington, a man whose name is dear to every American, died +from the effects of an evil system of medication. He was attacked with +croup: his physician bled him, and gave him calomel and antimony. The +next day, physicians were called in, (to share the responsibility of the +butchery,) and he was subjected to two more copious bleedings: in all he +lost ninety ounces of blood. Which of our readers, at the present day, +would submit to such unwarrantable barbarity? We just said we were not +writing for doctors; yet we find ourselves off the track in thus +administering a small dose, as a sample of "_good and efficient +treatment_." + +In reference to the success attending our labors in veterinary reform, +we do not claim the whole credit: much of it is due to the intelligence +of the American farmers, in appreciating the value and importance of a +safer and a more effectual system of medication; such a system as we +advocate. They have witnessed the results attending the practice of +cattle doctors generally, and they have seen the results of our sanative +system of medication, and a great majority in Massachusetts have decided +in favor of the latter. We have demonstrated to the satisfaction of our +patrons, and we are ready and willing to repeat our experiments on +diseased animals for the satisfaction of others, in showing that we can +restore an animal, when suffering under acute attacks of disease, in a +few hours, when, by the popular method, it takes weeks and months, if +indeed they ever recover from the effects of the destructive agents +used. + +We are told that "horses and cattle are bled and get well immediately." +This may apply to some cases; but, in very many instances, the animals +are sent for a few weeks to "Dr. Green,"[1] to put them in the same +condition they were at the time of bleeding. But suppose that some +animals do get well after bleeding; is it thus proved that more would +not get well if no blood were drawn from any? A cow may fall down, and, +in so doing, lacerate her muscles, blood-vessels, &c., and lose a large +quantity of blood. She may get well, in spite of the violence and loss +of blood. So we say of blood-letting, if the abstraction of a certain +number of gallons of blood will kill a strong animal, then the +abstraction of a small quantity must injure it proportionately. + +There is in the animal economy a power, called the vital principle, +which always operates in favor of health. If the provocation be gentle, +and does not seriously derange the machinery, then this power may +overcome both it and any disease the animal may at the time labor under. +For example, a horse falls down in the street, perhaps laboring under a +temporary congestion of the brain: now, if he were let alone until +nature has restored an equilibrium of the circulating fluid and nervous +action, he would soon get up and proceed on his way, as many thousands +do when a knife or lancet is not to be had. But, unfortunately, people +are too hasty. The moment a beast has fallen, they are bound to have him +on his perpendiculars in double quick time. The teamster cannot wait for +nature; she is "too slow a coach" for him. He tries what virtue there is +in the whip; this failing, he obtains a knife, if one is to be had, and +"_starts the blood_." By this time, nature, about resuming her empire, +causes the horse to show signs of returning animation, and the credit is +awarded to the blood-starter. Animals are often bled when diseased, and +the prominent symptoms that previously marked the character of the +malady disappear, or give place to symptoms of another order, less +evident, and men have supposed that a cure is effected, when, in fact, +they have just sown the seeds of a future disease. We are not bound to +prove, in every case, how an animal gets well after two or three +repeated bleedings. It is enough for us to prove that this operation +always tends to death, which can easily be produced by opening the +carotid artery of an animal. + +Permit us, dear reader, at this stage of our article, to observe, that +"confession is good for the soul." We mean to put it in practice. So +here goes. We plead guilty to bleeding, blistering, calomelizing, +narcotizing, antimonializing, a great number of patients of the human +kind. We did it in our verdant days, because it was so scientific and +popular, and because we had been taught to reverence the stereotyped +practice of the allopathists. We have, however, done penance, and sought +forgiveness; and through the aid of a few men, devoted to medical +reform, we have been washed in the regenerating waters flowing through +the vineyard of reason and experience, and now advocate and observe the +self-regulating powers of the laws of life. On the other hand, we are +free from the charge of bleeding or poisoning domestic animals, and can +say, with a clear conscience, that we have never drawn a drop of blood +from a four-footed creature, (except in surgical operations, when it +could not be avoided;) neither will we, under any circumstances, resort +to the lancet; for we are convinced that blood-letting is a powerful +depressor of the vital powers. + +Blood is the fuel that keeps the lamp of life burning; if the fuel be +withdrawn, the light is extinguished. + +Professor Lobstein says, "So far from blood-letting being beneficial, it +is productive of the most serious consequences--a cruel practice, and a +scourge to humanity. How many thousands are sent by it to an untimely +grave! Without blood there is no heat, no motion in the body." + +Dr. Reid says, "If the employment of the lancet was abolished +altogether, it would perhaps save annually a greater number of lives +than pestilence ever destroyed." + +The fact of blood-letting having been practised by horse and cattle +doctors from time immemorial is certainly not a clear proof of its +utility, nor is it a sufficient recommendation that it may be practised +with safety. During my professional career, the preconceived theories +have commanded a due share of consideration; and, when weighed in the +scale of uninfluenced experience, they never failed of falling short. If +we grant that any deviation from the healthy state denotes debility of +one or more functions, then whatever has a tendency to debilitate +further cannot restore the animal to health. The following case will +serve to illustrate our position: "A horse was brought to be bled, +merely because he had been accustomed to it at that season of the year. +I did not examine him minutely; but as the groom stated there was +nothing amiss with him, I directed a moderate quantity of blood to be +drawn. About five pints were taken off; and while the operator was +pinning up the wound, the horse fell. He appeared to suffer much pain, +and had considerable difficulty of breathing. In this state he remained +twelve hours, and then died. Judging from the appearances at the post +mortem examination, it is probable that a loss of a moderate quantity of +blood caused a fatal interruption of the functions of the heart." + +It is strange that such cases as these do not open men's eyes, and +compel them to acknowledge that there is something wrong in the medical +world. Such cases as these furnish us with unanswerable arguments +against blood-letting; for as the blood, which is the natural stimulus +of, and gives strength to, the organs, is withdrawn, its abstraction +leaves all those organs less capable of self-defence. + +Horse and cattle doctors have recommended bleeding when animals have +been fed too liberally, or if their systems abound in morbific matter. +Now, the most sensible course would be, provided the animal had been +overfed, to reduce the quantity of food, or, in other words, remove the +cause. If the secretions are vitiated, or in a morbid state, then +regulate them by the means laid down in this work. For we cannot purify +a well of water by abstracting a few buckets; neither can we purify the +whole mass of blood by taking away a few quarts; for that which is left +will still be impure. If the different parts had between them partitions +impervious to fluids, then there would be some sense in drawing out of +the vessels over-filled; but unfortunately, if you draw from one, you +draw from all the rest. + +In every disease wherein bleeding has been used, complete recovery has +been protracted, and the animal manifests the debility by swelled legs +and other unmistakable evidences. In some cases, however, the ill +effects of the loss of blood, unless excessive, are not always +immediately perceived; yet such animals, in after years, are subject to +staggers, and diseases of the lungs, pleura, and peritoneum. + +Dr. Beach says, "The blood is properly called the _vital fluid_, and the +life of a person is said to be in the blood.[2] We know that just in +proportion to the loss of this substance are our vigor and strength +taken from us. When taken from the system by accident or the lancet, it +is succeeded by great prostration of strength, and a derangement of all +the functions of the body. These effects are invariably, in a greater +or less degree, consequent on bleeding. Is it not, then, reasonable to +suppose, that what will debilitate the strongest constitution in a state +of health, will be attended with most serious evils when applied to a +person laboring under any malady? Is it not like throwing spirits on a +fire to extinguish it? + +"Bleeding is resorted to in all inflammatory complaints; but did +practitioners know the nature and design of inflammation, their +treatment would be different. In fever it is produced by an increased +action of the heart and arteries, to expel acrid and noxious humors, and +should be promoted until the irritating matter is dislodged from the +system. This should be effected, in general, by opening the outlets of +the body, inducing perspiration; to produce which a preternatural degree +of heat or inflammation must be excited by internal remedies. Fever is +nothing more or less than a wholesome and salutary effort of nature to +throw off some morbific matter; and, therefore, every means to lessen +this indication proves injurious. Bleeding, in consequence of the +debility it produces, prevents such indication from being fulfilled." + +The inveterate phlebotomizers recommend and practise bleeding when "_the +animal has too much blood_." There may be at times too much blood, and +at others too little; but suppose there is--has any body found out any +better method of reducing what they please to term an excess, than that +of regular exercise in the open air, combined with a less quantity of +fodder than usual? Or has any body found out any method of making good +healthy blood, other than the slow process of nature, as exhibited in +the results of digestion, secretion, circulation, and nutrition? Have +they discovered any artificial means of restoring the blood to its +healthful quantity when it is deficient? Have they found any means of +purifying the blood, save the healthful operations of nature's secreting +and excreting laboratory? Finally, have they found any safety-valve or +outlet for the reduction of this excess other than the excrementitious +vessels? And if they have, are they better able to adjust the pressure +on that valve than He who made the whole machinery, and knows the +relative strength of all its parts? In an article on blood-letting, +found in the Farmer's Cyclopaedia, the author says, "In summer, bleeding +is often necessary to prevent fevers." Now, it is evident that nature's +preventives are air, exercise, food, water, and sleep. Attention to the +rules laid down in this work, under the heads of _Watering_, _Feeding_, +&c., will be more satisfactory and less dangerous than that recommended +by the Cyclopaedia. If the directions given in the latter were fully +carried out, the stock of our farms would be swept away as by the blast +of a tornado. Such a barbarous system would entail universal misery and +degeneracy on all classes of live stock; and we might then exclaim, +"They are living, yet half dead--victims to an inconsistent system of +medication!" But thanks to a discerning public, they just begin to see +the absurdity and wickedness of draining the system of the living +principles. Veterinary reform has germinated in the New England States, +and, in spite of all opposition, has struck its roots deep into the +minds of a class of men who have the means and power to send forth its +healing branches, and apply them to their own interest and the welfare +of their stock. + +The same author continues: "Some farmers bleed horses three or four +times a year." We hope the farmers have too much good sense to follow +the wicked example of the former. Frequent bleeding is an indirect mode +of butchery--killing by inches; for it gives to the blood-vessels the +power to contract and adapt themselves to the measure of blood that +remains. It impoverishes the blood, and leads to hydrothorax, +(accumulation of water in the chest,) and materially shortens life. +Mackintosh says, "Some are bled who cannot bear it, and others who do +not require it; and the result is death." The conservative power of life +always operates in favor of health, and resists the encroachments upon +her province with all her might, and often recovers the dominion; but by +frequent bleedings, she is exhausted, and, on taking a little more blood +than usual, the animal drops down and dies; and the owner attributes to +disease what, in fact, is the result of bad treatment. + +"Patients who recover after general and copious bleedings have been +employed, may attribute their recovery to the strength of their +constitution. + +"If you should ask a modern _Sangrado_ what was most necessary in the +treatment of disease, doubtless he would reply, 'Bleeding.' + +"Our modern pathologists, surgeons and others, think bleeding the +_factotum_ in all maladies; it is the _ne plus ultra_, when drawn in +large quantities. Blood-letting, say these authors, is not only the most +powerful and important, but the most generally used, of all our +remedies. Scarcely a case of acute, or, indeed, of chronic, disease +occurs in which it does not become necessary to consider the propriety +of having recourse to the lancet." (??) To what extent blood-letting is +carried, in our modern age, may be learned by reading Youatt and others, +who recommend it "when animals rub themselves, and the hair falls off; +when the eyes appear dull and languid, red or inflamed; in all +inflammatory complaints, as of the brain, lungs, kidneys, bowels, womb, +bladder, and joints; in all bruises, hurts, wounds, and all other +accidents; in cold, catarrh, paralysis, and locked-jaw." Yet, strange to +say, one of these authors qualifies his recommendations as follows: "No +man, however wise, can tell exactly how much blood ought to be taken in +a given case." Now, it is well known that the draining of blood from a +vein, though it diminishes the vital resistance, and lessens the volume +of fluids, does not mend the matter; for it thus gives to cold and +atmospheric agents the ascendant influence. A collapse takes place, the +secretions become impaired, the animal refuses its food, "looks +dumpish," &c. + +We might continue this article to an indefinite length; but as we shall, +in the following pages, have occasion to refer to the use of the lancet +as a destructive agent, we conclude it with the following remarks of an +English physician: "Our most valuable remedies against inflammation are +but ill adapted for curing that state of disease. They do not act +directly on the diseased part; the action is only indirect; therefore it +is imperfect. Bleeding, the best of any of these remedies, is in this +predicament." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] A piece of pasture land. + +[2] Then the life of an animal is also in the blood; and the same evil +consequences follow its abstraction. + + + + +EFFORTS OF NATURE TO REMOVE DISEASE. + + "Nature is ever busy, by the silent operations of her own forces, + in curing disease."--_Dixon._ + + +Whenever any irritating substance comes in contact with sensitive +surfaces, nature, or the _vis medicatrix naturae_, goes immediately to +work to remove the offending cause: for example, should any substance +lodge on the mucous surface, within the nostril, although it be +imperceptible, as often happens when the hay is musty, it abounds in +particles whose specific gravity enables them to float in atmospheric +air; they are then inhaled in the act of respiration, and nature, in +order to wash off the offending matter, sends a quantity of fluid to the +part. The same process may be observed when a small piece of hay, or +other foreign matter, shall have fallen into the eye: the tears then +flow in great abundance, to prevent that delicate organ being injured. +"When a blister is applied to the surface, it first excites a genial +warmth, with inflammation of the skin; and nature, distressed, goes +instantly to work, separates the cuticle to form a bag, interposes serum +between the nerves and the offensive matter, then prepares another +cuticle, that, when the former, with the adhering substance, shall fall +off, the nervous papillae may be again provided with a covering. + +"The same reasoning will apply to the operation of emetics and +cathartics; for not only is the peristaltic motion either greatly +quickened or inverted, according to the urgency of the distress, but +both the mucous glands and the exhalent arteries pour forth their fluids +in abundance to wash away the offending matter, which at one time acts +chemically, at others mechanically." + +If a horse, or an ox, be wounded in the foot with a nail, and a portion +of it is broken off and remains in the wound, inflammation sets in, +producing suppuration, and the nail is discharged. + +A few days ago, we were called to see a horse, said to have swelling on +the _tarsus_, (hock.) On an examination, it proved to be an abscess, +well developed; the matter could be distinctly felt at the most +prominent part. We should certainly have been justified (at least in the +eyes of the medical world; and then it would have looked so +"doctor-like"!) in displaying a case of instruments and opening the +tumor. If ulceration, gangrene, &c., set in and the horse ultimately +became lame, no blame could be attached to us, because the practice is +_scientific_!--recognized by the schools as good and efficient +treatment. What was to be done? Why, it was evident that we could not do +better than to aid nature. A relaxing, anti-spasmodic poultice was +confined to the parts, and in six hours after, the sac discharged its +contents, and with it a piece of splinter two inches in length. The pain +immediately ceased, and the animal is now free from lameness. We here +see the design of nature: the consequent inflammation was to produce +suppuration, and make an outlet for the splinter. + +Professor Kost says, "The laws of all organic life are remarkably +peculiar; they possess, in an eminent degree, the power of +self-regulation. When interrupted, disease, indeed, supervenes; but +unless the circumstances are particularly unfavorable, the physiological +state will soon be restored. All observation most clearly corroborates +this fact. The healing of wounds, restoration of fractured bones, +expulsion of obtruded substances, and particularly the manner in which +extravasated matter or pus is removed from internal organs, as in case +of abscess in the liver, in which exit may be gained by ulceration +through the parietes, or by an adhesion to and ulceration into the +intestines, or even by the adhesions to the diaphragm and lungs, in such +a manner as, by ulceration into the bronchia, a passage may be gained, +and the pus thus removed by expectoration,--all evince a most singular +conservative power. What is most remarkable in cases like the latter, +is, that the adhesions are so formed as to prevent the escape of the pus +into the peritoneal sac, which accident must inevitably prove fatal. + +"Some very interesting experiments have been performed to test the +restorative power of the different tissues of the animal body. If a +portion of the intestines of a dog be taken out, and tied, so as to +obstruct completely the passage, it will be found that the adjacent +portions of the intestine will reunite, the ligature will separate into +the canal and be discharged, and the gut will heal up so as to preserve +its normal continuity, and the animal, in a fortnight, will have +recovered entirely from the effects of this fearful operation. + +"When noxious or poisonous substances are thrown into any of the +cavities of the body from which their escape is impracticable, a cyst +will often form around them, and they thus become isolated from +absorption and the circulation, so as to prevent their doing harm. + +"The less remarkable instances of this character are of more common +occurrence; and the self-regulating power of the laws of life, alias +_vis conservatrix naturae_, is so universally known and depended on, that +it is rare, indeed, that indisposed persons take medicine, until they +have first waited at least a little, to see what nature would do for +them; and they are seldom disappointed, as it may perhaps be safely +asserted, that nine tenths of all the attacks of disease (taking the +slight indispositions; for such are most of them, as they are checked +before they become severe) are warded off by the vital force, +unassisted. Such, then, are the facts deduced from observing the +operations of nature in disease _unassisted_." + +Dr. Beach says, "We are well aware, from what passes in the system +daily, that the Author of nature has wisely provided a principle which +is calculated to remove disease. It is very observable in fevers. No +sooner is noxious or morbid matter retained in the system, than there is +an increased action of the heart and arteries, to eliminate the existing +cause from the skin; or it may pass off by other outlets established +for that purpose. With what propriety, then, can this provision of +nature be denied, as it is by some? A noted professor in Philadelphia or +Baltimore ridicules this power in the constitution; he says to his +class, 'Kick nature out of doors.' It was this man, or a brother +professor, who exclaimed to his class, 'Give me mercury in one hand and +the lancet in the other, and I am prepared to cope with disease in every +shape and form.' I have not time to stop here, and comment upon such +palpable and dangerous doctrine. I have only to say, let the medical +historian record this sentiment, maintained in the highest medical +universities in America in the nineteenth century. I am pleased, +however, to observe, that all physicians do not coincide with such +views." + + + + +PROVERBS OF THE VETERINARY REFORMERS. + + +The merciful man is merciful to his domestic animals. + +"Avoid blood-letting and poisons, for they are powerful depressors of +the vital energies. There are two medical _fulcra_--reason and +experience. Experience precedes, reason follows; hence, reasoning not +founded on experience avails nothing. He who cures by simples need not +seek for compounds."--_Villanov._ + +"The physician _destitute of a knowledge of plants_ can never properly +judge of the power of a plant."--_Whitlaw._ + +"The vegetable kingdom is the most noble in medicines."--_Ibid._ + +"Innocent medicines, which approach as near to food as possible, +preserve health, while chemical compounds destroy it. Heroic medicines +(such are antimony, copper, corrosive sublimate, lead, opium, hellebore, +arsenic, belladonna) are like the sword in the hands of a madman. + +"Nature unassisted by art sometimes effects miracles."--_Whitlaw._ + +"It is the part of a wise physician to decline prescribing in a lost +case."--_Ibid._ Whenever there is free, full circulation of blood, there +is animal heat. If the heat of a part becomes deficient, the circulation +is correspondingly diminished. As soon as voluntary motion in a part +ceases, so soon the circulation becomes enfeebled; and if continued, the +part will wither and waste away. + +The strength and health of an animal depend on a due share of exercise, +pure air, and suitable food. Deprive an animal of these, and he will +cease to exist. We believe in the great doctrine that the duty of the +physician is to aid nature in protecting herself in the enjoyment of +health, by proper attention to breeding, rearing, ventilation, and +proper farm and stable management. + +"The tinsel glitter of fine-spun theory, or favorite hypothesis, which +prevails wherever allopathy hath been taught, so dazzles, flatters, and +charms human vanity and folly, that, so far from contributing to the +certain and speedy cure of diseases, it hath, in every age, proved the +bane and disgrace of healing art."--_Graham_, p. 15. + +"Those physicians generally become the most distinguished who soonest +emancipate themselves from the tyranny of the schools of +physic."--RUSH. + +"Availing ourselves of the privileges we possess, and animated by the +noblest impulses, let us cordially cooeperate to give to medicine a new +direction, and attempt those great improvements which it imperiously +demands."--_Ther._, vol. i. p. 51. + +"It has been proved by allopathists themselves, that 'a physician should +be nature's servant;' that 'bleeding tends directly to subdue nature's +efforts;' that 'all poisons suddenly and rapidly destroy a great +proportion of the vitality of the system;' that whatever be the +quantity, use, or manner of application, all the influence they +inherently possess is injurious, and that they are not fatal in every +instance of their use only because nature overpowers them."--_Curtis._ + + + + +AN INQUIRY CONCERNING THE SOULS OF BRUTES. + + + "Are these then made in vain? Is man alone, + Of all the marvels of creative love, + Blest with a scintillation of His essence-- + The heavenly spark of reasonable soul? + And hath not yon sagacious dog, that finds + A meaning in the shepherd's idiot face; + Or the huge elephant, that lends his strength + To drag the stranded galley to the shore, + And strives with emulative pride t' excel + The mindless crowd of slaves that toil beside him; + Or the young generous war-horse, when he sniffs + The distant field of blood, and quick and shrill + Neighing for joy, instils a desperate courage + Into the veteran trooper's quailing heart,-- + Have they not all an evidence of soul, + (Of soul, the proper attribute of man,) + The same in kind, though meaner in degree? + Why should not that which hath been--be forever? + And death, O, can it be annihilation? + No,--though the stolid atheist fondly clings + To that last hope, how kindred to despair! + No,--'tis the struggling spirit's hour of joy, + The glad emancipation of the soul, + The moment when the cumbrous fetters drop, + And the bright spirit wings its way to heaven! + + "To say that God annihilated aught, + Were to declare that in an unwise hour + He planned and made somewhat superfluous. + Why should not the mysterious life that dwells + In reptiles as in man, and shows itself + In memory, gratitude, love, hate, and pride, + Still energize, and be, though death may crush + Yon frugal ant or thoughtless butterfly, + Or, with the simoom's pestilential gale + Strike down the patient camel in the desert? + + "There is one chain of intellectual soul, + In many links and various grades, throughout + The scale of nature; from the climax bright, + The first great Cause of all, Spirit supreme, + Incomprehensible, and unconfined, + To high archangels blazing near the throne, + Seraphim, cherubim, virtues, aids, and powers, + All capable of perfection in their kind;-- + To man, as holy from his Maker's hand + He stood in possible excellence complete, + (Man, who is destined now to brighter glories,-- + As nearer to the present God, in One + His Lord and Substitute,--than angels reach;) + Then man has fallen, with every varied shade + Of character and capability, + From him who reads his title to the skies, + Or grasps, with giant-mind, all nature's wonders, + Down to the monster-shaped, inhuman form, + Murderer, slavering fool, or blood-stained savage; + Then to the prudent elephant, the dog + Half-humanized, the docile Arab horse, + The social beaver, and contriving fox, + The parrot, quick in pertinent reply, + The kind-affectioned seal, and patriot bee, + The merchant-storing ant, and wintering swallow, + With all those other palpable emanations + And energies of one Eternal Mind + Pervading and instructing all that live, + Down to the sentient grass and shrinking clay. + In truth, I see not why the breath of life, + Thus omnipresent, and upholding all, + Should not return to Him and be immortal, + (I dare not say the same,) in some glad state + Originally destined for creation, + As well from brutish bodies, as from man. + The uncertain glimmer of analogy + Suggests the thought, and reason's shrewder guess; + Yet revelation whispers nought but this,-- + 'Our Father careth when a sparrow dies,' + And that 'the spirit of a brute descends,' + As to some secret and preserving Hades. + + "But for some better life, in what strange sort + Were justice, mixed with mercy, dealt to these? + Innocent slaves of sordid, guilty man, + Poor unthanked drudges, toiling to his will, + Pampered in youth, and haply starved in age, + Obedient, faithful, gentle, though the spur, + Wantonly cruel, or unsparing thong, + Weal your galled hides, or your strained sinews crack + Beneath the crushing load,--what recompense + Can He who gave you being render you, + If in the rank, full harvest of your griefs + Ye sink annihilated, to the shame + Of government unequal?--In that day + When crime is sentenced, shall the cruel heart + Boast uncondemned, because no tortured brute + Stands there accusing? Shall the embodied deeds + Of man not follow him, nor the rescued fly + Bear its kind witness to the saving hand? + Shall the mild Brahmin stand in equal sin + Regarding nature's menials, with the wretch + Who flays the moaning Abyssinian ox, + Or roasts the living bird, or flogs to death + The famishing pointer?--and must these again, + These poor, unguilty, uncomplaining victims, + Have no reward for life with its sharp pains?-- + They have my suffrage: Nineveh was spared, + Though Jonah prophesied its doom, for sake + Of sixscore thousand infants, and 'much cattle;' + And space is wide enough for every grain + Of the broad sands that curb our swelling seas, + Each separate in its sphere to stand apart + As far as sun from sun; there lacks not room, + Nor time, nor care, where all is infinite."--_Tupper._ + + + + +THE REFORMED PRACTICE. + +SYNOPTICAL VIEW OF THE PROMINENT SYSTEMS OF MEDICINE. + + +Some of our readers, especially the non-medical, may desire to know what +the following remarks, which appear to apply generally to the human +family, have to do with cattle doctoring. We answer them in the language +of Professor Percival. "The object of the veterinary art is not only +congenial with human medicine, but the very same paths which lead to a +knowledge of the diseases of man, lead also to a knowledge of those of +brutes. An accurate examination of the interior parts of their bodies; a +studious survey of the arrangement, structure, use, connection, and +relation of these parts, and of the laws by which they act; as also of +the nature and properties of the various food and other agents which the +earth so liberally provides for their support and cure,--these form, in +a great measure, the sound and sure foundation of all medical science, +whatever living individual animal be the subject of our consideration. +Whether we prescribe for a man, horse, dog, or cat, the laws of the +animal economy are the same; and one system, and that based upon +established facts, is to guide our practice in all. + +"The theory of medicine in the human subject is the theory of medicine +in the brute; it is the application of that theory--the practice +alone--that is different. + +"We might as well, in reference to the principles of each, attempt to +separate surgery from medicine, as insist that either of these arts, in +theory, is essentially different from the veterinary: every day's +experience serves to confirm this our belief, and in showing us how +often the diseases of animals arise from the same causes as those of a +man, exhibit the same indications, and require a similar method of cure. + +"The science of medicine, like others, consists of a collection of facts +of a common and not a specific character. These, therefore, admit of +arrangement into different systems, according to the notions of +theorists, and the various species of philosophy, brought to bear on the +subject. + +"The first regular system was founded by Hippocrates, about three +hundred and eighty years before Christ. It was founded upon _theory_, +and comprised the doctrines of the ancient dogmatic school. Its +pathology rested upon a supposed change of the humors of the body, +particularly the blood and bile; and here are the first elements of the +'_humoral pathology_.' Its remedial intentions were founded upon the +existence of the _'vis conservatrix' et 'medicatrix naturae;'_ and, +although often maintaining direct antipathic principles of action, it +rested mainly on physo-dynamic influence for the accomplishment of its +therapeutic purposes. + +"About two hundred and ninety years before Christ, Philinus of Cos +introduced the ancient _Empiric System_, which was founded upon +_experience_ and _observation_. About one hundred years before the +Christian era, the _Methodic System_ was introduced by Asclepiades of +Bithynia. This system was got up with an avowed opposition to that of +Hippocrates, which was called 'a study of death.' Themison of Laodicea, +pupil of Asclepiades, gives an exposition of the fundamental principles +of the methodic system; and it seems that all physiological and +pathological action was considered to be dependent upon the _strictum_ +and _laxum_ of the organic pores, or increased and decreased secretion, +and that all medicines act only on two principles, _i. e._, by inducing +contraction and relaxation, or an increase and decrease of the +secretions. + +"It would seem that, in the first century of the Christian era, the +methodic system was divided into various subordinate ones--the +_Pneumatic_, _Episynthetic_, and _Eclectic_. The pneumatic system, which +was the most popular of the fragments of the methodic, was most indebted +to Athenaeus of Attalia for its successful introduction. This system +contemplated the doctrine of the Stoics, which recognized the existence +of a spirit governing and directing every thing, and which, when +offended, would produce disease; hence the name _pneumatic_. The +indications of cure were more _moral_ than _physical_. Fire, air, water, +&c., were not considered elements, but their properties--heat, cold, +dryness, moisture, &c.--were alone entitled to the name. + +"In the second century, the _Galenic System_ was founded by Claudius +Galenus. This might, indeed, only be considered the revival of the +dogmatic or Hippocratean system. Galen professed to have selected what +he found valuable from all the prevailing systems, and has embraced the +elements and ruling spirit of the pneumatic school. Thus he explained +the operation of medicines by reference to their elementary +qualities,--that is, heat, cold, dryness, and moisture,--of each of +which he admitted four degrees. But he was governed by a prevailing +partiality for the system of Hippocrates, which, he states, was either +misunderstood or misrepresented by all theorists, ever since the +establishment of the empiric and methodic schools. He devoted most of +his time to commenting upon and embellishing it, and thus again +established a system, founded on reason, observation, and sound +induction, which maintained its character, without a rival, for more +than one thousand five hundred years. + +"Near the middle of the sixteenth century, Paracelsus introduced the +_Chemical System_. This was strongly opposed by Bellonius and Riverius, +who maintained the doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen. But the +presumptuous Paracelsus burned, 'in solemn state,' the works of the +ancients; and being succeeded by the indefatigable Van Helmont, the +whole science of medicine was overwhelmed by the mysticism of the +alchemical doctrines and languages. The chemical theory, in the main, +rejects the influence, or even the existence, of the _vis medicatrix +naturae_, and explains all physiological, pathological, and therapeutic +operations upon abstract chemical laws. Thus chemical or inorganic +agents, and many of the most virulent poisons, as arsenic, mercury, +antimony, &c., were placed among the most prominent remedies. + +"Soon after the introduction of the chemical system, medical science, if +we make one exception, became less eccentric, but much less marked for +the permanency of its systems. Boerhaave ingeniously blended most of the +prominent doctrines of the Galenic and chemical systems; and by an +application of several of the newly-developed natural sciences, +especially mathematics and natural philosophy, he led his successors +into a more even path and fixed method of investigation; for no more do +we find any abstract physical laws the sole basis of a system. But these +were the highest honors allowed Boerhaave; his particular system was +soon subverted by Stahl, who proved the supreme superintendence of an +immaterial, vital principle, corresponding to that pointed out by +Hippocrates. To this he ascribes intelligence, if not moral attributes. +Hoffman led Cullen into the path that brought him into the fruitful +field of _nervous pathology_ and solidism, which, with a modification of +Stahl's ruling _immaterial essence_, formed the groundwork of his +admired system. + +"If, now, we except the eccentricities of Brown, comprising his system, +founded on the _sthenic_ and _asthenic_ diathesis, we find little +interruption to the general prevalence of the Cullenian system, till +nearly the present juncture. The succeeding authors, colleges, and +medical societies have only modified and amplified the general theory, +and regulated the practice into a comparative uniformity, which now +constitutes the popular _Allopathic System_. But notwithstanding the +comparatively settled state of medical science, it could not be supposed +that in this remarkable age of improvement, while all other liberal +sciences and arts are progressing as if prosecuted by superhuman agency, +medicine should fail to undergo corresponding improvement. + +"Several new systems of medicine date themselves within the last forty +years, viz.: 1. The _Homaeopathic_, introduced by Hahnemann, and founded +upon the principle, _similia similibus curantur_. 2. The _Botanic_, +established by a new class of medical philosophers, within the last +twenty years. 3. The _Eclectic_, corresponding, in its essential +doctrines, with the ancient eclectic system." + + + + +CREED OF THE REFORMERS. + + +We believe that a perfect system of medical science is that which never +allows disease to exist at all; which prevents disease, instead of +curing it, by means of a perfect hygienic system, proper modes of life, +attention to diet, ventilation, and exercise. + +We believe that the next best system is that which, after disease has +made its appearance, promptly meets its development by the use of such +agencies as are perfectly in harmony with the laws of life and health, +and physiological in their action; such, for example, as water, air, +heat and cold, friction, food, drink, and medicines that are not usually +regarded as poisons, and are known to prove congenial to the animal +constitution. + +We have no attachment to any remedy which experience shows unsafe; but, +on the contrary, we rejoice in the success of every attempt to +substitute sanative for disease-creating agents, and believe that a +number of the articles which are still occasionally used in the old +school, will in time become obsolete, as medical science progresses. + +We hold that our opposition to any course of medical treatment should be +in proportion to the mischief it produces, entirely irrespective of +medical theories. Hence our hostility to the lancet. + +We do not profess to know more about anatomy, physiology, surgery, &c., +than our allopathic brethren; but the superiority which our system +claims over others is, in the main, to be found in our therapeutic +agents, all of which are harmless, safe, and efficient. While they +arouse the energies of nature to resist the ravages of disease, they act +harmoniously with the vital principle, in the restoration of the system +from a pathological to the physiological state. + + + + +TRUE PRINCIPLES. + + +"Our objection to the old school," says Professor Curtis, "has ever +been, that they not only have no true principles to guide their +practice, but they have adopted, fixed, and obstinately adhered to +principles the very reverse of the true. They have resolved that, in +disease, nature turns a somerset--reverses all her normal laws, and +requires them to do the same. They have decreed that the best means and +processes to cure the sick are those which will most speedily kill them +when in health. In the face of all reason and common sense, they have +adhered to this doctrine and practice for the last three centuries, and +they have been constrained to confess that the destruction they have +produced on human life and health has far exceeded all that has been +effected by the sword, pestilence, and famine. Still they obstinately +persevere. They say their science is progressive--improving; yet its +progression consists in contriving new ways and means to take part of +the life's blood, and poison all the balance. + +"Medicine, being based on the laws of nature, is in itself an exact +science; and every process of the act should be directed by those laws. + +"Medicine is a demonstrative science, and all its processes should be +based on fixed laws, and be governed by positive inductions. Then, and +not till then, will it deserve to be ranked among the exact sciences, +and contemplated as a liberal art. + +"Truth is stationary; it never progresses. What was true in principle in +the days of Adam is so still. To talk of progress in principle is +ridiculous. Neither does a given practice progress. That which was ever +intrinsically good is so still. To talk, then, of the progress in +principles of medicine is absurd. We may learn the truth or error of +principles, and the comparative value or worthlessness of practices; but +the principles are still the same. This is our progress in knowledge, +not the progress of science or art. The constant changes that have taken +place in the adoption and rejection of various principles and practices +have ever been an injury to the healing art. Both truth and falsehood, +separately and combined, have been alternately received and rejected; +and this is that progress which is made in a circle, and not in lines +direct. The fault of the cultivators of medicine has been, not that they +never discovered the truth nor adopted the right practice, but that they +adopted wrong principles and practices as often as the right, and +rejected the right as readily as the wrong. They have ever been ready to +prove many, if not all things; but to cast off the bad and hold fast to +the good, they seem to have had but little discrimination and power. +They say truly, that the object of the healing art is to aid nature in +the prevention and cure of her diseases; yet, in practice, they do +violence to nature in the use of the lancet and poison." + +We are told by the professors of allopathy that their medicines +constitute a class of deadly poisons, (see "Pocket Pharmacopoeia;") +"that, when given with a scientific hand, in small doses, they cure +disease." We deny their power to cure. If antimony, corrosive sublimate, +&c., ever proved destructive, they always possess that power, and can +never be used with any degree of assurance that they will make a sick +animal well. On the other hand, we have abundant every-day evidence of +their ability to make a well animal sick at any time. What difference +does it make whether poisons are given with a scientific or an +unscientific hand? Does it alter the tendency which all poisons possess, +namely, that of rapidly depriving the system of vitality? + +The veterinary science was ushered into existence by men who practised +according to the doctrines of the theoretical schools. We may trace it +in its infancy when, in England, in the year 1788, it was rocked in the +cradle of allopathy by Sainbel, its texture varying to suit the skill of +Clark, Lawrence, Field, Blaine, and Coleman; yet with all their amount +of talent and wisdom, their pupils must acknowledge that the melancholy +triumph of disease over its victims clearly evinces that their combined +stock of knowledge is insufficient to perfect the veterinary science. +Dr. J. Bell says, "Anatomy is the basis of medical skill;" yet, in +another part of his work he says, "It enables the physician to +GUESS _at the seat, or causes, or consequences of disease_!" +This is what we propose hereafter to call the science--the science of +guessing! If such is the immense mortality in England, (amounting, as +Mr. Youatt states, in loss of cattle, alone, to $50,000,000,)--a country +that boasts of her veterinary institutions, and embraces within her +medical halo some of the brightest luminaries of the present +century,--what, we ask, is the mortality in the United States, where the +veterinary science scarcely has an existence, and where not one man in a +hundred can tell a disease of the bowels from one of the lungs? +Profiting by the experience of these men, we are in hopes to build up a +system of practice that will stand a tower of strength amid the rude +shock of medical theories. We have discovered that the lancet is a +powerful depressor of vitality, and that poisons derange, instead of +producing, healthy action. That they are generally resorted to in this +country, no one will deny, and often by men who are unacquainted with +the nature of the destructive agents they making use of. + +Hence our business, as reformers, is to expose error, and disseminate +true principles. In doing so, we must be guided by the light of reason, +and interpret aright the doctrines of nature as they are written by the +Creator on the tablets of the whole universe, animate and inanimate. + +In our reformed practice, we have true principles to guide us, which no +man can controvert; for they are based on the recognition of a curative +power in nature, identical with the vital principle, and governed by the +same laws that control its action in the healthy state. While, +therefore, this system must not change, it may improve; and while it +remains on the same foundation, it should progress. + +The necessity of aiding nature, in all our modes of medication, is the +only true principle which should guide us. This we do by the aid of +medicines known to be harmless, at the same time paying proper attention +to diet, ventilation, exercise, &c., rejecting all processes of cure +that depress the vital energy, or destroy the equilibrium of its action. + +Our reformed principles teach us that, "Fever is the same in its +essential character, under all circumstances and forms which it +exhibits. The different kinds, as they are called, are but varieties of +the same condition, produced by variations in the prevailing cause, or +the strength of vital resistance, or some other peculiarity of the +patient. Facts in abundance might be stated to justify this position. +Again, fever is not to be regarded as disease, but as a sanative effort; +in other words, as an increased or excited state of vital action, whose +tendency is to remove from the system any agents or causes that would +effect its integrity. Or, perhaps, it might be more properly said, that +fever is the effect, or symptom, of accumulated vital action--an index +pointing to the progress of causes, operating to ward off disease and +restore health. + +"Our indications of cure and modes of treatment are to be learned from +those manifestations of the vital operations uniformly witnessed in the +febrile state. If fever marks the action of the healing power of nature, +which we must copy to be successful, why should we not consult the +febrile phenomena for our rule of action? Now, what are the indications +of cure which we derive from this source? In other words, what are the +results which nature designs to accomplish through the instrumentality +of fever? They are, an equilibrium of the circulation, a +properly-proportioned action of all the organs, and an increased +depuration of the system, principally by cutaneous evacuations." + +Suppose the resistance of some local obstruction, as, for example, an +accumulation of partly digested food in the manyplus of the ox, and, for +want of a due portion of the gastric fluids to soften the mass and +prevent friction, it irritates the mucous covering of the laminae. The +result is inflammation, (local fever,) then general excitement, +manifested in an increased state of the circulation generally. The +consequences of this general excitement of the mass of the circulation +are, a more equal distribution of the blood, and the stimulation of +every organ to do a part, according to its capacity, in removing +disease. In such cases, the cattle doctors, generally, suppose that the +inflammation is confined to the part, (manyplus;) yet it is evident that +nature has marshalled her forces and produced a like action on the +external surface. How can we prove that this is the case? By the heat, +and red surfaces of the membrane lining the nostril, by the accelerated +pulse, thirst, &c. Without heat there is no vitality in the system. Now, +if the surface be hot, it proves that a large quantity of blood is sent +there for the purpose of relieving the deranged internal organ. Hence +the reader will perceive, that the cattle doctor whose creed is, "The +more fever, the more blood-letting," must be one of the greatest +opponents nature has to deal with. Then it is no wonder that so many +cattle, sheep, and oxen die of fever. The practice of purging, in such a +case, would be almost as destructive as the former; for many articles +used as purges act on the mucous surfaces of the alimentary canal as +mechanical irritants. Nature would, in this case, have to recall her +forces from the surface, and concentrate them in the vicinity of parts +where they were not wanted, had not man's interference conflicted with +her well-planned arrangement, and made her "turn a somerset." When the +increased action and heat are manifested on the surface, does it not +prove that the different organs are acting harmoniously in self-defence? +And is not this action manifested through the same channels in a state +of health? Then why call it _disease_? + +If obstructions exist as the cause of fever, will the mode of evacuation +be different from that of health? Certainly not. Hence the marked +tendency of fever to evacuation by the skin or the bowels; the former by +perspiration, and the latter by diarrhoea. Fever, then, is a vital +action, and the reformers have correct principles. On the other hand, +the allopathists tell us that they know very little about fever, but +that it is disease, and they treat it as such; hence, then, five, ten, +and fourteen days' fever, and often the death of the patient. + +Our treatment is not directed with a view of combating the fever: we +generally aid it by following the indications which it presents; and we +often find it necessary, although the surface of the animal shall be +hot, and feverish symptoms appear, to use stimulants, (not alcoholic,) +combined with antispasmodics and relaxants. (See _Stimulants_, in the +APPENDIX.) This class of medicines, aided by warmth and +moisture, favors the cutaneous exhalation, and promotes the free and +full play of all the functions. + +That the allopathist has but few principles to guide him is evident from +the following quotations:-- + +Veterinary surgeon Haycock says, "The profession may flatter itself that +it is advancing: for my part, however, I see little or no advancement. +Our labors, for the last ten years, have been little more than a +repetition of what has gone before. Our books are things of shreds and +patches; the system which is followed in the investigation of disease, +in the treatment of disease, and in the reporting of it, is altogether +so crude and barbarous, that I am thoroughly ashamed of the whole +matter. + +"I have heard much noise about a _charter_, [which, we presume, means a +charter by which men may be licensed to kill _secundum artem_, and '_no +questions_ ASKED,'] the clamor of which may be compared to the +rattling of peas in a dried bladder, or to a storm in a horse-pond. I +have also read much which has been said about the _spirit_ of this +charter. Until I am convinced that it is the best term which can be +applied to it, verily the whole is a spirit; for no one, I am persuaded, +has ever yet discovered the substance.[3] It is not charters that we +want, _but it is that quiet spirit of earnestness which characterizes +the true laborer on science_. We require men who will labor for the +advancement of the profession from the pure love of the thing; we want, +in fact, a few John Fields, or men who know how to work, and who are +possessed of the will to do it." + +We hear a great deal said about sending young men from this country to +Europe to acquire the principles of the veterinary art, with a view to +public teaching. Now, it appears to us that the United States can boast +of as great a number of talented physicians, as well qualified to soon +learn and understand the fundamental principles of the veterinary art, +as their brethren of the old world. There is no country, probably, that +can boast of such an amount of talent, in every department of +literature and art, in proportion to the population, as the United +States. We know that the veterinary art, with one exception, had its +existence from human practitioners, received their fostering care and +attention, and grew with their growth. Have we not the materials, then, +in this country, to educate and qualify young men to practise this +important branch of science? Most certainly. Just send a few to us, for +example, and if we do not impart to them a better system of medication +than that practised in Europe, by which they will be enabled to treat +disease with more success and less deaths, then we will agree to "throw +physic to the dogs," and abandon our profession. + +The greatest part of the most valuable time of the students of +veterinary medicine is devoted to the study of pathology, in such a +manner as to afford little instruction. For example, we are told that in +"Bright's" disease of the kidneys they have detected albumen. What does +this amount to? Does it throw any rational light on the treatment other +than that proposed by us, of toning up the animal, and restoring the +healthy secretions? They have studied pathology to their hearts' +content; yet any intelligent farmer in this country, with a few simple +herbs, can beat them at curing disease. We would give details, were it +necessary. Suffice it to say, that it is done here every day, and often +through the aid of a little thoroughwort tea, or other harmless agent. +The pathologist may discover alterations in tissues, in the blood, and +the various organs, and tell us that herein lie the cause and seat of +disease; yet these changes themselves are but results, and preceding +these were other manifestations of disorder; therefore pathology must +always be imperfect, because it is a science of consequences. + +The most powerful microscopes have been used to discover the seat of +disease; yet this has not taught us to cure one single disease hitherto +incurable. + +The old school boast that their whole system of blood-letting, purging, +and poisoning is based on _enlightened experience_! yet their victims +have often discovered, by dear-bought "experience," (_many of whom are +now doing penance with ulcerated gums, rotten teeth, and foetid breath_,) +that, however valuable this "experience" may be to the M. D.'s, they, +the recipients, have not derived that benefit which they were led to +expect would accrue to them. From what has already been written in this +work, the reader, provided he divests himself of all prejudice, will +perceive that allopathic experience is not to be trusted, for their +principles are false; hence their experience is also false. Professor +Curtis, to whom we are indebted for much valuable information, says, "Do +not the old school argue that the most destructive agents in nature may +be made to '_aid the vital forces in the removal of disease_ by the +judicious application of them'? Does not Professor Harrison say, that +the lancet is the great anti-inflammatory agent of the _materia medica_, +that opium is the _magnum Dei donum_ (the great gift of God) for the +relief of pain, and that mercury is the great regulator of all the +secretions?" + +Anatomy and physiology are now being taught in our public schools. The +people will, ere long, constitute themselves umpires to decide when +doctors disagree. We apprehend it will then be hard work to convince the +intelligent and thinking part of the community that poisons and the +lancet are sanative agents. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] Mr. White says, "According to the present system of teaching in +these chartered institutions, there is very little benefit to be derived +by the student." + +Mr. Blane experienced in his own person the results of this imperfect +system of teaching. He was sent for to fire a valuable horse, and gives +the following account of it: "It was my first essay in firing on my own +account, and _fired_ as I was with my wishes to signalize myself, I +labored to enter my novitiate with all due honor. The farrier of the +village was ordered to attend, a sturdy old man, civil enough, but +looking as though impressed with no very high respect for a _gentleman +farrier's knowledge_. The horse was cast, awkwardly enough, and secured, +as will appear, even more so. I, however, proceeded to show the +superiority of the new over the old schools. I had just then left the +veterinary college, not as a pupil, but as a teacher, which I only +mention to mark the climax. On the very first application of the iron, +up started my patient, flinging me and my assistants in all directions +from him, while he trotted and snorted round the yard with rope, &c. at +his heels. As may be supposed, I was taken aback, and might have gone +back as I came, had not the old farrier, with much good humor, caught +the horse round the neck with his arms, and by some dexterous manoeuvre +brought him on his knees; when, with a jerk, as quick as unexpected, he +threw him at once on his side, when our immediate assistants fixed him, +and we proceeded. It is needless to remark that I retired mortified, and +left the village farrier lord of the ascendant." + +"It cannot be doubted that the best operators in this case are always +the common country farriers, who, from devoting themselves entirely to +the occupation, soon become proficient." + +This admission on the part of a regular graduate of a veterinary +institution of London shows that the veterinary science, as taught at +the present day, is a matter for reproach. The melancholy triumph of +disease over its victims shows that the science is mere moonshine; that, +in regard to its most important object, the _cure of disease_, it is +mere speculation, rich in theory, but poverty-stricken in its results. +Hence we have not only proof that the American people will be immense +gainers by availing themselves of the labors of reforms, but, as +interested individuals, they have great encouragement to favor our more +rational system of treatment. (For additional remarks on this subject, +see the author's work on the Horse, p. 105.) + + + + +INFLAMMATION. + + +Inflammation has generally been considered the great bugbear of the old +school, and the scarecrow of the cattle doctor. But what do they know +about it? Let us see. + +Dr. Thatcher says, "Numerous hypotheses or opinions respecting the true +nature and cause of inflammation have for ages been advanced, and for a +time sustained; but even at the present day, the various doctrines +appear to be considered altogether problematical." + +Professor Percival says, "Inflammation consists in an increased action +of the arteries, and may be either _healthy_ or _unhealthy_[4]--a +distinction that appears to relate to some peculiarity of the +constitution." + +We find inflammation described by most old school authors as disease, +and they treat it as such. Professor Payne says, "A great majority of +all the disorders to which the human frame is liable begin with +inflammation, or end in inflammation, or are accompanied by inflammation +in some part of their course, or resemble inflammation in their +symptoms. Most of the organic changes in different parts of the body +recognize inflammation as their cause, or lead to it as their effect. In +short, a very large share of the premature extinctions of human life in +general is more of less attributable to inflammation." + +The term _inflammation_ has long been employed by medical men to denote +the existence of an unusual degree of redness, pain, heat, and swelling +in any of the textures or organs of which the body is composed. +Professor Curtis says, "But as inflammation sometimes exists without the +exhibition of any of these symptoms, authors have been obliged to +describe it by its causes, in attendant symptoms, and its effects. It is +not more strange than true, that, after studying this subject for, _as +they say_, four thousand years, experimenting on it and with it, and +defining it, the sum of all their knowledge and definitions is +this--inflammation in the animal frame is either a simple or compound +action, increased or diminished, or a cessation of all action; it either +causes, or is caused, or is accompanied, by all the forms of disease to +which the body is subject; it is the only agent of cure in every case in +which a cure is effected; it destroys all that die, except by accident +or old age; it is both disease itself, and the only antidote to disease; +it is the pathological principle which lies at the base of all others; +it is that which the profession least of all understand." + +Who believes, then, that the science of medicine is based on a sure +foundation? + +The following selections from the allopathic works will prove what is +above stated. + +"Pure inflammation is rather an effort of nature than a disease; yet it +always implies disease or disturbance, inasmuch as there must be a +previous morbid or disturbed state to make such an effort +necessary."--_Hunter_, vol. iv. pp. 293, 294. + +"As inflammation is an action produced for the restoration of the most +simple injury in sound parts which goes beyond the power of union by the +first intention, we must look upon it as one of the most simple +operations in nature, whatever it may be when arising from disease, or +diseased parts. Inflammation is to be considered only a disturbed state +of parts, which requires a new but salutary mode of action to restore +them to that state wherein a natural mode of action alone is necessary. +Therefore inflammation in itself is not to be considered a disease, but +a salutary operation consequent either to some violence or to some +disease."--_Ibid._ vol. iv. p. 285. + +"A wound or bruise cannot recover itself but by inflammation_."--Ibid._ +p. 286. + +"From whatever cause inflammation arises, it appears to be nearly the +same in all; for in all it is an effort intended to bring about a +reinstatement of the parts to their natural function."--_Ibid._ p. 286. + +_Results of Inflammation._--"Inflammation is said to terminate in +resolution, effusion, adhesion, suppuration, ulceration, granulation, +cicatrization, and mortification. All these different terminations, +except the last, may be regarded as so many _vital_ processes, exerted +in different parts of the animal economy."--_Prof. Thompson_, p. 97. + +"Inflammation must needs occupy a large share of attention of both the +physician and the surgeon. In nine cases out of ten, the first question +which either of them asks himself, on being summoned to the patient, is, +_Have I to deal with inflammation here?_ It is constantly the object of +his treatment and watchful care. It affects all parts that are furnished +with blood-vessels, and it affects different parts very variously.... It +is by inflammation that wounds are closed and fractures repaired--that +parts adhere together when their adhesion is essential to the +preservation of the individual, and that foreign and hurtful matters are +conveyed out of the body. A cut finger, a deep sabre wound, alike +require inflammation to reunite the divided parts. Does ulceration occur +in the stomach or intestines, and threaten to penetrate through +them--inflammation will often forerun and provide against the +danger--glue the threatened membrane to whatever surface may be next +it.... The foot mortifies, is killed by injury or by exposure to +cold--inflammation will cut off the dead and useless part. An abscess +forms in the liver, or a large calculus concretes in the gall-bladder: +how is the pus or the calculus to be got rid of?... Partial inflammation +precedes and prepares for the expulsion; the liver or the gall-bladder +becomes adherent to the walls of the abdomen on the one hand, or to the +intestinal canal on the other; and then the surgeon may plunge his +lancet into the collection of pus, or the abscess; or the calculus may +cut its own way safely out of the body, through the skin or into the +bowels."--_Watson_, p. 94. + +"The salutary acts of restoration and prevention just adverted to, are +such as nature conducts and originates. But we are ourselves able, in +many instances, to direct and control the effect of inflammation--nay, +we can excite it at our pleasure; and, having excited it, we are able, +in a great degree, to regulate its course. And for this reason it +becomes, in skilful hands, an instrument of cure."--_Ibid._ p. 94. + +The above quotations are not complete. They are selections from the +sources whence they are drawn of those portions which testify that fever +and inflammation are one and the same thing, and that this same thing +consists in a salutary effort of nature to protect the organs of the +body from the action of the causes of disease, or to remove those causes +and their effects from the organs once diseased. That the same authors +teach the very contrary of all this in the same paragraphs, and often in +the same sentences, the following extracts will clearly prove:-- + +_Inflammation produces disease._--"When inflammation cannot accomplish +that salutary purpose, (a cure,) as in cancer, scrofula, &c., it does +mischief."--_Hunter_, p. 285. + +"Inflammation is occasionally the cause of disease."--_Ibid._ p. 286. + +"In one point of view, it may be considered as a disease +itself."--_Ibid._ + +"It may be divided into two kinds, the healthy and the unhealthy.... The +unhealthy admits of a vast variety," &c.--_Ibid._ + +"Inflammation often produces mortification or death in the inflamed +part."--_Ibid._ vol. iv. p. 305. + +"In the light of such authorities, it is surely not strange that no +definite knowledge can be obtained of the nature, character, or tendency +of inflammation. Of course, no one will dispute the proposition, that +medicine, as taught in the schools, is a superstructure without a +foundation, and should be wholly rejected."--_Prof. Curtis._ + +If the regulars have no correct theory of inflammation, then their +system of blood-letting is all wrong. This they acknowledge; for many +with whom we have lately conversed say, "We do not use the lancet so +often as formerly." One very good reason is, the sovereign people will +not let them. Would it not be better for them to abolish its use +altogether, as we have done, and avail themselves of the reform of the +age? + +The following remarks, selected from an address delivered by our +respected preceptor, Professor Brown, ought to be read by every friend +of humanity. + +"The very air groans with the bitter anathemas the people pronounce upon +calomel, antimony, copper, zinc, arsenic, arsenious acid, stramonium, +foxglove, belladonna, henbane, nux vomica, opium, morphia, and +narcotin. + +"Hear their bitter cries, borne on every breeze, 'Help! help! help!' See +the dim taper of life; it glimmers--'tis gone! Vitality struggled, and +struggled manfully to the last. The poisonous dose was repeated, till +the citadel was yielded up. + +"The doctor arrives and attempts to comfort and quiet the broken-hearted +widow, and helpless, dependent, fatherless children, by recounting the +frailties of poor human nature, and reminding them of the fact that all +men must die. + +"And thus the work of death goes on: the tenderest ties are severed; +children are left fatherless; parents are bereaved of their children; +families are reduced to fragments; society deprived of her best +citizens, and the world filled with misery, confusion, and poverty, in +consequence of an evil system of medication.... + +"The ball is in motion, the banner of medical reform waves gracefully +over our beloved country. Hosts of the right stripe are coming to the +rescue. Poisons are condemned, the lancet is growing dull, the effusion +of blood will soon cease, the battles are half fought, and the victory +is sure.... While we would have you adhere to the well-established, +fundamental principles of reformed medical science, as taught in this +school, we would have you recollect that discoveries in knowledge are +progressing.... Never entertain the foolish, absurd, and dangerous idea, +that because you have been to college, you have learned all that is to +be learned--that your education is finished, and you have nothing more +to learn. The college is a place where we go to learn how to learn, and +the world is the great university, in which our educational exercises +terminate with our last expiring breath." + +The author craves the reader's indulgence for introducing Dr. Brown's +remarks at this stage of the work. It is intended for a class of readers +(_the farmers_) who have not the time to make themselves acquainted with +all that is going on in the medical world. We aim to make the book +acceptable to that class of men. If we fail, the fault is in us, not in +our subjects. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[4] Inflammation is a vital action, and cannot be properly termed +_diseased_ action. The only action that can be properly termed +_diseased_ is the chemical action. + + + + +REMARKS, + +SHOWING THAT VERY LITTLE IS KNOWN OF THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF +DISEASE. + + +Mr. Percival details a case of peritonitis,[5] after the usual symptoms +in the early stage had subsided. "The horse's bowels became much +relaxed: suspecting that there was some disorder in the alimentary +canal, and that this was an effort of nature to get rid of it, I +promoted the diarrhoea by giving mild doses of cathartic medicine, in +combination with calomel!" [Nature did not require such assistance: warm +drinks, composed of marshmallows, or slippery elm, would have been just +the thing.] + +"On the third day from this, prolapsus ani (falling of the fundament) +made its appearance. After the return of the gut, the animal grew daily +duller, and more dejected, manifesting evident signs of considerable +inward disorder, though he showed none of acute pain; the diarrhoea +continued; swelling of the belly and tumefaction of the legs speedily +followed: eight pounds of blood were drawn, and two ounces of oil of +turpentine were given internally, and in spite of another bleeding, and +some subordinate measures, carried him off [the treatment, we presume] +in the course of a few hours. + +"Dissection: a slight blush pervaded the peritoneum; at least the +parietal portion of it, for the coats of the stomach and intestines +preserved their natural whiteness. About eight gallons of water were +measured out of the belly.[6] The abdominal viscera, as well as the +thoracic, showed no marks of disease." + +We have stated, in the preceding pages, that the farmers can generally +treat some cases of disease, by simple means, with much better success +than some of the regulars; yet there are exceptions. Some of them have +been inoculated with the virus of allopathy; and when an animal is taken +sick, and manifests evident signs of great derangement, they seem to +suppose that the more medicine they cram down the better, forgetting, +perhaps not knowing, that the province of the physician is to know when +to do nothing. Others err from want of judgment; and if they have an +animal sick, they send for the neighbors; each one has a favorite +remedy; down go castor oil, aloes, gin and molasses, in rapid +succession. "He has inflammation of the insides," says one; "give him +salts." No sooner said than done; the salts are hurried down, and, of +course, find their way into the paunch. These, together with a host of +medicines too numerous to mention, are tried without effect: all is +commotion within; fermentation commences; gas is evolved; the animal +gives signs of woe. As a last resort, paunching, bleeding, &c., follow; +perhaps the horns are bored, or some form of barbarity practised, and +the animal dies under the treatment. + +A case similar to the above came under our notice a few months since. A +cow, of a superior breed, was sent a few miles into the country to +winter. Having always had the very best of feed, the owner gave +particular instructions that she should be fed accordingly; instead of +which, however, she was fed on foxgrass and other indigestible matter, +in consequence of which she was attacked with acute indigestion, +(gastric fever, as it is generally called,) more popularly known, in +barn-yard language, as a "stoppage." A man professing to understand +_cow-doctoring_ was sent for, who, after administering "every thing he +could think of" without success, gave a mixture of hog's lard and castor +oil. When asked what indication he expected to fulfil, he replied, "My +object was to wake up the cow's ideas"! Unfortunately, he awoke the +wrong ideas; for the cow died. On making a post mortem examination, +about half a bushel of partly-masticated foxgrass was found in the +paunch, and the manyplus was distended beyond its physiological +capacity. On making an incision into it, the partly-digested food was +quite hard and dry, and the mucous covering of the laminae--even the +laminae themselves--could be detached with the slightest force. The +farmer will probably inquire, What ought to be done in such cases? +Before we answer the question, a few remarks on the nature of the +obstruction seem to be necessary. + +In the article _Description of the Organs of Digestion_, the reader will +learn the modes by which the food reaches the different compartments of +the stomach. In reference to the above case, the causes of derangement +are self-evident, which will be seen as we proceed. The animal had, +previous to the journey, (thirty miles,) received the greatest care and +attention; in short, she had been petted. Being pregnant at the time, +the stomach was more susceptible to derangement than at any other time. +The long journey could not act otherwise than unfavorably: first, +because it would fatigue the muscular system; secondly, because it would +irritate the nervous. Here, then, are the first causes; and it is +important, in all cases of a deviation from health, to ascertain, as +near as possible, the causes, and remove them. _This is considered the +first step towards a cure._ If we cannot remove the causes, we are +enabled, by an inquiry into them, to adopt the most efficient means for +the recovery of the animal. The animal having had a bountiful meal +before starting on the journey, and not being allowed sufficient time to +remasticate, (rumination is partially or totally suspended during active +exercise,) probably, combined with the above causes, an acute attack of +the stomach set in--subsided after a few days, and left those organs in +a debilitated state. The sudden change in diet also acted unfavorably, +especially as the foxgrass required more than ordinary gastric power to +reduce it to a pulpy mass, fit to enter the fourth, or true digestive +stomach. For want of a due share of vital action in the abomasum, +(fourth stomach,) it was unable to perform its part in the physiological +process of digestion; hence the accumulation found in the manyplus. The +causes of the detachment of laminae, and the blanched appearances,--for +it was as white as new linen,--were partly chemical and partly +mechanical. The mechanical obstruction consisted in over-distention of +the manyplus from food, thereby obstructing the circulation of the blood +through its parietes, (walls,) and depriving it not only of nutriment, +from the nerves of nutrition, but paralyzing its secretive function. It +then became a prey to chemical action and decomposition. The indications +of cure were, to arouse the digestive organs by stimulants, then by +anti-spasmodic, relaxing, and tonic medicines, (for which see +APPENDIX:) the digestive organs would probably have recommenced +their healthy action, and the life of the animal might have been saved. +Oil and grease, of every description and kind, are not suitable remedies +to administer to cattle when laboring under indigestion; for at best +their action is purely mechanical, and cannot be assimilated by the +nutritive function so as to act medicinally. Linseed oil is, however, +absorbed and diffused. If the animal labors under obstinate +constipation, and it is evident that the obstruction is confined to the +intestines, then we may resort to a dose of oil. + +The reader will perceive the benefits to be derived from a knowledge of +animal physiology and veterinary medicine, when based upon sound +principles and common sense. He will also see the importance of having +educated and honorable men employed in cattle-doctoring. No doubt there +are such; but surely something is "rotten in Denmark;" for we are +repeatedly told by our patrons that they "judge of the merits of the +veterinary art by the men they find engaged in it." + +_Scientific Treatment of Colic, or Gripes._--"On the 5th September, +1824, a young bay mare was admitted into the infirmary with symptoms of +colic, for which she lost eight pounds of blood before she came in. The +following drench was prescribed to be given immediately: laudanum and +oil of turpentine, of each, three ounces, with the addition of six +ounces of decoction of aloes. In the course of half an hour, this was +repeated! But shortly after, she vomited the greater part by the mouth +and nostrils. No relief having been obtained, twelve pounds of blood +were taken from her, and the same drink was given. In another hour, this +drench was repeated; and, for the fourth time, during the succeeding +hour; both of which, before death, she rejected, as she had done the +second drink. Notwithstanding these active measures were promptly taken, +she died about three hours after her admission." (See Clark's _Essay on +Gripes_.) It appears that the doctors made short work of it. Twelve +ounces of laudanum, and the same of turpentine,[7] in three hours! But +this is "_secundum artem_" "skilful treatment"--a specimen of "science +and skill," and justifiable in every case where the symptoms are +"alarming." Let the reader, if he has ever seen a case of colic treated +by us, contrast the result. Had the case been treated with relaxing, +anti-spasmodic, carminative drinks, warmth and moisture externally, +injections internally, and frictions generally, the poor animal would, +probably, have been saved. We have attended many cases of the same sort, +and have not yet lost the first one. + +_Extraordinary case of "cattle doctoring"!--which ought to be termed +cattle-killing._--We were requested by Mr. S. of Waltham, December 18, +1850, to see a sick cow. The following is the history of the case: The +cow, as near as we could judge, was of native breed, in good condition, +and in her eighth pregnant month; pulse, 80 per minute; respirations, 36 +per minute; external surface, ears, horns, and legs, cold. She had not +dunged for several days. She was found lying on her belly, with her head +turned round towards the left side. She struggled occasionally, and +appeared to suffer from abdominal pain. She uttered a low, moaning sound +when pressure was made on the abdominal muscles. The following facts +were related to us by the owner, which we give in his own language. "I +bought the cow, and drove her about 200 miles to this place. She had +been here about a week, when I perceived she did not eat her feed as +well as usual. She became sick about nine days ago, I thought it best to +begin to doctor her! I employed a man who was reputed to be a pretty +good cattle doctor. She got pretty well dosed between us, for we first +gave her one pound of salts. The next day we gave her another pound. +Finding this also failed to have the desired effect, we gave her one +pound eight ounces more. She kept getting worse. We next gave her a +quart of urine. She still grew worse. Two table-spoonfuls of gunpowder +and a quarter of a pound of antimony were then given; still no +improvement. As a last resort, we gave her eight drops of croton oil; a +few hours afterwards, nine drops more were given; and a final dose of +twenty drops of the same article was administered. The cow rolled her +eyes as if she were about to die. I then called in the neighbors to kill +her, when one of them advised me to come and see you." The reader will +here perceive that we had a pretty desperate case; having been called in +just at the eleventh hour. We may here remark that the cow had been +under treatment nine days, during which time she had eaten scarcely any +food, and passed but very little excrement. The medicine had been given +at different stages during that period. There was evidently no +accumulation of excrement in the rectum, for she had been raked and +received several injections. + +As we were not requested to take charge of the case, the owner being +unwilling to incur additional expense, we, therefore, with a view of +giving present relief, and fulfilling the necessary indications, ordered +the following: + + Powdered slippery elm, 1 table-spoonful. + " caraways, 1 tea-spoonful. + " marshmallows, 1 table-spoonful. + " skullcap, 1 tea-spoonful. + " grains of paradise, 1 tea-spoonful. + +A sufficient quantity of boiling water to form it into the consistence +of thin gruel; a junk bottle full to be given every two hours. + +Directions were given to rub the ears and extremities until they were +warm, and the strength of the animal to be supported with thin flour +gruel. + +The indications to be fulfilled were as follows:-- + +1st. To lubricate the mucous surfaces, and defend them from the action +of the drugs. + +2d. To arouse the digestive function, and prevent the generation of +carbonic acid gas. + +3d. To allay nervous excitement, and remove spasms. + +Lastly. To equalize the circulation. + +The first indication can be fulfilled by slippery elm and marshmallows; +the second, by caraway seeds; the third, by skullcap; and the fourth, by +grains of paradise. + +We have not been able, up to the present time, to ascertain the result. + +Here, then, are a few examples of horse and cattle doctoring, which we +might multiply indefinitely, did we think it would benefit the reader. +We ask the reader to ponder on these facts, and then answer the +question, "What do horse and cattle doctors know about the treatment of +disease?" + +It gives us much pleasure, however, and probably it will the reader, to +know that a few of the veterinary surgeons of London are just beginning +to see the error of their ways. The following contribution to the +Veterinarian, from the pen of Veterinary Surgeon Haycock, will be read +with interest. The quotations are not complete. We only select those +portions which we deem most instructive to our readers. The disease to +which it alludes, _puerperal fever_, has made, and is at the present +time making, sad havoc among the stock of our cattle-growing interest; +and it stands us in hand to gather honey wherever we can find it. "Of +the various questions which present themselves to traders and owners of +cattle respecting puerperal fever, the following are, perhaps, a few of +the most important: First. At what period of their life are cows the +most liable to be attacked with puerperal fever? Secondly. At what +period after the animal has calved does the disease generally supervene? +Thirdly. What is the average rate of mortality amongst cows attacked +with this disease? Fourthly. What is the best method to pursue with +cattle, in order, if possible, to prevent the disease? Fifthly. What is +the best mode of treatment to be pursued with cattle when so attacked? +To these several questions I shall endeavor to reply as fully as my own +knowledge of the matter will allow me. They are questions which ought to +have been answered years ago; [so they would have been, doctor, if, as +Curtis says, your brethren had not been _progressing in a circle, +instead of direct lines_;] but no one appears to have thought it +necessary. They are questions of great importance to the agriculturist; +if they were fully answered, he would be able to form a pretty accurate +estimate as to the amount of risk he was likely at all times to incur +with respect to puerperal diseases of a febrile nature. For instance, +suppose it was fully ascertained, from data furnished by the correct +observations of a number of practitioners, at what period of the cow's +life the animal is most liable to be attacked with puerperal fever; the +agriculturist and cow-keeper would be able, in a considerable degree, to +guard against it, either by feeding the animal, or taking such other +steps as a like experience proved to be the best. It is of no earthly +use practitioners writing 'grandiloquent' papers upon diseases like +puerperal fever; or in their telling the world, that puerperal fever is +a disease of the nervous system; or that the name which is given to it +is very improper, _and not suggestive; or that bleeding and the +administration of a powerful purgative are proper to commence with_; +together with hosts of stereotyped statements of a like +nature--statements which are unceasingly repeated, and which are without +one jot of sound experience to substantiate them. [All good and sound +doctrine.] + +"Question First. _At what period of their lives are cows the most liable +to be attacked with puerperal fever?_ I have in my possession notes and +memoranda of twenty-nine cases of this disease, which notes and +memoranda I have collected from cases I have treated from the month of +July, 1842, to the month of July, 1849--a period of seven years; and +with reference to the above question the figures stand thus: Out of the +twenty-nine, three of them were attacked at the third parturient period, +five ditto at the fourth, sixteen at the fifth, two at the sixth, and +three at the eighth. + +"It appears, then, from the above numbers, that cows are the most liable +to puerperal fever at the fifth parturient period--a fact which is +noticed by Mr. Barlow. + +"Secondly. _At what period after the animal has calved does the disease +generally supervene?_ With reference to this question, the twenty-nine +cases stand thus:-- + + 5 cows immediately after parturition. + 8 " in 20 hours " " + 6 " in 23 " " " + 5 " in 24 " " " + 3 " in 30 " " " + 2 " in 36 " " " + 1 " in 72 " " " + +"It appears, then, from the above, that after the twentieth and +twenty-fourth hours, the animals, comparatively speaking, may be +considered as safe from the disease; and that after the seventy-second +or seventy-third hour, all danger may be considered as past, beyond +doubt. + +"Thirdly. _What is the average rate of mortality amongst cows attacked +with this disease?_ Out of the 29 cases, 12, I find, recovered and 17 +died; which loss is equivalent to somewhere about 59 per cent.--a loss +which, I am inclined to think, is not so great as that of many other +practitioners. [It will be still less if you reject poison as well as +the lancet.] + +"Mr. Cartwright, in the May number of the Veterinarian of the present +year, states that, 'Although I have seen at least a hundred cases, +chiefly in this neighborhood, [Whitchurch,] during the last twenty-five +years, yet I am almost ashamed to confess that I cannot call to +recollection that I ever cured a single case, [neither will you ever +cure one as long as the lancet and poison are cooeperative,] nor have I +ever heard of a case ever being cured by any of the quacks in the +neighborhood.' [Of course not, for the quacks follow in the footsteps of +their prototypes, the _regular_ veterinary surgeons.] + +"Fourthly. _What is the best method to pursue with cattle, in order, if +possible, to_ PREVENT _the disease?_ This is a question which I +hope to see amply discussed by veterinarians. I have but little to offer +respecting it myself; but I labor under a kind of feeling that something +valuable may not only be said, but done, by way of prevention. With +reference to preventing the disease, Mr. Barlow, in his Essay, says, +'There is a pretty certain preventive in milking the cow some time +before calving in full _blood-letting_ before or immediately after; in +purgatives, very limited diet, and other depletive measures; each and +all tending to illustrate the necessity of a vascular state of the +system for its development!'" + +Mr. Haycock continues: "So far as my own experience is concerned, it is +at variance with almost every one of my observations. In the table which +I have given respecting question 2, the reader will recollect that I +stated that puerperal fever supervened in five cows immediately after +parturition. Now, it is worthy of remark, of these five cases, that +every animal had been milked many hours previous to calving. The full +udder, under such circumstances, is a powerful excitant to the uterus: +this is a well-known fact, and the consequence is, that if this natural +excitant be withdrawn, the action of the process at once becomes +diminished. I have known many cases, in addition to those already given, +where the parturient process was prolonged for hours in consequence of +the animal's being milked, in whom fever supervened almost immediately +afterwards. The prolonged process, I think, greatly weakens the animal, +and, as a natural result, the vital energies become less capable of +maintaining their normal integrity. With reference, again, to bleeding +and purging as preventives, I have nothing to offer in favor of either +mode. I do not believe that they are preventives. [Good, again, doctor: +you are one of the right stripe. It would give us pleasure to see a few +such as you on this side of the water.] First of all, we require to know +what percentage of calving cows are liable to be affected with puerperal +fever; then, whether that percentage becomes reduced in number in +consequence of such preventive measures being brought into force: these +are the only modes whereby the matter can be proved; and, so far as I +know, no one has ever brought the question to such a test. That bleeding +and purging are considered as preventives by people in general, I know +perfectly; but, like many other popular opinions, the thing which is +believed requires first to be proved ere it becomes truth. + +"I perfectly agree with Mr. Barlow in recommending spare diet. I regard +it, in fact, as the great preventive.... When I say spare diet, I do not +mean poor diet. The food should be good, but they should not have that +huge bulk of matter which they are capable of devouring, and which they +appear so much to desire. I should commence the process for eight or ten +days prior to calving, or even, with some animals, much earlier; and the +diet I would give should consist of beans, boiled linseed, and boiled +oats, with occasionally small portions of hay. I should not always feed +upon one mixture. I might occasionally substitute boiled barley in place +of oats; and when the time for calving was very near at hand, say within +a day or so, I should become more sparing with my hay, and more copious +with my allowance of bran. With regard to the diet after calving, I +should pursue much the same course I have named: perhaps for the first +thirty hours I might allow the animal nothing but gruel and bran mash, +in which I should mix a little oatmeal, or very thick gruel. I have +sometimes thought--_but hitherto it has not gone beyond a thought with +me_--that a broad cotton or linen bandage, fixed moderately tight round +the cow's body immediately after calving, might prove of some assistance +as a preventive. I have had no experience in its benefit myself; I +merely suggest the thing; and if it did nothing more, it would prevent, +in some measure, the animal from feeling that sensation of vacuity which +must necessarily exist immediately and for some time after calving, and +which, I think, under some conditions of the system, may be injurious to +the animal. I am told by a medical friend of mine, that he has known +puerperal fever produced in women solely from midwives' neglecting to +bandage them after delivery; at any rate, a bandage, or a broad belt +having straps and buckles attached, and placed securely round the cow's +body immediately after calving, and kept there for a day or two, could +do no harm, if it failed of doing good. + +"Fifthly. _Which is the best method of treatment to pursue with cows +when attacked with puerperal fever?_ Upon this question I feel that I +could say much; but at present I defer its consideration.... Suffice it +to say, then, that I never either bleed or administer purges. I used +once to do both, but my experience has shown me, in numerous cases, that +neither is necessary.... This malady I have written upon is fearfully +destructive; and if such diseases cannot be met with powers capable of +wrestling with it, I, for one, shall say that it is a stigma upon our +art--I will say that when we are most wanted, we are of the least use." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] Inflammation of the peritoneum. + +[6] Water very frequently accumulates in the belly or chest, after +blood-letting. + +[7] On remonstrating with a man who was about to administer half a pint +of turpentine to a cow, he replied, "She has no business to be a cow!" +We presume that some of the regulars have just as much, and not a +particle more, of the milk of animal kindness as this man seemed to +show. + + + + +NATURE, TREATMENT, AND CAUSES OF DISEASE IN CATTLE. + + +The pathology, or doctrine of diseases, is, as we have previously +stated, little understood. Many different causes have been assigned for +disease, and as many different modes of cure have been advocated. We +shall not discuss either the ancient or modern doctrines any further +than we conceive they interfere with correct principles. In doing so, we +shall endeavor to confine ourselves to truth, reason, and nature. + +We entirely discard the popular doctrine that _fever_ and _inflammation_ +are disease. We look upon them as simple acts of the constitution--sanative +in their nature. Then the reader may ask, "Why do you recommend medicine +for them?" We do not. We only prescribe medicine, for the purpose of aiding +nature to cure the diseases of which _they_ (the fever and inflammation) +are symptoms, and we do not expect to accomplish even that by medicine +alone. Ventilation, diet, and exercise, in nine cases out of ten, will do +more good than the destructive agents that have hitherto been used, and +christened "cattle medicines." + +The great secret of curing diseases is, by accurately observing the +indications of nature to carry off and cure disease, and by observing by +what critical evacuations she does at last cast off the morbid matter +which caused them, and so restores health. By thus observing, following, +and assisting _nature_, agreeably to her indications, our practice will +always be more satisfactory. + +Whenever the great outlets (skin, lungs, and kidneys) of the animal body +are obstructed, morbific and excrementitious substances are retained in +the system; they irritate, stimulate, and offend nature in such a +manner, that she always exerts her power to throw them off. And she acts +with great regularity in her endeavors to expel the offending matter, +and thus restore the animal to a healthy state. + +Suppose an animal to be attacked with disease, and fever supervenes; the +whole system is then aroused to cast out this disease: nature invariably +points to certain outlets, as the only passages through which the enemy +must evacuate the system; and it is the province of the physician to aid +in this wise and well-established effort; but when such means are +resorted to as in the case of the cow at Waltham, (p. 98,) instead of +rendering nature the necessary assistance, her powers and energies are +entirely crushed. + +Let us suppose a horse to have been exercised; during that exercise, +there is a determination of heat and fluids to the surface: the pores of +the skin expand and permit the fluids to make their exit: now, if the +horse is put into a cold stable, evaporation commences, leaving the +surface cold and the pores constricted, so that, after the circulating +system has rested a while, it commences a strong action again, to throw +off the remaining fluids that were thus suddenly arrested; there is no +chance for their escape, as the pores are closed; the skin then becomes +dry and harsh, the "coat stares," and the animal has, in common +parlance, taken cold, and "it has thrown him into a fever." Now, the +cold is the real enemy to be overcome, and the fever should be aided by +warmth, moisture, friction, and diffusables. If, at this stage, the cold +is removed, the fever will disappear; but if the disease (the cold) has +been allowed to advance until a general derangement or sympathetic +action is set up, and there is an accumulation of morbific matter in the +system, then the restorative process must be more powerful and +energetic; constantly bearing in mind that we must assist nature in her +endeavors to throw off whatever is the cause of her infirmities. Instead +of attacking the disease with the lancet and poison,--which is on the +principle of killing the horse to cure the fever,--we should use +remedies that are favorable to life. It matters not what organs are +affected; the means and processes are the same, and therefore the +division of inflammation and fever into a great number of parts +designated by as many names, and indicated by twenty times as many +complications of symptoms which may never be present, only serve to +bewilder the practitioner, and render his practice ineffectual. + + + + +PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. + + +As very little is, at present, known of the nature of this disease, we +give the reader the views of Mr. Dun, who received the gold medal +offered by the Agricultural Society for the best essay on this subject. + +"The causes of the disease, both immediate and remote, are subjects full +of interest and importance; and a knowledge of them not only aids in the +prevention of disease, but also leads the practitioner to form a more +correct prognosis, and to pursue the most approved course of treatment. +It is, however, unfortunate that the causes of pleuro-pneumonia have not +as yet been satisfactorily explained. No department of the history of +the disease is less understood, or more involved in doubt and +obscurity. But in this respect pleuro-pneumonia is not peculiar: it is +but one of an extensive class which embraces most epidemic and epizooetic +diseases. And if the causes which produce influenza, fevers, and +cholera, were clearly explained, those which produce pleuro-pneumonia +would, in all probability, be easy of solution. + +"Viewing the wide-spread and similar effects of pleuro-pneumonia, we may +surmise that they are referable to some common cause. And although much +difference of opinion exists upon this subject, it cannot be denied that +_contagion_ is a most active cause in the diffusion of the disease. +Indeed, a due consideration of the history and spread of +pleuro-pneumonia over all parts of the land will be sufficient to show +that, in certain stages of the disease, it possesses the power of +infecting animals apparently in a sound and healthy condition, and +otherwise unexposed to the action of any exciting cause. The peculiarity +of the progress of this disease, from the time that it first appeared in +England, is of itself no small evidence of its contagious nature. Its +slow and gradual progress is eminently characteristic of diffusion by +contagion; and not only were the earlier cases which occurred in this +island distinctly proved to have arisen from contact with the Irish +droves, but also subsequent cases, even up to the present day, show +numerous examples in which contagion is clearly and unequivocally +traceable.... Although pleuro-pneumonia is not produced by the action of +anyone of these circumstances alone, [referring to noxious effluvia, +&c.,] yet many of them must be considered as predisposing to the +disease; and although not its immediate exciting causes, yet, by +depressing the physical powers, they render the system more liable to +disease, and less able to withstand its assaults. Deficient ventilation, +filth, insufficient and bad food, may indeed predispose to the disease, +concentrate the animal effluvia, and become the _matrix_ and _nidus_ of +the organic poison; but still, not one, alone, of these circumstances, +or even all of them combined, can produce the disease in question. There +must be the subtle poison to call them into operation, the specific +influence to generate the disease." + +"On the other hand, it appears probable that the exciting cause, whether +it be contagion, or whatever else, cannot, of itself, generate the +disease; but that certain conditions or predisposing causes are +necessary to its existence, and without which its specific effects +cannot be produced. But although these _remote_ or _predisposing_ causes +are very numerous, they are often difficult of detection; nay, it is +sometimes impossible to tell to what the disease is referable, or upon +what weak point the exciting cause has fixed itself. A source of +perplexity results from the fact.... The predisposing causes of the +disease admit of many divisions and subdivisions; they may, however, be +considered under two general heads--_hereditary_ and _acquired_. + +"With reference to the former, we know that good points and properties +of an animal are transmitted from one generation to another; so also are +faults, and the tendencies to particular diseases. As in the same +families there is a similarity of external form, so is there also an +internal likeness, which accounts for the common nature of their +constitution, modified, however, by difference of age, sex, &c. + +"Among the acquired predisposing causes of pleuro-pneumonia may be +enumerated general debility, local weakness, resulting from previous +disease, irritants and stimulants, exposure to cold, damp or sudden +changes of temperature, the want of cleanliness, the breathing of an +atmosphere vitiated by the decomposition of animal or vegetable matters, +or laden with any other impurity. In short, under this head may be +included every thing which tends to lower the health and vigor of the +system, and consequently to increase the susceptibility to disease. + +"The primary symptoms of pleuro-pneumonia are generally obscure, and too +often excite but little attention or anxiety. As the disease steals on, +the animal becomes dull and dejected, and, if in the field, separates +itself from its fellows. It becomes uneasy, ceases to ruminate, and the +respirations are a little hurried. If it be a milk-cow, the lacteal +secretion is diminished, and the udder is hot and tender. The eyes are +dull, the head is lowered, nose protruded, and the nostrils expanded. +The urine generally becomes scanty and high-colored. It is seldom +thought that much is the matter with the animal until it ceases to eat; +but this criterion does not hold good in most cases of the disease, for +the animal at the outset still takes its food, and continues to do so +until the blood becomes impoverished and poisoned; it is then that the +system becomes deranged, the digestive process impaired, and fever +established. The skin adheres to the ribs, and there is tenderness along +the spine. Manipulation of the trachea, and percussion applied to the +sides, causes the animal to evince pain. Although the beast may have +been ill only three days, the number of pulsations are generally about +seventy per minute; but they are sometimes eighty, and even more. In the +first stage, the artery under the jaw feels full and large; but as the +disease runs on, the pulse rapidly becomes smaller, quicker, and more +oppressed. The breathing is labored, and goes on accelerating as the +local inflammation increases. The fore extremities are planted wide +apart, with the elbows turned out in order to arch the ribs, and form +fixed points for the action of those muscles which the animal brings +into operation to assist the respiratory process. In pleuro-pneumonia, +the hot stage of fever is never of long duration, [_simply because there +is not enough vitality in the system to keep up a continued fever_.] The +state of collapse quickly ensues, when the surface heat again decreases, +and the pulse becomes small and less distinct. We have now that low +typhoid fever so much to be dreaded, and which characterizes the disease +in common with epizooetics. + +"... The horse laboring under pleuro-pneumonia, or, indeed, any +pulmonary disease, will not lie down; but, in the same circumstances, +cattle do so as readily as in health. They do not, however, lie upon +their side, but couch upon the sternum, which is broad and flat, and +covered by a quantity of fibro-cellular substance, which serves as a +cushion; while the articulation between the lower extremities of the +ribs admits of lateral expansion of the chest. In this position cattle +generally lie towards the side principally affected, thus relieving the +sounder side, and enabling it to act more freely. There is sometimes a +shivering and general tremor, which may exist throughout the whole +course of the disease. (This is owing to a loss of equilibrium between +the nerves of nutrition and the circulation.) ... As the case advances +in severity, and runs on to an unfavorable termination, the pulse loses +its strength and becomes quicker. Respiration is in most cases attended +by a grunt at the commencement of expiration--a symptom, however, not +observable in the horse. The expired air is cold, and of a _noisome_ +odor. The animal crouches. There is sometimes an apparent knuckling over +at the fetlocks, caused by pain in the joints. This symptom is mostly +observable in cases when the pleura and pericardium are affected. The +animal grinds its teeth. The appetite has now entirely failed, and the +emaciation becomes extreme. The muscles, especially those employed in +respiration, become wasted; the belly is tucked, and the flanks heave; +the oppressive uneasiness is excessive; the strength fails, under the +convulsive efforts attendant upon respiration, and the poor animal dies. + +"In using means to prevent the occurrence of the disease, we should +endeavor to maintain in a sound and healthy tone the physical powers of +the stock, and to avoid whatever tends to depress the vital force. +Exposure to the influence of contagion [and infection] must be guarded +against, and, on the appearance of the disease, every precaution must be +used to prevent the healthy having communication with the sick. By a +steady pursuance, on the part of the stock proprietor, of these +precautionary measures, and by the exercise of care, prudence, and +attention, the virulence of the disease will, we are sure, be much +abated, and its progress checked." + +As the reader could not be benefited by our detailing the system of +medication pursued in England,--at least we should judge not, when we +take into consideration the great loss that attends their _best +efforts_,--we shall therefore proceed to inform the reader what the +treatment ought to be in the different stages of the disease. + + +_General Indication of Cure in Pleuro-Pneumonia._--Restore the +suppressed evacuations, or the secretions and excretions, if they are +obstructed. + +If bronchial irritation or a cough be present, shield and defend the +mucous surfaces from irritation. Relieve congestions by equalizing the +circulation. Support the powers of the system. Relieve all urgent +symptoms. + + * * * * * + +_Special Practice._--Suppose a cow to be attacked with a slight cough. +She appears dull, and is off her feed; pulse full, and bowels +constipated; and she is evidently out of condition. + +Then the medicines should be anti-spasmodic and relaxant, tonic, +diaphoretic, and lubricating. + +The following is a good example:-- + + Powdered golden seal, (tonic,) 1 table-spoonful. + " mandrake, (relaxant,) 2 tea-spoonfuls. + " lobelia, (anti-spasmodic,) 1 tea-spoonful. + " slippery elm or mallows, (lubricating,) 1 table-spoonful. + " hyssop tea, (diaphoretic,) 1 gallon. + +After straining the hyssop tea, mix with it the other ingredients, and +give a quart every two hours. + +In the mean time, administer the following injection:-- + + Powdered lobelia, } of each, half a + " ginger, } table-spoonful. + Boiling water, 1 gallon. + +When cool, inject. + +Particular attention must be paid to the general surface, If the surface +and the extremities are cold, then employ friction, warmth, and +moisture. The animal must be in a comfortable barn, neither too hot nor +too cold; if it be imperfectly ventilated, the atmosphere may be +improved by stirring a red-hot iron in vinegar or pyroligneous acid, or +by pouring either of these articles on heated bricks. The strength is to +be supported, provided the animal be in poor condition, with gruel, made +of flour and shorts, equal parts; but, as it frequently happens (in this +country) that animals in good flesh are attacked, in such case food +would be inadmissible. + +Suppose the animal to have been at pasture, and she is not observed to +be "ailing" until rumination is suspended. She then droops her head, and +has a cough, accompanied with difficult breathing, weakness in the legs, +and sore throat. Then, in addition to warmth, moisture, and friction, as +already directed, apply to the joints and throat the following: + + Boiling vinegar, 1 quart. + African cayenne, 1 table-spoonful. + +The throat being sore, the part should be rubbed gently. The joints may +be rubbed with energy for several minutes. The liquid must not be +applied too hot. + +Take + + Virginia snakeroot, } of each, 2 ounces. + Sage, } + Skullcap, (herb,) 1 ounce. + Pleurisy root, 1 ounce. + Infuse in boiling water, 1 gallon. + +After standing for the space of one hour, strain; then add a gill of +honey and an ounce of powdered licorice or slippery elm. Give a quart +every four hours. + +Should the cough be troublesome, give + + Balsam copaiba, 1 table-spoonful. + Sirup of garlic, 1 ounce. + Thin gruel, 1 quart. + +Give the whole at a dose, and repeat as occasion may require. A second +dose, however, should not be given until twelve hours have elapsed. + +Injections must not be overlooked, for several important indications can +be fulfilled by them. (For the different forms, see APPENDIX.) + +If the disease has assumed a typhus form, then the indications will +be,-- + +First. To equalize the circulation and nervous system, and maintain that +equilibrium. This is done by giving the following:-- + + Powdered African cayenne, 1 tea-spoonful. + " flagroot, 1 table-spoonful. + Skullcap, 1/2 ounce. + Marshmallows, 4 ounces. + +Put the whole of the ingredients into a gallon of water; boil for five +minutes; and, when cool, strain; sweeten with a small quantity of honey; +then give a quart every two hours. + +The next indication is, to counteract the tendency to putrescence. This +may be done by causing the animal to inhale the fumes of pyroligneous +acid, and by the internal use of bayberry bark. They are both termed +antiseptics. The usual method of generating vapor for inhalation is, by +first covering the animal's head with a horse-cloth, the corners of +which are suffered to fall below the animal's nose, and held by +assistants in such a manner as to prevent, as much as possible, the +escape of the vapor. A hot brick is then to be grasped in a pair of +tongs, and held about a foot beneath the nose. An assistant then pours +the acid, (_very gradually_,) on the brick. Half a pint of acid will be +sufficient for one steaming, provided it be used with discretion; for if +too much is poured on the brick at once, the temperature will be too +rapidly lowered. + +In reference to the internal use of bayberry, it may be well to remark, +that it is a powerful astringent and antiseptic, and should always be +combined with relaxing, lubricating medicines. Such are licorice and +slippery elm. + +The following may be given as a safe and efficient antiseptic drink:-- + + Powdered bayberry bark, half a table-spoonful. + " charcoal, 1 table-spoonful. + Slippery elm, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 1 gallon. + +Mix. Give a quart every two hours. + +The diet should consist of flour gruel and boiled carrots. Boiled +carrots may be allowed (provided the animal will eat them) during the +whole stage of the malady. + +The object of these examples of special practice is to direct the mind +of the farmer at once to something that will answer a given purpose, +without presuming to say that it is the best in the world for that +purpose. The reader will find in our _materia medica_ a number of +articles that will fulfil the same indications just as well. + + + + +LOCKED-JAW. + + +Mr. Youatt says, "Working cattle are most subject to locked-jaw, because +they may be pricked in shoeing; and because, after a hard day's work, +and covered with perspiration, they are sometimes turned out to graze +during a wet or cold night. Over-driving is not an uncommon cause of +locked-jaw in cattle. The drovers, from long experience, calculate the +average mortality among a drove of cattle in their journey from the +north to the southern markets; and at the head of the list of diseases, +and with the greatest number of victims, stands 'locked-jaw,' especially +if the principal drover is long absent from his charge." + +The treatment of locked-jaw, both in horses and cattle, has, hitherto, +been notoriously unsuccessful. This is not to be wondered at when we +take into consideration the destructive character of the treatment. + +"Take," says Mr. Youatt, "twenty-four pounds of blood from the animal; +or bleed him almost to fainting.... Give him Epsom salts in pound and a +half doses (!) until it operates. Purging being established, an attempt +must be made to allay the irritation of the nervous system by means of +sedatives; and the best drug is opium.[8] The dose should be a drachm +three times a day. [One fortieth part of the quantity here recommended +to be given in one day would kill a strong man who was not addicted to +its use.] At the same time, the action of the bowels must be kept up by +Epsom salts, or common salt, or sulphur, and the proportion of the +purgative and the sedative must be so managed, that the constitution +shall be under the influence of both.[9] A seton of black hellebore root +may be of service. It frequently produces a great deal of swelling and +inflammation.[10] ... If the disease terminates successfully, the beast +will be left sadly out of condition, and he will not thrive very +rapidly. He must, however, be got into fair plight, as prudence will +allow, and then sold; for he will rarely stand much work afterwards, or +carry any great quantity of flesh." The same happens to us poor mortals +when we have been dosed _secundum artem_. We resemble walking skeletons. + +Our own opinion of the disease is, that it is one of nervous origin, and +that the tonic spasm, always present in the muscles of voluntary +motion, is only symptomatic of derangement in the great, living +electro-galvanic battery, (the brain and spinal cord,) or in some of its +wires (nerves) of communication. + +Mr. Percival says, "Tetanus consists, in a spasmodic contraction, more +or less general, of the muscles of voluntary motion, and especially of +those that move the lower jaw; hence the vulgar name of it, +_locked-jaw_, and the technical one of _trismus_." + +In order to make ourselves clearly understood, and furnish the reader +with proper materials for him to prosecute his inquiries with success, a +few remarks on the origin of muscular motion seem to be absolutely +necessary. + +It is generally understood by medical men, and taught in the schools, +that there are in the animal economy four distinct systems of nerves. + +1st system. This consists of the sensitive nerves, which are distributed +to all parts of the animal economy endowed with feeling; and all +external impulses are reflected to the medulla oblongata, &c. (See +_Dadd's work on the Horse_, p. 127.) In short, these nerves are the +media through which the animal gets all his knowledge of external +relations. + +2d system. The motive. These proceed from nearly the same centre of +perception, and distribute themselves to all the muscles of voluntary +motion. It is evident that the muscle itself cannot perform its office +without the aid of the nerves, (electric wires;) for it has been proved +by experiment on the living animal, that when the posterior columns of +nervous matter, which pass down from the brain towards the tail, are +severed, then all voluntary motion ceases. Motion may, however, +continue; but it can only be compared to a ship at sea without a rudder, +having nothing to direct its course. It follows, then, that if the +nerves of motion and sensation are severed, there is no communication +between the parts to which they are distributed and the brain. And the +part, if its nutritive function be also paralyzed, will finally become +as insensible as a stone--wither and die. + +3d system. The respiratory. These are under the control of the will +only through the superior power, as manifested by the motive nerves. For +the animal will breathe whether it wishes to or not, as long as the +vital spark burns. + +4th system. The sympathetic, sometimes called _nutritive nerves_. They +are distributed to all the organs of digestion, absorption, circulation, +and secretion. These four nervous structures, or systems, must all be in +a physiological state, in order to carry on, with unerring certainty, +their different functions. If they are injured or diseased, then the +perceptions of external relations are but imperfectly conveyed to the +mind. (_Brutes have a mind._) On the other hand, if the brain, or its +appendages, spinal marrow, &c., be in a pathological state, then the +manifestations of _mind_ or _will_ are but imperfectly represented. Now, +it is evident to every reasonable man, that the nerves may become +diseased from various causes; and this explains the reason why +locked-jaw sometimes sets in without any apparent cause. The medical +world have then agreed to call it _idiopathic_. This term only serves to +bewilder us, and fails to throw the least light on the nature of the +malady, or its causes. Many men ridicule the idea of the nerves being +diseased, just because alterations in their structure are not evident to +the senses. We cannot see the atoms of water, nor even the myriads of +living beings abounding in single drop of water! yet no one doubts that +water contains many substances imperceptible to the naked eye. We know +that epizooetic diseases are wafted, by the winds, from one part of the +world to another; yet none of us have ever seen the specific virus. Can +any man doubt its existence? + +Hence it appears that diseases may exist in delicately-organized +filaments, without the cognizance of our external perceptions. + +It is further manifest that locked-jaw is only symptomatic of diseased +nervous structures, and that a pathological state of the nervous +filaments may be brought about independent of a prick of a nail, or +direct injury to a nerve. + +Hence, instead of tetanus consisting "in a spasmodic contraction of the +muscles of voluntary motion," it consists in a deranged state of the +nervous system; and the contracted state of the muscles is only +symptomatic of such derangement. Then what sense is there in blistering, +bleeding, and inserting setons in the dewlap? Of what use is it to treat +symptoms? Suppose a man to be attacked with hepatitis, (inflammation of +the liver:) he has a pain in the right shoulder. Suppose the physician +prescribes a plaster for the latter, without ascertaining the real +cause, or perhaps not knowing of its existence. We should then say that +the doctor only treated symptoms. "And he who treats symptoms never +cures disease." Suppose locked-jaw to have supervened from an attack of +acute indigestion: would it not be more rational to restore the lost +function? + +Suppose locked-jaw to have set in from irritating causes, such as bots +in the stomach, worms in the intestines, &c.: would bleeding remove +them? would it not render the system less capable of recovering its +physiological equilibrium, and resisting the irritation produced by +these animals on the delicate nervous tissues? + +Suppose, as Mr. Youatt says, that locked-jaw sets in "after turning the +animal out to graze during a cold night:" will a blister to the spine, +or a seton in the dewlap, restore the lost function of the skin? + +In short, would it not be more rational, in cases of locked-jaw, to +endeavor to restore the healthy action of all the functions, instead of +depressing them with the agents referred to? + +Then the question arises, What are the indications to be fulfilled? + +_First._ Restore the lost function. + +_Secondly._ Equalize the circulation, and maintain an equilibrium +between nervous and arterial action. + +_Thirdly._ Support the powers of life. + +_Fourthly._ If locked-jaw arise from a wound, then apply suitable +remedial agents to the part, and rescue the nervous system from a +pathological state. + +To fulfil the fourth indication, we commence the treatment as follows:-- + +Suppose the foot to have been pricked or wounded. We make an +examination of the part, and remove all extraneous matter. The following +poultice must then be applied: + + Powdered skunk cabbage, } + " lobelia, } equal parts. + " poplar bark, } + Indian meal, 1 pint. + +Make it of the proper consistence with boiling water. When sufficiently +cool, put it into a flannel bag, and secure it above the pastern. To be +renewed every twelve hours. After the second application, examine the +foot, and if suppuration has commenced, and matter can be felt, or seen, +a small puncture may be made, taking care not to let the knife penetrate +beyond the bony part of the hoof. + +In the mean time, prepare the following drink:-- + + Indian hemp or milkweed, (herb,) 1 ounce. + Powdered mandrake, 1 table-spoonful. + Powdered lobelia seeds, 1 tea-spoonful. + " poplar bark, (very fine,) 1 ounce. + +Make a tea, in the usual manner--about one gallon. After straining it +through a cloth, add the other ingredients, and give a quart every two +hours. + +A long-necked bottle is the most suitable vehicle in which to +administer; but it must be poured down in the most gradual manner. The +head should not be elevated too high. + +A liberal allowance of camomile tea may be resorted to, during the whole +stage of the disease. + +Next stimulate the external surface, by warmth and moisture, in the +following manner: Take about two quarts of vinegar, into which stir a +handful of lobelia; have a hot brick ready, (_the animal having a large +cloth, or blanket, thrown around him_;) pour the mixture gradually on +the brick, which is held over a bucket to prevent waste; the steam +arising will relax the surface. After repeating the operation, apply the +following mixture around the jaws, back, and extremities: take of +cayenne, skunk cabbage, and cypripedium, (lady's slipper,) powdered, +each two ounces, boiling vinegar two quarts; stir the mixture until +sufficiently cool, rub it well in with a coarse sponge; this will relax +the jaws a trifle, so that the animal can manage to suck up thin gruel, +which may be given warm, in any quantity. This process must be +persevered in; although it may not succeed in every case, yet it will be +more satisfactory than the blood-letting and poisoning system. No +medicine is necessary; the gruel will soften the faeces sufficiently; if +the rectum is loaded with faeces, give injections of an infusion of +lobelia. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] This is a narcotic vegetable poison; and although large quantities +have been occasionally given to the horse without apparent injury, +experience teaches us that poisons in general--notwithstanding the +various modes of their action, and the difference in their symptoms--all +agree in the abstraction of vitality from the system. Dr. Eberle says, +"Opiates never fail to operate perniciously on the whole organization." +Dr. Gallup says, "The practice of using opiates to mitigate pain is +greatly to be deprecated. It is probable that opium and its preparations +have done seven times the injury that they have rendered benefit on the +great scale of the civilized world. Opium is the most destructive of all +narcotics." + +[9] This is a perfect seesaw between efforts to kill and efforts to +cure. + +[10] Then it ought not to be used. + + + + +INFLAMMATORY DISEASES. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE STOMACH, (GASTRITIS.) + +Such a complicated piece of mechanism is the stomach of the ox, that +organ is particularly liable to disease. Inflammation, being the same as +local fever, (or a high grade of vital power, concentrated within a +small space,) may be produced by over-feeding, irritating and +indigestible food, or acrid, poisonous, and offensive medicines. The +farmer must remember that a small quantity of good, nutritious food, +capable of being easily penetrated by the gastric fluids, will repair +the waste that is going on, and improve the condition with more +certainty than an abundance of indifferent provender. + +_Cure._--The first indication will be to allay the irritability of the +stomach; this will moderate the irritation and lessen the fever. Make a +mucilaginous drink of slippery elm, or marshmallows, and give half a +pint every two hours. All irritating food and drink must be carefully +avoided, and the animal must be kept quiet; all irritating cordials, +"including the popular remedy, gin and molasses," must be avoided. These +never fail to increase the malady, and may occasion death. If there is +an improper accumulation of food in the viscera, the remedies will be, +relaxing clysters, abstinence from food, and a tea of sassafras and +mandrake, made thus:-- + + Sassafras, (_laurus sassafras_,) 1 ounce. + Mandrake, (_podophyllum peltatum_,) 4 drachms. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Let the mixture stand until quite cool, and give a pint every four +hours. + +Almost all animals, when suffering under acute symptoms, require +diluting, cooling drinks. This at once points out the use of water, or +any weak gruel of which water is the basis; the necessity of diluting +liquors is pointed out by the heat and dryness of the mouth, and +rigidity of the coat. + +When the thirst is great, the following forms a grateful and cooling +beverage: Take lemon balm, (_melissa officinalis_,) two ounces; boiling +water, two quarts; when cool, strain, and add half a tea-spoonful of +cream of tartar. Give half a pint at intervals of two hours. + +If the stomach continues to exhibit a morbid state, which may be known +by a profuse discharge of saliva from the mouth, then administer +camomile tea in small quantities: the addition of a little powdered +charcoal will prove beneficial. + +_Remarks._--Gastritis cannot be long present without other parts of the +system sharing the disturbance: it is then termed gastric fever. This +fever is the result of the local affection. Our object is, to get rid of +the local affection, and the fever will subside. Authors have invariably +recommended destructive remedies for the cure of gastritis; but they +generally fail of hitting the mark, and always do more or less injury. + +A light diet, rest, a clean bed of straw in a well-ventilated barn, will +generally perfect the cure. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS, (PNEUMONIA.) + +_Causes._--Errors in feeding, over-exertion, exposure in wet pastures, +or suffering the animal, when in a state of perspiration, to partake +too bountifully of cold water, are among the direct causes of a +derangement of vital equilibrium. Want of pure air for the purpose of +vitalizing the blood, the inhalation of noxious gases, and filth and +uncleanliness, may produce this disease in its worst form; yet it must +be borne in mind that the same exciting causes will not develop the same +form of disease in all animals. It altogether depends on the amount of +vital resistance, or what is termed the peculiar idiosyncrasy of the +animal. On the other hand, several animals often suffer from the same +form of disease, from causes varying in their general character. Hence +the reader will see that it would be needless, in fact impossible, to +point to the direct cause in each grade of disease. The least +obstruction to universal vital action will produce pneumonia in some +animals, while in others it may result in disease of the bowels. + +_Cure._--No special treatment can be successfully pursued in pneumonia; +for the lungs are not the only organs involved: no change of condition +can occur in the animal functions without the nervous system being more +or less deranged; for the latter is essential to all vital motions. +Hence disease, in every form, should be treated according to its +indications. A few general directions may, however, be found useful. The +first indication to be fulfilled is to equalize the blood. Flannels +saturated with warm vinegar should be applied to the extremities; they +may be folded round the legs, and renewed as often as they grow cold. +Poultices of slippery elm, applied to the feet, as hot as the animal can +bear them, have sometimes produced a better result than vinegar. If the +animal has shivering fits, and the whole surface is chilled, apply +warmth and moisture as recommended in article "_Locked-Jaw_." At the +same time, endeavor to promote the insensible perspiration by the +internal use of diaphoretics--_lobelia or thoroughwort tea_. A very good +diaphoretic and anti-spasmodic drink may be made thus:-- + + Lobelia, (herb) 2 ounces. + Spearmint, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Let the above stand for a few minutes; strain, then add two +table-spoonfuls of honey. Give half a pint every hour, taking care to +pour it down the oesophagus very gently, so as to insure its reaching +the fourth or true digestive stomach. The following clyster must be +given:-- + + Powdered lobelia, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +When sufficiently cool, inject with a common metal syringe. + +These processes should be repeated as the symptoms require, until the +animal gives evidence of relief; when a light diet of thin gruel will +perfect the cure. It must ever be borne in mind that in the treatment of +all forms of disease--those of the _lungs more especially_--the animal +must have pure, uncontaminated atmospheric air, and that any departure +from purity in the air which the animal respires, will counteract all +our efforts to cure. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS, (ENTERITIS,--INFLAMMATION OF THE +FIBRO-MUSCULAR COAT OF THE INTESTINES.) + +_Character._--Acute pain; the animal appears restless, and frequently +turns his head towards the belly; moans, and appears dull; frequent +small, hard pulse; cold feet and ears. + +_Causes._--Plethora, costiveness, or the sudden application of cold +either internally or externally, overworking, &c. + +_Cure._--In the early stages of the disease, all forms of medication +that are in any way calculated to arouse the peristaltic motion of the +intestines should be avoided; hence purges are certain destruction. +Relax the muscular structure by the application of a blanket or +horse-cloth wrung out in hot water. In this disease, it is generally +sufficient to apply warmth and moisture as near the parts affected as +possible; yet if the ears and legs are cold, the general application of +warmth and moisture will more speedily accomplish the relaxation of the +whole animal. After the application of the above, injections of a mild, +soothing character (slippery elm, or flaxseed tea) should be used very +liberally. A drink of any mucilaginous, lubricating, and innocent +substance may be given, such as mallows, linseed, Iceland moss, slippery +elm. During convalescence, the diet must be light and of an unirritating +character, such as boiled carrots, scalded meal, &c. + + +INFLAMMATION OF TILE PERITONEAL COAT OF THE INTESTINES, +(PERITONITIS.) + +This disease requires the same treatment as the latter malady. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS, (NEPHRITIS.) + +The usual symptoms are a quick pulse; loss of appetite; high-colored +urine, passed in small quantities, with difficulty and pain. Pressure on +the loins gives pain, and the animal will shrink on placing the hand +over the region of the kidneys. + +_Causes._--Cold, external injury, or injury from irritating substances, +that are often sent full tilt through the kidneys, as spirits of +turpentine, gin and molasses, saleratus. It is unnecessary to detail all +the causes of the disease: suffice it to say, that they exist in any +thing that can for a time obstruct the free and full play of the +different functions. + +_Treatment._--This, too, will consist in the invitation of the blood to +the surface and extremities, and by removing all irritating matter from +the system, _in the same manner as for inflammation of the bowels_. The +application of a poultice of ground hemlock, or a charge of gum hemlock, +will generally be found useful. The best drinks--and these should only +be allowed in small quantities--are gum arabic and marshmallow +decoctions. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER, (CYSTITIS.) + +During the latter months of pregnancy, the bladder is often in an +irritable state, and a frequent desire to void the urine is observed, +which frequently results from constipation. A peculiar sympathy exists +between the bladder and rectum; and when constipation is present, there +is a constant effort on the part of the animal to void the excrement. +This expulsive action also affects the bladder: hence the frequent +efforts to urinate. The irritable state of the bladder is caused by the +pressure of the loaded rectum on the neck of the former. + +The common soap-suds make a good injection, and will quickly soften the +hardened excrement; after which the following clyster may be used:-- + + Linseed tea, 3 quarts. + Cream of tartar, 1 ounce. + +After throwing into the rectum about one third of the above, press the +tail on the anus. The object is, to make it act as a fomentation in the +immediate vicinity of the parts. After the inflammation shall have +subsided, administer the following in a bottle, or horn:-- + + Powdered blackroot, (_leptandra virginica_,) half an ounce. + Warm water, 1 pint. + +Repeat the dose, if the symptoms are not relieved. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE WOMB. + +This may be treated in the same manner as the last-named disease. The +malady may be recognized by lassitude, loss of appetite, diminution in +the quantity, and deterioration in the quality, of the milk. As the +disease advances, there is often a fetid discharge from the parts; a +constant straining, which is attended with a frequent flow of urine. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE BRAIN, (PHRENITIS.) + +In this disease, the pia mater, arachnoid membrane, or the brain itself, +may be inflamed. It matters very little which of the above are deranged, +for the means of cure are the same. We have no method of making direct +application to either of the above, as they all lie within the cranium. +Neither can we act upon them medicinally except through the organs of +secretion, absorption, and circulation. Post mortem examinations reveal +to us evident marks of high inflammatory action, both in the substance +of the brain and in its membranes; and an effusion of blood, serum, or +of purulent matter, has been found in the ventricles of the brain. + +_Treatment._--The indications are, to equalize the circulation by warmth +and moisture externally, and maintain the action to the surface by +rubbing the legs with the following counter-irritant:-- + + Vinegar, 1 quart. + Common salt, 2 ounces. + +Set the mixture on the fire, (_in an earthen vessel_,) and allow it to +simmer for a few moments; then apply it to the legs. After the +circulation is somewhat equalized, give the following drench:-- + + Extract of butternut, half an ounce. + Tea of hyssop, 1 pint. + +A stimulating clyster may then be given, composed of warm water, into +which a few grains of powdered capsicum may be sprinkled. + +If due attention be paid to counter-irritation, and the head kept cool +by wet cloths, the chances of recovery are pretty certain. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE. + +This disease is too well known to require any description; we shall +therefore, at once, proceed to point out the ways and means for its +cure. + +_Treatment._--First wash the eyes with a weak decoction of camomile +flowers until they are well cleansed; then give a cooling drink, +composed of + + Cream of tartar, 1 ounce. + Decoction of lemon balm, 1 quart. + +Repeat this drink every six hours, until the bowels am moved. Should the +disease occur where these articles cannot be procured, give two ounces +of common salt in a pint of water. Should the eye still continue red and +swollen, give a dose of physic. (See _Physic for Cattle_.) + +If a film can be observed, wash with a decoction of powdered bloodroot; +and if a weeping remain, use the following astringent:-- + + Powdered bayberry bark, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 1 pint. + +When cool, pour off the clear liquor. It is then fit for use. + +Inflammation of the eye may assume different forms, but the above +treatment, combined with attention to rest, ventilation, a dark +location, and a light diet, will cover the whole ground. + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER, (HEPATITIS.) + +Cattle very frequently show signs of diseased liver. Stall-fed oxen and +cows kept in cities are most liable to derangement of the liver; in such +animals, (after death,) there is an unusual yellowness of the fat. A +disease of the liver may exist for a long time without interfering much +with the general health. Mr. Youatt informs us that "a chronic form of +diseased liver may exist for some months, or years, not characterized by +any decided symptom, and but little interfering with health." + +_Symptoms._--Permanent yellowness of the eyes; quick pulse; dry muzzle; +hot mouth; considerable pain when pressure is made on the right side. +Occasionally the animal looks round and licks the spot over the region +of the liver. + +_Treatment._--First give half pint doses of thoroughwort tea, at +intervals of one hour, (_to the amount of two quarts_.) This will relax +the system, and equalize vital action. The following drench is then to +be given:-- + + Extract of butternut, half an ounce. + Warm water, 1 quart. + +If the butternut cannot be obtained, substitute a dose of physic. (See +APPENDIX.) Stimulate the bowels to action by injections of +soap-suds. If the extremities are cold, proceed to warm them in the +manner alluded to in article _Inflammation of the Bowels_. On the other +hand, if the surface of the body is hot and dry, and there is much fever +present, indicated by a quick pulse and dry muzzle, then bathe the whole +surface with weak saleratus water, sufficiently warm to relax the +external surface. The following fever drink may be given daily until +rumination again commences:-- + + Lemon balm, 2 ounces. + Cream of tartar, 1 ounce. + Honey, 1 gill. + Water, 2 quarts. + +First pour the boiling water on the balm; after standing a few minutes, +strain; then add the above ingredients. + + + + +JAUNDICE, OR YELLOWS. + +THIS disease is well known to every farmer; the yellow appearance of the +skin, mouth, eyes, and saliva at once betray its presence. It consists +in the absorption of unchanged bile into the circulation, which bile +becomes diffused, giving rise to the yellow appearances. + +In the treatment of jaundice, we first give a dose of physic, (see +APPENDIX,) and assist its operation by injections of weak lie, +made from wood ashes. The animal may roam about in the barn-yard, if the +weather will permit; or rub the external surface briskly with a wisp or +brush, which will answer the same purpose. The following may be given in +one dose, and repeated every day, or every other day, as the symptoms +may require:-- + + Powdered golden seal,(_hydrastus + canadensis_), 1 table-spoonful. + " slippery elm, 2 ounces. + +Water sufficient to make it of the consistence of gruel. + +Should a diarrhoea set in, it ought not to occasion alarm, but may be +considered as an effort of nature to rid the system of morbific matter. +It will be prudent, however, to watch the animal, and if the strength +and condition fail, then add to the last prescription a small quantity +of powdered gentian and caraway seeds. + +There are various forms of disease in the liver, yet the treatment will +not differ much from that of the last-named disease. There is no such +thing as a medicine for a particular symptom, in one form of disease, +that is not equally good for the same symptom in every form. In short, +there is no such thing as a specific. Any medicine that will promote the +healthy action of the liver in one form of jaundice will be equally good +for the same purpose in another form of that disease. + +Mr. Youatt states, "There are few diseases to which cattle are so +frequently subject, or which are so difficult to treat, as jaundice, or +yellows." Hence it is important that the farmer should know how and in +what manner the disease may be prevented. And he will succeed best who +understands the causes, which often exist in overworking the stomach, +with a desire to fatten. Men who raise cattle for the market often +attempt to get them in fine condition and flesh, without any regard to +the state of the digestive organs, the liver included; for the bile +which the latter secretes is absolutely necessary for the perfection of +the digestive process. They do not take into consideration the state of +the animals' health, the climate, the quality of food, and the quantity +best adapted to the digestive powers; and what is of still greater +importance, and too often overlooked, is, that all animals should be fed +at regular intervals. Some men suppose that so long as their cattle +shall have good food, without any regard to quantity,--if they eat all +day long, and cram their paunch to its utmost capacity,--they must +fatten; when, in fact, too much food deranges the whole digestive +apparatus. As soon as the paunch and stomach are overloaded, they press +on the liver, interfering with the bile-secreting process, producing +congestion and disorganization. + +Diseases of the liver may be produced by any thing that will for a time +suspend the process of rumination: the known sympathy that exists +between the stomach and liver explains this fact. + +Digestion, like every other vital process, requires a concentration of +power to accomplish it: now, if an ox should have a bountiful meal, and +then be driven several miles, the process of digestion, during the +journey, will be partly suspended. The act of compelling an ox to rise, +or annoying him in any way, will immediately suspend rumination, which +may result in an acute disease of the liver. In most cases, however, the +stomach is primarily affected. + +Dealers in cattle often overfeed the animals they are about to dispose +of, in order to improve their external appearance, and increase their +own profits: the consequence is, that such animals are in a state of +plethora, and are liable at any moment to be attacked with congestion of +the liver or brain. + +Again. If oxen are driven a long journey, and then turned into a pasture +abounding in highly nutritious grasses or clover, to which they are +unaccustomed, they fill the paunch to such an extent that it becomes a +matter of impossibility on the part of the animal to throw it up for +rumination; this mass of food, being submitted to the combined action of +heat and moisture, undergoes fermentation; carbonic acid gas is evolved; +the animal is then said to be "blown," "hoven," or "blasted." Post +mortem examination, in such cases, reveals a highly-congested state of +the liver and spleen. + +In fattening cattle, the injury done to the organs of digestion is not +always observed in the early stages; for the vital power, which wages a +warfare against all encroachments, endeavors to accommodate itself to +the increased bulk; yet, by continuing to give an excess of diet, it +finally yields up the citadel to the insidious foe. Chemical action then +overpowers the vital, and disease is the result. + +Thousands of valuable cattle are yearly destroyed by being too well, or, +rather, injudiciously fed. Many diseases of the liver and digestive +organs result from feeding on unwholesome, innutritious, and hard, +indigestible food. Bad water, and suffering the animal to partake too +bountifully of cold water when heated and fatigued, are among the direct +causes of disease. + + + + +DISEASES OF THE MUCOUS SURFACE. + + +The mucous membrane is a duplicature of the skin, and is folded into the +external orifices of the animal, as the mouth, ears, nose, lungs, +stomach, intestines, and bladder; but not being so much exposed to the +action of external agents, it is not so strong or thick as the skin. It +performs, however, nearly the same office as the skin. If the action of +one is suppressed, the other immediately commences the performance of +its office. Thus a common cold, which collapses the skin, immediately +stops insensible perspiration, which recedes to the mucous membrane, +producing a discharge from the nose, eyes, bowels, &c. So, when great +derangement of the mucous membrane exists, debilitating perspiration +succeeds. In the treatment of diseases of the mucous membrane, we +endeavor to remove the irritating causes from the organs affected, +restore the general tone of the system, and invite action to the +external surface. + + +CATARRH, OR HOOSE. + +This disease often arises from exposure to wet or cold weather, and from +the food being of a bad quality, or deficient in quantity. If the animal +is enfeebled by poor feed, old age, or any other cause, then there is +very little resistance offered against the encroachments of disease: +hence young beasts and cows after calving are often the victims. + +_Treatment._--It is necessary to attend to this disorder as soon as it +makes its appearance; for a common cold, neglected, often lays the +foundation of consumption. On the other hand, a little attention in the +early stages, and before sympathetic action sets in, would set all +right. The first indication to be fulfilled is to invite action to the +surface by friction and counter-irritants. The following liniment may be +applied to the feet and throat:-- + + Olive oil, 4 ounces. + Oil of cedar, 1 ounce. + Liquid ammonia, half an ounce. + +Rub the mixture in well; then give + + Gruel, 1 quart. + Powdered licorice, 1 ounce. + Composition, half a tea-spoonful. + +Give this at a dose, and repeat two or three times during the +twenty-four hours. A drink of any warm aromatic tea, _such as +pennyroyal, hyssop, catnip or aniseed will have a good effect_. The diet +should consist of scalded meal, boiled carrots, flaxseed, or any +substance that is light and easy of digestion. Should the discharge +increase and the eyelids swell, recourse must be had to vapor, which may +be raised by pouring vinegar on a hot brick; the latter held, with a +pair of tongs, beneath the animal's nose, at the same time covering the +head with a blanket. A small quantity of bayberry bark may occasionally +be blown up the nostrils from a quill. It is very important, during the +treatment, that the animal be in a warm situation, with a good bed of +straw to rest on. If the glands under the jaw enlarge, the following +mixture should be rubbed about the throat:-- + + Neat's foot oil, 4 ounces. + Hot drops, 2 ounces. + Vinegar, 1 gill. + +If the disease assumes a chronic form, and the animal is evidently +losing flesh, then give the following:-- + + Golden seal, powdered, 1 table-spoonful. + Caraway seeds, " 1 " + +Divide into three parts; which may be given daily, (in thin gruel,) +until the animal is convalescent. + + +EPIDEMIC CATARRH. + +This often prevails at particular seasons, and spreads over whole +districts, sometimes destroying a great number of cattle. It is a +disorder whose intensity varies considerably, being sometimes attended +with a high grade of fever, at other times quickly followed by general +debility. + +_Treatment._--This requires the same treatment as the last-named +disease, but only more thoroughly and perseveringly applied; for every +portion of the system seems to be affected, either through sympathetic +action or from the absorption of morbid matter. Hence we must aid the +vital power to maintain her empire and resist the encroachments on her +sanative operations by the use of antiseptics and stimulants. The +following is a good example:-- + + Powdered charcoal, 1 ounce. + " bayberry bark, half an ounce. + " pleurisy root, 1 ounce. + Honey, 1 table-spoonful. + Thin gruel, 1 quart. + + +MALIGNANT EPIDEMIC, (MURRAIN.) + +This disease has been more or less destructive from the time of Pharaoh +up to the present period. For information on the origin, progress, and +termination of this malignant distemper, the reader is referred to Mr. +Youatt's work on cattle. + +_Treatment._--The indications to be fulfilled are, first, to preserve +the system from putrescence, which can be done by the use of the +following drink:-- + + Powdered capsicum, 1 tea-spoonful. + " charcoal, 2 ounces. + Lime water, 4 ounces. + Sulphur, 1 tea-spoonful. + +Add to the capsicum, charcoal, and sulphur, a small quantity of gruel; +lastly, add the lime water. A second and similar dose may be given six +hours after the first, provided, however, the symptoms are not so +alarming. + +The next indication is, to break down the morbid action of the nervous +and vascular systems; for which the following may be given freely:-- + + Thoroughwort tea, 2 quarts. + Powdered assafoetida, 2 drachms. + +Aid the action of these remedies by the use of one of the following +injections:-- + + Powdered lobelia, 2 ounces. + Oil of peppermint, 20 drops. + Warm water, 2 quarts. + +_Another._ + + Infusion of camomile, 2 quarts. + Common salt, 4 ounces. + +In all cases of putrid or malignant fever, efforts should be made to +supply the system with caloric, (by the aid of stimulants,) promote the +secretions, and rid the system of morbific materials. + + +DIARRHOEA, (LOOSENESS OF THE BOWELS.) + +In the early stages of this disease, it is not always to be checked. It +is often a salutary operation of nature to rid the system of morbific +materials, and all that we can do with safety is, to sheathe and +lubricate the mucous surfaces, in order to protect them from the acrid +and stimulating properties of the agents to be removed from the +alimentary canal. + +When the disease, of which diarrhoea is only a symptom, proceeds from +exposure, apply warmth, moisture, friction, and stimulants to the +external surface, aided by the following lubricant:-- + + Powdered slippery elm, 1 ounce. + " charcoal, 1 table-spoonful. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Common starch, or flour, may be substituted for slippery elm. The +mixture should be given in pint doses, at intervals of two hours. When +the fecal discharges appear more natural and less frequent, a tea of +raspberry leaves or bayberry bark will complete the cure. + +When the disease assumes a chronic form, and the animal loses flesh, +the following tonic, stimulating, astringent drink is recommended:-- + + Infusion of camomile, 1 quart. + Powdered caraway seeds, 1 ounce. + Bayberry, powdered, half an ounce. + +Mix for one dose. + +_Remarks._--In the treatment of this disease, it is necessary for the +farmer to know, that through the instrumentality of the nervous +structure, there is constantly a sympathy kept up between the different +parts of the animal; whenever any part is affected, the corresponding +part feels the influence. Thus the external surface is opposed to the +internal, so that, if the function of the former be diminished, or +excessive, or suspended, that of the latter will soon become deranged; +and the restoration of the lost function is the only true way to effect +a cure. For example, if an animal be suffered to feed in wet lands, the +feet and external surface become cold; and hence diarrhoea, catarrh, +garget, dysentery, &c. If the circulation of the blood is obstructed by +exposure, we should restore the lost function by rubbing the surface, +and by the application of warmth and moisture. If the animal is in poor +condition, and there is not enough vitality to equalize the circulation, +give warm anti-spasmodics. (See APPENDIX.) In cases where +diarrhoea results from a want of power in the digestive organs to +assimilate the food, the latter acts on the mucous surfaces as a +mechanical irritant, producing inflammation, &c. Inflammation is the +concentration of the available vital force too much upon a small region +of the body, and it is invited there by irritation. Now, instead of the +popular error,--bleeding and purging,--the most rational way to proceed +is, to remove the cause of irritation, (no matter whether the stomach or +bowels are involved,) and invite the blood to the surface by means +already alluded to, and distribute it over the general system, so that +it will not be in excess any where. There is generally but little +difficulty in producing an equilibrium of action; the great point is to +sustain it. When the blood accumulates in a part, as in inflammation of +the bowels, the sensibility of the part is so highly exalted that the +least irritation causes a relapse; therefore the general treatment must +not be abandoned too early. + + +DYSENTERY. + +The disease is generally ushered in with some degree of fever; as, +trembling, hot and cold stages, dryness of the mouth, loss of appetite, +general prostration, drooping of the head and ears, heaving of the +flanks; there are frequent stools, yet these seldom consist of natural +excrement, but are of a viscid, mucous character; the animal is +evidently in pain during these discharges, and sometimes the fundament +appears excoriated. + +_Causes._--The cause of this complaint appears to be, generally, +exposure. Dr. White says, "Almost all the diseases of cattle arise +either from exposure to wet or cold weather, from their food being of a +bad quality, or deficient in quantity, or from the animal being changed +too suddenly from poor, unwholesome keep to rich pasture. It is +necessary to observe, also, that the animal is more liable to be injured +by exposure to wet and cold, when previously enfeebled by bad keep, old +age, or any other cause; and particularly when brought from a mild into +a cold situation. I have scarcely met with a disease that is not +attributable to a chill." + +_Treatment._--This must be much the same as in diarrhoea--sheathing +the mucous membrane, and inviting action to the surface. The animal must +be warmly housed, well littered, and the extremities clothed with +flannel bandages. The diet must consist of flour gruel, scalded meal. +Raspberry tea will be the most suitable drink. Much can be done by good +nursing. Mr. Ellman says, "If any of my cattle get into a low, weak +state, I generally recommend nursing, which, in most cases, is much +better than a doctor; [meaning some of the poor specimens always to be +found in large cities;] having often seen the beast much weakened, and +the stomach relaxed, by throwing in a quantity of medicine +injudiciously, and the animal lost; when, with good nursing, in all +probability, it might have been otherwise." + + +SCOURING ROT. + +_Cause._--Any thing that can reduce the vital energies. + +_Symptoms._--A gradual loss of flesh, although the animal often feeds +well and ruminates. The excrements are of a dark color, frothy, and +fetid, and, in the latter stages, appear to be only half digested. There +are many symptoms and different degrees of intensity, during the +progress of this disease, indicate the amount of destruction going on; +yet the author considers them unimportant in a practical point of view, +at least as far as the treatment is concerned; for the disease is so +analogous to dysentery, that the same indications are to be fulfilled in +both; more care, however, should be taken to prevent and subdue +mortification. + +In addition to the treatment recommended in article _Malignant +Epidemic_, the following injection may be substituted for the one +prescribed under that head:-- + + Powdered charcoal, a tea-cupful. + Common salt, 2 ounces. + Pyroligneous acid,[11] half a wine-glass. + Warm water, 2 quarts. + +Throw one quart of the above into the rectum, and the remainder six +hours after the first. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[11] Vinegar obtained from wood. + + + + +DISEASE OF THE EAR + + +Diseases of the ear are very rare in cattle; yet, as simple inflammatory +action does now and then occur, it is well that the farmer should be +able to recognize and treat it. + +_Symptoms._--An unnatural heat and tenderness about the base of the ear, +and the animal carries the head on one side. + +_Cure._--Fomentations of marshmallows; a light diet of scalded shorts; +an occasional drink of thoroughwort tea. These with a little rest, in a +comfortable barn, will perfect the cure. + +_Remarks._--If any irritating substance is suspected to have fallen into +the ear, efforts must be made to remove it: if it cannot be got at, a +small quantity of olive oil may be poured into the cavity; then, by +rotating the head, with the affected ear downwards, the substances will +often pass out. + + + + +SEROUS MEMBRANES. + + +These membranes derive their name from the serous or watery fluid they +secrete, by which their surface is constantly moistened. They are to be +found in the three cavities of the chest; namely, one on each side, +containing the right and left lung, and the intermediate cavity, +occupied by the heart. The portion of the membrane lining the lungs is +named the _pleura_, and that lining and covering the heart is called the +_pericardium_. The membrane lining the abdomen is named the +_peritoneum_. The ventricles of the brain are also lined by this +membrane. The serous membranes, after lining their respective cavities, +are extended still farther, by being reflected back upon the organs +enclosed in their cavities; hence, if it were possible to dissect these +membranes from off the parts which they invest, they would have the +appearance of a sac without an opening. In the natural state, these +membranes are exceedingly thin and transparent; but they become +thickened by disease, and lose their transparency. The excessive +discharge of fluids into cavities lined by these membranes constitutes +the different forms of dropsy, on which we shall now treat. + + + + +DROPSY. + + +This disease consists in the accumulation of fluid in a cavity of the +body, as the abdomen or belly, the chest, and ventricles of the brain, +or in the cellular membrane under the skin. As the treatment of the +several forms of dropsy requires that the same indications shall be +fulfilled,--viz., to equalize the circulation, invite action to the +surface, promote absorption, and invigorate the general system,--so it +matters but little whether the effusion takes place under the skin, +producing anasarca, or within the chest or abdomen. The popular +treatment, which comprehends blood-letting, physicking, and the use of +powerful diuretics, has proved notoriously unsuccessful. Blood-letting +is charged as one of the direct causes of dropsy: how then can it be +expected that a system that will produce this form of disease can ever +cure it? In reference to physicking, if the bowels are forced to remove +the excess of fluids in a short time, they become much exhausted, lose +their tone, and do not recover their healthy power for some time. Dr. +Curtis says, "May we not give diuretics and drastic cathartics in +dropsy? I answer, if you do, and carry off the fluids of the body in +those directions, as you sometimes may, you have not always removed the +cause of the disease, which was the closing of the surface, or stoppage +of some natural secretion, while you have rendered the patient liable to +other forms of disease, quite as much to be dreaded as the dropsy which +was exchanged for it." Mild diuretic medicines may, however, be given, +provided attention he paid at the same time to the lungs and external +surface. The kidneys, lungs, and external surface constitute the great +outlets through which the excess of fluids finds egress; and if one of +these functions be excited to dislodge an accumulation of fluid, without +the cooeperation of the rest, the excessive action is sure to injure the +organ; hence it is an injurious practice, and ought to be rejected. + +_Causes._--Dropsy will occasionally be produced by the sudden stopping +of any evacuation; for example, if a diarrhoea be checked too +suddenly, it frequently results in dropsy of the belly. In pleurisy, and +when blood-letting has been practised to any extent, dropsy of the chest +will be the consequence. Exposure, poor diet, diseases of the liver and +spleen, want of exercise, and poisonous medicines are among the general +causes of dropsy. + +_Treatment._--It is a law of the animal economy that all fluids are +determined to those surfaces from which they can most readily escape. +Now, instead of cramming down nauseous and poisonous drugs, with a view +of carrying off the fluid by the kidneys, we should restore the lost +function of the external exhalents, by warmth, moisture, friction, and +the application of stimulating embrocations to the general surface. The +following embrocation may be applied to the spine, ears, belly, and +legs:-- + + Oil of cedar, 1 ounce. + Oil of juniper, 1 ounce. + Soft soap, 1 pound. + +A portion of the above should be rubbed in twice a day. + +The best medicine is the following:-- + + Powdered mandrake, 1 ounce. + " lobelia, 1 ounce. + Poplar bark, 2 ounces. + Lemon balm, 4 ounces. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +Let the whole stand in a covered vessel for an hour; then strain, and +add a gill of honey. Give half a pint every third hour. If the animal be +in poor condition, the diet must be nourishing and easy of digestion. +Flour gruel and scalded meal will be the most appropriate. A drink made +by steeping cleavers, or hyssop, in boiling water may be given at +discretion. + +If there is not sufficient vitality in the system to equalize the +circulation, (which may be known by the surface and extremities still +continuing cold,) the following drink will be found efficacious:-- + + Hyssop tea, 2 quarts. + Powdered cayenne, (African,) 1 tea-spoonful. + " licorice, 1 ounce. + +Mix. To be given at a dose, and repeated if necessary. Should +inflammatory symptoms make their appearance, omit the cayenne, and +substitute the same quantity of cream of tartar. + +The treatment of all the different forms of dropsy is upon the plan here +laid down. They are one and the same disease, only located in different +parts; and from predisposing causes the fluid is sometimes found in the +thorax, at others in the abdomen. Whenever costiveness occurs in dropsy, +the following laxative may be given:-- + + Wormwood, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Set them over the fire, and let them boil for a few moments; then add +two ounces of castile soap and a gill of molasses or honey. The whole to +be given at one dose. + +The operation of tapping has been performed, but with very little +success; for, unless the function of the skin be restored, the water +will again accumulate. If, however, the disease shall be treated +according to the principles here laid down, there is no good reason why +the operation should not prove successful. It may be performed for +dropsy of the belly in the following manner: Take a common trocar and +canula, and after pinching upwards a fold of the skin, about three +inches from the line, (_linea alba_,) or centre of the belly, and about +seven from the udder, push the trocar through the skin, muscles, &c., +into the abdominal cavity; withdraw the trocar, and the water will flow. +The operation is usually performed on the right side, taking care, +however, not to wound the milk vein, or artery. + + + + +HOOVE, OR "BLASTING." + + +When cattle or sheep are first turned into luxuriant pasture, after +being poorly fed, or laboring under any derangement of the digestive +organs, they are apt to be hoven, blown, or blasted. + +_Treatment._--Should the symptoms be very alarming, a flexible tube may +be passed down the gullet. This will generally allow a portion of gas to +escape, and thus afford temporary relief, until more efficient means are +resorted to. These consist in arousing the digestive organs to action, +by the following stimulant and carminative drink:-- + + Cardamom seeds, 1 ounce. + Fennel seeds, 1 ounce. + Powdered charcoal, 1 table-spoonful. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Let the mixture stand until sufficiently cool; then strain, and +administer in pint doses, every ten minutes. + +The following clyster should be given:-- + + Powdered lobelia, 2 ounces. + " charcoal, 6 ounces. + Common salt, 1 table-spoonful. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +When cool, strain, and inject. + +If the animal is only blasted in a moderate degree, this treatment will +generally prove successful. Some practitioners recommend puncturing the +rumen or paunch; but there is always great danger attending it, and at +best it is only a palliative: the process of fermentation will continue +while the materials still remain in the paunch. Some cattle doctors make +a large incision into the paunch, and shovel out the contents with the +hand; but the remedy is quite as bad as the disease. For example, Mr. +Youatt tells us that "a cow had eaten a large quantity of food, and was +hoven. A neighbor, who was supposed to know a great deal about cattle, +made an incision into the paunch; the gas escaped, a great portion of +the food was removed with the hand, and the animal appeared to be +considerably relieved; but rumination did not return. On the following +day, the animal was dull; she refused her food, but was eager to drink. +She became worse and worse, and on the sixth day she died." + +In all dangerous cases of hoove, we must not forget that our remedies +may be aided by the external application of warmth and moisture; +flannels wrung out in hot water should be secured to the belly; at the +same time, the legs and brisket should be rubbed with tincture of +assafoetida. These remedies must be repeated until the animal is +relieved. Steady and long-continued perseverance in rubbing the abdomen +often succeeds in liberating the gas. If the animal recovers, he should +be fed, very sparingly, on scalded food, consisting of equal parts of +meal and shorts, with the addition of a few grains of caraway seeds. A +drink composed of the following ingredients will aid in rapidly +restoring the animal to health:-- + + Marshmallows, 2 ounces. + Linseed, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Set the mixture near the fire, and allow it to macerate for a short +time; after straining through a sieve or coarse cloth, it may be given +and repeated at discretion. + +_Remarks._--As prevention is much more convenient and less expensive +than the fashionable system of making a chemical laboratory of the poor +brute's stomach, the author would remind owners of stock that the +practice of turning the latter into green, succulent pasture when the +ground is damp, or permitting them to remain exposed to the night air, +is among the direct causes of hoove. The ox and many other animals are +governed by the same laws of nature to which man owes allegiance, and +any departure from the legitimate teachings, as they are fundamentally +ingrafted in the animate kingdom by the Omnipotent Creator, is sure to +subject us to the penalty. We are told that, during the night, noxious +gases and poisonous miasmata emanate from the soil, and that plants +throw off excrementitious matters, which assume a gaseous form, and are +more or less destructive. Now, these animals have no better powers of +resisting the encroachments on their organization (through the agency of +these deleterious gases) than we have; they must have atmospheric air to +vitalize the blood; any impurity in the air they breathe must impair +their health. Still, however, the powers of resistance are greater in +some than in others; this explains the reason why all do not suffer. +Sometimes, the gases are not in sufficient quantities to produce instant +death, but only derange the general health; yet if an animal be turned +into a pasture, the herbage and soil of which give out an excess of +nitrogen and carbonic acid, the animal will die; just as a man will, if +you lower him into a well abounding in either of these destructive +agents. From these brief remarks, the farmer will see the importance of +housing domestic animals at night. + + + + +JOINT MURRAIN. + + +This malady, in its early stages, assumes different forms; sometimes +making its appearance under a high grade of vital action, commonly +called inflammatory fever, and known by the red appearance of the +sclerotica, (white of the eye,) hurried breathing, expanded nostrils, +hot tongue, and dry muzzle, pulse full and bounding, manifestations of +pain, &c. &c. Different animals show, according to local or +constitutional peculiarities, different symptoms. + +This disease, in consequence of its assuming different forms during its +progress, has a host of names applied to it, which rather embarrass than +assist the farmer. We admit that there are numerous tissues to be +obstructed; and if the disease were named from the tissue, it would have +as many names as there are tissues. If it were named from the location, +which often happens, then we get as many names as there are locations; +for example, horn ail, black leg, quarter evil, joint murrain, foot rot, +&c. In the above disease, the whole system partakes more or less of +constitutional disturbance; therefore it is of no use, except when we +want to avail ourselves of local applications, to decide what particular +muscle, blood-vessel, or nerve is involved, seeing that the only +rational treatment consists in acting on all the nerves, blood-vessels, +and muscles, and that this can only be accomplished through the healthy +operations of nature's secreting and excreting processes. The +indications of cure, according to the reformed principles, are, to relax +spasm, as in locked-jaw, stoppages of the bladder or intestines, +obstructed surfaces, &c.; to contract and strengthen weak and relaxed +organs, as in general or local debility, diarrhoea, scouring, lampas, +&c.; to stimulate inactive parts, as in black leg, joint murrain, +quarter ill, foot rot; to equalize the circulation, and distribute the +blood to the external surface and extremities, as in congestions; to +furnish the animal with sufficient nutriment for its growth and +development. No matter what the nature of disease may be, the treatment +should be conducted on these principles. + +The farmer will overcome a host of obstacles, that might otherwise fall +in his way, in the treatment of joint murrain, when he learns that this +malady, together with black leg, quarter ill or evil, black quarter, and +dry gangrene are all analogous: by the different names are meant their +grades. In the early or mild forms, it consists of congestion in the +veins or venous radicles, and effusions into the cellular tissue. When +chemical action overpowers the vital, decomposition sets in; it then +assumes a putrid type; mortification, or a destruction of organic +integrity, is the result. + +_Causes._--Its proximate causes exist in any thing that can for a time +interrupt the free and full play of any part of the vital machinery. Its +direct cause may be found in over-feeding, miasma, exposure, poisonous +plants, poor diet, &c. The milk of diseased cows is a frequent cause of +black leg in young calves. The reason why the disease is more likely to +manifest itself in the legs is, because they are more exposed, by the +feet coming in contact with damp ground, and because the blood has a +kind of up-hill work to perform. + +_Treatment._--In the early stages of joint murrain and its kindred +maladies, if inflammatory fever is present, the first and most important +step is to relax the external surface, as directed in article +_Pneumonia_, p. 107. Should the animal be in a situation where it is not +convenient to do so, give the following anti-spasmodic:-- + + Thoroughwort, 1 ounce. + Lemon balm, 2 ounces. + Garlic, bruised, a few kernels. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +Allow the infusion to stand until cool; then strain, and give it a dose. + +If the bowels are constipated, inject the following:-- + + Soft soap, half a pint. + Warm water, 2 quarts. + +Rub the joints with the following embrocation:-- + + Oil of cedar, } equal parts. + Fir balsam, } + +Keep the animal on warm, bland teas, such as catnip, pennyroyal, lemon +balm, and a light diet of powdered slippery elm gruel. + + + + +BLACK QUARTER. + + +_Symptoms._--Rapid decomposition, known by the pain which the slightest +pressure gives the animal. Carbonic acid gas is evolved from the +semi-putrid state of the system, which finds its way into the cellular +tissue, beneath the skin. A crackling noise can then be heard and felt +by pressing the finger on the hide. + +_Causes._--Among the chief causes are the blood-letting and scouring +systems recommended by writers on cattle doctoring. In the inflammatory +stage, we are told, "The first and most important step is copious +bleeding. As much blood must be taken as the animal will bear to lose; +and the stream must flow on until the beast staggers or threatens to +fall. Here, more than in any other disease, there must be no foolish +directions about quantities. [_The heroic practice!_] As much blood must +be taken away as can be got; for it is only by the bold and persevering +use of the lancet that a malady can be subdued that runs its course so +rapidly." (See Youatt, p. 359.) From these directions we are led to +suppose that there are some hopes of bleeding the animal to life; for +the author above quoted seems to entertain no apprehension of bleeding +the animal to death. Mr. Percival and other veterinary writers inform +us, that "an animal will lose about one fifteenth part of its weight of +blood before it dies; though a less quantity may so far debilitate the +vital powers, as to be, though less suddenly, equally fatal." The latter +portion of the sentence means simply this; that if the bleeding does +not give the animal its quietus on the spot, it will produce black +quarter, gangrene, &c., which will be "equally fatal." In the latter +stages of the disease now under consideration, and, indeed, in dry +gangrene, there is a tendency to the complete destruction of life to the +parts involved: hence our remedies should be in harmony with the vital +operations. We should relax, stimulate, and cleanse the whole system, +and arouse every part to healthy action, by the aid of vapor, +injections, stimulating applications, poultices of charcoal and +capsicum, to parts where there is danger of rapid mortification; lastly, +stimulating drinks to vitalize the blood, which only requires +distribution, instead of abstraction. + +In reference to the scouring system, (purging,) as a cause of +mortification, we leave the reader to form his own views, after reading +the following: "After abstracting as much blood as can be got away, +purging must immediately follow. A pound and a half of Epsom salts +dissolved in water or gruel, and poured down the throat as gently as +possible, should be our first dose. If this does not operate in the +course of six hours, another pound should be given; and after that, half +pound doses every six hours until the effect is produced"!!--_Youatt_, +p. 359. + +_Treatment._--As the natural tendency of these different maladies is the +complete destruction of life to all parts of the organization, efforts +must be made to depurate the whole animal, and arouse every part to +healthy action in the manner recommended under article _Joint Murrain_. +Antiseptics may be freely used in the following form:-- + + Powdered bayberry bark, 2 ounces. + " charcoal, 6 ounces. + " cayenne, 1 tea-spoonful. + " slippery elm, 1 ounce. + +Add boiling water sufficient to make it of the consistence of thin +gruel. + +All sores and foul ulcers may be washed with + + Pyroligneous acid, 1 ounce. + Water, 1 gill. + +_Another._ + + Chloride of lime, 1 ounce. + Water, 1 pint. + +_Another._ + + Chloride of soda, 1 ounce. + Water, 6 ounces. + +The affected parts should be often bathed with one of these washes. If +the disease is not arrested by these means, repeat them, and put the +animal on a diet of flour gruel. + + + + +OPEN JOINT. + + +Joints are liable to external injury from wounds or bruises, and, +although a joint may not be open in the first instance, subsequent +sloughing may expose its cavity. The ordinary effects of disease in +membranes covering joints are, a profuse discharge of joint oil, +(_synovia_,) and a thickening of the synovial membrane. Sometimes the +joint is cemented together; it is then termed anchylosis. + +_Treatment._--The first object is, to promote adhesion, by bringing the +edges of the wound together, and confining them in contact by stitches. +A pledget of lint or linen, previously moistened with tincture of myrrh, +should then be bound on with a bandage forming a figure 8 around the +joint. If the parts feel hot and appear inflamed, apply a bandage, which +may be kept constantly wet with cold water. If adhesion of the parts +does not take place, apply the following:-- + +Powdered bayberry bark, 1 ounce. + +Fir balsam, sufficient to form a thick, tenacious mass, which may be +spread thickly over the wound; lastly, a bandage. Should a fetid +discharge take place, poultice with + + Powdered charcoal, } equal parts. + " bayberry, } + +In cases where the nature of the injury will not admit of the wounded +edges being kept in contact, and a large surface is exposed, we must +promote granulation by keeping the parts clean, and by the daily +application of fir balsam. Unhealthy granulations may be kept down by +touching them with burnt alum, or sprinkling on their surface powdered +bloodroot. The author has treated several cases, in which there was no +hope of healing by the first intention, by the daily use of tincture of +capsicum, together with tonic, stimulating, astringent, antiseptic +poultices and fomentations, as the case seemed to require, and they +always terminated favorably. In all cases of injury to joints, rest and +a light diet are indispensable. + + + + +SWELLINGS OF JOINTS. + + +Swellings frequently arise from bruises and strains; they are sometimes, +however, connected with a rheumatic affection, caused by cold, exposure +to rain, or turning an animal into wet pasture lands after active +exercise. In the acute stage, known by tenderness, unnatural heat, and +lameness, the animal should be put on a light diet of scalded shorts, +&c.; the parts to be frequently bathed with cold water; and, if +practicable, a bandage may be passed around the limb, and kept moist +with the same. If the part still continues painful, take four ounces of +arnica flowers, moisten them with boiling water, when cool, bind them +around the part, and let them remain twenty-four hours. This seldom +fails. On the other hand, should the parts be in a chronic state, which +may be recognized by inactivity, coldness, &c., then the following +embrocation will restore the lost tone:-- + + Oil of wormwood, 1 ounce. + " " cedar, 1 ounce. + Hot drops, 4 ounces. + Vinegar, 1 pint. + +Mix, and rub the part faithfully night and morning. Friction with the +hand or a brush will materially assist to cure. In all cases where +suppuration has commenced, and matter can be distinctly felt, the sooner +the following poultice shall be applied, the better:-- + + Powdered slippery elm, } equal parts. + " linseed, } + +Boiling water sufficient to moisten; then add a wine-glass of vinegar. + +To be renewed every twelve hours, until the matter escapes. + + + + +SPRAIN OF THE FETLOCK. + + +Sprain, or _strain_, as it is commonly termed, sometimes arises from +violent exertions; at other times, by the animal unexpectedly treading +on some uneven surface. + +_Treatment._--First wash the foot clean, then carefully examine the +cleft, and remove any substance that may have lodged there. A cotton +bandage folded around the claws and continued above the fetlock, kept +wet with the following lotion, will speedily reduce any excess of +inflammatory action that may exist:-- + + Acetic acid, 1 ounce. + Water, 1 pint. + +_Another._ + + Vinegar, 1 pint. + Water, 3 pints. + + + + +STRAIN OF THE HIP. + + +This may sometimes occur in working oxen. Rest is the principal remedy. +The part may, however, be bathed daily with the following:-- + + Wormwood, 4 ounces. + Scalding vinegar, 2 quarts. + +The liquor must be applied cold. + +_Strain of the knees_ or _shoulder_ may be treated in the same manner as +above. + + + + +FOUL IN THE FOOT. + + +A great deal of learned nonsense has been written on this subject, which +only serves to plunge the farmer into a labyrinth from which there is no +escape. The author will not trespass on the reader's patience so much as +to transcribe different authors' opinions in relation to the nature of +the disease and its treatment, but will proceed at once to point out a +common-sense explanation of its cause, and the proper mode of treating +it. + +The disease is analogous to foot rot in sheep, and is the consequence of +feeding in wet pastures, or suffering the animals to wallow in filth. A +large quantity of morbific or excrementitious matter is thrown off from +the system through the surfaces between the cleft. Now, should those +surfaces be obstructed by filth, or contracted by cold, the delicate +mouths of these excrementitious vessels, or outlets, are unable to rid +the parts of their morbid accumulations: these vessels become distended +beyond their usual capacity, communicate with each other, and, when no +longer able to contain this mass of useless material, an artificial +drain, in the form of "foot rot," is established, by which simple method +the parts recover their reciprocal equilibrium. In this case, as in +diarrhoea, we recognize a simple and sanative operation of nature's +law, which, if aided, will generally prove beneficial. + +That "foul in the foot" is caused by the sudden stoppage of some natural +evacuation is evident from the following facts: First, the disease is +most prevalent in cold, low, marshy countries, where the foot is kept +constantly moist. Secondly, the disease is neither contagious nor +epidemic. (See _Journal de Med. Vet. et comparee_, 1826, p. 319.) + +_Treatment._--In all cases of obstruction to the depurating apparatus, +there is a loss of equilibrium between secretion and excretion. The +first indication is, to restore the lost function. Previously, however, +to doing so, the animal must be removed to a dry situation. The cause +once removed, the cure is easy, provided we merely assist nature and +follow her teachings. As warmth and moisture are known to relax all +animal fibre, the part should be relaxed, warmed, and cleansed, first by +warm water and soap, lastly by poultice; at the same time bearing in +mind that the object is not to produce or invite suppuration, (formation +of matter,) but only to liberate the excess of morbid materials that may +already be present: as soon as this is accomplished, the poultice should +be discontinued. + +_Poultice for Foul Feet._ + + Roots of marshmallows, bruised, half a pound. + Powdered charcoal, a handful. + " lobelia, a few ounces. + Meal, a tea-cupful. + Boiling water sufficient to soften the mass. + +_Another_. + + Powdered lobelia, } + Slippery elm, } equal parts. + Pond lily, bruised, } + +Mix with boiling water. Put the ingredients into a bag, and secure it +above the fetlock. + +Give the animal the following at a dose:-- + + Flowers of sulphur, half an ounce. + Powdered sassafras bark, 1 ounce. + Burdock, (any part of the plant,) 2 ounces. + +The above to be steeped in one quart of boiling water. When cool, +strain. All that is now needed is to keep the part cleansed, and at +rest. If a fetid smell still remains, wet the cleft, morning and +evening, with + + Chloride of soda, 1 ounce. + Water, 6 ounces. + +Mix. + +_Another._ + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Water, a pint. + +Mix. + +_Another._ + + Common salt, 1 table-spoonful. + Vinegar, a wine-glass. + Water, 1 quart. + +Whenever any fungous excrescence makes its appearance between the claws, +apply powdered bloodroot or burnt alum. + + + + +RED WATER. + + +This affection takes its name from the high color of the urine. It is +not, strictly speaking, a disease, but only a symptom of derangement, +caused by high feeding or the suppression of some natural discharge. If, +for example, the skin be obstructed, then the insensible perspiration +and excrementitious matter, which should pass through this great outlet, +find some other mode of egress; either the lungs of kidneys have to +perform the extra work. If the lot falls on the latter, and they are not +in a physiological state, they give evidence of febrile or inflammatory +action (caused by the irritating, acrid character of their secretion) in +the form of high-colored urine. In all cases of derangement in the +digestive apparatus, liver included, both in man and oxen, the urine is +generally high colored; and the use of diuretic medicines is +objectionable, for, at best, it would only be treating symptoms. We lay +it down as a fundamental principle, that those who treat symptoms alone +never cure disease, for the animal often dies a victim to the treatment, +instead of the malady. + +Whenever an animal is in a state of plethora, and the usual amount of +morbific matter cannot find egress, some portion of it is reabsorbed, +producing a deleterious effect: the urine will then be high colored, +plainly demonstrating that nature is making an effort to rid the system +of useless material, and will do so unless interfered with by the use of +means opposed to the cure, such as blood-letting, physicking, and +diuretics. + +The urine will appear high colored, and approach a red hue, in many cows +after calving, in inflammation of the womb, gastric fever, puerperal +fever, fevers generally, inflammation of the kidneys, indigestion; in +short, many forms of acute disease are accompanied by high-colored +urine. + +The treatment, like that of any other form of derangement, must be +general. Excite all parts of the system to healthy action. If the bowels +are constipated, give the following:-- + + Golden seal, 1 table-spoonful. + Thoroughwort tea, 2 quarts. + +To be given at a dose. Scalded shorts will be the most suitable food, if +any is required; but, generally, abstinence is necessary, especially if +the animal be fat. If the surface and extremities are cold, give an +infusion of pennyroyal, catnip, sage, or hyssop; and rub the belly and +legs with + + Hot vinegar, 1 quart. + Powdered lobelia or cayenne, 1 ounce. + +If the kidneys are inflamed,--which may be known by tenderness in the +region of the loins, and by the animal standing with the legs widely +separated,--the urine being of a dark red color, then, in addition to +the application of stimulating liniment to the belly and legs, a +poultice may be placed over the kidneys. + +_Poultice for inflamed Kidneys._ + + Slippery elm, 8 ounces. + Lobelia, 4 ounces. + Boiling water sufficient. + +_Another._ + + Linseed, } equal parts + Marshmallows, } + Boiling water sufficient. + +Lay the poultice on the loins, pass a cloth over it, and secure under +the belly. + +A drink of marshmallows is the only fluid that can with safety be +allowed. + +If the horns, ears, and surface are hot, sponge the whole surface with +weak lie or saleratus water, and give the following antifebrile drink:-- + + Lemon balm, 2 ounces. + Cream of tartar, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + Honey, 1 gill. + +When cold, strain, and give a pint every fifteen minutes. + +If the bowels are constipated, use injections of soap-suds. + +Suppose the animal to be in poor condition, hide bound, liver inactive, +the excrement of a dark color and fetid odor. Then use + + Powdered golden seal, 2 ounces. + " caraways, 1 ounce. + " cayenne, 1 tea-spoonful. + Poplar bark, or slippery elm, 2 ounces. + +Mix, divide into ten parts, and give one, in thin gruel, three times a +day. The animal should be fed on boiled carrots, scalded shorts, into +which a few handfuls of meal or flour may be stirred. In short, consider +the nature of the case; look beyond the symptoms, ascertain the cause, +and, if possible, remove it. An infusion of either of the following +articles may be given at discretion: marshmallows, linseed, juniper +berries, pond lily roots, poplar bark, or queen of the meadow. + +Mr. Cole remarks that "red water is most common in cows of weak +constitution, a general relaxation, poor blood, &c." + +In such cases, a nutritious diet, cleanliness, good nursing, friction on +the surface, comfortable quarters at night, and an occasional tonic will +accomplish wonders. + +_Tonic Mixture._ + + Powdered golden seal, 1 tea-spoonful. + " balmony, 2 tea-spoonfuls. + +Mix the above in shorts or meal. Repeat night and morning until +convalescence is established. In cases of great prostration, where it is +necessary to act with promptitude, the following infusion may be +substituted:-- + + Thoroughwort, } + Golden seal, } of each, 1 ounce. + Camomile flowers, } + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +After standing one hour, strain, and give a pint every four hours. + + + + +BLACK WATER. + + +My plan of treatment, in this malady, is similar to that for red water. +In both cases, it is indispensable to attend to the general health, to +promote the discharge of all the secretions, to remove all obstructions +to the full and free play of all parts of the living machinery. The same +remedies recommended in the preceding article are equally good in this +case, only they must be more perseveringly applied. + + + + +THICK URINE. + + +Whenever the urine is thick and turbid, deficient in quantity, or voided +with difficulty, either of the following prescriptions may be +administered:-- + + Juniper berries, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Strain. Dose, 1 pint every four hours. + +_Another._ + + Slippery elm, 1 ounce. + Poplar bark, 2 ounces. + +Make a tea; sweeten with molasses, and give pint doses every four hours. + +_Another._ + +Make a tea of cedar or pine boughs, sweeten with honey, and give it at +discretion. + + + + +RHEUMATISM. + + +Rheumatism thrives in cold, damp situations, and in wet, foggy weather. +It is often confined to the membranes of the large joints, and sometimes +consists in a deficiency of joint oil, (_synovia._) It is liable to +become chronic, and involve the fibro-muscular tissues. Acute rheumatism +is known by the pain and swelling in certain parts. Chronic rheumatism +is recognized by coldness, rigidity about the muscles, want of vital +action, &c. + +When lameness, after a careful examination, cannot be accounted for, and +is found to go off after exercise, and return again, it is probably +rheumatism. + + +_Treatment of Acute Rheumatism._--Bathe the parts with an infusion of +arnica flowers, made thus:-- + + Arnica flowers, 4 ounces. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +When sufficiently cool, it is fit for use. + +Give the following:-- + + Sulphur, 2 ounces. + Cream of tartar, 3 ounces. + Powdered pleurisy root, 1 ounce. + " licorice, 2 ounces. + Indian meal, 1 pound. + +Mix. Give a table-spoonful three times a day in the feed. A light diet +and rest are indispensable. + + +_Treatment of Chronic Rheumatism._--Put the animal on a generous diet, +and give an occasional spoonful of golden seal or balmony in the food, +and a drink of sassafras tea. The parts may be rubbed with stimulating +liniment, for which, see APPENDIX. + + + + +BLAIN. + + +Some veterinary writers describe this disease as "a watery tumor, +growing at the root of the tongue, and threatening suffocation. The +first symptoms are foaming at the mouth, gaping, and lolling out of the +tongue." + +The disease first originates in the mucous surfaces, which enter into +the mouth, throat, and stomach. It partakes somewhat of the character of +thrush, and requires nearly the same treatment. + +Make an infusion of raspberry leaves, to which add a small quantity of +borax or alum. Wash the mouth and tongue with the same by means of a +sponge. If there are any large pustules, open them with the point of a +penknife. After cleansing them, sprinkle with powdered bayberry bark, or +bloodroot. Rid the system of morbid matter by injection and physic, +(which see, in APPENDIX.) The following antiseptic drink will +then complete the cure:-- + +Make a tea of raspberry leaves by steeping two ounces in a quart of +boiling water; when cool, strain; then add + + Powdered charcoal, 2 ounces. + " bayberry bark, 1 ounce. + Honey, 2 table-spoonfuls. + +Give a pint every four hours. + +The diet should consist of scalded meal, boiled turnips, carrots, &c., +to which a small portion of salt may be added. If the glands under the +ears and around the throat are sympathetically affected, and swollen, +they must be rubbed twice a day with the stimulating liniment. (See +APPENDIX.) + +The disease is supposed, by some veterinarians, to originate in the +tongue, but post mortem examinations lead us to determine otherwise. Mr. +Youatt informs us that "post mortem examination shows intense +inflammation, or even gangrene, of the tongue, oesophagus, paunch, and +fourth stomach. The food in the paunch has a most offensive smell, and +that in the manyplus is hard and dry. Inflammation reaches to the small +intestines, which are covered with red and black patches in the +coecum, colon, and rectum." + + + + +THRUSH. + + +_Thrush_, and all eruptive diseases of the throat and internal surface, +are treated in the same manner as laid down in Blaine. + + + + +BLACK TONGUE. + + +Black Tongue appears when the system is deprived of vital force, as in +the last stages of blaine, &c. The indications to be fulfilled are the +same as in blaine, but applied with more perseverance. + + + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE THROAT AND ITS APPENDAGES.[12] + + +In many cases, if attended to immediately, nothing more will be +necessary than confining the animal to a light diet, with frequent +drinks of linseed tea, warmth and moisture applied locally in the form +of a slippery elm poultice, which may be kept in close contact with the +throat by securing it to the horns. But, in very severe attacks, mullein +leaves steeped in vinegar and applied to the parts, with an occasional +stimulating injection, (see APPENDIX,) together with a gruel +diet, are the only means of relief. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[12] This includes the larynx, pharynx, and trachea. + + + + +BRONCHITIS. + + +Bronchitis consists in a thickening of the fibrous and mucous surfaces +of the trachea, and generally results from maltreated hoose or catarrh. + +_Symptoms._--A dry, husky, wheezing cough, laborious breathing, hot +breath, and dry tongue. + +_Treatment._--Warm poultices of slippery elm or flaxseed, on the surface +of which sprinkle powdered lobelia. Apply them to the throat moderately +warm; if they are too hot they will prove injurious. In the first place +administer the following drink:-- + + Powdered licorice, 1 ounce. + " elecampane, half an ounce. + Slippery elm, 1 ounce. + +Boiling water sufficient to make it of the consistence of thin gruel. + +If there is great difficulty of breathing, add half a tea-spoon of +lobelia to the above, and repeat the dose night and morning. Linseed or +marshmallow tea is a valuable auxiliary in the treatment of this +disease. The animal should be comfortably housed, and the legs kept warm +by friction with coarse straw. + + + + +INFLAMMATION OF GLANDS. + + +There are numerous glandular bodies distributed over the animal +structure. Those to which the reader's attention is called are, first, +the parotid, situated beneath the ear; secondly, the sub-lingual, +beneath the tongue; lastly, the sub-maxillary, situated just within the +angle of the jaw. They are organized similarly to other glands, as the +kidneys, &c., possessing arteries, veins, lymphatics, &c., which +terminate in a common duct. They have also a ramification of nerves, and +the body of the gland has its own system of arterial vessels and +absorbents, which are enclosed by a serous membrane. They produce a +copious discharge of fluid, called saliva. Its use is to lubricate the +mouth, thereby preventing friction; also to lubricate the food, and +assist digestion. + +Inflammation of either of these glands may be known by the heat, +tenderness, enlargement, and difficulty of swallowing. They are usually +sympathetically affected, as in hoose, catarrh, influenza, &c., and +generally resume their natural state when these maladies disappear. + +_Treatment._--In the inflammatory stage, warm teas of marshmallows, or +slippery elm, and poultices of the same, are the best means yet known to +reduce it; they relax constricted or obstructed organs, and by being +directly applied to the parts affected, the more speedily and +effectually is the object accomplished. Two or three applications of +some relaxing poultice will be all that is needed; after which, apply + + Olive oil, or goose grease, 1 gill. + Spirits of camphor, 1 ounce. + Oil of cedar, 1 ounce. + Vinegar, half a gill. + +Mix. + +_Another._ + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Beef's gall, 1 gill. + Cayenne, 1 tea-spoonful. + +To be rubbed around the throat as occasion may require. All hard or +indigestible food will be injurious. + + + + +LOSS OF CUD. + + +Loss of Cud is a species of indigestion, and may be brought on by the +animal's eating greedily of some food to which it has been unaccustomed. +Loss of cud and loss of appetite are synonymous. + +_Compound for Loss of Cud._ + + Golden seal, powdered, 1 ounce. + Caraway, " 2 ounces. + Cream of tartar, half an ounce. + Powdered poplar bark, 2 ounces. + +Mix. Divide into six powders, and give one every four hours in a +sufficient quantity of camomile tea. + + + + +COLIC. + + +Colic is occasioned by a want of physiological power in the organs of +digestion, so that the food, instead of undergoing a chemico-vital +process, runs into fermentation, by which process carbonic acid gas is +evolved. + +_Symptoms._--The animal is evidently in pain, and appears very restless; +it occasionally turns its head, with an anxious gaze, to the left side, +which seems to be distended more than the right; there is an occasional +discharge of gas from the mouth and anus. + +_Treatment._--Give the following carminative:-- + + Powdered aniseed, half a tea-spoonful. + " cinnamon, " " + +To be given in a quart of spearmint tea, and repeated if necessary. + +_Another._ + + Powdered assafoetida, half a tea-spoon. + Thin gruel of slippery elm, 2 quarts. + Oil of aniseed, 20 drops. + +To be given at a dose. + +If the animal suffers much pain, apply fomentations to the belly, and +give the following injection:-- + + Powdered ginger, half an ounce. + Common salt, 1 table-spoonful. + Hot water, 1 gallon. + + + + +SPASMODIC COLIC. + + +This affection may be treated in the same manner as flatulent colic, +aided by warmth and moisture externally. The author has in many cases +cured animals of spasmodic colic with a little peppermint tea, brisk +friction upon the stomach and bowels, and an injection of warm water; +whereas, had the animals been compelled to swallow the usual amount of +gin, saleratus, castor oil, salts, and other nauseous, useless drugs, +they would probably have died. The reader, especially if he is an +advocate of the popular poisoning and blood-letting system, may ask, +What good can a little simple peppermint tea accomplish? We answer, +Nature delights in simples, and in all her operations invites us to +follow her example. The fact is, warm peppermint tea, although in the +estimation of the learned it is not entitled to any confidence as a +therapeutic agent, yet is an efficient anti-spasmodic in the hands of +reformers and common-sense farmers. It is evident that if any changes +are made in the symptoms, they ought to be for the better; yet under the +heroic practice they often grow worse. + + + + +CONSTIPATION. + + +In constipation there is a retention of the excrement, which becomes dry +and hard. It may arise from derangement of the liver and other parts of +the digestive apparatus: at other times, there is a loss of equilibrium +between the mucous and external surface, the secretion of the former +being deficient, and the external surface throwing off too much moisture +in the form of perspiration. In short, constipation, in nine cases out +of ten, is only a symptom of a more serious disorder in some important +function. The use of powerful purges is at all times attended with +danger, and in very many cases they fall short of accomplishing the +object. Mr. Youatt tells us that "a heifer had been feverish, and had +refused all food during five days; and four pounds of Epsom salts, and +the same quantity of treacle, and three fourths of a pint of castor oil, +and numerous injections, had been administered before any purgative +effect could be produced." Several cases have come under the author's +notice where large doses of aloes, salts, and castor oil had been given +without producing the least effect on the bowels, until within a few +minutes of the death of the animal. If the animal ever recovers from the +dangerous effects resulting from powerful purges, it is evident that the +delicate membranes lining the alimentary canal must lose their energy +and become torpid. All mechanical irritants--for purges are of that +class--divert the fluids of the body from the surface and kidneys, +producing watery discharges from the bowels. This may be exemplified by +a person taking a pinch of snuff; the irritating article comes in +contact with the mucous surfaces: they endeavor to wash off the +offending matter by secreting a quantity of fluid; this, together with +what is forced through the membranes in the act of sneezing, generally +accomplishes the purpose. A constant repetition of the vile habit +renders the parts less capable of self-defence; they become torpid, and +lose their natural power of resisting encroachments; finally, the +altered voice denotes the havoc made on the mucous membrane. This +explains the whole _modus operandi_ of artificial purging; and although, +in the latter case, the parts are not adapted to sneezing, yet there is +often a dreadful commotion, which has destroyed many thousands of +valuable animals. An eminent professor has said that "purgatives, +besides being uncertain and uncontrollable, often kill from the +dangerous debility they produce." The good results that sometimes appear +to follow the exhibition of irritating purges must be attributed to the +sanative action of the constitution, and not to the agent itself; and +the life of the patient depends, in all cases, on the existing ability +of the vital power to counteract the effects of purging, bleeding, +poisoning, and blistering. + +The author does not wish to give the reader occasion to conclude that +purgatives can be entirely dispensed with; on the contrary, he thinks +that in many cases they are decidedly beneficial, when given with +discretion, and when the nature of the disease requires them; yet even +such cases, too much confidence should not be placed on them, so as to +exclude other and sometimes more efficient remedies, which come under +the head of laxatives, aperients, &c. + +_Treatment._--If costiveness is suspected to be symptomatic of some +derangement, then a restoration of the general health will establish the +lost function of the bowels. In this case, purges are unnecessary; the +treatment will altogether depend on the symptoms. For example, suppose +the animal constipated; the white of the eye tinged yellow, head +drooping, and the animal is drowsy, and off its feed; then give the +following:-- + + Powdered mandrake, 1 tea-spoonful. + Castile soap, in shavings, quarter of an ounce. + Beef's gall, half a wine-glass. + Powdered capsicum, third of a table-spoon. + +Dissolve the soap in a small quantity of hot water, then mix the whole +in three pints of thin gruel. + +This makes a good aperient, and can be given with perfect safety in all +cases of constipation arising from derangement of the liver. The liquid +must be poured down the throat in a gradual manner, in order to insure +its reaching the fourth stomach. Aid the medicine by injections, and rub +the belly occasionally with straw. + +Suppose the bowels to be torpid during an attack of inflammation of the +brain; then it will be prudent to combine relaxants and anti-spasmodics, +in the following form:-- + + Extract of butternut, half an ounce. + Powdered skunk cabbage, " + Cream of tartar, " + Powdered lobelia, 2 drachms. + +First dissolve the butternut in two quarts of hot water; after which add +the remaining ingredients, and give it for a dose. The operation of this +prescription, like the preceding, must be aided by injection, friction, +and warm drinks made of hyssop or pine boughs. + +Suppose the bowels to be constipated, at the same time the animal is +hide-bound, in poor condition, &c.; the aperient must then be combined +with tonics, as follows:-- + + Extract of butternut, half an ounce. + Rochelle salt, 4 ounces. + Golden seal, 1 ounce. + Ginger, 1 tea-spoonful. + Hot water, 3 quarts. + +Dissolve and administer at a dose. In order to relieve the cold, +constricted, inactive state of the hide, recourse must be had to warmth, +moisture, and friction. A simple aperient of linseed oil may be given in +cases of stricture or intussusception of the bowels. The dose is one +pint. + + + + +FALLING DOWN OF THE FUNDAMENT. + + +Return the prolapsed part as quickly as possible by gently kneading the +parts within the rectum. In recent cases, the part should be washed with +an infusion of bayberry bark. (See APPENDIX.) The bowel may be +kept in position by applying a wad of cotton, kept wet with the +astringent infusion, confined with a bandage. A weak solution of alum +water may, however, be substituted, provided the bayberry or white oak +bark is not at hand. + +Should the parts appear swollen and much inflamed, apply a large +slippery elm poultice, on the surface of which sprinkle powdered white +oak or bayberry bark. This will soon lessen the swelling, so that the +rectum may be returned. + +The diet must be very sparing, consisting of flour gruel; and if the +bowels are in a relaxed state, add a small quantity of powdered +bayberry. + + + + +CALVING. + + +At the end of nine months, the period of the cow's gestation is +complete; but parturition does not always take place at that time; it is +sometimes earlier, at others later. "One hundred and sixteen cows had +their time of calving registered: fourteen of them calved from the two +hundred and forty-first day to the two hundred and sixty-sixth +day,--that is, eight months and one day to eight months and twenty-six +days; fifty-six from the two hundred and seventieth to the two hundred +and eightieth day; eighteen from the two hundred and eightieth to the +two hundred and ninetieth; twenty on the three hundredth day; five on +the three hundred and eighth day; consequently there were sixty-seven +days between the two extremities." + +Immediately before calving, the animal appears uneasy; the tail is +elevated; she shifts from place to place, and is frequently lying down +and getting up again. The labor pains then come on; and by the expulsive +power of the womb, the foetus, with the membranes enveloping it, is +pushed forward. At first, the membranes appear beyond the vagina, or +"shape," often in the form of a bladder of water; the membranes burst, +the water is discharged, and the head and fore feet of the calf protrude +beyond the shape. We are now supposing a case of natural labor. The body +next appears, and soon the delivery is complete. In a short time, a +gradual contraction of the womb takes place, and the cleansings +(afterbirth) are discharged. When the membranes are ruptured in the +early stage of calving, and before the outlet be sufficiently expanded, +the process is generally tedious and attended with danger; and this +danger arises in part from the premature escape of the fluids contained +within the membranes, which are intended, ultimately, to serve the +double purpose of expanding or dilating the passage, and lubricating the +parts, thereby facilitating the birth. + +Under these circumstances, it will be our duty to supply the latter +deficiency by carefully anointing the parts with olive oil; at the same +time, allow the animal a generous supply of slippery elm gruel: if she +refuses to partake of it, when offered in a bucket, it must be gently +poured down the throat from a bottle. At times, delivery is very slow; a +considerable time elapses before any part of the calf makes its +appearance. Here we have only to exercise patience; for if there is a +natural presentation, nature, being the best doctor under all +circumstances, will do the work in a more faithful manner unassisted +than when improperly assisted. "A meddlesome midwifery is bad." +Therefore the practice of attempting to hurry the process by driving the +animal about, or annoying her in any way, is very improper. In some +cases, however, when a wrong presentation is apparent, which seems to +render calving impracticable, we should, after smearing the hand with +lard, introduce it into the vagina, and endeavor to ascertain the +position of the calf, and change it when it is found unfavorable. When, +for example, the head presents without the fore legs, which are bent +under the breast, we may gently pass the hand along the neck, and, +having ascertained the position of the feet, we grasp them, and endeavor +to bring them forward, the cow at the same time being put into the most +favorable position, viz., the hind quarters being elevated. By this +means the calf can be gently pushed back, as the feet are advanced and +brought into the outlet. The calf being now in a natural position, we +wait patiently, and give nature an opportunity to perform her work. +Should the expulsive efforts cease, and the animal appear to be rapidly +sinking, no time must be lost; nature evidently calls for assistance, +but not in the manner usually resorted to, viz., that of placing a rope +around the head and feet of the calf, and employing the united strength +of several men to extract the foetus, without regard to position. Our +efforts must be directed to the mother; the calf is a secondary +consideration: the strength of the former, if it is failing, must be +supported; the expulsive power of the womb and abdominal muscles, now +feeble, must be aroused; and there are no means or processes that are +better calculated to fulfil these indications than that of administering +the following drink:-- + + Bethroot, 2 ounces. + Powdered cayenne, one third of a tea-spoon. + Motherwort, 1 ounce. + +Infuse in a gallon of boiling water. When cool, strain, then add a gill +of honey, and give it in pint doses, as occasion may require. + +Under this treatment, there is no difficulty in reestablishing uterine +action. If, however, the labor is still tedious, the calf may be grasped +with both hands, and as soon as a pain or expulsive effort is evident, +draw the calf from side to side. While making this lateral motion, draw +the calf forward. Expulsion generally follows. + +If, on examination, it is clearly ascertained that the calf is lying in +an unnatural position,--for example, the calf may be in such a position +as to present its side across the outlet,--in such cases delivery is not +practicable unless the position is altered. Mr. White says, "I have seen +a heifer that it was found impossible to deliver. On examining her after +death, a very large calf was found lying quite across the mouth of the +uterus." In such cases, Mr. Lawson recommends that, "when every other +plan has failed for taming the calf, so as to put it in a favorable +position for delivery, the following has often succeeded: Let the cow be +thrown down in a proper position, and placed on her back; then, by means +of ropes and a pulley attached to a beam above, let the hind parts be +raised up, so as to be considerably higher than the fore parts; in this +position, the calf may be easily put back towards the bottom of the +uterus, so as to admit of being turned, or his head and fore legs +brought forward without difficulty." + +We must ever bear in mind the important fact that the successful +termination of the labor depends on the strength and ability of the +parent; that if these fail, however successful we may be in bringing +about a right presentation, the birth is still tedious, and we may +finally have to take the foetus away piecemeal; by which process the +cow's life is put in jeopardy. + +To avoid such an unfortunate occurrence, support the animal's strength +with camomile tea. The properties of camomile are antispasmodic, +carminative, and tonic--just what is wanted. + +Mr. White informs us that "instances sometimes occur of the calf's head +appearing only, and so large that it is found impossible to put it back. +When this is found to be the case, the calf should be killed, and +carefully extracted, by cutting off the head and other parts that +prevent the extraction; thus the cow's life will be saved." + +In cases of malformation of the head of the foetus, or when the +cranium is enormously distended by an accumulation of fluid within the +ventricles of the brain, after all other remedies, in the form of +fomentations, lubricating antispasmodic drinks, have failed, then +recourse must be had to embryotomy. + + + + +EMBRYOTOMY. + + +For the following method of performing the operation we are indebted to +Mr. Youatt's work. The details appeared in the London Veterinarian of +1831, and will illustrate the operation. M. Thibeaudeau, the operating +surgeon, says, "I was consulted respecting a Breton cow twenty years +old, which was unable to calve. I soon discovered the obstacle to the +delivery. The fore limbs presented themselves as usual; but the head and +neck were turned backwards, and fixed on the left side of the chest, +while the foetus lay on its right side, on the inferior portion of the +uterus." M. Thibeaudeau then relates the ineffectual efforts he made to +bring the foetus into a favorable position, and he at length found +that his only resource to save the mother was, to cut in pieces the +calf, which was now dead. "I amputated the left shoulder of the foetus," +says he, "in spite of the difficulties which the position of the head +and neck presented. Having withdrawn the limb, I made an incision +through all the cartilages of the ribs, and laid open the chest through +its whole extent, by which means I was enabled to extract all the +thoracic viscera. Thus having lessened the size of the calf, I was +enabled, by pulling at the remaining fore leg, to extract the foetus +without much resistance, although the head and neck were still bent upon +the chest. The afterbirth was removed immediately afterwards." This +shows the importance of making an early examination, to determine the +precise position of the foetus; for if the head had been discovered in +such position in the early stage of labor, it might have been brought +forward, and thus prevented the butchery. + + + + +FALLING OF THE CALF-BED, OR WOMB. + + +When much force used in extracting the calf, it sometimes happens that +the womb falls out, or is inverted; and great care is required in +putting it back, so that it may remain in that situation. + +_Treatment._--If the cow has calved during the night, in a cold +situation, and, from the exhausted state of the animal, we have reason +to suppose that the labor has been tedious, or that she has taken cold, +efforts must be made to restore the equilibrium. The following +restorative must be given:-- + + Motherwort tea, 2 quarts. + Hot drops, 1 table-spoonful. + Powdered cinnamon, 1 tea-spoonful. + +Give a pint every ten minutes, and support the animal with flour gruel. + +The uterus should be returned in the following manner: Place the cow in +such a position that the hind parts shall be higher than the fore. Wash +the uterus with warm water, into which sprinkle a small quantity of +powdered bayberry; remove any extraneous substance from the parts. A +linen cloth is then to be put under the womb, which is to be held by two +assistants. The cow should be made to rise, if lying down,--that being +the most favorable position,--and the operator is then to grasp the +mouth of the womb with both hands and return it. When so returned, one +hand is to be immediately withdrawn, while the other remains to prevent +that part from falling down again. The hand at liberty is then to grasp +another portion of the womb, which is to be pushed into the body, like +the former, and retained with one hand. This is to be repeated until the +whole of the womb is put back. If the womb does not contract, friction, +with a brush, around the belly and back, may excite contraction. An +attendant must, at the same time, apply a pad wetted with weak alum +water to the "shape," and keep it in close contact with the parts, while +the friction is going on. It is sometimes necessary to confine the pad +by a bandage. + + + + +GARGET. + + +In order to prevent this malady, the calf should be put to suck +immediately after the caw has cleansed it; and, if the bag is distended +with an overplus of milk, some of it should be milked off. If, however, +the teats or quarters become hot and tender, foment with an infusion of +elder or camomile flowers, which must be perseveringly applied, at the +same time drawing, in the most gentle manner, a small quantity of milk; +by which means the over-distended vessels will collapse to their healthy +diameter. An aperient must then be given, (see APPENDIX,) and +the animal be kept on a light diet. If there is danger of matter +forming, rub the bag with the following liniment:-- + + Goose oil, } equal parts. + Hot drops, } + +If the parts are exceedingly painful, wash with a weak lie, or wood +ashes, or sal soda. In spite of all our efforts, matter will sometimes +form. As soon as it is discovered, a lancet may be introduced, and the +matter evacuated; then wash the part clean, and apply the stimulating +liniment. (See APPENDIX.) + + + + +SORE TEATS. + + +First wash with castile soap and warm water; then apply the following:-- + + Lime water, } equal parts. + Linseed oil, } + + +CHAPPED TEATS AND CHAFED UDDER. + +These may be treated in the same manner. + +If the above preparation is not at hand, substitute bayberry tallow, +elder or marshmallow ointment. + + + + +FEVER. + + +_Description and Definition._--Fever is a powerful effort of the vital +principle to expel from the system morbific or irritating matter, or to +bring about a healthy action. The reason why veterinary practitioners +have not ascertained this fact heretofore is, because they have been +guided by false principles, to the exclusion of their own common +experience. Let them receive the truth of the definition we have given; +then the light will begin to shine, and medical darkness will be +rendered more visible. Fever, we have said, is a vital action--an effort +of the vital power to regain its equilibrium of action through the +system, and should never be subdued by the use of the lancet, or any +destructive agents that deprive the organs of the power to produce it. +Fever will be generally manifested in one or more of that combination of +signs known as follows: loss of appetite, increased velocity of the +pulse, difficult respiration, heaving at the flank, thirst, pain, and +swelling; some of which will be present, local or general, in greater or +less degree, in all forms of disease. When an animal has taken cold, +and there is power in the system to keep up a continual warfare against +encroachments, the disturbance of vital action being unbroken, the fever +is called pure or persistent. Emanations from animal or vegetable +substances in a state of decomposition or putrefaction, or the noxious +miasmata from marshy lands, if concentrated, and not sufficiently +diluted with atmospheric air, enter into the system, and produce a +specific effect. In order to dethrone the intruder, who keeps up a +system of aggression from one tissue to another, the vital power arrays +her artillery, in good earnest, to resist the invading foe; and if +furnished with the munitions of war in the form of sanative agents, she +generally conquers the enemy, and dictates her own terms. While the +forces are equally balanced, which may be known by a high grade of vital +action, it is also called _unbroken_ or _pure_ fever. The powers of the +system may become exhausted by efforts at relief, and the fever will be +periodically reduced; this form of fever is called _remittent_. By +remittent fever is to be understood this modification of vital action +which rests or abates, but does not go entirely off before a fresh +attack ensues. It is evident, in this case, also, that nature is busily +engaged in the work of establishing her empire; but being more +exhausted, she occasionally rests from her labors. It would be as absurd +to expect that the most accurate definition of fever in one animal would +correspond in all its details with another case, as to expect all +animals to be alike. There are many names given to fevers; for example, +in addition to the two already alluded to, we have milk or puerperal +fever, symptomatic, typhus, inflammatory, &c. Veterinary Surgeon +Percival, in an article on fever, says, "We have no more reason--not +near so much--to give fever a habitation in the abdomen, than we have to +enthrone it in the head; but it would appear from the full range of +observation, that no part of the body can be said to be unsusceptible of +inflammation, (local fever,) though, at the same time, no organ is +invariably or exclusively affected." + +From this we learn that disease always attacks the weakest organ, and +that our remedies should be adapted to act on all parts of the system. + +The same author continues, "All I wish to contend for is, that both +idiopathic and symptomatic fevers exhibit the same form, character, +species, and the same general means of cure; and that, were it not for +the local affection, it would be difficult or impossible to distinguish +them." + +Fever has always been the great bugbear, to scare the farmer and cattle +doctor into a wholesale system of blood-letting and purging; they +believe that the more fever the animal manifests, the more unwearied +must be their exertions. The author advises the farmer not to feel +alarmed about the fever; for when that is present it shows that the +vital principle is up and doing. Efforts should be made to open the +outlets of the body, through which the morbific materials may pass: the +fever will then subside. It will be difficult to make the community +credit this simple truth, because fever is quite a fashionable disease, +and it is an easy matter to make the farmer believe that his cow has a +very peculiar form of it, that requires an entirely different mode of +treatment from that of another form. Then it is very profitable to the +interested allopathic doctor, who can produce any amount of "learned +nonsense" to justify the ways and means, and support his theory. + +The author does not wish, at the present time, to enter into a learned +discussion of the merit or demerit of allopathy: the object of this work +is, to impart practical information to farmers and owners of stock. In +order to accomplish this object, an occasional reference to the +absurdities of the old school is unavoidable. + +A celebrated writer has said, "The very medicines [meaning those used by +the old school, which kill more than they ever cure] which aggravate and +protract the malady bind a laurel on the doctor's brow. When, at last, +the sick are saved by the living powers of nature struggling against +death and the physician, he receives all the credit of a miraculous +cure; he is lauded to the skies for delivering the sick from the details +of the most deadly symptoms of misery into which he himself had plunged +them, and out of which they never would have arisen, but by the +restorative efforts of that living power which at once triumphed over +poison, blood-letting, disease, and death." + +In the treatment of disease, and when fever is manifested by the signs +just enumerated, the object is, to invite the blood to the external +surface; or, in other words, equalize the circulation by warmth and +moisture; give diaphoretic or sudorific medicines, (see +APPENDIX,) with a view of relaxing the capillary structure, +ridding the system of morbific materials, and allaying the general +excitement. If the ears and legs are cold, rub them diligently with a +brush; if they again relapse into a cold state, rub them with +stimulating liniment, and bandage them with flannel. In short, to +contract, to stimulate, remove obstructions, and furnish the system with +the materials for self-defence, are the means to be resorted to in the +cure of fevers. + +We shall now give a few examples of the treatment of fever; from which +the reader will form some idea of the course to be pursued in other +forms not enumerated. But we may be asked why we make so many divisions +of fever when it is evidently a unit. We answer the question, in the +words of Professor Curtis, whose teachings first emancipated us from the +absurdity of allopathic theories. "These divisions were made by the +learned in physic, and we follow them out in their efforts to divide +what is in its nature indivisible, to satisfy the demands of the public, +and to give it in small crumbs to those practitioners of the art who +have not capacity enough to take in the whole at a single mouthful." + +In the treatment of fevers, we must endeavor to remove all intruding +agents, their influences and effects, and reestablish a full, free, and +universal equilibrium throughout the system. "The means are," says +Professor Curtis, "antispasmodics, stimulants, and tonics, with +emollients to grease the wheels of life. Disprove these positions, and +we lay by the pen and 'throw physic to the dogs.' Adhere strictly to +them in the use of the best means, and you will do all that can be done +in the hour of need." + + +MILK OR PUERPERAL FEVER. + +_Treatment._--Aperients are exceedingly important in the early stages, +for they liberate any offending matter that may have accumulated in the +different compartments of the stomach or intestines, and deplete the +system with more certainty and less danger than blood-letting. + +_Aperient for Puerperal Fever._ + + Rochelle salts, 4 ounces. + Manna, 2 ounces. + Extract of butternut, half an ounce. + Dissolve in boiling water, 3 quarts. + +To be given at a dose. + +By the aid of one or more of the following drinks, the aperient will +generally operate:-- + +Give a bountiful supply of hyssop tea, sweetened with honey. Keep the +surface warm. + +Suppose the secretion of milk to be arrested; then apply warm +fomentations to the udder. + +Suppose the bowels to be torpid; then use injections of soap-suds and +salt. + +Suppose the animal to be in poor condition; then give the following:-- + + Powdered balmony or gentian, 1 ounce. + Golden seal, 1 ounce. + Flour gruel, 1 gallon. + +To be given in quart doses, every four hours. + +Suppose the bowels to be distended with gas; then give the following:-- + + Powdered caraways, 1 ounce. + Assafoetida, 1 tea-spoonful. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +To be given at a dose. + +Any of the above preparations may be repeated, as circumstances seem to +require. Yet it must be borne in mind that we are apt to do too much, +and that the province of the good physician is "to know when to do +nothing." The following case from Mr. Youatt's work illustrates this +fact:-- + +"A very singular variety of milk fever has already been hinted at. The +cow is down, but there is apparently nothing more the matter with her +than that she is unable to rise; she eats and drinks, and ruminates as +usual, and the evacuations are scarcely altered. In this state she +continues from ten days to a fortnight, and then she gets up well." Yes, +and many thousands more would "get up well," if they were only let +alone. Nature requires assistance sometimes; hence the need of doctors +and nurses. All, however, that is required of the doctor to do is, just +to attend to the calls of nature,--whose servant he is,--and bring her +what she wants to use in her own way. The nearer the remedies partake or +consist of air, water, warmth, and food, the more sure and certain are +they to do good. + +If a cow, in high condition, has just calved, appears restless, becomes +irritable, the eye and tongue protruding, and a total suspension of milk +takes place, we may conclude that there is danger of puerperal fever. No +time should be lost: the aperient must be given immediately; warm +injections must be thrown into the rectum, and the teats must be +industriously drawn, to solicit the secretion of milk. In this case, all +food should be withheld: "starve a fever" suits this case exactly. + + +INFLAMMATORY FEVER. + +Inflammatory fever manifests itself very suddenly. The animal may appear +well during the day, but at night it appears dull, refuses its food, +heaves at the flanks, seems uneasy, and sometimes delirious; the pulse +is full and bounding; the mouth hot; urine high colored and scanty. +Sometimes there are hot and cold stages. + +_Remarks._--When disease attacks any particular organ suddenly, or in an +acute form, inflammatory fever generally manifests itself. Now, disease +may attack the brain, the lungs, kidneys, spleen, bowels, pleura, or +peritoneum. Inflammatory fever may be present in each case. Now, it is +evident that the fever is not the real enemy to be overcome; it is only +a manifestation of disorder, not the cause of it. The skin may be +obstructed, thereby retaining excrementitious materials in the system: +the reabsorption of the latter produces fever; hence it is obvious that +a complete cure can only be effected by the removal of its causes, or, +rather, the restoration of the suppressed evacuations, secretions, or +excretions. + +It is very important that we observe and imitate nature in her method of +curing fever, which is, the restoration of the secretions, and, in many +cases, by sweat, or by diarrhoea; either of which processes will +remove the irritating or offending cause, and promote equilibrium of +action throughout the whole animal system. In fulfilling these +indications consists the whole art of curing fever. + +But says one, "It is a very difficult thing to sweat an ox." Then the +remedies should be more perseveringly applied. Warm, relaxing, +antispasmodic drinks should be freely allowed, and these should be aided +by warmth, moisture, and friction externally; and by injection, if +needed. If the ox does not actually sweat under this system of +medication, he will throw off a large amount of insensible perspiration. + +_Causes._--In addition to the causes already enumerated, are the +accumulation of excrementitious and morbific materials in the system. +Dr. Eberle says, "A large proportion of the recrementitious elements of +perspirable matter must, when the surface is obstructed, remain and +mingle with the blood, (unless speedily removed by the vicarious action +of some other emunctory,) and necessarily impart to this fluid qualities +that are not natural to it. Most assuredly the retention of materials +which have become useless to the system, and for whose constant +elimination nature has provided so extensive a series of emunctories as +the cutaneous exhalents, cannot be long tolerated by the animal economy +with entire impunity." + +Dr. White says, "Many of the diseases of horses and cattle are caused by +suppressed or checked perspiration; the various appearances they assume +depending, perhaps, in great measure, upon the suddenness with which +this discharge is stopped, and the state of the animal at the time it +takes place. + +"Cattle often suffer from being kept in cold, bleak situations, +particularly in the early part of spring, during the prevalence of an +easterly wind; in this case, the suppression of the discharge is more +gradual, and the diseases which result from it are slower in their +progress, consequently more insidious in their nature; and it often +happens that the animal is left in the same cold situation until the +disease is incurable." + +It seems probable that, in these cases, the perspiratory vessels +gradually lose their power, and that, at length, a total and permanent +suppression of that necessary discharge takes place; hence arise +inflammatory fever, consumption, decayed liver, rot, mesenteric +obstructions, and various other complaints. How necessary, therefore, is +it for proprietors of cattle to be provided with sheltered situations +for their stock! How many diseases might they prevent by such +precaution, and how much might they save, not only in preserving the +lives of their cattle, but in avoiding the expense (too often useless, +to say the least of it) of cattle doctoring! + +_Treatment._--We first give an aperient, (see APPENDIX,) to +deplete the system. The common practice is to deplete by blood-letting, +which only protracts the malady, and often brings on typhus, black +quarter, joint murrain, &c. Promote the secretions and excretions in the +manner already referred to under the head of _Puerperal Fever_; this +will relieve the stricture of the surface. A drink made from either of +the following articles should be freely given: lemon balm, wandering +milk weed, thoroughwort, or lady's slipper, made as follows:-- + +Take either of the above articles, 2 ounces. +Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +When cool, strain, and add a wine-glass of honey. + +If there is great thirst, and the mouth is hot and dry, the animal may +have a plentiful supply of water. + +If the malady threatens to assume a putrid or malignant type, add a +small quantity of capsicum and charcoal to the drink, and support the +strength of the animal with flour gruel. + + +TYPHUS FEVER. + +_Causes._--Sudden changes in the temperature of the atmosphere, the +animal being at the same time in a state of debility, unable to resist +external agencies. + +_Treatment._--Support the powers of the system through the means of +nutritious diet, in the form of flour gruel, scalded meal and shorts, +bran-water, &c. + +Give tonics, relaxants, and antispasmodics, in the following form:-- + + Powdered capsicum, 1 tea-spoonful. + " bloodroot, 1 ounce. + " cinnamon, half an ounce. + Thoroughwort or valerian, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 1 gallon. + +When cold, strain, and give a quart every two hours. + +Remove the contents of the rectum by injections of a stimulating +character, and invite action to the extremities by rubbing them with +stimulating liniment, (which see.) A drink of camomile tea should be +freely allowed; if diarrhoea sets in, add half a tea-spoon of bayberry +bark to every two quarts of the tea. + +These few examples of the treatment of fever will give the farmer an +idea of the author's manner of treating it, who can generally break up a +fever in a few hours, whereas the popular method of "smothering the +fire," as Mr. Youatt terms the blood-letting process, instead of curing, +will produce all forms of fever. Here is a specimen of the treatment, in +fever of a putrid type, recommended by Dr. Brocklesby. He says, +"Immediately upon refusing fodder, the beast should have three quarts of +blood taken away; and after twelve hours, two quarts more; after the +next twelve hours, about three pints may be let out; and after the +following twelve hours, diminish a pint of blood from the quantity taken +away at the preceding blood-letting; lastly, about a single pint should +be taken away in less than twelve hours after the former bleeding; so +that, when the beast has been blooded five times, in the manner here +proposed, the worst symptoms will, it is hoped, abate; but if the +difficulty and panting for breath continue very great, I see no reason +against repeated bleeding." (See Lawson's work on cattle, p. 312.) The +author has consulted several authorities on the treatment of typhus, and +finds that the use of the lancet is invariably recommended. We do not +expect to find, among our American farmers, any one so reckless, so lost +to the common feelings of humanity, and his own interest, as to follow +out the directions here given by Dr. B.; still blood-letting is +practised, to some extent, in every section of the Union, and will +continue to be the sheet-anchor of the cattle doctor just so long as the +influential and cattle-rearing community shall be kept in darkness to +its destructive tendency. Unfortunately for the poor dumb brute, +veterinary writers have from time immemorial been uncompromising +advocates for bleeding; and through the influence which their talents +and position confer, they have wielded the medical sceptre with a +despotism worthy of a better cause. It were a bootless task to attempt +to reform the disciples of allopathy; for, if you deprive them of the +lancet, and their _materia medica_ of poisons, they cannot practise. +They must be reformed through public opinion; and for this purpose we +publish our own experience, and that of others who have dared to assail +allopathy, with the moral certainty that they would expose themselves to +contempt, and be branded as "medical heretics." + +No treatment is scientific, in the estimation of some, unless it +includes the lancet, firing-iron, setons, boring horns, cramming down +salts by the pound, and castor oil by the quart. The object of this work +is to correct this erroneous notion, and show the _farming community_ +that a safer and more efficient system of medication has just sprung +into existence. When the principles of this reformed system of +medication are understood and practised, then the veterinary science +will be a very different thing from what it has heretofore been, and men +will hail it as a blessing instead of a "curse." They will then know the +power that really cures, and devise means of prevention. And here, +reader, permit us to introduce the opinions of an able advocate of +reform in human practice:[13] the same remarks apply to cattle; for they +are governed by the same universal laws that we are, and whether we +prescribe for a man or an ox, the laws of the animal economy are the +same, and require that the same indications shall be fulfilled. + +"A little examination into the consequences of blood-letting will prove +that, so far from its being beneficial, it is productive of the most +serious effects. + +"Nature has endowed the animal frame with the power of preparing, from +proper aliment, a certain quantity of blood. This vital fluid, +subservient to nutrition, is, by the amazing structure of the heart and +blood-vessels, circulated through the different parts of the system. A +certain natural balance between what is taken in and what passes off by +the several outlets of the body is, in a state of health, regularly +preserved. When this balance, so essential to health and life, is, +contrary to the laws of the animal constitution, interrupted, either a +deviation from a sound state is immediately perceived, or health from +that moment is rendered precarious. Blood-letting tends artificially to +destroy the natural balance in the constitution." (For more important +information on blood-letting, see the author's work on the Horse; also +page 58 of the present volume.) + +FOOTNOTE: + +[13] Dr. Beach. + + + + +HORN AIL IN CATTLE. + + +On applying the hand to the horn or horns of a sick beast, an unnatural +heat, or sometimes coldness, is felt: this enables us to judge of the +degree of sympathetic disturbance. And here, reader, permit us to +protest against a cruel practice, that is much in fashion, viz., that of +boring the horns with a gimlet; for it does not mend the matter one jot, +and at best it is only treating symptoms. The gimlet frequently +penetrates the frontal sinuses which communicate with the nasal +passages, and where mucous secretion, if vitiated or tenacious, will +accumulate. On withdrawing the gimlet, a small quantity of thick mucus, +often blood, escapes, and the interested operator will probably bore the +other horn. Now, it often happens that after the point of the gimlet has +passed through one side of the horn and bony structure, it suddenly +enters a sinus, and does not meet with any resistance until it reaches +the opposite side. Many a "mare's nest" has been found in this way, +usually announced as follows: "The horn is hollow!" Again, in aged +animals, the bony structure within the horn often collapses or shrinks, +forming a sinus or cavity within the horn: by boring in a lateral +direction, the gimlet enters it; the horn is then pronounced hollow! +and, according to the usual custom, must be doctored. An abscess will +sometimes form in the frontal sinuses, resulting from common catarrh or +"hoose;" the gimlet may penetrate the sac containing the pus, which thus +escapes; but it would escape, finally, through the nostrils, if it were +let alone. Here, again, the "horns are diseased;" and should the animal +recover, (which it would, eventually, without any interference,) the +recovery is strangely attributed to the boring process. An author, whose +name has escaped our memory, recommends "cow doctors to carry a gimlet +in their pocket." We say to such men, Lead yourselves not into +temptation! if you put a gimlet into your pocket, you will be very +likely to slip it into the cow's horn. Some men have a kind of +instinctive impulse to bore the cow's horns; we allude to those who are +unacquainted with the fact that "horn ail" is only a symptom of +derangement. It is no more a disease of the horns than it is of the +functions generally; for if there be an excess or deficiency of vital +action within or around the base of the horn, there must be a +corresponding deficiency or excess, as the case may be, in some other +region. + +"Horn ail," as it is improperly termed, we have said, may accompany +common catarrh, also that of an epidemic form; the horns will feel +unnatural if there be a determination of blood to the head: this might +be easily equalized by stimulating the external surface and extremities, +at the same time giving antispasmodic teas and regulating the diet. The +horns will feel cold whenever there is an unnatural distribution of the +blood, and this may arise from exposure, or suffering the animal to +wallow in filth. The author has been consulted in many cases of "horn +ail," in several of which there were slow fecal movements, or +constipation; the conjunctiva of the eyes were injected with yellow +fluid, and of course a deficiency of bile in the abomasum, or fourth +stomach; thus plainly showing that the animals were laboring under +derangement of the digestive organs. Our advice was, to endeavor to +promote a healthy action through the whole system; to stimulate the +digestive organs; to remove obstructions, both by injection, if +necessary, and by the use of aperients; lastly, to invite action to the +extremities, by stimulating liniments. Whenever these indications are +fulfilled, "horn ail" soon disappears. + + + + +ABORTION IN COWS. + + +Cows are particularly liable to the accident of "slinking the calf." The +common causes of abortion are, the respiration and ultimate absorption +of emanations from putrid animal remains, over-feeding, derangement of +the stomach, &c. The filthy, stagnant water they are often compelled to +drink is likewise a serious cause, not only of abortion, but also of +general derangement of the animal functions. Dr. White, V. S., tells us +that "a farm in England had been given up three successive times in +consequence of the loss the owners sustained by abortion in their +cattle. At length the fourth proprietor, after suffering considerably in +losses occasioned by abortion in his stock, suspected that the water of +his ponds, which was extremely filthy, might be the cause of the +mischief. He therefore dug three wells upon his farm, and, having fenced +round the pond to prevent the cattle from drinking there, caused them to +be supplied with the well water, in stone troughs erected for the +purpose; and from this moment the evil was remedied, and the quality of +the butter and cheese made on his farm was greatly improved. In order to +show," says the same author, "that the accident of abortion may arise +from a vitiated state of the digestive organs, I will here notice a few +circumstances tending to corroborate this opinion. In 1782, all the cows +of the farmer D'Euruse, in Picardy, miscarried. The period at which they +warped was about the fourth or fifth month. The accident was attributed +to the excessive heat of the preceding summer; but, as the water they +were in the habit of drinking was extremely bad, and they had been kept +on oat, wheat, and rye straw, it appears to me more probable, that the +great quantity of straw they were obliged to eat, in order to obtain +sufficient nourishment, and the injury sustained by the third stomach in +expressing the fluid parts of the masticated or ruminated mass, together +with the large quantity of water they drank, while kept on this dry +food, were the real causes of the miscarriage. + +"A farmer at Chariton, out of a dairy of twenty-eight cows, had sixteen +slip their calves at different periods of gestation. The summer had been +very dry; they had been pastured in a muddy place, which was flooded by +the Seine. Here the cows were generally up to their knees in mud and +water. In 1789, all the cows in a village near Mantes miscarried. All +the lands in this place were so stiff as to be, for some time, +impervious to water; and as a vast quantity of rain fell that year, the +pastures were for a time completely inundated, on which account the +grass became bad. This proves that keeping cows on food that is +deficient in nutritive properties, and difficult of digestion, is one of +the principal causes of miscarriage." Mr. Youatt says, "It is supposed +that the sight of a slipped calf, or the smell of putrid animal +substances, are apt to produce warping. Some curious cases of abortion, +which are worthy of notice, happened in the dairy of a French farmer. +For thirty years his cows had been subject to abortion. His cow-house +was large and well ventilated; his cows were in apparent health; they +were fed like others in the village; they drank the same water; there +was nothing different in the posture; he had changed his servants many +times in the course of thirty years; he pulled down the barn and +cow-house, and built another, on a different plan; he even, agreeably to +superstition, took away the aborted calf through the window, that the +curse of future abortion might not be entailed on the cow that passed +over the same threshold. To make all sure, he had broken through the +wall at the end of the cow-house, and opened a new door. But still the +trouble continued. Several of his cows had died in the act of abortion, +and he had replaced them by others; many had been sold, and their +vacancies filled up. He was advised to make a thorough change. This had +never occurred to him; but at once he saw the propriety of the counsel. +He sold every beast, and the pest was stayed, and never appeared in his +new stock. This was owing, probably, to sympathetic influence: the +result of such influence is as fatal as the direst contagion." + +My own opinion of this disease is, that it is one of nervous origin; +that there is a loss of equilibrium between the nerves of voluntary and +involuntary motion. The direct causes of this pathological state exist +in any thing that can derange the organs of digestion. Great sympathy is +known to exist between the organs of generation and the stomach: if the +latter be deranged, the former feels a corresponding influence, and the +sympathetic nerves are the media by which the change takes place. + +It invariably follows that, as soon as impregnation takes place, the +stomach from that moment takes on an irritable state, and is more +susceptible to the action of unfavorable agents. Thus the odor of putrid +substances cases nausea or relaxation when the animal is in a state of +pregnancy; otherwise, the same odor would not affect it in the least. +Professor Curtis says, "The nervous system constitutes the check lines +by which the vital spirit governs, as a coachman does his horses, the +whole motive apparatus of the animal economy; that every line, or +pencil, or ganglion of lines, in it, is antagonistic to some other line +or ganglion, so that, whenever the function of one is exalted, that of +some other is depressed. It follows, of course, that to equalize the +nervous action, and to sustain the equilibrium, is one of the most +important duties of the physician." + +In addition to the causes of abortion already enumerated, we may add +violent exercise, jumping dikes or hedges, sudden frights, and blows or +bruises. + +_Treatment._--When a cow has slipped her foetus, and appears in good +condition, the quantity of food usually given should be lessened. Give +the following drink every night for a week:-- + + Valerian, (herb,) 1 ounce. + Powdered skunk cabbage, 1 tea-spoonful. + +Steep in half a gallon of boiling water. When cold, strain and +administer. + +Suppose the animal to be in poor condition; then put her on a nourishing +diet, and give tonics and stimulants, as follows:-- + + Powdered gentian, 1 ounce. + " sassafras, 1 ounce. + Linseed or flaxseed, 1 pound. + +Mix. Divide into six portions, and give one, night and morning, in the +food, which ought to consist of scalded meal and shorts. A sufficient +quantity of hay should be allowed; yet grass will be preferable, if the +season permits. + +Suppose the animal to have received an injury; then rest and a scalded +diet are all that are necessary. As a means of prevention, see article +_Feeding_, page 17. + + + + +COW-POX. + + +This malady makes its appearance on the cow's teats in the form of small +pustules, which, after the inflammatory stage, suppurate. A small +quantity of matter then escapes, and forms a crust over the +circumference of each pustule. If the crust be suffered to remain until +new skin is formed beneath, they will heal without any interference. It +often happens, however, that, in the process of milking, the scabs are +rubbed off. The following wash must then be resorted to:-- + + Pyroligneous acid, a wine-glass. + Water, 1 pint. + +Wet the parts two or three times a day; medicine is unnecessary. A few +meals of scalded food will complete the cure. + + + + +MANGE. + + +"Mange may be generated either from excitement of the skin itself, or +through the medium of that sympathetic influence which is known to exist +between the skin and organs of digestion. We have, it appears to me, an +excellent illustration of this in the case of mange supervening upon +poverty--a fact too notorious to be disputed, though there may be +different ways of theorizing on it." + +Mr. Blanie says, "Mange has three origins--filth, debility, and +contagion." + + +_Treatment._--Rid the system of morbific materials with the following:-- + + Powdered sassafras, 2 ounces. + " charcoal, a handful. + Sulphur, 1 ounce. + +Mix, and divide into six parts; one to be given in the feed, night and +morning. The daily use of the following wash will then complete the +cure, provided proper attention be paid to the diet. + + _Wash for Mange._ + + Pyroligneous acid, 4 ounces. + Water, a pint. + +The mange is known to be infectious: this suggests the propriety of +removing the animal from the rest of the herd. + + + + +HIDE-BOUND. + + +This is seldom, if ever, a primary disease. The known sympathy existing +between the digestive organs and the skin enables us to trace the malady +to acute or chronic indigestion. + + +_Treatment._--The indications to be fulfilled are, to invite action to +the surface by the aid of warmth, moisture, friction, and stimulants, to +tone up the digestive organs, and relax the whole animal. The latter +indications are fulfilled by the use of the following:-- + + Powdered balmony, (snakehead,) 2 ounces. + " sassafras, 1 ounce. + Linseed, 2 pounds. + Sulphur, 1 ounce. + +Mix together, and divide the mass into eight equal parts, and give one +night and morning, in scalded shorts or meal; the better way, however, +is, to turn it down the throat. + +A few boiled carrots should be allowed, especially in the winter season, +for they possess peculiar remedial properties, which are generally +favorable to the cure. + + + + +LICE. + + +_Treatment._--Wash the skin, night and morning, with the following:-- + + Powdered lobelia seeds, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 1 quart. + +After standing a few hours, it is fit for use, and can be applied with a +sponge. + + + + +IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING THE SKIN OF ANIMALS IN A HEALTHY STATE. + + +This is a subject of great importance to the farmer; for many of the +diseases of cattle arise from the filthy, obstructed state of the +surface. This neglect of cleansing the hide of cattle arises, in some +cases, from the absurd notion (often expressed to the author) that the +hide of cattle is so thick and dense that they never sweat, except on +the muzzle! For the information of those who may have formed such an +absurd and dangerous notion, we give the views of Professor Bouley. "In +all animals, from the exterior tegumentary surface incessantly exhale +vaporous or gaseous matters, the products of chemical operations going +on in the interior of the organism, of which the uninterrupted +elimination is a necessary condition for the regular continuance of the +functions. Regarded in this point of view, the skin may be considered as +a dependency of the respiratory apparatus, of which it continues and +completes the function, by returning incessantly to the atmosphere the +combusted products, which are water and carbonic acid. + +"Therefore the skin, properly speaking, is an expiratory apparatus, +which, under ordinary conditions of the organism, exhales, in an +insensible manner, products analogous to those expired from the +pulmonary surface; with this difference, that the quantity of carbonic +acid is very much less considerable in the former than in the latter of +these exhalations; according to Burbach, the proportion of carbonic +acid, as inhaled by the skin, being to that expired by the lungs as 350 +to 23,450, or as 1 to 67. + +"The experiments made on inferior animals, such as frogs, toads, +salamanders, or fish, have demonstrated the waste by general +transpiration to be, in twenty-four hours, little less than half the +entire weight of the body." + +The same author remarks, "Direct experiment has shown, in the clearest +manner, the close relation of function existing between the perspiratory +and respiratory membranes." + +"M. Fourcault, with a view of observing, through different species of +animals, the effect of the suppression of perspiration, conceived the +notion of having the skins of certain live animals covered with varnish. +After having been suitably prepared, some by being plucked, others by +being shorn, he smeared them with varnish of variable composition; the +substances employed being tar, paste, glue, pitch, and other plastic +matters. Sometimes these, one or more of them, were spread upon parts, +sometimes upon the whole of the body. The effects of the operation have +varied, showing themselves, soon or late afterwards, decisively or +otherwise, according as the varnishing has been complete or general, or +only partial, thick, thin, &c. In every instance, the health of the +animal has undergone strange alterations, and life has been grievously +compromised. Those that have been submitted to experiment under our eyes +have succumbed in one, two, three days, and even at the expiration of +some hours." (See _London Veterinarian_ for 1850, p. 353.) + +In a subsequent number of the same work we find the subject resumed; +from which able production we select the following:-- + +"The suppression of perspiration has at all times been thought to have a +good deal to do with the production of disease. Without doubt this has +been exaggerated. But, allowing this exaggeration, is it not admitted by +all practitioners that causes which act through the medium of the skin +are susceptible, in sufficient degree, of being appreciated in the +circumstances ushering in the development of very many diseases, +especially those characterized by any active flux of the visceral +organs? For example, is it not an incontestable pathological fact, that +catarrhal, bronchial, pulmonic, and pleuritic affections, congestions of +the most alarming description in the vascular abdominal system of the +horse, inflammation of the peritoneum and womb following labor, +catarrhal inflammations of the bowels, even congestions of the feet, +&c., derive their origin, in a great number of instances, from cold +applied to the skin in a state of perspiration? What happens in the +organism after the application of such a cause? Is its effect +instantaneous? Let us see. Immediately on the repercussive action of +cold being felt by the skin, the vascular system of internal parts finds +itself filled with repelled blood. Though this effect, however, be +simply hydrostatic, the diseased phenomena consecutive on it are far +otherwise. + +"It is quite certain that, in the immense system of communicating +vessels forming the circulating apparatus, whenever any large quantity +of blood flows to any one particular part of the body, the other vessels +of the system must be comparatively empty.[14] The knowledge of this +organic hydrostatic fact it is that has given origin to the use of +revulsives under their various forms, and we all well know how much +service we derive from their use. + +"But in what does this diseased condition consist? Whereabouts is it +seated? + +"The general and undefined mode it has of showing its presence in the +organism points this out. Immediately subsequent to the action of the +cause, the actual seat of the generative condition of the disease about +to appear is the blood; this fluid it is which, having become actually +modified in its chemical compositions under the influence of the cause +that has momentarily obstructed the cutaneous exhalations, carries about +every where with it the disordered condition, and ultimately giving +rise, through it, to some local disease, as a sort of eruptive effort, +analogous in its object, but often less salutary in its effect; owing to +the functional importance of the part attacked, to the external +eruptions produced by the presence in the blood of virus, which alters +both its dynamic and chemical properties. + +"But what is the nature of this alteration? In this case, every clew to +the solution of this question fails us. We know well, when the +experiment is designedly prolonged, the blood grows black, as in +_asphyxia_, (loss of pulse,) through the combination with it of carbonic +acid, whose presence is opposed to the absorption of oxygen. But what +relation is there between this chemical alteration of blood here and the +modifications in composition it may undergo under the influence of +instantaneous suppression, but not persistent, of the cutaneous +exhalations and secretions? The experiments of Dr. Fourcault tend, on +the whole, to explain this. His experiments discover the primitive form +and almost the nature of the alteration the blood undergoes under the +influence of the cessation of the functions of the skin. They +demonstrate that under these conditions the regularity of the course of +this fluid is disturbed--that it has a tendency to accumulate and +stagnate within the internal organs: witness the abdominal pains so +frequently consequent on the application of plasters upon the skin, and +the congestions of the abdominal and pulmonary vascular systems met with +almost always on opening animals which have been suffocated through tar +or pitch plasters. + +"They prove, in fact, the thorough aptitude of impression of the nervous +system to blood altered in its chemical properties, while they afford us +an explication of the phenomena of depression, and muscular prostration, +and weakness, which accompany the beginning of disease consecutive on +the operation of cold. + +"How often do we put a stop to the ulterior development of disease by +restoring the function of the skin by mere [dry] friction, putting on +thick clothing, exposing to exciting fumigation, applying temporary +revulsives in the shape of mustard poultices, administering diffusible +stimuli made warm in drenches, trying every means to force the skin, and +so tend, by the reestablishment of its exhalent functions, to permit +the elimination of blood saturated with carbonic matters opposed to the +absorption by it of oxygen! + +"Do we not here perceive, so to express ourselves, the evil enter and +depart through the skin? + +"M. Roche-Lubin gives an account of some lambs which were exposed, after +being shorn, to a humid icy cold succeeding upon summer heat. These +animals all died; and their post mortem examination disclosed nothing +further than a blackened condition of blood throughout the whole +circulating system, with stagnation in some organs, such as the liver, +the spleen, or abdominal vascular system. + +"From the foregoing disclosures, which might be multiplied if there was +need of it, we learn that the regularity or perversion of the functions +of the skin exercises an all-powerful influence over the conservation or +derangement of the health, and that very many diseases can be traced to +no other origin than the interruption, more or less, of these +functions." + +These remarks are valuable, inasmuch as they go to prove the importance, +in the treatment of disease, of a restoration of the lost function. Our +system of applying friction, warmth, and moisture to the external +surface, in all cases of internal disease, here finds, in the authors +just quoted, able advocates. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[14] What a destructive system, then, must blood-letting be, which +proposes to supply this deficiency in the empty vessels by opening a +vein and suffering the contents of the overcharged vessels to fall to +the ground! If the blood abstracted from the full veins could be +returned into those "empty" ones, then there would be some sense in +blood-letting. + + + + +SPAYING COWS. + + +The castration of cows has been practised for several years in different +parts of the world, with such remarkable success, that no one will doubt +there are advantages to be derived from it. For the benefit of those who +may have doubts on this subject, we give the opinions of a committee +appointed by the Rheims Academy to investigate the matter. + +"To the question put to the committee-- + +"1st. Is the spaying of cows a dangerous operation? + +"The answer is, This operation, in itself, involves no more danger than +many others of as bold a character, (as puncture of the rumen,) which +are performed without accident by men even strangers to the veterinary +art. Two minutes suffice for the extraction of the ovaries; two minutes +more for suturing the wound. + +"2dly. Will not the spaying of cows put an end to the production of the +species? + +"Without doubt, this is an operation which must be kept within bounds. +It is in the vicinity of large towns that most benefit will be derived +from it, where milk is most generally sought after, and where pasturage +is scanty, and consequently food for cows expensive. On this account it +is not the practice to raise calves about the environs of Paris. Indeed, +at Cormenteul, near Rheims, out of one hundred and forty-five cows kept, +not more than from ten to fifteen calves are produced yearly. + +"3dly. Is spaying attended with amelioration of the quality of the meat? + +"That cows fatten well after being spayed is an incontestable fact, long +known to agriculturists. + +"4thly. Does spaying prolong the period of lactation, and increase the +quantity of milk? + +"The cow will be found to give as much milk after eighteen months as +immediately after the operation; and there was found in quantity, in +favor of the spayed cows, a great difference. + +"5thly. Is the quality of the milk ameliorated by spaying? + +"To resolve this question, we have thought proper to make an appeal to +skilful chemists resident in the neighborhood; and they have determined +that the milk abounds more by one third in cheese and butter than that +of ordinary cows." + +Mr. Percival says, "No person hesitates to admit the advantages +derivable from the castration of bulls and stallions. I do not hesitate +to aver, that equal, if not double, advantages are to be derived from +the same operation when performed on cows." + +"It is to America we are indebted for this discovery. In 1832, an +American traveller, a lover of milk, no doubt, asked for some of a +farmer at whose house he was. Surprised at finding at this farm better +milk than he had met with elsewhere, he wished to know the reason of it. +After some hesitation, the farmer avowed, that he had been advised to +perform on his cows the same operation as was practised on the bulls. +The traveller was not long in spreading this information. The Veterinary +Society of the country took up the discovery, when it got known in +America. The English--those ardent admirers of beefsteaks and roast +beef--profited by the new procedure, as they know how to turn every +thing to account, and at once castrated their heifers, in order to +obtain a more juicy meat. + +"The Swiss, whose principal employment is agricultural, had the good +fortune to possess a man distinguished in his art, who foresaw, and was +anxious to realize, the advantages of castrating milch cows. M. Levrat, +veterinary surgeon at Lausanne, found in the government of his country +an enlightened assistant in his praiseworthy and useful designs, so +that, at the present day, instructions in the operation of spaying enter +into the requirements of the programme of the professors of agriculture, +and the gelders of the country are not permitted to exercise their +calling until they have proved their qualifications on the same +point."--_London Vet._ p. 274, 1850. + +For additional evidence in favor of spaying, see Albany Cultivator, p. +195, vol. vi. + +We have conversed with several farmers in this section of the United +States, and find, as a general thing, that they labor under the +impression that spaying is chiefly resorted to with a view of fattening +cattle for the market. We have, on all occasions, endeavored to correct +this erroneous conclusion, and at the same time to point out the +benefits to be derived from this practice. The quality of the milk is +superior, and the quantity is augmented. Many thousands of the miserable +specimens of cows, that the farmer, with all his care, and having, at +the same time an abundance of the best kind of provender, is unable to +fatten, might, after the operation of spaying, be easily fattened, and +rendered fit for the market; or, if they shall have had calves, they may +be made permanent, and, of course, profitable milkers. + +If a cow be in a weak, debilitated state, or, in other words, "out of +condition," she may turn out to be a source of great loss to the owner. +In the first place, her offspring will be weak and inefficient; +successive generations will deteriorate; and if the offspring be in a +close degree of relationship, they will scarcely be worth the trouble of +rearing. The spaying of such a cow, rather than she shall give birth to +weak and worthless offspring, would be a great blessing; for then one of +the first causes of degeneracy in live stock will have been removed. + +Again, a cow in poor condition is a curse to the farmer; for she is +often the medium through which epidemics, infectious diseases, puerperal +fever, &c., are communicated to other stock. If there are such diseases +in the vicinity, those in poor flesh are sure to be the first victims; +and they, coming in contact with others laboring under a temporary +indisposition, involve them in the general ruin. If prevention be +cheaper than cure,--and who doubts it?--then the farmer should avail +himself of the protection which spaying seems to hold out. + + +OPERATION OF SPAYING. + +The first and most important object in the successful performance of +this operation is to secure the cow, so that she shall not injure +herself, nor lie down, nor be able to kick or injure the operator. The +most convenient method of securing the cow is, to place her in the +trevis;[15] the hind legs should then be securely tied in the usual +manner: the band used for the purpose of raising the hind quarters when +being shod must be passed under the belly, and tightened just sufficient +to prevent the animal lying down. Having secured the band in this +position, we proceed, with the aid of two or more assistants, in case +the animal should be irritable, to perform the operation. And here, for +the benefit of that portion of our readers who desire to perform the +operation _secundum artem_, we detail the method recommended by Morin, a +French veterinary surgeon; although it has been, and can again be, +performed with a common knife, a curved needle, and a few silken threads +to close the external wound. The author is acquainted with a farmer, now +a resident of East Boston, who has performed this operation with +remarkable success, both in this country and Scotland, with no other +instruments than a common shoemaker's knife and a curved needle. The +fact is, the ultimate success of the operation does not depend so much +on the instruments as on the skill of the operator. If he is an +experienced man, understands the anatomy of the parts, and is well +acquainted, by actual experience, with the nature of the operation, then +the instruments become a matter of taste. The best operators are those +who devote themselves entirely to the occupation. (See Mr. Blane's +account of his "first essay in firing," p. 85, note.) Morin advises us +to secure the cow, by means of five rings, to the wall. (See Albany +Cultivator, vol. vi. p. 244, 1850.) "The cow being conveniently disposed +of, and the instruments and appliances,--such as curved scissors, upon a +table, a convex-edged bistoury, a straight one, and one buttoned at the +point, suture needle filled with double thread of desired length, +pledgets of lint of appropriate size and length, a mass of tow (in +pledgets) being collected in a shallow basket, held by an assistant,--we +place ourselves opposite to the left flank, our back turned a little +towards the head of the animal; we cut off the hair which covers the +hide in the middle of the flanks, at an equal distance between the back +and hip, for the space of thirteen or fourteen centimetres in +circumference; this done, we take the convex bistoury, and place it open +between our teeth, the edge out, the point to the left; then, with both +hands, we seize the hide in the middle of the flank, and form of it a +wrinkle of the requisite elevation, and running lengthwise of the body. + +"We then direct an assistant to seize, with his right hand, the right +side of this wrinkle. We then take the bistoury, and cut the wrinkle at +one stroke through the middle, the wrinkle having been suffered to go +down, a separation of the hide is presented of sufficient length to +enable us to introduce the hand; thereupon we separate the edges of the +hide with the thumb and fore finger of the left hand, and, in like +manner, we cut through the abdominal muscles, the iliac, (rather +obliquely,) and the lumbar, (cross,) for a distance of a centimetre +from the lower extremity of the incision made in the hide: this done, +armed with the straight bistoury, we make a puncture of the peritoneum, +at the upper extremity of the wound; we then introduce the buttoned +bistoury, and we move it obliquely from above to the lower part up to +the termination of the incision made in the abdominal muscles. The flank +being opened, we introduce the right hand into the abdomen, and direct +it along the right side of the cavity of the pelvis, behind the paunch +and underneath the rectum, where we find the horns of the uterus; after +we have ascertained the position of these viscera, we search for the +ovaries, which are at the extremity of the _cornua_, or horns, +(fallopian tubes,) and when we have found them, we seize them between +the thumb and fore finger, detach them completely from the ligaments +that keep them in their place, pull lightly, separating the cord, and +the vessels (uterine or fallopian tubes) at their place of union with +the ovarium, by means of the nails of the thumb and fore finger, which +presents itself at the point of touch; in fact, we break the cord, and +bring away the ovarium. + +"We then introduce again the hand in the abdominal cavity, and we +proceed in the same manner to extract the other ovarium. + +"This operation terminated, we, by the assistance of a needle, place a +suture of three or four double threads, waxed, at an equal distance, and +at two centimetres, or a little less, from the lips of the wound; +passing it through the divided tissues, we move from the left hand with +the piece of thread; having reached that point, we fasten with a double +knot; we place the seam in the intervals of the thread from the right, +and as we approach the lips of the wound, we fasten by a simple knot, +being careful not to close too tightly the lower part of the seam, so +that the suppuration, which may be established in the wound, may be able +to escape. + +"The operation effected, we cover up the wound with a pledget of lint, +kept in its place by three or four threads passed through the stitches, +and all is completed. + +"It happens, sometimes, that in cutting the muscles of which we have +before spoken, we cut one or two of the arteries, which bleed so much +that there is necessity for a ligature before opening the peritoneal +sac, because, if this precaution be omitted, blood will escape into the +abdomen, and may occasion the most serious consequences." + +The best time for spaying cows, with a view of making them permanent +milkers, is between the ages of five and seven, especially if they have +had two or three calves. If intended to be fattened for beef, the +operation should not be performed until the animal has passed its second +year, nor after the twelfth. + +We usually prepare the animal by allowing a scalded mash every night, +within a few days of the operation. The same precaution is observed +after the operation. + +If, after the operation, the animal appears dull and irritable, and +refuses her food, the following drink must be given:-- + + Valerian, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Set the mixture aside to cool. Then strain, and add infusion of +marshmallows (see APPENDIX) one quart; which may be given in +pint doses every two hours. + +If a bad discharge sets up from the wound,--but this will seldom happen, +unless the system abounds in morbific materials,--then, in addition to +the drink, wash the wound with + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Water, 2 quarts. + +Mix. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[15] Although we recommend that cows be confined in the trevis for the +purpose of performing this operation, it by no means follows that it +cannot be done as well in other ways. In fact, the trevis is +inadmissible where chloroform is used. The animal must be cast in order +to use that agent with any degree of safety. If the trevis is not at +hand, we should prefer to operate, having the cow secured to the floor, +or held in that position by trusty assistants. We lately operated on a +cow, the property of Mr. C. Drake of Holliston, in this state, under +very unfavorable circumstances; yet, as will appear from the +accompanying note, the cow is likely to do well, notwithstanding. The +history of the case is as follows: We were sent for by Mr. D. to see a +heifer having a swelling under the jaw, which proved to be a scirrhous +gland. After giving our opinion and prescribing the usual remedies, the +conversation turned upon spaying cattle; and Mr. D. remarked that he had +a five year old cow, on which we might, if we chose, operate. This we +rather objected to at first, as the cow was in a state of plethora, and +the stomach very much distended with food; yet, as the owner appeared +willing to share the responsibility, we consented to perform the +operation. The cow was accordingly cast, in the usual manner, she lying +on her right side, her head being firmly held by an assistant. We then +made an incision through the skin, muscles, and peritoneum. The hand was +then introduced, and each ovary in its turn brought as near to the +external wound as possible, and separated from its attachment with a +button-pointed bistoury. The wound was then brought together with four +interrupted sutures, and dressed as already described. Directions were +given to keep the animal quiet, and on a light diet: the calf, which was +four weeks old, to suckle as usual. The operation was performed on the +17th of January, 1851, and on the 27th, the following communication was +received:-- + + DR. DADD. + + Dear Sir: Agreeably to request, I will inform you as regards the + cow. I must say that, so far as appearances are concerned, she is + doing well. She has a good appetite, and chews her cud, and the + wound is not swelled or inflamed. + + Yours truly, + C. DRAKE. + + HOLLISTON, _Jan 27, 1851_. + + +[Illustration: Three South Down Wethers + +The Property of Mr. Jonas Webb of Babraham, near Cambridge, which +obtained Prizes in their respective classes at the Smithfield Cattle +Show, Decr. 1839.] + + + + +SHEEP. + + +PRELIMINARY REMARKS. + +Many of the diseases to which sheep are subject can be traced to want of +due care in their management. The common practice of letting them range +in marshy lands is one of the principal causes of disease. + +The feet of sheep are organized in such a manner as to be capable, when +in a healthy state, of eliminating from the system a large amount of +worn-out materials--excrementitious matter, which, if retained in the +system, would be injurious. The direct application of cold tends to +contract the mouths of excrementitious vessels, and the morbid matter +accumulates. This is not all. There are in the system numerous +outlets,--for example, the kidneys, lungs, surface, feet, &c. The health +of the animal depends on all these functions being duly performed. If a +certain function be interrupted for any length of time, it is sure to +derange the system. Diseases of the feet are very common in wet +situations, and are a source of great loss to the farming community. +Hence it becomes a matter of great importance to know how to manage them +so as to prevent diseases of the feet. + +Professor Simonds says, "No malady was probably so much feared by the +agriculturist as the rot; and with reason, for it was most destructive +to his hopes. It was commonly believed to be incurable, and therefore it +was all important to inquire into the causes which gave rise to it. +Some pastures were notorious for rotting sheep; on other lands, sheep, +under all ordinary circumstances, were pastured with impunity; but, as a +broad principle, it might be laid down that an excess of moisture is +prejudicial to the health of the animal. Sheep, by nature, are not only +erratic animals, wandering over a large space of ground, but are also +inhabitants of arid districts. The skill of man has increased and +improved the breed, and has naturalized the animal in moist and +temperate climates. But, nevertheless, circumstances now and then take +place which show that its nature is not entirely changed; thus, a wet +season occurs, the animals are exposed to the debilitating effects of +moisture, and the rot spreads among them to a fearful extent. The malady +is not confined to England or to Europe; it is found in Asia and Africa, +and occurs also in Egypt on the receding of the waters of the Nile. + +"These facts are valuable, because they show that the cause of the +disease is not local--that it is not produced by climate or temperature; +for it is found that animals in any temperature become affected, and on +any soil in certain seasons. A great deal had been written on rot in +sheep, which it were to be wished had not been. Many talented +individuals had devoted their time to its investigation, endeavoring to +trace out a cause for it, as if it originated from one cause alone. But +the facts here alluded to would show that it arose from more causes than +one. He had mentioned the circumstance with regard to land sometimes +producing rot, and sometimes not; but he would go a step further, and +ask, Was there any particular period of the year when animals were +subject to the attack? Undoubtedly there was. In the rainy season, the +heat and moisture combined would produce a most luxuriant herbage; but +that herbage would be deficient in nutriment, and danger would be run; +the large quantity of watery matter in the food acting as a direct +excitement to the abnormal functions of the digestive organs. Early +disturbance of the liver led to the accumulation of fat, (state of +plethora;) consequently, an animal being 'touched with the rot' thrived +much more than usual. This reminded him that the celebrated Bakewell was +said to be in the habit of placing his sheep on land notorious for +rotting them, in order to prevent other people from getting his stock, +and likewise to bring them earlier to market for the butcher." + +Referring to diseases of the liver, Professor S. remarked, that "the +bile in rot, in consequence of the derangement of the liver being +continued, lost the property of converting the chymous mass into +nutritious matter, and the animal fell away in condition. Every part of +the system was now supplied with impure blood, for we might as well +expect pure water from a poisoned fountain as pure blood when the +secretion of bile was unhealthy. This state of the liver and the system +was associated with the existence of parasites in the liver. + +"Some persons suppose that these parasites, which, from their particular +form, were called flukes, were the cause of the rot. They are only the +effect; yet it is to be remembered that they multiply so rapidly that +they become the cause of further diseased action. Sheep, in the earlier +stages of the affection, before their biliary ducts become filled with +flukes, may be restored; but, when the parasites existed in abundance, +there was no chance of the animal's recovery. Those persons who supposed +flukes to be the cause of rot had, perhaps, some reason for that +opinion. Flukes are oviparous; their ova mingle with the biliary +secretion, and thus find their way out of the intestinal canal into the +soil; as in the feculent matter of rotten sheep may be found millions of +flukes. A Mr. King, of Bath, (England,) had unhesitatingly given it as +his opinion that flukes were the cause of rot; believing that, if sheep +were pastured on land where the ova existed, they would be taken up with +the food, enter into the ramifications of the biliary ducts, and thus +contaminate the whole liver. There appeared some ground for this +assertion, because very little indeed was known with reference to the +duration of life in its latent form in the egg. How long the eggs of +birds would remain without undergoing change, if not placed under +circumstances favorable to the development of life in a more active +form, was undecided. It was the same with the ova of these parasites; so +long as they remained on the pasture they underwent no change; but place +them in the body of the animal, and subject them to the influence of +heat, &c., then those changes would commence which ended in the +production of perfect flukes. Take another illustration of the long +duration of latent life: Wheat had been locked up for hundreds of +years--nay, for thousands--in Egyptian mummies, without undergoing any +change, and yet, when planted, had been found prolific. + +... He was not, then, to say that rot was in all cases a curable +affection; but at the same time he was fully aware that many animals, +that are now considered incurable, might be restored, if sufficient +attention was given to them. About two years ago, he purchased seven or +eight sheep, all of them giving indisputable proof of rot in its +advanced stage. He intended them for experiment and dissection; but as +he did not require all of them, and during the winter season only he +could dissect, he kept some till summer. They were supplied with food of +nutritious quality, free from moisture; they were also protected from +all storms and changes of weather, being placed in a shed. The result +was, that without any medicine, two of these rotten sheep quite +recovered; and when he killed them, although he found that the liver had +undergone some change, still the animals would have lived on for years. +Rot, in its advanced stage, was a disease which might be considered as +analogous to dropsy. A serous fluid accumulates in various parts of the +body, chiefly beneath the cellular tissue; consequently, some called it +the _water_ rot, others the _fluke_ rot; but these were merely +indications of the same disease in different stages. If flukes were +present, it was evident that, in order to strike at the root of the +malady, they must get rid of these _entozoa_, and that could only be +effected by bringing about a healthy condition of the system. Nothing +that could be done by the application of medicine would act on them to +affect their vitality. It was only by strengthening their animal powers +that they were enabled to give sufficient tone to the system to throw +off the flukes; for this purpose many advocated salt. Salt was an +excellent stimulative to the digestive organs, and might also be of +service in restoring the biliary secretion, from the soda which it +contained. So well is its stimulative action known, that some +individuals always keep salt in the troughs containing the animal's +food. This was a preventive, they had good proof, seeing that it +mattered not how moist the soil might be in salt marshes; no sheep were +ever attacked by rot in them, whilst those sent there infected very +often came back free. Salt, therefore, must not be neglected; but then +came the question, Could they not do something more? He believed they +could give tonics with advantage.... + +"The principles he wished to lay down were, to husband the animals' +powers by placing them in a situation where they should not be exposed +to the debilitating effects of cold storms; to supply them with +nutritious food, and such as contained but a small quantity of water; +and, as a stimulant to the digestive organs, to mix it with salt." + +The remarks of Professor S. are valuable to the American farmer. First, +because they throw some light on the character of a disease but +imperfectly understood; secondly, they recommend a safe, efficient, and +common-sense method of treating it; and lastly, they recommend such +preventive measures as, in this enlightened age, every farmer must +acknowledge to be the better part of sheep doctoring. The reader will +easily perceive the reason why the food of sheep is injurious when wet +or saturated with its own natural juices, when he learns that the +digestive process is greatly retarded, unless the masticated food be +well saturated with the gastric fluid. If the gastric fluid cannot +pervade it, then fermentation takes place; by which process the +nutritive properties of the food are partly destroyed, and what remains +cannot be taken up before it passes from the vinous into the acetous or +putrefactive fermentation; the natural consequence is, that internal +disease ensues, which often gravitates to the feet, thereby producing +rot. This is not all. Such food does not furnish sufficient material to +replenish the daily waste and promote the living integrity. In short, it +produces debility, and debility includes one half the causes of disease. +It must be a matter of deep interest to the farmer to know how to +prevent disease in his flock, and improve their condition, &c.; for if +he possessed the requisite knowledge, he would not be compelled to offer +mutton at so low a rate as from three to four cents a pound, at which +price it is often sold in the Boston market. We have already alluded to +the fact that neat cattle can, with the requisite knowledge, be improved +at least twenty-five per cent.; and we may add, without fear of +contradiction, that the same applies to sheep. If, then, their value can +be increased in the same ratio as that of other classes of live stock, +how much will the proprietors of sheep gain by the operation? Suppose we +set down the number of sheep in the United States at twenty-seven +millions,--which will not fall far short of the mark,--and value them at +the low price of one dollar per head: we get a clear gain, in the +carcasses alone, of six millions seven hundred and fifty thousand +dollars. The increase in the quantity, and of course in the value, of +wool would pay the additional expenses incurred. It is a well-known fact +that, when General Washington left his estate to engage in the councils +of his country, his sheep then yielded five pounds of wool. At the time +of his return, the animals had so degenerated as to yield but two and a +half pounds per fleece. This was not altogether owing to the quality of +their food, but in part to want of due care in breeding. + +It is well known that many diseases are propagated and aggravated +through the sexual congress; and no matter how healthy the dam is, or +how much vital resistance she possesses,--if the male be weak and +diseased, the offspring will be more or less diseased at birth. (See +article _Breeding_.) + +Dr. Whitlaw observes, "The Deity has given power to man to ameliorate +his condition, as may be truly seen by strict attention to the laws of +nature. An attentive observer may soon perceive, that milk, butter, and +meat, of animals that feed on good herbage, in high and dry soils, are +the best; and that strong nourishment is the produce of those animals +that feed on bottom land; but those that feed on a marshy, wet soil +produce more acrid food, even admitting that the herbage be of the bland +and nutritious kind; but if it be composed in part of poisonous plants, +the sheep become diseased and rotten, much more so than cattle, for they +do not drink to the same degree, and therefore (particularly those that +chew the cud) are not likely to throw off the poison. Horses would be +more liable to disease than cattle were it not for their sagacity in +selecting the wholesome from the poisonous herbage. + +"A great portion of the mutton slaughtered is unfit for food, from the +fact that their lungs are often in a state of decomposition, their +livers much injured by insects, and their intestines in a state of +ulceration, from eating poisonous herbs." + +Linnaeus says, "A dry place renders plants sapid; a succulent place, +insipid; and a watery place, corrosive." + +One farmer, in the vicinity of Sherburne, (England,) had, during the +space of a few weeks, lost nearly nine hundred sheep by the rot. The +fear of purchasing diseased mutton is so prevalent in families, that the +demand for mutton has become extremely limited. + +In the December number of the London Veterinarian we find an interesting +communication from the pen of Mr. Tavistock, V. S., which will throw +some light on the causes of disease in sheep. The substance of these +remarks is as follows: "On a large farm, situated in the fertile valley +of the Tavey, is kept a large flock of sheep, choice and well bred. It +is deemed an excellent sheep farm, and for some years no sheep could be +healthier than were his flock. About eighteen months ago, however, some +ewes were now and then found dead. This was attributed to some of the +many maladies sheep-flesh is 'heir to,' and thought no more about. Still +it did not cease; another and another died, from time to time, until at +length, it becoming a question of serious consequence, my attention was +called to them. I made, as opportunities occurred, minute post mortem +examinations. The sheep did not die rapidly, but one a week, and +sometimes one a fortnight, or even three weeks. No previous illness +whatever was manifested. They were always found dead in the attitude of +sleep; the countenance being tranquil and composed, not a blade of grass +disturbed by struggling; nor did any circumstance evidence that pain or +suffering was endured. It was evident that the death was sudden. We +fancied the ewes must obtain something poisonous from the herbage, and +the only place they could get any thing different from the other sheep +was in the orchards, since there the ewes went at the lambing time, and +occasionally through the summer. But so they had done for years before, +and yet contracted no disease. Well, then, the orchards were the +suspected spots, and it was deemed expedient to request Mr. Bartlett, a +botanist, to make a careful examination of the orchards, and give us his +opinion thereon. The following is the substance of his report:-- + +"The part of the estate to which the sheep unfortunately had access, +where the predisposing causes of disease prevailed, was an orchard, +having a gradual slope of about three quarters of a mile in extent, from +the high ground to the bed of the river, ranging about east and west; +the hills on each side being constituted of argillaceous strata of +laminated slate, which, although having an angle of inclination favoring +drainage on the slopes, yet in the valleys often became flat or +horizontal, and on which also accumulated the clays, and masses of rock, +in detached blocks, often to the depth of twenty feet--a state of things +which gives the valley surface and soil a very rugged and unequal +outline; the whole, at the same time, offering the greatest obstruction +to regular drainage. + +"These are spots selected for orchard draining in England; the truth +being lost sight of, that surfaces and soil for apple-tree growth +require the most perfect admixture with atmospheric elements, and the +freest outlet for the otherwise accumulating moisture, to prevent +dampness and acidity, the result of the shade of the tree itself, +produced by the fall of the leaf. + +"On this estate these things had never been dreamt of before planting +the orchards. The apple-tree, in short, as soon as its branches and +leaves spread with the morbid growth of a dozen years, aids itself in +the destructive process; the soil becomes yearly more poisonous, the +roots soon decay, and the tree falls to one side, as we witness daily, +while the herbage beneath and around becomes daily more unfit to sustain +animal life. Numerous forms of poisonous fungi, microscopic and +otherwise, are here at home, and nourished by the carburetted and other +forms of hydrogen gas hourly engendered and saturating the soil; while +on the dampest spots the less noxious portions of such hydrates are +assimilated by the mint plant in the shape of oil; and which disputes +with sour, poisonous, and blossomless grasses for the occupancy of the +surface, mingled with the still more noxious straggling forms of the +ethusa, occasionally the angelica, vison, conium, &c. + +"This state of things, brought into existence by this wretched and +barbarous mode of planting orchard valleys, usually reaches its +consummation in about thirty years, and sometimes much less, as in the +valley under notice. Thus it is that such spots, often the richest in +capabilities on the estate, (the deep soil being the waste and spoil of +the higher ground and slopes,) become a bane to every form of useful +vegetation; and, at the same time, are a hotbed of luxuriance to every +thing that is poisonous, destructive, and deleterious to almost every +form of animal life. And such an animal as the sheep, while feeding +among such herbage, would inhale a sufficiency of noxious gases, +especially in summer, through the nostrils alone, to produce disease +even in a few hours, though the herbage devoured should lie harmless in +the stomach. But with regard to the sheep in the present case, we fear +they had no choice in the matter, and were driven by hunger to feed, +being shut into these orchards; and thus not only ate the poisoned +grasses, but with every mouthful swallowed a portion of the +water-engendering mint, the acrid crowfoot, ranunculus leaves, &c., +surrounding every blade of grass; while the other essential elements of +vegetable poison, the most virulent forms of agarici and their spawn, +with other destructive fungi, were swallowed as a sauce to the whole. +This fearful state of things, to which sheep had access, soon manifested +its results; for although a hog or a badger might here fatten, yet to an +animal so susceptible to atmospheric influences, unwholesome, undrained +land, &c., as the sheep, the organization forbids the assimilation of +such food; and although a process of digestion goes on, yet its hydrous +results (if we may use such a term) not only overcharge the blood with +serum, but, through unnatural channels, cause effusion into the chest, +heart, veins, &c., when its effects are soon manifested in sudden and +quick dissolution, being found dead in the attitude of sleep." + +It is probable that the gases which arose from this imperfectly drained +estate played their part in the work of destruction; not only by coming +in immediate contact with the blood through the medium of the air-cells +in the lungs, but by mixing with the food in the process of digestion. +This may appear a new idea to those who have never given the subject a +thought; yet it is no less true. During the mastication of food, the +saliva possesses the remarkable property of enclosing air within its +globules. Professor Liebig tells us that "the saliva encloses air in the +shape of froth, in a far higher degree than even soap-suds. This air, by +means of the saliva, reaches the stomach with the food, and there its +oxygen enters into combination, while its nitrogen is given out through +the skin and lungs." This applies to pure air. Now, suppose the sheep +are feeding in pastures notorious for giving out noxious gases, and at +the same time the function of the skin or lungs is impaired; instead of +the "nitrogen" or noxious gases being set free, they will accumulate in +the alimentary canal and cellular tissues, to the certain destruction of +the living integrity. Prof. L. further informs us that "the longer +digestion continues,--that is, the greater resistance offered to the +solvent action by the food,--the more saliva, and consequently the more +air, enter the stomach." + + + + +STAGGERS. + + +This disease is known to have its origin in functional derangement of +the stomach; and owing to the sympathy that exists between the brain and +the latter, derangements are often overlooked, until they manifest +themselves by the animal's appearing dull and stupid, and separating +itself from the rest of the flock. An animal attacked with staggers is +observed to go round in a giddy manner; the optic nerve becomes +paralyzed, and the animal often appears blind. It sometimes continues to +feed well until it dies. + + +_Indications of Cure._--First, to remove the cause. If it exist in a too +generous supply of food, reduce the quantity. If, on the other hand, the +animal be in poor condition, a generous supply of nutritious food must +be allowed. + +Secondly, to impart healthy action to the digestive organs, and +lubricate their surfaces. + +Having removed the cause, take + + Powdered snakeroot, 1 ounce. + " slippery elm, 2 ounces. + " fennel seed, half an ounce. + +Mix. Half a table-spoonful may be given daily in warm water, or it may +be mixed in the food. + +_Another._ + + Powdered gentian, 1 ounce. + " poplar bark, 2 ounces. + " aniseed, half an ounce. + +Mix, and give as above. + +If the bowels are inactive, give a wine-glass of linseed oil. + +The animal should be kept free from all annoyance by dogs, &c.; for fear +indirectly influences the stomach through the pneumogastric nerves, by +which the secretion of the gastric juice is arrested, and an immediate +check is thus given to the process of digestion. For the same reason, +medicine should always be given in the food, if possible. In cases of +great prostration, accompanied with loss of appetite, much valuable time +would be lost. In such cases, we must have recourse to the bottle. + + + + +FOOT ROT. + + +When a sheep is observed to be lame, and, upon examination, matter can +be discovered, then pare away the hoof, and make a slight puncture, so +that the matter may escape; then wash the foot with the following +antiseptic lotion:-- + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Water, 3 ounces. + +Suppose that, on examination, the feet have a fetid odor; then apply the +following:-- + + Vinegar, half a pint. + Common salt, 1 table-spoonful. + Water, half a pint. + +Mix, and apply daily. At the same time, put the sheep in a dry place, +and give a dose of the following every morning:-- + + Powdered bayberry bark, half an ounce. + " flaxseed, 2 pounds. + " sulphur, 1 ounce. + " charcoal, 1 ounce. + " sassafras, 1 ounce. + +Mix. A handful to be given in the food twice a day. + + +_Remarks._--Foot rot is generally considered a local disease; yet should +it be neglected, or maltreated, the general system will share in the +local derangement. + + + + +ROT. + + +The progress of this disease is generally very slow, and a person +unaccustomed to the management of sheep would find some difficulty in +recognizing it. A practical eye would distinguish it, even at a +distance. The disease is known by one or more of the following symptoms: +The animal often remains behind the flock, shaking its head, with its +ears depressed; it allows itself to be seized, without any resistance. +The eye is dull and watery; the eyelids are swollen; the lips, gums, and +palate have a pale tint; the skin, which is of a yellowish white, +appears puffed, and retains the impression; the wool loses its +brightness, and is easily torn off; the urine is high colored, and the +excrement soft. As the disease progresses, there is loss of appetite, +great thirst, general emaciation, &c. + +The indications are, to improve the secretions, vitalize the blood, and +sustain the living powers. For which purpose, take + + Powdered charcoal, 2 ounces. + " ginger, 1 ounce. + " golden seal, 1 ounce. + Oatmeal, 1 pound. + +Mix. Feed to each animal a handful per day, unless rumination shall have +ceased; then omit the oatmeal, and give a tea-spoonful of the mixed +ingredients, in half a pint of hyssop, or horsemint tea. Continue as +occasion may require. + +The food should be boiled, if possible. The best kind, especially in the +latter stages of rot, is, equal parts of linseed and ground corn. + +If the urine is high colored, and the animal is thirsty, give an +occasional drink of + + Cleavers, (_galium aparine_,) 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +When cold, strain. Dose, one pint. To be repeated, if necessary. + + + + +EPILEPSY. + + +This is somewhat different from staggers, as the animal does not remain +quietly on the ground, but it suffers from convulsions, it kicks, rolls +its eyes, grinds its teeth, &c. The duration of the fit varies much, +sometimes it terminates at the expiration of a few minutes; at other +times, a quarter of an hour elapses before it is perfectly conscious. In +this malady, there is a loss of equilibrium between the nervous and +muscular systems, which may arise from hydatids in the brain, offering +mechanical obstructions to the conducting power of the nerves. This +malady may attack animals in apparently good health. We frequently see +children attacked with epilepsy (fits) without any apparent cause, and +when they are in good flesh. + +The symptoms are not considered dangerous, except by their frequent +repetition. + +The following may be given with a view of equalizing the circulation and +nervous action:-- + + Assafoetida, one third of a tea-spoonful. + Gruel made from slippery elm, 1 pint. + +Mix, while hot. Repeat the dose every other day. Make some change in the +food. Thus, if the animal has been fed on green fodder for any length of +time, let it have a few meals of shorts, meal, linseed, &c. The water +must be of the best quality. + +Suppose the animal to be in poor condition; then combine tonics and +alteratives in the following form:-- + + Assafoetida, 1 tea-spoonful. + Powdered golden seal, 1 ounce. + " slippery elm, 2 ounces. + Oatmeal, 1 pound. + +Mix thoroughly, and divide into eight equal parts. A powder to be given +every morning. + + + + +RED WATER. + + +This is nothing more nor less than a symptom of deranged function. The +cure consists in restoring healthy action to all parts of the animal +organization. For example, high-colored urine shows that there is too +much action on the internal surfaces, and too little on the external. +This at once points to the propriety of keeping the sheep in a warm +situation, in order to invite action to the skin. + +_Compound for Red Water._ + + Powdered slippery elm, } + " pleurisy root, } of each, 1 ounce. + " poplar bark, } + Indian meal, 1 pound. + +Mix. To be divided into ten parts, one of which may be given every +morning. + + + + +CACHEXY,[16] OR GENERAL DEBILITY. + + +_Indications of Cure._--First. To build up and promote the living +integrity by a generous diet, one or more of the following articles may +be scalded and given three times a day: carrots, parsnips, linseed, corn +meal, &c. + +Secondly. To remove morbific materials from the system, and restore the +lost functions, one of the following powders may be given, night and +morning, in the fodder:-- + + Powdered balmony, (snakehead,) 1 ounce. + " marshmallows, 1 ounce. + " common salt, 1 table-spoonful. + Linseed meal, 1 pound. + +Mix. Divide into ten powders. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[16] It implies a vitiated state of the solids and fluids. + + + + +LOSS OF APPETITE. + + +This is generally owing to a morbid state of the digestive organs. All +that is necessary in such case is, to restore the lost tone by the +exhibition of bitter tonics. A bountiful supply of camomile tea will +generally prove sufficient. If, however, the bowels are inactive, add to +the above a small portion of extract of butternut. The food should be +slightly salted. + + + + +FOUNDERING, (RHEUMATISM) + + +In this malady, the animal becomes slow in its movements; its walk is +characterized by rigidity of the muscular system, and, when lying down, +requires great efforts in order to rise. + + +_Causes._--Exposure to sudden changes in temperature, feeding on wet +lands, &c. + + +_Indications of Cure._--To equalize the circulation, invite and maintain +action to the external surface, and remove the cause. To fulfil the +latter indication, remove the animal to a dry, warm situation. + +The following antispasmodic and diaphoretic will complete the cure: +Powdered lady's slipper, (_cypripedium_,) 1 tea-spoonful. To be given +every morning in a pint of warm pennyroyal tea. + +If the malady does not yield in a few days, take + + Powdered sassafras bark, 1 tea-spoonful. + Boiling water, 1 pint. + Honey, 1 tea-spoonful. + +Mix, and repeat the dose every other morning. + + + + +TICKS. + + +Ticks, or, in short, any kind of insects, may be destroyed by dropping +on them a few drops of an infusion or tincture of lobelia seeds. + + + + +SCAB, OR ITCH. + + +Scab, itch, erysipelas, &c., all come under the head of cutaneous +diseases, and require nearly the same general treatment. The following +compound may be depended on as a safe and efficient remedy in either of +the above diseases:-- + + Sulphur, 2 ounces. + Powdered sassafras, 1 ounce. + +Honey, sufficient to amalgamate the above. Dose, a table-spoonful every +morning. To prevent the sheep from rubbing themselves, apply + + Pyroligneous acid, 1 gill. + Water, 1 quart. + +Mix, and wet the parts with a sponge. + + +_Remarks._--In reference to the scab, Dr. Gunther says, "Of all the +preservatives which have been proposed, inoculation is the best. It has +two advantages: first, the disease so occasioned is much more mitigated, +and very rarely proves fatal; in the next place, an entire flock may get +well from it in the space of fifteen days, whilst the natural form of +the disorder requires care and attention for at least six months. It has +been ascertained that the latter kills[17] more than one half of those +attacked; whilst among the sheep that have been inoculated, the greatest +proportion that die of it is one per cent." + +Whenever the scab makes its appearance, the whole flock should be +examined, and every one having the least abrasion eruption of the skin +should be put under medical treatment. + +In most cases, itch is the result of infection. A single sheep infected +with it is sufficient to infect a whole flock. If a few applications of +the pyroligneous wash, aided by the medicine, are not sufficient to +remove the malady, then recourse must be had to the following:-- + + Fir balsam, half a pint. + Sulphur, 1 ounce. + +Mix. Anoint the sores daily. + +The only additional treatment necessary in erysipelas is, to give a +bountiful supply of tea made of lemon balm, sweetened with honey. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[17] More likely the remedies. They are tobacco and corrosive +sublimate--destructive poisons. + + + + +DIARRHOEA. + + +This is not always to be considered as a disease, but in many cases it +proves salutary operation of nature; therefore it should not be too +suddenly checked. + +We commence the treatment by feeding on boiled meal. We then give +mucilaginous drink made from marshmallows, slippery elm, or poplar bark. +If, at the end of two days, symptoms of amendment have not made their +appearance, the following draught must be given:-- + +Make a strong infusion of raspberry leaves, to a pint of which add a +tea-spoonful of tincture of capsicum, (hot drops,) and one of charcoal. +To be repeated every morning, until healthy action is established. + + + + +DYSENTERY. + + +This malady may be treated in the same manner as diarrhoea. Should +blood and slime be voided in large quantities, the excrement emit a +fetid odor, and the animal waste rapidly, then, in addition to the +mucilaginous drink, administer the following:-- + + Powdered charcoal, 1 tea-spoonful. + " golden seal, half a tea-spoonful. + +To be given, in hardhack tea, as occasion may require. + +A small quantity of charcoal, given three times a day, with boiled food, +will frequently cure the disease, alone. + +Dysentery is sometimes mistaken for diarrhoea; but they may be +distinguished by the following characteristics:-- + +1st. Diarrhoea most frequently attacks weak animals; whereas dysentery +ofttimes attacks animals in good condition. + +2d. Dysentery generally attacks sheep in the hot months; on the other +hand, diarrhoea terminates at the commencement of the hot season. + +3d. In diarrhoea, there are scarcely any feverish symptoms, and no +straining before evacuation, as in dysentery. + +4th. In diarrhoea, the excrement is loose, but in other respects +natural, without any blood or slime; whereas in dysentery the faeces +consist of hard lumps, blood, and slime. + +5th. There is not that degree of fetor in the faeces, in diarrhoea, +which takes place in dysentery. + +6th. In dysentery, the appetite is totally gone; in diarrhoea, it is +generally better than usual. + +7th. Diarrhoea is not contagious; dysentery is supposed to be highly +so. + +8th. In dysentery, the animal wastes rapidly; but by diarrhoea, only a +temporary stop is put to thriving, after which it makes rapid advances +to strength, vigor, and proportion. + + + + +CONSTIPATION, OR STRETCHES. + + +By these terms are implied a preternatural or morbid detention and +hardening of the excrement; a disease to which all animals are subject, +unless proper attention be paid to their management. It mostly arises +from want of exercise, feeding on frosted oats, indigestible matter of +every kind, impure water, &c. Costiveness is often the case of flatulent +and spasmodic colic, and often of inflammation of the bowels. + +Mr. Morrill says, "I have always found that the quantity of medicine +necessary to act as an _opiate_ on this dry mass [alluding to that +found in the manyplus and intestines] will kill the animal. If I am +mistaken, I will take it kindly to be set right." You are quite right. + +Let us see what Professor J. A. Gallup says, in his Institutes of +Medicine, vol. ii. p. 187. "The practice of giving opiates to mitigate +pain, &c., is greatly to be deprecated; it is not only unjustifiable, +but should be esteemed unpardonable. It is probable that, for forty +years past, opium and its preparations have done _seven times the +injury_ that they have rendered benefit"--killed seven where they have +saved one! Page 298, he calls opium the "most destructive of all +narcotics," and wishes he could "speak through a lengthened trumpet, +that he might tingle the ears" of those who use and prescribe it. All +the opiates used by the allopathists contain more or less of this +poisonous drug. Opiates given with a view of softening mass alluded to +will certainly disappoint those who administer them; for, under the use +of such "palliatives," the digestive powers fail, and a general state of +feebleness and inactivity ensues, which exhausts the vital energies. + +It will be found in stretches, that other organs, as well as the +"manyplus," are not performing their part in the business of +physiological or healthy action, and they must be excited to perform +their work; for example, if the food remains in either of the stomachs +in the form of a hard mass, then the surface of the body is evaporating +too much moisture from the general system; the skin should be better +toned. Pure air is one of the best and most valuable of nature's tonics. +Let the flock have pure air to breathe, and sufficient room to use their +limbs, with proper diet, and there will be little occasion for medicine. + + +_Treatment._--The disease is to be obviated by proper attention to diet, +exercise, and ventilation; and when these fail, to have recourse to +bitter laxatives, injections, and aperients. The use of salts and castor +oil creates a necessity for their repetition, for they overwork the +mucous surfaces, and their delicate vessels lose their natural +sensibility, and become torpid. Scalded shorts are exceedingly valuable +in this complaint, as also are boiled carrots, parsnips, &e. + +The derangement must be treated according to its indications, thus:-- + +Suppose the digestive organs to be deranged, and rumination to have +ceased; then take a tea-spoonful of extract of butternut, and dissolve +it in a pint of thoroughwort tea, and give it at a dose. Use an +injection of soap-suds, if necessary. + +Suppose the excrement to be hard, coated with slime, and there be danger +of inflammation in the mucous surfaces; then give a wine-glass of +linseed oil,[18] to which add a raw egg. + +It is scarcely ever necessary to repeat the dose, provided the animal is +allowed a few scalded shorts. + +If the liver is supposed to be inactive, give, daily, a tea-spoonful of +golden seal in the food. + +If the animal void worms with the faeces, then give a tea made from cedar +boughs, or buds, to which add a small quantity of salt. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[18] Olive oil will answer the same purpose. + + + + +SCOURS. + + +In scours, the surface evaporates too little of the moisture, and should +be relaxed by diffusible stimulants in the form of ginger tea. The +treatment that we have found the most successful is as follows: take +four ounces raw linseed oil, two ounces of lime water; mix. Let this +quantity be given to a sheep on the first appearance of the above +disease; half the quantity will suffice for a lamb. Give about a +wine-glass full of ginger tea at intervals of four hours, or mix a small +quantity of ginger in the food. Let the animal be fed on gruel, or +mashes of ground meal. If the above treatment fails to arrest the +disease, add half a tea-spoonful of powdered bayberry bark. If the +extremities are cold, rub them with the tincture of capsicum. + + + + +DIZZINESS. + + +Mr. Gunther says, "Sheep are often observed to describe eccentric +circles for whole hours, then step forwards a pace, then again stop, and +turn round again. The older the disease, the more the animal turns, +until at length it does it even in a trot. The appetite goes on +diminishing, emaciation becomes more and more perceptible, and the state +of exhaustion terminates in death. On opening the skull, there are met, +either beneath the bones of the cranium, or beneath the dura mater,[19] +or in the brain itself, hydatids varying in number and size, sometimes a +single one, often from three to six, the size of which varies: according +as these worms occupy the right side or the left, the sheep turns to the +right or left; but if they exist on both sides, the turning takes place +to the one and the other alternately. + +"The animal very often does not turn, which happens when the worm is +placed on the median line; then the affected animal carries the head +down, and though it seems to move rapidly, it does not change place. +When the hydatid is situated on the posterior part of the brain, the +animal carries the head high, runs straight forward, and throws itself +on every object it meets." + +_Treatment._--Take + + Powdered worm seeds, (_chenopodium } 1 ounce. + anthelminticum_,) } + " sulphur, half an ounce. + " charcoal, 2 ounces. + Linseed, or flaxseed, 1 pound. + +Mix. Divide into eight parts, and feed one every morning. Make a drink +from the white Indian hemp, (_asclepias incarnata_,) one ounce of which +may be infused in a quart of water, one fourth to be given every night. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[19] The membrane which lines the interior of the skull. + + + + +JAUNDICE. + + +This malady generally involves the whole system in its deranged action. +It is recognized by the yellow tint of the conjunctiva, (white of the +eye,) and mucous membranes lining the nostrils and mouth. We generally +employ for its cure + + Powdered mandrake, 1 tea-spoonful. + " ginger, 1 tea-spoonful. + " golden seal, 2 tea-spoonfuls. + +Mix. Divide into two parts. Give one dose in the morning, and the other +at night. An occasional drink of camomile tea, a few bran mashes, and +boiled carrots, will complete the cure. + + + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS. + + +A derangement of these organs may result from external violence, or it +may depend on the animal having eaten stimulating or poisonous plants. + +Its symptoms are, pain in the region of the kidneys; the back is arched, +and the walk stiff and painful, with the legs widely separated; there is +a frequent desire to make water, and that is high colored or bloody; the +appetite is more or less impaired, and there is considerable thirst. + +The indications are, to lubricate the mucous surfaces, remove morbific +materials from the system, and improve the general health. + +We commence the treatment by giving + + Poplar bark, finely powdered, 1 ounce. + Pleurisy root, " " 1 tea-spoonful. + +Make a mucilage of the poplar bark, by stirring in boiling water; then +add the pleurisy root; the whole to be given in the course of +twenty-four hours. The diet should consist of a mixture of linseed, +boiled carrots, and meal. + + + + +WORMS. + + +The intestinal worms generally arise from impaired digestion. The +symptoms are, a diminution of rumination, wasting away of the body, and +frequent snorting, obstruction of the nostrils with mucus of a greater +or less thickness. + +_Compound for Worms._ + + Powdered worm seed, } + " skunk cabbage, } equal parts. + " ginger, } + +Dose, a tea-spoonful night and morning in the fodder. + + + + +DISEASES OF THE STOMACH FROM EATING POISONOUS PLANTS. + + +_Treatment._--Take the animal from pasture, and put it on a boiled diet, +of shorts, meal, linseed, and carrots. The following alterative may be +mixed in the food:-- + + Powdered marshmallows, 1 ounce. + " sassafras bark, 2 ounces. + " charcoal, 2 ounces. + " licorice, 2 ounces. + +Dose, one table-spoonful every night. + + + + +SORE NIPPLES. + + +Lambs often die of hunger, from their dams refusing them suck. The cause +of this is sore nipples, or some tumor in the udder, in which violent +pain is excited by the tugging of the lamb. Washing with poplar bark, or +anointing the teats with powdered borax and honey, will generally effect +a cure. + + + + +FRACTURES. + + +The mending of a broken bone, though somewhat tedious, is by no means +difficult, when the integuments are not torn. Let the limb be gently +distended, and the broken ends of the bone placed in contact with each +other. A piece of stiff leather, of pasteboard, or of thin shingle, +wrapped in a soft rag, is then to be laid along the limb, so that it may +extend an inch or two beyond the contiguous part. The splints are then +to be secured by a bandage of linen an inch and a half broad. After +being firmly rolled up, it should be passed spirally round the leg, +taking care that every turn of the bandage overlaps about two thirds of +the preceding one. When the inequality of the parts causes the margin to +slack, it must be reversed or folded over; that is, its upper margin +must become the lower, &c. The bandage should be moderately tight, so as +to support the parts without intercepting the circulation, and should be +so applied as to press equally on every part. The bandage may be +occasionally wet with a mixture of equal parts of vinegar and water. + + + + +COMMON CATARRH AND EPIDEMIC INFLUENZA. + + +The seat of the disease is in the mucous membrane, which is a +continuation of the external skin, folded into all the orifices of the +body, as the mouth, eyes, nose, ears, lungs, stomach, intestines and +bladder; its structure of arterial capillaries, veins, arteries, nerves, +&c., is similar to the external skin; its most extensive surfaces are +those of the lungs and intestines, the former of which is supposed to be +greater than the whole external surface of the body. + +The healthy office of this membrane is to furnish from the blood a fluid +called mucus, to lubricate its own surface, and protect it from the +action of materials taken into the system. The mucous membrane and the +external surface of the body seem to be a counterpart of each other, and +perform nearly the same offices; hence, if the action of one is +suppressed, the other commences the performance of its office; thus a +cold which closes the skin immediately stops the perspiration, which is +now forced through the mucous membrane, producing the discharge of +watery humors, pus intermixed with blood, dry cough, emaciation, &c. +There are two varieties of this disease; the first is called _common +catarrh_, which proceeds from cold taken in pasture that is not properly +drained, also from atmospheric changes; it may also proceed from acrid +or other irritating effluvia inhaled in the air, or from poisonous +substances taken in the stomach in the form of food. The second variety +is called _epidemic influenza_, and is produced by general causes; the +attack is sometimes sudden; although of nearly the same nature as the +first form, it is more obstinate, and the treatment must be more +energetic. It is very difficult to lay down correct rules for the +treatment of this malady, under its different forms and stages. The +principal object to be kept in view is, to equalize the circulation, +remove the irritating causes from the organs affected, and restore the +tone of the system. + +For this purpose, we make use of the following articles:-- + + Horehound, (herb,) 1 ounce. + Marshmallow, (root,) 1 ounce. + Powdered elecampane, (root,) half an ounce. + " licorice, " half an ounce. + Powdered cayenne, half a tea-spoonful. + Molasses, 2 table-spoonfuls. + Vinegar, 2 table-spoonfuls. + +Mix, pour on the whole one quart of boiling water, set it aside for two +hours, then strain through cotton cloth, and give a table-spoonful night +and morning.[20] If the bowels are constipated, a dose of linseed oil +should precede the mixture. No water should be allowed during the +treatment. + +The following injection may be used:-- + + Powdered bayberry bark, 1 ounce. + " gum arabic, half an ounce. + Boiling water, 1 pint. + +Stir occasionally while cooling, and strain as above. + +The legs and ears should be briskly rubbed with tincture of capsicum; +this latter acts as a counter-irritant, equalizes the circulation, and, +entering into the system, gives tone and vigor to the whole animal +economy. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[20] This preparation undergoes a process of fermentation in the course +of forty-eight hours, and should therefore only be made in sufficient +quantities for present use. + + + + +CASTRATING LAMBS. + + +The lambs are first driven into a small enclosure. Select the ewe from +the ram lambs, and let the former go. Two assistants are necessary. One +catches the lambs; the other is seated on a low bench for the purpose of +taking the lamb on his lap, where he holds it by the four legs. The +operator, having previously supplied himself with a piece of waxed silk +and the necessary implements, grasps the scrotum in his left hand. He +then makes an incision over the most prominent part of the testicle, +through the skin, cellular structure, &c. The testicle escapes from the +scrotum. A ligature is now passed around the spermatic artery, and tied, +and the cord is severed, bringing the testicle away at one stroke of the +knife. As soon as the operation is completed, the animal is released. +The evening is the best time for performing the operation, for then the +animal remains quiet during the night, and the wound heals kindly. + + + + +NATURE OF SHEEP. + + +"The sheep, though in most countries under the protection and control of +man, is not that stupid and contemptible animal that has been +represented. Amidst those numerous flocks which range without control on +extensive mountains, where they seldom depend upon the aid of man, it +will be found to assume very different character. In those situations, a +ram or a wether will boldly attack a single dog, and often come off +victorious; but when the danger is more alarming, they have recourse to +the collected strength of the whole flock. On such occasions, they draw +up into a compact body, placing the young and the females in the centre, +while the males take the foremost ranks; keeping close by each other. +Thus an armed front is presented to all quarters, and cannot be easily +attacked, without danger or destruction to the assailant. In this manner +they wait with firmness the approach of the enemy; nor does their +courage fail them in the moment of attack; for when the aggressor +advances to within a few yards of the line, the rams dart upon him with +such impetuosity, as to lay him dead at their feet, unless he save +himself by flight. Against the attack of a single dog, when in this +situation, they are perfectly secure." + + + + +THE RAM. + + +Mr. Lawson says, "It may be observed that the rams of different breeds +of sheep vary greatly in their forms, wools, and fleeces, and other +properties; but the following description, by that excellent +stock-farmer, Mr. Culley, deserves the attention of the breeder and +grazier. According to him, the head of the ram should be fine and small; +his nostrils wide and expanded; his eyes prominent, and rather bold or +daring; his ears thin; his collar fall from his breast and shoulders, +but tapering gradually all the way to where the neck and head join, +which should be very fine and graceful, being perfectly free from any +coarse leather hanging down; the shoulders full, which must, at the same +time, join so easy to the collar forward, and chine backward, as to +leave not the least hollow in either place; the mutton upon his arm or +fore thigh must come quite to the knee; his legs upright, with a clean +fine bone, being equally clear from superfluous skin and coarse, hairy +wool from the knee and hough downwards; the breast broad and well +forward, which will keep his fore legs at a proper width; his girt or +chest full and deep, and instead of a hollow between the shoulders, that +part by some called the fore flank should be quite full; the back and +loins broad, flat, and straight, from which the ribs must rise with a +fine circular arch; his belly straight; the quarters long and full, with +the mutton quite down to the hough, which should neither stand in nor +out; his twist, or junction of the inside of the thighs, deep, wide, and +full, which, with the broad breast, will keep his legs open and upright; +the whole body covered with a thin pelt, and that with fine, bright, +soft wool. + +"It is to be observed that the nearer any breed of sheep come up to the +above description, the nearer they approach towards excellence of +form." + + + + +LEAPING. + + +"The manner of treating rams has lately received a very great +improvement. Instead of turning them loose among the ewes at large, as +heretofore, and agreeably to universal practice, they are kept apart, in +a separate paddock, or small enclosure, with a couple of ewes only each, +to make them rest quietly; having the ewes of the flock brought to them +singly, and leaping each only once. By this judicious and accurate +regulation, a ram is enabled to impregnate near twice the number of ewes +he would do if turned loose among them, especially a young ram. In the +old practice, sixty or eighty ewes were esteemed the full number for a +ram. [Overtaxing the male gives rise to weak and worthless offspring.] + +"The period during which the rams are to go with the ewes must be +regulated by climate, and the quantity of spring food provided. It is of +great importance that lambs should be dropped as early as possible, that +they not only be well nursed, but have time to get stout, and able to +provide for themselves before the winter sets in. It is also of good +advantage to the ewes that they may get into good condition before the +rutting season. The ram has been known to live to the age of fifteen +years, and begins to procreate at one. When castrated, they are called +_wethers_; they then grow sooner fat, and the flesh becomes finer and +better flavored." + + + + +ARGYLESHIRE BREEDERS. + + +In Argyleshire, the principal circumstances attended to by the most +intelligent sheep-farmers are these: to stock lightly, which will mend +the size of the sheep, with the quantity and quality of the wool, and +also render them less subject to diseases; (in all these respects it is +allowed, by good judges, that five hundred sheep, kept well, will +return more profit than six hundred kept indifferently;) to select the +best lambs, and such as have the finest, closest, and whitest wool, for +tups and breeding ewes, and to cut and spay the worst; to get a change +of rams frequently, and of breeding ewes occasionally; to put the best +tups to the best ewes, which is considered necessary for bringing any +breed to perfection; not to top three-year-old ewes, (which, in bad +seasons especially, would render the lambs produced by them of little +value, as the lambs would not have a sufficiency of milk; and would also +tend to lessen the size of the stock;) to keep no rams above three, or +at most four years old, nor any breeding ewes above five or six; to +separate the rams from the 10th of October, for a month or six weeks, to +prevent the lambs from coming too early in the spring; to separate the +lambs between the 15th and 25th of June; to have good grass prepared for +them; and if they can, to keep them separate, and on good grass all +winter, that they may be better attended to, and have the better chance +of avoiding disease. A few, whose possessions allow them to do it, keep +not only their lambs, but also their wethers, ewes, &c., in separate +places, by which every man, having his own charge, can attend to it +better than if all were in common; and each kind has its pasture that +best suits it. + + + + +FATTENING SHEEP. + + +We are indebted to Mr. Cole, editor of the New England Farmer, for the +following article, which is worthy the attention of the reader:-- + +"Quietude and warmth contribute greatly to the fattening process. This +is a fact which has not only been developed by science, but proved by +actual practice. The manner in which these agents operate is simple, and +easily explained. Motion increases respiration, and the excess of +oxygen, thus taken, requires an increased quantity of carbon, which +would otherwise be expended in producing fat. So, likewise, _cold robs +the system of animal heat_; to supply which, more oxygen and more carbon +must be employed in extra combustion, to restore the diminution of +temperature. Nature enforces the restoration of warmth, by causing cold +to produce both hunger and a disposition for motion, supplying carbon by +the gratification of the former, and oxygen by the indulgence of the +latter. The above facts are illustrated by Lord Ducie:-- + +"One hundred sheep were placed in a shed, and ate twenty pounds of +Swedish turnips each per day; whilst another hundred, in the open air, +ate twenty-five pounds each; and at that rate for a certain period: the +former animals weighed each thirty pounds more than the latter; plainly +showing that, to a certain extent, _warmth is a substitute for food_. +This was also proved, by the same nobleman, in other experiments, which +also illustrated the effect of exercise. + +"No. 1. Five sheep were fed in the open air, between the 21st of +November and the 1st of December. They consumed ninety pounds of food +per day, the temperature being 44 deg.. At the end of this time, they +weighed two pounds less than when first exposed. + +"No. 2. Five sheep were placed under shelter, and allowed to run at a +temperature of 49 deg.. They consumed at first eighty-two pounds, then +seventy pounds, and increased in weight twenty-three pounds. + +"No. 3. Five sheep were placed in the same shed, but not allowed any +exercise. They ate at first sixty-four pounds, then fifty-eight pounds, +and increased in weight thirty pounds. + +"No. 4. Five sheep were kept in the dark, quiet and covered. They ate +thirty-five pounds per day, and increased in weight eight pounds. + +"A similar experiment was tried by Mr. Childers, M. P. He states, that +eighty Leicester sheep, in the open field, consumed fifty baskets of cut +turnips per day, besides oil cake. On putting them in a shed, they were +immediately able to consume only thirty baskets, and soon after but +twenty-five, being only one half the quantity required before; and yet +they fattened as rapidly as when eating the largest quantity. + +"From these experiments, it appears that the least quantity of food, +which is required for fattening, is when animals are kept closely +confined in warm shelters; and the greatest quantity when running at +large, exposed to all weather. But, although animals will fatten faster +for a certain time without exercise than with it, if they are closely +confined for any considerable time, and are at the same time full fed, +they become, in some measure, feverish; the proportion of fat becomes +too large, and the meat is not so palatable and healthy as when they are +allowed moderate exercise, in yards or small fields. + +"As to the kinds of food which may be used most advantageously in +fattening, this will generally depend upon what is raised upon the farm, +it being preferable, in most cases, to use the produce of the farm. +Sheep prefer beans to almost any other grain; but neither beans nor peas +are so fattening as some other grains, and are used most advantageously +along with them. Beans, peas, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, &c., may be +used along with Indian corn, or oil cake, or succulent food, making +various changes and mixtures, in order to furnish the variety of food +which is so much relished by the sheep, and which should ever be +attended to by the sheep fattener. This will prevent their being cloyed, +and will hasten the fattening process. A variety of food, says Mr. +Spooner, operates like cookery in the human subject, enabling more +sustenance to be taken. + +"The quantity of grain or succulent food, which it will be proper to +feed, will depend upon the size, age, and condition of the sheep; and +judgment must be used in ascertaining how much they can bear. Mr. +Childers states that sheep (New Leicester) fed with the addition of half +a pint of barley per sheep, per day, half a pound of linseed oil cake, +with hay, and a constant supply of salt, became ready for the butcher +in ten weeks; the gain of flesh and tallow, thirty-three pounds to forty +pounds per head. (One sheep gained fifty-five pounds in twelve weeks.) + +"This experiment shows what is about the largest amount of grain which +it is necessary or proper to feed to New Leicester sheep, at any time +while fattening. The average weight of forty New Leicester wethers, +before fattening, was found by Mr. Childers to be one hundred and +twenty-eight pounds each. By weighing an average lot of any other kind +of sheep, which are to be fattened, and by reference to the table of +comparative nutriment of the different kinds of food, a calculation may +be readily made, as to the largest amount, which will be necessary for +them, of any article of food whatever. + +"When sheep are first put up for fattening, they should be sorted, when +convenient, so as to put those of the same age, size, and condition, +each by themselves, so that each may have a fair chance to obtain its +proportion of food, and may be fed the proper length of time. + +"They should be fed moderately at first, gradually increasing the +quantity to the largest amount, and making the proper changes of food, +so as not to cloy them, nor produce acute diseases of the head or +intestines, and never feeding so much as to scour them. + +"Sheep, when fattening, should not be fed oftener than three times a +day, viz., morning, noon, and evening. In the intervals between feeding, +they may fill themselves well, and will have time sufficient for +rumination and digestion: these processes are interrupted by too +frequent feeding. But they should be fed with regularity, both as to the +quantity of food and the time when it is given. When convenient, they +should have access to water at all times; otherwise a full supply of it +should be furnished to them immediately after they have consumed each +foddering. + +"When sheep become extremely fat, whether purposely or not, it is +generally expedient to slaughter them. Permitting animals to become +alternately very fat and lean is injurious to all stock. Therefore, if +animals are too strongly inclined to fatten at an age when wanted for +breeding, their condition as to flesh should be regulated by the +quantity and quality of their food or pasture." + + + + +IMPROVEMENT IN SHEEP. + + +No country in the world is better calculated for raising sheep than the +United States. The diversity of climate, together with the abundance and +variety of the products of the soil, united with the industry and +perseverance of the agriculturist, renders this country highly favorable +for breeding, maturing, and improving the different kinds of sheep. The +American people, taken as a whole, are intellectually stronger than any +other nation with the like amount of population, on the face of the +globe; consequently they are all-powerful, "for the mind is mightier +than the sword." All that we aim at, in these pages, is to turn the +current of the American mind to the important subject of improvement in +the animal kingdom; to show them the great benefits they will derive +from practical experience in the management of all classes of live +stock; and, lastly, to show them the value and importance of the +veterinary profession, when flourishing under the genial influence of a +liberal community. If we can only succeed in arresting the attention of +American stock raisers, and they, on the other hand, direct their whole +attention to the matter, then, in a few years, America will outshine her +more favored European rivals, and feel proud of her improved stock. What +the American people have done during the last half century in the +improvement of the soil, manufactures, arts, and sciences, is an earnest +of what they can do in ameliorating the condition of all classes of live +stock, provided they take hold of the subject in good earnest. Let any +one who is acquainted with the subject of degeneration, its causes and +fatal results, not only in reference to the stock itself, but as regards +the pocket of the breeder, and the health of the whole community,--let +such a one go into our slaughter-houses and markets, and if he does not +see a wide field for improvement, then we will agree to let the subject +sink into oblivion. In order to show what a whole community can +accomplish when their efforts are directed to one object, let us look on +what a single individual, by his own industry and perseverance, has +accomplished simply in improving the breed of sheep. The person referred +to is Mr. Bakewell. His breeding animals were, in the first place, +selected from different breeds. These he crossed with the best to be +had. After the cross had been carried to the desired point, he confined +his selections to his own herds or flocks. He formed in his mind a +standard of perfection for each kind of animals, and to this he +constantly endeavored to bring them. That he was eminently successful in +the attainment of his object, cannot be denied. He began his farming +operations about 1750. In 1760, his rams did not sell for more than two +or three guineas per head. From this time he gradually advanced in +terms, and in 1770 he let some for twenty-five guineas a head for the +season. Marshall states that, in 1786, Bakewell let two thirds of a ram +(reserving a third for himself) to two breeders, for a hundred guineas +each, the entire services of the ram being rated at three hundred +guineas the season. It is also stated that he made that year, by letting +rams, more than one thousand pounds. + +"In 1789, he made twelve hundred guineas by three '_ram brothers_,' and +two thousand guineas from seven, and, from his whole letting, full three +thousand guineas. Six or seven other breeders made from five hundred to +a thousand guineas each by the same operation. The whole amount of +ram-letting of Bakewell's breed is said to have been not less, that +year, than ten thousand pounds, [forty-eight thousand dollars.] + +"It is true that still more extraordinary prices were obtained for the +use of rams of this breed after Mr. Bakewell's death. Pitt, in his +'Survey of Leicestershire,' mentions that, in 1795, Mr. Astley gave +three hundred guineas for the use of a ram of this breed, engaging, at +the same time, that he should serve _gratis_ twenty ewes owned by the +man of whom the ram was hired; making for the entire use of the ram, +that season, four hundred and twenty guineas. In 1796, Mr. Astley gave +for the use of the same ram three hundred guineas, and took forty ewes +to be served gratis. At the price charged for the service of the ram to +each ewe, the whole value for the season was five hundred guineas. He +served one hundred ewes. In 1797, the same ram was let to another person +at three hundred guineas, and twenty ewes sent with him; the serving of +which was reckoned at a hundred guineas, and the ram was restricted to +sixty more, which brought his value for the season to four hundred +guineas. Thus the ram made, in three seasons, the enormous sum of +_thirteen hundred guineas_. + +"We have nothing to do, at present, with the question whether the value +of these animals was not exaggerated. The actual superiority of the +breed over the stock of the country must have been obvious, and this +point we wish kept in mind. + +"This breed of sheep is continued to the present day, and it has been +remarked by a respected writer, that they will 'remain a lasting +monument of Bakewell's skill.' As to their origin, the testimony shows +them to have been of _mixed blood_; though no breed is more distinct in +its characters, or transmits its qualities with more certainty; and if +we were without any other example of successful crossing, the advocates +of the system might still point triumphantly to the Leicester or +Bakewell sheep. + +"But what are the opinions of our best modern breeders in regard to the +practicability of producing distinct breeds by crossing? Robert Smith, +of Burley, Rutlandshire, an eminent sheep-breeder, in an essay on the +'Breeding and Management of Sheep,' for which he received a prize from +the Royal Agricultural Society, (1847,) makes the following remarks: +'The crossing of pure breeds has been a subject of great interest +amongst every class of breeders. While all agree that the first cross +may be attended with good results, there exists a diversity of opinion +upon the future movements, or putting the crosses together. Having +tried experiments (and I am now pursuing them for confirmation) in every +way possible, I do not hesitate to express my opinion, that, by proper +and judicious crossing through several generations, a most valuable +breed of sheep may be raised and established; in support of which I may +mention the career of the celebrated Bakewell, who raised a _new_ +variety from other long-wooled breeds by dint of perseverance and +propagation, and which have subsequently corrected all other long-wooled +breeds.'" + +We have alluded to the low price of some of the mutton brought to the +Boston market. We do not wish the reader to infer that there is none +other to be had: on the contrary, we have occasionally seen as good +mutton there as in any European market. There are a number of practical +and worthy men engaged in improving the different kinds of live stock, +and preventing the degeneracy to which we refer. They have taken much +interest in that class of stock, and they have been abundantly rewarded +for their labor. But the great mass want more light on this subject, and +for this reason we endeavor to show the causes of degeneracy, to enable +them to avoid the errors of their forefathers. + +Mr. Roberts, of Pennsylvania, says, "Early in my experience, I witnessed +the renovation of a flock of what we call country sheep, that had been +too long propagated in the same blood. This was about the year 1798. An +imported ram from England, with heavy horns, very much resembling the +most vigorous Spanish Merinos, was obtained. The progeny were improved +in the quality of fleece, and in the vigor of constitution. On running +this stock in the same blood for some twelve years, a great +deterioration became apparent. A male was then obtained of the large +coarse-wooled Spanish stock: improvement in the vigor of the progeny was +again most obvious. A Tunis mountain ram was then obtained, with a +result equally favorable. In this process, fineness of fleece or weight +was less the object than the carcass. In 1810, a male of not quite pure +Merino blood was placed with the same stock of ewes; and a change of the +male from year to year, for some time, produced a superior Merino +stock. Wool of a marketable quality for fine cloths was now the object; +and it was not an unprofitable husbandry, when it would sell in the +fleece, unwashed, from eighty-six cents to one dollar. The Saxon stock +then became the rage, and the introduction of a tup of that country +diminished greatly the weight of the fleece, without adequately +improving its fineness. A male of the Spanish stock would give sometimes +nine pounds; and the marsh graziers say that they went as high as +fifteen pounds. Saxon males scarcely exceed five pounds, and the ewes +two and a half pounds. By running in the same blood, and poor keeping, +the fleece may be made finer, but it will be lightened in proportion, +and of a weak and infirm texture. There are few stock-keepers who have +mixed the Spanish with the Saxon breeds but what either do or will have +cause to regret it. In this part of the country, a real Spanish Merino +is not to be obtained. Sheep-raising has ceased to be a business of any +profit nearer to the maritime coast than our extensive mountain ranges, +whether for carcass or fleece. I sold, the last season, water-washed +wool, of very fine quality, for thirty cents per pound. At such a price +for wool, land near our seaports can be turned to better account, even +in these dull times, than wool-growing. Stock sheep do best in stony and +elevated locations, where they have to use diligence to pick the scanty +blade. Sheep on the sea-board region should be kept more for carcass +than fleece; and feeding, more than breeding, ought to be the object for +some one hundred miles from tide water. It is now a well-ascertained +fact, that health and vigor can only be perpetuated by not running too +long on the same blood. The evils I have witnessed were due to a want of +care on this head more than to any endemical quality in our climate. +Sheep kept on smooth land and soft pasture are liable to the foot rot. +The hoofs of the Merino require paring occasionally, for want of a stony +mountain side to ascend. It is no longer a problem that this is to be a +great wool-growing country, as well as a wool-consuming one. There is, +in our wool-growing country, land in abundance, held at a price that +will enable the wool-grower to produce the finest qualities at thirty +cents per pound, the cloths to be manufactured in proportion, and the +market to be steady. I have seen Merino wool, since 1810, range from one +dollar per pound to eighteen and three fourths cents, though I do not +recollect selling below twenty-two cents. The best variety of sheep +stock I have seen, putting fineness of fleece aside, was the mixed +Bakewell and South Down, imported by Mr. Smith, of New Jersey. The flesh +of the Merino has been pronounced of inferior flavor. This, however, +does not agree with my experience, as I have found the lambs command a +readier sale than any other, from being preferred by consumers." + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT BREEDS OF SHEEP. + + +Mr. Lawson tells us that "the variety in sheep is so great, that +scarcely any two countries produce sheep of the same kind. There is +found a manifest difference in all, either in the size, the covering, +the shape, or the horns." + + +TEESWATER BREED. + +"This is a breed of sheep said to be the largest in England. It is at +present the most prevalent in the rich, fine, fertile, enclosed lands on +the banks of the Tees, in Yorkshire. In this breed, which is supposed to +be from the same stock as those of the Lincolns, greater attention seems +to have been paid to size than wool. It is, however, a breed only +calculated for warm, rich pastures, where they are kept in small lots, +in small enclosures, and well supported with food in severe winter +seasons. The legs are longer, finer boned, and support a thicker and +more firm and heavy carcass than the Lincolnshires; the sheep are much +wider on the backs and sides, and afford a fatter and finer-grained +mutton. + + +LINCOLN SHIRE BREED. + +"This is a breed of sheep which is characterized by their having no +horns; white faces; long, thin, weak carcasses thick, rough, white legs; +bones large; pelts thick; slow feeding; mutton coarse grained; the wool +from ten to eighteen inches in length; and it is chiefly prevalent in +the district which gives the name, and other rich grazing ones. The new, +or improved Lincolns, have now finer bone, with broader loins and +trussed carcasses, are among the best, if not actually the best, +long-wooled stock we have. + + +THE DISHLEY BREED. + +"This is an improved breed of sheep, which is readily distinguished from +the other long-wooled sorts; having a fulness of form and substantial +width of carcass, with peculiar plainness and meekness of countenance; +the head long, thin, and leaning backward; the nose projecting forward; +the ears somewhat long, and standing backward; great fulness of the fore +quarters; legs of moderate length, and the finest bone; tail small; +fleece well covering the body, of the shortest and finest of the combing +wools, the length of staple six or seven inches. + + +COTSWOLD BREED. + +"This is a breed of sheep answering the following description: long, +coarse head, with a particularly blunt, wide nose; a top-knot of wool on +the forehead, running under the ears; rather long neck; great length and +breadth of back and loin; full thigh, with more substance in the hinder +than fore quarters; bone somewhat fine; legs not long; fleece soft, like +that of the Dishley, but in closeness and darkness of color bearing +more resemblance to short or carding wool. Although very fat, they have +all the appearance of sheep that are full of solid flesh, which would +come heavy to the scale. At two years and a half old, they have given +from eleven to fourteen pounds of wool each sheep; and, being fat, they +are indisputably among the larger breeds. + + +ROMNEY MARSH BREED. + +"This is a kind which is described, by Mr. Young, as being a breed of +sheep without horns; white faces and legs; rather long in the legs; good +size; body rather long, but well barrel-shaped; bones rather large. In +respect to the wool, it is fine, long, and of a delicate white color, +when in its perfect state. + + +DEVONSHIRE BREED. + +"This is a breed or sort of sheep which is chiefly distinguished by +having no horns; white faces and legs; thick necks; backs narrow, and +back-bones high; sides good; legs short, and bones large; and probably +without any material objection, being a variety of the common hornless +sort. Length of wool much the same as in the Romney Marsh breed. It is a +breed found to be prevalent in the district from which it has derived +its name, and is supposed to have received considerable improvement by +being crossed with the new Leicester, or Dishley. + + +THE DORSETSHIRE BREED. + +"This breed is known by having the face, nose, and legs white, head +rather long, but broad, and the forehead woolly, as in the Spanish sort; +the horn round and bold, middle-sized, and standing from the head; the +shoulders broad at top, but lower than the hind quarters; the back +tolerably straight; carcass deep, and loins broad; legs not long, nor +very fine in the bone; the wool is fine and short. It is a breed which +has the peculiar property of producing lambs at any period of the +season, even so early as September and October, so as to suit the +purposes of the lamb-suckler. + + +THE WILTSHIRE BREED. + +"This is a sort which has sometimes the title of _horned crocks_. The +writer on live stock distinguishes the breed as having a large head and +eyes; Roman nose; wide nostrils; horns bending down the cheeks; color +all white; wide bosom; deep, greyhound breast; back rather straight; +carcass substantial; legs short; bone coarse; fine middle wool, very +thin on the belly, which is sometimes bare. He supposes, with Culley, +that the basis of this breed is doubtless the Dorsets, enlarged by some +long-wooled cross; but how the horns came to take a direction so +contrary, is not easy, he thinks, to conjecture; he has sometimes +imagined it must be the result of some foreign, probably Tartarian +cross. + + +THE SOUTH DOWN BREED. + +"This is a valuable sort of sheep, which Culley has distinguished by +having no horns; gray faces and legs; fine bones; long, small necks; and +by being rather low before, high on the shoulder, and light in the fore +quarter; sides good; loin tolerably broad; back-bone rather high; thigh +full; twist good; mutton fine in grain and well flavored; wool short, +very close and fine; in the length of the staple from two to three +inches. It is a breed which prevails on the dry, chalky downs in Sussex, +as well as the hills of Surrey and Kent, and which has lately been much +improved, both in carcass and wool, being much enlarged forward, +carrying a good fore flank; and for the short, less fertile, hilly +pastures is an excellent sort, as feeding close. The sheep are hardy, +and disposed to fatten quickly; and where the ewes are full kept, they +frequently produce twin lambs, nearly in proportion of one third of the +whole, which are, when dropped, well wooled. + + +THE HERDWICK BREED. + +"This is a breed which is characterized by Mr. Culley as having no +horns, and the face and legs being speckled; the larger portion of +white, with fewer black spots, the purer the breed; legs fine, small, +clean; the lambs well covered when dropped; the wool, short, thick, and +matted in the fleece. It is a breed peculiar to the elevated, +mountainous tract of country at the head of the River Esk, and Duddon in +Cumberland, where they are let in herds, at an annual sum; whence the +name. At present, they are said to possess the property of being +extremely hardy in constitution, and capable of supporting themselves on +the rocky, bare mountains, with the trifling support of a little hay in +the winter season. + + +THE CHEVIOT BREED. + +"This breed of sheep is known by the want of horns; by the face and legs +being mostly white; little depth in the breast; narrow there and on the +chine; clean, fine, small-boned legs, and thin pelts; the wool partly +fine and partly coarse. It is a valuable breed of mountain sheep, where +the herbage is chiefly of the natural grass kind, which is the case in +the situations where these are found the most prevalent, and from which +they have obtained their name. It is a breed which has undergone much +improvement, within these few years, in respect to its form and other +qualities, and has been lately introduced into the most northern +districts; and from its hardiness, its affording a portion of fine wool, +and being quick in fattening, it is likely to answer well in such +situations. + + +THE MERINO BREED + +"In this breed of sheep, the males have horns, but the females are +without them. They have white faces and legs; the body not very perfect +in shape; rather long in the legs; fine in the bone; a production of +loose, pendulous skin under the neck; and the pelt fine and clear; the +wool very fine. It is a breed that is asserted by some to be tolerably +hardy, and to possess a disposition to fatten readily. + + +THE WELSH SHEEP. + +"These, which are the most general breed in the hill districts, are +small horned, and all over of a white color. They are neat, compact +sheep. There is likewise a polled, short-wooled sort of sheep in these +parts of the country, which are esteemed by some. The genuine Welsh +mutton, from its smallness and delicate flavor, is commonly well known, +highly esteemed, and sold at a high price." + +[Illustration: A Boar. + +Bred and fed by Willm. Fisher Hobbs, Esq. of Marks Hall, Coggleshall, +Essex for which a Prize of L10 was awarded at the Meeting of the R.A.S +of E. at Derby 1843.] + + + + +SWINE. + + +PRELIMINARY REMARKS. + +Swine have generally been considered "unclean," creatures of gross +habits, &c.; but these epithets are unjust: they are not, in their +nature, the unclean, gross, insensible brutes that mankind suppose them. +If they are unclean, they got their first lessons from the lords of +creation, by being confined in narrow, filthy sties--often deprived of +light, and pure air, by being shut up in dark, underground cellars, to +wallow in their own excrement; at other times, confined beneath stables, +dragging out their existence in a perfect hotbed of corruption--respiring +the emanations from the dung and urine of other animals; and often +compelled to satisfy the cravings of hunger by partaking of whatever +comes in their way. All manner of filth, including decaying and putrid +vegetable and animal substances, are considered good enough for the +hogs. And as long as they get such kind of trash, and no other, they +must eat it; the cravings of hunger must be satisfied. The Almighty has +endowed them with powerful organs of digestion; and as long as there is +any thing before them that the gastric fluids are capable of +assimilating, although it be disgusting to their very natures, rather +than suffer of hunger, they will partake of it. Much of the indigestible +food given to swine deranges the stomach, and destroys the powers of +assimilation, or, in other words, leaves it in morbid state. There is +then a constant sensation of hunger, a longing for any and every thing +within their reach. Does the reader wonder, then, at their morbid +tastes? What will man do under the same circumstances? Suppose him to be +the victim of dyspepsia or indigestion. In the early stages, he is +constantly catering to the appetite. At one time, he longs for acids; at +another, alkalies; now, he wants stimulants; then, refrigerants, &c. +Again: what will not a man do to satisfy the cravings of hunger? Will he +not eat his fellow, and drink of his blood? And all to satisfy the +craving of an empty stomach. + +We know from experience that, if young pigs are daily washed, and kept +on clean cooked food, they will not eat the common city "swill;" they +eat it only when compelled by hunger. When free from the control of man, +they show as much sagacity in the selection of their food as any other +animals; and, indeed, more than some, for they seldom get poisoned, like +the ox, in mistaking noxious for wholesome food. The Jews, as well as +our modern physiologists, consider the flesh of swine unfit for food. No +doubt some of it is, especially that reared under the unfavorable +circumstances alluded to above. But good home-fed pork, kept on good +country produce, and not too fat, is just as good food for man as the +flesh of oxen or sheep, notwithstanding the opinion of our medical +brethren to the contrary. Their flesh has long been considered as one of +the principal causes of scrofula, and other diseases too numerous to +mention: without doubt this is the case. But that good, healthy pork +should produce such results we are unwilling to admit. We force them to +load their stomachs with the rotten offal of large cities, and thus +derange their whole systems; they become loaded with fat; their systems +abound in morbific fluids; their lungs become tuberculous; their livers +enlarge; calcerous deposits or glandular disorganization sets in. Take +into consideration their inactive habits; not voluntary, for instinct +teaches them, when at liberty, to run, jump, and gambol, by which the +excess of carbon is thrown off. Depriving them of exercise may be +profitable to the breeder, but it induces a state of plethora. The +cellular structures of such an animal are distended to their utmost +capacity, preventing the full and free play of the vital machinery, +obstructing the natural outlets (excrementitious vessels) on the +external surface, and retaining in the system morbid materials that are +positively injurious. At the present time, there is on exhibition in +Boston a woman, styled the "fat girl;" she weighs four hundred and +ninety-five pounds. A casual observer could detect nothing in her +external appearance that denoted disease; yet she is liable to die at +any moment from congestion of the brain, lungs, or liver. Any one +possessing a knowledge of physiology would immediately pronounce her to +be in a pathological state. Hence, the laws of the animal economy being +uniform, we cannot arrive at any other conclusion in reference to the +same plethoric state in animals of an inferior order. + +Professor Liebig tells us that excess of carbon, in the form of food, +cannot be employed to make a part of any organ; it must be deposited in +the cellular tissue in the form of tallow or oil. This is the whole +secret of fattening. + +At every period of animal life, when there occurs a disproportion +between the carbon of the food and the inspired oxygen, the latter being +deficient,--which must happen beneath stables and in ill-constructed +hog-sties,--fat must be formed. + +Experience teaches us that in poultry the maximum of fat is obtained by +preventing them from taking exercise, and by a medium temperature. These +animals, in such circumstances, may be compared to a plant possessing in +the highest degree the power of converting all food into parts of its +own structure. The excess of the constituents of blood forms flesh and +other organized tissues, while that of starch, sugar, &c., is converted +into fat. When animals are fed on food destitute of nitrogen, only +certain parts of their structure increase in size. Thus, in a goose +fattened in the manner alluded to, the liver becomes three or four times +larger than in the same animal when well fed, with free motion; while we +cannot say that the organized structure of the liver is thereby +increased. The liver of a goose fed in the ordinary way is firm and +elastic; that of the imprisoned animal is soft and spongy. The +difference consists in a greater or less expansion of its cells, which +are filled with fat. Hence, when fat accumulates and free motion is +prevented, the animal is in a diseased state. Now, many tons of pork are +eaten in this diseased state, and it communicates disease to the human +family: they blame the pork, when, in fact, the pork raisers are often +more to blame. The reader is probably aware that some properties of food +pass into the living organism being assimilated by the digestive organs, +and produce an abnormal state. For example, the faculty of New York +have, time and again, testified to the destructive tendency of milk +drawn from cows fed in cities, without due exercise and ordinary care in +their management, giving it as their opinion that most of the diseases +of children are brought about by its use. If proof were necessary to +establish our position, we could cite it in abundance. A single case, +which happened in our own family, will suffice. A liver, taken from an +apparently healthy sow, (yet abounding in fat, and weighing about two +hundred pounds,) was prepared in the usual manner for dinner. We +observed, however, previous to its being cooked, that it was unusually +large; yet there was no appearance of disease about it; it was quite +firm. Each one partook of it freely. Towards night, and before partaking +of any other kind of food, we were all seized with violent pains in the +head, sickness at the stomach, and delirium: this continued for several +hours, when a diarrhoea set in, through which process the offending +matter was liberated, and each one rapidly recovered; pretty well +convinced, however, that we had had a narrow escape, and that the liver +was the sole cause of our misfortune. + +Hence the proper management of swine becomes a subject of great +importance; for, if more attention were paid to it, there would be less +disease in the human family. When we charge these animals with being +"unclean creatures of gross habits," let us consider whether we have +not, in some measure, contributed to make them what they are. + +Again: the hog has been termed "insensible," destitute of all those +finer feelings that characterize brutes of a higher order. Yet we have +"learned pigs," &c.--a proof that they can be taught something. A +celebrated writer tells us that no animal has a greater sympathy for +those of his own kind than the hog. The moment one of them gives a +signal, all within hearing rush to his assistance. They have been known +to gather round a dog that teased them and kill him on the spot; and if +a male and female be enclosed in a sty when young, and be afterwards +separated, the female will decline from the instant her companion is +removed, and will probably die--perhaps of what would be termed, in the +human family, a broken heart! + +In the Island of Minorca, hogs are converted into beasts of draught; a +cow, a sow, and two young horses, have been seen yoked together, and of +the four the sow drew the best. + +A gamekeeper of Sir H. Mildmay actually broke a sow to find game, and to +back and stand. + +Swine are frequently troubled with cutaneous diseases, which produce an +itching sensation; hence their desire to wallow and roll in the mire and +dirt. The lying down in wet, damp places relieves the irritation of the +external surface, and cools their bodies. This mud and filth, however, +in which they are often compelled to wallow, is by no means good or +wholesome for them. + + + + +NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HOG. + + +"The hog," says Professor Low, "is subject to remarkable changes of form +and characters, according to the situations in which he is placed. When +these characters assume a certain degree of permanence, a breed or +variety is formed; and there is none of the domestic animals which more +easily receives the characters we desire to impress upon it. This +arises from its rapid powers of increase, and the constancy with which +the characters of the parents are reproduced in the progeny. _There is +no kind of live stock that can be so easily improved by the breeder, and +so quickly rendered suitable for the purposes required._ + +"The body is large in proportion to the limbs, or, in other words, the +limbs are short in proportion to the body; the extremities are free from +coarseness; the chest is broad, and the trunk round. Possessing these +characters, the hog never fails to arrive at early maturity, and with a +smaller consumption of food than when he possesses a different +conformation. + +"The wild boar, which was undoubtedly the progenitor of all the European +varieties, and of the Chinese breed, was formerly a native of the +British Islands, and very common in the forests until the time of the +civil wars in that country." + +We are told, that the wild hog "is now spread over the temperate and +warmer parts of the old continent and its adjacent islands. His color +varies with age and climate, but is generally a dusky brown, with black +spots and streaks. His skin is covered with coarse hairs and bristles, +intersected with soft wool, and with coarser and longer bristles upon +the neck and spine, which he erects when in anger. He is a very bold and +powerful creature, and becomes more fierce and indocile with age. From +the form of his teeth, he is chiefly herbivorous in his habits, and +delights in roots, which his acute sense of smell and touch enables him +to discover beneath the surface. He also feeds on animal substances, +such as worms and larvae, which he grubs up from the earth, the eggs of +birds, small reptiles, the young of animals, and occasionally carrion; +he even attacks venomous snakes with impunity. In the natural state, the +female produces a litter but once a year;[21] and in much smaller +numbers than when domesticated. She usually carries her young about four +months. + +"In the wild state, the hog has been known to live more than thirty +years; but when domesticated, he is usually slaughtered before he is two +years old. When the wild hog is tamed, it undergoes the following +amongst other changes in its conformation: the ears become less movable, +not being required to collect distant sounds; the formidable tusks of +the male diminish, not being necessary for self-defence; the muscles of +the neck become less developed, from not being so much exercised as in +the natural state; the head becomes more inclined, the back and loins +are lengthened, the body rendered more capacious, the limbs shorter and +less muscular; and anatomy proves that the stomach and intestinal canals +have also become proportionately extended along with the form of the +body. The habits and instincts of the animal change; it becomes diurnal +in its habits, not choosing the night for its search of food; is more +insatiate in its appetite, and the tendency to obesity increases. + +"The male, forsaking its solitary habits, becomes gregarious, and the +female produces her young more frequently, and in larger numbers. With +its diminished strength, and its want of active motion, the animal loses +its desire for liberty. + +"The true hog does not appear to be indigenous to America, but was taken +over by the early voyagers from the old world, and it is now spread and +multiplied throughout the continent. + +"The first settlers of North America and the United States carried with +them the swine of the parent country, and a few of the breeds still +retain traces of the old English character. From its nature and habits, +the hog was the most profitable and useful of all the animals bred by +the early settlers in the distant clearings. It was his surest resource +during the first years of toil and hardship." + +Their widely-extended foreign commerce afforded the Americans +opportunity of procuring the varieties from China, Africa, and other +countries. The large consumption of pork in the United States, and the +facilities for disposing of it abroad, will probably cause more +attention to be paid to the principles of breeding, rearing, feeding, +&c. The American farmers are doing good service in this department, and +any attempt on their part to improve the quality of pork ought to meet +with a corresponding encouragement from the community. We have no doubt +that many stock-raisers find their profits increase in proportion to the +care bestowed in rearing. Here is an example: A Mr. Hallock, of the town +of Coxsackie, has a sow which raised forty pigs within a year, which +sold for $275,--none of them being kept over nine months. Mr. Little, of +Poland, Ohio, states, in the Cultivator, that he has "a barrow three +years old, a full-blood Berkshire, which will now weigh nearly 1000 +pounds, live weight. He was weighed on the 3d of October, and then +brought down 880; since which he has improved rapidly, and will +doubtless reach the above figures. I have had this breed for seven years +_pure_,--descended from hogs brought from Albany and Buffalo, and a boar +imported by Mr. Fahnestock, of Pittsburg, Pa., from England, (the latter +a very large animal.) The stock have all been large and very +profitable--weighing, at seven to ten months old, from 250 to 300 +pounds. Several individuals have weighed over 400, and the sire of this +present one reached 750. This is, however, much the largest I have yet +raised." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[21] In the domesticated state, the sow is often permitted to have two +and even three litters in a year. This custom is very pernicious; it +debilitates the mother, overworks all parts of the living machinery, and +being in direct opposition to the laws of their being, their progeny +must degenerate. Then, again, let the reader take into consideration the +fact that members of the same litter impregnate each other, in the same +ratio, and he cannot but come to a conclusion that we have long since +arrived at--that these practices are among the chief causes of +deterioration. + + + + +GENERALITIES. + + +Dr. Gunther observes, that "the robust constitution of the pig causes it +to be less liable to fall sick than oxen and sheep. It would be still +less liable to disease, if persons manifested more judgment in the +choice of the animals to be reared, and if more care were shown in the +matter. With reference to the latter point, it is very true that the +voracity of the pig urges it to eat every thing it meets; but to keep it +in a state of health, it is, notwithstanding, necessary to restrict its +regimen to certain rules. The animal which it is proposed to fatten +should remain under the roof, and receive good food there, whilst the +others may be sent out for the greater part of the year, care being +taken to avoid fields that are damp and marshy, and that the pigs be +preserved from the dew. It is also of importance that they should not be +driven too hard during warm days. + +"There are two other points which deserve to be taken into +consideration, if we wish swine to thrive: these are, daily exercise in +the open air whenever the weather permits, and cleanliness in the sty. +Constant confinement throws them into what may be called a morbid state, +which renders their flesh less wholesome for man. The manner in which +the animal evinces its joy when set at liberty proves sufficiently how +disagreeable confinement is to it. A very general prejudice prevails, +viz., that dung and filth do not injure swine; this opinion, however, is +absurd." + + + + +GENERAL DEBILITY, OR EMACIATION. + + +The falling off in flesh, or wasting away, of swine is in most cases +owing to derangement in the digestive organs. The cure consists in +restoring the tone of these organs. We commence the treatment by putting +the animal on a boiled diet, consisting of bran, meal, or any wholesome +vegetable production. The following tonic and diffusible stimulant will +complete the cure:-- + + Powdered golden seal, } + " ginger, } equal parts. + +Dose, a tea-spoonful, repeated night and morning. + +When loss in condition is accompanied with cough and difficulty of +breathing, mix, in addition to the above, a few kernels of garlic with +the food. The drink should consist of pure water. Should the cough prove +troublesome, take a tea-spoonful of fir balsam, and the same quantity of +honey; to be given night and morning, either in the usual manner, or it +may be stirred into the food while hot. + + + + +EPILEPSY, OR FITS. + + +The symptoms are too well known to need any description. It is generally +caused by plethora, yet it may exist in an hereditary form. + + +_Treatment._--Feed with due care, and put the animal in a +well-ventilated and clean situation; give a bountiful supply of valerian +tea, and sprinkle a small quantity of scraped horseradish in the food; +or give + + Powdered assafoetida, 1 ounce. + " capsicum, 1 tea-spoonful. + Table salt, 1 table-spoonful. + +Mix. Give half a tea-spoonful daily. + + + + +RHEUMATISM. + + +_Causes._--Exposure, wallowing in filth, &c. + + +_Symptoms._--It is recognized by a muscular rigidity of the whole +system. The appetite is impaired, and the animal does not leave its sty +willingly. + + +_Treatment._--Keep the animal on a boiled diet, which should be given to +him warm. Remove the cause by avoiding exposure and filth, and give a +dose of the following: + + Powdered sulphur, } + " sassafras, } equal parts. + " cinnamon, } + +Dose, half a tea-spoonful, to be given in warm gruel. If this does not +give immediate relief, dip an old cloth in hot water, (of a proper +temperature,) and fold it round the animal's body. This may be repeated, +if necessary, until the muscular system is relaxed. The animal should be +wiped dry, and placed in a warm situation, with a good bed of straw. + + + + +MEASLES. + + +This disease is very common, yet is often overlooked. + + +_Symptoms._--It may be known by eruptions on the belly, ears, tongue, or +eyelids. Before the eruption appears, the animal is drowsy, the eyes are +dull, and there is sometimes loss of appetite, with vomiting. On the +other hand, if the disease shall have receded towards the internal +organs, its presence can only be determined by the general disturbance +of the digestive organs, and the appearance of a few eruptions beneath +the tongue. + + +_Treatment._--Remove the animal from its companions to a warm place, and +keep it on thin gruel. Give a tea-spoonful of sulphur daily, together +with a drink of bittersweet tea. The object is to invite action to the +surface, and maintain it there. If the eruption does not reappear on the +surface, rub it with the following liniment:-- + +Take one ounce of oil of cedar; dissolve in a wine-glass of alcohol; +then add half a pint of new rum and a tea-spoonful of sulphur. + +Almost all the diseases of the skin may be treated in the same manner. + + + + +OPHTHALMIA. + + +_Causes._--Sudden changes in temperature, unclean sties, want of pure +air, and imperfect light. + + +_Treatment._--Keep the animal on thin gruel, and allow two tea-spoonfuls +of cream of tartar per day. Wash the eyes with an infusion of +marshmallows, until a cure is effected. + + + + +VERMIN. + + +Some animals are covered with vermin, which even pierce the skin, and +sometimes come out by the mouth, nose, and eyes. + + +_Symptoms._--The animal is continually rubbing and scratching itself, or +burrowing in the dirt and mire. + + +_Treatment._--First wash the body with a strong lie of wood ashes or +weak saleratus water, then with an infusion of lobelia. Mix a +tea-spoonful of sulphur, and the same quantity of powdered charcoal, in +the food daily. + + + + +RED ERUPTION. + + +This disease is somewhat analogous to scarlet fever. It makes its +appearance in the form of red pustules on the back and belly, which +gradually extend to the whole body. The external remedy is:-- + + Powdered bloodroot, half an ounce. + Boiling vinegar, 1 pint. + +When cool, it should be rubbed on the external surface. + +The diet should consist of boiled vegetables, coarse meal, &c., with a +small dose of sulphur every night. + + + + +DROPSY. + + +_Symptoms._--The animal is sad and depressed, the appetite fails, +respiration is performed with difficulty, and the belly swells. + +_Treatment._--Keep the animal on a light, nutritive diet, and give a +handful of juniper berries, or cedar buds, daily. If these fail, give a +table-spoonful of fir balsam daily. + + + + +CATARRH. + + +_Symptoms._--Occasional fits of coughing, accompanied with a mucous +discharge from the nose and mouth. + + +_Causes._--Exposure to cold and damp weather. + + +_Treatment._--Give a liberal allowance of gruel made with powdered elm +or marshmallows, and give a tea-spoonful of balsam copaiba, or fir +balsam, every night. The animal must be kept comfortably warm. + + + + +COLIC. + + +Spasmodic and flatulent colic requires antispasmodics and carminatives, +in the following form:-- + +Powdered caraway seeds, 1 tea-spoonful. + " assafoetida, one third of a tea-spoonful. + +To be given at a dose in warm water, and repeated at the expiration of +an hour, provided relief is not obtained. + + + + +DIARRHOEA. + + +For the treatment of this malady, see division SHEEP, article +_Scours_. + + + + +FRENZY. + + +This makes its appearance suddenly. The animal, having remained in a +passive and stupid state, suddenly appears much disturbed, to such a +degree that it makes irregular movements, strikes its head against every +thing it meets, scrapes with its feet, places itself quite erect +alongside of the sty, bites any thing in its way, and frequently whirls +itself round, after which it suddenly becomes more tranquil. + + +_Treatment._--Give half an ounce of Rochelle salts, in a pint of +thoroughwort tea. If the bowels are not moved in the course of twelve +hours, repeat the dose. A light diet for a few days will generally +complete the cure. + + + + +JAUNDICE. + + +This disease is recognised by the yellow tint of the _conjunctiva_, +(white of the eye,) loss of appetite, &c. + +The remedy is,-- + + Powdered golden seal, half an ounce. + " sulphur, one fourth of an ounce. + " blue flag, half an ounce. + Flaxseed, 1 pound. + +Mix, and divide into four parts, and give one every night. The food must +be boiled, and a small quantity of salt added to it. + + + + +SORENESS OF THE FEET. + + +This often occurs to pigs that have travelled any distance: the feet +often become tender and sore. In such cases, they should be examined, +and all extraneous matter removed from the foot. Then wash with weak +lie. If the feet discharge fetid matter, wash with the following +mixture:-- + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Water, 4 ounces. + +In the treatment of diseased swine, the "issues," as they are called, +ought to be examined, and be kept free. They may be found on the inside +of the legs, just above the pastern joint. They seem to serve as a +drain or outlet for the morbid fluids of the body, and whenever they are +obstructed, local or general disturbance is sure to supervene. + + + + +SPAYING. + + +This is the operation of removing the ovaries of sows, in order to +prevent any future conception, and promote their fattening. (See article +_Spaying Cows_, p. 201.) It is usually performed by making incision in +the middle of the flank, on the left side, in order to extirpate or cut +off the ovaries, (female _testes_,) and then stitching up the wound, and +wetting the part with Turlington's balsam. An able writer on this +subject says, "The chief reason why a practice, which is beneficial in +so many points of view to the interests and advantages of the farmer, +has been so little attended to, is the difficulty which is constantly +experienced from the want of a sufficient number of expert and proper +persons to perform the operation. Such persons are far from being common +in any, much less in every district, as some knowledge, of a nature +which is not readily acquired, and much experience in the practice of +cutting, are indispensably necessary to the success of the undertaking. +When, however, the utility and benefits of the practice become better +understood and more fully appreciated by the farmer, and the operators +more numerous, greater attention and importance will be bestowed upon +it; as it is capable of relieving him from much trouble, of greatly +promoting his profits, and of benefiting him in various ways. The facts +are since well proved and ascertained, that animals which have undergone +this operation are more disposed to take on flesh, more quiet in their +habits, and capable of being managed with much greater ease and facility +in any way whatever, than they were before the operation was performed. +It may also have advantages in other ways in different sorts of +animals; it may render the filly nearly equal to the gelded colt for +several different uses; and the heifer nearly equal to the ox for all +sorts of farm labor. The females of some other sorts of animals may +likewise, by this means, be made to nearly equal the castrated males in +usefulness for a variety of purposes and intentions, and in all cases be +rendered a good deal more valuable, or manageable, than they are at +present." + + + + +VARIOUS BREEDS OF SWINE. + + +BERKSHIRE BREED. + +This breed is distinguished by being in general of a tawny, white, or +reddish color, spotted with black; large ears hanging over the eyes; +thick, close, and well made in the body; legs short; small in the bone; +having a disposition to fatten quickly. When well fed, the flesh is +fine. The above county has long been celebrated for its breed of swine. +The Berkshire breeders have made a very judicious use of the pug cross, +by not repeating it to the degree of taking away all shape and power of +growing flesh, in their stock. This breed is supposed by many to be the +most hardy, both in respect to their nature and the food on which they +are fed. Their powers of digestion are exceedingly energetic, and they +require constant good keep, or they will lose flesh very fast. They +thrive well in the United States, provided, however, due care is +exercised in breeding. + + +HAMPSHIRE BREED. + +This breed is distinguished by being longer in the body and neck, but +not of so compact a form as the Berkshire. They are mostly of a white +color, or spotted, and are easily fattened. The goodness of the +Hampshire hog is proverbial, and in England they are generally fattened +for hams. + + +SHROPSHIRE BREED. + +These are not so well formed as those of the Berkshire kind, or equal to +them in their disposition to fatten, or to be supported on such cheap +food. Their color is white or brinded. They are flat boned; deep and +flat sided; harsh, or rather wiry-haired; the ear large; head long, +sharp, and coarse; legs long; loin, although very substantial, yet not +sufficiently wide, considering the great extent of the whole frame. They +have been much improved by the Berkshire cross. + +There are various other breeds, which take their name from the different +counties in the mother country. Thus we have the Herefordshire, +Wiltshire, Yorkshire, &c. Yet they are not considered equal to those +already alluded to. Many of the different English breeds might, however, +serve to improve some species of breed in this country. + + +CHINESE BREED. + +This is of small size; the body being very close, compact, and well +formed; the legs very short; the flesh delicate and firm. The prevailing +color, in China, is white. They fatten very expeditiously on a small +quantity of food, and might be reared in the United States to good +advantage, especially for home consumption. + + + + +BOARS AND SOWS FOR BREEDING. + + +Mr. Lawson says, "The best stock may be expected from the boar at his +full growth, but no more than from three to five years old.[22] No sows +should be kept open for breeding unless they have large, capacious +bellies. + +"It may be remarked, in respect to the period of being with young, that +in the sow it is about four months; and the usual produce is about eight +to ten or twelve pigs in the large, but more in the smaller breeds. + +"In the ordinary management of swine, sows, after they have had a few +litters, may be killed; but no breeder should part with one while she +continues to bring good litters, and rear them with safety." + +Pregnant sows should always be lodged separately, especially at the time +of bringing forth their young, else the pigs would most probably be +devoured as they fall. The sow should also be attended with due care +while pigging, in order to preserve the pigs. It is found that dry, +warm, comfortable lodging is of almost as much importance as food. The +pigs may be weaned in about eight weeks, after which the sow requires +less food than she does while nursing. In the management of these +animals, it is of great utility and advantage to separate the males from +the females, as it lessens their sexual desires. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[22] Sows are generally bred from too early--before they come to +maturity. This not only stints their own growth, but their offspring +give evidence of deterioration. A sow should never be put to the boar +until she be a year old. + + + + +REARING PIGS. + + +"As the breeding of pigs is a business that affords the farmer a +considerable profit and advantage in various views, it is of essential +importance that he be provided with suitable kinds of food in abundance +for their support. Upon this being properly and effectually done, his +success and advantage will in a great measure depend. The crops capable +of being cultivated with the most benefit in this intention are, beans, +peas, barley, buckwheat, Indian corn, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, +Swedish turnips, cabbages, &c. + +"The sows considerably advanced in pig, and those with pigs, should be +fed in a better manner than the stone pigs. The former should be +supplied with boiled meal, potatoes, carrots, &c., so as to keep them in +good condition. The sows with pigs should be kept with the litters in +separate sties, and be still better fed than those with pig. When +dairying is practised, the wash of that kind which has been preserved +for that purpose while the dairying was profitable, must be given them, +with food of the root kind, such as carrots, parsnips, &c., in as large +proportions as they will need to keep them in condition." + +Pea-soup is an admirable article when given in this intention; it is +prepared by boiling six pecks of peas in about sixty gallons of water, +till they are well broken down and diffused in the fluid: it is then put +into a tub or cistern for use. When dry food is given in combination +with this, or of itself, the above writer advises oats, as being much +better than any other sort of grain for young pigs, barley not answering +nearly so well in this application. Oats coarsely ground have been found +very useful for young hogs, both in the form of wash with water, and +when made of a somewhat thicker consistence. But in cases where the sows +and pigs can be supported with dairy-wash and roots, as above, there +will be a considerable saving made, by avoiding the use of the expensive +articles of barley-meal, peas, or bran. + +Mr. Donaldson remarks, that in the usual mode, the pigs reared by the +farmer are fed, for some weeks after they are weaned, on whey or +buttermilk, or on bran or barley-meal mixed with water. They are +afterwards maintained on other food, as potatoes, carrots, the refuse of +the garden, kitchen, scullery, &c., together with such additions as they +can pick up in the farmyard. Sometimes they are sent into the fields at +the close of harvest, where they make a comfortable living for several +weeks on the gleanings of the crop; at other times, when the farm is +situated in the neighborhood of woods or forests, they are sent thither +to pick up the beech-nuts and acorns in the fall of the year; and when +they have arrived at a proper age for fattening, they are either put +into sties fitted up for the purpose, or sold to distillers, +starch-makers, dairymen, or cottagers. + +Nothing tends more effectually to preserve the health and promote the +growth of young pigs than the liberal use of hay tea. The tea should be +thickened with corn meal and shorts. This, given lukewarm, twice a day, +will quicken their growth, and give the meat a rich flavor. A few +parsnips[23] or carrots (boiled) may be made use of with much success. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[23] The Sussex (Eng.) Express says, "At our farm we have been in the +habit of employing parsnips for this purpose for some time. Upon +reference to our books, we find that on the 11th of October, 1847, we +put up two shotes of eleven weeks old, and fed them on skim milk and +parsnips for three months, when they were killed, weighing 231 and 238 +pounds. They were well fattened, firm in flesh, and the meat of +excellent flavor. The quantity of parsnips consumed by them was nine +bushels each." + + + + +FATTENING HOGS. + + +F. Dodge, of Danvers, Mass., states that, in the spring of 1848, he +"bought, from a drove, seven shotes, the total weight of which was 925 +pounds. The price paid for them was seven cents per pound. They were fed +an average of 184 days, and their average gain was 179 pounds of net +pork. The cost of the food they consumed was as follows:-- + + 68 bushels corn at 53 cents, $36 04 + 30 " " damaged, at 35 cents, 10 50 + 50 " " at 65 cents, 32 50 + 8 " meal at 65 cents, 5 20 + ------- + $84 24 + Add first cost of pigs, 64 75 + ------- + Making a total cost of $148 99 + +"The whole quantity of pork afforded by the pigs killed was 2178 pounds, +which was sold at 6-1/3 cents per pound, amounting to $141 57; leaving +a balance against the pigs of $7 42. The inference from this statement +is, that, at the above prices of grain, pork could not be profitably +produced at six and a half cents per pound. But it is suggested that +something might be saved by breeding the stock, instead of purchasing +shotes at seven cents per pound, live weight. It is thought, however, +that the manure afforded by the hogs would be of sufficient value to +more than overbalance any deficiency which might appear in the account +by only crediting the pork." + +The food in the above case was too costly. One half of it, mixed with +parsnips, carrots, beets, or turnips, would have answered the purpose +better. The balance would then have been in favor of the pigs. We are +told, by an able writer on swine, that they will feed greedily, and +thrive surprisingly, on most kinds of roots and tubers, such as carrots, +beets, parsnips, potatoes, &c., particularly when prepared by boiling. +It may be taken as a general rule, that boiled or prepared food is more +nutritious and fattening than raw cold food; the additional expense and +labor will be more than compensated by the increased weight and quality. + +Cornstalks might be used as food for swine by first cutting them[24] in +small pieces, and then boiling them until they are quite soft; a small +quantity of meal is then to be mixed in the fluid, and the stalks again +added, and fed to the pigs twice a day. + +Mr. P. Wing, of Farmersville, C. W., gives us his experience in feeding +swine; and he requests his brother farmers to make similar experiments +with various kinds of food, and, by preparing them in various ways, to +ascertain what way it will yield the most nutriment--that is, make the +most pork. He says,-- + +"I now give the result of feeding 100 bushels of good peas to sixteen +hogs, of various mixed breeds, as found in this section. The peas were +boiled until fine, making what I call thick soup. After having fed the +hogs on the same kind of food for two weeks, I gave them their morning +feed, and weighed each one separately, noting the weight. Twelve of them +were about eighteen months old; one was a three year old sow, and three +pigs were seven and half months old when weighed. I found their total +weight 4267 lbs.; and after consuming the above amount, which took +forty-two days, I weighed them again, and found that they had gained +1358 lbs.; and on the supposition that as they gained in flesh they +shrunk in offal, I estimated their net gain to have been 1400 lbs. Their +drink consisted of ten pails of whey per day. It was allowed to stand +forty-eight hours, and the cream was skimmed off. + +"I find that there is a great difference in breeds of hogs. The three +year old sow small framed, and pretty full-fleshed, weighing 504 lbs. +Her gain in the forty-two days was 66 lbs. The three pigs were from her, +and showed traces of three distinct breeds of hogs. Their first weight +and gain were as follows: the first weighed 253 lbs.--gain, 97 lbs.; the +second, 218 lbs.--gain, 75 lbs.; the third, 171 lbs.--gain, 46 lbs. When +butchered, the smallest one was the best pork, being the fattest. Two of +the most inferior of the hogs gained 1-1/2 lbs. per day; six, mixture of +the Berkshire, (I should think about one fourth,) gained 1-3/4 lbs. per +day; three of the common stock of our country gained 2-1/2 lbs.; and one +of a superior kind weighted 318 lbs., and in the forty-two days gained +134 lbs. They were weighed on the 20th September, the first time. They +were kept confined in a close pen, except once a week I let them out for +exercise, and to wallow, for the most pint of a day." + + + + +METHOD OF CURING SWINE'S FLESH. + + +"In the county of Kent, when pork is to be cured as bacon, it is the +practice to singe off the hairs by making a straw fire round the +carcass--an operation which is termed _swaling_. The skin, in this +process, should be kept perfectly free from dirt of all sorts. When the +flitches are cut out, they should be rubbed effectually with a mixture +of common salt and saltpetre, and afterwards laid in a trough, where +they are to continue three weeks or a month, according to their size, +keeping them frequently turned; and then, being taken out of the trough, +are to be dried by a slack fire, which will take up an equal portion of +time with the former; after which, they are to be hung up, or thrown +upon a rack, there to remain until wanted. But in curing bacon on the +continent, it is mostly the custom to have closets contrived in the +chimneys, for the purpose of drying and smoking by wood fires, which is +said to be more proper for the purpose. And a more usual mode of curing +this sort of meat is that of salting it down for pickled pork, which is +far more profitable than bacon. + +"In the county of Westmoreland, where the curing of hams has long been +practised with much success, the usual method is for them to be at first +rubbed very hard with bay salt; by some they are covered close up; by +others they are left on a stone bench, to allow the brine and blood to +run off. At the end of five days, they are again rubbed, as hard as they +were at first, with salt of the same sort, mixed with an ounce of +saltpetre to a ham. Having lain about a week, either on a stone bench or +in hogsheads amongst the brine, they are hung up, by some in the +chimney, amidst the smoke, whether of peat or coals; by others in places +where the smoke never reaches them. If not sold sooner, they are +suffered to remain there till the weather becomes warm. They are then +packed in hogsheads with straw or oatmeal husks, and sent to the place +of sale." + +A small portion of pyroligneous acid may be added to the brine. It is a +good antiseptic, and improves the flavor of ham and bacon. (See _Acid, +Pyroligneous_, in the _Materia Medica_.) + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +ON THE ACTION OF MEDICINES. + +In reference to the action of medicines and external agents on the +animal body, we would observe, that warmth and moisture always expand +it, and bayberry bark, tannin, and gum catechu always contract it; and +that these agents have these effects at all times (provided, however, +there be sufficient vitality in the part to manifest these peculiar +changes) and under all circumstances. If a blister be applied to the +external surface of an animal, and it produces irritation, it always has +a tendency to produce that effect, whatever part of the living organism +it may be applied to. So alcohol always has a tendency to stimulate; +whether given by the mouth, or rubbed on the external surface, it will +produce an excitement of nerves, heart, and arteries, and of course the +muscles partake of the influence. Again, marshmallows, gum acacia, +slippery elm, &c., always lubricate the mucous surfaces, quiet +irritation, and relieve inflammatory symptoms. + +It follows, of course, 1st. That when any other effects than those just +named are seen to follow the administration of these articles, they must +be attributed to the morbid state of the parts to which they are +applied; 2d. That a medicine which is good to promote a given effect in +one form of disease, will be equally good for the same purpose in +another form of disease in the same tissue. Thus, if an infusion of +mallows is good for inflammation of the stomach, and will lubricate the +surface, and allay irritation in that organ, then it is equally good for +the same purpose in inflammation of the bowels and bladder. What we wish +the reader to understand is this: that a medicine used for any +particular symptom in one form of disease, if it be a sanative agent, is +equally good for the same symptom in every form. Medical men range their +various remedies under different heads. Thus opium is called narcotic, +aloes purgative or cathartic, potass diuretic, &c. And because the same +results do not always follow the administration of these articles, they +are perplexed, and are compelled to try every new remedy, in hopes to +find a specific; not knowing that many of their _"best medicines"_ +(opium, for example) war against the vital principle, and as soon as +they get into the system, nature sets up a strong action to counteract +their effects; in short, to get them out of the system in the quickest +possible manner: sometimes they pass through the kidneys; at other +times, the intestinal canal, the lungs, or surface, afford them egress. +And because a certain agent does not always act in their hands with +unerring certainty, they seem to suppose that the same uncertainty +attends the administration of every article in the _materia medica_. The +medicines we recommend owe their diuretic, astringent, diaphoretic, and +cathartic powers to their aromatic, relaxing, antispasmodic, +lubricating, and irritating properties; and if we give them with a view +of producing a certain result, and they do not act just as we wish, it +is no proof that they have not done good. The fact is, all our medicines +act on the parts where nature is making the greatest efforts to restore +equilibrium; hence they relieve the constitution, whatever may be the +nature of their results. + +Many of the remedies recommended in this work are denounced by the +United States Dispensatory a "useless, inert," &c.; yet many of our most +celebrated physicians are in the daily habit of using them. Mr. Bracy +Clark, V. S., recommends tincture of allspice for gripes. And Mr. +Causer, an experienced veterinarian, says, "I ordered a dessert spoonful +(about two drachms) of tincture of gentian and bark to be given twice a +day in a case of gripes. Scarcely an hour after the animal had taken the +first dose, he began to eat some hay, and on the next day he ate every +thing that was offered him. After this, I ordered a quart of cold boiled +milk to be given him every morning and evening. By these means, together +with the good care of the coachman, he recovered his strength." Mr. +White, V. S., says, "I have been assured by a veterinary surgeon, that +he once cured a horse of gripes by a dose of hot water; and it is by no +means unlikely that a warm infusion of some of our medicinal herbs, such +as peppermint, pennyroyal, rosemary, &c., would be found effectual." + +Mr. Gibson says, "It is a fact that cannot be too generally known, that +an infusion of garlic has, to my certain knowledge, cured several cases +of epilepsy--a dreadful disease, that seems to have baffled, in most +instances, every effort of medical skill." + +An intelligent farmer assures Dr. White that he has had forty sheep at a +time hoven or blasted from feeding on vetches, and so swollen that he +hardly knew which would drop first. His usual remedy was a quart of +water for each sheep; and that generally had the desired effect, though +many died before it could be given. We might give our own experience in +favor of numberless simple agents, which we are in the constant habit of +using, were it necessary; suffice it to say, that at the present time we +use nothing else than simple means. + + + + +CLYSTERS. + + +_Remarks._--As the more general use of clysters is recommended by the +author, especially in acute diseases, he has thought proper to +introduce, in this part of the work, a few remarks on them, with +examples of their different forms. They serve not only to evacuate the +rectum of its contents, but assist to evacuate the intestines, and +serve also to convey nourishment into the system; as in cases of +locked-jaw, and great prostration. They soften the hardened excrement in +the rectum, and cause it to be expelled; besides, by their warm and +relaxing powers, they act as fomentations. A stimulating clyster in +congestion of the brain, or lungs, will relieve those parts by +counter-irritation. An animal that is unable to swallow may be supported +by nourishing clysters; for the lacteals, which open into the inner +cavity of the intestines, absorb, or take up, the nourishment, and +convey it into the thoracic duct, as already described. Some persons +deny the utility of injections. We are satisfied on that point, and are +able to convince any one, beyond a reasonable doubt, that fluids are +absorbed in the rectum, notwithstanding the opinion of some men to the +contrary. + +In administering clysters, it ought always to be observed that the +fluids should be neither too hot nor too cold: they should be about the +temperature of the blood. The common sixteen-ounce metal syringe, with a +wooden pipe about six inches in length, and gradually tapering from base +to point, is to be preferred. It is, after being oiled, much more easily +introduced into the fundament than one that is considerably smaller; +and, having a blunt point, there is no danger of hurting the animal, or +wounding the rectum. + +The following injections are suitable for all kinds of animals. The +quantity, however, should be regulated according to the size of the +patient. Thus a quart will suffice for a sheep or pig, while three or +four quarts are generally necessary in the case of horses and cattle. If +clysters are intended to have a nutritive effect, they must be +introduced in the most gentle manner, and not more than one pint should +be given at any one time, for fear of exciting the expulsive action of +the rectum. In constriction and intussusception of the intestines, and +when relaxing clysters are indicated, they should not be too long +persevered in, for falling of the rectum has been known, in many +instances, to arise from repeated injections. Efforts should be made to +relax the whole animal by warmth and moisture externally, and in the +use of antispasmodic teas, rather than to place too much dependence on +clysters. + + +FORMS OF CLYSTERS. + +_Laxative Clyster._ + + Warm water, 3 or 4 quarts. + Linseed oil, 8 ounces. + Common salt, (fine,) 1 table-spoonful. + +_Another._ + + Warm water, 4 quarts. + Soft soap, 1 gill. + Fine salt, half a table-spoonful. + +_Use._--Either of the above clysters is useful in obstinate +constipation, "stoppage," or whenever the excrement is hard and dark +colored. + +_Emollient Clyster_. + + Slippery elm bark, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Let them simmer over the fire for a few minutes, then strain through a +fine sieve, and inject. The following articles may be substituted for +elm: flaxseed, lily roots, gum arabic, poplar bark, Iceland moss. + +_Use._--In all cases of irritation and inflammation of the intestines +and bladder. + +_Stimulating Clyster._ + + Thin mucilage of slippery elm or linseed tea, 3 quarts. + African cayenne,[25] 1 tea-spoonful. + +_Another._ + + Powdered ginger, half a table-spoonful. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +When cool, inject. + +_Use._--In all cases, when the rectum and small intestines are inactive, +and loaded with excrement, or gas. + +_Anodyne Clyster._ + + Lady's slipper, (_cypripedium_,) 1 ounce. + Camomile flowers, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +Let the mixture stand a short time, then strain through a fine sieve, +when it will be fit for use. + +_Use._--To relieve pain and relax spasms. + +_Diuretic Clyster._ + + Linseed tea, 3 quarts. + Oil of juniper, 1 table-spoonful. + +Or, substitute for the latter, cream of tartar, half an ounce. + +_Use._--This form of clyster may be used with decided advantage in all +acute diseases of the urinary organs. This injection is useful in cases +of red water, both in cattle and sheep; and when the malady is supposed +to result from general or local debility, the addition of tonics (golden +seal or gentian[26]) will be indicated. + +_Astringent Clyster_. + +Take an infusion of hardhack, strain, and add a table-spoonful of +finely-pulverized charcoal to every three quarts of fluid. + +_Another._ + +An infusion of witch hazel. + +_Another._ + + Powdered bayberry bark, 1 table-spoonful. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +When cool, it is fit for use. + +_Use._--Astringent injections are used in all cases where it is desired +to contract the living fibre, as in scouring, dysentery, scouring rot, +diarrhoea, bloody flux, falling of the womb, fundament, &c. + +_Nourishing Clyster._ + +Nourishing clysters are composed of thin gruel made from flour, &c. + +_Injection for Worms._ + +Make an infusion of pomegranate, (rind of the fruit,) and inject every +night for a few days. This will rid the animal of worms that infest the +rectum; but if the animal is infested with the long, round worm, +(_teres_,) then half a pint of the above infusion must be given for a +few mornings, before feeding. + +_Another for Worms._ + + Powdered lobelia, 1 ounce. + Wood ashes, a handful. + Boiling water, 3 quarts. + +When cool, it is fit for use. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[24] Messrs. Parker & White, in Boston, have shown us an excellent +machine used for the purpose of cutting cornstalks. Every farmer should +have one in his possession. + +[25] A large portion of the cayenne found in the stores is adulterated +with logwood, and is positively injurious, as it would thus prove +astringent. + +[26] Their active properties may be extracted by infusion. + + + + +INFUSIONS. + + +These are made by steeping herbs, roots, and other medicinal substances +in boiling water. No particular rules can be laid down as to the +quantity of each article required: it will, however, serve as some sort +of a guide, to inform the reader that we generally use from one to two +ounces of the aromatic herbs and roots to every quart of fluid. A bitter +infusion, such as wormwood or camomile, requires less of the herb. All +kinds of infusions can be rendered palatable by the addition of a small +quantity of honey or molasses. As a general rule, the human palate is a +good criterion; for if an infusion be too strong or unpalatable for man, +it is unfit for cattle or sheep. We do not depend so much on the +strength of our agents: the great secret is to select the one best +adapted to the case in view. If it be an agent that is capable of acting +in concert with nature, then the weaker it is, the better. In short, +nature requires but slight assistance under all ordinary circumstances, +unless the animal is evidently suffering from debility; then our efforts +must act in concert with the living powers. We must select the most +nutritious food--that which can be easily converted into blood, bones, +and muscles. If, on the other hand, we gave an abundance of provender, +and it lacked the constituents necessary for the purposes in view, or +was of such an indigestible nature that its nutritive properties could +not be extracted by the gastric fluids, this would be just as bad as +giving improper medicines, both in reference to its quantity and +quality. + +An infusion of either of the following articles is valuable in colic, +both flatulent and spasmodic, in all classes of animals: caraways, +peppermint, spearmint, fennel-seed, angelica, bergamot, snakeroot, +aniseed, ginseng, &c. + + + + +ANTISPASMODICS. + + +By antispasmodics are meant those articles that assist, through their +physiological action, in relaxing the nervous and muscular systems. +Hence the reader will perceive, by the definition we have given of this +class of remedies, that we cannot recommend or employ the agents used by +our brethren of the allopathic school, for many of them act +pathologically. The class we use are simple, yet none the less +efficient. + +Professor Curtis says, when alluding to the action of medicinal agents, +"Experiments have shown that many vegetable substances, which seem in +themselves quite bland and harmless, are antidotes to various poisons. +Thus the skullcap (_scutellaria laterifolia_) is said to be a remedy for +hydrophobia, the _alisma plantago_ and _polemonium reptans_ for the +bites of serpents, and lobelia for the sting of insects. They are good; +but why? Because they are permanently relaxing and stimulating, and +depurate the whole system." + +Natural antispasmodics are warmth and moisture. The medicinal ones are +lobelia, Indian hemp, castor musk, ginseng, assafoetida, pleurisy +root, Virginia snakeroot, camomile, wormwood. The above are only +specimens. There is no limit to the number and variety of articles in +the vegetable kingdom that will act as antispasmodics or relaxants. They +may be given internally or applied externally: the effect is the same. + + + + +FOMENTATIONS. + + +This class of remedies is usually composed of relaxants, &c., of several +kinds, combined with tonics, stimulants, and anodynes. They are very +useful to relieve pain, to remove rigidity, to restore tone, and to +stimulate the parts to which they are applied. + +_Common Fomentation._ + + Wormwood, } + Tansy, } equal parts. + Hops, } + +Moisten them with equal parts of boiling water and vinegar, and apply +them blood warm. + +_Use._--For all kinds of bruises and sprains. They should be confined to +the injured parts, and kept moist with the superabundant fluid. When it +is not practicable to confine a fomentation to the injured parts, as in +shoulder or hip lameness, constant bathing with the decoction will +answer the same purpose. + +_Anodyne Fomentation._ + + Hops, a handful. + White poppy heads, 1 ounce. + Water and vinegar, equal parts. + +Simmer a few minutes. + +_Use._--In all painful bruises. + +_Relaxing Fomentation_ + + + Powdered lobelia, 2 ounces. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Simmer for a few minutes, and when sufficiently cool, bathe the parts +with a soft sponge. + +_Use._--In all cases of stiff joints, and rigidity of the muscles. +Animals often lie down in wet pastures, from which rheumatism and +stiffness of the joints arise. In such cases, the animal must be taken +from grass for a few days, and the affected parts be faithfully bathed. + +_Stimulating Fomentation._ + +Cedar buds, or boughs, any quantity, to which add a small quantity of +red pepper and ginger, boiling water sufficient. + +_Use._--This will be found very efficacious in chronic lameness and +paralysis, for putrid sore throat, and when the glands are enlarged from +cold and catarrh. + + + + +MUCILAGES. + + +Mucilages are soft, bland substances, made by dissolving gum arabic in +hot water; or by boiling marshmallows, slippery elm, or lily roots, +until their mucilaginous properties are extracted. A table-spoonful of +either of the above articles, when powdered, will generally suffice for +a quart of water. + +_Use._--In all cases of catarrh, diarrhoea, inflammation of the +kidneys, womb, bladder, and intestines. They shield the mucous +membranes, and defend them from the action of poisons and drastic +cathartics. + + + + +WASHES. + + +Washes generally contain some medicinal agent, and are principally used +externally. + +_Wash for Diseases of the Feet._ + + Pyroligneous acid, 4 ounces. + Water, 8 ounces. + +_Use._--This wash excels every other in point of efficacy, and removes +rot and its kindred diseases sooner than any other. + +_Cooling Wash for the Eye._ + + Rain water, 1 pint. + Acetic acid, 20 drops. + +_Use._--In ophthalmia. + +_Tonic and Antispasmodic Wash._ + + Camomile flowers, half an ounce. + Boiling water, 1 pint. + +When cool, strain through fine linen. + +_Use._--In chronic diseases of the eye, and when a weeping remains after +an acute attack. + +_Wash for unhealthy (or ulcerated) Sores._ + +A weak solution of sal soda or wood ashes. + +_Wash for Diseases of the Skin._ + +Take one ounce of finely-pulverized charcoal, pour on it one ounce of +pyroligneous acid, then add a pint of water. Bottle, and keep it well +corked. It may be applied to the skin by means of a sponge. It is also +an excellent remedy for ill-conditioned ulcers. + + + + +PHYSIC FOR CATTLE. + + +Extract of butternut, (_juglans cinerea_,) half an ounce. +Cream of tartar, 1 tea-spoonful. +Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Mix. When cool, administer. + +_Another._ + + Extract of blackroot, (_leptandra + virginica_,) half an ounce. + Rochelle salts, 1 ounce. + Powdered ginger, 1/2 tea-spoonful. + +Dissolve in two quarts of warm water. + +_Another._ + + Powdered mandrake, 1 table-spoonful. + Cream of tartar, 1 tea-spoonful. + Hot water, 2 quarts. + +Here are three different forms of physic for cattle, which do not +debilitate the system, like aloes and salts, because they determine to +the surface as well as the bowels. They may be given in all cases where +purges are necessary. One third of the above forms will suffice for +sheep. + + +MILD PHYSIC FOR CATTLE. + + Sirup of buckthorn, 2 ounces. + Sulphur, half a table-spoonful. + Ginger, half a tea-spoonful. + Hot water, 2 quarts. + +_Aperient._ + + Linseed oil, 1 pint. + Yolks of two eggs. + +Mix. + +_Another._ + + Sweet oil, 1 pint. + Powdered cayenne, half a tea-spoonful. + +Mix. + +A sheep will require about one half of the above. + +_Stimulating Tincture._ + + Boiling vinegar, 1 pint. + Tincture of myrrh, 2 ounces. + Powdered capsicum, 2 tea-spoonfuls. + +_Use._--For external application in putrid sore throat. + +_Another._ + + Tincture of camphor, 4 ounces. + Oil of cedar, half an ounce. + Tincture of capsicum, (hot drops,) 4 ounces. + +To be rubbed around the throat night and morning. + +_Stimulating Tincture for Chronic Rheumatism._ + + Tincture of capsicum, 4 ounces. + Oil of cedar, 1 ounce. + Oil of wormwood, 1 ounce. + Vinegar, half a pint. + Goose grease, 1 gill. + +Mix. To be applied night and morning. The mixture should be kept in a +well-corked bottle, and shaken before being used. + + + + +POULTICES. + + +_Preliminary Remarks._--As oxen, sheep, and pigs are liable to have +accumulations of matter, in the form of abscess, resulting from injury +or from the natural termination of diseases, it becomes a matter of +importance that the farmer should rightly understand their character and +treatment. If a foreign substance enters the flesh, the formation of +matter is a part of the process by which nature rids the system of the +enemy. A poultice relaxing and lubricating will then be indicated. If, +however, the foreign body shall have entered at a point where it is +impossible to confine a poultice, then the suppurative stage may be +shortened by the application of relaxing fomentations, and lastly, by +stimulants. It is a law of the animal economy, that, unless there be +some obstacle, matter always seeks its exit by an external opening; and +it becomes part of our duty to aid nature in her efforts to accomplish +this salutary object. Nature requires aid in consequence of the +unyielding character of the hide, and the length of time it takes to +effect an opening through it. Animals are known to suffer immensely from +the pressure a large accumulation of pus makes on the surrounding +nerves, &c., and also from the reabsorption of this pus when it cannot +readily make its exit. This is not all; for, if pus accumulates, and +cannot in due time find an outlet, it produces destruction of the +blood-vessels, nerves, and surrounding tissues. These vessels are +distributed to the different surfaces; their supply of blood and nervous +energy being cut off, they decompose, and in their turn become pus, and +their open mouths allow the morbid matter to enter the circulation, and +thus poison the blood. Hence it becomes our duty, whenever matter can be +distinctly felt, to apply that sort of poultice which will be most +likely to aid nature. + +There is no article in the _materia medica_ of so much value to the +farmer as marshmallows; he cannot place too much value on it. Whether he +uses it in his own family or confines it exclusively to cattle practice, +it is equally valuable. It has numerous advantages over many similar +remedies: the most important one to the farmer is, that it can be +procured in this country at a small cost. We have used it for a number +of years, and in many cases we consider it our sheet-anchor. In short, +we cannot supply its place. + +Mr. Cobbett says, "I cannot help mentioning another herb, which is used +for medicinal purposes. I mean the marshmallows. It is amongst the most +valuable of plants that ever grew. Its leaves stewed, and applied wet, +will cure, and almost instantly cure, any cut, or bruise, or wound of +any sort. Poultices made of it will cure sprains; fomenting with it will +remove swellings; applications of the liquor will cure chafes made by +saddles and harness; and its operation, in all cases, is so quick that +it is hardly to be believed. Those who have this weed at hand need not +put themselves to the trouble and expense of sending to doctors and +farriers on trifling occasions. It signifies not whether the wound be +old or new. The mallows, if you have it growing near you, may be used +directly after it is gathered, merely washing off the dirt first. But +there should be some always ready in the house for use. It should be +gathered just before it blooms, and dried and preserved just in the same +manner as other herbs. It should be observed, however, that, if it +should happen not to be gathered at the best season, it may be gathered +at any time. I had two striking instances of the efficacy of mallows. A +neighboring farmer had cut his thumb in a very dangerous manner, and, +after a great deal of doctoring, it had got to such a pitch that his +hand was swelled to twice its natural size. I recommended the use of the +mallows to him, gave him a little bunch out of my store, (it being +winter time,) and his hand was well in four days. He could go out to his +work the very next day, after having applied the mallows over night. The +other instance was this. I had a valuable hog, that had been gored by a +cow. It had been in this state for two days before I knew of the +accident, and had eaten nothing. The gore was in the side, making a +large wound. I poured in the liquor in which the mallows had been +stewed, and rubbed the side well with it. The next day the hog got up +and began to eat. On examining the wound, I found it so far closed that +I did not think it right to disturb it. I bathed the side again; and in +two days the hog was turned out, and was running about along with the +rest. Now, a person must be criminally careless not to make provision of +this herb. Mine was nearly two years old when I made use of it upon the +last-mentioned occasion. If the use of this weed was generally adopted, +the art and mystery of healing wounds, and of curing sprains, +swellings, and other external maladies, would very quickly be reduced to +an unprofitable trade." + +_Lubricating and healing Poultice._ + + Powdered marshmallow roots, } + Marshmallow leaves, } equal parts. + +Moisten with boiling water, and apply. + +_Use._--In ragged cuts, wounds, and bruises. + +_Stimulating Poultice._ + + Indian meal, } + Slippery elm, } equal parts. + +Mix them together, and add sufficient boiling water to moisten the mass. +Spread it on a cloth, and sprinkle a small quantity of powdered cayenne +on its surface. + +_Use._--To stimulate ill-conditioned ulcers to healthy action. Where +there is danger of putrescence, add a small quantity of powdered +charcoal. + +_Poultice for Bruises._ + +Nothing makes so good a poultice for recent bruises as boiled carrots or +marshmallows. + +_Poultice to promote Suppuration._ + + Indian meal, a sufficient quantity. + Linseed, a handful. + Cayenne, 1 tea-spoonful. + +To be moistened with boiling vinegar, and applied at the usual +temperature. + + + + +STYPTICS, TO ARREST BLEEDING. + + +Witch hazel, (winter bloom,) bark or leaves, 2 ounces. + +Make a decoction with the smallest possible quantity of water, and if +the bleeding is from the nose, throw it up by means of a syringe; if +from the stomach, lungs, or bowels, add more water, and let the animal +drink it, and give some by injection. + +_Styptic to arrest external Bleeding._ + +Wet a piece of lint with tincture of muriate of iron, and bind it on the +part. + +There are various other styptics, such as alum water, strong tincture of +nutgalls, bloodroot, common salt, fine flour, &c. + + + + +ABSORBENTS. + + +_Remarks._--Absorbents are composed of materials partaking of an +alkaline character, and are used for the purpose of neutralizing acid +matter. The formation of an acid in the stomach arises from some +derangement of the digestive organs, sometimes brought on by the +improper quantity or quality of the food. It is useless, therefore, to +give absorbents, with a view of neutralizing acid, unless the former are +combined with tonics, or agents that are capable of restoring the +stomach to a healthy state. This morbid state of the stomach is +recognized in oxen by a disposition to eat all kinds of trash that comes +in their way, such as dirt, litter, &c. They are frequently licking +themselves, and often swallow a great deal of hair, which is formed into +balls in the stomach, and occasions serious irritation. Calves, when +fattening, are often fed so injudiciously, that the stomach is incapable +of reducing the food to chyme and chyle: the consequence is, that a +large amount of carbonic acid gas is evolved. Many calves and lambs die +from this cause. + +A mixture of chalk, saleratus, and soda is often given by farmers; yet +they do not afford permanent relief. They do some good by correcting the +acidity of the stomach; but the animals are often affected with +diarrhoea, or costiveness, loss of appetite, colic, and convulsions. +Attention to the diet would probably do more than all the medicine in +the world. Yet if they do get sick, something must be done. The best +forms of absorbents are the following: they restore healthy action to +the lost function at the same time that they neutralize the gas. + + +FORMS OF ABSORBENTS. + + Powdered charcoal, 1 table-spoonful. + " snakeroot, half a table-spoonful. + " caraways, 1 tea-spoonful. + Hot water, 1 quart. + +Mix. To be given at one dose, for a cow; half the quantity, or indeed +one third, is sufficient for a calf, sheep, or pig. + +_Another._ + + Powdered charcoal, 1 table-spoonful. + +To be given in thoroughwort tea, to which may be added a very small +portion of ginger. + +_Another, adapted to City Use._ + + Subcarbonate of soda, 1 tea-spoonful. + Tincture of gentian, 1 ounce. + Infusion of spearmint, 1 pint. + +Mix. Give a cow the whole at a dose, and repeat daily, for a short time, +if necessary. One half the quantity will suffice for a smaller animal. + +_Drink for Coughs._ + + Balm of Gilead buds, half an ounce. + Honey, 2 table-spoonfuls. + Vinegar, 1 wine-glassful. + Water, 1 pint. + +Set the mixture on the fire, in an earthen vessel; let it simmer a few +minutes. When cool, strain, and it is fit for use. Dose, a +wine-glassful, twice a day. + +_Another._ + + Balsam copaiba, 1 ounce. + Powdered licorice, 1 ounce. + Honey, 2 table-spoonfuls. + Boiling water, 1 quart. + +Rub the copaiba, licorice, and honey together in a mortar: after they +are well mixed, add the water. Dose, half a pint, night and morning. + +_Another._ + + Balsam of Tolu, half an ounce. + Powdered marshmallow roots, 1 ounce. + Honey, half a gill. + Boiling water, 2 quarts. + +Min. Dose, half a pint, night and morning. + +_Drink for a Cow after Calving._ + + Bethwort, 1 ounce. + Marshmallows, 1 ounce. + +First make an infusion of bethwort by simmering it in a quart of water. +When cool, strain, and stir in the mallows. Dose, half a pint, every two +hours. + + + + +VETERINARY MATERIA MEDICA, + +EMBRACING A LIST OF THE VARIOUS REMEDIES USED BY THE AUTHOR OF THIS WORK +IN THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE ON CATTLE, SHEEP, AND SWINE. + + +ACACIA, CATECHU, or JAPAN EARTH. It is a +powerful astringent and tonic, and given, in half tea-spoonful doses, in +mucilage of slippery elm or mallows, is a valuable remedy in +diarrhoea, or excessive discharges of urine. + +ACACIA GUM makes a good mucilage, and is highly recommended in +diseases of the mucous surfaces and urinary organs. It is highly +nutritious, and consequently can be given with advantage in locked-jaw. + +ACETUM, (vinegar.) This is cooling, and a small portion of it, +with an equal quantity of honey, administered in thin gruel, makes an +excellent drink in fevers. Diluted with an equal quantity of water, it +is employed externally in bruises and sprains. It neutralizes +pestilential effluvia, and, combined with capsicum, makes a good +application for sore throat. + +ACID, PYROLIGNEOUS. This is one of the most valuable articles +in the whole _materia medica_. Diluted with equal parts of water, it is +applied to ill-conditioned sores and ulcers; it acts as an antiseptic +and stimulant. It is obtained from wood by destructive distillation in +close vessels. This acid is advantageously applicable to the +preservation of animal food. Mr. William Ramsay (_Edinburgh +Philosophical Journal_, iii. 21) has made some interesting experiments +on its use for this purpose. Herrings and other fish, simply dipped in +the acid and afterwards dried in the shade, were effectually preserved, +and, when eaten, were found very agreeable to the taste. Herrings +slightly cured with salt, by being sprinkled with it for six hours, then +drained, next immersed in pyroligneous acid for a few seconds, and +afterwards dried in the shade for two months, were found by Mr. Ramsay +to be of fine quality and flavor. Fresh beef, dipped in the acid, in +the summer season, for the short space of a minute, was perfectly sweet +in the following spring. Professor Silliman states, that one quart of +the acid added to the common pickle for a barrel of hams, at the time +they are laid down, will impart to them the smoked flavor as perfectly +as if they had undergone the common process of smoking. + +ALDER BARK, BLACK, (_prinos verticillatus_.) A strong decoction +makes an excellent wash for diseases of the skin, in all classes of +domestic animals. + +ALLIUM, (garlic.) This is used chiefly as an antispasmodic. It +improves all the secretions, and promotes the function of the skin and +kidneys. It is useful also to expel wind and worms. A few kernels may be +chopped fine and mixed with the food. When used for the purpose of +expelling worms, an ounce of the root should be boiled in a pint of +milk, and given in the morning, about an hour before feeding. + +ALOES. The best kind is brought from the Island of Socotra, and +is supposed to be more safe in its operation than the other kinds. In +consequence of the irritative properties of aloes, they are ill adapted +to cattle practice; and as a safer article has been recommended, (see +_Physic for Cattle_,) we have entirely dispensed with them. + +ALTHEA, (marshmallows.) See _Remarks on Poultices_. + +ALUM. It possesses powerful astringent properties, and, when +burnt and pulverized, is useful to remove proud flesh. + +AMMONIACUM. Gum ammoniacum is useful for chronic coughs. The +dose is two drachms daily, in a quart of gruel. + +ANISEED. A good carminative in flatulent colic. The dose is +about one ounce, infused in a quart of boiling water. + +ANTHEMIS, (camomile.) It is used as a tonic in derangement of +the digestive organs, &c. An ounce of the flowers may be infused in a +quart of water, and given when cool. It is useful also as an external +application in bruises and sprains. + +ASH BARK, WHITE. This is a useful remedy in loss of cud, +caused by disease of the liver. Dose, one ounce of the bark, infused in +boiling water. When cool, pour off the clear liquor. + +ASSAFOETIDA. This article is used as an antispasmodic. The +dose is from one to two drachms, administered in thin gruel. + +BALM, LEMON. See _Fever Drink_. + +BALM OF GILEAD BUDS. One ounce of the buds, after being infused +in boiling water and strained, makes a good drink for chronic coughs. + +BALMONY. A good tonic and vermifuge. + +BALSAM, CANADA, is a diuretic, and may be given in slippery +elm, in doses of one table-spoonful for diseases of the kidneys. + +BALSAM OF COPAIBA, or CAPIVI, is useful in all +diseases of the urinary organs, and, combined with powdered marshmallows +and water, makes a good cough drink. Dose, half an ounce. + +BALEAM OF TOLU. Used for the same purpose as the preceding. + +BARLEY. Barley water, sweetened with honey, is a useful drink +in fevers. + +BAYBERRY BARK. We have frequently prescribed this article in the +preceding pages as an antiseptic and astringent for scouring and +dysentery. + +BEARBERRY, (_uva ursi_.) This is a popular diuretic, and is +useful when combined with marshmallows. When the urine is thick and +deficient in quantity, or voided with difficulty, it may be given in the +following form:-- + + Powdered bearberry, 1 ounce. + " marshmallows, 2 ounces. + Indian meal, 2 pounds. + +Mix. Dose, half a pound daily, in the cow's feed. + +BITTER ROOT, (_apocynum androsaemifolium_.) Given in doses of +half an ounce of the powdered bark, it acts as an aperient, and is good +wherever an aperient is indicated. + +BLACKBERRY ROOT, (_rubus trivialis_.) A valuable remedy for +scours in sheep. + +BLACK ROOT, (_leptandra virginica_.) The extract is used as +physic, instead of aloes. (See _Physic for Cattle_.) A strong decoction +of the fresh roots will generally act as a cathartic on all classes of +animals. + +BLOODROOT, (_sanguinaria canadensis_.) It is used in our +practice as an escharotic. It acts on fungous excrescences, and is a +good substitute for nitrate of silver in the dispersion of all morbid +growth. One ounce of the powder, infused in boiling vinegar, is a +valuable application for rot and mange. + +BLUE FLAG, (_iris versicolor_.) The powdered root is a good +vermifuge. + +BONESET, (_eupatorium perfoliatum_.) This is a valuable +domestic remedy. Its properties are too well known to the farming +community to need any description. + +BORAX. This is a valuable remedy for eruptive diseases of the +tongue and mouth. Powdered and dissolved in water, it forms an +astringent, antiseptic wash. The usual form of prescription, in +veterinary practice, is,-- + + Powdered borax, half an ounce. + Honey, 2 ounces. + +Mix. + +BUCKTHORN, (_rhamnus catharticus_.) A sirup made from this +plant is a valuable aperient in cattle practice. The dose is from half +an ounce to two ounces. + +BURDOCK, (_arctium lappa_.) The leaves, steeped in vinegar, +make a good application for sore throat and enlarged glands. The seeds +are good to purify the blood, and may be given in the fodder. + +BUTTERNUT BARK, (_juglans cinerea_.) Extract of butternut makes +a good cathartic, in doses of half an ounce. It is much safer than any +known cathartic, and, given in doses of two drachms, in hot water, +combined with a small quantity of ginger, it forms a useful aperient and +alterative. In a constipated habit, attended with loss of cud, it is +invaluable. During the American revolution, when medicines were scarce, +this article was brought into use by the physicians, and was esteemed by +them an excellent substitute for the ordinary cathartics. + +CALAMUS, (_acorus calamus_.) A valuable remedy for loss of cud. + +CAMOMILE. See _Anthemis_. + +CANELLA BARK is an aromatic stimulant, and forms a good +stomachic. + +CAPSICUM. A pure stimulant. Useful in impaired digestion. + +CARAWAY SEED, (_carum carui_.) A pleasant carminative for +colic. + +CARDAMOM SEEDS. Used for the same purpose as the preceding. + +CASSIA BARK, (_laurus cinnamomum_.) Used as a diffusible +stimulant in flatulency. + +CATECHU, (see ACACIA.) + +CATNIP, (_nepeta cataria_.) An antispasmodic in colic. + +CEDAR BUDS. An infusion of the buds makes a good vermifuge for +sheep and pigs. + +CHARCOAL. This is a valuable remedy as an antiseptic for foul +ulcers, foot rot, &c. + +CLEAVERS, (_galium aparine_.) The expressed juice of the herb +acts on the skin and kidneys, increasing their secretions. One +tea-spoonful of the juice, given night and morning in a thin mucilage of +poplar bark, is an excellent remedy for dropsy, and diseases of the +urinary organs. An infusion of the herb, made by steeping one ounce of +the leaves and seeds in a quart of boiling water, may be substituted for +the expressed juice. + +COHOSH, BLACK, (_macrotrys racemosa_.) Useful in dropsy. + +COLTSFOOT, (_tussilago farfara_.) An excellent remedy for +cough. + +CRANESBILL, (_geranium maculatum_.) Useful in scours, +dysentery, and diarrhoea. + +DILL SEED, (_anethum graveolens_.) Its properties are the same +as caraways. + +DOCK, YELLOW, (_rumex crispus_.) Good for diseases of the liver +and of the skin. + +ELECAMPANE, (_inula helenium_.) An excellent remedy for cough +and asthma, and diseases of the skin. + +ELDER FLOWERS, (_sambucus canadensis_.) Used as an aperient for +sheep, in constipation. + +ELM BARK, (_ulmus fulva_.) This makes a good mucilage. See +Poultices. + +ESSENCE OF PEPPERMINT. Used for flatulent colic. One ounce is +the usual dose for a cow. To be given in warm water. + +FENNEL SEED. Useful to expel wind. + +FERN, MALE, (_aspidium felix mas_.) Used as a remedy for worms. + +FLAXSEED. A good lubricant, in cold and catarrh, and in +diseases of the mucous surfaces. It makes a good poultice. + +FLOWER OF SULPHUR. This is used extensively, in veterinary +practice, for diseases of the skin. It is a mild laxative. + +FUMIGATIONS. For foul barns and stables, take of + + Common salt, 4 ounces. + Manganese, 1 ounce and a half. + +Let these be well mixed, and placed in a shallow earthen vessel; then +pour on the mixture, gradually, sulphuric acid, four ounces. The +inhalation of the gas which arises from this mixture is highly +injurious; therefore, as soon as the acid is poured on, all persons +should leave the building, which should immediately be shut, and not +opened again for several hours. Dr. White, V. S., says, "This is the +only efficacious _fumigation_, it having been found that when glanderous +or infectious matter is exposed to it a short time, it is rendered +perfectly harmless." + +GALBANUM. This gum is used for similar purposes as gum ammoniac +and assafoetida. + +GALLS. They contain a large amount of tannin, and are +powerfully astringent. A strong decoction is useful to arrest +hemorrhage. + +GARLIC. See _Allium_. + +GENTIAN. This is a good tonic, and is often employed to remove +weakness of the stomach and indigestion. + +GINGER. A pure stimulant. Ginger tea is a useful remedy for +removing colic and flatulency, and is safer and better adapted to the +animal economy, where stimulants are indicated, than alcoholic +preparations. + +GINSENG, (_panax quinquefolium_.) It possesses tonic and +stimulant properties. + +GOLDEN SEAL, (_hydrastis canadensis_.) A good tonic, laxative, +and alterative. + +GOLDTHREAD, (_coptis trifolia_.) A strong infusion of this herb +makes a valuable application for eruptions and ulcerations of the mouth. +We use it in the following form:-- + + Goldthread, 1 ounce. + Boiling water, 1 pint. + +Set the mixture aside to cool; then strain, and add a table-spoonful of +honey, and bathe the parts twice a day. + +GRAINS OF PARADISE. A warming, diffusible stimulant. + +HARDHACK, (_spiraea tomentosa_.) Its properties are astringent +and tonic. We have used it in cases of "scours" with great success. It +is better adapted to cattle practice in the form of extract, which is +prepared by evaporating the leaves, stems, or roots. The dose is from +one scruple to a drachm for a cow, and from ten grains to one scruple +and a half for a sheep, which may be given twice a day, in any bland +liquid. + +HONEY, (_mel_.) Honey is laxative, stimulant, and nutritious. +With vinegar, squills, or garlic, it forms a good cough mixture. +Combined with tonics, it forms a valuable gargle, and a detergent for +old sores and foul ulcers. + +HOPS, (_humulus_.) An infusion of hops is highly recommended in +derangement of the nervous system, and for allaying spasmodic twitchings +of the extremities. One ounce of the article may be infused in a quart +of boiling water, strained, and sweetened with honey, and given, in half +pint doses, every four hours. They are used as an external application, +in the form of fomentation, for bruises, &c. + +HOREHOUND, (_marrubium_.) This is a valuable remedy for catarrh +and chronic affections of the lungs. It is generally used, in the +author's practice, in the following form: An infusion is made in the +proportion of an ounce of the herb to a quart of boiling water. A small +quantity of powdered marshmallows is then stirred in, to make it of the +consistence of thin gruel. The dose is half a pint, night and morning. +For sheep and pigs half the quantity will suffice. + +HORSEMINT, (_monarda punctata_.) Like other mints, it is +antispasmodic and carminative. Useful in flatulent colic. + +HORSERADISH. The root scraped and fed to animals laboring under +loss of cud, from chronic disease of the digestive organs, and general +debility, is generally attended with beneficial results. If beaten into +paste with an equal quantity of powdered bloodroot, it makes a valuable +application for foul ulcers. + +HYSSOP, (_hyssopus officinalis_.) Hyssop tea, sweetened with +honey, is useful to promote perspiration in colds and catarrh. + +INDIAN HEMP, (_apocynum cannabinum_.) An infusion of this herb +acts as an aperient, and promotes the secretions. It may be prepared by +infusing an ounce of the powdered or bruised root in a quart of boiling +water, which must be placed in a warm situation for a few hours: it +should then be strained, and given in half pint doses, at intervals of +six hours. A gill of this mixture will sometimes purge a sheep. + +INDIGO, WILD, (_baptisia tinctoria_.) We have made some +experiments with the inner portion of the bark of this plant, and find +it to be very efficacious in the cure of eruptive diseases of the mouth +and tongue, lampas, and inflamed gums. A strong decoction (one ounce of +the bark boiled for a few minutes in a pint of water) makes a good wash +for old sores. A small quantity of powdered slippery elm, stirred into +the decoction while hot, makes a good emollient application to sore +teats and bruised udder. + +JUNIPER BERRIES, (_juniperus_.) These are used in dropsical +affections, in conjunction with tonics; also in diseases of the urinary +organs. + +KINO. This is a powerful astringent, and may be used in +diarrhoea, dysentery, and red water, after the inflammatory symptoms +have subsided. We occasionally use it in the following form for red +water and chronic dysentery:-- + + Powdered kino, 20 grains. + Thin flour gruel, 1 quart. + +To be given at a dose, and repeated night and morning, as occasion +requires. + +LADY'S SLIPPER, (_cypripedium pubescens_.) This is a valuable +nervine and antispasmodic, and has been used with great success, in my +practice, for allaying nervous irritability. It is a good substitute for +opium. It is, however, destitute of all the poisonous properties of the +latter. Dose for a cow, half a table-spoonful of the powder, night and +morning; to be given in bland fluid. + +LICORICE. Used principally to alleviate coughs. The following +makes an excellent cough remedy:-- + + Powdered licorice, 1 ounce. + Balsam of Tolu, 1 tea-spoonful. + Boiling water, 1 quart. + +To be given at a dose. + +LILY ROOT, (_nymphaea odorata_.) Used principally for poultices. + +LIME WATER. This article is used in diarrhoea, and when the +discharge of urine is excessive. Being an antacid, it is very usefully +employed when cattle are hoven or blown. It is unsafe to administer +alone, as it often deranges the digestive organs: it is therefore very +properly combined with tonics. The following will serve as an example:-- + + Lime water, 2 ounces. + Infusion of snakehead, (balmony,) 2 quarts. + +Dose, a quart, night and morning. + +LOBELIA, (herb,) (_lobelia inflata_.) This is an excellent +antispasmodic. It is used in the form of poultice for locked-jaw, and as +a relaxant in rigidity of the muscular structure. + +MANDRAKE, (_podophyllum peltatum_.) Used as physic for cattle, +(which see.) + +MARSHMALLOWS. See _Althea_ + +MEADOW CABBAGE ROOT, (_ictodes foetida_.) This plant is used +as an antispasmodic in asthma and chronic cough. Dose, a tea-spoonful of +the powder, night and morning; to be given in mucilage of slippery elm. + +MOTHERWORT, (_leonurus cardiaca_.) A tea of this herb is +valuable in protracted labor. + +MULLEIN, (_verbascum_.) The leaves steeped in vinegar make a +good application for sore throat. + +MYRRH. The only use we make of this article, in cattle +practice, is to prepare a tincture for wounds, as follows:-- + + Powdered myrrh, 2 ounces. + Proof spirit, 1 pint. + +Set it aside in a close-covered vessel for two weeks, then strain +through a fine sieve, and it is fit for use. + +OAK BARK, (_quercus alba_.) A decoction of oak bark is a good +astringent, and may be given internally, and also applied externally in +falling of the womb or fundament. + +OINTMENTS. We have long since discontinued the use of +ointments, from a conviction that they do not agree with the flesh of +cattle. Marshmallows, or tincture of myrrh, will heal a wound much +quicker than any greasy preparation. We have, however, often applied +fresh marshmallow ointment to chapped teats, and chafed udder, with +decided advantage. It is made as follows: Take of white wax, mutton +tallow, and linseed oil, each a pound; marshmallow leaves, two ounces. +First melt the wax and tallow, then add the oil, lastly a handful of +mallows. Simmer over a slow fire until the leaves are crisp, then strain +through a piece of flannel, and stir the mixture until cool. + +OLEUM LINI, (flaxseed oil.) This is a useful aperient and +laxative in cattle practice, and may be given in all cases of +constipation, provided, however, it is not accompanied with chronic +indigestion: if such be the case, a diffusible stimulant, combined with +a bitter tonic, (golden seal,) aided by an injection, will probably do +more good, as they will arouse the digestive function. The above +aperient may then be ventured on with safety. The dose for a cow is one +pint. + +OLIVE OIL. This is a useful aperient for sheep. The dose is +from half a gill to a gill. + +OPODELDOC. The different preparations of this article are used +for strains and bruises, after the inflammatory action has somewhat +subsided. + +_Liquid Opodeldoc._ + + Soft soap, 6 ounces. + New England rum, 1 pint and a half. + Vinegar, half a pint. + Oil of lavender, 2 ounces. + +The oil of lavender should first be dissolved in an equal quantity of +alcohol, and then added to the mixture. + +PENNYROYAL, (_hedeoma_.) This plant, administered in warm +infusion, promotes perspiration, and is good in flatulent colic. + +PEPPERMINT, (_mentha piperita_.) An ounce of the herb infused +in a quart of boiling water relieved spasmodic pains of the stomach and +bowels, and is a good carminative, (to expel wind,) provided the +alimentary canal is free from obstruction. + +PLANTAIN LEAVES, (_plantago major_.) This article is held in +high repute for the cure of hydrophobia and bites from poisonous +reptiles. The bruised leaves are applied to the parts; the powdered herb +and roots to be given internally at discretion. + +PLEURISY ROOT, (_asclepias tuberosa_.) We have given this +article a fair trial in cattle practice, and find it to be invaluable in +the treatment of catarrh, bronchitis, pleurisy, pneumonia, and +consumption. The form in which we generally prescribe it is,-- + + Powdered pleurisy root, half a table-spoonful. + " marshmallow roots, 1 ounce. + +Boiling water sufficient to make a thin mucilage. The addition of a +small quantity of honey increases its diaphoretic properties. + +POMEGRANATE, (_punica granatum_.) The rind of this article is a +powerful astringent, and is occasionally used to expel worms. A strong +decoction makes a useful wash for falling of the womb, or fundament. +Given as an infusion, in the proportion of half an ounce of the rind to +a quart of water, it will arrest diarrhoea. + +POPLAR, (_populus tremuloides_.) It possesses tonic, demulcent, +and alterative properties. It is often employed, in our practice, as a +local application, in the form of poultice. The infusion is a valuable +remedy in general debility, and in cases of diseased urinary organs. + +PRINCE'S PINE, (_chimaphila_.) This plant is a valuable remedy +in dropsy. It possesses diuretic and tonic properties. It does not +produce the same prostration that usually attends the administration of +diuretics, for its tonic property invigorates the kidneys, while, at the +same time, it increases the secretion of urine. The best way of +administering it is by decoction. It is made by boiling four ounces of +the fresh-bruised leaves in two quarts of water. After straining, a +table-spoonful of powdered marshmallows may be added, to be given in +pint doses, night and morning. + +PYROLIGNEOUS ACID. See _Acid_. + +RASPBERRY LEAVES, (_rubus strigosus_.) An infusion of this +plant may be employed with great advantage in cases of diarrhoea. + +ROMAN WORMWOOD, (_ambrosia artemisifolia_.) This plant is a +very bitter tonic, and vermifuge. An infusion may be advantageously +given in cases of general debility and loss of cud. A strong decoction +may be given to sheep and pigs that are infested with worms. If given +early in the morning, and before the animals are fed, it will generally +have the desired effect. + +ROSE, RED, (_rosa gallica_.) We have occasionally used the +infusion, and find it of great value as a wash for chronic ophthalmia. +The infusion is made by pouring a pint of boiling water on a quarter of +an ounce of the flowers. It is then strained through fine linen, when it +is fit for use. + +SASSAFRAS, (_laurus sassafras_.) The bark of sassafras root is +stimulant, and possesses alterative properties. We have used it +extensively, in connection with sulphur, for eruptive diseases, and for +measles in swine, in the following proportions:-- + + Powdered sassafras, 1 ounce. + " sulphur, half a table-spoonful. + +Mix, and divide into four parts, one of which may be given, night and +morning, in a hot mash. + +The pith of sassafras makes a valuable soothing and mucilaginous wash +for inflamed eyes. + +SENNA A safe and efficient aperient for cattle may be made by +infusing an ounce of senna in a quart of boiling water. When cool, +strain, then add, manna one ounce, powdered golden seal one +tea-spoonful. The whole to be given at a dose. + +SKULLCAP, (_scutellaria lateriflora_.) This is an excellent +nervine and antispasmodic. It is admirably adapted to the treatment of +locked-jaw, and derangement of the nervous system. An ounce of the +leaves may be infused in two quarts of boiling water. After straining, a +little honey may be added, and then administered, in pint doses, every +four hours. + +SNAKEROOT, VIRGINIA, (_aristolochia serpentaria_.) This +article, given by infusion in the proportion of half an ounce of the +root to a pint of water, acts as a stimulant and alterative. It is +admirably adapted to the treatment of chronic indigestion. + +SOAP. This article acts on all classes of animals, as a +laxative and antacid. It is useful in obstinate constipation of the +bowels, in diseases of the liver, and for softening hardened excrement +in the rectum. By combining castile soap with butternut, blackroot, +golden seal, or balmony, a good aperient is produced, which will +generally operate on the bowels in a few hours. + +SQUILL, (_scilla maritima_.) A tea-spoonful of the dried root, +given in a thin mucilage of marshmallows, is an excellent remedy for +cough, depending on an irritability of the lungs and mucous surfaces. + +SULPHUR. This is one of the most valuable articles in the +veterinary _materia medica_. It possesses laxative, diaphoretic and +alterative properties, and is extensively employed, both internally and +externally, for diseases of the skin. The dose for a cow is a +tea-spoonful daily. Its alterative effect may be increased by combining +it with sassafras, (which see.) + +SUNFLOWER, WILD, (_helianthus divaricatus_.) The seeds of this +plant, when bruised and given it any bland fluid, act as a diuretic and +antispasmodic. Half a table-spoonful of the seeds may be given at a +dose, and repeated as occasion requires. + +TOLU, BALSAM OF. This balsam is procured by making incisions +into the trunk of a tree which flourishes in Tolu and Peru. It has a +peculiar tendency to the mucous surfaces, and therefore is very properly +prescribed for epizooetic diseases of catarrhal nature. The dose is half +a table-spoonful every night, to be administered in a mucilage of +marshmallows. One half the quantity is sufficient for a sheep. + +VINEGAR. See _Acetum_. + +WITCH HAZEL BARK, (_hamamelis virginica_.) A decoction of this +bark is a valuable application for falling of the fundament, or womb. +Being a good astringent, an infusion of the leaves is good for scouring +in sheep. + +WORMSEED, (_chenopodium anthelminticum_.) A tea-spoonful of the +powdered seeds, given in a tea of snakeroot, is a good vermifuge: it +will, however, require repeated doses, and they should be given at least +an hour before the morning meal. + + + + +GENERAL REMARKS ON MEDICINES. + + +Here, reader, is our _materia medica_; wherein you will find a number of +harmless, yet efficient agents, that will, in the treatment of disease, +fulfil any and every indication to your entire satisfaction. They act +efficiently in the restoration of the diseased system to a healthy +state, without producing the slightest injury to the animal economy. The +Almighty has furnished us, if we did but know it, a healing balm for +every malady to which man and the lower animals are subject. Yet how +many of these precious gifts are disregarded for the more popular ones +of the chemist! Dr. Brown, professor of botany in the Ohio College, +says, "Of the twenty or more thousand species of plants recognized and +described by botanists, probably not more than one thousand have ever +been used in the art of healing; and not more than one fourth of that +number even have a place in our _materia medica_ at present. The +glorious results, however, attending the researches of those who have +preceded us, should inspire us with that confidence and spirit of +investigation which will ultimately result in the selection, +preparation, and systematic arrangement, of a full, convenient, and +efficient _materia medica_." Unfortunately, the medical fraternity, as +well as the farmers, have been accustomed to judge of the power of the +remedy by its effects, and not in proportion to its ultimate good. Thus, +if a pound of salts be given to a cow, and they produce liquid +stools,--in short, "operate well,"--they are styled a good medicine, +although they leave the mucous surface of the alimentary canal in a +weak, debilitated state, and otherwise impair the health; yet this is a +secondary consideration. For, if the symptoms of the present malady, for +which the salts were given, shall disappear, nothing is thought of the +after consequences. The cow may be constipated for several succeeding +days, and finally refuse her food; but who suspects that the salts were +the cause of it? Who believes that the abstraction of ninety ounces of +blood cut short the life of our beloved Washington? We do, and so do +others. We are told, in reference to the treatment of a given case, that +"the patient will grow worse before he can get better." What makes him +worse? The medicine, surely, and nothing else. Now, if ever symptoms are +altered, they should be for the better; and if the medicines recommended +in this work (provided, however, they are given with ordinary prudence) +ever make an animal worse, then we beg of the reader to avoid them as he +would a pest-house. This is not all. If any article in this _materia +medica_, when given, in the manner we recommend, to an animal in perfect +health, shall operate so as to derange such animal's health,--in short, +act pathologically,--then it does not deserve a place here, and should +not be depended on. But such will not be the result. We recommend +farmers to select and preserve a few of these herbs for family use; for +they are efficient in the cure of many diseases. And as the services of +a physician are not always to be had in small country towns, a little +experience in the use and application of simple articles to various +diseases seems to be absolutely necessary. It was by the aid of a few of +these and similar simple remedies, that we were enabled to preserve the +health of the passengers of that ill-fated ship, the Anglo-Saxon. The +following testimony has never, until the present time, been made public, +and we would not now make use of it, were it not that we wish to show +that there are men, and women too, that can appreciate our labors:-- + + "The undersigned, passengers in the Anglo-Saxon from Boston, + feeling it a duty they owe to Dr. G. H. Dadd, surgeon of the ship, + would here bear testimony to the valuable medical services and + advice rendered by him to us, whilst on shipboard; believing his + attendance has been conducive of the greatest benefit; at times + almost indispensable, not only during the short passage, but also + through the trying period subsequent to the wreck through all of + which, the coolness and devotion to the best interests of his + employers and of the passengers, exhibited by him, deserve at our + hands the highest terms of commendation. + + ROBERT EARLE, + S. C. AMES, + BENJAMIN CHAMPNEY, + LEWIS JONES, + HAMILTON G. WILD, + W. A. BARNES, + GIDEON D. SCULL, + W. ALLAN GAY, + ISAAC JENKINS, + PRESCOTT BIGELOW, + A. M. EARLE, + ROSALIE PELBY, + OPHELIA ANDERSON, + HELEN C. DOVE, + ELEANOR TERESA MCHUGH, + JOHN HILLS, + FRANCES BLENKAM, + HARRIET PHILLIPS, + LOUISA A. BIGELOW, + + EASTPORT, May 9, 1847." + +Notwithstanding this disaster, Enoch Train, Esq., of Boston, with a +liberality which does him credit, appointed us surgeon of the ship Mary +Ann, commanded by Captain Albert Brown; thus giving us a second +opportunity of proving what we had asserted, viz., _that the emigrants +might be brought to the United States in better condition, and with less +deaths, than had heretofore been done_. It must be remembered that about +this time the typhus, or ship fever, was making sad havoc amongst all +classes of men, and many talented professional men fell victims to the +dire malady. We left Liverpool at a sickly season, having on board two +hundred persons, and were fortunate enough to land them in this city, +all in good health. Several ships which sailed at the same time, bound +also to different ports in the United States, lost, on the passage, from +ten to twenty persons, although each ship was furnished with a medical +attendant. Here, then, is a proof that our agents cure while others +fail. + + + + +PROPERTIES OF PLANTS. + + +Professor Curtis tells us that "herbs, during their growth, preserve +their medicinal properties, commencing at the root, and continuing +upward, through the stem and leaves, to the flowers and seeds, until +fully grown. When the root begins to die, the properties ascend from it +towards the seed, where, at last, they are the strongest. Even the +virtues of the leaves, after they get their full growth, often go into +the seed, which will not be so well developed if the leaves are plucked +off early; as corn fills and ripens best when the leaves are left on the +stalks till they die. In the annual and biennial plants, the root is +worthless after the seed is ripe, and the stem also is of very little +value; what virtue there is residing in the bark and leaves also lose +their properties as fast as they lose their freshness. All leaves and +stems that have lost their color, or become shrivelled, while the roots +are in the earth, have lost much of their medicinal power, and should be +rejected from medicine." Seeds and fruit should be gathered when ripe or +fully matured. + +Flowers should be gathered just at the time they come into bloom. + +Leaves should be gathered when they have arrived at their full growth, +are green, and full of the juices of the plant. Barks should be gathered +as early in the spring as they will peel. + +Roots should be gathered in the fall, after they have perfectly matured, +or early in the spring, before they commence germinating and growing. + + + + +POTATO. + + +Boiled potatoes, mixed up with steamed cornstalks, shorts, &c., make an +excellent compound for fattening cattle; yet, at the present time, they +are too expensive for general use. We hope, however, that ere long our +farmers will take hold of this subject in good earnest,--we allude to +the causes of potato rot,--and restore this valuable article of food to +its original worth. A few remarks on this subject seem to be called for. + + +_Remarks on the Potato Rot._ + +Where are the fine, mealy, substantial "apples of the earth" gone?--and +Echo answers, "Where?" They are not to be found at the present day. The +farmers have suffered great losses, in some instances by a partial, and +in others by a total, failure of their crops. Numberless experiments +have been tried to prevent this great national calamity, yet they have +all proved abortive, for the simple reason that we have been only +treating the symptoms, while the disease has taken a firmer hold, and +hurried our subjects to a premature decay. Different theories have been +suggested with a view of explaining the causes of the potato rot, none +of which are satisfactory. We have the "fungous theory," "insect +theory," "moisture theory," "theory of _degeneration_," and "the +chemical theory of defective elements." In relation to the "fungous +theory" we observe that fungi inhabit decaying organic bodies. They are +considered to be a common pest to all kinds of plants, like parasites, +living at the expense of those plants. We do not expect to find fungi in +good healthy vegetables, at least while they possess a high grade of +vital action. It is only when morbid deposits and chemical agencies +overcome the integrity or vital affinity of the vegetable that fungous +growth commences. + +In the fungous development, the living parts of the vegetable are not +always destroyed; yet these fungi obstruct vital action by their +deposits or accumulations; hence the small vessels that lead from centre +to surface are partly paralyzed, and the power peculiar to all +vegetables of throwing off useless or excrementitious matter is +intercepted. This is not all. The process of imperceptible elimination, +which might restore the balance of power in any thing like a vigorous +plant, is thus impaired. + +Now, it is evident that the fungi are not the cause of the potato rot; +they are only the mere effects, the symptoms: preceding these were other +manifestations of disorder, and these manifestations, in their different +grades, might with equal propriety be charged as causes of the potato +rot. The deterioration of the potato has been going on in a gradual +manner for a long time. A mild form of disease has existed for a number +of years, making such imperceptible change that it has escaped the +observation of many until late years, when the article became so +unpalatable that our attention has been called to it in good earnest; +and by the aid of the microscope we have discovered the fungi. Has this +discovery benefited the agriculturist? Not a particle. + +The theory of degeneration, without doubt, will assist us to explain the +why and wherefore of the potato rot. But this is not all; the community +want to know the cause of this degeneracy. We have spent some time in +the investigation of this subject, and now give the public, in a +condensed form, our opinion of this matter. We may err, but our progress +is towards the full discovery of the _direct cause_, and the ways and +means best adapted to prevent this sad calamity. The potato came into +existence at a certain period in the history of the world. After its +discovery, it was taken from the mother soil, the land of its nativity, +planted in different parts of the world, and grew to apparent +perfection. Our opinion is, that the transplanting was one of the causes +of this degeneracy. It is generally known that indigenous plants do not +thrive so well on foreign soil as in their native; for example, the +plants of the sunny south cannot be made to flourish here in the same +degree of perfection as at the south; they require the genial warmth of +the sun's rays, which our northern climates lack. The soil, too, mast be +adapted to each particular plant. It is true we do cultivate them by +ingenuity and chemical agency; yet they seldom equal the original. Need +we ask the farmer if he can, from the soil of New England, produce a St. +Michael orange equal to one grown on its native soil? or if a squash +will grow in the deserts of Arabia? All vegetables, as well as animals, +possess a certain amount of vital power, which enables them to resist, +to a certain degree, all encroachments on their healthy operations. The +potato, having been deprived, in some measure, of its essential element, +lost its reciprocal equilibrium, and has ever since been a prey to +whatever destructive agents may be present, whether they exist in the +soil or atmosphere. Yet we conceive that its total destruction is +dependent on another cause, which has been entirely overlooked; for, in +spite of the gradual deterioration alluded to, the potato will, for a +number of years, continue to keep up a low form of vitality, and result +in something like a potato. In order to comprehend the subject, let us, +for a moment, consider the conditions necessary for the germination and +perfection of vegetable bodies. We shall then be able to decide as to +whether or not we have complied with such conditions. The first +condition is, we must have _a perfect germ_; secondly, _a ripe seed_; +and lastly, _nutrimental agents in the sail, composed of carbon, +hydrogen, and oxygen_. + +The potato requires but a small quantity of moisture to develop the +germinating principle; for we have every day evidences of its ability to +send forth its fibres, even in the open air. Now, the premature +development of these fibrous radicles, or roots, debilitates the tuber; +in short, we have a sick potato. Is the potato, under such +circumstances, a perfect germ? No. If you examine the potato, with its +roots and stem, you will find the cutis, or skin, and mucous membrane. +This external skin, _including that of plant, stalk, leaf, and ball_, is +to the potato what the skin and lungs are to animals; they, each of +them, absorb atmospheric food, and throw off excrementitious matter; the +roots and fibres are to the vegetable what the alimentary canal is to +the animal. A large portion of the food of vegetables is found in the +soil, and enters the vegetable system, through its capillary +circulation, by the process of imperceptible elimination and absorption. +Now, you must bear in mind that the fibres, stem, and leaves are +delicate and tender organs; they are studded with millions of little +pores, covered with a membrane of delicate texture, easily lacerated. +When these delicate organs are rudely torn off or lacerated, the potato +immediately gives evidence of the encroachments of disease; it shrinks, +withers, and, although the soil abounds in all that is necessary for its +growth and future development, it is not in a fit state to carry on the +chemico-vital process. We often take the potato from the soil with a +view of preserving it for seed, without any definite knowledge of the +exact time of its maturity; as the season arrives for again replanting, +the fibres are torn off, and the potato itself is often cut up into two +or three pieces; sometimes, however, the smaller potatoes are used for +seed. Both practices are open to strong objection. Oftentimes the cut +surfaces of the potato are exposed to atmospheric air; evaporation +commences, they lose their firm texture, and are more fit for swine than +for planting. + +The cause of the total destruction may exist in a loss of polarity! We +know that all organic and inorganic bodies are subject to the laws of +electricity--each has its polarity. Men who are engaged in mining can +testify that the stratification of the earth is alternately negative and +positive. The hemispheres of the earth are also governed by the same +law; for, if you take a magnetic needle and toss it up in this +hemisphere, which is negative, the positive end will come to the ground +first; but if you pass the magnetic equator, which crosses the common +equator in 23 deg. 28', and then toss the needle up, its negative end will +fall downwards. Hence we infer that the potato has a polarity, just as +man has; and this is the reason of their definite character. Take a +bean, and destroy its polarity by cutting it into several pieces, as you +do the potato, and all the men on earth cannot make it germinate and +grow to perfection. It will die just as a man will, if you destroy the +polarity of his brain by wounding it. + +Take an egg, and destroy its polarity by making a small puncture through +it, and you can never get a chicken from it. A man or an animal will die +of locked-jaw, caused by a splinter entering the living organism; and +why? Because their electrical equilibrium, or their polarity is +destroyed. Some of our readers may desire to know how we can prove that +electricity plays a part in the germination and growth of animals and +vegetables. In verification of it, we will give a few examples. A dish +of salad may, by the aid of electricity, be raised in an hour. Hens' +eggs can be hatched by a similar process in a few hours, which would +require many days by animal heat. By the aid of electricity, water, +which consists of oxygen and hydrogen, may be decomposed, and its +elements set free. The poles of a galvanic battery may be applied to a +dead body, and that body made to imitate the functions of life. + +And lastly, it is through the medium of electrical attraction which +bodies have for each other, that all the chemical compositions and +decompositions depend. Bodies must be in opposite states of electricity +in order to produce a result. Now, if the polarity of the potato is +destroyed in the manner we have just alluded to, or should it be +destroyed by coming in contact with the blade of a knife, _the latter +conducting off the electrical current_, or by any other means, it must +deteriorate. We are told that "the potato has several germinating +points, and that a part will grow just as well as the whole." Such +reasoning will not stand the test of common experience. + +For example: the Almighty has endowed man with various faculties, and +the perfection of his organism depends on these faculties, as a whole. +Now, he may lose a leg, and yet be capable of performing the ordinary +duties of life; but this does not prove that he might not perform them +much better with both legs. So in reference to the potato. The fact of +its ability to reproduce its kind from a small portion of the whole--a +mere bud--should not satisfy us that a perfect germ is unnecessary. Then +the question arises, How shall we restore the original identity of this +valuable article of food? + +We have, in the early part of this work, recommended the farmers to +study the laws of vegetable physiology. This will furnish them with the +right kind of information. We would, however, suggest to those who are +desirous of making experiments, to comply with the conditions already +alluded to, viz., plant a perfect germ, by which means the potato may be +improved. Yet, in order to restore its identity, we must commence by +germinating from the seed, and plant that on soil abounding in the +constituents necessary for its development. Elevated land abounding in +small stones, and hill sides facing the south, are the best situations. +Potatoes should never be cultivated on the same spot for two successive +years. + +In relation to the insect theory, we would observe, that it throws no +light on the cause of the potato rot; for, in its gradual decay, that +vegetable undergoes various changes; the particles of which it is +composed assume new forms, and enter into new combinations; its +elementary substances are separated, giving birth to new compounds, some +of which result in an insect. We all know that animal and vegetable +bodies may remain in a state of putrefaction in water, and be dissolved +in the dust; yet some of their original atoms appear in a new system. +Hence the insect theory has no more to do with the cause of the potato +rot than the fungus. + + + + +TREATMENT OF DISEASE IN DOGS. + +PRELIMINARY REMARKS. + + +A good watch dog is of inestimable value to the farmer; and as very +little is at present understood of the nature and treatment of their +maladies, we have thought that a few general directions would be +acceptable, not only to the farmer, but to every man who loves a dog. We +have paid considerable attention to the treatment of disease in this +class of animals, and have generally found that must of their maladies +will yield very readily to our sanative agents. Most of the remedies +recommended by _allopathic_ writers for dogs, like those recommended for +horses and cattle, would at any time destroy the animal; consequently, +if it ever recovers, it does so in spite of the violence done to the +constitution. We hope to rescue the dog, as well as other classes of +domestic animals, from a cruel system of medication; for this we labor, +and to this work our life is devoted. We ask the reader to take into +consideration the destructive nature of the articles used on these +faithful animals. Some of them are the most destructive poisons that can +be found in the whole world. For example, several authors recommend, in +the treatment of disease in the canine race, the following:-- + +_Tartar emetic_, a very few grains of which will kill a man--yet +recommended for dogs. + +_Calomel_, a very fashionable remedy, used for producing ulcerated gums +and for rotting the teeth of thousands of the human family, as the +dentists can testify. Not fit for a dog, yet prescribed by most dog +fanciers. + +_Lunar caustic_, recommended by Mr. Lawson for fits; to be given +internally with cobwebs!! Our opinion is, that it would be likely to +give any four-footed creature "_fits_" that took it. + +Cowhage, corrosive sublimate, tin-filings, sugar of lead, white +precipitate, oil of turpentine, opium nitre--these, together with aloes, +jalap, tobacco, hellebore, and a very small proportion of sanative +agents, make up the list. In view of the great destruction that is +likely to attend the administration of these and kindred articles, we +have substituted others, which may be given with safety. Why should the +poor dog be compelled to swallow down such powerful and destructive +agents? He is entitled to better treatment, and we flatter ourselves +that wherever these pages shall be read, he will receive it. In +reference to the value of dogs, Mr. Lawson says, "Independent of his +beauty, vivacity, strength, and swiftness, he has the interior qualities +that must attract the attention and esteem of mankind. Intelligent, +humble, and sincere, the sole happiness of his life seems to be to +execute his master's commands. Obedient to his owner, and kind to all +his friends, to the rest he is indifferent. He knows a stranger by his +clothes, his voice, or his gestures, and generally forbids his approach +with marks of indignation. At night, when the guard of the house is +committed to his care, he seems proud of the charge; he continues a +watchful sentinel, goes his rounds, scents strangers at a distance, and +by barking gives them notice that he is on duty; if they attempt to +break in, he becomes fiercer, threatens, flies at them, and either +conquers alone, or alarms those who have more interest in coming to his +assistance. The flock and herd are even more obedient to the dog than to +the shepherd: he conducts them, guards them, and keeps them from +capriciously seeking danger; and their enemies he considers as his +own." + + + + +DISTEMPER. + + +_Symptoms._--If the animal is a watch dog, (such are usually confined in +the daytime,) the person who is in the daily habit of feeding him will +first observe a loss of appetite; the animal will appear dull and lazy; +shortly after, there is a watery discharge from the eyes and nose, +resembling that which accompanies catarrh. As the disease advances, +general debility supervenes, accompanied with a weakness of the hind +extremities. The secretions are morbid; for example, some are +constipated, and pass high-colored urine; others are suddenly attacked +with diarrhoea, scanty urine, and vomiting. Fits are not uncommon +during the progress of the disease. + +_Treatment._--If the animal is supposed to have eaten any improper food, +we commence the treatment by giving an emetic. + +_Emetic for Dogs._ + + Powdered lobelia, (herb,) 1 tea-spoonful. + Warm water, 1 wine-glass. + +Mix, and administer at a dose. + +(A table-spoonful of common salt and water will generally vomit a dog.) + +If this dose does not provoke emesis, it should not be repeated, for it +may act as a relaxant, and carry the morbid accumulations off by the +alimentary canal. If the bowels are constipated, use injections of +soap-suds. If the symptoms are complicated, the following medicine must +be prepared:-- + + Powdered mandrake, 1 table-spoonful. + " sulphur, 1 tea-spoonful. + " charcoal, 2 tea-spoonfuls. + " marshmallows, 1 table-spoonful. + +Mix. Divide the mass into six parts, and administer one in honey, night +and morning, for the first day; after which, a single powder, daily, +will suffice. The diet to consist of mush, together with a drink of thin +arrowroot. If, however, the animal be in a state of plethora, very +little food should be given him. + +If the strength fails, support it with beef tea. Should a diarrhoea +attend the malady, give an occasional drink of hardhack tea. + + + + +FITS. + + +Dogs are subject to epileptic fits, which are often attended with +convulsions. They attack dogs of all ages, and under every variety of +management. Dogs that are apparently healthy are often suddenly +attacked. The nervous system of the dog is very susceptible to external +agents; hence whatever raises any strong passion in them often produces +fits. Pointers and setters have often been known to suffer an attack +during the excitement of the chase. Fear will also produce fits; and +bitches, while suckling, if burdened with a number of pups, and not +having a sufficiency of nutriment to support the lacteal secretion, +often die in convulsive fits. Young puppies, while teething, are subject +to fits: simply scarifying their gums will generally give temporary +relief. Lastly, fits may be hereditary, or they may be caused by +derangement of the stomach. In all cases of fits, it is very necessary, +in order to treat them with success, that we endeavor, as far as +possible, to ascertain the causes, and remove them as far as lies in our +power: this accomplished, the cure is much easier. + +_Treatment._--Whenever the attack is sudden and violent, and the animal +is in good flesh, plunge him into a tub of warm water, and give an +injection of the same, to which a tea-spoonful of salt may be added. It +is very difficult, in fact improper, to give medicine during the fit; +but as soon as it is over, give + + Manna, 1 tea-spoonful. + Common salt, half a tea-spoonful. + +Add a small quantity of water, and give it at a dose. + +_Another._ + +Make an infusion of mullein leaves, and give to the amount of a +wine-glass every four hours. With a view of preventing a recurrence of +fits, keep the animal on a vegetable diet. If the bowels are +constipated, give thirty grains of extract of butternut, or, if that +cannot be readily procured, substitute an infusion of senna and manna, +to which a few caraways may be added. + +If the nervous system is deranged, which may be known by the +irritability attending it, then give a tea-spoonful of the powdered +nervine, (lady's slipper.) The diet must consist of boiled articles, and +the animal must be allowed to take exercise. + + + + +WORMS. + + +Worms may proceed from various causes; but they are seldom found in +healthy dogs. One of the principal causes is debility in the digestive +organs. + +_Indications of Cure._--To tone up the stomach and other organs,--by +which means the food is prevented from running into fermentation,--and +administer vermifuges. The following are good examples:-- + + Oil of wormseed, 1 tea-spoonful. + Powdered assafoetida, 30 grains. + +To be given every morning, fasting. Two doses will generally suffice. + +_Another._ + + Powdered mandrake, half a table-spoonful. + " Virginia snakeroot, 1 tea-spoonful. + +Divide into four doses, and give one every night, in honey. + +_Another._ + +Make an infusion of the sweet fern, (_comptonea asplenifolia_,) and give +an occasional drink, followed by an injection of the same. + +_Another._ + + Powdered golden seal, half a table-spoonful. + Common brown soap, 1 ounce. + +Rub them well together in a mortar, and form the mass into pills about +the size of a hazel-nut, and give one every night. + + + + +MANGE. + + +This disease is too well known to need any description. The following +are deemed the best cures:-- + +_External Application for Mange._ + + Powdered charcoal, half a table-spoonful. + " sulphur, 1 ounce. + Soft soap sufficient to form an ointment. + +To be applied externally for three successive days; at the end of which +time, the animal is to be washed with castile soap and warm water, and +afterwards wiped dry. + +The internal remedies consist of equal parts of sulphur and cream of +tartar, half a tea-spoonful of which may be given daily, in honey. + +When the disease becomes obstinate, and large, scabby eruptions appear +on various parts of the body, take + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Water, 1 pint. + +Wash the parts daily, and keep the animal on a light diet. + + + + +INTERNAL ABSCESS OF THE EAR. + + +In this complaint, the affected side is generally turned downwards, and +the dog is continually shaking his head. + +_Treatment._--In the early stages, foment the part twice a day with an +infusion of marshmallows. As soon as the abscess breaks, wash with an +infusion of raspberry leaves, and if a watery discharge continues, wash +with an infusion of white oak bark. + + + + +ULCERATION OF THE EAR. + + +External ulcerations should be washed twice a day with + + Pyroligneous acid, 2 ounces. + Water, 8 ounces. + +Mix. + +As soon as the ulcerations assume a healthy appearance, touch them with +Turlington's balsam or tincture of gum catechu. + + + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. + + +Whenever inflammation of the bowels makes its appearance, it is a sure +sign that there is a loss of equilibrium in the circulation; and this +disturbance may arise from a collapse of the external surface, or from +irritation produced by hardened excrement on the mucous membrane of the +intestines. An attack is recognized by acute pain in the abdominal +region. The dog gives signs of suffering when moved, and the bowels are +generally constipated. + +_Treatment._--Endeavor to equalize the circulation by putting the animal +into a warm bath, where he should remain about five minutes. When taken +out, the surface must be rubbed dry. Then give the following +injection:-- + + Linseed oil, 4 ounces. + Warm water, 1 gill. + +Mix. + +To allay the irritation of the bowels, give the following:-- + + Powdered pleurisy root, 1 tea-spoonful. + " marshmallow root, 1 table-spoonful. + +Mix, and divide into three parts; one to be given every four hours. + +Should vomiting be a predominant symptom, a small quantity of saleratus, +dissolved in spearmint tea, may be given. + +Should not this treatment give relief, make a fomentation of hops, and +apply it to the belly; and give half an ounce of manna. The only +articles of food and drink should consist of barley gruel and mush. If, +however, the dog betrays great heat, thirst, panting, and restlessness, +a small quantity of cream of tartar may be added to the barley gruel. +The bath and clysters may be repeated, if necessary. + + + + +INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER. + + +This requires the same treatment as the preceding malady. + + + + +ASTHMA. + + +Dogs that are shut up in damp cellars, and deprived of pure air and +exercise, are frequently attacked with asthma. Old dogs are more liable +to asthma than young ones. + +_Treatment._--Endeavor to ascertain the cause, and remove it. Let the +animal take exercise in the open air. The diet to consist of cooked +vegetables; a small quantity of boiled meat may be allowed; raw meat +should not be given. + +_Compound for Asthma._ + + Powdered bloodroot, } + " lobelia, } of each, 1 tea-spoonful. + " marshmallows, } + " licorice, } + +Mix. Divide into twelve parts, and give one night and morning. If they +produce retching, reduce the quantity of lobelia. The object is not to +vomit, but to induce a state of nausea or relaxation. + + + + +PILES. + + +Piles are generally brought on by confinement, over-feeding, &c., and +show themselves by a red, sore, and protruded rectum. Dogs subject to +constipation are most likely to be attacked. + +_Treatment._--Give the animal half a tea-spoonful of sulphur for two or +three mornings, and wash the parts with an infusion of white oak bark. +If they are very painful, wash two or three times a day with an infusion +of hops, and keep the animal on a light diet. + + + + +DROPSY. + + +Dropsy is generally preceded by loss of appetite, cough, diminution of +natural discharge of urine, and costiveness. The abdomen shortly +afterwards begins to enlarge. + +_Treatment._--It is sometimes necessary to evacuate the fluid by +puncturing the abdomen; but this will seldom avail much unless the +general health is improved, and the suppressed secretions restored. The +following is the best remedy we know of:-- + + Powdered flagroot, } of each a quarter of + " male fern, } an ounce. + Scraped horseradish, a tea-spoonful. + +Mix. Divide into eight parts, and give one night and morning. Good +nutritious diet must be allowed. + + + + +SORE THROAT. + + +A strong decoction of mullein leaves applied to a sore throat will +seldom fail in curing it. + + + + +SORE EARS. + + +A dog's ears may become sore and scabby from being torn, or otherwise +injured. In such cases, they should be anointed with marshmallow +ointment. + + + + +SORE FEET. + + +If the feet become sore from any disease between the claws, apply a +poultice composed of equal parts of marshmallows and charcoal; after +which the following wash will complete the cure:-- + + Pyroligneous acid, 1 ounce. + Water, 6 ounces. + +Mix, and wash with a sponge twice a day. + + + + +WOUNDS. + + +Turlington's Balsam is the best application for wounds. Should a dog be +bitten by one that is mad, give him a tea-spoonful of lobelia in water, +and bind some of the same article on the wound. + + + + +SPRAINS. + + +For sprains of any part of the muscular structure, use one of the +following prescriptions:-- + + Oil of wormwood, 1 ounce. + Tincture of lobelia, 2 ounces. + Infusion of hops, 1 quart. + +Mix. Bathe the part twice a day. + +_Another._ + + Wormwood, } of each a handful. + Thoroughwort, } + New England rum, 1 pint. + +Set them in a warm place for a few hours, then bathe the part with the +liquid; and bind some of the herb on the part, if practicable. + + + + +SCALDS. + + +If a dog be accidentally scalded, apply, with as little delay as +possible,-- + + Lime water, } equal parts. + Linseed oil, } + + + + +OPHTHALMIA. + + +Ophthalmia is supposed to be contagious; yet a mild form may result from +external injury, as blows, bruises, or extraneous bodies introduced +under the eyelid. The eye is such a delicate and tender organ, that the +smallest particle of any foreign body lodging on its surface will cause +great pain and swelling. + +_Treatment._--Take a tea-spoonful of finely-pulverized marshmallow root, +add sufficient hot water to make a thin mucilage, and with this wash the +eye frequently. Keep the animal in a dark place, on a light diet; and if +the eyes are very red and tender, give a pill composed of twenty-nine +grains extract of butternut and ten grains cream of tartar. + +If purulent discharge sets in, bathe the eye with infusion of camomile +or red rose leaves, and give the following:-- + + Powdered pleurisy root, } + " bloodroot, } equal parts. + " sulphur, } + +Dose, half a table-spoonful daily. To be given in honey. When the +eyelids adhere together, wash with warm milk. + + + + +WEAK EYES. + + +It often happens that, after an acute attack, the eyes are left in a +weak state, when there is a copious secretion of fluid continually +running from them. In such cases, the eyes may be washed, night and +morning, with pure cold water, and the general health must be improved: +for the latter purpose, the following preparation is recommended:-- + + Manna, 1 ounce. + Powdered gentian, 1 tea-spoonful. + " mandrake, half a tea-spoonful. + +Rub them together in a mortar, and give a pill, about the size of a +hazel-nut, every night. If the manna is dry, a little honey will be +necessary to amalgamate the mass. + + + + +FLEAS AND VERMIN. + + +Fleas and vermin are very troublesome to dogs; yet they may easily be +got rid of by bathing the dog with an infusion of lobelia for two +successive mornings, and afterwards washing with water and castile soap. + + + + +HYDROPHOBIA. + + +Whenever one dog is bitten by another, and the latter is supposed to +labor under this dreadful malady, immediate steps should be taken to +arrest it; for a dog once bitten by another, whatever may be the stage +or intensity of the disease, is never safe. The disease may appear in a +few days; in some instances, it is prolonged for eight months. + +_Symptoms._--Mr. Lawson tells us that "the first symptom appears to be a +slight failure of the appetite, and a disposition to quarrel with other +dogs. A total loss of appetite generally succeeds. A mad dog will not +cry out on being struck, or show any sign of fear on being threatened. +In the height of the disorder, he will bite all other dogs, animals, or +men. When not provoked, he usually attacks only such as come in his way; +but, having no fear, it is very dangerous to strike or provoke him. The +eyes of mad dogs do not look red or fierce, but dull, and have a +peculiar appearance, not easy to be described. Mad dogs seldom bark, but +occasionally utter a most dismal and plaintive howl, expressive of +extreme distress, and which they who have once heard can never forget. +They do not froth at the mouth; but their lips and tongue appear dry and +foul, or slimy. They cannot swallow water." Mr. Lawson, and indeed many +veterinary practitioners, have come to the conclusion that all remedies +are fallacious![27] + +_Remarks._--In White's Dictionary we are informed that the tops of +yellow broom have been used for hydrophobia in the human subject with +great success; and we do not hesitate to say that they might be used +with equal success on beasts. Dr. Muller, of Vienna, has lately +published, in the _Gazette de Sante_, some facts which go to show that +the yellow broom is invaluable in the treatment of this malady. Dr. +White tells us that "M. Marochetti gave a decoction of yellow broom to +twenty-six persons who had been bitten by a mad dog, viz., nine men, +eleven women, and six children. Upon an examination of their tongues, he +discovered pimples in five men, three children, and in all the women. +The seven that were free from pimples took the decoction of broom six +weeks and recovered." + +The same author informs us that "M. Marochetti, during his residence at +Ukraine, in the year 1813, attended fifteen persons who had been bitten +by a mad dog. While he was making preparations for cauterizing the +wounds, some old men requested him to treat the unfortunate people +according to the directions of a peasant in the neighborhood, who had +obtained great reputation for the cure of hydrophobia. The peasant gave +to fourteen persons, placed under his care, a strong decoction of the +yellow broom; he examined, twice a day, the under part of the tongue, +where he had generally discovered little pimples, containing, as he +supposed, the hydrophobic poison. These pimples at length appeared, and +were observed by M. Marochetti himself. As they formed, the peasant +opened them, and cauterized the parts with a red-hot needle; after which +the patients gargled with the same decoction. The result of this +treatment was, that the fourteen patients returned cured, having drank +the decoction six weeks." The following case will prove the value of the +plantain, (_plantago major_.) We were called upon, October 25, 1850, to +see a dog, the property of Messrs. Stewart & Forbes, of Boston. From the +symptoms, we were led to suppose that the animal was in the incipient +stage of canine madness. We directed him to be securely fastened, kept +on a light diet, &c. The next day, a young Newfoundland pup was placed +in the cellar with the patient, who seized the little fellow, and +crushed his face and nose in a most shocking manner, both eyes being +almost obliterated. The poor pup lingered in excruciating torment until +the owner, considering it an act of charity, had it killed. This act of +ferocity on the part of the patient confirmed our suspicions as to the +nature of the malady. We commenced the treatment by giving him +tea-spoonful doses of powdered plantain, (_plantago major_,) night and +morning, in the food, and in the course of a fortnight, the eye (which, +during the early stage of the malady, had an unhealthy appearance) +assumed its natural state, and the appetite returned; in short, the dog +got rapidly well. We feel confident that, if this case had been +neglected, it might have terminated in canine madness. + +We are satisfied that the plantain possesses valuable antiseptic and +detergent properties. Dr. Beach tells us that "a negro at the south +obtained his freedom by disclosing a nostrum for the bites of snakes, +the basis of which was the plantain." A writer states that a toad, in +fighting with a spider, as often as it was bitten, retired a few steps, +ate of the plantain, and then renewed the attack. The person deprived it +of the plant, and it soon died. + +_Treatment._--Let the suspected dog be confined by himself, so that he +cannot do injury. Then take two ounces of lobelia, and one ounce of +sulphur, place them in a common wash tub, and add several gallons of +boiling water. As soon as it is sufficiently cool, plunge the dog into +it, and let him remain in it several minutes. Then give an infusion of +either of the following articles: yellow broom, plantain, or Greek +valerian, one ounce of the herb to a pint of water. An occasional +tea-spoonful of the powdered plantain may be allowed with the food, +which must be entirely vegetable. If the dog has been bitten, wash the +part with a strong infusion of lobelia, and bind some of the herb on the +part. The treatment should be continued for several days, or until the +animal recovers, and all danger is past. + +(For information on the causes of madness, the reader is referred to my +work on the Horse, p. 108.) + +FOOTNOTE: + +[27] They probably only allude to cauterization, cutting out the bitten +part, and the use of poisons. It cannot be expected that such processes +and agents should ever cure the disease. Let them try our agents before +they pronounce "all remedies fallacious." Let them try the _alisma +plantago_, (plantain,) yellow broom tops, _scutellaria_, (skullcap,) +lobelia, Greek valerian, &c. + + + + +MALIGNANT MILK SICKNESS OF THE WESTERN STATES, OR CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS. + + +This name applies to a disease said to be very fatal in the Western +States, attacking certain kinds of live stock, and also persons who make +use of the meat and dairy products of such cattle. + +The cause, nature, and treatment of this disease is so little understood +among medical men, and such an alarming mortality attends their +practice, that many of the inhabitants of the west and south-west depend +entirely on their domestic remedies. "It is in that country emphatically +one of the _opprobria medicorum_." Nor are the mineralites any more +successful in the treatment of other diseases incidental to the Great +West. Their Peruvian bark, _quinine_, and calomel, immense quantities of +which are used without any definite knowledge of their _modus operandi_, +fail in a great majority of cases. If they were only to substitute +powdered charcoal and sulphur for calomel, both in view of prevention +and cure, aided by good nursing, then the mortality would be materially +diminished. The success attending the treatment of upwards of sixty +cases of yellow fever, by Mrs. Shall, the proprietress of the City +Hotel, New Orleans, only one of which proved fatal, is attributed to +good nursing. She knew nothing of blood-letting, calomelizing, +narcotizing. The same success attended the practice of Dr. A. Hunn, of +Kentucky, in the treatment of typhus fever, (which resembles milk +sickness,) who cured every case by plunging his patients immediately +into a hot bath. + +"The whole indication of cure in this disease is to bring on reaction, +to recall the poison which is mixed with the blood and thrown to the +centre, which can only be done by inducing a copious perspiration in the +most prompt and energetic manner. If I mistake not, where sweating was +produced in this complaint, recovery invariably followed, while +bleeding, mercury, &c., only aggravated it." + +From such facts as these, as well as from numerous others, we may learn, +that disease is not under the control of the boasted science of +medicine, as practised by our allopathic brethren. Many millions of +animals, as well as members of the human family, have died from a +misapplication of medicine, and officious meddling. + +The destruction that in former years attended milk sickness may be +learned from the fact, that in the western settlements, its prevalence +often served as a cause to disband a community, and compel the +inhabitants to seek a location which enjoyed immunity from its +occurrence. The legislatures of several of the Western States have +offered rewards for the discovery of the origin of the milk sickness. No +one that we know of has ever yet claimed the reward. In view of the +great lack of information on this subject, we freely contribute our +mite, which may serve, in some degree, to dispel the impenetrable +mystery by which it is surrounded. + +We shall first show that it is not produced by the atmosphere alone, +which by some is supposed to be the cause. + +"It is often found to occupy an isolated spot, comprehending an area of +one hundred acres, whilst for a considerable distance around it is not +produced." + +If the disease had its sole origin in the atmosphere, it would not be +thus confirmed to a certain location; for every one knows, that the +gentlest zephyr would waft the enemy into the surrounding localities, +and there the work of destruction would commence. The reader is probably +aware that bodies whose specific gravity exceeds that of air, such as +grass, seeds, &c., are conveyed through that medium from one field to +another. The miasma of epidemics is said to be conveyed from one +district to another "on the wings of the wind." Hence, if milk sickness +was of atmospheric or even epidemic origin, it would prevail in +adjoining states. This is not the case; for we are told that "this fatal +disease seldom, if ever, prevails westward of the Alleghany Mountains or +in the bordering states." + +The atmosphere which surrounds this globe was intended by the divine +Artist for the purpose of respiration, and it is well adapted to that +purpose: it cannot be considered a pathological agent, or a cause of +disease. In crowded assemblies, and in close barns and stables, it may +hold in solution noxious gases, which, as we have already stated in +different parts of this work, are injurious to the lungs; but as regards +the atmosphere itself, in an uncontaminated state, it is a physiological +agent. It always preserves its identity, and is always represented by +the same equivalents of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid gas. Liebig +says, "One hundred volumes of air have been found, at every period and +in every climate, to contain twenty-one volumes of oxygen." + +Thus oxygen and nitrogen unite in certain equivalents: the result is +atmospheric air; and they cannot be made to unite in any other +proportions. Suppose the oxygen to be in excess, what would be the +result? A universal conflagration would commence; the hardest rocks, and +even the diamond, (considered almost indestructible,) would melt with +"fervent heat." If, on the other hand, nitrogen was in excess, then +every living thing, including both animal and vegetable, would instantly +die. Hence we infer that the atmosphere cannot be considered as the +cause of this disease. + +_Causes._--A creeping vine has been supposed to occasion the disease. +This cannot be the case, for it occurs very frequently when the ground +is covered with snow. We are satisfied, although we may not succeed in +satisfying the reader, that no one cause alone can produce the disease: +there must be a diminution of vital energy, and this diminution may +result, first, from poor diet. Dr. Graff tells us that the general +appearance of these infected districts is somewhat peculiar. The quality +of the soil is, in general, of an inferior description. The growth of +timber is not observed to be so luxuriant as in situations otherwise +similar, but is scrubby, and stunted in its perfect development, in many +instances simulating what in the west is denominated '_barrens_.' We can +easily conceive that these barrens do not furnish the proper amount of +carbon (in the form of food) for the metamorphosis of the tissues; and +if we take into consideration that the animal receives, during the day, +while in search of this food, a large supply of oxygen, and at the same +time the waste of the body is increased by the extra labor required to +select sufficient nutriment,--it being scanty in such situations,--then +it follows that this disproportion between the quantity of carbon in the +food, and that of oxygen absorbed by the skin and lungs, must induce a +diseased or abnormal condition. The animal is sometimes fat, at others +lean. Some of the cows attacked with this disease were fat, and in +apparent health, and nothing peculiar was observed until immediately +preceding the outbreak of the fatal symptoms. The presence of fat is +generally proof positive of an abnormal state; and in such cases the +liver is often diseased; the blood then becomes loaded with fat and oil, +and is finally deposited in the cellular tissues. The reader will now +understand how an animal accumulates fat, notwithstanding it be +furnished with insufficient diet. All that we wish to contend for is, +that in such cases vital resistance is compromised. We have observed +that, in the situation alluded to, vegetation was stunted, &c., and +knowing that vegetables are composed of nearly the same materials which +constitute animal organization,--the carbon or fat of the former being +deposited in the seeds and fruits, and that of the latter in the +cellular structure,--then we can arrive at but one conclusion, viz., +that any location unfavorable to vegetation is likewise ill adapted to +preserve the integrity of animal life. + +In connection with this, it must be remembered that during the night the +soil emits excrementitious vapors which are taken into the animal system +by the process of respiration. In the act of rumination, vapor is also +enclosed in the globules of saliva, and thus reach the stomach. Many +plants which during the day may be eaten with impunity by cattle, +actually become poisonous during the night! This, we are aware, will +meet with some opposition; to meet which we quote from Liebig:-- + +"How powerful, indeed, must the resistance appear which the vital force +supplies to leaves charged with oil of turpentine or tannic acid, when +we consider the affinity of oxygen for these compounds! + +"This intensity of action, or of resistance, the plant obtains by means +of the sun's light; the effect of which in chemical actions may be, and +is, compared to that of a very high temperature, (moderate red heat.) + +"During the night, an opposite process goes on in the plant; we see then +that the constituents of the leaves and green parts combine with the +oxygen of the air--a property which in daylight they did not possess. + +"From these facts we can draw no other conclusion but this: that the +intensity of the vital force diminishes with the abstraction of light; +that, with the approach of night, a state of equilibrium is established; +and that, in complete darkness, all those constituents of plants which, +during the day, possessed the power of separating oxygen from chemical +combinations, and of resisting its action, lose their power completely. + +"A precisely similar phenomenon is observed in animals. + +"The living animal body exhibits its peculiar manifestations of vitality +only at certain temperatures. When exposed to a certain degree of cold, +these vital phenomena entirely cease. + +"The abstraction of heat must, therefore, be viewed as quite equivalent +to a diminution of the vital energy; the resistance opposed by the vital +force to external causes of disturbance must diminish, in certain +temperatures, in the same ratio in which the tendency of the elements of +the body to combine with the oxygen of the air increases." + +_Secondly._ In the situations alluded to, we generally find poisonous +and noxious plants, with an abundance of decayed vegetable matter. An +English writer has said, "The farmers of England might advantageously +employ a million at least of additional laborers in clearing their wide +domains of noxious plants,[28] which would amply repay them in the +superior quality of their produce. They would then feel the truth of +that axiom in philosophy, "that he who can contrive to make two blades +of grass, or wholesome grain, grow where one poisonous plant grew +before, is a greater benefactor to the human race than all the +conquerors or heroes who have ever lived." The noxious plants found in +such abundance in the Western States are among the principal causes, +either directly or indirectly, of the great mortality among men, horses, +cattle, and sheep. The hay would be just as destructive as when in its +green state, were it not that, in the process of drying, the volatile +and poisonous properties of the buttercup, dandelion, poppy, and +hundreds of similar destructive plants found in the hay, evaporate. It +is evident that if animals have partaken of such plants, although death +in all cases do not immediately follow, there must be a deficiency of +vital resistance, or loss of equilibrium, and the animal is in a +negative state. It is consequently obvious that when in such a state it +is more liable to receive impressions from external agents--in short, is +more subject to disease, and this disease may assume a definite form, +regulated by location. + +_Thirdly._ A loss of vital resistance may result from drinking impure +water. (See _Watering_, p. 15.) Dr. Graff tells us that "another +peculiar appearance, which serves to distinguish these infected spots, +is the breaking forth of numerous feeble springs, called oozes, +furnishing but a trifling supply of water." Such water is generally +considered unwholesome, and will, of course, deprive the system of its +vital resistance, if partaken of. + +_Fourthly._ A loss of vital resistance may result from exposure; for it +is well known that cattle which have been regularly housed every night +have escaped the attacks of this malady, and that when suffered to +remain at large, they were frequently seized with it. + +_Lastly._ The indirect causes of milk fever exist in any thing that can +for a time prevent the free and full play of any part of the animal +functions. The direct causes of death are chemical action, resulting +from decomposition, which overcomes the vital principle. + +Professor Liebig tells us, that "chemical action is opposed by the vital +principle. The results produced depend upon the strength of their +respective actions; either an equilibrium of both powers is attained, or +the acting body yields to the superior force. If chemical action obtains +the ascendency, it acts as a poison." + +_Remarks._--Let us suppose that one, or a combination of the preceding +causes, has operated so as to produce an abnormal state in the system of +a cow. She is then suffered to remain in the unhealthy district during +the night: while there, exposed to the emanations from the soil, she +requires the whole force of her vital energies to ward off chemical +decompositions, and prevent encroachment on the various functions. A +contest commences between the vital force and chemical action, and, +after a hard conflict in their incessant endeavors to overcome each +other, the chemical agency obtains the ascendency, and disease of a +putrid type (milk fever) is the result. The disease may not immediately +be recognized, for the process of decomposition may be insidious; yet +the milk and flesh of such an animal may communicate the disease to man +and other animals. It is well known that almost any part of animal +bodies in a state of putrefaction, such as milk, cheese, muscle, pus, +&c., communicate their own state of decomposition to other bodies. Many +eminent medical men have lost their lives while dissecting, simply by +putrefactive matter coming in contact with a slight wound or puncture. +Dr. Graff made numerous experiments on dogs with the flesh, &c., of +animals having died of milk sickness. He says, "My trials with the +poisoned flesh were, for the most part, made on dogs, which I confined; +and I often watched the effect of the poison when administered at +regular intervals. In the space of forty-eight hours from the +commencement of the administration of either the butter, cheese, or +flesh, I have observed unequivocal appearances of their peculiar action, +while the appetite remains unimpaired until the expiration of the fourth +or fifth day." From the foregoing remarks, the reader will agree with +us, that the disease is of a putrid type, and has a definite character. +What is the reason of this definite character? All diseases are under +the control of the immutable laws of nature. They preserve their +identity in the same manner that races of men preserve theirs. Milk +sickness of the malignant type luxuriates in the locations referred to, +for the same reasons that yellow fever is peculiar to warm climates, and +consumption to cold ones; and that different localities have distinct +diseases; for example, ship fever, jail fever, &c. + +Before disease can attack, and develop itself in the bodies of men or +animals, the existing equilibrium of the vital powers must be disturbed; +and the most common causes of this disturbance we have already alluded +to. In reference to the milk, butter, cheese, &c., of infected animals, +and their adaptation to develop disease in man, and in other locations +than those referred to, we observe, that when a quantity, however small, +of contagious matter is introduced into the stomach, if its antiseptic +properties are the least deranged, the original disease (milk sickness) +is produced, just as a small quantity of yeast will ferment a whole +loaf. The transformation takes place through the medium of the blood, +and produces a body identical with, or similar to, the exciting or +contagious matter. The quantity of the latter must constantly augment; +for the state of change or decomposition which affects one particle of +the blood is imparted to others. The time necessary to accomplish it, +however, depends on the amount of vital resistance, and of course varies +in different animals. In process of time, the whole body becomes +affected, and in like manner it is communicated to other individuals; +and this may take place by simply respiring the carbonic acid gas, or +morbific materials from the lungs, of diseased animals in the infected +districts. + +We are told that the latent condition of the disease may be discovered +by subjecting the suspected animal to a violent degree of exercise. This +is a precaution practised by butchers before slaughtering animals in any +wise suspected of the poisonous contamination;[29] for according to the +intensity of the existing cause, or its dominion over the vital power, +it will be seized with tremors, spasms, convulsions, or even death. The +reader is, probably, aware that an excess of motion will sometimes +cause instant death; for both men and animals, supposed to be in +excellent health, are known to die suddenly from excessive labor. In +some cases of excess of muscular exertion, the active force in living +parts may be entirely destroyed in producing these violent mechanical +results: hence we have a loss of equilibrium between voluntary and +involuntary motion, and there is not sufficient vitality left to carry +on the latter. Professor Liebig says, "A stag may be hunted to death. +The condition of metamorphosis into which it has been brought by an +enormous consumption both of force and of oxygen continues when all +phenomena of motion have ceased, and the flesh becomes uneatable." A +perfect equilibrium, therefore, between the consumption of vital force +for the supply of waste, protecting the system from encroachments, and +for mechanical effects, must exist; the animal is then in health: the +contrary is obvious. + +_Treatment._--The greatest care must be taken to secure the patient good +nutritious food, pure air, and water. The food should consist of a +mixture of two or more of the following articles, which must be cooked: +linseed, parsnips, shorts, carrots, meal, apples, barley, oats, turnips, +slippery elm, oil cake, &c. We again remind the reader that no single or +compound medicine can be procured that will be suitable for every stage +of the disease; it must be treated according to its indications. Yet the +following compound, aided by warmth, moisture, and friction, externally, +will be found better than any medicine yet known. It consists of + + Powdered charcoal, 8 ounces. + " sulphur, 2 ounces. + Fine salt, 3 ounces. + Oatmeal, 2 pounds. + Mandrake, (_podophyllum peltatum_,) 1 ounce. + +After the ingredients are well mixed, divide the mass into fourteen +parts, and give one night and morning. + +_Special Treatment with reference to the Symptoms._--Suppose the animal +to be "off her feed," and the bowels are constipated; then give an +aperient composed of + + Extract of butternut, 2 drachms. + Powdered capsicum, one third of a tea-spoonful. + Thoroughwort tea, 2 quarts. + +To be given at a dose, taking care to pour it down the throat in a +gradual manner; for, if poured down too quick, it will fall into the +paunch. If the rectum is suspected to be loaded with excrement, make use +of the common soap-suds injection. + +If the animal appears to walk about without any apparent object in view, +there is reason to suppose that the brain is congested. This may be +verified if the _sclerotica_ (white of the eye) is of a deep red color. +The following will be indicated:-- + + Mandrake, (_podophyllum peltatum_,) 1 table-spoonful. + Sulphur, 1 tea-spoonful. + Cream of tartar, 1 tea-spoonful. + Hot water, 2 quarts. + +To be given at a dose. At the same time apply cold water to the head, +and rub the spine and legs (below the knees) with the following +counter-irritant:-- + + Powdered bloodroot or cayenne, 1 ounce. + " black pepper, half an ounce. + Boiling vinegar, 1 quart. + +Rub the mixture in while hot, with a piece of flannel. + +If a trembling of the muscular system is observed, then give + + Powdered ginger, } + " cinnamon, } of each half + " golden seal, } a tea-spoonful. + +To be given at a dose, in half a gallon of catnip tea. Aid the vital +powers in producing a crisis by the warmth and moisture, as directed in +the treatment of colds, &c. + +It is necessary to keep the rectum empty by means of injections, forms +of which will be found in this work. + +The remedies we here recommend can be safely and successfully used by +those unskilled in medicine; and, when aided by proper attention to the +diet, ventilation, and comfort of the patient, we do not hesitate to say +(provided, however, they are resorted to in the early stages) they will +cure forty-nine cases out of fifty, without the advice of a physician. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[28] The American farmers are just beginning to wake up on this subject, +and before long we hope to see our pasture lands free from all poisonous +plants. Dr. Whitlaw says, "A friend of mine had two fields cleared of +buttercups, dandelion, ox-eye, daisy, sorrel, hawk-weed, thistles, +mullein, and a variety of other poisonous or noxious plants: they were +dried, burnt, and their ashes strewed over the fields. He had them sown +as usual, and found that the crops of hay and pasturage were more than +double what they had been before. I was furnished with butter for two +successive summers during the months of July and August of 1827. The +butter kept for thirty days, and proved, at the end of that time, better +than that fresh churned and brought to the Brighton or Margate markets. +It would bear salting at that season of the year." + +[29] Unfortunately, they do not all practise it. Dr. Graff says, "There +is a murderous practice now carried on in certain districts, in which +the inhabitants will not themselves consume the butter and cheese +manufactured; but, with little solicitude for the lives or health of +others, they send it, in large quantities, to be sold in the cities of +the west, particularly Louisville, Kentucky, and St. Louis, Missouri. Of +the truth of this I am well apprised by actual observation; and I am as +certain that it has often caused death in those cities, when the medical +attendants viewed it as some anomalous form of disease, not suspecting +the means by which poison had been conveyed among them. Physicians of +the latter city, having been questioned particularly on this subject, +have mentioned to me a singular and often fatal disease, which appeared +in certain families, the cases occurring simultaneously, and all traces +of it disappearing suddenly, and which I cannot doubt were the result of +poisoned butter or cheese. This recklessness of human life it should be +our endeavor to prevent; and the heartless wretches who practise it +should be brought to suffer a punishment commensurate with the enormity +of their crime. From the wide extent of the country in which it is +carried on, we readily perceive the difficulties to be encountered in +the effort to put a stop to the practice. This being the case, our next +proper aim should be to investigate the nature of the cause, and +establish a more proper plan of treatment, by which it may be robbed of +its terrors, and the present large proportionate mortality diminished." + + + + +BONE DISORDER IN COWS. + + +We have frequently seen accounts, in various papers, of "bone disorder +in milch cows." The bony structure of animals is composed of vital +solids studded with crystallizations of saline carbonates and +phosphates, and is liable to take on morbid action similar to other +textures. Disease of the bones may originate constitutionally, or from +derangement of the digestive organs. We have, for example, _mollities +ossium_, (softening of the bones;) the disease, however, is very rare. +It may be known by the substance of the bones being soft and yielding, +liable to bend with small force. + +We have also _fragilitas ossium_, (brittleness of bones.) This is +characterized by the bony system being of a friable nature, and liable +to be fractured by slight force. We have in our possession the fragments +of the small pastern of a horse, the bone having been broken into +seventeen pieces, by a slight concussion, without any apparent injury to +the skin and cellular substance; not the slightest external injury could +be perceived. + +There are several other diseases of the bones, which, we presume, our +readers are acquainted with; such as _exostosis_, _caries_, &c., neither +of which apply to the malady under consideration. We merely mention +these for the purpose of showing that the bones are not exempt from +disease, any more than other structures; yet it does not always follow +that a lack of the phosphate of lime in cow's milk is a sure sign of +diseased bones. + +Reader, we do not like the term "_bone disorder_:" it does not throw the +least light on the nature of the malady; it savors too much of "_horn +ail_," "_tail ail_"--terms which only apply to symptoms. We are told +also that, in this disease, "_the bones threaten to cave in--have wasted +away_." If they do threaten to cave in, the best way we know of to give +them an outward direction is, to promote the healthy secretions and +excretions by a well-regulated diet, and to stimulate the digestive +organs to healthy action. If the bones "have wasted away," we should +like to have a few of them in our collection of morbid anatomy. That the +bones should waste away, and be capable of assuming their original shape +simply by feeding bone meal, is something never dreamt of in our +philosophy.[30] Besides, if the cows get well, (we are told they do,) +then we must infer that the bones possess the properties of sudden +expansion and contraction, similar to those of the muscles. It may be +well for us to observe, that not only the bones, but all parts of animal +organization, expand and contract in an imperceptible manner. Thus, up +to the period of puberty, all parts expand: old age comes on, and with +it a gradual wasting and collapse. This is a natural result--one of the +uncompromising laws of nature, over which human agency (bone meal +included) has not the least control. If the bones are diseased, it +results either from impaired digestion or a disproportion between the +carbon of the food and the oxygen respired; hence the "bone disorder," +not being persistent, is only a result--a symptom; and as such we view +it. As far as we have been able to ascertain the nature of the malady, +as manifested by the symptoms, (_caving in_, _wasting_, _absence of +phosphate of lime in the milk_, &c.,) we give it as our opinion,--and we +think our medical brethren will agree with us, (although we do not often +agree,)--that "bone disorder" is a symptom of a disease very prostrating +in its character, originating in the digestive organs; hence not +confined to the bones, but affecting all parts of the animal more or +less. And the only true plan of treatment consists in restoring healthy +action to the whole animal system. The ways and means of accomplishing +this object are various. If it is clearly ascertained that the animal +system is deficient in phosphate of lime, we see no good reason why bone +meal should not be included among our remedial agents; yet, as corn meal +and linseed contain a large amount of phosphate, we should prefer them +to bone dust, although we do not seriously object to its use. + +The value of food or remedial agents consists in their adaptation to +assimilation; in other words, an absence of chemical properties. These +may be very complex; yet, if they are only held together by a weak +chemical action, they readily yield to the vital principle, and are +transformed. Atoms of bones are held together by a strong chemical +affinity; and the vital principle, in order to convert bone dust into +component parts of the organism, must employ more force to transform +them than it would require for the same purpose when corn meal or +linseed were used, their chemical affinity being weaker than that of +bones. + +In the treatment of any disease, we always endeavor to ascertain its +causes, and, if possible, remove them; and whatever may be indicated we +endeavor to supply to the system. Thus, if phosphates were indicated, we +should use them. In cases of general debility, however, we should prefer +linseed or corn meal, aided by stimulants, to bone dust. Why not use the +bone dust for manure? The animal would then have the benefit of it in +its fodder. + +In reference to a deficiency of phosphate of lime in the milk, we would +observe, that it may result either from impaired digestion, (in such +cases, a large amount of that article may be expelled from the system in +the form of excrements,) or the food may lack it. We then have a sick +plant, for we believe that the phosphate of lime is as necessary for the +growth of the plant as it seems to be for animal development. If the +plant lacks this important constituent, then its vitality, as a whole, +will be impaired. This is all we desire to contend for in the animal, +viz., that the disease is general, and cannot be considered or treated +as a local affection. + +It has been observed that successive cultivation exhausts the soil, and +deprives it of the constituents necessary for vegetable development. If +so, it follows that there will be a deficiency of silecia, carbonate of +lime,--in short, a loss of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, not +of phosphate of lime alone. + +The fields might be made to produce the requisite amount of nutriment by +replacing every year, in the form of animal excrement, straw, +wood-ashes, and charcoal, as much as we remove from them in the form of +produce. An increase of crop can only be obtained when we add more to +the soil than we take away from it. + +"In Flanders, the yearly loss of the necessary matters in the soil is +completely restored by covering the fields with ashes of wood or bones, +which may, or may not, have been lixiviated. The great importance of +manuring with ashes has been long recognized by agriculturists as the +result of experience. So great a value, indeed, is attached to this +material in the vicinity of Marburg, and in the Wetterau,--two +well-known agricultural districts,--that it is transported, as a manure, +from the distance of eighteen or twenty-four miles. Its use will be at +once perceived, when it is considered that the ashes, after being washed +with water, contain silicate of potass exactly in the same proportion as +in the straw, and that their only other constituents are salts of +phosphoric acid." + +It is well known that phosphate of lime, potass, silecia, carbonate of +lime, magnesia, and soda are discharged in the excrement and urine of +the cow; and this happens when they are not adapted to assimilation as +well as when present in excess. If it is clearly proved that the bones +of a cow are weak, then we should be inclined to prescribe phosphates; +if they are brittle, we should prescribe gelatinous preparations; but +not in the form of bone dust: we should use linseed, which is known to +be rich in phosphates. At the same time, the general health must be +improved. + +It is well known that some cows cannot be fattened, although they have +an abundance of the best kind of fodder. In such cases, we find the +digestive organs deranged, which disturbs the equilibrium of the whole +animal economy. The food may then be said to be a direct cause of +disease. + +The effects of insufficient food are well known; debility includes them +all. If there is not sufficient carbon in the food, the animal is +deprived of the power of reproducing itself, and the cure consists in +supplying the deficiency. At the same time, every condition of nutrition +should be considered; and if the function of digestion is impaired, we +must look to those of absorption, circulation, and secretion also, for +they will be more or less involved. If the appetite is impaired, +accompanied by a loss of cud, it shows that the stomach is overloaded, +or that its function is suspended: stimulants and tonics are then +indicated. A voracious appetite indicates the presence of morbid +accumulations in the stomach and bowels, and they should be cleansed by +aperients; after which, a change of diet will generally effect a cure. +When gas accumulates in the intestines, we have evidence of a loss of +vital power in the digestive organs; fermentation takes place before the +food can be digested. + +The cure consists in restoring the lost function. Diarrhoea is +generally caused by exposure, (taking cold,) or by eating poisons and +irritating substances; the cure may be accomplished by removing the +cold, and cleansing the system of the irritants. Costiveness often +arises from the absorption of the fluids from the solids in their slow +progress through the intestines; exercise will then be indicated. An +occasional injection, however, may be given, if necessary. General +debility, we have said, may arise from insufficient food; to which we +may add the popular practice of milking the cow while pregnant, much of +which milk is yielded at the hazard of her own health and that of her +foetus. Whatever is taken away from the cow in the form of milk ought +to be replaced by the food. Proper attention, however, must be paid to +the state of the digestive organs: they must not be overtaxed with +indigestible substances. With this object in view, we recommend a mixed +diet; for no animal can subsist on a single article of food. Dogs die, +although fed on jelly; they cannot live upon white bread, sugar, or +starch, if these are given as food, to the exclusion of all other +substances. Neither can a horse or cow live on hay alone: they will, +sooner or later, give evidences of disease. They require stimulants. +Common salt is a good stimulant. This explains why salt hay should be +occasionally fed to milch cows; it not only acts as a stimulant, but is +also an antiseptic, preventing putrefaction, &c. + +A knowledge of the constituents of milk may aid the farmer in selecting +the substances proper for the nourishment of animals, and promotive of +the lacteal secretion; for much of the food contains those materials +united, though not always in the same form. "The constituents of milk +are cheese, or caseine--a compound containing nitrogen in large +proportion; butter, in which hydrogen abounds; and sugar of milk, a +substance with a large quantity of hydrogen and oxygen in the same +proportions as in water. It also contains, in solution, lactate of soda, +phosphate of lime, (the latter in very small quantities,) and common +salt; and a peculiar aromatic product exists in the butter, called +butyric acid."--_Liebig._ + +It is very difficult to explain the changes which the food undergoes in +the animal laboratory, (the stomach,) because that organ is under the +dominion of the vital force--an immaterial agency which the chemist +cannot control. Yet we are justified in furnishing the animal with the +elements of its own organization; for although they may not be deposited +in the different structures in their original atoms, they may be changed +into other compounds, somewhat similar. Liebig tells us that whether the +elements of non-azotized food take an immediate share in the act of +transformation of tissues, or whether their share in that process be an +indirect one, is a question probably capable of being resolved by +careful and cautious experiment and observation. It is possible that +these constituents of food, after undergoing some change, are carried +from the intestinal canal directly to the liver, and that there they are +converted into bile, where they meet with the products of the +metamorphosed tissues, and subsequently complete their course through +the circulation. + +This opinion appears more probable, when we reflect that as yet no trace +of starch or sugar has been detected in arterial blood, not even in +animals that have been fed exclusively with these substances. + +The following tables, from Liebig's Chemistry, will give the reader the +difference between what is taken into the system and what passes out. + +FOOD CONSUMED BY A COW IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. + + ------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + |Weight|Weight| | | | | Salts + Articles |in the|in the|Carbon.|Hydrogen.|Oxygen.|Nitrogen.| and + of food. |fresh | dry | | | | |earthly + |state.|state.| | | | |matters. + ------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Potatoes, | 15000| 4170| 1839.0| 241.9 | 1830.6| 50.0 | 208.5 + After grass,| 7500| 6315| 2974.4| 353.6 | 2204.0| 151.5 | 631.5 + Water, | 60000| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 50.0 + ------------+-------------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Total, | 82500| 10485| 4813.4| 595.5 | 4034.6| 201.5 | 889.0 + ------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + +EXCRETIONS OF A COW IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. + + ----------------------------------------------------------------------- + |Weight|Weight | | | | | Salts + Excretions.|in the|in the |Carbon.|Hydrogen.|Oxygen.|Nitrogen.| and + |fresh | dry | | | | |earthly + |state.|state. | | | | |matters. + -----------+------+-------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Excrements,| 28413| 4000.0| 1712.0| 208.0 | 1508.0| 92.0 | 480.0 + Urine, | 8200| 960.8| 261.4| 25.0 | 253.7| 36.5 | 384.2 + Milk, | 8539| 1150.6| 628.2| 99.0 | 321.0| 46.0 | 56.4 + -----------+------+-------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Total, | 45152| 6111.4| 2601.6| 332.0 | 2082.7| 174.5 | 920.6 + -----------+------+-------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Total of | | | | | | | + first part | 82500|10485.0| 4813.4| 595.5 | 4034.6| 201.5 | 889.0 + of this | | | | | | | + table, | | | | | | | + -----------+------+-------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Difference,| 37348| 4374.6| 2211.8| 263.5 | 1951.9| 27.0 | 31.6 + -----------+------+-------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + +FOOD CONSUMED BY A HORSE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. + + --------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------- + Articles|Weight|Weight| | | | | Salts + of food.|in the|in the|Carbon.|Hydrogen.|Oxygen.|Nitrogen.| and + |fresh | dry | | | | | earthy + |state.|state.| | | | |matters. + --------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------- + Hay, | 7500| 6465 | 2961.0| 323.2 | 2502.0| 97.0 | 581.8 + Oats, | 2270| 1927 | 977.0| 123.3 | 707.2| 42.4 | 77.1 + Water, | 16000| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 13.3 + --------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------- + Total,| 25770| 8392 | 3938.0| 446.5 | 3209.2| 139.4 | 672.2 + --------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------- + +EXCRETIONS OF A HORSE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. + + --------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + |Weight|Weight| | | | | Salts + Excretions. |in the|in the|Carbon.|Hydrogen.|Oxygen.|Nitrogen.| and + |fresh | dry | | | | | earthy + |state.|state.| | | | |matters. + --------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Urine, | 1330| 302 | 108.7| 11.5 | 34.1 | 37.8 | 109.9 + Excrements, | 14250| 3525 | 1364.4| 179.8 |1328.9 | 77.6 | 574.6 + | | | | | | | + --------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Total, | 15580| 3827 | 1472.9| 191.3 |1363.0 | 115.4 | 684.5 + --------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Total of first| | | | | | | + part of this| 25770| 8392 | 3938.0| 446.5 |3209.2 | 139.4 | 672.2 + table, | | | | | | | + --------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + Difference, | 10190| 4565 | 2465.1| 255.2 |1846.2 | 24.0 | 12.3 + --------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------- + + The weights in these tables are given in grammes. 1 gramme is equal + to 15.44 grains Troy, very nearly. + +It will be seen from these tables that a large proportion of carbon, +hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and earthy matters are again returned to the +soil. From this we infer that more of these matters being present in the +food than were requisite for the purpose of assimilation, they were +removed from the system in the form of excrement. Two suggestions here +present themselves for the consideration of the farmer, viz., that the +manure increases in value in proportion to the richness of food, and +that more of the latter is often given to a cow than is necessary for +the manufacture of healthy chyle. + +In view, then, of preventing "bone disorder," which we have termed +_indigestion_, we should endeavor to ascertain what articles are best +for food, and learn, from the experience of others, what have been +universally esteemed as such, and, by trying them on our own animals, +prove whether we actually find them so. Scalded or boiled food is +better adapted to the stomach of animals than food otherwise prepared, +and is so much less injurious. The agents that act on the internal +system are those which, in quantities sufficient for an ordinary meal, +supply the animal system with stimulus and nutriment just enough for its +wants, and contain nothing in their nature inimical to the vital +operations. All such articles are properly termed food. (For treatment, +see _Hide-bound_, p. 196.) + +FOOTNOTE: + +[30] Whenever there is a deficiency of carbon, bone meal may assist to +support combustion in the lungs, and by that means restore healthy +action of the different functions, provided, however, the digestive +organs, aided by the vital power, can overcome the chemical action by +which the atoms of bone meal are held together. + + + +-----------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the | + | original document have been preserved. | + | | + | Typographical errors corrected in the text: | + | | + | Page 36 selecter changed to selector | + | Page 48 relaxents changed to relaxants | + | Page 54 bronchea changed to bronchi | + | Page 85 relaxents changed to relaxants | + | Page 112 relaxent changed to relaxant | + | Page 135 antispetics changed to antiseptics | + | Page 162 BLAINE changed to BLAIN | + | Page 181 crums changed to crumbs | + | Page 186 puarts changed to quarts | + | Page 236 Marshallow changed to Marshmallow | + | Page 247 Merinoes changed to Merinos | + | Page 307 cypripedum changed to cypripedium | + | Page 312 duretic changed to diuretic | + | Page 316 peal changed to peel | + | Page 341 similating changed to simulating | + +-----------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The American Reformed Cattle Doctor, by George Dadd + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN REFORMED CATTLE *** + +***** This file should be named 37997.txt or 37997.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/9/9/37997/ + +Produced by Barbara Kosker, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain works at the +University of Michigan\'s Making of America collection.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/37997.zip b/37997.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..098767d --- /dev/null +++ b/37997.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e54757 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #37997 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37997) |
