Veterinary elements: a manual for agricultural students and stockmen

Preface

An experience as a student in animal husbandry in two agricultural colleges (Ont. AgL Col., Guelph, Canada; Iowa Agl. Col., Ames, Iowa) leads me to believe that, in common with the A T eterinary works written for stockmen, the veterinary courses were far too technical, thus being a drudgery to the students and calculated to mystify rather than enlighten, due, I believe, to the idea that the agricultural student or stockman should get veterinary knowledge in the same form as the veterinary student, the difference being only one of degree. The demands of the Short Course in Agriculture in the University of Wisconsin would not allow of the use of technical terms or big words, or even a multiplicity of diseases, hard to distinguish between, with their attendant treatment. This book embodies in a simple form the lectures as delivered to Short Course students, the main object of the author being to fit the stockman so that he "shall be to the veterinarian what the trained nurse is to the physician. The proper recruiting ground for veterinarians is from among the stockmen. To become so no one should attend a veterinary college having less than a three-year course. I have placed under contribution Hayes' Points of the Horse and his Veterinary Xotes for Horseowners ; Smith's Veterinary Physiology ; Henry's Feeds and Feeding ; and Fleming's Veterinary Obstetrics ; a perusal of any of those works will repay the reader.

A. G. H.

University of Wisconsin,

Madison, Wis.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

The thanks of the author are due to the following parties for loans of halftones and electrotypes: Prof. C. S. Plumb, Lafayette, Ind. ; G. E. Howard & Co., publishers of The Feather and Diseases of Poultry. Washington, D. C. ; Hausmann & Dunn, veterinary instrument makers, Chicago; The Farmer's Advocate, London, and Winnipeg, Canada; The Horseshoer's Journal, Detroit, Mich.: S. A. Hoxie, Yorkville, New York, and the University of Wisconsin.

ERRATA.

"Five" should be "six", third line from bottom of page 18.

" Fourth " should be "further ", sixth line on page 7.

Omit "a ,? , bottom line, page 200.

•• ( Surly " should be "curby " under cut, page 239.

PART I. — The Construction and Functions of the Animal Body. PAGE

Chap. I. The skeleton.— What is meant by anatomy and physiology. Cells and protoplasm. Quality of bone. The division of the skeleton into parts. One reason for docking. The importance of a wellsprung rib. The bones and joints of the limbs. "Tied in." Splint bones and splints. Lateral cartilages and side bones. The hooks or hip bones. The hock 1-19

Chap. II. The muscles and their work. — Muscular and connective tissue. The grain of meat. Quality of muscle. Tendons or sinews. Certain muscles and their work. Suspensory ligaments. Joint oil (synovia) and its uses 20-27

Chap. III. The digestive system. — Prehension (seizing) and mastication (chewing). Secretion and the digestive fluids, gastric juice, bile, etc. Absorption, the taking of food into the blood and tissues. Mucous and serous membranes. The teeth and their construction. Telling the ages of horses, cattle and sheep. The stomach of the horse, pig and ruminant. Time required for the digestion of certain foods. The small intestines and their work. The liver and bile. The pancreas and its juice...... 28-52

Chap. IV. Excretion. — The expulsion of waste products. The large intestines. The kidneys and the urine. Reflex action. The secretions of the skin. Sweat aud grooming. The sebaceous secretion. Respired air. The organs of breathing. Drenching and choking. The larynx and Roaring. The lungs and their construction 53-63

1 'eterivary Elements.

Chap V. TrfE reproductive orgaxs. — The breeding of

animals. The sexual organs of the male. The female reproductive organs. Heat, its signs and frequency. Periods of gestation. Number of females to the male. Age when to breed. Essentials in mating. The digestive and reproductive organs of poultry 64-75

Chap. VI. The milk glands and their functions.— The shape of the cow's udder. The secretion of milk. Composition of milk. Holding up the milk. 76-85

Chap. VII. The blood and lymphatic svstem.— Clotting and blood cells. The heart and the circulation. Arteries and veins. Lymphatic vessels and nodes. Leucocytes and their work 86-93

Chap. VIII. The nervous svstem.— Nerves and their work. The brain and intelligence. The special senses. The organ of sight. Scums (? ) on the eyes. The haw. The organ of hearing. The skm and its color. Escutcheons in cows. Hair and feather. Description of white markings. The skin as an indication of thriftiness. Horns, chestnuts and ergots 94-105

Chap. IX. The foot — its cake and shoeing.— Functions and construction of feet. The slope of the wall. The white line. The bars and frog. Rate of growth of horn. The care of the feet. .Signs of a good hoof. Shoeing a necessary evil. Lifting a front foot. Forging and interfering. Corns and contracted feet. Securing a kicker for shoeing. Location of points of animals 10'i— liiO

Chap. X. Holding a post-mortem. — Necessary tools and antiseptics. Methods to be followed. Parts calling for careful scrutiny. Significance of cheesiness in a lymph node 121-124

Chap. XI. Simple earm medicines. — Farm medicines and their classification. The medicine chest. Dose table according to age. Some convenient measures. Drugs, their action and uses. Poultices. Poisons and their antidotes 125-137

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Chap. XII. Mode of giving medicines.— Channels for entrance of medicines into the body. Giving medicines to horses. Drenching cattle and sheep and its dangers. Steaming animals. The application of blisters 138-143

PART II. — Diseases, Their Prevention and Treatment

Chap. XIII. Nursing of sick animals.— Nursing and the sick stall. Ventilation and light. Floors and bedding. Clothing and warmth. Taking pulse rate and temperatures. The state of the breathing, the feces, urine, skin, etc. The recruiting ground for veterinarians. Watering animals. Grooming and feeding patients. The use of mustard, bandaging, washing and clipping. What is meant by inflammation. Signs and locations of the inflammatory process 145-158

Chap. XIV. Breeding and some of its effects. — Signs of pregnancy. Treatment before parturition. Preparations for delivery. A natural delivery. The duration of labor. Skilled help necessary in difficult deliveries. Attentions to the newborn. Retention and removal of the afterbirth. Putting out the womb (casting the withers). Garget and its treatment. Milk fever, its prevention and treatment 159-174

Chap. XV. Diseases of young stock and sterility. — The early life of lambs. Scours. Navel-ill or joint disease of foals. - Barrenness or lack of breedingpowers in males. Why cows and mares won't breed. Artificial breeding with the capsule, a reliable, safe and cheap method 175-180

Chap. XVI. The common farm operations.— Restraining, throwing and tying animals for operations. The principles of the treatment of wounds. How wounds are healed. General treatment of wounds. Cleanliness and antiseptics essentials for rapid healing. Broken bones or fractures. How fractures are repaired.. Dehorning and tapping. Castration and spaying. Bleeding and docking 181-201 viii Veterinary Elements.

page;.

Chap. XVII. Diseases due to mistakes in feeding. —

Colics and their significance. Bloating in sheep and cattle. Choking and its treatment. Founder (laminitis),its causes and treatment. Lymphangitis (big leg) and its prevention. Idleness and its serious result, Azoturia. The logical end of excessive hay feeding, Heaves. Water trouble in rams and wethers. Sore sheaths in cattle and sheep 202-216

Chap. XVIII. Diseases of the teeth.— Teething and its results. Lanipas and its significance. Money paid to the quack or travelling horse-dentist is thrown away. A profitable investment. Wolf teeth not a cause of eye troubles. No age free from tooth troubles. Signs of faulty teeth. Cribbing and windsucking. Black teeth in young pigs. Discbarges from the nostrils and their significance... 217-221

Chap. XIX. Foot and LIMB TROUBLES. — The locating of lameness. The spavin test. Sweeny or shoulderslip. Sore shoulders and collar galls. The location and treatment of splints. Scratches. Ringbone, heredity a cause. Sidebones an affection of heavy horses. Foot-rot in sheep. Thrush and its prevention. Coffin joint lameness, navicular disease. Shoe pricks and corns. Stifle out, one result of breeding from weak-stifled horses. Bone and bogspavins. Curbs and curby hocks. Shoeboils, stringhalt and capped elbows 222-241

Chap. XX. External and internal parasites of animals. — Sheep scab and its suppression. Lice and ringworm. Some summer pests of sheep, maggots and grub, in the head. The hornfly and Avarbles. Poultry lice. Summer sores of horses. Bots. The treatment of pin worms. Symptoms of worms in colts. The July and August lamb destroyer, the stomach worm. Tapeworms and the pumpkin seed decoction .' 242-252

Chap. XXI. Contagious diseases and their suppression. — The bacillus of Koch and consumption. Tuberculosis a contagious and not an hereditary dis-

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ease. Bang's method of suppression. A reason for meat inspection. Glanders, a serious menace to horse and Man. Preventive inoculation and Blackleg. No cure for Hog cholera. Lockjaw a result of wound infection. Texas fever and inoculation. Anthrax. Lumpy jaw and its cure. The contagious eye disease of cattle. The stockman's scourge. Contagious abortion. Distemper of colts. Calf cholera or dysentery. Cowpox. Canker mouth of young pigs 253-269

Chap. XXII. Disinfection and miscellaneous diseases. — Methods of disinfecting stables. Chemicals to be used. Thumps and rheumatism in pigs. Chapped teats. Obstructions in the teats. Warts. A few diseases of poultry, causes and cure 270-274

Chap. XXIII. Examination of a horse for soundness. — The test for the wind. Interpretation of tooth changes. Looking at the foot. A bad sign in saddlers. The detection of curbs, dropped hip and ringbones. Comparing the hocks for signs of spavin. Some disqualifications from breeding... 275-279

PART i.

The Construction and Functions of the Animal Body.