Special report on diseases of cattle (part 2 of 4)

Special report on diseases of cattle (part 2 of 4)

PLATE XX. Instruments used in difficult labor.

Fig. 1. Long embryotome with joint.

Fig. 2. Long, sharp hook. This instrument is about 3 feet in length, including the handle. Hooks of this kind, both blunt and sharp, are applied directly to the fetus to assist in delivery.

Fig. 3. G¸nther's long-handled embryotome. This instrument and that represented in Fig. 1 are of special value in cutting through muscular tissue and in separating the limbs from the trunk when the fetus can not be removed entire. These embryotomes are usually 30 inches long, but may be made either longer or shorter.

Fig. 4. Jointed cord-carrier, used in difficult parturition to carry a cord into regions which can not be reached by the arm.

Fig. 5. Instrument used to rotate or turn the fetus, known as a rotator.

Fig. 6. Dilator of the neck of the womb, used when conception can not take place owing to a contracted condition of the neck of the womb.

Fig. 7. Repeller. An instrument from 2 to 3 feet long, used to force the fetus forward into the womb. This operation is generally necessary when the presentation is abnormal and the fetus has advanced too far into the narrow inlet to the uterus to be moved.

Fig. 8. Cartwright's bone chisel. Including the handle, this instrument is about 32 inches in length; the chisel portion is a little more than 2 inches long and 1 to 1-1/2 broad. Only the middle portion is sharp, the projecting corners are blunt, and the sides rounded. This instrument is used for slitting up the skin of a limb and as a bone chisel when it is necessary to mutilate the fetus in order to effect delivery.

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PLATE XXI. Instruments used in difficult labor.

Fig. 1. Embryotome, an instrument used when it is necessary to reduce the size of the fetus by cutting away certain parts before birth can be effected. This instrument may be long or short, straight or curved.

Fig. 2. Also an embryotome. The blade can be made to slide out of or into the handle. The instrument can thus be introduced into or withdrawn from the genital passage without risk of injury to the mother.

Fig. 3. Schaack's traction cord. This is merely a cord with a running noose at one end and a piece of wood at the other, to offer a better hold for the hand.

Figs. 4_a_ and 4_b._ Reuff's head collar for securing the head of the fetus.

Fig. 5. Curved cord-carrier, used in difficult parturition to carry a cord into regions which can not be reached by the arm.

Fig. 6. Blunt hook, used in difficult parturition.

Fig. 7. Short hook forceps, used in difficult parturition.

Fig. 8. Blunt finger hook.

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DISEASES FOLLOWING PARTURITION.

By James Law, F. R. C. V. S.,

Formerly Professor of Veterinary Science, etc., in Cornell University.

FLOODING (BLEEDING FROM THE WOMB).

Though not so common in the cow as in the human female, flooding is sufficiently frequent to demand attention. It may depend on a too rapid calving and a consequent failure of the womb to contract when the calf has been removed. The pregnant womb is extraordinarily rich in blood vessels, especially in large and tortuous veins, which become compressed and almost obliterated under contraction, but remain overfilled and often bleed into the cavity of the womb should no contraction take place. Cox records cases in which the labor pains had detached and expelled the fetal membranes, while the calf, owing to large size or wrong presentation, was detained in the womb, and the continued dilatation of the womb in the absence of the fetal membranes led to a flow of blood which accumulated in clots around the calf. Other causes are laceration of the cotyledons of the womb, or from an antecedent inflammation of the placenta, and the unnatural adhesion of the membranes to the womb, which bleeds when the two are torn apart. Weakness of the womb from overdistention, as in dropsy, twins, etc., is not without its influence. Finally, eversion of the womb (casting the withers) is an occasional cause of flooding. The trouble is only too evident when the blood flows from the external passages in drops or in a fine stream. When it is retained in the cavity of the womb, however, it may remain unsuspected until it has rendered the animal almost bloodless. The symptoms in such case are paleness of the eyes, nose, mouth, and of the lips of the vulva, a weak, rapid pulse, violent and perhaps loud beating of the heart (palpitations), sunken, staring eyes, coldness of the skin, ears, horns, and limbs, perspiration, weakness in standing, staggering gait, and, finally, inability to rise, and death in convulsions. If these symptoms are seen, the oiled hand should be introduced into the womb, which will be found open and flaccid and containing large blood clots.

Treatment.--Treatment consists in the removal of the fetal membranes and blood clots from the womb (which will not contract while they are present), the dashing of cold water on the loins, right flank, and vulva, and if these measures fail, the injection of cold water into the womb through a rubber tube furnished with a funnel. In obstinate cases a good-sized sponge soaked in tincture of muriate of iron should be introduced into the womb and firmly squeezed, so as to bring the iron into contact with the bleeding surface. This is at once an astringent and a coagulant for the blood, besides stimulating the womb to contraction. In the absence of this agent astringents (solution of copperas, alum, tannic acid, or acetate of lead) may be thrown into the womb, and one-half-dram doses of acetate of lead may be given by the mouth, or 1 ounce powdered ergot of rye may be given in gruel. When nothing else is at hand, an injection of oil of turpentine will sometimes promptly check the bleeding.

EVERSION OF THE WOMB (CASTING THE WITHERS).

Like flooding, this is the result of failure of the womb to contract after calving. If that organ contracts naturally, the afterbirth is expelled, the internal cavity of the womb is nearly closed, and the mouth of the organ becomes so narrow that the hand can not be forced through, much less the whole mass of the matrix. When, however, it fails to contract, the closed end of one of the horns may fall into its open internal cavity, and under the compression of the adjacent intestines, and the straining and contraction of the abdominal walls, it is forced farther and farther, until the whole organ is turned outside in, slides back through the vagina, and hangs from the vulva. The womb can be instantly distinguished from the protruding vagina or bladder by the presence, over its whole surface, of 50 to 100 mushroomlike bodies (cotyledons), each 2 to 3 inches in diameter, and attached by a narrow neck. (Pls. XII, XIII.) When fully everted, it is further recognizable by a large, undivided body hanging from the vulva, and two horns or divisions which hang down toward the hocks. In the imperfect eversions the body of the womb may be present with two depressions leading into the two horns. In the cases of some standing the organ has become inflamed and gorged with blood until it is as large as a bushel basket, its surface has a dark-red, bloodlike hue, and tears and bleeds on the slightest touch. Still later lacerations, raw sores, and even gangrene are shown in the mass. At the moment of protrusion the general health is not altered, but soon the inflammation and fever with the violent and continued straining induce exhaustion, and the cow lies down, making no attempt to rise.

Treatment.--Treatment varies somewhat, according to the degree of the eversion. In partial eversion, with the womb protruding only slightly from the vulva and the cow standing, let an assistant pinch the back to prevent straining while the operator pushes his closed fist into the center of the mass and carries it back through the vagina, assisting in returning the surrounding parts by the other hand. In more complete eversion, but with the womb as yet of its natural bulk and consistency and the cow standing, straining being checked by pinching the back, a sheet is held by two men so as to sustain the everted womb and raise it to the level of the vulva. It is now sponged clean with cold water, the cold being useful in driving out the blood and reducing the bulk, and finally it may be sponged over with laudanum or with a weak solution of carbolic acid (1 dram to 1 quart water).

The closed fist may now be planted in the rounded end of the largest horn and pushed on so as to turn it back within itself and carry it on through the vagina, the other hand being used meanwhile to assist in the inversion and in pushing the different masses in succession within the lips of the vulva. In case of failure, resort should be had at once to a plan which I have successfully followed for many years. Take a long linen or cotton bandage, 5 or 6 inches wide, and wind it around the protruding womb as tightly as it can be drawn, beginning at the free end and gradually covering the entire mass up to the vulva. By this means the greater part of the blood will be forced out of the organ and its bulk greatly reduced, so that its reduction is much facilitated. An additional advantage is found in the protection given to the womb by its investing bandage while it is being pushed forward into the vagina and abdomen. In manipulating the exposed womb there is always danger of laceration, but when the organ is covered with a sheet it is next to impossible to tear it. The subsequent manipulation is as in the other case, by pushing the blind end forward within itself with the closed fist and carrying this on through the vagina into the abdomen with the constant assistance of the other hand. Often it will be found convenient to use the edge of the left hand to push the outer part of the protruding mass inside the lips of the vulva, while the right hand and arm are carrying the central portions forward through the vagina. An intelligent assistant, pushing with the palms of both hands on the outer portion of the mass, will also afford material assistance. As the womb is turned within itself the wrapping bandage will gradually loosen, but once the great mass has entered the passages it is easy to compel the rest to follow, and the compression by the bandage is no longer so important. When the womb is fully replaced the bandage is left in its interior in a series of loose folds, and can be easily withdrawn. It is well to move the hand from side to side to insure that the two horns of the womb are fully extended and on about the same level before withdrawing the arm and applying a truss.

When the womb has been long everted and is gorged with blood, inflamed, and friable there is often the additional disadvantage that the animal is unable or unwilling to rise. When lying down the straining can not be controlled so effectually, and, even in the absence of straining, the compression of the belly is so great as to prove a serious obstacle to reduction. The straining may be checked by 2 or 3 ounces of laudanum or 2 ounces of chloral hydrate, or by inhalation of chloroform to insensibility, and then by raising the hind parts on straw bundles the gravitation of the abdominal organs forward may be made to lessen the resistance. If not successful in this way, the cow may be further turned on her back, and if return is still impossible, the hind limbs may be tied together and drawn up to a beam overhead by the aid of a pulley. In this position, in place of the pressure backward of the bowels proving a hindrance, their gravitation forward proves a most material help to reduction. In seeking to return the womb the sponging with ice-cold water, raising on a sheet, and wrapping in a tight bandage should be resorted to. Another method which is especially commendable in these inflamed conditions of the womb is to bring a piece of linen sheet, 30 by 36 inches, under the womb, with its anterior border close up to the vulva, then turn the posterior border upward and forward over the organ, and cross the two ends over this and over each other above. The ends of the sheet are steadily drawn, so as to tighten its hold on the womb, which is thus held on the level of the vulva or above, and cold water is constantly poured upon the mass. The reduction is further sought by compression of the mass with the palms applied outside the sheet. Fifteen or twenty minutes are usually sufficient to cause the return of the womb, provided straining is prevented by pinching the back, or otherwise.

In old and aggravated cases, with the womb torn, bruised, or even gangrenous, the only resort is to amputate the entire mass. This is done by tying a strong, waxed cord around the protruding mass close to the vulva, winding the cord around pieces of wood, so as to draw it as tightly as possible, cutting off the organ below this ligature, tying a thread on any artery that may still bleed, and returning the stump well into the vagina.

Retention of the returned womb is the next point, and is most easily accomplished by a rope truss. Take two ropes, each about 18 feet long and an inch in thickness. Double each rope at its middle, and lay the one above the other at the bend, so as to form an ovoid of about 8 inches in its long diameter. Twist each end of the one rope twice around the other, so that this ovoid will remain when they are drawn tight. (Pls. XXII and XXIII.) Tie a strap or rope around the back part of the neck and a surcingle around the body. Place the rope truss on the animal so that the ovoid ring will surround the vulva, the two ascending ropes on the right and left of the tail and the two descending ones down inside the thighs on the right and left of the udder. These descending ropes are carried forward on the sides of the body and tied to the surcingle and to the neck collar. The ascending ropes proceed forward on the middle of the back, twisting over each other, and are tied to the surcingle and collar. The upper and lower ropes are drawn so tightly that the rope ring is made to press firmly all around the vulva without risk of displacement. This should be worn for several days, until the womb shall have closed and all risk of further eversion is at an end. Variations of this device are found in the use of a narrow triangle of iron applied around the vulva and fixed by a similar arrangement of ropes, surcingle, and collar (Pl. XXIII, fig. 3), a common crupper similarly held around the vulva (Pl. XXII, fig. 1), stitches through the vulva, and wire inserted through the skin on the two hips (Pl. XXIII, fig. 2), so that they will cross behind the vulva; also pessaries of various kinds should be inserted into the vagina. None of these devices, however, present any advantage over the simple and comparatively painless rope truss described above. Such additional precautions as keeping the cow in a stall higher behind than in front, and seeing that the diet is slightly laxative and nonstimulating may be named. If straining is persistent, ounce doses of laudanum may be used twice a day, and the same may be injected into the vagina.

If the womb has been cut off, injections of a solution of a teaspoonful of carbolic acid in a quart of water should be used daily, or more frequently, until the discharge ceases.

EVERSION OF THE BLADDER.

A genuine eversion of the bladder is almost unknown in the cow, owing to the extreme narrowness of its mouth. The protrusion of the bladder, however, through a laceration sustained in calving, in the floor of the vagina and its subsequent protrusion through the vulva, is sometimes met with. In this case the protruding bladder contains urine; this can never be the case in a real eversion, in which the inner surface of the bladder and the openings of the ureters are both exposed outside the vulva. The presence of a bag containing water, which is connected with the floor of the vagina, will serve to identify this condition. If the position of the bladder in the vulva renders it impracticable to pass a catheter to draw off the urine, pierce the organ with the nozzle of a hypodermic syringe, or even a very small trocar and cannula, and draw off the water, when it will be found an easy matter to return the bladder to its place. The rent in the vagina can be stitched up, but as there would be risk in any subsequent calving it is best to prepare the cow for the butcher.

RUPTURE OF THE BLADDER.

This has been known to occur in protracted parturition when the fetus finally passed while the bladder was full. The symptoms are those of complete suppression of urine and tenderness of the abdomen, with a steady accumulation of liquid, and fluctuation on handling its lower part. If the hand is introduced into the vagina it is felt to be hot and tender, and perhaps slightly swollen along its floor. As a final test, if the lower, fluctuating part of the abdomen is punctured with a hypodermic needle, a straw-colored liquid of a urinous odor flows out. The condition has been considered as past hope. The only chance for recovery would be in opening the abdomen, evacuating the liquid, and stitching up the rent in the bladder, but at such a season, and with inflammation already started, there would be little to hope for.

RUPTURE OF THE WOMB.

When the womb has been rendered friable by disease rupture may occur in the course of the labor, but much more frequently it occurs from violence sustained in attempting assistance in difficult parturition. It is also liable to occur during eversion of the organ through efforts to replace it.

If it happens while the calf is still in the womb, it will usually bleed freely and continuously until the fetus has been extracted, so that the womb can contract on itself and expel its excess of blood. Another danger is that in case of a large rent the calf may escape into the cavity of the abdomen and parturition become impossible. Still another danger is that of the introduction of septic germs and the setting up of a fatal inflammation of the lining membrane of the belly (peritoneum). Still another is the escape of the small intestine through the rent and on through the vagina and vulva, so as to protrude externally and receive perhaps fatal injuries. In case of rupture before calving, that act should be completed as rapidly and carefully as possible, the fetal membranes removed, and the contraction of the womb sought by dashing cold water on the loins, the right flank, or the vulva. If the calf has escaped into the abdomen and can not be brought through the natural channels, it may be permissible to fix the animal and extract it through the side, as in the CÊsarian section. If the laceration has happened during eversion of the womb it is usually less redoubtable, because the womb contracts more readily under the stimulus of the cold air so recently applied. In case the abdomen has been laid open it is well to stitch up the rent, but if not, it should be left to nature, and will often heal satisfactorily, the cow even breeding successfully in after years.

Rupture of the floor of the vagina has been already referred to as allowing the protrusion of the bladder. Laceration of the roof of this passage is also met with as the result of deviations of the hind limbs and feet upward when the calf lies on its back. In some such cases the opening passes clear into the rectum, or the foot may even pass out through the anus, so that that opening and the vulva are laid open into one.

Simple, superficial lacerations of the vaginal walls are not usually serious, and heal readily unless septic inflammation sets in, in which case the cow is liable to perish. They may be treated with soothing and antiseptic injections, such as carbolic acid, 1 dram; water, 1 quart.

The more serious injuries depend on the complications. Rupture of the anterior part of the canal, close to the mouth of the womb, may lead to the introduction of infecting germs into the cavity of the abdomen, or protrusion of the bowel through the rent and externally, either of which may prove fatal. If both these conditions are escaped the wound may heal spontaneously. Rupture into the bladder may lead to nothing worse than a constant dribbling of the urine from the vulva. The cow should be fattened if she survives. Rupture into the rectum will entail a constant escape of feces through the vulva, and, of course, the same condition exists when the anus as well has been torn open. I have successfully sewed up an opening of this kind in the mare, but in the case of the cow it is probably better to prepare her for the butcher.

CLOTS OF BLOOD IN THE WALLS OF THE VAGINA.

During calving the vagina may be bruised so as to cause escape of blood beneath the mucous membrane and its coagulation into large bulging clots. The vulva may appear swollen, and on separating its lips the mucous membrane of the vagina is seen to be raised into irregular rounded swellings of a dark-blue or black color, and which pit on pressure of the finger. If the accumulation of blood is not extensive it may be reabsorbed, but if abundant it may lead to irritation and dangerous inflammation, and should be incised with a lancet and the clots cleared out. The wounds may then be sponged twice a day with a lotion made with 1 dram sulphate of zinc, 1 dram carbolic acid, and 1 quart water.

RETAINED AFTERBIRTH.

The cow, of all our domestic animals, is especially subject to this accident. This may be partly accounted for by the firm connections established through the fifty to one hundred cotyledons (Pl. XIII, fig. 2) in which the fetal membranes dovetail with the follicles of the womb. It is also most liable to occur after abortion, in which preparation has not been made by fatty degeneration for the severance of these close connections. In the occurrence of inflammation, causing the formation of new tissue between the membranes and the womb, we find the occasion of unnaturally firm adhesions which prevent the spontaneous detachment of the membranes. Again, in low conditions of health and an imperfect power of contraction we find a potent cause of retention, the general debility showing particularly in the indisposition of the womb to contract, after calving, with sufficient energy to expel the afterbirth. Hence we find the condition common with insufficient or innutritious feed, and in years or localities in which the fodder has suffered from weather. Ergoted, smutty, or musty fodder (Pl. V), by causing abortion, is a frequent cause of retention. Old cows are more subject than young ones, probably because of diminishing vigor. A temporary retention is sometimes owing to a too rapid closure of the neck of the womb after calving, causing strangulation and imprisonment of the membranes. Conditions favoring this are the drinking of cold (iced) water, the eating of cold feed (frosted roots), and (through sympathy between udder and womb) a too prompt sucking by the calf or milking by the attendant.

Symptoms.--The symptoms of retention of the afterbirth are usually only too evident, as the membranes hang from the vulva and rot away gradually, causing the most offensive odor throughout the building. When retained within the womb by closure of its mouth and similarly in cases in which the protruded part has rotted off, the decomposition continues and the fetid products escaping by the vulva appear in offensively smelling pools on the floor and mat together the hairs near the root of the tail. The septic materials retained in the womb cause inflammation of its lining membrane, and this, together with the absorption into the blood of the products of putrefaction, leads to ill health, emaciation, and drying up of the milk.

Treatment.--Treatment varies according to the conditions. When the cow is in low condition, or when retention is connected with drinking iced water or eating frozen feed, hot drinks and hot mashes of wheat bran or other aliment may be sufficient. If along with the above conditions, the bowels are somewhat confined, an ounce of ground ginger, or half an ounce of black pepper, given with a quart of sweet oil, or 1-1/2 pounds of Glauber's salt in at least 4 quarts of warm water, will often prove effectual. A bottle or two of flaxseed tea, made by prolonged boiling, should also be given at frequent intervals. Other stimulants, like rue, savin, laurel, and carminatives like anise, cumin, and coriander, are preferred by some, but with very questionable reason, the more so that the first three are not without danger. Ergot of rye, 1 ounce, or its extract, 1 dram, may be resorted to to induce contraction of the womb. The mechanical extraction of the membranes is, however, often called for; of this there are several methods. The simplest is to hang a weight of 1 or 2 pounds to the hanging portion, and allow this, by its constant dragging and by its jerking effect when the cow moves, to pull the membranes from their attachments and to stimulate the womb to expulsive contractions. It frequently happens that the afterbirth is only loosely adherent to the womb and its removal is effected if but a slight amount of traction on it is exerted. This can be determined by seizing the dependent part of the afterbirth between two sticks and rolling it up on them until they lie against the vulva; then, by careful traction, accompanied with slight jerking movements from side to side, the womb is stimulated to expulsive contractions and the afterbirth is wound up more and more on the sticks until finally its last connections with the womb are severed and the remainder is expelled suddenly en masse. It is quite evident that neglected cases with putrid membranes are poor subjects for this method, as the afterbirth is liable to tear across, leaving a mass in the womb. During the progress of the work any indication of tearing is the signal to stop and proceed with greater caution or altogether abandon the attempt in this way.

The following method (that with the skilled hand) is the most promptly and certainly successful. For this the operator had better dress as for a parturition case. Again, the operation should be undertaken within twenty-four hours after calving, since later the mouth of the womb may be so closed that it becomes difficult to introduce the hand. The operator should smear his arms with carbolized lard or vaseline to protect them against infection, and particularly in delayed cases with putrid membranes. An assistant holds the tail to one side, the operator seizes the hanging afterbirth with the left hand, while he introduces the other along the right side of the vagina and womb, letting the membranes slide through his palm until he reaches the first cotyledon to which they remain adherent. In case no such connection is within reach, with the left hand gentle traction is made on the membranes until the deeper parts of the womb are brought within reach and the attachments to the cotyledons can be reached. Then the soft projection of the membrane, which is attached to the firm fungus-shaped cotyledon on the inner surface of the womb, is seized by the little finger, and the other fingers and thumb are closed on it so as to tear it out from its connections. To explain this, it is necessary only to say that the projection from the membrane is covered by soft, conical processes, which are received into cavities of a corresponding size on the summit of the firm, mushroom-shaped cotyledon growing from the inner surface of the womb. To draw upon the former, therefore, is to extract its soft, villous processes from within the follicles or cavities of the other. (Pl. XIII, fig. 2.) If at times it is difficult to start this extraction it may be necessary to get the finger nail inserted between the two, and once started the finger may be pushed on, lifting all the villi, in turn, out of their cavities. This process of separating the cotyledons must be carefully conducted, one after another, until the last has been detached and the afterbirth comes freely out of the passages. I have never found any evil result from the removal of the whole mass at one operation, but Shaack mentions the eversion of the womb as the possible result of the necessary traction, and in cases in which those in the most distant part of the horn of the womb can not be easily reached, he advises to attach a cord to the membranes inside the vulva, letting it hang out behind, and to cut off the membranes below the cord. Then, after two or three days' delay, he extracts the remainder, now softened and easily detached. If carefully conducted, so as not to tear the cotyledons of the womb, the operation is eminently successful; the cow suffers little, and the straining roused by the manipulations soon subsides. Keeping in a quiet, dark place, or driving a short distance at a walking pace, will serve to quiet these. When the membranes have been withdrawn, the hand, half closed, may be used to draw out of the womb the offensive liquid that has collected. If the case is a neglected one, and the discharge is very offensive, the womb must be injected as for leucorrhea.

INFLAMMATION OF THE VAGINA (VAGINITIS).

This may occur independently of inflammation of the womb, and usually as the result of bruises, lacerations, or other injuries sustained during calving. It will be shown by swelling of the lips of the vulva, which, together with their lining membrane, become of a dark-red or leaden hue, and the mucous discharge increases and becomes whitish or purulent, and it may be fetid. Slight cases recover spontaneously, or under warm fomentations or mild astringent injections (a teaspoonful of carbolic acid in a quart of water), but severe cases may go on to the formation of large sores (ulcers), or considerable portions of the mucous membrane may die and slough off. Baumeister records two cases of diphtheritic vaginitis, the second case in a cow four weeks calved, contracted from the first in a newly calved cow. Both proved fatal, with formation of false membranes as far as the interior of the womb. In all severe cases the antiseptic injections must be applied most assiduously. The carbolic acid may be increased to one-half ounce to a quart, or chlorin water, or peroxid of hydrogen solution may be injected at least three times a day. Hyposulphite of soda, 1 ounce to a quart of water, is an excellent application, and the same amount may be given by the mouth.

LEUCORRHEA (MUCOPURULENT DISCHARGE FROM THE PASSAGES).

This is from a continued or chronic inflammation of the womb, or the vagina, or both. It usually results from injuries sustained in calving or from irritation by putrid matters in connection with retained afterbirth, or from the use of some object in the vagina (pessary) to prevent eversion of the womb. Exposure to cold or other cause of disturbance of the health may affect an organ so susceptible as this at the time of parturition so as to cause inflammation.

Symptoms.--The main symptom is the glairy, white discharge flowing constantly or intermittently (when the cow lies down), soiling the tail and matting its hairs and those of the vulva. When the lips of the vulva are drawn apart the mucous membrane is seen to be red, with minute elevations, or pale and smooth. The health may not suffer at first, but if the discharge continues and is putrid the health fails, the milk shrinks, and flesh is lost. If the womb is involved the hand introduced into the vagina may detect the mouth of the womb slightly open and the liquid collected within its cavity. Examination with the oiled hand in the rectum may detect the outline of the womb beneath, somewhat enlarged, and fluctuating under the touch from contained fluid. In some cases heat is more frequent or intense than natural, but the animal rarely conceives when served, and, if she does, is liable to abort.

Treatment.--Treatment with the injections advised for vaginitis is successful in mild or recent cases. In obstinate ones stronger solutions may be used after the womb has been washed out by a stream of tepid water until it comes clear. A rubber tube is inserted into the womb, a funnel placed in its raised end, and the water, and afterwards the solution, poured slowly through it. If the neck of the womb is so close that the liquid can not escape, a second tube may be inserted to drain it off. As injections may be used chlorid of zinc, one-half dram to the quart of water, or sulphate of iron, 1 dram to the quart. Three drams of sulphate of iron and one-half ounce ground ginger may also be given in the feed daily.

INFLAMMATION OF THE WOMB (METRITIS, INFLAMMATION OF WOMB AND ABDOMEN, OR METROPERITONITIS).

Inflammation of the womb may be slight or violent, simple or associated with putrefaction of its liquid contents and general poisoning, or it may extend so that the inflammation affects the lining membrane of the whole abdominal cavity. In the last two cases the malady is a very grave one.

Causes.--The causes are largely the same as those causing inflammation of the vagina. Greater importance must, however, be attached to exposure to cold and wet and to septic infection.

Symptoms.--The symptoms appear two or three days after calving, when the cow may be seen to shiver, or the hair stands erect, especially along the spine, and the horns, ears, and limbs are cold. The temperature in the rectum is elevated by one or two degrees, the pulse is small, hard, and rapid (70 to 100), appetite is lost, rumination ceases, and the milk shrinks in quantity or is entirely arrested, and the breathing is hurried. The hind limbs may shift uneasily, the tail be twisted, the head and eyes turn to the right flank, and the teeth are ground. With the flush of heat to the horns and other extremities, there is redness of the eyes, nose, and mouth, and usually a dark redness about the vulva. Pressure on the right flank gives manifest pain, causing moaning or grunting, and the hind limbs are moved stiffly, extremely so if the general lining of the abdomen is involved. In severe cases the cow lies down and can not be made to rise. There is usually marked thirst, the bowels are costive, and dung is passed with pain and effort. The hand inserted into the vagina perceives the increased heat, and when the neck of the womb is touched the cow winces. Examination through the rectum detects enlargement and tenderness of the womb. The discharge from the vulva is at first watery, but becomes thick, yellow, and finally red or brown, with a heavy or fetid odor. Some cases recover speedily and may be almost well in two days; a large proportion perish within two days of the attack, and some merge into the chronic form, terminating in leucorrhea. In the worst cases there is local septic infection and ulceration, or even gangrene of the parts, or there is general septicemia, or the inflammation involving the veins of the womb causes coagulation of the blood contained in them, and the washing out of the clots to the right heart and lung leads to the blocking of the vessels in the latter and complicating pneumonia. Inflammation of the womb and passages after calving are always liable to these complications, and consequently to a fatal issue. Franck records three instances of rapidly fatal metritis in cows, all of which had been poisoned from an adjacent cow with retained and putrid afterbirth. Others have had similar cases.

Treatment.--Treatment in the slight cases of simple inflammation does not differ much from that adopted for vaginitis, only care must be taken that the astringent and antiseptic injections are made to penetrate into the womb. After having washed out the womb a solution of chlorid of lime or permanganate of potassium (one-half ounce to 1 quart of water), with an ounce each of glycerin and laudanum to render it more soothing, will often answer every purpose. It is usually desirable to open the bowels with 1-1/2 pounds of Glauber's salt and 1 ounce of ginger in 4 quarts of warm water, and to apply fomentation of warm water or even mustard poultices or turpentine to the right flank.

In the violent attacks with high temperature and much prostration, besides the salts agents must be given to lower the temperature and counteract septic poisoning. Salicylate of soda one-half ounce, or quinia 2 drams every four hours will help in both ways, or ounce doses of hyposulphite of soda or dram doses of carbolic acid may be given as often until six doses have been taken. Tincture of aconite has often been used in 20-drop doses every six hours. If the temperature rises to 106∞ or 107∞ F., it must be met by the direct application of cold or iced water to the surface. The animal may be covered with wet sheets and cold water poured on them frequently until the temperature in the rectum is lowered to 102∞ F. In summer the cow may be allowed to dry spontaneously, while in winter it should be rubbed dry and blanketed. Even in the absence of high temperature much good may be obtained from the soothing influence of a wet sheet covering the loins and flanks and well covered at all points by a dry one. This may be followed next day by a free application of mustard and oil of turpentine. When the animal shows extreme prostration, carbonate of ammonia (1 ounce) may be given to tide over the danger, but such cases usually perish.

In this disease, even more than in difficult and protracted parturition or retained placenta, the attendants must carefully guard against the infection of their hands and arms from the diseased parts. The hand and arm before entering the passages should always be well smeared with lard impregnated with carbolic acid.

MILK FEVER (PARTURITION FEVER, PARTURIENT APOPLEXY, OR PARTURIENT COLLAPSE).

This disease is not only peculiar to the cow, but it may be said to be virtually confined to the improved and plethoric cow. It further occurs only at or near the time of calving. Indeed, these two factors, calving and plethora, may be set apart as preeminently the causes of this disease. It is the disease of cows that have been improved in the direction of early maturity, power of rapid fattening, or a heavy yield of milk, and hence it is characteristic of those having great appetites and extraordinary power of digestion. The heavy milking breeds are especially its victims, as in them the demand for the daily yield of 50 to 100 pounds of milk means even more than a daily increase of 2 to 3 pounds of body weight, mainly fat. The victims are not always fat when attacked, but they are cows having enormous powers of digestion, and which have been fed heavily at the time. Hence the stall-fed, city-dairy cow, and the farm cow on a rich clover pasture in June or July are especially subject. The condition of the blood globules in the suffering cow attests the extreme richness and density of the blood, yet this peculiarity appears to have entirely escaped the notice of veterinary writers. I have never examined the blood of a victim of this disease without finding the red-blood globules reduced to little more than one-half their usual size. Now, these globules expand or contract according to the density of the liquid in which they float. If we dilute the blood with water they will expand until they burst, whereas if solids, such as salt or albumin, are added they shrink to a large extent. Their small size, therefore, in parturition fever indicates the extreme richness of the blood, or, in other words, plethora.

Confinement in the stall is an accessory cause, partly because stabled cattle are highly fed, partly because the air is hotter and fouler, and partly because there is no expenditure by exercise of the rich products of digestion.

High temperature is conducive to the malady, though the extreme colds of winter are no protection against it. Heat, however, conduces to fever, and fever means lessened secretion, which means a plethoric state of the circulation. The heats of summer are, however, often only a coincidence of the real cause, the mature rich pastures, and especially the clover ones, being the greater.

Electrical disturbances have an influence of a similar kind, disturbing the functions of the body and favoring sudden variations in the circulation. A succession of cases of the malady often accompany or precede a change of weather from dry to wet, from a low to a high barometric pressure.

Costiveness, which is the usual concomitant of fever, may in a case of this kind become an accessory cause, the retention in the blood of what should have passed off by the bowels tending to increase the fullness of the blood vessels and the density of the blood.

Mature age is a very strong accessory cause. The disease never occurs with the first parturition, and rarely with the second. It appears with the third, fourth, fifth, or sixth--after the growth of the cow has ceased and when all her powers are devoted to the production of milk.

Calving is an essential condition, as the disturbance of the circulation consequent on the contraction of the womb and the expulsion into the general circulation of the enormous mass of blood hitherto circulating in the walls of the womb fills to repletion the vessels of the rest of the body and very greatly intensifies the already existing plethora. If this is not speedily counterbalanced by a free secretion from the udder, kidneys, bowels, and other excretory organs, the most dire results may ensue. Calving may thus be held to be an exciting cause, and yet the labor and fatigue of the act are not active factors. It is after the easy calving, when there has been little expenditure of muscular or nervous energy and no loss of blood, that the malady is seen. Difficult parturitions may be followed by metritis, but they are rarely connected with parturition fever.

All these factors coincide in intensifying the one condition of plethora and point to that as a most essential cause of the affection. It is needless to enter here into the much-debated question as to the mode in which the plethora brings about the characteristic symptoms and results. As the results show disorder or suspension of the nervous functions mainly, it may suffice to say that this condition of the blood and blood vessels is incompatible with the normal functional activity of the nerve centers. How much is due to congestion of the brain and how much to bloodlessness may well be debated, yet in a closed box like the cranium, in which the absolute contents can not be appreciably increased or diminished, it is evident that, apart from dropsical effusion or inflammatory exudation, there can be only a given amount of blood; therefore, if one portion of the brain is congested, another must be proportionately bloodless; and as congestion of the eyes and head generally and great heat of the head are most prominent features of the disease, congestion of the brain must be accepted. This, of course, implies a lack of blood in certain other parts or blood vessels.

The latest developments of treatment indicate very clearly that the main cause is the production of poisonous, metabolic products (leucomains and toxins) by secreting cells of the follicles of the udder, acting on the susceptible nerve centers of the plethoric, calving cow. Less fatal examples of udder poisons are found in the first milk (colostrum), which is distinctly irritant and purgative, and in the toxic qualities of the first milk drawn from an animal which has been subjected to violent overexertion or excitement. Still more conclusive as to the production of such poisons is the fact that the full distention of the milk ducts and follicles, and the consequent driving of the blood out of the udder and arrest of the formation of depraved products, determines a speedy and complete recovery from the disease. This does not exclude the other causes above named, nor the influence of a reflex nervous derangement proceeding from the udder to the brain.

Symptoms.--It may be said that there are two extreme types of this disease, with intervening grades. In both forms there is the characteristic plethora and more or less sudden loss of voluntary movement and sensation, indicating a sudden collapse of nervous power; in one, however, there is such prominent evidence of congestion of head and brain that it may be called the congestive form par excellence, without thereby intimating that the torpid form is independent of congestion.

In the congestive form there is sudden dullness, languor, hanging back in the stall, or drooping the head, uneasy movements of the hind limbs or tail; if the cow is moved, she steps unsteadily, or even staggers; she no longer notices her calf or her feed; the eyes appear red and their pupils dilated; the weakness increases and the cow lies down or falls and after that is unable to rise. At this time the pulse is usually full, bounding, and the temperature raised, though not invariably so, the head, horns, and ears being especially hot and the veins of the head full, while the visible mucous membranes of nose and eyes are deeply congested.

The cow may lie on her breastbone with her feet beneath the body and her head turned sleepily round, with the nose resting on the right flank; or, if worse, she may be stretched full on her side, with even the head extended, though at times it is suddenly raised and again dashed back on the ground. At such times the legs, fore and hind, struggle convulsively, evidently through unconscious nervous spasm. By this time the unconsciousness is usually complete; the eyes are glazed, their pupils widely dilated, and their lids are not moved when the ball of the eye is touched with the finger. Pricking the skin with a pin also fails to bring any wincing or other response. The pulse, at first from 50 to 70 a minute, becomes weaker and more accelerated as the disease advances. The breathing is quickened, becoming more and more so with the violence of the symptoms, and at first associated with moaning (in exceptional cases, bellowing), it may, before death, become slow, deep, sighing, or rattling (stertorous). The temperature, at first usually raised, tends to become lower as stupor and utter insensibility and coma supervene. The bowels, which may have moved at the onset of the attack, become torpid or completely paralyzed, and, unless in case of improvement, they are not likely to operate again. Yet this is the result of paralysis and not of induration of the feces, as often shown by the semiliquid, pultaceous condition of the contents after death. The bladder, too, is paralyzed and fails to expel its contents. A free action of either bladder or bowels, or of both, is always a favorable symptom. The urine contains sugar, in quantity proportionate to the severity of the attack.

In nearly all cases the torpor of the digestive organs results in gastric disorder; the paunch becomes the seat of fermentation, producing gas, which causes it to bloat like a drum. There are frequent eructations of gas and liquid and solid feed, which, reaching the paralyzed throat, pass in part into the windpipe and cause inflammations of the air passages and lungs.

In the torpid form of the disease there is much less indication of fever or violence. There may be no special heat about the horns, ears, or forehead, nor any marked redness or congestion of the eyes or nose, nor engorgement of the veins of the head. The attack comes on more slowly, with apparent weakness of the hind limbs, dullness, drowsiness, suspension of rumination and appetite, and a general indifference to surrounding objects. Soon the cow lies down, or falls and is unable to rise, but for one or two days she may rest on the breastbone and hold the head in the flank without showing any disorderly movements. Meanwhile there is not only loss of muscular power and inability to stand, but also considerable dullness of sensation, pricking the skin producing no quick response, and even touching the edge of the eyelids causing no very prompt winking. Unless she gets relief, however, the case develops all the advanced symptoms of the more violent form, and the animal perishes.

In advanced and fatal cases of either form the insensibility becomes complete; no irritation of skin or eye meets any response; the eye becomes more dull and glassy; the head rests on the ground or other object; unless prevented the cow lies stretched fully on her side; the pulse is small, rapid, and finally imperceptible; the breathing is slow, deep, stertorous, and the expirations accompanied with puffing is slow, the cheeks, and death comes quietly or with accompanying struggles.

Prevention.--For such fatal disease prevention is of far more consequence than treatment. Among the most efficient preventives may be named a spare diet (amounting to actual starvation in very plethoric, heavy-milking cows) for a week before calving and at least four days after. A free access to salt and water is most important, as the salt favors drinking and the water serves to dilute the rich and dense blood. Iced water, however, is undesirable, as a chill may favor the onset of fever. A dose of Epsom salt (1 to 2 pounds) should be given 12 to 24 hours before calving is due, so that it may operate at or just before that act. In case calving has occurred unexpectedly in the heavy milker, no time should be lost in giving the purgative thereafter. A most important precaution in the fleshy, plethoric cow, or in one that has been attacked at a previous calving, is to avoid drawing any milk from the bag for 12 or 24 hours after calving. Breeders on the island of Jersey have found that this alone has almost abolished the mortality from milk fever. If Epsom salt is not at hand, saltpeter (1 ounce) should be used for several days. Daily exercise is also of importance, and, excepting in midsummer, when the heat of the sun may be injurious, the value of open air is unquestionable. Even in summer an open shed or shady grove is incomparably better than a close, stuffy stall. A rich pasture (clover especially), in May, June, or July, when at its best, is to be carefully avoided. It is better to keep the cow indoors on dry straw with plenty of salt and water than to have access to such pastures.

Treatment.--Treatment of milk fever has been completely revolutionized, with the result that a former mortality of 50 to 70 per cent has been practically abolished. Formerly the most vigorous treatment was practiced by bleeding, purging, the increase of peristalsis by eserin or pilocarpin, enemas, cold in the head, counterirritants, aconite, tartar emetic, sponging, wet-sheet packing, etc. The gross mortality, however, was not materially reduced, and nearly all that were attacked within the first two days after calving perished.

The first step in the modern treatment was made in 1897, when J. Schmidt published his successful treatment by the injection of the teats and milk ducts with a solution of iodid of potassium (1-1/2 drams to 1 quart of water). This reduced the mortality to 17 per cent. Others followed this lead by the injection of other antiseptics (lysol, creolin, creosol, chinosol, common salt, etherized air, oxygen). These succeeded as well as the iodid solution. With the injection of gases, however, a fuller distention of the udder was usually secured, and virtually every case recovered. This suggested the full distention of the udder with common atmospheric air filtered and sterilized, and this with the most perfect success. With sterile air Schmidt-Kolding claimed 96.7 per cent recoveries in 914 cases.

In America the full distention of the udder, whether with oxygen or filtered air, has proved invariably successful in all kinds of cases, including the violent ones that set in within a few hours after calving. In 1 or 2 hours after the injection the cow has got up, had free passages from the bowels and bladder, bright expression of countenance, and some return of appetite. In my cases which had made no response for 8 hours to the iodid injection, the injection of the udder to full repletion with the gas (oxygen or air) has had immediately beneficial results. A similar full distention of the bag with a common-salt solution (0.5 to 100), or even with well-boiled water, is equally effective, but in these cases the weight of the liquid causes dragging upon the udder and a measure of discomfort which is escaped under the treatment with gas.

The value of each method depends on the fullness of distention of the udder and the arrest in larger part of the circulation and chemical changes in its tissues. This distention acts like magic, and seems hardly to admit of failure in securing a successful outcome.

It can not, however, be recommended as absolutely devoid of dangers and serious complications. To get the best results it should be applied only by one who has been trained in the careful antiseptic methods of the bacteriological laboratory. Some readers will recall the case of the injection of the udders of show cows at Toronto to impose upon the judges. The cows treated in this way had the udders infected and ruined, and several lost their lives. There is no better culture medium for septic and other germs than the first milk (colostrum) charged with albumin and retained in the warm udder. Already in the hands of veterinarians even the Schmidt treatment has produced a small proportion of cases of infective mammitis. How many more such cases will develop if this treatment becomes a popular domestic resort, applied by the dairyman himself in all sorts of surroundings and with little or no antiseptic precautions? Even then, however, the losses will by no means approach the past mortality of 50 to 70 per cent, so that the economy will be immeasurable under even the worst conditions. A fair test and judgment of this treatment, however, can be obtained only when the administrator is trustworthy and painstaking, well acquainted with bacteriological antisepsis and with the general and special pathology of the bovine animal.

The necessary precautions may be summarized as follows:

(1) Provide an elastic rubber ball and tubes furnished with valves to direct the current of air, as in a common Davidson syringe.

(2) Fill the delivery tube for a short distance with cotton sterilized by prolonged heating in a water bath.

(3) In the free end of the delivery tube fit a milking tube to be inserted into the teat.

(4) Sterilize the entire apparatus by boiling for 30 minutes, and, without touching the milking tube, wrap it in a towel that has been sterilized in a water bath or in live steam and dried.

(5) Avoid drawing any milk from the teats; wash them and the udder thoroughly with warm soapsuds; rinse off with well-boiled and cooled water, and apply to the teats, and especially to their tips, a 5 per cent solution of carbolic acid or lysol, taking care that the teats are not allowed to touch any other body from the time they are cleansed until the teat tube is inserted. It is well to rest the cleansed and disinfected udder on a sterilized pad of cotton or a boiled towel.

(6) The injecting apparatus is unwrapped; the teat tube, seized by its attached end and kept from contact with any other body, is inserted into the teat, while an assistant working the rubber pump fills the quarter as full as it will hold. The tube is now withdrawn and a broad tape is tied around the free end of the teat to prevent escape of the air.

(7) The teat tube, which has been carefully preserved from possible contact with other bodies, is dipped in the carbolic acid solution and inserted in a second teat, and the second quarter is inflated, and so with the third and fourth.

(8) The recumbent cow is kept resting on her breastbone, with the head elevated, even if it should be necessary to pack around her with straw bundles or to suspend the head by a halter. When lying on her side she is liable to develop fatal bloating and to have belching of gas and liquids, which, passing down the windpipe, cause fatal broncho-pneumonia.

(9) If in 2 hours the cow is not on her feet, if there is no brighter or more intelligent expression, if she has passed no manure or urine, and if the air has become absorbed, leaving the udder less tense, the injection of the bag may be repeated, under the same scrupulous and rigid precautions as at first. In all cases, but especially in severe ones, it is well to keep watch of the patient, and to repeat the distention on the first indication of relapse. Should there not be a free discharge of feces and urine after rising, indicating a natural resumption of the nervous functions, the case should be all the more carefully watched, so that the treatment may be repeated if necessary.

Accessory treatment may still be used, but is rarely necessary. A dose of purgative medicine (1-1/2 pounds of Epsom salt) in warm water may be given in the early stages, while as yet there is no danger of its passing into the lungs through paralysis of the throat. Eserin or pilocarpin (1-1/2 grains) may be given under the skin to stimulate the movements of the bowels. Sponging the skin, and especially the udder, with cool water, may be resorted to in hot weather.

Bloating may demand puncture of the paunch, in the left flank, with a cannula and trocar, the evacuation of the gas, and the introduction through the tube of a tablespoonful of strong liquid ammonia in a quart of cold water or other antiferment.

The economic value of the new treatment of milk fever is enormous. The United States has more than 22,000,000 milk cows. If we could raise their quality by preserving and breeding from the largest producers of both milk and butterfat, in place of losing the best by milk fever, as in the past, and if we could thus obtain an average increase of 2 quarts a day, the proceeds at 3 cents a quart would amount to $130,000,000 a year.

PALSY AFTER CALVING (DROPPING AFTER CALVING).

This consists in a more or less complete loss of control of the hind limbs occurring after calving, and caused by low condition, weakness, and exposure to cold or to injurious compression of the nerves of the hind limbs by a large calf passing through the pelvis. Its symptoms do not differ from those of palsy of the hind limbs, occurring at other times, and it may be treated in the same way, except so far as bruises of the vagina may demand special smoothing treatment.

CONGESTION OF THE UDDER (GARGET).

In heavy milkers, before and just after calving, it is the rule that the mammary gland is enlarged, hot, tense, and tender, and that a slight exudation or pasty swelling extends forward from the gland on the lower surface of the abdomen. This physiological congestion is looked upon as a matter of course, and disappears in two or three days when the secretion of milk has been fully established. This breaking up of the bag may be greatly hastened by the sucking of a hungry calf and the kneading it gives the udder with its nose, by stripping the glands clean thrice daily, and by active rubbing at each milking with the palm of the hand, with or without lard or, better, with camphorated ointment.

The congestion may be at times aggravated by standing in a draft of cold air or by neglect to milk for an entire day or more (overstocking, hefting) with the view of making a great show of udder for purposes of sale. In such cases the surface of the bag pits on pressure, and the milk has a reddish tinge or even streaks of blood, or it is partially or fully clotted and is drawn with difficulty, mixed, it may be, with a yellowish serum (whey) which has separated from the casein. This should be treated like the above, though it may sometimes demand fomentations with warm water to ward off inflammation, and it may be a week before the natural condition of the gland is restored.

INFLAMMATION OF THE UDDER (SIMPLE MAMMITIS).

Congestion may merge into active inflammation, or it may arise direct, in connection with exposure to cold or wet, with standing in a cold draft, with blows on the udder with clubs, stones, horns, or feet, with injury from a sharp or cold stone, or the projecting edge of a board or end of a nail in the floor, with sudden and extreme changes of weather, with overfeeding on rich albuminous feed like cotton seed, beans, or peas, with indigestions, with sores on the teats, or with insufficient stripping of the udder in milking. In the period of full milk the organ is so susceptible that any serious disturbance of the general health is liable to fall upon the udder.

Symptoms.--The symptoms and mode of onset vary in different cases. When following exposure there is usually a violent shivering fit, with cold horns, ears, tail, and limbs, and general erection of the hair. This is succeeded by a flush of heat (reaction) in which the horns, ears, and limbs become unnaturally warm and the gland swells up and becomes firm and solid in one, two, three, or all four quarters. There is hot dry muzzle, elevated temperature, full, accelerated pulse, and excited breathing, impaired or suspended appetite and rumination, with more or less costiveness, suppression of urine, and a lessened yield of milk, which may be entirely suppressed in the affected quarter.

In other cases the shivering escapes notice, the general disorder of the system is little marked or comes on late, and the first observed sign of illness is the firm swelling, heat, and tenderness of the bag. As the inflammation increases and extends, the hot, tender udder causes the animal to straddle with its hind limbs, and, when walking, to halt on the limb on that side. If the cow lies down it is on the unaffected side. With the increase in intensity and the extension of the inflammation the general fever manifests itself more prominently. In some instances the connective tissue beneath the skin and between the lobules of the gland is affected, then the swelling is uniformly rounded and of nearly the same consistency, pitting everywhere on pressure. In other cases it primarily attacks the secreting tissue of the gland, then the swelling is more localized and appears as hard, nodular masses in the interior of the gland. This last is the usual form of inflammation occurring from infection entering by the teats.

In all cases, but especially in the last-named form, the milk is suppressed and replaced by a watery fluid colored with blood (sometimes deeply) and mingled with masses of clotted casein. Later it becomes white and purulent, and in many cases of an offensive odor.

The course of the disease is sometimes so rapid and at others so slow that no definite rule can be laid down. In two or three days, or from that to the end of the week, the bag may soften, lose its heat and tenderness, and subside into the healthy condition, even resuming the secretion of milk. The longer the inflammatory hardness continues the greater the probability that its complete restoration will not be effected. When a portion of the gland fails to be restored in this way, and has its secretion arrested, it usually shrinks to a smaller size. More commonly a greater quantity of the inflammatory product remains in the gland and develops into a solid, fibrous mass, causing permanent hardening (induration). In other cases, in place of the product of inflammation developing into a fibrous mass, it softens and breaks down into white, creamy, liquid pus (abscess). This abscess may make its way to the surface and escape externally, or it may burst into a milk duct and discharge through the teat. It may break into both and establish a channel for the escape of milk (fistula). In the worst types of the disease gangrene may ensue, a quarter or half or even the whole udder, losing its vitality, and sloughing off if the cow can bear up against the depressing influence. These gangrenous cases are probably always the result of infection and sometimes run a very rapidly fatal course. I remember one to which I was called as soon as the owner noticed it, yet I found one-quarter dark blue, cold, and showing a tendency to the formation of blebs containing a bloody secretion. The cow, which had waded through a depth of semiliquid manure to reach her stall, died within 24 hours.

Treatment.--Treatment varies with the type and the stage of the disease. If the case is seen in the shivering fit, every effort should be made to cut it short, as the inflammation may be thereby greatly moderated, if not checked. Copious drinks of warm water thrown in from horn or bottle; equally copious warm injections; the application of heat in some form to the surface of the body (by a rug wrung out of hot water; by hanging over the back and loins bags loosely filled with bran, sand, salt, chaff, or other agent previously heated in a stove; by the use of a flatiron or the warming of the surface by a hot-air bath), or by active friction with straw wisps by two or more persons; the administration of 1 ounce of ground ginger may serve to shorten the attack. After half an hour's sweat the animal should be rubbed and covered with a dry blanket.

If, on the other hand, there is little or no fever, and only a slight inflammation, rub well with camphorated ointment or a weak iodin ointment, and milk three, four, or six times a day, rubbing the bag thoroughly each time. Milking must be done with great gentleness, squeezing the teat in place of pulling and stripping it, and if this causes too much pain, the teat tube (Pl. XXIV, fig. 4) or the spring teat dilator (Pl. XXIV, fig. 3) may be employed. Antiseptic injections of the teats and udder are often useful, and iodoform in water has been especially recommended. It may be replaced by one of the injections advised for parturition fever, used with the same careful precautions.

In cases in which the fever has set in and the inflammation is more advanced, a dose of laxative medicine is desirable (Epsom salt, 1 to 2 pounds; ginger, 1 ounce), which may be followed, after the purging has ceased, by daily doses of saltpeter, 1 ounce. Many rely on cooling and astringent applications to the inflamed quarter (vinegar, sugar-of-lead lotion, cold water, ice, etc.), but a safer and better resort is continued fomentation with warm water. A bucket of warm water, replenished as it cools, may be set beneath the udder, and two persons can raise a rug cut of this and hold it against the udder, dipping it anew whenever the temperature is somewhat lowered. A sheet may be passed around the body, with holes cut for the teats, soft rags packed between it and the udder, and kept warm by pouring water on every 10 or 15 minutes, as warm as the hand can bear. When this has been kept up for an hour or two, the bag may be dried, well rubbed with soap, and left thus with a soapy coating. If the pain is great, extract of belladonna may be applied along with the soap, and a dry suspensory bandage with holes for the teats may be applied. Strong, mercurial ointment is very useful in relieving pain and softening the bag. This is especially valuable when the disease is protracted and induration threatens. It may be mixed with an equal quantity of soap and half as much extract of belladonna. In cases of threatened induration excellent results are sometimes obtained from a weak-induction current of electricity sent through the gland daily for 10 minutes.

If abscess threatens, it may be favored by fomentation and opened as soon as fluctuation from finger to finger shows the formation of matter at a point formerly hard. The wound may bleed freely, and there is a risk of opening a milk duct, yet relief will be obtained; also a dressing twice daily with a lotion of carbolic acid 1 part, water 20 parts, and glycerin 1 part will suffice to keep the wound clean and healthy.

Gangrene of the affected part is often fatal. It demands antiseptics (chlorid of zinc, 1 dram to 1 quart water) applied frequently to the part, or, if the case can not be attended, smear the affected quarter with Venice turpentine, melted, or even wood tar. Antiseptic tonics (tincture of chlorid of iron, 4 drams) may also be given four times daily in a quart of water.

CONTAGIOUS MAMMITIS (CONTAGIOUS INFLAMMATION OF THE UDDER).

As stated in the last article, that form of inflammation of the udder which attacks the gland ducts and follicles, causing deep-seated, hard, nodular swellings, is often contagious. Franck has demonstrated this by injecting into the milk ducts in different cows (milking and dry) the pus from the bags of cows affected with mammitis, or the liquids of putrid flesh, or putrid blood, and in every case he produced acute inflammation of the gland tissue within twenty-four hours. He thinks that in ordinary conditions the septic germ gains access by propagating itself through the milk, filling the milk canal and oozing from the external orifice. He points to this as a reason why dry cows escape the malady, though mingling freely with the sufferers, and why such dry cows do not suffer from inflammation of the gland tissue when attacked with foot-and-mouth disease. In this last case it is evident that it is not simply the inoculation with the milker's hand that is lacking, for the skin of the bag is attacked, but not its secreting, glandular parts. Now that in any case of abscess we look for the cause in the chain forms of globular bacteria (Streptococcus pyogenes), in the cluster form of white, globular bacteria (Staphylococcus pyogenes albus), and in the golden and citron-yellow forms of clustered globular bacteria (Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus and Staphylococcus pyogenes citreus), the formation of pus gives presumptive evidence of the action of one or more of these germs. So in cases of mortification of the bag; in the very occurrence there is fair circumstantial evidence of the presence of erysipelas micrococcus or other germ which kills the local tissues. Again, in tuberculosis affecting the bag (a not uncommon condition), the active local cause is without doubt the tubercle bacillus.

It has been found that false membranes have formed in certain cases of mammitis in the cow, and Klein, after inoculating the diphtheria of man on the cow, found an ulcerous sore in the seat of inoculation and blisters on the teats and udder, in which he found what he believed to be the bacillus of diphtheria. The results are doubtful, even in the absence of false membranes. Lˆffler, too, in the diphtheria of calves, found that the germ was longer and more delicate than that of man, and that its pathogenesis for rodents was less, guinea pigs having only a nonfatal abscess. The presence of false membranes in one form of mammitis in cows does not necessarily imply its communicability to man.

It has been asserted that scarlet fever has been transmitted from the cow to man, and it can not be denied that in many cases the infection has been spread by means of the milk. The facts, however, when brought out fully have shown that in almost every case the milk had first come into contact with a person suffering or recovering from scarlet fever, so that the milk was infected after it left the cow. The alleged exceptional cases at Hendon and Dover, England, are not conclusive. In the Hendon outbreak inoculations were made on calves from the slight eruption on the cow's teats, and they had a slight eruption on the lips and a form of inflammation of the kidneys, which Dr. Klein thought resembled that of scarlatina. The cows that had brought the disease to the Hendon dairies were traced back to Wiltshire, where cows were found suffering from a similar malady, but no sign of scarlet fever resulted. In the Dover outbreak the dairyman first denied any disease in his cows, and brought a certificate of a veterinarian to prove that they were sound at the time of the investigation; then later he confessed that the cows had had foot-and-mouth disease some time before, and consequent eruption on the teats. So the question remains whether the man who denied sickness in the cows to begin with, and adduced professional evidence of it, did not later acknowledge the foot-and-mouth disease as a blind to hide the real source of the trouble in scarlatina in his own family or in the family of an employee.

In America Dr. Stickler said that he had produced scarlatina in children by inoculation with imported virus of foot-and-mouth disease, but his contention is negatived by the facts that with foot-and-mouth disease constantly present in Europe scarlatina does not accompany it, and that in America, with scarlatina constantly prevailing at some point, foot-and-mouth disease is unknown locally except at long intervals and as the result of the importation of infected animals or their products. Man is susceptible to foot-and-mouth disease, but it never appears during the frequent epidemics of scarlatina.

Among other contagious forms of mammitis I may name one which I have encountered in large dairies, starting as a sore and slight swelling at the opening of the teat and extending up along the milk duct to the gland structure in the bag, all of which become indurated, nodular, and painful. The milk is entirely suppressed in that quarter of the bag, and from that it may extend to the others as it does from cow to cow through the milker's hands.

Another form almost universally prevalent in this district of central New York in 1889 broke out on the teats and udders as blisters strongly resembling cowpox, but which were not propagated when inoculated on calves. It was only exceptionally that this extended through the teat to the gland tissue, yet in some instances the bag was lost from this cause. Scarlatina in man was very prevalent at the time (many schools were closed in consequence), but no definite connection seemed to exist between this and the cow disease, and on different dairy farms there were families of young children that had never had scarlet fever and who did not at that time contract it.

The most common cause of contagious mammitis in cattle is a spherical bacterium in chain form (Streptococcus) (Moore, Ward). Yet it is clear that contagious mammitis is not a single affection, but a group of diseases which have this in common, that they attack the udder.

Prevention.--Prevention is to be especially sought in all such cases. In purchasing new cows see that they come from a herd where the teats and udder are sound. If a new cow with unknown antecedents comes from a public market, let her be milked for a week by a person who does not milk any other cows. Keep her in a separate stall from others, so that there may be no infection from litter or flooring. Wash the udder with soap and water, and wet with a solution of two teaspoonfuls of carbolic acid in a pint of water before letting the regular milker of the other cows take her. If any cow in the herd shows the indurated end of the teat or the inflammation and nodular tender character of the gland, sequestrate her at once and give her a separate milker. If another cow is to be put into the stall she occupied, first clean and scrape it, and wet it with a strong solution of bluestone, 5 ounces in a gallon of water. The milk may be drawn off with a teat tube, or spring teat dilator (Pl. XXIV, figs. 3 and 4), and the milk ducts injected frequently with a solution of peroxid of hydrogen or iodoform. I have had little success in checking the upward progress of the disease through the teat with carbolic acid or boric-acid solutions. Used on the outside of the other teats, however, they may serve to prevent them from becoming infected. In the absence of peroxid of hydrogen the affected teat may be injected with a solution of 1 grain corrosive sublimate in a pint of water, and the same may be used on the other teats, provided it is washed off every time before milking.

As additional precautions, no cow with a retained afterbirth or unhealthy discharge from the womb should be left with the other cows. Such cows doubtless infect their own udders and those of the cows next them by lashing with the soiled tail. If milkers handle retained afterbirth or vaginal discharge, or unhealthy wounds, or assist in a difficult and protracted parturition, they should wash the hands and arms thoroughly with soap and warm water and then rub them with the corrosive-sublimate solution, or if not, at least with one of carbolic acid. Clothes stained with such offensive products should be thoroughly washed.

The general treatment of contagious mammitis does not differ from that of the simple form, except that antiseptics should be given by the mouth as well as applied locally (hyposulphite of soda, one-half ounce daily).

COWPOX.

This is another form of contagious inflammation of the udder which does not spread readily from animal to animal except by the hands of the milker. It is held to occur spontaneously in the cow, but this is altogether improbable, and so-called spontaneous cases are rather to be looked on as instances in which the germs have been preserved dry in the buildings or introduced in some unknown manner. It is not uncommon in the horse, attacking the heels, the lips, or some other inoculated part of the body, and is then easily transferred to the cow, if the same man grooms and dresses the horse and milks the cow. It may also appear in the cow by infection, more or less direct, from a person who has been successfully vaccinated. Many believe that it is only a form of the smallpox of man modified by passing through the system of cow or horse. It is, however, unreasonable to suppose that this alleged modified smallpox could have been transmitted from child to child (the most susceptible of the human race) for 90 years, under all possible conditions, without once reverting to its original type of smallpox. Chauveau's experiments on both cattle and horses with the virus of smallpox and its inoculation back on the human subject go far to show that in the climate of western Europe, at least, no such transformation takes place. Smallpox remains smallpox and cowpox, cowpox. Again, smallpox is communicable to a person who visits the patient in his room but avoids touching him, while cowpox is never thus transferred through the air unless deliberately diffused in the form of spray.

The disease in the cow is ushered in by a slight fever, which, however, is usually overlooked, and the first sign is tenderness of the teats. Examined, these may be redder and hotter than normal, and at the end of two days there appear little nodules, like small peas, of a pale-red color, and increasing so that by the seventh day they may measure three-fourths of an inch to 1 inch in diameter. The yield of milk diminishes, and when heated it coagulates slightly. From the seventh to the tenth day the eruption forms into a blister, with raised margins and a depression in the center, and from which the whole of the liquid can not be drawn by a single puncture. The blister, in other words, is chambered, and each chamber must be opened to evacuate the whole of the contents. If the pock forms on a surface where there is thick hair it does not rise as a blister, but oozes out a straw-colored fluid which concretes on the hairs in an amber-colored mass. In one or two days after the pock is full it becomes yellow from contained pus and then dries into a brownish-yellow scab, which finally falls, leaving one or more distinct pits in the skin. Upon the teats, however, this regular course is rarely seen; the vesicles are burst by the hands of the milker as soon as liquid is formed, and as they continue to suffer at each milking they form raw, angry sores, scabbing more or less at intervals, but are slow to undergo healing.

The only treatment required is to heal the sores. As milking is the main cause of their persistence, that must be done as gently as possible, or even with the teat tube or dilator. (Pl. XXIV, figs. 3 and 4.) It is essential to check the propagation of the germ, and for this purpose the sore teats may be washed frequently with a solution of half an ounce hyposulphite of soda in a pint of water. This will usually check the inflammation and cut short the malady.

SUPPRESSION OF MILK.

The absence of milk in the udder may result from ill health, debility, emaciation, chronic disease of the bag, wasting of the gland from previous disease, or insufficient feed, but sometimes it will occur suddenly without any appreciable cause. The treatment consists in removing the cause of the disease, giving rich albuminoid feed made into warm mashes, and administering ounce doses of aromatic carminatives, like anise seed, fennel seed, etc. Rubbing and stripping the udder are useful; the application of oil of lavender or of turpentine, or even a blister of Spanish flies, will sometimes succeed.

BLOODY MILK.

Blood may escape with the milk when the udder has been injured by blows; also when it is congested or inflamed, when the circulation through it has been suddenly increased by richer and more abundant feed, or when the cow is under the excitement of heat. The milk frothing up and assuming a pink tinge is often the first sign of red water, and it may result from eating acrid or irritant plants, like the RanunculaceÊ, resinous plants, etc. Deposits of tubercle or tumors in the udder, or induration of the gland, may be efficient causes, the irritation caused by milking contributing to draw the blood. Finally, there may be a reddish tinge or sediment when madder or logwood has been eaten.

In milk which becomes red after it is drawn it may be from the presence in it of the Bacillus prodigiosus. This also grows on bread, and is the explanation of the supposed miracle of the "bleeding host."

The treatment will vary with the cause. In congested glands give 1 pound of Epsom salt, and daily thereafter one-half ounce saltpeter, with a dram of chlorate of potassium; the bag should be bathed with hot or cold water, and rubbed with camphorated lard. If the feed is too rich or abundant it must be reduced. If from acrid plants, they must be removed from pasture or fodder. Induration of the udder may be met by rubbing with a combination of iodin ointment 1 part, soft soap 2 parts; mercurial ointment and soap also may be used. Careful milking is imperative.

BLUE MILK.

Watery milk is blue, but the presence of a germ (Bacillus cyanogenes) causes a distinct blue shade even in rich milk and cream. It may reach the milk after it has been drawn, or it may find its way into the opening of the milk ducts and enter the milk as it is drawn. In the latter case frequent milking and the injection of a solution of 2 drams of hyposulphite of soda in a pint of water into the teats will serve to destroy the germs.

STRINGY MILK.

This may be caused by fungi developing in the liquid, and that the spores are present in the system of the cow may be safely inferred from the fact that in a large herd two or three cows only will yield such milk at a time, and that after a run of 10 days or a fortnight they will recover and others will be attacked. I have found that such affected cows had the temperature raised one or two degrees above the others. Like most other fungi this does not grow out into filaments within the body of the cow, but in five or six hours after milking the surface layers are found to be one dense network of filaments. If a needle is dipped in this and lifted the liquid is drawn out into a long thread. In one case which I investigated near Ithaca, N. Y., the contamination was manifestly from a spring which oozed out of a bank of black-muck soil and stood in pools mixed with the dejections of the animals. Inoculation of pure milk with the water as it flowed out of this bank developed in it the fungus and the stringy characters. By fencing the spring in and giving the affected cows each 2 drams bisulphite of soda daily, the trouble was arrested promptly and permanently.

CHAPPED TEATS.

These may be caused by anything which irritates them. The powerful sucking of the calf; the sudden chilling of the teat in winter after the calf has just let it go or after the completion of milking with a wet hand; contact with cold water or stagnant, putrid water, or with filth or irritants when lying down; slight congestions of the skin in connection with overstocking; indeed, any source of local irritation may cause chapping. This may be slight or extend into great, gaping sores and induce retention of milk or even mammitis. Soothing applications of vaseline or a combination of equal parts of spermaceti and oil of sweet almonds may be applied. If healing is tardy, add 10 grains balsam of Peru to the ounce of ointment. If the irritation is very great, wash first with a solution of 1 dram sugar of lead in 1 pint of water and then apply benzoated zinc-oxid ointment.

WARTS ON THE TEATS.

These are often very troublesome, yet they may be greatly benefited or entirely removed by smearing them thickly with pure olive oil after each milking. If they persist they may be cut off with a pair of sharp scissors and the sore touched with a stick of lunar caustic. They may now be oiled and the caustic repeated as demanded to prevent their renewed growth.

Scabby teats may be smeared with vaseline containing carbolic acid enough to give it an odor.

TEAT BLOCKED BY CONCRETION OF CASEIN.

Under unhealthy conditions of the gland or milk ducts clots of casein form which, pressed clear of most of their liquid and rolled into rounded masses, may block the passage. They can be moved up and down by manipulation of the teat, and if they can not be pressed out they may be extracted by using the spring teat dilator (Pl. XXIV, fig. 3), being held surrounded by its three limbs. Before extraction is attempted an ounce of almond oil, boiled, should be injected into the teat.

TEAT BLOCKED BY CALCULUS.

When the calcareous matter of the milk has been precipitated in the form of a smooth, rounded stone, a rough, conglomerated concretion, or a fine, sandlike dÈbris, it may cause obstruction and irritation. These bodies are felt to be much harder than those formed by casein, and the milk usually contains gritty particles. Extraction may be attempted, in the case of the finely divided gritty matter, by simple milking or with the spring dilator (Pl. XXIV, fig. 3) in the case of the larger masses. Should this fail the teat may be laid open with the knife and sewed up again or closed with collodion, but such an operation is best deferred until the cow is dry.

TEAT BLOCKED BY A WARTY OR OTHER GROWTH INSIDE.

In this case the obstruction may be near the orifice of the teat or farther up, and the solid mass is not movable up and down with the same freedom as are concretions and calculi. The movement is limited by the elasticity of the inner membrane of the teat from which it grows, and is somewhat freer in certain cases because the growth has become loose and hangs by a narrow neck. In the case of the looser growths they may be snared by a fine, spring wire passed as a loop through a fine tube (like a teat tube open at each end) and introduced into the teat. When this can not be done, the only resort is to cut in and excise it while the cow is dry.

THICKENING OF THE MUCOUS MEMBRANE AND CLOSURE OF THE MILK DUCT.

As a result of inflammation extending from without inward, a gradual narrowing of the milk duct may occur from thickening and narrowing of its lining membrane. This may be limited to a small area near the lower end, or it may extend through the whole length of the teat. The stream of milk becomes finer and finer until it finally ceases altogether, and a firm cord is felt running through the teat. If the constriction is only at the outlet, the teat may be seized and distended by pressing the milk down into it from above, and an incision may be made with a sharp penknife in two directions at right angles to each other and directly in the original opening. The knife should be first cleansed in boiling water. The opening may be kept from closing by a dumb-bell shaped bougie of gutta-percha (Pl. XXIV, fig. 5) or by the spring dilator. If the obstruction is more extended it may be perforated by L¸thi's perforating sound. (Pl. XXIV, fig. 1A and 1B.) This is a steel wire with a ring at one end, and at the other is screwed on to the wire a conical cap with sharp cutting edges at the base, which scrapes away the thickened masses of cells as it is drawn back. This may be passed again and again to enlarge the passages sufficiently, and then the passage may be kept open by wearing a long, dumb-bell bougie, a thick piece of carbolized catgut, or a spring dilator. If the passage can not be sufficiently opened with the sound it may be incised by the hidden bistoury. (Pl. XXIV, fig. 2.) This is a knife lying alongside a flattened protector with smooth, rounded edges, but which can be projected to any required distance by a lever on the handle. The incisions are made in four directions, as deep as may be necessary, and the walls then can be held apart by the spring dilator until they heal. In case the constriction and thickening of the canal extend the whole length of the teat, it is practically beyond remedy, as the gland is usually involved so as to render it useless.

CLOSURE OF THE MILK DUCT BY A MEMBRANE.

In this form the duct of the teat is closed by the constriction of its lining membrane at one point, usually without thickening. The closure usually takes place while the cow is dry; otherwise its progress is gradual, and for a time the milk may still be pressed through slowly. In such case, if left at rest, the lower part of the teat fills up and the milk flows in a full stream at the first pressure, but after this it will not fill up again without sufficient time for it to filter through. This is to be cut open by the hidden bistoury (Pl. XXIV, fig. 2), which may be first passed through the opening of the membrane, if such exists. If not it may be bored through, or it may be pressed up against the membrane at one side of the teat and opened toward the center, so as to cut its way through. Incisions should be made in at least two opposite directions, and the edges then may be held apart by wearing the spring dilator until healing has been completed.

In all cases of operations on the teats the instruments must be thoroughly disinfected with hot water, or by dipping in carbolic acid and then in water that has been boiled.

OPENING IN THE SIDE OF THE TEAT (MILK FISTULA).

This may occur from wounds penetrating the milk duct and failing to close, or it may be congenital, and then very often it leads to a distinct milk duct and an independent portion of the gland. In the first form it is necessary only to dissect away the skin leading into the opening for some distance down, to close the orifice with stitches, and to cover the whole with collodion. A teat tube or spring dilator may be worn to drain the milk off and prevent distention and reopening of the orifice. In case of an independent milk duct and gland one of two courses may be selected--to open the one duct into the other by incision and then close the offending opening, or to inject the superfluous gland through its duct with a caustic solution, so as to destroy its secreting power. In both cases it is desirable to wait until the cow goes dry.

* * * * *

DISEASES FOLLOWING PARTURITION. DESCRIPTION OF PLATES.

PLATES XXII, XXIII. Supports for prolapsed uterus. These illustrations show various appliances used in prolapse or inversion of the uterus. The uterus should first be returned to its proper situation and then some apparatus applied to prevent a recurrence of the inversion or protrusion.

PLATE XXII:

Fig. 1. Crupper, strap truss. (From Hill's Bovine Medicine and Surgery.)

Fig. 2. Renault's rope truss. The rope for this truss should be from 25 to 30 feet long and about the thickness of the little finger.

PLATE XXIII:

Fig. 1. Cow to which Delwart's rope truss has been applied.

Fig. 1_a_ shows the loop of Delwart's truss.

Fig. 2. Zundel's labial sutures. These consist of two wires passed through the lips of the vulva in a horizontal direction, and two additional wires passed through the loops at the ends of the horizontal wires in order to hold them in place.

Fig. 3. Iron truss for holding the vagina or uterus in place after calving. The cords are passed through the eyes at the corners of the triangular iron; the base of the triangle fits under the tail. The truss is from 5 to 7 inches long and about 2-1/2 inches wide.

PLATE XXIV. Instruments used in diseases following parturition.

Fig. 1. L¸thi's perforating sound, for opening the milk canal through the teat when this has become occluded; A, the sound one-half the natural size; B, section of head of sound, natural size, showing cutting edge.

Fig. 2. Bistouri cachÈ. A blade hidden in its sheath which by pressure of the finger may be made to protrude a certain distance. This distance is regulated by the screw near the handle. The instrument is used to open the milk canal when closed up. It is introduced into the milk canal with its blade in the sheath and withdrawn with the blade protruding.

Fig. 3. Spring teat dilator, about one-half natural size, for dilating the milk canal.

Fig. 4. Ring teat syphon, for withdrawing milk when the teat is sore or injured.

Fig. 5. Gutta-percha bougie, for dilating the opening of the teat.

Fig. 6. Truss applied to calf for umbilical or navel hernia. (From Fleming's Veterinary Obstetrics.)

Fig. 7. Armatage's iron clamp for umbilical or navel hernia. When this clamp is applied care must be taken not to include a portion of the bowel.

* * * * *

DISEASES OF YOUNG CALVES.

By JAMES LAW, F. R. C. V. S.,

Formerly Professor of Veterinary Science, etc., in Cornell University.

SUSPENDED BREATHING.

The moment the circulation through the navel string is stopped the blood of the calf begins to become overcharged with carbon dioxid (CO_{2}), and unless breathing is speedily established death promptly follows. Fortunately the desire to breathe, roused by the circulation of the venous blood and the reflex action from the wet and chilling skin, usually starts the contractions of the diaphragm at once and life is insured. Among the obstacles to breathing may be named suffocation before or during birth from compression of the navel cord and the arrest of its circulation; the detachment of the fetal membranes from the womb before the calf is born; a too free communication between the two auricles (foramen ovale) of the heart by which the nonaerated blood has mixed too abundantly with the aerated and induced debility and profound weakness; a condition of ill health and debility of the calf as a result of semistarvation, overwork, or disease of the cow; fainting in the debilitated calf when calving has been difficult and prolonged; the birth of the calf with its head enveloped in the fetal membranes, so that it has been unable to breathe, and the presence of tenacious phlegm in the mouth and nose, acting in the same manner.

Besides the importance of proper care and feeding of the cow as a preventive measure, attention should be given at once to relieve the newborn calf of its investing membrane and of any mucus that has collected in mouth or nostrils. Wiping out the nose deeply with a finger or feather excites to sneezing, hence to breathing. Blowing into the nose has a similar effect. Sucking the nostril through a tube applied to it is even more effective. Slapping the chest with the palm of the hand or with a towel dipped in cold water, compression and relaxation alternately of the walls of the chest, may start the action, and ammonia or even tobacco smoke blown into the nose may suffice. Every second is precious, however, and if possible the lungs should be dilated by forcibly introducing air from a bellows or from the human lungs. As the air is blown in through bellows or a tube the upper end of the windpipe must be pressed back against the gullet, as otherwise the air will go to the stomach. In a large dairy a piece of elastic tubing one-third of an inch in bore should be kept at hand for sucking and blowing in such cases.

BLEEDING FROM THE NAVEL.

This may occur in two conditions--when the cord is cut off too close to the navel and left untied and when it tears off at the navel. (Pl. XIV.) It may also bleed when torn across naturally, if it is sucked by the dam or another calf. In an animal with little plasticity to its blood it will flow under almost any circumstances. When any cord is left it is always safe to tie it, and it is only when it is swollen and may possibly contain a loop of the bowel that there is danger in doing so. By pressing upward any bulky contents such danger is avoided. If torn or cut too close to be tied the bleeding may be checked by applying alum, copperas, or for a fraction of a second the end of an iron rod at a dull-red heat. If much blood has been lost it may be requisite to transfuse several ounces of blood or of a weak, common-salt solution into the open, umbilical vein.

URINE DISCHARGED THROUGH THE NAVEL (PERSISTENT URACHUS).

Before birth the urine passes from the bladder by a special tube through the navel and navel string into the outer water bag (allantois). (Pl. XII.) This closes at birth, and the tube shrinks into a fine cord up to the bladder. It is only in the bull calf that it is liable to remain open, doubtless because of the long, narrow channel through which the urine must otherwise escape. The urethra, too, is sometimes abnormally narrow, or even closed, in the male. If part of the cord remains, it should be tied and the whole allowed to wither up naturally. If the cord has been removed and the tube (urachus) protrudes, discharging the urine, that alone must be tied. If there is nothing pendent the urachus must be seized, covered by the skin, and a curved needle being passed through the skin and above the duct, it may be tied along with this skin. A blister of Spanish flies, causing swelling of the skin, will often close the orifice--so with the hot iron. If the urethra of the male is impervious it can rarely be remedied.

INFLAMMATION OF THE URACHUS (NAVEL URINE DUCT).

This may originate in direct, mechanical injury to the navel in calving, or shortly after, with or without the lodgment of irritant or septic matter on its lacerated or cut end. The mere contact with healthy urine, hitherto harmless, can now be looked on as becoming suddenly irritating. The affection is usually marked by the presence of redness and swelling at the posterior part of the navel and the escape of urine and a few drops of whitish, serous pus from the orifice of the urachus. In those cases in which urine is not discharged a tender swelling, like a thick cord extending upward and backward from the navel into the abdomen, may be identified. The navel enlargement may be considerable, but it is solid, does not gurgle on handling, and can not be done away with by pressing it back into the abdomen, as in a case of hernia.

In cases at first closed the pus may burst out later, coming from the back part of the navel and the swelling extending backward. In other cases whitish pus may pass with the urine by the ordinary channel, showing that it has opened back into the bladder. In other cases the umbilical veins become involved, in which case the swelling extends forward as well as backward. Thus the disease may result in destructive disorders of the liver, lungs, and, above all, of the joints.

The disease may usually be warded off or rendered simple and comparatively harmless by applying antiseptics to the navel string at birth (carbolic acid 1 part, water and glycerin 5 parts each, or wood tar). Later, antiseptics may be freely used (hyposulphite of soda 4 drams, water 1 quart) as an application to the surface and as an injection into the urachus, or even into the bladder if the two still communicate. If they no longer communicate, a stronger injection may be used (tincture of chlorid of iron 60 drops, alcohol 1 ounce). Several weeks will be required for complete recovery.

ABSCESS OF THE NAVEL.

As the result of irritation at calving or by the withered cord, or by licking with the rough tongue of the cow, inflammation may attack the loose connective tissue of the navel to the exclusion of the urachus and veins, and go on to the formation of matter. In this case a firm swelling appears as large as the fist, which softens in the center and may finally burst and discharge. The opening, however, is usually small and may close prematurely, so that abscess after abscess is formed. It is distinguished from hernia by the fact that it can not be returned into the abdomen, and from inflammations of the veins and urachus by the absence of swellings forward and backward along the lines of these canals.

Treatment consists in an early opening of the abscess by a free incision and the injection twice a day of an astringent antiseptic (chlorid of zinc one-half dram, water 1 pint).

INFLAMMATION OF THE NAVEL VEINS (UMBILICAL PHLEBITIS).

In this affection of the navel the inflammation may start directly from mechanical injury, as in either of the two forms just described, but on this are inoculated infective microbes, derived from a retained and putrefying afterbirth, an abortion, a metritis, a fetid discharge from the womb, an unhealthy open sore, a case of erysipelas, from overcrowding, from filthy floor or bedding, or from an offensive accumulation of manure, solid or liquid. As the microbes vary in different cases, given outbreaks will differ materially in their nature. One is erysipelatoid; another purulent infection with the tendency to secondary abscesses in the joints, liver, lungs, etc.; another is from a septic germ and is associated with fetid discharge from the navel and general putrid blood poisoning. In estimating the causes of the disease we must not omit debility of the calf when the mother has been underfed or badly housed or when either she or the fetus has been diseased.

Symptoms.--The symptoms vary. With the chain-form germs (streptococci) the navel becomes intensely red, with a very firm, painful swelling, ending abruptly at the edges in sound skin and extending forward along the umbilical veins. The secondary diseases are circumscribed, black engorgements (infarctions) or abscesses of the liver, lungs, kidneys, bowels, or other internal organs, and sometimes disease of the joints.

With the ordinary pus-producing germs (Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes) the local inflammation in the navel causes a hot, painful swelling, which rapidly advances to the formation of matter (pus), and the raw, exposed surface, at first bright red, becomes dark red or black, soft, friable, and pultaceous. If the pus is white, creamy, and comparatively inoffensive in odor, the secondary formations in internal organs and joints are mainly of the same purulent character (secondary abscesses).

If, on the other hand, the discharge is very offensive and the pus more serous, watery, or bloody, there is reason to suspect the presence of some of the septic bacteria, and the results on the general system are a high fever and softening of the liver and spleen and no tendency to abscesses of the internal organs. Diarrhea is a common symptom, and death ensues early, the blood after death being found unclotted.

Complicated cases are common, and in all alike the umbilical veins usually remain open and can be explored by a probe passed at first upward and then forward toward the liver.

Prevention is sought by applying a lotion of carbolic acid or iodin solution to the navel string at birth, or it may be smeared with common wood tar, which is at once antiseptic and a protective covering against germs. In the absence of either a strong decoction of oak bark may be used.

Local treatment consists in the application of antiseptic to the surface and their injection into the vein. As a lotion carbolic acid, 1 ounce in a quart of strong decoction of oak bark, should be used, or salicylic acid or salol may be sprinkled on the surface. The interior of the vein should be swabbed out with a probe wrapped around with cotton wool and dipped in boracic salicylic acid.

If complications have extended to the liver or other internal organs, or the joints, other treatment will be demanded. In acute cases of general infection an early fatal result is to be expected.

PYEMIC AND SEPTICEMIC INFLAMMATION OF JOINTS IN CALVES (JOINT ILL).

This occurs in young calves within the first month after birth. It persists in the joints when once attacked, and is usually connected with disease of the navel. Rheumatism, on the other hand, rarely occurs in a calf under a month old. It tends to shift from joint to joint, and is independent of any navel disease. Again, it affects the fibrous structures of the joints, and rarely results in the formation of white matter, while the affection before named attacks the structures outside as well as inside the joints and, above all, the ends of the bones, and tends to the destruction and crumbling of their tissue, and even to the formation of open sores, through which the fragile bones are exposed. The microbes from the unhealthy and infected wound in the navel pass into the system through the veins, or lymphatics, and form colonies and local inflammations and abscesses in and around the joints.

Symptoms.--The symptoms are the swelling of one or more joints, which are very hot and tender. The calf is stiff and lame, lies down constantly, and does not care to suck. There is very high fever, accelerated breathing and pulse, and there is swelling and purulent discharge (often fetid) from the navel. There may be added symptoms of disease of the liver, lungs, heart, or bowels, on which we need not here delay. The important point is to determine the condition of the navel in all such cases of diseased and swollen joints beginning in the first month of life, and in all cases of general stiffness, for besides the diseases of the internal organs there may be abscesses formed among the muscles of the trunk, though the joints appear sound. Cases of this kind, if they do not speedily die, tend to become emaciated and perish later in a state of weakness and exhaustion.

Prevention.--Prevention must begin with the purity of the buildings and the navel, as noted in the last article.

Treatment.--Treatment is in the main antiseptic. The slighter forms may be painted daily with tincture of iodin, or an ointment of biniodid of mercury (1 dram) and lard (2 ounces) may be rubbed on the affected joints daily until they are blistered. In case of swellings containing matter, this may be drawn through the nozzle of a hypodermic syringe and the following solution injected: Compound tincture of iodin, 1 dram; distilled (or boiled) water, 2 ounces. Internally the calf may take 5 grains quinin twice daily and 15 grains hyposulphite of soda, or 20 grains salicylate of soda three times a day.

UMBILICAL HERNIA (BREACH AT THE NAVEL).

This may exist at birth from imperfect closure of the muscles around the opening; it may even extend backward for a distance, from the two sides failing to come together. Apart from this, the trouble rarely appears after the calf has been some time on solid feed, as the paunch then extends down to the right immediately over the navel, and thus forms an internal pad, preventing the protrusion of intestine.

Symptoms.--The symptoms of umbilical hernia are a soft swelling at the navel, with contents that usually gurgle on handling, and can be entirely returned into the abdomen by pressure. The diseases of the navel hitherto considered have no gurgling contents and can not be completely returned into the abdomen. The only exception in the case of the hernia is when the walls of the sac have become greatly thickened. These will, of course, remain as a swelling after the bowel has been returned; and when the protruding bowel has contracted permanent adhesion to the sac, it is impossible to return it fully without first severing that connection.

Treatment.--Treatment is not always necessary. A small hernia, like an egg, in a new-born calf, usually recovers of itself as the animal changes its diet to solid feed and has the paunch fully developed as an internal pad.

In other cases apply a leather pad 8 inches square attached around the body by two elastic bands connected with its four corners, and an elastic band passing from its front border to a collar encircling the neck, and two other elastic bands from the neck collar along the two sides of the body to the two bands passing up over the back. (Pl. XXIV, fig. 6.)

For small hernias nitric acid may be used to destroy the skin and cause such swelling as to close the orifice before the skin is separated. For a mass like a large goose egg one-half ounce of the acid may be rubbed in for three minutes. No more must be applied for 15 days. For large masses this is inapplicable, and with too much loss of skin the orifice may fail to close and the bowels may escape.

The application of a clamp like those used in castration is a most effective method, but great care must be taken to see that all the contents of the sac are returned so that none may be inclosed in the clamp. (Pl. XXIV, fig. 7.)

Another most effective resort is to make a saturated solution of common salt, filter and boil it, and when cool inject under the skin (not into the sac) on each side of the hernia a dram of the fluid. A bandage may then be put around the body. In 10 hours an enormous swelling will have taken place, pressing back the bowel into the abdomen. When this subsides the wound will have closed.

DROPSY OF THE NAVEL.

A sac formed at the navel, by contained liquid accumulated by reason of sucking by other calves, is unsightly and sometimes injurious. After making sure that it is simply a dropsical collection it may be deeply punctured at various points with a large-sized lancet or knife, fomented with hot water, and then daily treated with a strong decoction of white-oak bark.

BLUE DISEASE (CYANOSIS).

This appearing in the calf at birth is due to the orifice between the two auricles of the heart (foramen ovale) remaining too open, allowing the nonaerated (venous) blood to mix with the aerated (arterial) blood, and it is beyond the reach of treatment. It is recognized by the blueness of the eyes, nose, mouth, and other mucous membranes, the coldness of the surface, and the extreme sensitiveness to cold.

CONSTIPATION.

At birth the bowels of the calf contain the meconium, a tenacious, gluey, brownish-yellow material largely derived from the liver, which must be expelled before they can start their functions normally. The first milk of the cow (colostrum, beestings), rich in albumin and salts, is nature's laxative to expel this now offensive material and should never be withheld from the calf. If, for lack of this, from the dry feeding of the cow, or from any other cause, the calf is costive, straining violently without passage, lying down and rising as in colic, and failing in appetite, no time should be lost in giving relief by an ounce dose of castor oil, assisting its action by injections of soapsuds or oil. Whatever meconium is within reach of the finger should be carefully removed. It is also important to give the cow a sloppy, laxative diet.

INDIGESTION.

This may occur from many different causes, as costiveness; a too liberal supply of milk; milk too rich; the furnishing of the milk of a cow long after calving to a very young calf; allowing a calf to suck the first milk of a cow that has been hunted, driven by road, shipped by rail, or otherwise violently excited; allowing the calf too long time between meals, so that impelled by hunger it quickly overloads and clogs the stomach; feeding from the pail milk that has been held over in unwashed (unscalded) buckets, so that it is fermented and spoiled; feeding the milk of cows kept on unwholesome feed; keeping the calves in cold, damp, dark, filthy, or bad-smelling pens; feeding the calves on artificial mixtures containing too much starchy matter; or overfeeding the calves on artificial feed that may be appropriate enough in smaller quantity. The licking of hair from themselves or others and its formation into balls in the stomach will cause obstinate indigestion in the calf.

Symptoms.--The symptoms are dullness, indisposition to move, uneasiness, eructations of gas from the stomach, sour breath, entire loss of appetite, lying down and rising as if in pain, fullness of the abdomen, which gives out a drumlike sound when tapped with the fingers.

The costiveness may be marked at first, but soon it gives place to diarrhea, by which the offensive matters may be carried off and health restored. In other cases it becomes aggravated, merges into inflammation of the bowels, fever sets in, and the calf gradually sinks.

Prevention.--Prevention consists in avoiding the causes enumerated above or any others that may be detected.

Treatment.--Treatment consists in first clearing away the irritant present in the bowels. For this purpose 1 or 2 ounces of castor oil with 20 drops of laudanum may be given, and if the sour eructations are marked a tablespoonful of limewater or one-fourth ounce calcined magnesia may be given and repeated two or three times a day. If the disorder continues after the removal of the irritant, a large tablespoonful of rennet, or 30 grains of pepsin, may be given at each meal along with a teaspoonful of tincture of gentian. Any return of constipation must be treated by injections of warm water and soap, while the persistence of diarrhea must be met as advised under the discussion following this. In case of the formation of loose hair balls inclosing milk undergoing putrid fermentation, temporary benefit may be obtained by giving a tablespoonful of vegetable charcoal three or four times a day, but the only real remedy is to cut the paunch open and extract them. At this early age they may be found in the third or even the fourth stomach; in the adult they are confined to the first two and are comparatively harmless.

DIARRHEA (SCOURING) IN CALVES (SIMPLE AND CONTAGIOUS).

As stated in the last article, scouring is a common result of indigestion, and at first may be nothing more than an attempt of nature to relieve the stomach and bowels of offensive and irritating contents. As the indigestion persists, however, the fermentations going on in the undigested masses become steadily more complex and active, and what was at first the mere result of irritation or suspended digestion comes to be a genuine contagious disease, in which the organized ferments (bacteria) propagate the affection from animal to animal and from herd to herd. More than once I have seen such epizootic diarrhea start on the headwaters of a creek and, traveling along that stream, follow the watershed and attack the herds supplied with water from the contaminated channel. In the same way the disease, once started in a cow stable, is liable to persist for years, or until the building has been thoroughly cleansed and disinfected. It may be carried into a healthy stable by the introduction of a cow brought from an infected stable when she is closely approaching calving. Another method of its introduction is by the purchase of a calf from a herd where the infection exists.

In enumerating the other causes of this disease we may refer to those noted above as inducing indigestion. As a primary consideration any condition which lowers the vitality or vigor of the calf must be accorded a prominent place among factors which, apart from contagion, contribute to start the disease de novo. Other things being equal, the strong, vigorous races are the least predisposed to the malady, and in this respect the compact form, the healthy coat, the clear eye, and the bold, active carriage are desirable. Even the color of the hair is not unimportant, as in the same herd I have found a far greater number of victims among the light colors (light yellow, light brown) than among those of a darker tint. This constitutional predisposition to indigestion and diarrhea is sometimes fostered by too close breeding, without taking due account of the maintenance of a robust constitution; hence animals that are very much inbred need to be especially observed and cared for unless their inherent vigor has been thoroughly attested.

The surroundings of the calf are powerful influences. Calves kept indoors suffer to a greater extent than those running in the open air and having the invigorating influences of sunshine, pure air, and exercise; close, crowded, filthy, bad-smelling buildings are especially causative of the complaint. The presence in the air of carbon dioxid, the product of breathing, and of the fetid, gaseous products of decomposing dung and urine diminish by about one-fourth of their volume the life-giving oxygen and in the same ratio hinder the aeration of the blood and the maintenance of vigorous health. Worse than this, such fetid gases are usually direct poisons to the animal breathing them; for example, sulphureted hydrogen (hydrogen sulphid 2 SH_{2}) and various alkaloids (ptomaines) and toxins (neutral poisonous principles) produced in the filth fermentations. These lower the general health and stamina, impair digestion, and by leading to the accumulation in stomach and bowels of undigested materials they lay the foundation for offensive fermentations within these organs and consequent irritation, poisoning, and diarrhea. They further weaken the system so that it can no longer resist and overcome the trouble.

The condition of the nursing cow and her milk is another potent cause of trouble. The feed of the cow is important. The influence of this is shown in the following tables:

Influence of feed on milk. (From Becquerel and Vernois.)

+--------------------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+ | | | Casein | | | |Character of feed. | Water. | and | Milk | | | | |extractive| sugar. | Butter.| Salts. | | | matter. | | | +--------------------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+ | |_Parts |_Parts |_Parts |_Parts |Parts | |in 1,000 in 1,000_|in 1,000_in 1,000_in 1,000_ |Cows on winter feed: | | | | | | Trefoil or lucern, 12-13| | | | | | pounds; oat straw, 9-10 | | | | | | pounds; beets, 7 pounds;| | | | | | water, 2 buckets | 871.26 | 47.81 | 33.47 | 42.07 | 5.34 |Cows on summer feed: | | | | | | Green trefoil, lucern, | | | | | | maize, barley, grass, | | | | | | 2 buckets water | 859.56 | 54.70 | 36.38 | 42.76 | 6.80 |Goat's milk on different | | | | | | feed: | | | | | | On straw and trefoil | 858.68 | 47.38 | 35.47 | 52.54 | 5.93 | On beets | 888.77 | 33.81 | 38.02 | 33.68 | 5.72 |Normal mean | 844.90 | 35.14 | 36.90 | 56.87 | 6.18 | | | | | | +--------------------------+--------+----------+--------+--------+--------+

In these examples the deterioration of the milk in casein on the less nutritious winter feeding is very marked, although the relative quantity of butter remains almost unchanged. In the case of the goat the result is even more striking, the beet diet giving a very large decrease of both casein and butter and an increase of milk sugar.

The second table following, condensed from the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin, gives the results in butter and total solids when the same cows were fed on different rations in succession. Each cow was fed a daily ration of 12 pounds corn fodder and 4 pounds clover hay, besides the test diet of (1) 12-1/4 pounds corn-and-cob meal, and (2) 10 pounds sugar meal--a product of the glucose manufacture. This special feed was given seven days before the commencement of each test period to obviate the effects of transition. The analyses of the special rations are given below:

Analyses of special rations.

------------------------------+--------------+-----------+ Constituents. | Corn-and-cob | Sugar | | meal. | meal. | ------------------------------+--------------+-----------+ | Per cent. |Per cent.| Moisture | 13.37 | 6.10 | Salts | 1.43 | 1.17 | Fat | 2.81 | 11.16 | Carbohydrates (heat formers). | 65.99 | 52.66 | Woody fiber | 8.03 | 8.64 | Proteids (flesh formers) | 8.37 | 20.27 | ------------------------------+--------------+-----------+

The great excess of fat and nitrogenous or flesh-forming principles in the sugar meal is very evident.

Influence of feed on milk. (Iowa station.)

------------------------+-------+----+-------+------+-------+------------ | | | | | |Ratio of fat Animal. | Milk. |Fat.|Solids.| Fat. |Solids.|to solids | | | | | |not fat. ------------------------+-------+----+-------+------+-------+------------ _Pounds__Pct_| Pct _Pounds_Pounds_| Grade Shorthorn cow: | | | | | | First period, 21 days,| | | | | | corn-and-cob meal | 631.25|3.43| 11.57 |21.67 | 73.02 |422.0:1,000 Second period, 21 days| | | | | | sugar meal | 641.50|4.04| 12.53 |25.93 | 83.38 |476.2:1,000 Third period, 21 days,| | | | | | corn-and-cob meal | 559.00|3.22| 11.86 |17.97 | 66.32 |371.7:1,000 Grade Shorthorn cow: | | | | | | First period, 21 days,| | | | | | corn-and-cob meal | 604.75|3.57| 11.95 |21.56 | 72.28 |425.1:1,000 Second period, 21 days| | | | | | sugar meal | 582.00|3.91| 12.37 |22.74 | 72.57 |456.3:1,000 Third period, 21 days,| | | | | | corn-and-cob meal | 527.00|3.37| 12.05 |17.78 | 63.48 |389.1:1,000 Grade Shorthorn cow: | | | | | | First period, 21 days,| | | | | | sugar meal | 753.50|3.97| 12.43 |29.94 | 93.67 |469.8:1,000 Second period, 21 days| | | | | | corn-and-cob meal | 601.50|3.15| 11.45 |18.97 | 68.89 |380.0:1,000 Third period, 21 days,| | | | | | sugar meal | 560.50|3.85| 12.16 |21.58 | 68.16 |463.3:1,000 Grade Holstein cow: | | | | | | First period, 21 days,| | | | | | sugar meal | 487.50|4.15| 13.27 |20.25 | 64.69 |455.6:1,000 Second period, 21 days| | | | | | corn-and-cob meal | 379.00|3.51| 12.69 |13.30 | 48.09 |382.3:1,000 Third period, 21 days,| | | | | | sugar meal | 374.50|3.72| 13.01 |13.95 | 48.74 |401.0:1,000 ------------------------+-------+----+-------+------+-------+------------

Here we see in every instance a marked relative increase of the butter, and to a less extent of the other milk solids whenever the sugar meal--rich in fat and albuminoids--was furnished. The opposite theory having been largely taught, it becomes needful thus to sustain the old and well-founded belief of the dairymen.

Not only does the richness of the milk vary with the nature of the food, but it varies also according to the time of the day when it is drawn, the morning milk giving 7-1/2 per cent of cream and the evening milk 9-1/2 per cent (Hassall). Boedecker found that the morning milk had 10 per cent of solids, while the evening milk had 13 per cent. Again, the milk first drawn at any milking is always poorer than the last drawn. The first may have only one-half, or in extreme cases one-fourth, the cream of the last. Once more, when the cow is in heat the milk becomes richer in solids (casein and butter), and contains granular and white blood cells like the colostrum, and often disagrees with the young animal living on it. Now, while these various modifications in the amount of solid matters may prove harmless to a strong and vigorous calf, they can easily be the occasion of intestinal disorder in a weaker one, or in one with health already somewhat impaired by sickness, exposure, or unwholesome buildings. The casein of the cow's milk coagulates in one solid mass, and is much less easily penetrated by the digesting fluids than the fine, flaky coagula of woman's or mare's milk. An excess of casein, therefore, thrown on an already overtaxed stomach can all the more readily induce disorder. So it is with butter fat. While a most important element in nutrition, it may be present in the stomach in such quantity as to interfere with the action of the gastric juice on the casein, and with the interruption of the natural stomach digestion the fats themselves undergo decomposition with the production of offensive and irritating fatty acids.

The milk of the very young cow is usually more watery than that of the mature animal, and that of the old cow has a greater liability to become acid. It varies much with the breed, the Channel Island cattle being notorious for the relatively large quantity of cream, while the Holsteins, Ayrshires, and Shorthorns are remarkable rather for the quantity of casein. The milk of cows fed on potatoes and grass is very poor and watery; that from cows fed on cabbage or Swedish turnips has a disagreeable taste and odor (from the former an offensive liquid has been distilled).

Cows fed on overkept, fermented, and soured rations have acid milk, which readily turns and coagulates. Thus old, long-kept brewer's grains, swill, the refuse of glucose factories, and ensilage which has been put up too green all act in this way. The same may come from disease in the cow's udder, or any general disease of the cow with attendant fever, and in all such cases the tendency is to rapid change and unwholesomeness. If the milk is drawn and fed from a pail, there is the added danger of all sorts of poisonous ferments getting into it and multiplying; it may be from the imperfect cleansing and scalding of the pail; from rinsing the pails with water that is impure; from the entrance of bacterial ferments floating in the filthy atmosphere of the stable, or from the entrance of the volatile chemical products of fermentation.

In addition to the dangers coming through the milk, the calf suffers in its digestive powers from any temporary illness, and among others from the excitement attendant on the cutting of teeth, and impaired digestion means fermentations in the undigested masses and the excessive production of poisonous ptomaines and toxins.

Whatever may be the starting or predisposing cause of this malady, when once established it is liable to perpetuate itself by contagion and to prove a veritable plague in a herd or a district.

Symptoms.--The symptoms of a diarrhea may appear so promptly after birth as to lead to the idea that the cause already existed in the body of the calf, and it usually shows itself before the end of the second week. It may be preceded by constipation, as in retained meconium, or by fetid eructations and colicky pains, as in acute indigestion. The tail is stained by the liquid dejections, which are at first simply soft and mixed with mucus with a sour odor, accompanied with a peculiar and characteristic fetor (suggesting rotten cheese), which continually grows worse. The quantity of water and mucus steadily increases, the normal predominance of fatty matters becoming modified by the presence of considerable undigested casein, which is not present in the normal feces, and in acute cases death may result in one or two days from the combined drain on the system and the poisoning by the absorbed products of the decomposition in the stomach and bowels. When the case is prolonged the passages, at first 5 or 6 a day, increase to 15 or 20, and pass with more and more straining, so that they are projected from the animal in a liquid stream. The color of the feces, at first yellow, becomes a lighter grayish yellow or a dirty white (hence the name white scour), and the fetor becomes intolerable.

At first the calf retains its appetite, but as the severity of the disease increases the animal shows less and less disposition to suck, and has lost all vivacity, lying dull and listless, and, when raised, walking weakly and unsteadily. Flesh is lost rapidly, the hair stands erect, the skin gets dry and scurfy, the nose is dry and hot, or this condition alternates with a moist and cool one. By this time the mouth and skin, as well as the breath and dung, exhale the peculiar, penetrating, sour, offensive odor, and the poor calf has become an object of disgust to all that approach it. At first, and unless inflammation of the stomach and bowels supervenes (and unless the affection has started in indigestion and colic), the belly is not bloated or painful on pressure, symptoms of acute colicky pains are absent, and the bowels do not rumble; neither are bubbles of gas mingled with the feces. The irritant products of the intestinal fermentations may, however, irritate and excoriate the skin around the anus, which becomes red, raw, and broken out in sores for some distance. Similarly the rectum, exposed by reason of the relaxed condition of the anus, or temporarily in straining to pass the liquid dejection, is of a more or less deep red, and it may be ulcerated. Fever, with rapid pulse and increased breathing and temperature, usually comes on with the very fetid character of the feces and is more pronounced as the bowels become inflamed, the abdomen sore to the touch and tucked up, and the feces more watery and even mixed with blood.

Prevention.--The prevention of these cases is the prevention of constipation and indigestion, with all their varied causes as above enumerated, the selection of a strong, vigorous stock, and, above all, the combating of contagion, especially in the separation of the sick from the healthy, and in the thorough purification and disinfection of the buildings. The cleansing and sweetening of all drains, the removal of dung heaps, and the washing and scraping of floors and walls, followed by a liberal application of chlorid of lime (bleaching powder), 4 ounces to the gallon, are indicated. Great care must be exercised in the feeding of the cow to have sound and wholesome feed and water, so apportioned as to make the milk neither too rich nor too poor, and to her health, so that the calf may be saved from the evil consequences of poisonous principles that may be produced in the body of the cow. The calves should be carefully kept apart from all calving cows and their discharges. Similarly each calf must have special attention to see that its nurse gives milk which agrees with it, and that this is furnished at suitable times. If allowed to suck, it should either be left with the cow or be fed three times a day. If it becomes hungry twice a day, it is more liable to overload and derange the stomach, and if left too long hungry it is tempted to take in unsuitable and unwholesome feed, for which its stomach is as yet unprepared. So, if fed from the pail, it is safer to do so three times daily than twice. There should be the utmost cleanliness of feeding dishes, and the feeder must be ever on the alert to prevent the strong and hungry from drinking the milk of the weaker in addition to their own. In case the cow nurse has been subjected to any great excitement by reason of travel, hunting, or carrying, the first milk she yields thereafter should be used for some other purpose and only the second allowed to the calf. Indeed, one and all of the conditions indicated above as causes should be judiciously guarded against.

Treatment.--Treatment varies according to the nature and stage of the disease. When the disease is not widespread, but isolated cases only occur, it may be assumed to be a simple diarrhea and is easily dealt with. The first object is to remove the irritant matter from stomach and bowels, and for this 1 or 2 ounces of castor oil may be given, according to the size of the calf. Reduce the milk by one-half or two-thirds. If the stools smell particularly sour, the milk may be replaced by 1 ounce calcined magnesia, and in any case a tablespoonful or two of limewater must be given with each meal. Great harm is often done by giving opium and astringents at the outset. These serve merely to bind up the bowels and retain the irritant source of the trouble; literally, "to shut up the wolf in the sheep-fold." When the offending agents have been expelled in this way, carminatives and demulcent agents may be given--1 dram of anise water, 1 dram nitrate of bismuth, and 1 dram of gum arabic, three times a day. Under such course the consistency of the stools should increase until in a day or two they become natural.

If, however, the outbreak is more general and evidently the result of contagion, the first consideration is to remove all sources of such contamination. Test the milk of the cow with blue litmus paper; if it reddens, reject the milk until by sound, dry feeding, with perhaps a course of hyposulphite of soda and gentian root, the milk is made alkaline. The castor oil or magnesia will be demanded to clear away the (now infecting) irritants, but they should be combined with antiseptics, and, while the limewater and the carminative mixture may still be used, a most valuable addition will be found in the following: Calomel, 10 grains; prepared chalk, 1 ounce; creosote, 1 teaspoonful; mix, divide into 10 parts, and give one four times a day. Or the following may be given four times a day: One dram Dover's powder, 6 grains powdered ipecacuanha; mix, divide into 10 equal parts. Injections of solutions of gum arabic are often useful, and if the anus is red and excoriated, one-half dram of copperas may be added to each pint of the gummy solution. All the milk given must be boiled, and if that does not agree, eggs made into an emulsion with barley water may be substituted. As the feces lose their watery character and become more consistent, tincture of gentian in doses of 2 teaspoonfuls may be given three or four times a day. Counter-irritants, such as mustard, ammonia, or oil of turpentine, may be rubbed on the abdomen when it becomes tender to the touch.

ACUTE CONTAGIOUS SCOURING IN THE NEWBORN.

The most violent and deadly form of diarrhea in the newborn calf deserves a special mention. This may appear immediately after birth, and shows itself almost invariably within the first or second day. The most intense symptoms of white scour are complicated by great dullness, weakness, and prostration, sunken eyes, retracted belly, short, hurried breathing, and very low temperature, the calf lying on its side, with the head resting on the ground, lethargic and unconscious or regardless of all around it. The bowel discharges are profuse, yellowish white, and very offensive. As a rule death ensues within 24 to 36 hours.

A marked characteristic of this form of illness is that it attacks almost every calf born in the herd, or in the building, rather, and if the calf escapes an attack in the first two or three days of its life it usually survives. Those that recover from an attack, however, are liable one or two weeks later to suffer from an infective inflammation of the lungs. The infection clings to a stable for years, in many cases rendering it impossible to preserve and raise the calves. It has frequently coincided with abortions and failures to conceive in the same herd, so that it has been thought that the same infective germ produces one type of abortion. On the other hand, the removal of the calving cow from the herd to calve in a separate building, hitherto unused and therefore uninfected, usually effects the escape and survival of the offspring.

The disease has been traced by Nocard and LigniËres to a small bacillus having the general characters of those that produce hemorrhagic septicemia, which is usually combined with a variety of others, but is in some cases alone and in pure culture, especially in the joints. The theory of LigniËres is that this bacillus is the primary offender, and that once introduced it so depresses the vital powers of the system and tissue cells that the healthy resistance to other bacteria is impaired or suspended, and hence the general and deadly invasion of the latter.

Inoculations with this bacillus killed guinea pigs or rabbits in 6 to 18 hours, and calves in 30 hours, with symptoms and lesions of hemorrhagic septicemia, including profuse fetid diarrhea.

The predominance of the early and deadly lesions in the alimentary tract would seem to imply infection through the feed, and the promptitude of the attack after birth, together with the frequent coincidence of contagious abortion in the herd, suggest the presence of the germ in the cow; yet the escape of the calf when the cow calves in a fresh building is equally suggestive of the infection through germs laid up in the building. This conclusion is further sustained by the observation that the bacillus evidently enters by the raw, unhealed navel, that it is diffused in the blood, and that a very careful preservation of the navel against infection gives immunity from attack.

Prevention.--The disease is so certainly and speedily fatal that it is hopeless to expect recovery, and therefore prevention is the rational resort.

When a herd is small, the removal of the dam to a clean, unused stable a few days before calving and her retention there for a week usually succeeds. It is in the large herd that the disease is mainly to be dreaded, however, and in this it is impossible to furnish new and pure stables for each successive group of two or three calving cows. The thorough disinfection of the general stable ought to succeed, yet I have seen the cleanest and purest stable repeatedly disinfected with corrosive sublimate without stopping the malady. It would appear as if the germ lodged on the surface or in the bowels of the cow and tided the infection over the period of stable disinfection. Though insufficient of themselves, the supply of separate calving boxes and the frequent thorough cleaning and disinfection of both these and the stables should not be neglected. The most important measure, however, is the disinfection of the navel.

The cow should be furnished with abundance of dry, clean bedding, sprinkled with a solution of carbolic acid. As soon as calving sets in the tail and hips and anus and vulva should be sponged with a carbolic-acid solution (one-half ounce to the quart), and the vagina injected with a weaker solution (2 drams to the quart). Fresh carbolized bedding should be constantly supplied, so that the calf may be dropped on that and not on soaked litter nor manure. The navel string should be at once tied with a cord that has been taken from a strong solution of carbolic acid. The stump of the cord and the adjacent skin should then be washed with the following solution: Iodin, one-half dram; iodid of potassium, one-half dram; water, 1 quart. When dry it may be covered with a coating of collodion or tar, each containing 1 per cent of iodin.

Whenever a calf shows any sign of scouring it should be instantly removed to another pen and building, and the vacated one should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. Different attendants should take care of the sound calves and the infected ones, and all utensils, litter, etc., kept scrupulously apart.

After one week the healthy calves may usually be safely herded together, or they may be safely placed in the cow stable.

OTHER AILMENTS OF THE CALF.

Among these may be named several congenital imperfections, such as imperforate anus, vulva, or prepuce, which are to be recognized by the inability to pass dung or urine, in spite of straining, and the formation of swellings in the anus, vulva, or sheath. Each must be carefully incised with the knife, taking care not to injure the muscles which circumscribe the respective openings; also tongue-tie, in which the thin, flaccid, mucous membrane passing from the median line of the lower surface of the tongue binds the latter too closely to the floor of the mouth and renders the tongue unfit for gathering in the food in after life. This must be cut with knife or scissors, so as to give the tongue a reasonable degree of liberty.

APHTHA, or THRUSH, is another trouble of the sucking calf, showing itself as a white, curdy elevation on the tongue, lips, cheeks, or gums, and when detached leaving a raw, red, angry surface. It is due to the growth of a vegetable parasite long recognized as the OÔdium albicans (Saccharomyces albicans). It is easily removed by rubbing with powdered borax, but inasmuch as other colonies are liable to start either in the mouth or in the pharynx, gullet, or stomach, it is well to give a dose of one-half dram of hyposulphite of soda in water day by day for several days.

RICKETS is not a common disease in calves, and comes on, if at all, later than those we have been considering. It consists in softening and friability of the bones from a deficiency of lime salts, and appears to be mainly connected with an inherited weakness of constitution, unsuitable feeding, cold, close, damp buildings, microbian infection, and other conditions inimical to health. The prevention and treatment of rickets consists essentially in the improvement of the digestion and general health; hence sunshine, open air, exercise, nourishing food, and tonics are indicated. (See p. 267.)

BONES: DISEASES AND ACCIDENTS.

By V. T. ATKINSON, V. S.

[Revised by John R. Mohler, V. M. D.]

Some knowledge of the skeleton is advisable to facilitate the study of diseases of bones and the accidental injuries to which they are exposed. The skeleton of the adult ox is made up of the following number of bones:

Spinal column 45 Head 28 Chest 27 Shoulder 2-- 1 on each side. Arm 2-- 1 on each side. Forearm 4-- 2 on each side. Forefoot 40--20 on each side. Pelvis 2-- 1 on each side. Thigh 2-- 1 on each side. Leg 6-- 3 on each side. Hind foot 38--19 on each side. ---- Total 196

Without attempting to burden the reader with the technical names and a scientific classification of each, it appears desirable to describe some of the characteristics of forms in general and of a few classes into which they may be divided, leaving the special study of individual bones to the illustrations of the skeleton (Pl. XXV), which will serve better than a great deal of writing to fix in the mind of the reader the location, relation, and function of each one. In early fetal life the place of bone is supplied by temporary cartilage, which gradually changes to bone. For convenience of study, bones may be said to be composed of a form of dense connective tissue impregnated with lime salts and to contain two elementary constituents--the organic or animal and the inorganic or earthy. In young animals the former predominates; with increasing years the relative proportions of the two change, so that when advanced age is reached the proportion of inorganic far exceeds the organic. The gradual change with advancing years from organic to inorganic has the effect of rendering the bone harder and more brittle, and though it is stronger, the reparative process is slower when injury does occur.

The bones are nourished in two ways: First, from the outside through their covering, called the periosteum--the thin, strong membrane that covers every part of the bone except the articular surface of the joints; and, second, from within through the minute branches of blood vessels which pass into the bones through holes (foramina) on their surface and are distributed in the soft structure (medulla) of the inside. The structure of the bone is divided into two parts--the compact or hard material of the outside, which gives strength and is more abundant in the shafts of long bones, and the cancellated, softer tissue of the inside, which affords accommodation to the blood vessels necessary for the nourishment of that part of the structure.

In shape, bones are divided into three classes--long, flat, and short. The long bones are the ribs and those mostly found in the limbs; the flat bones are found in the head, the shoulder, and the pelvis; the short bones in the spinal column and in the lower portions of the limbs.

With this little introduction, which seems almost indispensable, we will proceed at once to the consideration of diseases of bones, for they undergo disease processes like any other living tissue.

OSTEITIS.

Inflammation of the compact structure of bones (osteitis) may be either acute or chronic, and may involve the whole extent of the bone affected or may be confined to only a portion of it. This inflammation results from injury, such as concussion, laceration, or a crushing bruise; also from specific influences, as in actinomycosis (lumpy jaw) or cases of foul foot. The latter affection frequently involves the bones, and for this reason the pastern is the most frequent seat of osteitis. There is dull pain on pressure and a painful swelling of bone when pus is present. Suppuration may involve the overlying soft tissues, causing an abscess, which may finally break through the skin. The inflammatory condition sometimes assumes an ulcerated form (caries) or from interrupted nutrition of the part deprived of the blood necessary to its nourishment may cause death of a large section of bone (necrosis); this dead fragment (sequestrum), becoming separated from the main portion of bone, acts as a foreign body.

Treatment.--This consists in resting the affected part and in giving vent at the earliest possible moment to whatever pus may be present. Free drainage should then be maintained. Apply dressings of lactic acid or inject with 5 per cent zinc-chlorid solution and pack with tampons of cotton soaked in antiseptic solutions. A laxative to keep the bowels moving freely is the only internal treatment necessary.

PERIOSTITIS.

This disease is an inflammation of the external covering of bone (periosteum) and is usually produced by wounds, pressure, or crushing the part. The periosteum is well supplied with sensitive nerve endings and when inflamed is very sensitive to pressure and may cause lameness. This condition is often difficult to determine, and even an acute observer may fail to locate the point of its existence. There are three forms of periostitis--aseptic, purulent, and fibrous.

ASEPTIC PERIOSTITIS when it becomes chronic causes such a bony enlargement (exostosis) as is seen in the callous formation following the fracture of a bone. The formation of such a tumor or enlargement on the surface of a bone is liable to occur in any part of the bone covered with periosteum, and when found near a joint involving two or more bones it is liable to result in their union (anchylosis).

Treatment.--Applications of cold water to check the inflammatory processes is indicated for the first few days in aseptic periostitis, followed by hot fomentations to hurry resorption of fluids. Massage should then be given with camphor ointment, mercurial ointment, soap liniment, or Lugol's solution. In the chronic form point firing or a biniodid-of-mercury blister will be found beneficial.

PURULENT PERIOSTITIS follows wounds which reach the periosteum and become infected, as observed in compound fractures, or it may result from advancing purulent conditions in neighboring structures, as in foul foot. It may also occur in the course of an infectious disease, when small abscesses are formed under the periosteum (subperiosteal abscess). It may lead to necrosis of the bone or a fistulous tract from the bone to the surface. There is usually much pain and fever, and the odor from the wound is offensive.

Treatment.--In this form of periostitis the periosteum should be freely incised, followed either by continuous irrigation or frequent injection of the wound with antiseptic solutions.

FIBROUS PERIOSTITIS.--This form of the disease consists in the thickening of the outer layer of the periosteum from the inflammation reaching it from neighboring structures. This newly formed fibrous tissue may become ossified or may transmit the inflammation to the deeper bony structures. It is frequently seen in cases in which there has been an intense inflammation of the skin close to an underlying bone.

Treatment.--The treatment should be the same as that recommended for aseptic periostitis.

OSTEOMYELITIS.

This term refers to an inflammation of the bone marrow, which is most commonly seen following the bacterial infection of a compound fracture and usually results in pus formation. The bone is melted away and pus escapes from the bone under the periosteum, involving the soft tissues. It is principally confined to the long bones and seldom affects more than one.

Treatment.--The bone should be opened for the purpose of curetting out the diseased portion of the marrow cavity and removing all the necrotic pieces of bone. This should be undertaken only by a competent veterinarian. The after-treatment consists in tamponing the wound with pledgets of iodoform gauze or a mixture of iodoform 1 part and glycerin 4 parts. The wound in the soft tissue should be kept open until the cavity in the bone has filled with granulation tissue.

RICKETS.

This disease, also called "rachitis," is an inflammatory affection of young, growing bones, and mostly involves the ribs and long bones of the legs. It consists in a failure of the organism to deposit lime salts in bone, and for this reason the bones do not ossify so rapidly as they should. The cartilaginous ends of the bones grow rapidly, but ossification does not keep pace with it. The bones become long and their ends bend at the joints, the legs become crooked, and the joints are large and irregular. All the bones affected with this disease are thicker than normal, and the gait of the animal is stiff and painful. A row of bony enlargements may be found where the ribs articulate with the cartilages connecting them with the breastbone and is called the "beaded line." A catarrhal condition of the digestive tract is usually observed. The disease may result from an inherited weakness of constitution, poor hygienic surroundings, or improper diet. Calves and foals are less frequently affected with rickets than dogs and pigs.

Treatment.--The affected animal should have nourishing feed containing a proper quantity of lime salts. Outdoor exercise and plenty of fresh air are indispensable. Limewater should be given once daily for drinking purposes and ground bone meal mixed with the food. Phosphorus, one-fortieth of a grain, and calcium phosphate, 1 dram, given twice daily to a 2-month-old calf, and proportionally increased for older animals, has proved efficacious in this disease. In some cases the long bones of the limbs are too weak at birth to support the weight of the animal, and temporary splints, carefully padded and wrapped on with some soft bandages, become necessary.

OSTEOMALACIA (CREEPS).

This is a condition of bone brittleness or softening of bone found usually in adult life. It consists in the decalcification of mature bone, with the advancing diminution of the compact portion of bone by absorption. The periosteum strips very easily from the bone. This disease is seen in milch cows during the period of heavy lactation or in the later stages of pregnancy, and the greater the yield of milk the more rapid the progress of the disease. Heifers with their first calves are frequently affected, as these animals require a considerable quantity of mineral salts for their own growth and for the nourishment of their offspring.

Symptoms.--In marked cases there is a gradual emaciation and symptoms of gastrointestinal catarrh, with depraved appetite, the animal eating manure, decayed wood, dirt, leather, etc. Muscular weakness is prominent, together with muscle tremors, which simulate chills, but are not accompanied with any rise of temperature. The animal has a stiff, laborious gait; there is pain and swelling of the joints, and constant shifting of the weight from one leg to another. The restricted movements of the joints are frequently accompanied with a crackling sound, which has caused the name of "creeps" to be applied to the disease. The coat is dull and rough and the skin dry and hidebound. The animal is subject to frequent sprains or fracture of bones without apparent cause, as in lying down or turning around, and when such fractures occur they are difficult to unite. The bones principally involved are the upper bones of the legs, the haunch bone, and the middle bones of the spinal column. The disease in this country is confined to localized areas in the Southwest, known as the "alkali districts," and in the old dairy sections of New York State. The cause of this affection is the insufficiency of lime salts in the food, also to feeding hay of low, damp pastures, kitchen slops, and potatoes, or to overstocking lands. It occurs on old, worn-out soil poor in lime salts, and has also been observed to follow a dry season.

Treatment.--This should consist in a change of feed and the artificial feeding of lime salts, such as magnesium and sodium phosphate. Feed rich in mineral salts may be given, such as beans, cowpeas, oats, cottonseed meal, or wheat bran. Cottonseed meal is one of the best feeds for this purpose, but it should be fed carefully, as too large quantities of it are injurious to cows. Phosphorus may also be given in one-fourth grain doses twice daily, together with a tablespoonful of powdered bone meal or crude calcium phosphate at each meal. Ordinary lime dissolved in drinking water (limewater) will also be found efficacious in combating this disease, and can be provided at slight expense. A change of pasture to a locality where the disease is unknown and a free supply of common salt and bone meal will be the most convenient method of treating range cattle.

SPRAINS.

The most common accident occurring to bones and joints is a sprain of the ligaments uniting the bones, or the tendons uniting the muscles and bones. A sprain is the result of a sudden forcing of a joint in an unnatural direction, or, if in a natural direction, beyond the power of the ligament or tendon to restrain it properly, so that part of the fibers of either are ruptured. When such an accident occurs pain is immediately inflicted, varying in degree with the extent of the injury, which is soon followed by swelling, with more or less heat and tenderness. If the seat of the injury be in any of the limbs, lameness is likely to result. Of the causes of sprain, slipping on ice or a wet floor, playing, and fighting with another animal are the most common.

SPRAIN OF THE SHOULDER JOINT.--This is liable to occur from any of the causes mentioned above or from the animal slipping suddenly into a rut or hole. When such an accident occurs, sudden lameness will attract attention. The animal will be noticed to drag the leg when walking and to carry it in a circular direction, outward and forward, at each step. The leg should be carefully examined, pressure over the joint causing the animal to evince pain. If the person making the examination is in doubt, it is well to make a comparison between the shoulders by pressing first on one and then the other. After such an accident the animal should be tied up so as to limit so far as possible the use of the injured joint.

Soft feed should be given with a view of keeping the bowels acting freely.

Treatment.--During the first three days the treatment should consist of cold-water irrigation to check the inflammation and relieve the pain. Hot fomentations may then be applied to hasten the absorption of the inflammatory fluids. When the pain has somewhat abated, equal parts of mercurial ointment and green soap may be rubbed into the swollen tissue. Should lameness continue after the tenth day, good results will be obtained from the application of a blister. This may be done by carefully clipping off the hair over the joint, including a surface of 4 or 5 inches in circumference, and rubbing in the following preparation:

Powdered cantharides dram 1 Biniodid of mercury do 1 Vaseline ounce 1

The animal's head should be carefully tied until the third day, to prevent its licking the blister. The blistered surface should then be smeared with lard or vaseline every other day until the scabs fall off. Gentle exercise should be allowed after the fourth or fifth day from the application of the blister. If the lameness still remains the blister may be repeated in three weeks or a month.

SPRAIN OF THE FETLOCK.--This may occur from misstep when the animal is moving rapidly, and the twisting or wrenching of the foot is sufficient to rupture partially the ligaments which bind the bones together at that part. Such an accident also frequently occurs by the foot getting fastened in a hole in the floor; the wrenching is the result of the animal's attempt to liberate it. Lameness, followed by swelling of the joint and pain when it is handled, or when the animal moves the joint, and heat, are the more noticeable symptoms. If the sprain is very severe, the animal occasionally does not bear its weight on the limb.

Treatment.--The most important consideration in the treatment of this affection is rest, which is best enforced by keeping the animal in the stall and placing strong, muslin bandages about the inflamed joint. As in the sprain of the shoulder, cold water in the form of douches, continuous irrigation with hose or soaking tub, or finely chopped ice poultices are indicated for the first three days. Following this apply a Priessnitz bandage[2] moderately tight about the joint, which not only conduces to rest, but also favors absorption. Massage with stimulating liniments, such as soap or camphor, may later be applied to the affected parts.

If the lameness has not disappeared by the tenth day, the blister advised for the sprain of the shoulder should be applied and the same precautions observed as to tying the animal's head and subsequent smearing with vaseline. When a blister is applied in this locality, the back part of the heel should be first filled with lard or vaseline, and care taken to prevent any of the blistering preparation from coming in contact with the skin of that part. If this precaution is not observed, scratches may ensue and prove troublesome.

SPRAIN OF THE HIP.--This is liable to result from the animal's slipping in such way as to spread the hind feet wide apart. The patient goes stiff in the hind legs, or lame in one hind leg, walking with a straddling gait and swinging the leg outward as it is carried forward. Tenderness may occasionally be detected on pressure, but owing to the heavy covering of muscles outside the joint this test is not always reliable.

In the acute cases give rest and cold local applications. After the fourth or fifth day the blister mentioned for sprain of the shoulder may be applied with advantage, and if this proves insufficient, as a last resort we may fire in points over the joint.

SPRAIN OF THE BACK.--Sprain of the back, particularly in the region of the loins, is not an uncommon accident among cattle. It is liable to occur from the animals slipping with both hind feet sidewise so as to twist the back, or from slipping violently backward so that great stress is thrown on the loins. The patient moves with difficulty, using the hind parts in a guarded manner, as if afraid of causing severe pain. Occasionally, if the sprain is severe, the animal will rise with difficulty. Pressure on the back in the immediate region of the loins causes pain. Such cases may be mistaken for paralysis, and, in fact, in severe cases, during the early stages of the injury, although the nerve supply is not interfered with, the injury to the muscles and resulting pain is so great that the condition is almost equal to paralysis, although liable to be attended with more favorable results. Hot applications, such as blankets wrung out of hot water and changed often, will be likely to afford relief during the earlier stages. Afterwards the blister mentioned for sprain of the shoulder may be applied with advantage.

FRACTURES (BROKEN BONES).

Bones may be accidentally broken in many ways and from different causes. Fractures in general are liable to be produced by external force suddenly and violently applied, either directly to the part or at a distance, the force being transmitted through the stronger bones until it expends itself by breaking a weaker one remote from the seat of the injury. Occasionally violent contraction of muscles is sufficient to break a bone. Certain bones, those of the limbs in particular, owing to their exposed position, are more liable to fracture than others. Owing to certain predisposing causes, such as age, habit, or hereditary constitutional weakness, the bones of some animals are more easily fractured than those of others. The bones of an animal advanced in years are more subject to fracture because of the preponderance of inorganic matter rendering them more brittle. They are also occasionally rendered liable to fracture by a previously existing diseased condition. Fractures are divided into four classes--partial, simple, compound, and comminuted.

PARTIAL FRACTURES.--Partial fractures are those which are liable to occur in a young animal in which the preponderance of animal matter or the semicartilaginous condition of the bone renders it tough, so that even when considerable force is applied the bone bends, breaking on the side opposite that to which the force was applied, after the manner in which a green stick bends and breaks.

SIMPLE FRACTURES. Simple fracture is one in which the bone is severed in two parts, transversely, longitudinally, or obliquely, without serious injury to the adjoining structures.

COMPOUND FRACTURES.--Compound fracture is one in which there is an open wound permitting the air to communicate with the ends of the broken bones.

COMMINUTED FRACTURES.--Comminuted fracture is one in which the bone is shattered or divided into a number of fragments.

COMPLICATED FRACTURES.--Complicated fracture is one in which other structures surrounding the bones are injured.

GENERAL SYMPTOMS OF FRACTURE.--When a fracture of one or more of the large bones of a limb occurs, symptoms are sure to be well marked. After the accident the animal refuses to touch the foot to the ground and, if compelled to move, does so with great pain and reluctance. There is more or less shortening of the limb, with trembling of the muscles in the vicinity of the injury; deformity, and increased mobility, so that, instead of the natural joints of the limb and the natural, muscular control of their motion, a new joint, over which the animal has no control, is formed where the fracture occurred. As the leg, shortened by the ends of the bones being forced past one another from the muscular contraction which invariably takes place, hangs dependent from the body it swings in an awkward and unnatural manner, permitting the toe and foot to assume positions in their relations to other parts of the body which otherwise would be impossible. If the fractured bone is so situated that the parts may be moved one upon another, a grating sound, known as crepitus, will be heard.

GENERAL TREATMENT OF FRACTURES.--When a fracture occurs, the advisability of attempting treatment must first be determined. If the animal is young, valuable, and of reasonably quiet temperament, and the fracture is not too great in extent, the chances of recovery are fair. On the other hand, if the animal should be of little value, irritable, advanced in years, and the fracture is a serious compound or comminuted one, the wiser course would generally be to put the creature out of its misery.

Having determined to attempt treatment, no time should be lost in restoring the parts as nearly as possible to their natural position and retaining them there. If the ends of the bones have been drawn one past the other, they should be drawn out by firm and continuous tension, until they again assume the position in which they were before the accident. All this can better be done before the swelling (which is sure to result) takes place. If the swelling has occurred before the injury is noticed, do not attempt to treat it, but proceed at once to treat the fracture as though the swelling were not present, for no step can be taken toward recovery until the ends of the bone have been restored to their proper position. When that is done and proper appliances have been used to prevent them from being again misplaced, the swelling, which is the result of irritation, will be relieved. In selecting the appliances to be used in the treatment of fracture the judgment and ingenuity of the operator are of much importance. Splints, made of wood shaped to fit the limb and padded with soft material where they come in contact with bony prominences, and held in position by means of bandages, are the oldest method, and with some are still most popular. The fracture pads used in human surgery, and for sale in surgical depots, are very convenient. After being dipped in water they may be molded to fit the limb and be retained by means of bandages. Heavy sole leather is also used after being soaked in warm water and molded to the shape of the limb and holes cut in it to fit over any sharp irregularities in the natural shape of the bones. Gutta-percha sheets are also used and answer well. They are prepared and used in the same way as the leather.

Another and perhaps the simplest of all methods is the application of a plaster-of-Paris bandage, which is made as follows: Strips of thin cheesecloth 3 inches wide and 8 or 9 feet long are laid flat on a board and on them is spread a layer of plaster of Paris about one-eighth of an inch thick; then, starting at one end, roll carefully so as to gather the plaster in between the layers of the bandage. It is of course important that the cloth be thin and the plaster of Paris fresh and active. After preparing four or five of such bandages the operator is ready to dress the fracture, which, after the parts have been brought into position, should be done by covering all that part of the limb to which the plaster-of-Paris bandage is to be applied with a single layer of the dry bandage, letting it extend both above and below the part to which the plaster bandage is to be applied and including under the folds of the dry bandage at each end a layer of absorbent cotton, which is intended to form a pad to prevent the ends of the plaster bandage from chafing the skin beneath. When this is done one of the plaster bandages should be placed in a vessel of water and allowed to remain till the air bubbles have ceased to rise from it, which will generally indicate that it is soaked through. Then, taking it in the hand, wind it carefully around and around the limb, unrolling the bandage as it is wound around the limb, occasionally smoothing down the plaster of Paris. Should it form roughly or in ridges the hand may be dipped in water to impart increased moisture to it. When about finished with one bandage, place another one in the water, so that the winding operation may be continued without delay. The bandages should be applied till the cast is from one-half to three-quarters of an inch thick, then gently restrain the animal for one-half or three-quarters of an hour till the plaster is hardened. Any of the appliances used should be so manipulated as to prevent absolutely any motion of the detached parts. If the fracture is near a joint, it is generally best to include the joint in the appliance. The part of the limb below the bandage should be carefully and firmly wrapped with an ordinary cotton bandage all the way from the plaster bandage down to the hoof. This last bandage will tend to prevent swelling, which is liable to occur, the result of the dependent position in which the animal is forced by nature to keep the injured limb.

When plaster-of-Paris bandages are applied to a compound fracture the injured part may be previously dressed with a small, thick pad of cotton immediately over the wound. In applying the bandage the operator may with a little care so arrange it as to keep the folds of the bandages off the cotton, or have only a thin layer over it, which may be easily cut out and the cotton removed, leaving a convenient opening through which to dress the wound without removing the bandage. The ends of the bandage or other appliance should be carefully watched to see that the skin does not become chafed, particularly at the lower end. If the bandage should become weak or broken at any part, it may be strengthened without removal by applying other bandages immediately over it. If swelling has taken place before the bandage has been applied, there is liable to be some loosening as it disappears, and even without the swelling there may be a tendency of the bandage to slide downward. This may be overcome by fastening it to a suspender attached to a surcingle or passed over the body and attached to the opposite leg. If the looseness can not be overcome in this way, the space may be filled by pouring in a thin paste of plaster of Paris. A better method, however, is to remove the bandage and apply another. Owing to the hardness of the bandage it will be removed with some difficulty. A deep groove should be cut down completely through it on the opposite sides. This may be done with a chisel and a small hammer if the bandage is carefully held by an assistant so that the concussion of the blows is not transmitted to the injured bones. The patient should have a roomy stall, and should be tied by the head to prevent any attempts to move around. In some cases slings have been used. Ordinarily, however, they are not satisfactory in cattle practice, and if applied should be for only a few days at a time, and with a view to lessen the animal's disposition to lie down, rather than to prevent it. When they are used continuously the pressure on the abdomen may interfere with digestion and the general health of the animal.

Modes of union.--The animal should be kept as quiet as possible and given such feed as will have a tendency to keep the bowels slightly relaxed. The success of the operation depends chiefly on the skill of the operator, but not alone in the selection and use of the appliances, for as much attention must be given to subsequent management. The patients are restless, and a single awkward motion may undo the work of weeks so far as the union of the parts of the bone is concerned. Union takes place after the same process and, if the conditions are favorable, with greater rapidity than in the human being. The injury that caused the fracture is almost sure to have extended to some of the adjacent tissues, and even though the fracture may be of the simplest type there is almost sure to be considerable hemorrhage around the ends of the broken bone. This, however, is unimportant if the skin remains intact, unless a very large vessel should be injured, or the fracture should open some of the important cavities of the body, in which case a fatal hemorrhage may result. If, on the other hand, the fracture is compound the external opening furnishes a fertile field for the lodgment of disease-producing germs.

Unless great care is taken in such cases, a suppurative process is liable to be established which will seriously interfere with, if not entirely arrest, the process of union between the bones; or it may become so serious as to endanger the general health of the animal and even be attended with fatal results. This last danger is greater if the injury has occurred to the bones of the arm or thigh. In such cases, owing to the dense covering of fascia which ensheathes the muscular covering pus is liable to be imprisoned, and, burrowing downward, saturate the whole structure, not only endangering the limb, but, by absorption, may set up blood poisoning and seriously interfere with the general health of the patient, even to causing death. In order so far as possible to prevent such an unfortunate complication, the wound should be carefully cleansed with a mild solution of carbolic acid, then dusted over with iodoform before the bandages are applied, and cleansed and dressed daily in the same way. After dressing, always cover with absorbent cotton. In the early process of union an exudation of lymph takes place, which is at first fluid, gradually becoming thicker and firmer till it forms a callus, known as the external or ensheathing callus, in the shape of a ring or ferrule surrounding the detached portions of the bone. It occasionally happens that this callus forms only at the ends of the bones, filling the spaces that exist between them, when it is known as the intermediate callus. The process of union may be divided into five stages. In the first stage, including the first eight days, the detached portions of the bone and the sharp projections that are not sufficiently nourished are absorbed; the blood which escaped into the surrounding tissues, the result of the injury, is gradually absorbed, and the effused lymph, which is ultimately to constitute the temporary cartilage, takes it place. In the second stage, from the tenth to the twentieth day, the tumor or callus is formed and fibrocartilage is developed inside and around the exposed end of the bone. In the third stage, extending from the twentieth to the fortieth or fiftieth day, according to the age and strength of the animal, the fibrocartilaginous structure undergoes a change and is gradually converted into bone, forming a ferrule on the outside and a plug on the inside, which serve to hold the part in position. In the fourth stage, extending to about the sixth month, the whole of the new structure is converted into bone. In the fifth stage, extending to the end of the first year, the callus is absorbed, being no longer necessary, and the connection between the cavities of the two bones is again established.

Common complications.--The process of union just described is healthy and normal. Diseased conditions may at any time supervene during the treatment and render the operation unsuccessful. In the case of compound fracture, the open wound communicating with the ends of the bones, a septic condition is liable to arise which may become so serious as to endanger the animal's life and bring about conditions which in human surgery would indicate amputation. Although that operation is not a general one in veterinary practice, there is no reason why it should not be attempted as a last resort, particularly if the animal is valuable or is one whose existence is necessary in order to perpetuate some valuable strain. Even in the simplest form of fracture, if the splints or bandages are improperly applied and the fractured bone left so loosely guarded that the broken ends move one upon another, the formation of the calluses previously described is liable to be interfered with, and in place of a strong, rigid, and healthy union a formation of elastic cartilage is the result. This false structure unites the broken ends of the bones in such way that they move one upon another, depriving the bone of its stability and usefulness. When once the healthy process of union is interrupted in the manner just described, it is again established with great difficulty. It no longer does any good to continue the restraining power; in fact, the change of the temporary cartilage into bone is more liable to be reestablished if the parts move violently upon each other for a short time so as to set up and renew the process of inflammation. Then if the restraint is again applied there is some chance of union. In order so far as possible to avoid this danger, care should be taken to see that the bandage fits closely and that it is kept on till there is no longer any danger but that a perfect union has taken place. It is impossible to say at just what time the splints or bandages can safely be removed. In a young and healthy animal of quiet temperament, if the parts have been firmly held in position throughout the whole time, from 30 to 40 days may be regarded as reasonably safe. Under more unfavorable conditions as to age, vitality, and restraint, the period would better be extended to 60 days, if the general condition of the animal is such as to permit of so long a continuance. After the appliance has been removed the animal should be allowed to stand quiet for a few days, then be given very gentle exercise, gradually increased for a week or 10 days, by which time the patient will be so far recovered as to be placed in pasture. It should, however, be alone for a time, so as not to take any chance of injury from fighting or other accidents that association with other animals might involve.

SPECIAL FRACTURES.

FRACTURE OF THE HORNS.--Of the special fractures liable to occur, that of the horn is perhaps the most common. It is always the result of violent mechanical means, such as blows, injury occurring while fighting, or from the animal getting its head locked in some manner while feeding from a rack. When it occurs there are two ways in which the injury may affect the animal. First and most common, the horny crust is liable to be stripped from the bony projection which it covers. Second, the crust and bone may both be broken or bent down, the fracture occurring in that case at the root of the horn and involving part of the bones of the head in the immediate vicinity. In the first case, if the horny covering is knocked off, little attention is necessary. The animal may be relieved from suffering if the stump is smeared with pine tar and wrapped in cloth. If the core is much lacerated, perhaps it would be better to amputate. The necessity for such operation must be determined by the condition of the injury, influenced to some extent by the owner's ideas on the subject. When the operation is performed, it should be done with a sharp, fine-toothed saw, and by sawing the horn off close enough to include a little of the skin and hair around its base. The practice of dehorning has grown popular in many parts of the country. It is a simple operation, and, although attended with some immediate suffering, does not produce serious constitutional disturbance. The advisability of performing the operation on all cattle is a question of expediency and must be justified by the expectation of benefit on the part of the feeder. If the horn should be broken so that the core and crust are bent out of shape without the detachment of one from the other, it may be restored to its normal position and retained there by means of a splint made to fit across the back of the head, so as to be laced to both horns, the sound horn serving to hold the broken one in position. Such a splint may be fastened on by means of either a wire or cord and allowed to remain six weeks or two months.

If both the horn and core have been broken off, bleeding is usually severe and should be checked by astringents, such as alum, or by pressure. After the hemorrhage has ceased the exposed portion of the fracture should be covered with pine tar, with or without a bandage. An imperfect growth of horn will in due time cover the exposed bone.

FRACTURES OF THE BONES OF THE FACE.--These occasionally occur, and when over the cavities of the nose produce depression, disfigurement, and impeded respiration, owing to the lessening of the caliber of the nasal passages.

When such accident occurs, the depressed bone should be gently forced back to place by introducing the finger in the nostril, or if the fracture is too far up for this, a probe may be passed and the parts retained by placing immediately over it a plaster of thin leather or strong canvas smeared with tar, extending out to the sound surroundings, taking care to embed the hair over the fractured portion in the tar of the plaster, so that it will be firmly held and prevented from again becoming depressed. If only one nostril is involved, the depressed portion may be held in position by packing that nostril with absorbent cotton. This practice, however, has the objection of giving the animal great discomfort and in some cases a disposition to aggravate the injury.

FRACTURE OF THE SKULL (CRANIUM).--Fractures of the bones forming the cavity in which the brain is situated are, owing to their strength, comparatively rare among cattle. Such an accident can only be the result of external violence, and it is hardly possible that it could occur without some fragment of the broken bone pressing upon the brain so as to cause coma or other severe nervous derangement, or even death.

If the animal survives the first shock, the efforts should be directed toward relieving the pressure, which may be done by making an opening in the bone (trephining), and with a hook drawing the depressed part outward. Interference is not so liable to be attended with good results as to be warranted in all cases. The effects of a very severe shock which may not have produced a fracture, although the symptoms were alarming, will in many cases pass off, leaving the animal in a better condition than if an operation had been performed.

FRACTURE OF THE LOWER JAW.--This occasionally occurs, and is more liable to result from the kick of a horse than from any other cause. The front part of the jaw may be split or shattered in any direction in which the force may have been applied. Bloody discharges from the mouth and failure to eat or ruminate are symptoms most likely to attract attention.

The treatment is simple and consists in first removing detached pieces of bone, then drawing the parts together and retaining them by means of pieces of copper wire fastened around the teeth, and feeding the animal on sloppy feed until recovery takes place. The wound should be dressed once or twice a day with a 3 per cent solution of carbolic acid, forced gently in with a syringe, so as to remove any feed which may have become impacted and interfere with the healing process.

FRACTURE OF THE VERTEBRA (SPINAL COLUMN).--This is not so common among cattle as other animals. If the fracture should be through the body of the bone, there may be pressure on or laceration of the spinal cord, causing paralysis of all parts posterior to the seat of injury. Fractures of the prominences on a vertebra occasionally occur without interfering with the canal in which the spinal cord is situated. Such accidents are liable to pass unnoticed, for, although the animal may suffer considerable pain, it may not be manifested in such way as to attract attention, and the deep covering of muscles serves effectually to conceal the injury. When the fracture occurs in the upper part of the neck, paralysis of the muscles used in respiration must result, and death from asphyxia very shortly ensues. The more common accident is to the loins, and when a fracture of the body of a vertebra occurs in this region so as to produce pressure on the spinal cord, paralysis of the hind legs and quarters is the result. Diagnosis of such an accident is more difficult than in the case of any other fracture. The parts can not be moved one upon another so that crepitus is noticeable. The heavy coating of muscles conceals irregularities of shape, which otherwise may attract attention. About the only reliable symptom is paralysis or loss of use and sensation of the parts posterior to the injury. Careful examination may reveal the seat of the injury. If it was the result of a blow, there may be some abrasion of the skin. The diagnosis is only important as an aid in determining the proper course to pursue.

If paralysis is present and a depression or irregularity of the spinal column is so apparent as to leave no doubt of the existence of a fracture, the only alternative is to destroy the animal, for of recovery there can be no hope. If, on the other hand, the paralysis is incomplete and there is no depression or irregularity of the spinal column or other evidence of fracture, the patient should be made as comfortable as possible by being placed in a well-bedded box stall and a few days permitted to elapse before the case is abandoned. The symptoms last described may possibly be the result of a severe strain of the muscles of the loins, in which case an improvement will soon be noticeable.

FRACTURES OF THE PELVIS.--The pelvis, or bony framework which gives shape to the posterior part of the body, is liable to fracture in many ways. A common one is by a separation of the two bones which constitute the whole pelvis along the bottom and center line (symphysis pubis). In early life the two bones are separate and distinct. The union between them, which is at first cartilaginous, undergoes a change and is converted into bone, so that in adult life the whole pelvis is practically one bone. The point on which the two bones are united is weaker than the adjoining parts of the bone. When an animal slips violently, spreading the legs wide apart, the weaker materials give way and the bones are divided. If the accident is noticed when it occurs, it is likely to throw light on the nature of the injury. The animal will immediately go stiff behind, the legs being spread apart. Further examination may be made by introducing the hand, previously carefully oiled, into the rectum or vagina and pressing down along the central line, which will cause the patient to evince acute pain. In this case no appliance can be used to advantage. The animal should be tied in a stall until the parts become reunited and the lameness disappears.

Fracture of the posterior parts of the bone (ischium), which forms the point of the buttocks occasionally occurs. The buttock on the injured side will be less prominent than the other. Careful manipulation will generally move the parts so that crepitus may be recognized. If the fracture is through the posterior part of the bone, it is unimportant and deserving of no more attention than placing the animal in such position as to insure it against subsequent injury until the bones are united. Some distortion may result, but not sufficient to warrant interference.

Fracture through the body of the bone on a line with the hip joint (acetabulum) occasionally, though rarely, occurs, and is nearly always associated with dislocation of the hip joint and the forcing of the head of the upper bone of the leg (femur) upward, far out of its place. The violent contraction of the powerful muscles of the hip renders it impossible to reduce the dislocation, and even if it were possible the fractured pelvis could not be held in position, so that the case becomes at once hopeless. It may be recognized by the animal's standing on three legs, the leg on the injured side seeming shorter than its fellow and hanging pendulous, the muscles of the hip violently contracted and hard to the touch. The animal evinces great pain when the limb is moved. There is liable to be some apparent distortion in the relations between the point of the hip and the point of the buttock. This will be more readily noticed by comparing the injured side with the other. The parts may be moved so as to produce crepitus. The examination may be completed by introducing the oiled hand into the vagina or rectum, when the two sides of the pelvis will reveal well-marked differences.

FRACTURE OF THE POINT OF THE HIP.--The anterior and external part of the pelvis (ilium), commonly known as the point of the hip, is liable to fracture, which stock owners describe as "hipping," or being "hipped," or having the hip "knocked down." This accident may be the result of crowding while passing through a narrow door, of falling violently on the point of the hip, or from a violent blow directed downward and forward against it. The lesion generally extends across the flat surface of the bone from its outer and posterior edge forward and inward. Distortion is liable to be the only noticeable symptom. The detached portion varies in size in different cases and with it the resulting deformity. The animal is noticed to be slightly lame, but this symptom soon disappears. The detached portion of the bone is drawn downward and away from the main part by the action of the muscles below, which are so powerful as to render return impossible. The bones therefore remain permanently separated, union taking place by fibrous callus. The animal suffers very little inconvenience, and for practical use may be as serviceable as before the accident, though the distorted appearance depreciates its value.

FRACTURE OF THE RIBS.--Such an occurrence can take place only as the result of a direct injury, as from blows or crowding. The posterior ribs, being more exposed, are more liable to fracture. Pain in moving, slight swelling over the seat of injury, and difficult breathing are obvious symptoms. If the fracture is complete, crepitation may be occasionally noticed by placing the hand flat over the injured part, carefully observing the motion as the chest contracts and expands during respiration. This symptom is more noticeable when the animal coughs. Unless the point of the broken bone penetrates the cavity of the chest the fracture is usually unimportant and calls for no treatment other than quiet. If the breathing is very labored and attended with much pain, motion may be limited by applying a wide bandage firmly around the chest. The animal should be restricted in the amount of feed and water for a few days, the stomach being kept as nearly empty as possible. Sloppy feed should be given to encourage, as much as possible, free action of the diaphragm in breathing.

FRACTURE OF BONES OF THE LIMBS.--On this subject much has been said in the preceding remarks on general fractures. As a rule, fracture through one of the large bones of the shoulder (scapula) or thigh (femur) is very difficult to manage. The powerful contraction of the muscles and the changing shape of the limb resulting from their action renders it impossible to retain the detached parts of the bone in proper position. Therefore, though the union should take place, there is almost sure to be considerable deformity and more or less lameness. Fracture of the arm (humerus) or leg (tibia) is likely to be attended with better results. The muscular covering is not so thick, the sheath in which they are held is more tense, and the change in the shape of the limb from muscular action not so noticeable, the muscular force not so great, all of which facilitate replacing the dislodged ends and retaining them.

FRACTURE OF THE KNEE (CARPUS) AND HOCK (TARSUS).--This seldom occurs unless it is the result of a very violent injury, and is generally associated with other injury and serious complications. Displacement does not generally occur to any considerable extent. The treatment, of course, consists in holding the limb perfectly quiet in a natural position, which may be done by the application of long, wooden splints retained by bandages, or a plaster-of-Paris bandage.

FRACTURES BELOW THE KNEE.--Fracture of the long bone below the knee (metacarpus) and hock (metatarsus) is more common. In young animals of quiet temperament the treatment of simple fractures here is likely to be attended with good results. On the other hand, a compound fracture in this region becomes a serious matter. The structures which surround the bones are so thin that a very small degree of sloughing will expose parts of the bones and be liable to lead to serious complications and probably fatal results.

FRACTURES OF BONES BELOW THE FETLOCK.--These fractures are comparatively unimportant unless associated with other serious injury. The parts can generally be held in position without much difficulty, and union generally takes place quite rapidly.

APPLIANCES.--Of the appliances used in the treatment of the fracture of limbs above the knee, splints made of wood or iron strips and bandages are likely to serve best. Below the knee plaster-of-Paris bandages are preferable. The writer is well aware that many of the standard authors deprecate the use of the latter, but an extensive experience leads me to believe that they have many advantages over any of the other appliances when used alone, and in many ways they may be used with advantage in combination with others.

DISLOCATIONS.

Luxation, or displacement without fracture of the bones forming a joint, is comparatively rare among cattle. It most frequently occurs in the stifle joint, where dislocation of the kneepan (patella) takes place. A glance at the skeleton (Pl. XXV) will show the relations better than they can be described. It will be observed that the small, irregularly shaped bone (patella) plays on the anterior rounded part of the lower edge of the thigh bone (femur) and between it and the upper end of the shank bone (tibia). The outer ridge on the lower end of the thigh bone is less prominent than the inner one, so that displacement, when it does take place, is by slipping outward. Such an accident may occur from direct injury or external force, as a blow, or from slipping. When it does occur the symptoms produced are somewhat alarming. The animal is unable to draw the leg forward, and either stands with it thrown back with the toe pointing downward, or, if it should succeed in getting its weight upon it, holds it firmly on the ground, fearing to move it. Examination of the outside of the joint will disclose the situation of the patella outside its proper place. If the operator is not familiar with the normal appearance of the joint, it is well to make a comparison between the injured and the sound one. If compelled to move, the animal does so with great difficulty, jerking the leg which it is unable to bring forward, hopping with the other, and partially dragging the injured one.

Treatment.--The treatment is simple. A rope 20 feet long should be applied around the fetlock of the affected leg, passed forward between the front legs and up over the opposite side of the neck, back over the withers, and wrapped once behind the elbow around that portion of the rope which passes between the front legs. The leg is then drawn away from the body and forcibly pushed forward by an assistant, while another person tightens up the slack in the rope until the affected leg is off the ground in front of the supporting leg. The rope is then drawn taut and the assistant grasps the tail and pulls the cow toward the affected side. The animal makes a lurch to keep from falling, contracts the muscles, and the patella slips into place with a sharp click, and the animal walks off as if nothing had happened. If the animal resists this method of handling, it may suffice to manipulate the dislocated kneepan by shoving it inward and forward with the heel of the hand while the affected leg is drawn well forward. Unless some precaution is taken the accident is liable to recur, as the ligaments have been stretched by the dislocation till they no longer hold the bone with that firmness necessary to retain it. The animal should be tied and the foot fastened forward, so that the patient can just stand on it comfortably, by means of a rope or strap around the fetlock carried forward between the front legs, around the neck, and tied on the breast.

Should this accident occur more than once it is a good practice to apply a blister around the joint, as in the formula recommended for sprain of shoulder, and observe the precautions as to restraint and subsequent treatment there recommended. With this one exception dislocations in the ox occurring independently of other complications are rare.

Dislocation with fracture may occur in any of the joints, and if one is suspected or discovered, examination should always be made for the other before treatment is applied. When a fracture occurs near a joint the force sufficient to rend the bone is liable to be partly exerted on the immediate tissues, and when the bone gives way the structures of the joints may be seriously injured. It occasionally happens that the injury to the joint becomes the most important complication in the treatment of a fracture. In order clearly to understand the reason for this a few words are necessary in relation to the structure of joints.

The different pieces constituting the skeleton of the animal body are united in such manner as to admit of more or less motion one upon another. In some of the more simple joints the bones fitting one into another are held together by the dense structures around them, admitting of very little or no movement at all, as the bones of the head. In other joints the bones are bound together by dense, cartilaginous structures, admitting of only limited motion, such as the union of the small bones at the back part of the knee and hock (metacarpal and metatarsal). In the more nearly perfect form of joint the power of motion becomes complete and the structures are more complex. The substance of the bone on its articular surface is not covered with periosteum, but is sheathed in a dense, thin layer of cartilage, shaped to fit the other surfaces with which it comes in contact (articular). This layer is thickest toward its center when covering bony eminences, and is elastic, of a pearly whiteness, and resisting, though soft enough to be easily cut. The bones forming an articulation are bound together by numerous ligaments attached to bony prominences. The whole joint is sealed in by a band or ribbonlike ligament (capsular ligament) extending around the joint and attached at the outer edge of the articular surface, uniting the bones and hermetically sealing the cavities of the articulation. This structure and the articular surface of the bone is covered by a thin, delicate membrane, known as the "synovial membrane," which secretes the joint oil (synovia). This fluid is viscid and colorless, or slightly yellow, and although it does not possess a large quantity of fat, its character somewhat resembles oil, and it serves the same purpose in lubricating the joints that oil does to the friction surface of an engine. Although the tissues of the joint when used in a natural way are able to withstand the effect of great exertion, when unnaturally used, as they are very delicate and complex, they are liable to inflammatory and other changes of a very serious nature. The synovial membrane, and in fact the whole structure of the joint, is susceptible to injury and serious inflammatory derangement, and the capsular ligament is liable to be distended from excessive secretion of synovia. The latter process may be almost noninflammatory, and attended with little inconvenience or importance other than a blemish to the animal, which in cattle is not serious. It may occur on the back part of the leg above the fetlock or on the inner and fore part of the hock, corresponding in its location to windgalls and bog spavin of the horse. Continuous support by bandages will generally force reabsorption, and as the limb is not subjected to violent action, as in the case of the horse, the affection is not so liable to recur.

SPAVIN.

Occasionally working oxen that are used in the lumber woods and made to pull heavily, with bad footing, are afflicted with this condition. When it occurs lameness is the first symptom. During the early stages of the disease the lameness is most severe in the morning, and disappears after the animal is exercised; it gradually becomes more severe as the disease advances, so that when the disease is well established the animal is lame continuously. Shortly after the lameness appears a bunch (exostosis) will be noticed on the inner and fore part of the affected joint. This bunch differs from bog spavin in that it is hard, while bog spavin is soft. It increases in size as the disease advances till the animal is too lame to be used for labor. As the disease is always attended with considerable pain there is more or less loss of flesh. In the most advanced stage the animal will step with difficulty, frequently holding the foot from the ground, or, if forced to take a few steps, stands with it elevated, twitching with pain. In the earlier stages of the disease only a small portion of the fore part of the lower, or second, articulation is involved, but the inflammatory process gradually extends over the whole surface of the lower joints of the hock. The structures of the joint are broken down and the bones are united (anchylosis). This process may include any or all of the three lower joints of the hock. The joint of motion which is situated on the lower end of the leg bone is seldom involved.

Treatment.--Treatment of spavin in the ox, as in the horse, is likely to be tedious, and not always resulting in perfect cure. Usually it is best to fatten the animal for slaughter. If, however, treatment is decided upon, it should consist of complete rest and counterirritation of the part either by sharp blisters or the firing iron. It is advisable to try the effect of blistering first, and for this purpose the following mixture is recommended:

Powdered cantharides drams 2 Biniodid of mercury do 2 Vaseline ounces 1-1/2

Clip the hair off and apply over the inner and fore part of the joint, covering the surface an inch and a half in every direction from the enlargement, or over an area 3 to 4 inches across. Fasten the animal's head so that it can not reach the part to lick it; after the third day grease with lard every other day until the scabs come off. This blister may be repeated three or four times at intervals of three weeks. The lameness will generally begin to disappear about the third or fourth month if the above-described treatment proves beneficial. Should lameness persist, firing in points by a qualified veterinarian may effect the desired result and should be tried as a last resort.

In a case of spavin the cure is not effected by restoring the diseased parts to their natural condition, but by uniting the bones and obliterating the joints. If this union extends over the whole articular surface of the joints affected and is sufficiently strong to prevent any motion of the bones, the animal will again go sound. The joints that are obliterated, not being those of motion, are not important, so that the animal suffers no inconvenience in their loss.

RHEUMATISM.

Rheumatism is a constitutional disease from a specific condition of the blood and characterized by inflammation of the fibrous structures of the body. It is usually accompanied with stiffness, lameness, and fever. The parts affected are usually swollen, but swelling may be lacking. The inflammation may be transitory; that is, it changes from place to place. The parts usually affected are the fibrous structures of the joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscles. The serous membranes and heart may also be affected. According to its location, rheumatism is specified as articular or muscular. According to its course, it is designated as acute or chronic.

Cause.--Among the factors which are actively causative of rheumatism may be mentioned exposure to dampness and cold, especially while the animal is perspiring or fatigued after severe physical exertion. Among other causes often mentioned are acidity of the blood, nervous derangement, microbes, and injuries. It occasionally follows another disease, such as pleurisy. The influence of age and heredity may be considered as secondary or predisposing causes. Sometimes the disease appears without any apparent cause. On the whole, it may be said that any of the above-mentioned factors may have more or less influence on the production of rheumatism, but the specific cause is as yet unknown.

Symptoms of articular rheumatism.--The symptoms appear suddenly and with varying degrees of severity. The animal presents a downcast appearance, with staring coat, horns and ears cold, and the mouth and muzzle hot and dry. Appetite and rumination may be impaired and followed later or be accompanied at the same time by constipation. Constipation may be followed by impaction of the stomach or bowels. Thirst is increased, but the amount of urine voided is scanty. Respiration and pulse are accelerated, and there is usually a fever, rising sometimes as high as 108∞ F. The animal prefers to lie down, and when forced to rise stands with its back arched. The movements are stiff and lame and cause great pain. The disease may attack one or more joints at the same time; in fact, it is often symmetrical. One joint may improve while another becomes affected, thus showing the shifting tendency of the inflammation. The affected joints, including their tendons, ligaments, and synovial membranes, may be swollen, hot, and distended with liquid. They are very tender, and, if treated carelessly or injured, may become infected, thus leading to suppuration. While rheumatism attacks perhaps more frequently the knees and fetlocks, it has no special affinity for any joint and may attack the stifle, hip, shoulder, or elbow joint. In mild cases of articular rheumatism, the animal may fully recover in a few days.

In chronic articular rheumatism there is less tendency of the disease to shift about, but there is a greater liability of structural change in the affected joints. This change may consist of induration, exostosis, or even anchylosis. These structural changes about the joints may lead to permanent deformity, such as the bending of the neck. Fever is not so constant in the chronic form as in the acute, and the latter may lapse into the former.

Symptoms of muscular rheumatism.--This form of rheumatism may appear under the same general conditions as the articular form. The general appearance of the animal is the same in both forms. The cow usually assumes a recumbent position, and all the movements made are stiff and lame. The method of rising or of locomotion indicates pain in certain muscles or groups of muscles, as of the croup, shoulder, or neck. As in the case of articular rheumatism, the tendons, ligaments, and synovial membranes may become involved. The constitutional symptoms in both articular and muscular rheumatism are similar, so that it is often perplexing to differentiate between the two forms.

Prevention.--It is somewhat difficult to procure preventive treatment for cattle, especially when there are large numbers with little or no shelter. In general, it is advisable to protect the animals so far as possible from inclement weather conditions, such as cold rains, heavy dews, and frosts. This is more particularly necessary for animals in poor condition, or those which are perspiring or fatigued after long physical exertion. Careful feeding is also essential.

Treatment.--In attempting to treat cattle for rheumatism the first step is to procure proper shelter and environment. The animal should be quartered in a large, clean, dry stall, with plenty of light and fresh air, but protected from strong drafts. There should be an abundance of clean, dry bedding. The feed should be soft, easily digestible, and slightly laxative, and the animal should have access to clean, pure, cool water.

For general or constitutional treatment of acute rheumatism, sodium salicylate is indicated. In order to gain the best results from this drug, it should be administered with the idea of rapidly saturating the system. To cattle it may be given in doses of one-half ounce every two hours for ten hours or until immediate relief is obtained. This drug should not be continued indefinitely, but may be given once a day after immediate relief has been obtained, and this single dose continued daily until permanent relief ensues, when it should be stopped. The use of sodium salicylate in chronic rheumatism is not advisable on account of the danger of depressing the heart, whose action is already somewhat impaired by the lesions which have attacked it. In this case one-half ounce doses of potassium nitrate or bicarbonate may be given three times a day. Besides the constitutional treatment, it may be necessary to give special attention to the bowels in order to relieve constipation. Cattle may be given saline laxatives at the outset, such as 1 pound of Epsom salt for an ordinary-sized cow, and the bowels kept regular by an occasional smaller dose.

In chronic rheumatism the best course of treatment is to give tonics and local treatment. Local treatment may also be advisable in acute rheumatism in addition to the constitutional treatment already prescribed.

External treatment depends solely on the local conditions and should be applied judiciously. Among the various remedies may be mentioned hot or cold moist packs, hot air and vapor baths, friction, etc. Anodynes are often applied locally with good results. Blisters are occasionally indicated. As anodynes may be mentioned liniments and ointments containing salicylic acid or sodium salicylate in combination with laudanum, aconite, or chloral hydrate. Camphorated spirit, soap liniment, and essential oils also afford some relief when applied locally. Of blisters, those containing cantharides are most effective.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] A Priessnitz bandage is a dressing which combines the three properties of keeping a part warm, moist, and subjecting it to uniform pressure. It consists of three layers of material. The inner layer is composed of absorbent cotton or some other material which is capable of holding moisture. This is soaked in water and wrapped around the part. The second layer consists of a substance which is impervious to moisture, as oiled silk or oiled paper, and is applied about the inner layer to prevent evaporation. The third or outside layer is composed of a flannel or woolen bandage to prevent the radiation of heat and thus keep the moist inner layer at the temperature of the body.

SURGICAL OPERATIONS.

By WILLIAM DICKSON and WILLIAM HERBERT LOWE, D. V. S.

[Revised by B. T. Woodward, V. M. D.]

Surgery is both a science and an art. The success of surgical operations depends on the judgment, skill, and dexterity, as well as upon the knowledge of the operator. The same fundamental principles underlie and govern animal and human surgery, although their applications have a wide range and are very different in many essential particulars. We must not lose sight of the fact that hygiene and sanitation are essential to the best results in veterinary as well as in human surgery.

Asepsis is an ideal condition which, although not always possible in animal surgery, is highly important in connection with the mechanical details of all surgical operations in proportion to the nature and seriousness of the same.

Aseptic surgery is considered to be the performance of operations with sterile instruments with the hands of the operator and the site of operation being rendered as nearly sterile as possible, and the wound treated during operation with sterile solutions and protected following the operation with sterile bandage material. In other words, it is the preservation of the highest degree of cleanliness in connection with operations.

Local or general anesthesia should be resorted to in painful and serious surgical operations, as operations upon all living creatures should be humanely performed and all unnecessary pain and suffering avoided. Anesthesia is necessary where absolute immobility of the patient is essential and where entire muscular relaxation is indispensable. The anesthetic condition is also favorable for the adjustment of displaced organs.

Large animals have to be cast and secured before an anesthetic is administered. For complete anesthesia inhalations of chloroform are generally employed; sometimes of both ether and chloroform. The quantity of chloroform required to produce insensibility to external impressions varies much in different cases and must be regulated, as well as the admixture of air, by a competent assistant.

If the probability of the success of an operation is remote and the animal is in healthy physical condition, so that its flesh is good for human food, it is more advisable to butcher the animal than to attempt a surgical operation that offers little encouragement to the owner. The best judgment has to be exercised in determining a matter of this kind, for no animal suffering from inflammation or that is in a feverish condition is fit for human food.

All cases of major operative surgery require the skill and dexterity of the experienced veterinary surgeon, and no one else should attempt such an operation, for unnecessary suffering must be prevented. Nevertheless, the more knowledge and understanding an owner of animals has of the principles of surgical operations and manipulations, the better for all concerned. In the first place, such an owner will appreciate more fully the skill of the qualified veterinarian, and, in the second place, he will be the better prepared and equipped to render assistance to his suffering dumb dependents where no practitioner is accessible and in cases of emergency. There are, moreover, some minor operations upon cattle, some of which can hardly be classed as surgical, that the stockman and farmer should be able to perform himself.

In the performance of any operation upon an animal of the size and strength of the bull or cow, the first consideration is to secure the animal in such a manner as to preclude the possibility of its injuring either itself or those taking any part in the operation. The nature and time likely to be occupied by an operation must, of course, largely determine the method to be adopted.

The majority of operations with which the present chapter is concerned are usually performed on the animal in a standing position. A bull should always be held by a staff attached to the ring in his nose. To secure the cow in a standing position, grasp the nose, the finger and thumb being introduced into the nostrils, and press against the cartilage which makes a division between them. If she has horns, grasp one of them with the disengaged hand. If this is insufficient the animal should be secured to a post, along the side of a fence, or put into a stanchion. An excellent method of restraint is to tie a long rope in a slip noose over the horns, pass it around the chest just behind the forelegs, taking a half hitch on itself, taking another half hitch in front of the hind limbs, passing the free end under the tail, bringing it forward and making it fast either to the head or one of the hitches. The head should be raised to the level of the back before the final knot is tied, so as to render it too serious and painful a matter for her to repeat the first attempt she makes to lower it. Should the nature or extent of the operation be likely to take up considerable time, it is invariably the best plan to throw the animal. In the case of the ox this is very easily done, either by use of horse hobbles, should they be at hand, or by the application of a simple rope. If the horse hobbles are used, they should be fastened on the leg just above the fetlocks (ankle joints), as in that position they are less liable to come off than if placed around the pastern.

Of the many ways of applying the rope for this purpose we will describe only two, which we consider the best and simplest:

First. Take a long, strong rope (one which has been used a few times is more flexible), double it, and at 2 or 3 feet from the doubled end, according to the size of the animal, make a knot and pass the collar thus formed over the animal's head, allowing it to rest on what would be the collar place in a horse. Now, pass the ends of the rope between the forelegs, carry one around each hind leg just above the fetlock joint, from outside in, under itself once, and bring the free ends forward, passing each through the collar loop on its own side and bringing the slack back toward and beyond the hind quarters. (Pl. XXVI, fig. 2.) Two or three men should then take hold of each rope and at a given signal pull. The animal's hind legs being drawn forward, the balance is lost, and if the animal does not fall or lie down he can be readily pushed over on his side and secured in the desired position.

Second. The three half hitches. Take a rope 30 or more feet long, make a slip noose at the end and pass it over the animal's horns, leaving the knot in the loop between the horns; then pass the rope backward along the neck to the withers, just in front of which take a half hitch on it, passing it along the back, take one half hitch just behind the forelegs and a second in front of the hind limbs round the flank. (Pl. XXVI, fig. 1.) The free end of the rope is taken hold of by one or two assistants while another holds the animal's head. By pulling firmly on the rope, or inducing the animal to make a step or two forward while steady traction is made on the rope, the beast will lie down, when his feet can be secured in the way most convenient for the operator.

There are numerous other methods, involving more or less complete restraint, which may be equally efficacious, but one or other of the ways indicated will doubtless be found to meet fully all ordinary cases.

RINGING THE BULL.

This is usually and ought always to be done before the calf has attained sufficient weight or strength to make his restraint a matter of serious difficulty. An ordinary halter is usually all that is required, the strap being secured to a tree or post. A jointed steel or copper ring is ordinarily used. Those made of the latter metal are preferable.

The common method of punching a round piece out of the nasal septum for the introduction of the ring is, I think, open to objection, as portions of the fine nervous filaments are destroyed. The sensibility of the parts is thus lessened and the object of ringing to some extent defeated. The insertion of the ring by means of a trocar and cannula is preferable, as the method is not open to this objection.

For some years we have used a little instrument, which can be made by any worker in metal, consisting of a steel point riveted into a short cannula made to fit on one end of the ring while open. (Pl. XXVII, fig. 11.) When attached to the ring it is easily and quickly passed through the septum, the half of the ring following as a matter of course. It can then be removed and the ends of the ring brought together and fastened by means of the screw for that purpose.

DEHORNING.

In the wild state the utility of the horns of cattle as weapons of offense and defense is apparent, but with domestication of cattle and their confinement the presence of horns constitutes a menace to the safety of their companions. Horned cattle frequently inflict with their horns painful and serious injuries to others. Deaths as a result of such injuries are not unusual. The operation of dehorning would therefore be indicated as a matter of general safety.

On farms where breeding is conducted, the most desirable method is to prevent the horns from growing on the young calves. This action results in a more symmetrical appearance of the poll and eliminates the dangers which would result from the presence of horns on the young cattle prior to their operative removal at a later age. A calf should be treated not later than one week after it is born--preferably when it is from 3 to 5 days old. The agent to be used may be either caustic soda or potash in the form of sticks about the thickness of an ordinary lead pencil. These caustics must be handled with care, as they dissolve the cuticle and may make the hands or fingers sore. The preparation of the calf first consists in clipping the hair from the parts, washing clean with soap or warm water, and thoroughly drying with a cloth or towel. The stick of caustic should be wrapped in a piece of paper to protect the hands and fingers, leaving one end of the stick uncovered. Moisten the uncovered end slightly and rub it on the horn buttons or little points which may be felt on the calf's head--first on one, then on the other--two or three times, allowing the caustic to dry after each application. Be careful to apply the caustic to the horn button only, for if it is brought in contact with the surrounding skin it will cause pain. Too much moisture on the stick of caustic will allow the application to spread to the surrounding skin. After treatment keep the calf protected from rain, as water on the head after application of the caustic will cause it to run down over the face.

Dehorning of adult animals is usually performed after the age of 2 years, as after that age there is less probability of the horns again growing. The horns should be severed from the head from a quarter to a half-inch below where the skin joins the base of the horn, cutting from the back toward the front if a saw is used. If the horn is not cut close enough to the head, an irregular, gnarly growth of horn is liable to follow.

Before attempting to dehorn the animal, it should be securely controlled by ropes in a stanchion or by casting. Upon the range the cattle are usually controlled by casting or by placing them in a "squeezer" connected with a corral. A clean, sharp meat saw or a miter saw with a rigid back may be used. Various types of dehorning shears or clippers are in general use. One type of dehorner has a stationary knife edge with its cutting edge shaped like a very wide V, and opposing this, another knife of similar shape moving in a slide, so that the cutting edges act upon the horn from all four sides at once, all the edges passing the center at the same time. Another type has a movable knife, with one oblique or one curved edge, and the cutting is done in one direction only. The power for cutting with these instruments is supplied by pulling together two long handles which, in order to transmit a greater force, are generally so constructed that they act through the medium of a series of cogs. In dehorning with these instruments the cutting edges should be slipped down over the horn and the knives closed, so that their edges set firmly against the horn in such position that the cut will be made in the right place and in the right direction. The handles should then be drawn together with a quick, firm, strong pull so that the horn will be completely severed by the first act and without twisting.

Dehorning should, when possible, be performed in cool weather when the flies are not plentiful. The loss of blood from the operation is not sufficient, as a rule, to be of consequence, and after care being taken to prevent substances from getting into the openings left after the removal of the horns it is not usual to apply any dressing. Pine tar or a mixture of pine tar and tannic acid may be applied, particularly if the weather is warm.

SETONING.

The ordinary use of a seton is to keep up constant drainage from a cavity containing matter or to act as a stimulant or counterirritant. To insert a seton, the place of entrance and exit having been decided on, with the finger and thumb make a small fold of the skin transversely to the direction the seton is to be inserted, and cut it through, either with a sharp knife or a pair of scissors (this should be done at both the entrance and exit); then with a steady pressure and slight lateral movement insert the seton by means of a seton needle. (Pl. XXVII, figs. 1 and 2.) The seton should consist of a piece of strong tape, varying in breadth according to circumstances, and should be kept in place either by a knot on each end or by tying the ends together.

Setons should be gently moved once a day after suppuration is set up, and they should not be allowed to remain in over three weeks, or a month at the outside.

TRACHEOTOMY.

This operation consists in making an opening in the trachea, or windpipe. It is indicated whenever there is an obstruction from any cause in the upper part of the respiratory tract which threatens the death of the animal by asphyxia (suffocation). The mode of procedure is as follows: Have an assistant extend the animal's head as far as possible to make the trachea tense and prominent; make a longitudinal incision about 2 to 2-1/2 inches long through the skin and deeper tissues and trachea at the most prominent part of the trachea, which is about the middle or upper third, and then insert the tracheotomy tube. The latter should be removed once or twice daily and cleansed, and the wound dressed antiseptically. To ascertain when it is time to discontinue the use of the tube and to allow the wound to close, the hand should be held over the opening, which will require the animal to use its natural passages in breathing. Observe whether it is performed in a natural manner, and if so, remove the tube and allow the wound to close. Often the operation has to be performed in great haste without the proper instruments and under great disadvantages, the operator having to cut down quickly, open the trachea and spread the parts, using some instrument improvised by him at the time. This operation only gives the animal relief in breathing, and therefore the proper remedial treatment should be adopted at the onset of the attack and continued until the cause (the disease) has been overcome.

RUMENOTOMY.

The opening of the paunch, or rumen, in cattle and the removal of a part or the whole of the ingesta through said opening is termed rumenotomy. The operation should be performed in severe cases only, where the rumen is excessively overloaded and distended. The animal is placed with its right side against a wall and firmly held in position by strong assistants. The incision is made in the same place that the trocar is inserted for puncturing that organ in cases of hoven. The opening is increased in size until the operator's hand can be inserted into the rumen. Before any of the contents are removed from that organ a linen cloth should be placed from the outer wound into the rumen in order to prevent any of the ingesta from getting into the abdominal cavity. Some practitioners, after removing a portion of the contents of the rumen, introduce such medicine as may be indicated before closing the wound. Clean the wound and close the opening in the rumen with uninterrupted (Pl. XXVII, fig. 8) carbolized catgut sutures. Next close the external wound, consisting of the integument, muscle, and peritoneum, with stout, interrupted (Pl. XXVII, fig. 6) metallic sutures. No feed should be given for several hours after the operation, and then gruels only. (See "Distention of rumen or paunch with feed," p. 26.)

TREATMENT OF ABSCESSES.

An abscess may be detected, if situated externally, by heat, pain, redness, and swelling in the early stages, and, if further developed, by the fluctuation which is present. When any of these symptoms are absent, the suppuration should be encouraged by the means of hot fomentations and poultices. Care must be taken that the abscess is not opened too soon, or to some extent it may cause it to scatter, and the escape of pus will be lessened. The time to open an abscess is just before it is ready to break, and should be done with a sharp lance, a crucial incision sometimes being necessary. The cavity should be syringed out with an antiseptic solution. Care should be taken not to allow the wound to close too rapidly, to prevent which a tent of lint or oakum should be introduced.

WOUNDS.

For the purposes of the present work wounds may be divided into three classes: (1) Incised; (2) punctured; (3) lacerated or contused. In any wound all that the most suitable applications can accomplish is, in the first place, to prevent the access of those poisonous germs which exist in the animal's surroundings, such as the soil and the manure, and, in the second place, when the process of repair is for some reason temporarily inactive or altogether arrested, to incite that curative inflammation that is the invariable method by which the cure is effected.

INCISED WOUND.--This is one with clean-cut edges, and may be either superficial or deep. In wounds of all descriptions there is necessarily more or less bleeding, and this is especially liable to be the case in incised wounds, particularly when they penetrate to a considerable depth, or when inflicted on a part where blood vessels of any considerable size approach the surface. To arrest the hemorrhage must therefore be the first consideration. If slight, a generous use of cold water is all that is necessary, but if one or more vessels of any size have been wounded or entirely severed, they should be taken up and ligated. If the blood flows continuously and is dark in color, it proceeds from a vein, but if bright-colored and jerky in its flow, it is arterial.

The taking up of an artery simply means the tying up of the bleeding vessel, which should be accomplished as follows: To discover the bleeding artery take a piece of clean absorbent cotton, dip it in cold water, and by gentle pressure on the wound clear it of the accumulated blood. The jet of fresh blood reveals the end of the vessel, which is readily recognized by its whitish-yellow or buff color. It should be seized with a forceps or pincers and slightly drawn clear of the surrounding tissues. Now take the thread and place the middle of it under the artery, take up the ends, tie one simple knot tightly, pressing the thread down with the forefinger so as not to include the forceps, then a second one over it and cut off the ends. The bleeding being arrested, the operator can now carefully clean and inspect the wound, taking care to remove all blood and foreign matters and clip the hair around the edges before proceeding to stitch it up. If the wound is superficial, the lips may be brought together by a series of independent stitches (Pl. XXVII, fig. 6) about one-half of an inch to three-fourths of an inch apart. The stitches should not be drawn tightly; it is sufficient to bring the edges of the wound in apposition.

If the wound is deep, the needle should be introduced perpendicularly at as great a distance from the lip of the wound as the depth it is to be inserted, so as to give the thread sufficient hold. All the stitches should be as nearly as possible at equal distances from the border of the wound, to prevent unequal strain, and the knots should be made at the side, not over the wound. (Pl. XXVII, fig. 6.) When the wound is large and deep, care should be taken to have an opening in the lowest part to allow for the escape of the discharges.

In deep wounds which run crosswise of a limb or muscle it is often advisable to use what is technically known as the "quilled suture," which is most readily understood by reference to Plate XXVII, figure 7. To accomplish this method a curved needle with an eye in the point and a strong double thread should be used. The needle thus threaded is introduced perpendicularly at least an inch from the wound on one side, carried across below and brought out the same distance from the border of the cut on the opposite side, the thread being seized and held in position while the needle is withdrawn, leaving a loop of thread protruding on one side and two loose ends on the other side of each stitch. When enough stitches have been made, take a light piece of wood about the size of a lead pencil, corresponding in length to the size of the wound or slightly longer, and insert it through each of the loops, drawing up the free ends of the threads, which should in turn be tied securely on a similar piece of wood on that side.

PUNCTURED WOUNDS.--Owing to the uncertainty of their depth and the structures they may involve, punctured wounds are by far the most dangerous and difficult to treat. Not only is the extent of the damage hidden from view, but the very character of the injury, as can be readily understood, implies at least the possibility of deep-seated inflammation and consequent discharge of pus (matter), which, when formed, is kept pent up until it has accumulated to such an extent that it burrows by simple gravity, as no other exit is possible. In this way foreign matters, such as a broken piece of the stake or snag, or whatever caused the wound, may be carried to an indefinite depth, or the cavity of a joint may be invaded and very serious, if not fatal, consequences occur.

The danger is especially marked when the injury is inflicted on parts liable to frequent and extensive motion, but all cases of punctured wounds should receive unusual care, as no judgment can be accurately formed from the external appearance of the wound. While a probe can ascertain the depth, it throws but little light on the extent or exact nature of the internal injury. For this reason all punctured wounds should invariably be carefully searched by means of a probe or some substitute devised for the occasion, such as a piece of wire with a smooth blunt end, or a piece of hard wood shaped for the purpose. Stitching is not admissible in the case of punctured wounds. After thoroughly cleansing the opening of the wound and its surroundings, tincture of iodin should be injected directly into the wound.

If a punctured wound is not very deep, and when the bruising and laceration are slight, it is possible for healing to take place by adhesion, and this should always be encouraged, as the process of repair by this method is far superior to that by granulation, which will be referred to later. With this object in view, the animal should be kept as quiet as possible. A dose of physic, such as a pound of Glauber's or Epsom salt, should be administered, and warm antiseptic fomentations or poultices, when this is practicable, applied frequently to the surface of the wound.

In wounds of this description the process of repair may be complicated by the appearance of exuberant granulations, popularly known as "proud flesh," which is really an overgrowth of new tissue--granulation tissue; but these should not be interfered with unless they continue after the acute stage of inflammation has been subdued. If, after this, they persist, they may be treated with a 10 per cent solution of sulphate of copper (bluestone) or nitrate of silver (lunar caustic) in water.

CONTUSED OR LACERATED WOUNDS.--These are usually caused by a blow with some blunt instrument or by falls. The seriousness depends largely on the depth of the injury, and treatment should be directed to allaying the inflammation and preventing the consequent tendency to sloughing. To this end soothing applications, such as antiseptic fomentations and poultices, are plainly indicated.

METHODS OF HEALING.--Technically these may be divided into a number of distinct processes, but practically we may speak of them as two only, namely, by primary union, or adhesion, and by granulation. As suppuration is not so liable to occur in cattle as in horses, healing by the former and more speedy process is much more common in the first-named species, more particularly in clean-cut or incised wounds, provided they have been stitched within 12 hours from the time the injury which caused them was inflicted, that they have been kept antiseptically clean, and that the patient by some means has been kept fairly still. This latter stipulation is probably hardest to comply with. Quiet is an important factor in the process of repair among the lower animals.

The second method of healing, namely, by granulation, which is, however, the manner in which most wounds in animals heal, takes much longer. In punctured wounds of any depth healing necessarily takes place in this way only, and the treatment should be directed largely to alleviating pain and moderating inflammation.

AFTER-TREATMENT AND DRESSING OF WOUNDS.--The dressing of wounds is one of the most important branches of veterinary surgery, and one of the most constant difficulties that the practicing veterinarian has to contend with lies in the lack of cooperation on the part of owners in the care and attention in the after-treatment of wounds.

In summarizing the treatment of wounds, the following recommendations should be observed: wounds must be cleansed and kept clean, using antiseptic solutions which do not produce irritation, and applying the solutions with a syringe or with clean pieces of absorbent cotton. Bleeding should be stopped before the closing of the wound by sutures or bandages. An opening at the bottom of all wounds except small superficial wounds should be provided as a drainage outlet for the escape of wound secretions or pus if it should form. The edges of wounds and the muscles involved in the wound should be kept as quiet as possible during the process of healing. Every wound should be protected by a sterile or antiseptic dressing whenever it is possible to retain a dressing in place. Dressings should be changed when it is apparent that they have become drenched with wound secretions or pus, or have become disarranged or too loose, permitting dirt to enter between them and the skin. If swelling appears beyond the edges of a bandage, it is an indication that it is too tight and it should then be removed and again applied.

The hands of the operator and all instruments and dressings coming in contact with a wound at any time should be made as clean as possible by the use of antiseptics.

BARBED-WIRE CUTS.--We have specified these simply because in some sections of the country there is a fixed idea that there is a specific poison in barbed wire, causing injuries which require treatment differing from that which is applicable to ordinary wounds. Barbed-wire cuts differ from ordinary wounds only in the parts being often lacerated and torn, and the treatment already indicated for wounds of that description is applicable to them.

CASTRATION.

Castration consists in the removal of the essential organs of generation, and is performed upon both the male and the female. In the male the organs removed are the testicles and in the female the ovaries.

CASTRATION OF THE MALE.

Castration in the male is performed for several different purposes. It may be necessary, as is the case in certain diseased conditions of the testicles and in strangulated hernia, but the usual object of the operation is to enhance the general value of the animal. For example, if the animal is intended for burden, the operation will better fit him for his work by so modifying his temperament and physical condition that he may easily be controlled by his master. Again, if he is merely to be used for beef purposes, the operation will improve the quality of the flesh and cause an added development of the most valuable portions of the dressed carcass.

The operation upon the female may be performed on account of diseased conditions, but we may say that the chief object of the operation is to make the animal one of more profit to its owner by lessening the lacteal secretion and also improving the physical condition from the point of view of beef production. When the cow is spayed, it does away with all trouble attending estrum, or heat, gestation, and parturition with its accidents and ailments. The flesh of the spayed cow is more tender and juicy than that of the natural animal.

The operation upon the male may be either the uncovered or the covered. In the former the incision is made down to the testicle proper, and in the latter the cut is made through the scrotum or the outside covering and through the dartos, or the next coat, care being taken to cut no deeper tissues or coats. The age at which the operation is performed varies, but usually it is performed between the second and third month. If done in early life, there is less danger of complications, the organs being in a latent condition and not fully developed. There are many different methods of operating, the principal ones of which we shall mention. In the uncovered operation a good free incision should be made, exposing the testicle completely. Now it may be removed by simply cutting it off. The only danger of doing this is that hemorrhage is liable to follow. To obviate this, before the division of the spermatic cord it should be twisted several times in the following manner: Take hold of the cord with the left hand, having it between the thumb and the index finger. Now twist the free portion several times with the right hand, all the time being careful to push with the left hand toward the body of the animal. In this way the danger of injury to the cord during the animal's struggles will be overcome. There will be no hemorrhage, or very little, if it has been done properly. This is the most simple manner of torsion. There are forceps and other instruments made to perform the operation in this manner. The actual cautery is an old method, but we shall not describe it, as we consider that we have better methods now. The next method with the clamps, although extensively used upon the horse, is not practiced to so great an extent upon the bovine at the present time. It is a very old method, and is considered very safe. Clamps are used in the covered and uncovered operations.

More modern methods are by the use of special instruments known as the emasculator and the Ècraseur.

The operation of "mulling" or crushing the spermatic cord is an unscientific and barbarous procedure, causing unnecessary pain and suffering.

The methods described above apply only to the animal in a normal condition. Before operating everything should be examined to see that it is as it should be. If otherwise, a special operative procedure will be necessary. Whichever mode of operation is adopted from a practical standpoint, the principal precautions to be taken in order to attain success are as follows: First, thorough cleanliness under strict aseptic and antiseptic precautions; second, a free and boldly made incision; third, the avoidance of undue pulling or tension upon the spermatic cord; fourth, free drainage, which can be maintained, provided the original incision has been properly made.

The operation of castration of the male is by no means a serious one, and when properly performed there is little danger from complications. Although the danger is trifling, the complications which may arise are sometimes of a serious nature. Hemorrhage, either primary or secondary, tetanus (or lockjaw), abscesses, hernia (or rupture), gangrene, and peritonitis are the most serious complications that follow castration. Whichever complication arises will require its own special treatment, which we will not go into here, as it will be fully dealt with under another heading. We would add, however, that, generally speaking, the animal, after being castrated, should either be regularly exercised or be allowed freedom so that it can exercise itself. Sudden changes of the temperature are dangerous. The animal should be fed moderately, but of a diet easily digestible.

CASTRATION OF THE FEMALE.

The operation of ovariotomy (spaying) should be performed when the heifer is in her prime and in moderate condition not too plethoric and not in heat or pregnant. This operation may be performed in one of two ways--namely, by the flank or by the vagina--each operation having its special advantages. In the flank operation the animal may be operated upon either while standing or while in the recumbent position. If standing, she should be placed against a wall or a partition and her head held by a strong assistant. The legs also must be secured to prevent the animal from kicking. A vertical incision should be made in the left flank, about the middle of the upper portion, care being taken not to make the opening too far down, in order to avoid the division of the circumflex artery which traverses that region. The operator should now make an opening through the peritoneum, which is best done with the fingers. Next the hand and arm should be introduced into the abdominal cavity and the hand directed backward toward the pelvis, searching for the horns of the uterus; if followed up the ovaries will easily be found. They should then be drawn outward and may be removed either by the Ècraseur or by torsion. Closing and suturing the wound will complete the operation. An adhesive plaster bandage can be beneficially applied.

The operation by the vagina is more complicated and requires special and expensive instruments. The mode of procedure in brief is as follows: A speculum is introduced into the vagina, and an incision is made into the superior wall of that passage about 2 inches from the neck of the uterus, cutting from below upward and from before backward. An incision which should not exceed 3-1/2 inches in length should be made. The next step is to get possession of the ovaries. They are situated in a fold of the broad ligament and should be drawn carefully through the incision into the vagina. Now take the long-handled scissors, specially made for this purpose, with which the thick border of the broad ligament is divided. The torsion forceps are introduced and applied to the broad ligament above the ovary. The left hand is then introduced, and the thumb and the index finger grasp hold of the broad ligament above the forceps. With the right hand torsion is applied and the ovary removed. The other ovary may be removed in the same manner.

What has been said with regard to complications and aftertreatment in the case of the male also applies to the female.

OTHER SURGICAL OPERATIONS.

Descriptions of other surgical operations not given in this chapter may be found in other parts of this work by reference to the index.

* * * * *

SURGICAL OPERATIONS.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES.

Plate XXVI. Devices for casting cattle. (From Fleming.)

Fig. 1. Reuff's method of throwing or casting the ox.

Fig. 2. Miles's method of throwing or casting the ox.

Plate XXVII. Surgical instruments and sutures. (After Reynders and Fleming.)

Figs. 1 and 2. Seton needles. These may be either long or short, straight or curved, according to the locality in which a seton is to be inserted.

Fig. 3. Various forms of surgical needles.

Fig. 4. Suture forceps or needle holder, for passing needles through thick and dense tissues.

Fig. 5. Knot properly tied.

Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Various forms of sutures. Fig. 6, interrupted suture; 7, quilled suture; 8, uninterrupted suture; 9, twisted suture, made by passing suture pins through the parts to be held together and winding the thread about them so as to represent the figure 8; 10, single-pin suture.

Fig. 11. Appliance for ringing the bull, one-fourth natural size.

Fig. 12. Nose clamp, with spring and keeper.

* * * * *

TUMORS AFFECTING CATTLE.

By JOHN R. MOHLER, V. M. D.,

Chief, Bureau of Animal Industry.

[Synonyms: New growth, neoplasm, neoformation, pseudoplasm, swelling, and hyperplasia.]

Definition.--Tumors[3] are abnormal masses of tissue, noninflammatory and independent in character, arising, without obvious cause, from cells of preexistent tissue, possessing no physiologic function, and characteristically unrestrained in growth and structure.

Tumors are abnormal masses of tissue. The application of the term "tumor" is directly connected with the fact that they produce local enlargement.

They are noninflammatory; that is, the process of inflammation is not directly the cause or accompaniment of them. An inflammatory new growth tends to disappear upon the subsidence of the inflammatory process, while spontaneous disappearance of a tumor is comparatively rare.

Tumors are independent. For instance, their nutrition bears no relation to the nutrition of the body. A lipoma, or fatty tumor, in the subcutaneous tissue, may go on increasing to huge bulk while the body is steadily emaciating. Again, the tissues of the aged gradually undergo atrophy, yet cancers arise at this time and grow rapidly.

Tumors are unrestrained in growth and structure. In the development of an animal we know at what period of its existence the mass of tissue called liver will develop--what its site, structure, and size will be. We know that it will remain only in that locality, and not, as it were, colonize throughout the system. With tumors it is different; there are no laws by which we can forecast the time, place, nature, or size of development of them. There is no cartilage in the kidney or parotid gland, yet a chondroma, or cartilage tumor, may develop in either. Even when a new growth of tissue is started by an injury and consequent inflammation--as, for instance, proud flesh--there is a limitation of its size, but the controlling influences which govern the size of an organ or normal mass of tissue and limit the extent of an inflammatory overgrowth are all absent in the case of tumors. They are unrestrained, lawless.

Metastasis expresses the lawlessness of tumors as regards being limited to the original site of development. Small particles of tumors enter the blood vessels or lymph streams and are carried to distant parts of the body, where they lodge and start new tumor formations. Expansion by colonization in this manner is a rule with many tumors, and, since they exercise no function of use to the organism, this dissemination of actively growing particles becomes a menace to the system by numerically increasing the body's burden, opening new channels of drain upon the system and adding new centers for the absorption of putrefactive materials when the secondary tumors shall have degenerated. It is this which makes metastasis such an important element in the malignancy of tumors.

Tumors possess no physiological function. They are absolutely useless. Fibrous tumors bind no parts of the organism together; bony tumors add nothing to the supporting framework of the body; the tissue of fatty tumors never serves as a storehouse of feed and energy; the cells of an adenoma, or gland tumor, furnish no secretion; a tumor composed of muscle tissue produces no increase to the strength of the individual--its muscle cells are not contractile.

Tumors arise from cells of preexistent tissue. Tumor tissue is not a new variety. Whatever the structure of a tumor, its counterpart is found among the tissues of the body, the lawlessness of the tumor, however, showing itself in more or less departure from the normal type. This departure is usually a reversion to a more elementary or embryonic stage, so that the tumor tissues may be said to be structurally immature.

Tumors arise without obvious cause. Concerning the ultimate cause of tumor formation we are absolutely ignorant. Various theories have been advanced from time to time, but none of them have been applicable to more than a limited number of cases. The most important theories may be briefly mentioned.

(1) The theory of tumor diathesis.--Bilroth taught that tumors are caused by a peculiar predisposition consisting of a diseased state of the fluids of the body. This constitutional taint might be acquired, but, having been acquired, is also hereditary. This theory is known also as the heredity hypothesis, but, while it is true that heredity appears to play some role in the causation of certain neoplasms, its application is too limited to make it of value.

(2) The mechanical or irritant theory.--Virchow assumed that tumors arise as the result of previous irritation of the part. This has been noticed particularly in the case of certain cancers. They frequently develop on the edges of old ulcers, thus being dependent apparently on chronic irritation. Cancer of the lip in pipe smokers is a case in point. Cancerous tumors of the skin often develop on the arms of workers in paraffin, tar, or soot, the chemical irritation of these substances being the cause. On the contrary, the proportion of those thus affected among the exposed is very small and forces the conclusion that if the real cause were in the irritation vastly more cases would occur.

(3) The theory of nervous influence.--That is based upon (a) the observed fact that tumors occur more frequently in man and the higher animals than in those lower in the scale, among which the nervous system is less highly developed; (b) that certain formations seem to be directly connected with nerve distribution, while others have been associated with alternations in neighboring nerve trunks.

(4) The embryonal theory.--This is known also as Cohnheim's hypothesis. In early fetal life there occurs a production of cells in excess of those required for the construction of the various parts of the body, so that a certain number of them are left over in the fully developed tissue or become misplaced during the sorting of cells for future development of tissues and organs. These cells lie dormant until favorable conditions arise or until some sufficient stimulus is applied, when, released from their inactivity, they begin to reproduce and grow. Not being normally related to their site, they lack the controlling and limiting influences of the part, and, their embryonic character enduing them with a most potent proliferating power, they develop in a lawless and unrestrained manner. There are tumors whose existence can be explained only on these grounds. Still, this theory falls far short of answering the question as to the origin of tumors.

(5) The parasitic theory.--This is not only one of the latest, but, merely as a hypothesis, it is the most attractive and plausible of all. The serious objections to it, however, are the almost uniform failure that has met the attempts to transplant these tumors from one animal to another and the absence of any constant variety of organism in them. Several forms of parasites have been found in certain tumors, but nothing definite has been shown with reference to the relation they bear to the causation of the neoplasm.

CLASSIFICATION OF TUMORS.

In Senn's work on tumors occurs the following: "A uniform system of classification of tumors is one of the great wants of modern pathology, and all attempts in this direction have proved failures." It would be folly, therefore, to burden the pages of a work of this kind with one or several of the proposed systems which have, admittedly, at some important point, failed of their purpose. Since the value of this chapter depends chiefly upon its practical character, which in turn is measured by its aid in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment, the old but important clinical division is here adopted.

Tumors are either malignant or benign. The essential difference between the two classes is that while benign tumors depend for their ill effects entirely upon their situation, malignant neoplasms wherever located inevitably destroy life. The clinical features of each group are in many cases sufficiently marked to distinguish them.

MALIGNANT TUMORS.

(1) These are invariably pernicious, and from the beginning tend to destroy life.

(2) The cellular element predominates; therefore they grow rapidly.

(3) Possessing no capsule, they infiltrate surrounding tissues.

(4) They infect adjacent lymph glands.

(5) They recur even after complete removal.

(6) They give metastasis; that is, they become disseminated in different organs.

(7) Their presence develops a progressive emaciation.

BENIGN TUMORS.

(1) These in and of themselves do not tend to produce death.

(2) As the cellular element is not liable to predominate, they grow slowly.

(3) They are encapsulated, and when diffuse do not infiltrate surrounding tissues.

(4) They do not infect adjacent lymph glands.

(5) They do not recur after complete removal.

(6) They do not manifest metastasis.

Benign tumors, though harmless, may, by the accident of their location, indirectly produce death. Mere pressure on the brain substance of an otherwise innocent tumor, compression of the blood supply for vital organs, growth in such manner as to cause obstruction in the alimentary tract or pressure upon nerves, may cause death, or, prior to death, so combine the effects of anemia (deficiency of blood), starvation, and pain, with its consequent restlessness, as to produce a veritable cachexia (condition of general ill health).

On the other hand, a malignant tumor in its primary growth may so implicate a vital organ as to destroy life before metastasis can occur or even before cachexia can develop. Thus, to the untrained observer, environment may so operate as to cause these two classes of new growths to simulate each other. The boundary lines may seem to overlap. It is here that the microscope, as the court of last appeal, adjudicates positively in the diagnosis between these two clearly marked divisions.

It may almost be asserted that a true classification of tumors can not be made until we know more about the cause of them. The arrangement here presented is offered to meet the practical needs of the veterinarian, student, and farmer rather than of the pathologist.

We may roughly divide the tissues of the body into structural and lining tissues. The structural tissues are composed of the tissues of special function and simple connective tissues. The lining or covering tissues, both internal and external, are known as epithelium.

Section A of the table below contains the true tumors or proper neoplasms.

Section B includes the cysts, some of which are true tumors, while others are false ones, but the latter are added because of their gross resemblance to the true and the consequent necessity of considering them at the same time.

TUMORS AND CYSTS.

A.--Tumors.

BENIGN.

I.--Tumors composed of tissues resembling those of special function.

1. Type of muscle tissue Myoma. 2. Type of nerve tissue Neuroma. 3. Type of vascular tissue Angioma. 4. Type of gland tissue Adenoma.

II.--Tumors composed of fully developed connective tissue.

1. Type of fibrous tissue Fibroma. 2. Type of adipose, or fat, tissue Lipoma. 3. Type of cartilage tissue Chondroma. 4. Type of osseous, or bone, tissue Osteoma. 5. Type of neuroglia, or nerve, sheath Glioma. 6. Type of mucoid, or mucous, tissue Myxoma.

MALIGNANT.

III.--Tumors composed of embryonic or immature connective tissues.

1. Type of immature connective tissue Sarcoma. 2. Type of endothelial tissue Endothelioma.

IV.--Tumors in which epithelial elements predominate.

1. Type of various epithelial cells and associated tissues Carcinoma.

B.--CYSTS.

I.--Cysts which develop in preexisting cavities.

1 Retention cysts. 2 Proliferation cysts.

II.--Cysts which are of congenital origin and are true tumors.

1 Dermoid cysts.

III.--Cysts which originate independently as the result of pathological changes and are nontumorous.

1. Cysts formed by the softening and disintegration of lesions Softening cysts. 2. Cysts formed around parasites Parasitic cysts. 3. Cysts formed by an outpouring of blood and lymph into the tissue spaces with subsequent encapsulation of the fluid Extravasation cysts.

TERMINOLOGY.--The principle of naming tumors is quite simple. The Greek word "oma" (plural "omata") means tumor. This word "oma" is added to the stem of the word ordinarily used to designate the kind of tissue of which the tumor is composed. Thus a tumor formed after the type of fibrous tissue is a fibroma. The only exception to this is in the naming of the two large classes of malignant neoplasms. There the names were formed from the fleshlike appearance of the one and the crablike proliferations of the other--namely, Sarcoma (sarks=flesh), carcinoma (karkinos=crab).

DIAGNOSIS.--In the diagnosis of tumors note is taken of (1) clinical history and (2) examination of the tumor.

(1) Clinical history.--Circumstances connected with the origin of the tumor and its rapidity of growth may point to an inflammatory swelling rather than a tumor. The location of the tumor at its commencement is important, as, for instance, in diagnosing between lipoma and carcinoma, the former being more or less movable under the skin, while a carcinoma develops in the skin. While tenderness on pressure may be caused by compression of a sensitive nerve by a tumor or by tumors of the nerve or nerve sheaths, as a rule this symptom is indicative of inflammatory swelling rather than of the existence of a tumor.

(2) Direct examination of the tumor.--In the application of this diagnosis the trained observer will note color, size, shape, and surface structure, transmission of light, movableness, consistence, resistance, pulsation, and crepitation. Percussion, auscultation, and exploration are also available methods. Finally, microscopic examination of the growing portions of the tumor by a pathologist will be found most satisfactory.

GENERAL TREATMENT OF TUMORS.

For benign tumors treatment is required only when it damages the animal's value or when merely for sake of appearance. When it is possible, the removal of the tumor by an operation is indicated. If the tumor has a small, constricted base, remove by torsion, ligation, or with an Ècraseur. Ligation following the incision of the skin with a knife avoids the pain of pressing on the sensitive nerves of the skin and is suitable for tumors of broad base and small bodies. A firing iron, such as is used in line or feather firing, may also be used in removing tumors with small attachments. This not only stops the bleeding but forms a firm scab, under which healing may occur rapidly. Those tumors that can not be removed by the above methods may be treated with caustics or acids, such as sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid, caustic potash, arsenic, silver nitrate, or chromic acid, but it is difficult to limit the action of these drugs. The injection, into the tumor, of such chemicals as anilin dyes, alcohol, acetic acid, citric acid, or ergotin, is of doubtful value, as is also the injection of the germs of erysipelas--thought by some to be a specific. Certain specific tumors, such as actinomycosis and botryomycosis, may be successfully treated by the internal administration of potassium iodid, together with the injection into the tumor or the painting of its surface with either Lugol's solution or the tincture of iodin. The most reliable means of treating tumors is by extirpation with cutting instruments. Dissect the tumor from the surrounding tissue, ligating all the larger blood vessels, and tearing the tissues with the fingers rather than cutting with a knife. The bleeding may be stopped with a hot iron. The after treatment is the same as for any ordinary wound of similar size.

DESCRIPTION OF INDIVIDUAL TUMORS.

Although a full list of the tumors that may be found in bovines has been given above, there are a number that warrant a detailed description, and the following mention will be made of the most important of them:

MYOMA.

These tumors are after the type of muscle. They are sharply circumscribed and, as a rule, are very hard, a condition owing usually to combination with fibroma and are then known as fibromyoma. In fact, the clinical differentiation between myoma and fibroma is almost impossible. Myomas are found in the uterus, vagina, stomach, intestines, gullet, and bladder of a bovine animal. They grow very large, but, as a rule, are benign. Treatment should consist of their removal.

NEUROFIBROMA.

A true neuroma built up of nerve fibers and nerve cells is infrequent, if it ever occurs, in cattle. False neuromas, or neurofibromas, are knotty, spreading tumors of the size of a large potato, which are developed within the nerve sheaths and composed of nerve fibers and connective tissue bands interlaced. The commingling of these varied fibers is often so intricate that separation is practically impossible. This tumor is most frequently found upon the shoulder of cattle. Treatment is surgical.

ANGIOMA.

The angiomas are tumors composed mainly of blood vessels or blood spaces and are observed on the skin of man, where they are called "birthmarks" or "mother marks." Cavernous angiomas are seen in cattle, affecting the liver and the mucous membrane of the nasal septum. In the liver they appear as smooth, flat, nonprojecting tumors of a dark-red or purple color and of about the size of a silver 10-cent piece. They are somewhat softer in consistency than the adjoining liver substance into which they are gradually fused. These tumors are frequently observed by meat inspectors in livers of slaughtered cattle. Treatment of angioma is unnecessary.

ADENOMA.

The structure of this tumor is after the type of gland tissue. It is rarely seen in cattle except in combination with cancer or sarcoma. A growth which occurs more frequently in bovines, especially calves, and which in some instances bears a striking resemblance to an adenoma is the so-called goiter.

GOITER (STRUMA).

This is a noninflammatory enlargement or a hyperplasia of the thyroid gland. While it can not be definitely classed among tumors, yet, owing to its resemblance to the latter, it will be discussed at this time. The cause of goiter has never been definitely ascertained. Among the most probable causes may be mentioned heredity, insufficient and improper diet, close confinement, unhygienic surroundings, and an unknown toxic substance which is supposed to obtain in those localities rich in magnesium and lime salts. Certain organisms found in goiter have been suspected of producing this trouble, but their relation to the disease has not been satisfactorily proved. A goiter may consist of (1) simple enlargement of the follicles which are filled with albuminous matter (follicular goiter); (2) an increase of connective tissues between the follicles, causing the swelling to be dense and resistant (fibrous goiter); (3) a great increase in size of one or more follicles, forming a cyst (cystic goiter); (4) great dilatation of the blood vessels in the gland accompanied with pulsation with each heart beat (vascular goiter).

Symptoms.--Goiter may be observed at the side of the throat, reaching the size of a fist or even larger, or it may hang down below the windpipe. In cattle the two thyroid glands are close together, and when the disease affects both there may be but one uniform swelling placed in front of the windpipe below the angle of the jaw. This swelling may be hard, soft, or doughy in consistence, and with each beat of the heart it may pulsate like an artery. It may cause labored breathing by pressure on the windpipe, and death may result from pressure on this structure, on the gullet, or on the adjoining large vessels.

Treatment.--In young animals the treatment is usually satisfactory, and consists in giving the animal a complete change of feed and plenty of exercise in the open air. If the condition appears enzootic in the district, remove the animal to another location when possible. Iodin, either in the form of ointment or the tincture, should be applied to the swelling. Injections of iodin solution, 5 grains of iodin in 1 dram of 25 per cent alcohol, may also be made into the substance of the gland. When the swelling which follows this injection has subsided it may be repeated. Potassium iodid should be given internally in 1-1/2 dram doses twice daily for a cow, or in 20-grain doses twice a day for a calf. Extirpation of all but a small section of the swelling may be successfully accomplished by a qualified veterinarian, but if it should be entirely removed, myxedema and death follow.

FIBROMA.

Fibromas are tumors made up chiefly of connective tissue and are usually confined to the skin and subcutaneous tissue. Indurative fibromas of the skin appear as tumors of gelatinous connective tissue or as firm, white vascular connective tissue growths, which are more or less sharply outlined, move readily over the underlying tissues in company with the skin, and owe their origin to mechanical injuries, perforating wounds, repeated abrasions, or the invasion of pus cocci or botryomyces into the tissues.

These tumors in cattle are frequently found upon the dewlap as solid lumps, hard as stone to the touch, lying loosely between the layers of skin, and gradually losing themselves in the softer tissues of the neck above, or as smooth, hard tumors of glistening white substance with interlacing lines of softer tissue. They may also be found in the region of the knee or at the elbow. The skin over the growths, in accordance with the originating cause, will be found chafed, covered with scabs, or even ulcerated and accompanied with collateral edema.

These connective tissue tumors grow slowly but reach enormous size. They sometimes follow injuries to the region of the throat and form there as hard, firm growth, even reaching the size of a child's head.

A fibroma upon the larynx is not an infrequent occurrence in the ox. These tumors are always sharply outlined and have a roughened surface. They may be differentiated from actinomycotic tumors (see chapter on "Infectious diseases of cattle," p. 358) in the same location by their firm, fibrous structure and by the absence of pus from the interior.

A tumor is sometimes seen upon the muzzle of cattle, which assumes a diameter equaling the width of the muzzle. It is a voluminous connective-tissue formation known by the name of "fibroma diffusum."

Another form is sometimes observed upon the tongue. It grows upon a broad, spreading base, becoming very hard. It is almost lacking in blood vessels, although the few that are present are plainly in view, and in consequence is poorly supplied with fluids. It is of a smooth contour, white or whitish yellow in color, is sharply limited from the normal substance of the tongue, may be covered with mucous membrane, on which prominent papillÊ are located, or only by a thin, delicate layer of epithelium, and is usually found in the middle part of the tongue, where it may reach the size of two fists.

Pedunculate or stemmed fibrous tumors are frequently noticed growing upon or near the extremity of the tails of cows. They are apparently of traumatic origin, such as tying the tail fast while milking or shaving it too closely while trimming for show purposes, and usually contain bloody or gelatinous material within, or, again, they may be strongly edematous throughout.

Treatment.--The treatment of large fibromas is surgical and consists of the operative removal of the tumor, followed by suturing of the wound. Small external tumors may be painted with zinc chlorid, chromic acid, or a concentrated solution of bichlorid of mercury.

PAPILLOMA (WART).

When fibromas develop from the lining or covering tissues they frequently form papillary growths, more or less thickly covered with epithelium, and are then called papillomas, or warts.

Papillomas consist of villouslike projections, resulting from a proliferation of the outer layer (epithelium) of the skin or mucous membrane. These growths are also called "angle berries," and may assume a variety of forms. Sometimes there is a preponderance of epidermis in the formation, and the tumor then appears as a hard, dense, insensitive, clublike growth, or wart. Again the swelling is chiefly in the derm, or true skin, and we have what is known as a flesh wart (verucca carnea). In other cases the growth of papillar bodies projects in great cauliflowerlike tumors with deeply furrowed and lobulated surface, over which a covering of epidermis may or may not be present. These are usually much softer and are well supplied with blood vessels. It is not uncommon for them to be pedunculate or stemmed, and in this case considerable rotary motion or twisting is possible. Their color is cloudy gray or grayish red, with white bands of connective tissue radiating from the center. Their consistence varies. Upon their surfaces and within their clefts and fissures they undergo retrogressive changes, softening, bleeding, or ulcerations.

A favorite location for the papilloma in cattle is the udder and teats, where they may develop in such numbers as to cover the entire surface and make the animal troublesome to milk. The sides of the head, neck, and shoulders also afford satisfactory conditions for their growth, and are frequently seen to be affected by them.

Treatment.--Warts may be removed with the scissors, twisted off with the fingers, or ligatured by means of a rubber band or horsehair. The roots should then be cauterized with tincture of iron, glacial acetic acid, or lunar caustic. Acids should never be used in removing warts about the eyes or in the mouth. Papillomas of the eyelids sometimes change to cancers and should be removed by taking out a wedge-shaped section of the eyelid. Young cattle should be given arsenic internally in the form of Fowler's solution, 1 tablespoonful twice a day for a 6-months-old calf.

POLYPS.

Polyps are usually fibromas or myxomas, occurring on the mucous membrane of the nasal passages or genital tract. They grow upon a narrow stem, bleed readily when injured, and often contain a center of thin, limpid fluid. A bloody discharge is sometimes seen coming from the affected nostril, but this is not always easy of detection in cattle, owing to the pliancy of their tongues and to their habit of licking an irritated nostril. Usually these tumors grow downward and may project from the nostril, causing snoring sounds and uneasy breathing. They may occasionally force themselves backward into the throat, where they interfere seriously with respiration, the patient being obliged to breathe with an effort, and even forced to cough in order to dislodge temporarily the obstruction from the larynx. Such tumors, when near the nostril, may easily be removed by the use of forceps or a loop made of bailing wire. Serious bleeding is not liable to follow their removal, but an astringent wash, such as a solution of the perchlorid of iron, if applied to the cut surface, will be found very beneficial. In case the tumor is not within easy reach, the services of a qualified veterinarian should be obtained to perform the necessary operation.

LIPOMA.

This is a tumor consisting chiefly of fat cells. The growth is irregularly rounded and distinctly lobulated, very soft, and almost fluctuating. It is insensitive, grows slowly, and is always inclosed in a distinct fibrous capsule, from which it can be easily shelled out. It may become very large and often hangs pendulous from a long, elastic pedicle. In cattle this tumor may be found in the subcutaneous tissues, especially of the back and shoulders, uterus, and intestines, and in the latter position it may cause strangulation, or "gut tie," by winding around a loop of the intestine.

Treatment.--When found on the skin the tumor may be readily removed with a knife or by a ligature. Caustics and the cautery produce wounds that heal slowly and can not be recommended in the treatment of this tumor.

CHONDROMA.

This tumor formation is composed of cartilage cells. It is a rounded and very often unevenly nodular and sharply described tumor. It is very hard, dense, elastic, and painless and develops principally where we find normal cartilage cells. It is rare in cattle, but has been found in the subcutaneous tissues and nasal cavities.

Treatment.--Extirpation.

OSTEOMA (BONY TUMOR).

Bones may occasionally grow in such a profuse and irregular manner that the product, or osteophyte, assumes the character of a tumor. The bone tissue may possess either spongy or compact properties and grow either from the periphery of the bone or within its interior. These tumors most frequently appear about the head of the animal, either upon the jawbones, within the nasal passages, or in connection with the horns. They are usually of bony hardness, painless, benign, and sharply outlined.

Treatment.--The treatment consists in either removing them with a saw, chisel, or trephine, or preventing their further development by counterirritation with blisters or firing iron.

MYXOMA.

Characteristic myxomas are mucoid tumors which chiefly originate from the mucous membrane and are especially to be found within the nasal passages and uteri of cattle. They can reach a size of three fists, are smooth or velvetlike, or may be lobulated, broad at the base, and consist of a glassy-looking mass of connective tissue, which usually shows a distinctive yellowish color. Being homogeneous and elastic, the moist, jellylike tissue composing the tumor may be easily destroyed or crushed. When cut through, these tumors soon collapse from the loss of their fluids. They sometimes inclose elliptical cavities filled with slimy, gelatinous masses.

Treatment.--Extirpation.

SARCOMA.

This is a malignant tumor after the type of embryonal tissue, and consists of several varieties, such as the round cell, spindle cell, giant cell, alveolar, and melanosarcoma. They grow by preference in connective tissue and are quite vascular. Sarcomas appear either as single or multiple nodules, varying in size from a hempseed to a hazelnut, or else as a moderate number of tumors of the size of hen eggs. Their surface, at first smooth, later becomes lumpy and tuberous from internal degeneration. Secondary nodules may appear near the primary tumor. The outer skin is not involved so soon as in cancer, nor does ulceration follow so rapidly. Sarcoma is about the most frequent and dangerous tumor that is found in cattle. It occurs in young animals, and is found on the serous membranes, in the glandular organs, and on the outer skin, especially of the neck and shoulders--in fact, in nearly every tissue and in almost every part of the body. This tumor is often found in places exposed to traumatisms and at seats of scars, or of irritations from pressure and inflammation.

Treatment.--Treatment should consist in early and complete removal by the knife, including one-half or three-quarters of an inch of the sound tissue adjoining the tumor. If there is a possibility that sarcomatous tissue still remains, either cauterize the wound with a hot iron or powder the walls of the cavity with arsenious acid.

CANCER (CARCINOMA).

Cancers are tumors of epithelial tissues and are malignant. There are several varieties of cancers, such as hard, soft, and colloid, but only those growing on the surface will be mentioned here. These malignant tumors of the superficial organs develop primarily from the epidermis or from the glands of the skin. They appear secondarily as spreading infections from milk glands, thyroids, anal glands, or as embolisms. In such cases their sole character depends wholly upon the kind of cancer from which they have sprung. The infiltrating cancer begins as an elevation of the skin, which progresses until it becomes rough and nodular. The surface later becomes attacked, and an ulcer results whose edges are outlined by a hard, firm zone.

The ulcerations may remain limited by cicatricial tissue, but it is more likely that the infiltration and destruction of tissue will spread out wider and deeper until a rodent ulcer (so called) is formed. One of the most frequent sites of cancer in cattle is in the eye, where they are called fungus hematodes, but they also occur on the skin, on the genitals, in the stomach, and within the organs.

Fungus hematodes.--This starts at the inner corner of the eye as a papillary elevation or as small nodules which become fused. They grow larger and become papillomatous, with superficial ulcerations and a tendency toward hemorrhage. In some cases the eye is displaced by the growing tumor or is attacked by the cancer cells and entirely destroyed.

Cancerous growths upon the external genitals and the anus usually present a rough, irregular surface from which there is a constant sloughing of decomposed tissue accompanied with a penetrating disagreeable odor.

The diagnosis of cancer may be made clinically by noting the simultaneous infection of the lymph glands which surround the primary lesion. Deeply burrowing and infiltrating forms which appear as lumps and ulcerations cause marked disfiguration of the affected part. The surface becomes a soft, greasy mass; later it cracks open and from the fissures blood-colored pus exudes, being continually formed by the moist degeneration of the tissues beneath. At first the general health of the animal does not appear affected, but later the cancer nodules spread to important organs and give rise to marasmus and progressive emaciation. Cancer is not a frequent tumor of cows. Frˆhner states that of 75 cases of tumors in cattle which came under his observation 2, or 2.6 per cent, were found to be cancers, while 20, or 26.6 per cent, were sarcomas.

Treatment.--Treatment consists in the early and complete removal of the tumor, taking care to include a wide border of healthy tissue. This has been most successful in such superficial cancers as those of the eye, penis, anus, testicle, vulva, and sheath. If the disease has advanced too far, this treatment may not prove efficacious, owing to the great malignancy of the cancer and its tendency to recur. In such cases the animal may be slaughtered, but the flesh should be used for food only after inspection by a competent veterinarian.

CYSTS.

Cysts may be true or false tumors and consist of a capsule containing a fluid or semisolid content. Among the most important cysts, which have been briefly referred to in a previous table, the following are probably the most noteworthy, owing to the frequency with which they are found in bovines:

SOFTENING CYSTS.

Softening cysts, which result from the degenerative liquefaction of normal or diseased tissues, especially of tumors of different kinds, followed by the encapsulation of the fluid.

PARASITIC CYSTS.

Parasitic or foreign-body cysts, from the inflammatory reaction induced by such parasites as the echinococcus (hydatid cyst) or by the presence of various kinds of foreign bodies.

EXTRAVASATION CYSTS.

Extravasation cysts, caused by injuries which rupture blood vessels, followed by an increase of fibrous tissue which forms a capsule about the fluid. The hygromata in front of the knee in cattle, so-called tumor of the knee, and serous cysts belong to this variety.

HYGROMATA, OR TUMORS OF THE KNEE.--These consist in the simplest form of a collection of serous fluid mixed with fibrin within a distended bursa. The walls surrounding the fluid become firm, smooth, and dense.

Outwardly the tumor appears fluctuating, though tense, while the skin which covers it may be normal, denuded of hair, or covered with hard epidermal scales, possibly half an inch in thickness, forming a hard, horny plate. The cavity which contains the fluid may have the dimensions of a hen's egg, an apple, or a child's head. Its walls are formed by the diseased secreting membrane of the bursal sac, and are readily detachable from the subcutis of the skin. Their internal surfaces are often uneven or supplied with projections or tufted growths which support a fibrous network within the tumor.

Tumors of the knee may also assume a granular type, as the result of chronic inflammation or following operative or spontaneous evacuation of pus from the part. They are either firmly connected with the skin or are detachable from it, and when laid open disclose a whitish-red, porklike tissue surrounding a central nucleus of pus, or a fistulous tract leading to the outer surface. They are caused by the chronic inflammation which follows the bruises received by cattle in lying down and in rising, or they may be due to falls on uneven, hard ground.

Treatment for hygromata.--When the swelling first appears cold water should be applied, followed later by bandaging with cloths wrung out of warm water. If the swelling is soft, it should be punctured at the lowest point, and afterwards the cavity should be syringed with Lugol's solution. If the tumor is hard and nonfluctuating, a mercurial blister may cause absorption and at the same time prevent further injury to the part by making it more painful, thus sparing it.

SEROUS CYSTS.--These swellings are another variety of extravasation cysts, and are caused by such injuries as butting, running against hard objects, and shipping bruises, which are followed by an outpouring of blood and lymph into the tissue spaces. These cysts develop rapidly and may reach the size of a man's head or even larger. They are soft, edematous, and hot at first and contain a serous or blood-tinged fluid. Later, partially organized clots and shreds of a fibrinous nature and of a gelatinous consistence are formed within, and the temperature of the swelling is reduced. They appear on the surface of the body, especially on the belly and flank of cattle.

Treatment of serous cysts.--Treatment consists in opening the cyst at the most dependent point with a sharp knife. The cavity should be washed out twice daily with a 5 per cent solution of carbolic acid, and drainage encouraged by keeping the incision open.

DERMOID CYSTS.

These cysts have a wall which is almost an exact duplicate of the structure of the skin, and frequently contain epidermal structures, such as hair and teeth, which, in the development of the embryo, have been misplaced. Thus we may find in an ovary or testicle a dermoid cyst, containing a tooth or a ball of hair. Dental cysts are included in the class above.

DENTAL CYSTS.--It happens occasionally that the teeth of cattle, instead of developing normally within strong supporting alveolÊ, remain inclosed within a cystic membrane, which assumes a tumorlike character. One tooth may be included alone in the cyst or a number may be inclosed together. However this may be, the malformation progresses, especially if confined to the incisor teeth, until the remaining teeth that began to develop normally are crowded out of position and rendered useless. The tumor may reach the size of a man's fist. It appears to be fleshy and dents upon pressure, but it may also appear on closer examination as though it contained irregular sections of thin bone. The outer surface is always smooth, and no indication of purulence, softening, or scab formation is ever exhibited. Upon being laid open with the knife the tumor is seen to be surrounded by a firm, smooth membrane which limits it completely from the adjoining tissues. It is filled with material which possesses partly edematous, partly fleshy, and partly bony properties. It is supposed that this mass is composed of rudiments of the jawbone or of the alveolar walls which, becoming spongy, lose themselves in the soft, fleshy mass contained within the capsule of the tumor. It occasionally happens that the tumor is hollow and that the cavity extends back into the body of the lower jaw for a considerable distance.

Tumors of this kind, being of congenital origin, are very naturally observed most frequently in young cattle, but they may continue to expand for a period of several months after the birth of the calf, even until they become troublesome and unsightly.

Treatment for dental cysts.--Treatment consists in the complete extirpation of the cyst and the destruction of the lining pouch by curetting.

RETENTION CYSTS.

Retention cysts arise from the retention of normal secretions, owing to obstruction of a duct leading from a gland. The mucous cysts found in the mouth, udder, and vestibule of cows are samples of this form.

MUCOUS CYSTS.--Saclike dependent tumors, caused by retention of the secretions from the mucous glands, sometimes develop in the mouth, nose, pharynx, and vulva of cattle. They are called "mucous cysts." These are of sizes varying from peas to pigeon eggs, are roundish and translucent, and surrounded by a delicate, vascular membrane. They contain a siruplike substance more or less thick and transparent and whitish yellow in color.

Treatment consists in the puncturing of the swelling, if accessible, and the destruction of the cyst walls by the injection of Lugol's solution.

PROLIFERATION CYSTS.

These are found especially in the ovaries of cows, called "cystic ovaries," and may produce nymphomania (chronic bulling).

The treatment indicated in this case is the removal of the diseased ovaries.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] The term "tumor" literally means a swelling, and thus has been applied to the prominence caused by an overdistended bladder, to the enlargement of pregnancy, to the swelling produced by an abscess, to the overgrowth of tissue (hyperplasia) associated with injury and consequent inflammation, and to numerous other phases of tissue enlargement directly connected with recognized disease processes. For this reason it is becoming more common for scientists to apply the word "neoplasm" to the new growths described in this chapter. Because of the still popular use of the word "tumor," it is retained in this chapter for the designation of those new growths to which the sevenfold characterization of our descriptive definition applies.

DISEASES OF THE SKIN.

By M. R. TRUMBOWER, D. V. S.

[Revised by John R. Mohler, V. M. D.]

GENERAL DISCUSSION.

The skin consists of two parts--a superficial layer, the epidermis, or cuticle, and the deep, or true, skin, the dermis, cutis vera, or corium.

The epidermis, cuticle, or scarf skin, is an epithelial structure, forming a protective covering to the corium. It varies in thickness, is quite insensible and nonvascular, and consists of a sheet of cells.

The epidermis is divided into a firm and transparent superficial and a deep, soft layer. The latter is the rete mucosum, whose cells contain the pigment which gives color to the skin. The deep surface of the epidermis is accurately molded on the papillary layer of the true skin, and, when removed by maceration, presents depressions which correspond to the elevations on the dermis. From the cuticle tubular prolongations pass into the sebaceous and sudorific glands; thus the entire surface of the body is inclosed by the cuticle.

The dermis, or true skin, is vascular and highly sensitive, containing the tactile ends of the nerves of touch. It is covered by epidermis and attached to the underlying parts by a layer of areolar tissue, which usually contains fat. The cutis consists of a fibro-areolar tissue and vessels of supply. It is divided into two layers, the deep, or true, corium and the upper, or papillary. The corium consists of strong interlacing fibrous bands, chiefly white; its meshes are larger and more open toward the attached surface, giving lodgment to the sweat glands and fat. The papillary, or superficial, layer is formed of a series of small conical eminences or papillÊ, which are highly sensitive, and consists of a homogenous, transparent tissue. The blood vessels form dense capillary plexuses in the corium, terminating by loops in the papillÊ. The papillary nerves run in a waving manner, usually terminating in loops.

Hair is an appendage of the skin and forms its external covering. It is a special modification of epidermis, having the same essential structure, and consists of a root, shaft, and point. The root has a bulbous extremity, is lighter and softer than the stem, and is lodged in a recess or hair follicle, which may either be in the corium or subcutaneous areolÊ. The follicle is dilated at the bottom to correspond to the root bulb, and the ducts of one or more sebaceous glands open into it. At the bottom of each follicle is a conical, vascular papilla, similar in every respect to those on the surface of the dermis; this papilla fits into a corresponding depression in the root of the hair. The shaft consists of a center, or medulla, a surrounding fibrous portion, and an external coating, or cortex. The medulla consists of cells containing pigment or fat, is opaque, and deeply colored. All kinds of hair do not have this medulla. The fibrous portion occupies the bulk of the stem, and the cortex is merely a single layer of thin, flat, imbricated (shinglelike) scales.

The sebaceous glands, lodged in the corium, are most abundant in parts exposed to friction. They generally open into the hair follicles, occasionally on the surface of the body. Each gland consists of a small duct which terminates in a lobulated recess. These lobules vary, and are, as is the duct, lined with epithelium. They are filled with sebaceous matter which, as it is secreted, is detached into the sacs. They are very plentiful between the claws of cattle.

The sudorific glands, or sweat glands, are situated in the subcutaneous areolar tissue, surrounded by a quantity of fat. They are small, round, reddish bodies, each of which consists of one or more fine tubes coiled into a ball, the free end of the tube being continued up through the true skin and cuticle, and opening on the surface. Each sweat gland is supplied with a cluster of capillary blood vessels which vary in size, being very large when perspiration is excessive. The contents of the smaller ones are fluid, and of the larger, semifluid.

The skin may be regarded as an organ supplementary in its action to the lungs and kidneys, since by its secretion it is capable of removing a considerable quantity of water from the blood; it also removes small quantities of carbon dioxid, salts, and in certain instances during suppression of the renal secretions a small quantity of urea. The skin is also the chief organ for the regulation of animal heat, by or through conduction, radiation, and evaporation of water, permitting of loss of heat, while it also, through other mechanisms, is able to regulate the heat lost. The hair furnishes protection against extreme and sudden variations of temperature by reason of the fact that hairs are poor conductors of heat, and inclose between them a still layer of air, itself a nonconductor. The hairs are also furnished with an apparatus by which the loss of heat may be regulated; thus, in cold weather, through the contraction of unstriped muscular fibers of the skin, the hairs become erect and the external coat becomes thicker. Cold, too, acts as a stimulus to the growth of hair, and we find, in consequence, a thicker coat in winter than in summer. The hairs also furnish protection against wet, as they are always more or less oily from the secretion of sebaceous glands, and thus shed water. Through their elasticity they furnish mechanical protection, and through the thickness of the coat, to a certain degree, resist the attacks of insects. Finally, the hairs assist the sense of touch.

The sweat glands are constantly discharging a watery secretion in the form of insensible perspiration, and by their influence act as regulators of the temperature of the body; hence, in warm weather, the secretion of the skin is increased, which tends to prevent overheating. Sweating, in addition to regulating heat, is also an active agent in removing effete material from the blood; therefore this secretion can not be checked without danger. If the skin is covered with an impermeable coating of grease or tar, death results from blood poisoning, owing to the retention of materials destined to be excreted by the skin.

All secretion poured out by the skin is not only modified by the condition of the atmosphere but also by the character and quantity of the food, by the amount of exercise, and especially by the quantity of fluid taken.

The sebaceous secretion is intended to lubricate the skin and hairs. It consists of soft, fatty material suspended in water, and is characterized by an odor peculiar to the animal by which it is secreted.

I will not attempt to classify the various diseases of the skin, for in a work of this kind it would serve only to confuse the reader.

We shall first consider a class of diseases which are of an inflammatory type; next, those caused by faulty secretion and abnormal growth; then, diseases of parasitic origin; lastly, local injuries of the skin.

PRURITIS (ITCHING).

We shall consider pruritis first as a distinct subject. It is not a disease, only a sensation, and therefore a symptom. It is one of the symptoms accompanying the majority of the diseases which we will consider in this chapter. It is, then, a functional affection produced by slight irritation from without or by an internal cause acting upon the sensory nerves of the skin. Nothing characteristic is seen except the secondary lesions, produced mechanically by scratching or rubbing.

There are various forms of itching, the result of specific skin diseases, where the pruritis is a secondary symptom. In such cases it should not be regarded as an independent affection.

Causes.--Many causes may induce the condition which we recognize here as pruritis. The most common one is dirt on the skin, resulting from insufficient care. If the ceiling of the stable is open, so that dust and straw may fall, the skin is irritated and pruritis results. It also occurs in some forms of indigestion.

The parts of the body most exposed to this condition are the croup, the back, the top of the neck, and the root of the tail.

Another cause is found in affections of the liver and of the kidneys, when an increase of effete material has to be thrown off by the skin. Morbid materials circulating in the blood may produce a tickling or smarting sensation of the skin in their passage from the blood to the free surface of the skin. Certain irritating substances when eaten may be excreted by the skin, and coming thus in direct contact with the sensory nerves produce itching, or may go further and cause distinct inflammation of the skin. In another class of cases the pruritis may be ascribable to an atrophy, contraction, or hardening of the skin, when the nerves become irritated by the pressure. These conditions may be so slightly marked in a thick skin like that of the ox that they can not be recognized. It is frequently noticed that cattle rub themselves as soon as they pass from the stable into the open air--changing from a warm to a cold atmosphere. Again, we may find one that does all its rubbing in the stall. We may look for lice, but fail to find them. These conditions are generally attributable to high feeding and to too close confinement. They may be associated with inflammatory irritation or not; certainly we fail to discover any morbid changes in the skin. There is to some extent a delightful sensation produced by rubbing, and it may partly become a habit of pleasure.

Treatment.--We must place our chief reliance upon a change of food, plenty of exercise, and in most cases the administration of an active cathartic--1 to 1-1/2 pounds of Epsom salt, a handful of common salt, a tablespoonful of ginger or pepper, mixed with 2 quarts of water, all of which is to be given at one dose. Afterwards half an ounce of hyposulphite of soda mixed with the feed may be given twice a day for a week. For an external application, when the skin is abraded or thickened from rubbing, a solution of borax, 4 ounces to the quart of water, may be used. Carbolic acid, 1/2 ounce to a quart of water, will give relief in some cases.

INFLAMMATORY DISEASES OF THE SKIN.

ERYTHEMA.

This is the simplest form of inflammation of the skin. It consists of an increased redness, which may occur in patches or involve considerable surface. The red coloration disappears when pressed by the finger, but soon returns after the pressure is removed. There is seldom much swelling of the affected part, though often there is a glutinous discharge which dries and mats the hair or forms a thin scale upon the skin. In simple erythema the epidermis alone is affected; when it becomes chronic, fissures form and extend into the corium, or true skin.

Causes.--Simple erythema, consisting of an inflammatory irritation, is seen in very young calves, in which the navels leak. The discharge being urine, it causes an irritation of the surrounding skin. Chafing, which is another form of erythema, is occasionally seen on the udders of cows from rubbing by the legs; chafing between the legs is not uncommon among fat steers. Chronic erythema is found in the form of chapped teats of cows and chapped lips in sucking calves. It frequently occurs in cows when they are turned out in winter directly after milking, and in others from chafing by the sucking calf. Some cows are peculiarly subject to sore teats. The fissures when neglected in the early stage of formation become deep, very painful, often bleeding at the slightest touch, and when milked in that condition cause the animal to become a kicker. Occasionally the lower portions of the legs become irritated and chapped when cattle are fed in a muddy or wet yard in winter, or if they are compelled to wade through water in frosty weather. Another form of erythema occurs in young cattle highly fed and closely stabled for a long winter. The erythema appears in patches, and as it is most common near the end of the winter it is known as the "spring eruption" or "spring itch."

Treatment.--In ordinary cases of erythema the removal of the cause and the application of benzoated oxid of zinc ointment, carbolized cosmoline, or ichthyol ointment applied a few times, will restore the skin to a healthy condition.

When there are fissures the zinc ointment is the best. If at the teats, a milk siphon (Pl. XXIV, fig. 4) should be used instead of milking by hand, and the calf, if one is suckled, should be taken away. The calf should be fed by hand if its mouth is affected. When the legs are irritated or chapped, dry stabling for a few days and the application of tar ointment will soon heal them.

URTICARIA (NETTLE RASH, OR SURFEIT).

This is a mild, inflammatory affection of the skin, characterized by sudden development of patches of various sizes, from that of a nickel to one as large as the hand. The patches of raised skin are marked by an abrupt border and are irregular in form. All the swelling may disappear in a few hours, or it may go away in one place and reappear on another part of the body. It is always accompanied with a great desire to rub the affected part. In its simplest type, as just described, it is never followed by any serous exudation or eruptions, unless the surface of the skin becomes abraded from scratching or rubbing.

Causes.--Digestive derangements caused by overloading the stomach when the animal is turned out to graze in the spring, certain feed constituents, high feeding of fattening stock, functional derangement of the kidneys, spinal and other nervous affections, are the most common sources of nettle rash.

The disease consists in paralysis of the nerve ends that control the volume of the capillary vessels in certain areas of skin, thus permitting the vessels to expand, their contents in part to exude, and thus produce a soft, circumscribed swelling.

Treatment.--Administer a full dose of Epsom salt. Give soft, easily digested feed, and wash the affected parts with a solution of bicarbonate of soda (common baking soda), 8 ounces to the gallon of water twice a day, or diluted glycerin may be applied to the skin. If it assumes a persistent tendency, give a tablespoonful of the following powder in the feed three times a day: Cream of tartar, sulphur, and nitrate of potassium, equal parts by weight; mix.

ECZEMA.

Eczema is a noncontagious inflammation of the skin, characterized by any or all of the results of inflammation at once or in succession, such as erythema, vesicles, or pustules, accompanied with more or less infiltration and itching, terminating in a watery discharge, with the formation of crusts or in scaling off. The disease may run an acute course and then disappear, or it may become chronic; therefore two varieties are recognized, vesicular (or pustular) and chronic eczema.

Causes.--Eczema is not so common among cattle as in horses and in dogs, in which it is the most common of all skin diseases. Among cattle it is occasionally observed under systems of bad hygiene, filthiness, lousiness, overcrowding, overfeeding, excessively damp or too warm stables. It is found to develop now and then in cattle that are fed upon sour substances, distillery swill, house or garden garbage, etc. Localized eczema may be caused by irritant substances applied to the skin--turpentine, ammonia, the essential oils, mustard, Spanish-fly ointment, etc. Occasionally an eruption with vesiculation of the skin has been induced by the excessive use of mercurial preparations for the destruction of lice. It is evident that eczema may arise from local irritation to the skin or from an autointoxication. Cattle fed on the refuse from potato-starch factories develop a most obstinate and widespread eczema, beginning on the legs.

Symptoms.--In accordance with the variety of symptoms during the progress of the disease we may divide it into different stages or periods: (1) Swelling and increased heat of the skin; the formation of vesicles, which are circumscribed, rounded elevations of the epidermis, varying in size from a pinhead to a split pea, containing a clear, watery fluid; (2) exudation of a watery, glutinous fluid, formation of crusts, and sometimes suppuration, or the formation of vesicles containing pus (pustules); (3) scaling off (desquamation), with redness, and thickening of the skin. From the very beginning of the disease the animal commences to rub the affected parts; hence the various stages may not always be easily recognized, as the rubbing produces more or less abrasion, thus leaving the skin raw-- sometimes bleeding. Neither do these symptoms always occur in regular succession, for in some cases the exudation is most prominent, being very profuse, and serve to spread the disorder over a large surface. In other cases the formation of incrustations, or rawness of the skin, is the most striking feature. The disease may be limited to certain small areas, or it may be diffused over the greater part of the body; the vesicles, or pustules, may be scattered in small clusters, or a large number run together. The chronic form is really only a prolongation of the disease, successive crops of pustules appearing on various portions of the body, frequently invading fresh sections of the skin, while the older surfaces form scabs, or crusts, upon the raw, indurated skin.

In old, standing cases the skin breaks, forming fissures, especially on portions of the body that bend--the neck and limbs. Thus the disease may be prolonged indefinitely. When eczema reaches its latest period, either acute or chronic, desquamation of the affected parts is the most prominent feature. The formation and shedding of these successive crops of scales constitute the character of the disease frequently denominated psoriasis.

Treatment.--The treatment of eczema is often anything but a pleasant task. There is no one method of treatment which always proves successful, no matter how early it is begun or how small an area is involved. We must endeavor to remove the cause by giving attention to the general health of the animal and to its environment. Feeding should be moderate in quantity and not too stimulating in character--green feed, bran mashes, ground oats, clean hay, plenty of salt. If the animal has been fed too high, give an active purgative--Epsom salt preferred--once a week, if necessary, and half an ounce of acetate or nitrate of potassium may be given in the feed twice a day. If the animal is in poor condition and debilitated, give a tablespoonful of the following mixture in feed twice a day: Powdered copperas, gentian, sulphur, and sassafras bark, equal parts by weight. If the animal is lousy, the parasite must be destroyed before the eczema can be cured. The external treatment must vary with the character of the lesions; no irritating application is to be made while the disease is in its acute vesicular, or pustular, stage, and, in the chronic stage, active stimulants must be used. Much washing is harmful, yet crusts and scales must be removed in order to obtain satisfactory results from the external applications. Both objects, however, can be attained by judiciously combining the curative agents with such substances as will at the same time cleanse the parts.

In the vesicular stage, when the skin is feverish and the epidermis peeling off, thus exposing the exuding dermis, an application of boric-acid solution, 2 drams of the acid to 8 ounces of water, often relieves the smarting or itching, and also serves to check the exudation and dry the surface. If this fails to have the desired effect compound cresol, 1 ounce to 2 quarts of water, should be used as a wash. Either of these washes may be used several times a day until incrustation is well established. Then compound cresol, 1 ounce to 2 quarts of sweet oil, or the benzoated oxid of zinc ointment, giving the affected surfaces a thorough application once a day, will be efficacious. When the eczema is not the result of an external irritant, it takes usually from one to two weeks to heal.

In chronic eczema, when there is a succession of scabs or scales, indolent sores or fissures, the white precipitate ointment, nitrate of mercury ointment, or blue ointment, mixed with equal parts of cosmoline or fresh lard, may be applied every second day, taking care to protect the parts so that the animal can not lick it off.

The internal administration of arsenic often yields excellent results in chronic eczema. Dissolve 1 dram of arsenic and 1 dram of carbonate of potassium in 1 pint of boiling water, and give 1 ounce of this twice a day in water, after feeding. An alkali internally may be of service. As such, one may give 2 ounces of bicarbonate of soda twice daily. Sublimed sulphur may also be tried in ounce doses twice daily.

PUSTULES (IMPETIGO).

Impetigo is an inflammatory disease of the skin, characterized by the formation of distinct pustules, about the size of a pea or a bean, without itching. The pustules develop from the papular layer of the skin, and contain a yellowish-white pus. After reaching maturity they remain stationary for a few days, then they disappear by absorption and dry up into crusts, which later drop off, leaving upon the skin a red spot that soon disappears. Occasionally the crusts remain firmly adherent for a long time, or they may be raised and loosened by the formation of matter underneath. The dry crusts usually have a brown or black appearance.

Causes.--Impetigo affects sucking calves, in which the disease appears upon the lips, nostrils, and face. It is attributed to some irritant substance contained in the mother's milk. Impetigo is also witnessed among grazing animals, regardless of age, and it especially attacks animals with white hair and skin. The mouth, face, and limbs become covered with pustules, which may rupture in a few hours, followed by rapid and successive incrustations; the scabs frequently coalesce, covering a large surface; pus may form under them, and thus the whole thickness of the skin become involved in the morbid process. This form of the disease is attributed to the local irritant properties of such plants in the pasture as St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum), smartweed (Polygonum hydropiper), vetches, honeydew, etc. Buckwheat, at the time the seeds become ripe, is said to have caused it; also bedding with buckwheat straw.

Treatment.--Sucking calves should be removed from the mother, and a purgative given to the latter to divert the poisonous substance secreted with the milk. When the more formidable disease among grazing cattle appears, the pasturage should be changed and the affected parts of the animal thoroughly anointed once a day with sweet oil containing 2 drams of carbolic acid to the pint. This should be continued until the crusts soften and begin to drop off, then the parts may be cleansed thoroughly with warm water and soap. Subsequently the white precipitate ointment or carbolized cosmoline should be applied daily until the parts are healed.

PEMPHIGUS (WATER BLISTERS).

This is an inflammatory disease of the skin, characterized by successive formations of rounded, irregularly shaped water blisters, varying in size from a pea to a hen's egg.

Causes.--Obscure.

Symptoms.--The formation of a blister is preceded by a congestion or swelling of the skin. Yellowish-colored water collects beneath the cuticle, which raises the latter from its bed in the form of a blister. The blisters appear in a succession of crops; as soon as one crop disappears another forms. They usually occur in clusters, each one being distinct, or they may coalesce. Each crop usually runs its course in a week. The disease is attended with itching or burning sensations which cause the animal to rub, thereby frequently producing excoriations and formation of crust on the affected region.

Treatment.--Give a tablespoonful of the following-described mixture in feed twice a day: Saltpeter, cream of tartar, and sulphur, equal parts by weight. The blisters should be opened as soon as formed, to allow the escape of the serum, followed by a wash composed of chlorid of zinc, 1 dram to 15 ounces of water. When there is any formation of crusts, carbolized cosmoline should be applied.

FURUNCULUS (BOILS).

This is an acute affection of the skin, usually involving its whole thickness, characterized by the formation of one or more abscesses, originating generally in a sebaceous gland, sweat gland, or hair follicle. They usually terminate by absorption, or by the formation of a central core, which sloughs out, leaving a deep, round cavity that soon heals.

Causes.--Impoverished state of blood, the result of kidney diseases or of local friction or contusions, with the entrance of pus cocci through the damaged skin or through a hair follicle or a sebaceous gland.

Symptoms.--Boils in cattle usually appear singly, not in clusters; they may attain the size of a hen's egg. The abscess begins as a small round nodule, painful on pressure, gradually increases in size until death of the central portion takes place, then the surface of the skin gives way to internal pressure and the core is released and expelled. Constitutional symptoms are generally absent, unless the boils occur in considerable numbers, or by their size involve a great deal of tissue.

Treatment.--Poulticing to ripen the abscess. If this can not be done, apply camphorated oil two or three times a day until the core is formed. As soon as the central or most prominent part becomes soft, the abscess should be opened to release the core. Then use carbolized cosmoline once a day until the healing is completed. If the animal is in poor condition, give tonics--copperas, gentian, ginger, and sulphur, equal parts by weight, 1 tablespoonful twice a day. If the animal manifests a feverish condition of the system, give half an ounce of saltpeter twice a day, continuing it several days or a week.

FAULTY SECRETIONS AND ABNORMAL GROWTHS OF THE SKIN.

PITYRIASIS (SEBORRHEA, DANDRUFF, OR SCURF).

This is a condition characterized by an excessive secretion of sebaceous matter, forming upon the skin in small crusts or scales.

Causes.--It is ascribable to a functional derangement of the sebaceous glands, usually accompanied with dryness and loss of pliancy of the skin. The animal is hidebound, as it is commonly termed, thin in flesh, inclined to rub, and very frequently lousy. The condition is observed most often toward the spring of the year. Animals that are continually housed, and the skins of which receive no cleaning, generally present a coat filled with fine scales, composed of epithelium from the epidermis and dried sebaceous matter. This, however, is a physiological condition and compatible with perfect health.

Symptoms.--Pityriasis may affect the greater portion of the body, though usually only certain parts are affected--the ears, neck, rump, etc. The skin becomes scurfy, the hairy coat filled with branlike gray or whitish scales.

Treatment.--Nutritious feed, such as oil-cake meal, bran, ground oats, and clean hay. In the spring the disease generally disappears after the animal is turned out to pasture. When lice are present they should be destroyed.

ELEPHANTIASIS (SCLERODERMA).

This condition consists in a chronic thickening of the skin, which may affect one or more limbs or involve the whole integument. It is characterized by recurrent attacks of swelling of the skin and subcutaneous areolar tissue. After each attack the affected parts remain infiltrated to a larger extent than before, until finally the skin may attain a thickness of an inch, becoming wrinkled and fissured. In cattle this disease is confined to hot climates. The predisposing cause is unknown.

EDEMA (ANASARCA OF THE SKIN).

This is a dropsical condition of the skin and subcutaneous areolar tissue, characterized by pitting under pressure, the fingers leaving a dent which remains a short time.

Causes.--Edema generally results from a weakened state of the system arising from previous disease. It may also be dependent upon a functional derangement of the kidneys, upon weak circulation, or obstruction to the flow of blood through the lungs. In debilitated animals and in some animals highly infested with parasites there is swelling of the dewlap or of the fold of the skin between the jaws.

Symptoms.--Painless swelling of a limb, udder, lower surface of abdomen, or lower jaw becomes apparent. This may increase in dimensions for several days or may attain its maximum in less than 24 hours. Unless complicated with some acute disease of a specific character, there is not much, if any, constitutional disturbance. The deep layer of the skin is infiltrated with serum, which gives it the characteristic condition of pitting under pressure.

Treatment.--When the cause can be ascertained and removed we may expect to see the edema disappear. When no direct specific cause can be discovered and the animal is debilitated, give general tonic. If, on the contrary, it is in good flesh, give a purgative, followed by half an ounce of acetate of potassium twice a day. External applications are useless.

Edema may be distinguished from erysipelas or anthrax by the absence of pain and fever.

DERMOID AND SEBACEOUS CYSTS (WENS).

A dermoid cyst is formed by an involution of the skin with a growth of hair on the inner wall of the sac. It may become embedded deeply in the subcutaneous tissues or may just penetrate the thickness of the skin, where it is movable and painless. They are generally found within the ear or at its base, although they may form on any part of the body. Usually they have a small opening, from which a thick, cheesy matter can be squeezed out. The rational treatment is to dissect them out.

Sebaceous cysts appear not unlike the former. They are formed by a dilatation of the hair follicle and sebaceous duct within the skin, and contain a gray or yellowish sebaceous mass. The tumor may attain the size of a cherry stone or a walnut. Generally they are round, movable, and painless, soft or doughy in consistency, and covered with skin and hair. They develop slowly. The best treatment is to dissect out the sac with contents entire.

VERRUCA (WARTS).

Cattle are affected with two varieties of warts. One, the verruca vulgaris, is composed of a cluster of enlarged papillÊ, covered with a thickened epidermis, the number of papillÊ determining the breadth and their length its height. They are generally circular in figure, slightly roughened on the surface, and spring from the skin by a broad base. Occasionally large numbers of very thin, long, pedunculated warts grow from the skin of the ear, lips, about the eyes, and vulva. Another variety, the verruca acuminata, sometimes erroneously denominated epithelial cancers, are irregularly shaped elevations, tufted or club shaped, occasionally existing as thick, short, fleshy excrescences, giving the growth the appearance of granulation tissue. Their color is red or purplish, and oftentimes by friction they become raw and bleeding, emitting then a very offensive odor. They usually grow in clusters and their development is rapid.

Causes.--An abnormal nutrition of the skin, determined by increased energy of growth operating upon a healthy skin; at other times, upon a weak or impoverished skin.

Treatment.--When they are small and pedunculated, they may be snipped off with shears and the stump touched with nitrate of silver. When they are broad and flattened, they may be dissected out and the wound cauterized if necessary. If they are large and very vascular, they may be ligated, one by one, by taking a strong cord and tying it as firmly around the base as possible. They will then shrivel, die, and drop off. If there is a tendency to grow again, apply a red-hot iron or nitric acid with a glass rod. Very often warts quickly disappear if they are kept soft by daily applications of sweet or olive oil.

KELIS.

Kelis is an irregularly shaped flat tumor of the skin, resulting from hypertrophy--increased growth of the fibrous tissue of the corium, producing absorption of the papillary layer.

Causes.--It may arise spontaneously or follow a scar after an injury.

Symptoms.--Kelis generally appears below the knee or hock, and may occur singly or in numbers. There are no constitutional symptoms. Its growth is very slow and seldom causes any inconvenience. It appears as a flattened, irregular, or spreading growth within the substance of the skin, is hard to the touch, and is especially characterized by divergent branches or roots, resembling the claws of a crab; hence the name. Occasionally some part of it may soften and result in an abscess. It may grow several inches in length and encircle the whole limb.

Treatment.--So long as it causes the animal no inconvenience it is best not to meddle with it; when it does the animal ought to be fattened for beef, the meat being perfectly harmless to the consumer.

PARASITIC DISEASES OF THE SKIN.

RINGWORM (TINEA TONSURANS AND TINEA FAVOSA).

Ringworm is an affection of the skin, caused by a vegetable parasite.

The form known as tinea tonsurans is produced by the presence of a minute or microscopic fungus--the Trichophyton tonsurans, which affects the hair and the epidermic layer of the skin, and is highly contagious, being readily transmitted from one animal to another. This fungus consists of spores and filaments. The spores, being the most numerous, are round and seldom vary much in size. They are very abundant in the hair follicle. The filaments are articulated, waving, and contain granules. This disease is productive of changes in the root and shaft of the hair, rendering it brittle and easily broken off.

This disease becomes manifest by the formation of circular patches on the skin, which soon becomes denuded of hair. The cuticular layer of the skin in slightly inflamed, and vesication with exudation occurs, followed by the formation of scaly, brittle crusts. The patches appear silvery gray when incrusted, and are mostly confined to the head and neck. It is a common disease among young cattle in the winter and spring. Very early in the development of the patches the hairs split, twist, and break off close to the skin. This disease is attended with more or less itching. It is communicable to man.

Tinea favosa comes from another fungus, the Achorion schˆnleinii. This enters the hair follicle and involves the cuticle surrounding it, small crusts form which increase in diameter and thickness and then become elevated at their margin, forming a cup-shaped scab, the favus cup, which gives the disease its distinctive character. The number of these cups varies from a few to many hundreds. The hairs involved become brittle and broken, fall off with the crusts, leaving small bald patches. The crusts are of a pale or sulphur-yellow color at first; as they grow older they turn darker, or to a brown color. This form of ringworm has a peculiar odor, resembling that of mice or musty straw. It is occasionally communicated to cattle by man, mice, cats, etc., all being subject to it.

Treatment.--Remove all crusts by washing with soap and water, then apply acetic acid, sulphur ointment, tincture of iodin or nitrate of mercury ointment once a day. Cleanse the stable and whitewash it to destroy the spores scattered by the crusts.

OTHER PARASITES AND PARASITIC DISEASES OF THE SKIN.

For discussion of mange, itch, scab, lousiness, warbles (grub in the skin), buffalo gnats, hornfly (Hoematobia serrata), ticks, flies, etc., see the chapter on "The animal parasites of cattle," page 502.

WOUNDS OF THE SKIN.

SNAKE BITES AND VENOMOUS STINGS.

[See discussion of these subjects in chapter on "Poisons and poisoning."]

BURNS AND SCALDS.

This is a rare accident among cattle, yet in cases of fire it may occur. The application of heat, whether dry or moist, unless sufficient instantly to destroy the life of a part, is always followed by the development of vesicles or blisters, which contain a thin, watery fluid. The blisters may be isolated and not very large, or one blister may cover a very large surface. When the burn is very severe the skin may be wholly devitalized, or the injury may extend into the deeper structures of the skin. Then sloughs will occur, followed by a contraction of the parts in healing; if on a limb, this may render the animal stiff. When the burn or scald has been a severe one, the resulting pain is great and the constitutional disturbance very marked.

Treatment.--For a superficial burn use a mixture of equal parts of limewater and linseed oil, or common white paint--white lead ground in oil--to exclude the atmosphere and protect the inflamed skin. If it is not convenient to get anything else, chimney soot, flour, or starch may be spread on the wound (dry), and covered with cotton batting and light bandage. The blisters should be opened to let the contained fluid escape, but do not pull off the thin cuticle which has been raised by the blister. When the burn is extensive and deep sloughing occurs, the parts should be treated, like other deep wounds, by poulticing, astringent washes, etc. When the system has sustained much shock, the animal may require internal stimulants, such as 2 drams of carbonate of ammonia every hour until it rallies. When the pain is very great, hypodermic injections of 6 grains of morphia may be administered every six hours.

Frostbite on any portion of the body may be treated as recommended in the article on diseases of the ears.

EMPHYSEMA (AIR OR GAS UNDER THE SKIN).

Emphysema of the skin is not a true disease of the skin, but it is mentioned as a pathological condition. It is characterized by a distention of the skin with air or gas contained in the subcutaneous areolar tissue. It may depend upon a septic condition of the blood, as in anthrax or blackleg, or air may be forced under the skin about the head, neck, and shoulders, as a result of rupture of the windpipe. It occurs in the region of the chest and shoulders from penetrating wounds of the chest and lung, and occasionally follows puncture of the rumen when the escaping gas is retained under the skin.

Symptoms.--The skin is enormously distended over a greater or less portion of the body; thus any region of the body may lose its natural contour and appear like a monstrosity. There is a peculiar crackling beneath the skin when the hand is passed over it, and on tapping it with the fingers a resonant, drumlike sound is elicited.

Treatment.--Puncture the distended skin with a clean, broad-bladed knife and press the air out. Further treatment must be directed with a view to the removal of the cause.

DISEASES OF THE FOOT.

By M. R. TRUMBOWER, D. V. S.

[Revised by Leonard Pearson, B. S., V. M. D.]

LAMINITIS (FOUNDER).

Laminitis denotes an active inflammation of the sensitive structures within the wall of the hoof, which in severe cases may result in suppuration and the loss of one or more claws. Owing to the simplicity of the structure of the foot of an ox compared with that of the horse, this disease is rarely seen in an acute form, but a mild form, commonly called "foot soreness," is not of infrequent occurrence.

Causes.--Laminitis in cattle may be caused by overfeeding, overheating, continued standing without exercise on a stone or cement floor without sufficient bedding, or by driving long distances over rough or stony soil.

Symptoms.--An unwillingness to maintain the standing position; the animal persists in lying down. The feet will be found unnaturally hot, and frequently some swelling may be noticed above the hoof. Pressure upon the hoof with blacksmith's hoof pincers causes pain and flinching. The general body temperature is increased and the breathing accelerated. Ordinarily the animal eats and drinks as usual. When it is made to move excessive tenderness of the feet becomes manifest, as is shown by reluctance to walk and by the very short, hesitating step. Founder affects the hind as well as the fore feet, although the front feet are more often exposed.

Treatment.--Cold packs to the feet, or if the animal can be made to stand in a stream of water, having a soft bottom, the inflammation is often relieved without the necessity of any additional treatment. It may be well, however, to give a full dose of Epsom salt, 1 to 1-1/2 pounds, followed by half-ounce doses of saltpeter two or three times a day.

SORENESS (FOOT SORENESS).

Cattle that have been stabled or pastured on soft ground and are driven over stony roads soon wear down the soles of their feet and become lame from foot soreness. Draft oxen, for this reason, require to be shod. When the soreness is excessive it may develop into an active inflammation of all the sensitive structures of the foot--laminitis, or into a local bruise commonly called a "corn."

Treatment.--Rest, poulticing the feet with moistened clay, followed by astringent washes--strong white-oak bark or alum water.

If the pain and heat last several days, it is probable that pus has formed beneath the wall of the hoof. In this case it is necessary to cut through the wall, usually at the most prominent part of the sole, to allow the accumulation to drain out. The animal should then stand for several hours daily in a tub containing a 3 per cent solution of some good milky coal-tar disinfectant. When not in the disinfecting solution the foot should be dressed with pine tar and cotton and bandaged with bagging.

LOSS OF HOOF.

Cattle sometimes become fastened between planks or otherwise and pull off the wall of one or both claws in the effort to extricate themselves. The claws of one or more feet may be shed as the result of acute laminitis.

Treatment.--Wash the bleeding surface with an antiseptic and then with an astringent, such as a weak solution of alum, then apply a thick coating of pine tar; cover this with a layer of oakum or absorbent cotton; apply another coat of tar over this, and then bandage closely and firmly. This may remain without disturbance until the new growing wall becomes sufficiently strong to sustain the pressure and weight of the animal. If, however, at any time oozing or bad smell indicates that pus is forming under this dressing, the bandage should be removed and the suppurating surface freshly cleaned and dressed. This may have to be repeated every few days and should be continued so long as there is any pus formation. If the loss of hoof is owing to suppurative laminitis, the parts denuded of the horny covering must be thoroughly cleansed and disinfected with carbolic acid, lysol, or other antiseptic. Then apply a moderately thick layer of absorbent cotton and over this apply the tar and bandage. After this the antiseptic solution may be poured in daily at the top of the dressing. It will thus soak in and saturate the dressing and inflamed tissue. It may become necessary to remove all the dressing at daily or longer intervals to give the parts a fresh cleaning, and then to reapply it.

FOUL IN FOOT (FOOT ROT).

A variety of causes may produce inflammation of the foot between the claws or toes. It may be on account of overgrowth of the claws and inward pressure, as in ingrowing nail of man, or it may be caused by the irritation of stable filth by impaction and hardening of soil between the claws, or by other foreign substances becoming wedged in, causing inflammation and softening or ulceration of the skin in the interdigital space. Under some conditions several cattle in the same herd become affected, which has led some to think that the disease may be contagious. Occurrences have been reported in which foot rot of cattle has appeared within a short time among a large proportion of the cattle in a farming district. This disease is most frequently seen in the hind feet, though all four feet may become affected.

Symptoms.--The animal is observed to limp. On examination of the foot we discover heat and swelling above the hoof and of the soft parts between the claws which frequently spreads the claws apart to a considerable extent, or the inflammation may have advanced to softening and sloughing of the interdigital membrane. If the disease is neglected at this stage, deep abscesses may form and the pus burrow under the horny wall, or the joint within the hoof may become inflamed and the articular attachments destroyed, in which case the treatment will be difficult and recovery will be very tedious.

Treatment.--In the earlier stages of the disease, before pus burrows beneath the horn, a thorough cleansing and an application of a carbolic-acid solution--1 ounce to a pint of water--clean stabling, and laxative food will usually remedy the evil. Compound solution of cresol is an excellent remedy at this stage. It should be applied, in its pure or undiluted state, to the suppurating and putrefying tissue between the claws. It is best applied by means of a cotton swab on a thin stick. Care must be taken to keep it from contact with the skin about the coronary band or heels. If deep sloughing has taken place the carbolic solution should be used, and a wad of oakum or cotton smeared with pine tar should be secured firmly in the cleft. This can be done by taking a strip of strong cloth, 2 inches wide, passing the middle between the claws, then tying the ends after winding them in opposite directions above the hoof. Sometimes warm poulticing with flaxseed meal or bran is necessary to relieve excessive fever and pain. If the pus burrows under the horn, its channel must be followed by paring away the horn until the bottom is reached. The aftertreatment is the same as that already recommended. If the joint becomes diseased an amputation of that toe is the quickest and surest method to relieve the suffering of the animal, and offers the best chance for an early recovery.

ULCERATION OF THE HEEL.

Occasionally we find ulcers at the junction of the hair with the hoof at the heel, which present an elevated, raw, or ragged surface, and cause considerable lameness. This is generally caused by a bruise of the fibrous cushion of the back part of the foot. Subsequent sloughing or necrosis may occur, or pus may form deep within the wall and gain an exit at the margin of the heel. Sometimes, from no visible cause, large pieces of skin slough from the heel and pastern. This condition is caused by an infection with certain microorganisms (streptococci, necrosis bacilli) and may be contagious.

Treatment.--If there is a deep opening, inject carbolic solution once a day until it closes. If the ulcer is only superficial, wash with carbolic solution and apply a mixture of equal parts of blue vitriol and alum in dry powder.

FISSURE OF THE WALL (SPLIT HOOF).

This is rarely seen among cattle. It may occur in weak walls, in heavily bodied cattle, caused by stepping on an uneven surface, especially when the point of the toe is grown out long. One may find the point of the toe broken and the wall split almost up to the hair.

Treatment.--The divided sections may be brought into approximation and held in place by drilling a small hole from one side into and through the other, commencing half an inch back of the fissure on each side; then drive a light horseshoe nail through the hole and clinch it. Pare the injured claw as short as it will bear.

INTERDIGITAL FIBROMA.

Hard, nodular, fibrous tumors sometimes grow in the cleft of the foot, and cause inconvenience, lameness, absorption, or ulceration of the contiguous parts.

Treatment.--They should be dissected out and the wound dressed with carbolic-acid lotion and pine tar once a day until healing is completed.

DEFORMITIES.

Deformities in the feet of cattle usually consist in overgrowth of horn, generally from want of wear in animals which are stabled. The hoof may turn inward, outward, or upward, and may give rise to lameness, inability to walk, foul foot, etc. Bulls which are continually stabled and dairy cows very frequently have misshapen feet from want of an occasional trimming, and this deformity may eventually lead to permanent injury.

Treatment.--Cut the superabundant growth of horn down with saw, knife, or rasp, until the foot assumes its natural form.

PRICKS AND WOUNDS.

If an animal suffers with a penetrating wound from prick of fork or nail, the orifice of the wound should be enlarged to permit a free discharge of pus; then the foot should be soaked in a cresol compound solution (3 per cent) in a tub, or a flaxseed poultice applied, changing it three times a day until the fever has abated. The foot should be kept bandaged and dressed with pine tar and oakum; the animal must also be kept on a clean floor until the wound is closed and all or nearly all lameness has disappeared.

If an animal is cut in the foot with barbed wire, piece of glass, or any other substance, the wound, after proper cleansing, should be dressed with carbolic-acid solution, 1 ounce of the acid to 20 of water. If any uneven edges of horn, skin, or lacerated flesh project, trim them off, and in all cases when it can be done a tarred bandage should be applied. This will serve to sustain the cut surfaces in their place, exclude dirt, and protect against flies, maggots, etc.

When the wound has extended into a joint, surgical treatment, which will require the services of an educated veterinarian, may be necessary.

Occasionally an animal gets caught by the foot in a crevice and sustains severe bruising, wrenching, or fracture of some part of the foot. In such cases cold-water packs to the injured member are of service until the fever and swelling disappear. Afterwards the animal should rest until the usefulness of the foot is restored. Sometimes such an accident, causing fracture, renders necessary plaster bandages or amputation.

DISEASES OF THE EYE AND ITS APPENDAGES.

By M. R. TRUMBOWER, D. V. S.

[Revised by Leonard Pearson, B. S., V. M. D.]

DESCRIPTION.

For the sake of gaining a clear comprehension of the diseases of the eye it becomes necessary to review the anatomy of this important organ. The essential organ of vision, or globe of the eye, will be first described, then its receptacle or orbital cavity, the muscles that move it, the protective membranes, or eyelids, the membrana nictitans, or accessory eyelids, and, lastly, the lacrimal apparatus.

The globe or ball of the eye is almost spherical in form. On closer inspection, however, it appears to be made up of two combined portions from spheres of different sizes. The posterior portion, forming about five-sixths of the ball, is a sphere of comparatively large size with a small segment cut off it in front, and at this point there is applied to it the anterior portion, which, being a segment of a smaller sphere, projects at the front of the ball with a greater convexity than the posterior portion.

The eyeball consists of concentrically arranged coats and of refracting media inclosed in them. The coats are three in number, namely, (1) an external protective tunic made up of the sclerotic and cornea; (2) a middle vascular and pigmentary tunic, the choroid; (3) an internal nervous layer, the retina. The sclerotic is the white, opaque part of the outer tunic, of which it forms about the posterior five-sixths, being coextensive with the larger sphere already mentioned. The cornea forms the remaining one-sixth of the outer tunic, being coextensive with the segment of the smaller sphere. It is distinguished from the sclerotic by being colorless and transparent. The choroid coat will be recognized as the black layer lying subjacent to the sclerotic. It does not line the cornea, but terminates behind the line of junction of that coat with the sclerotic by a thickened edge--the ciliary processes. At the line of junction of the sclerotic and cornea the iris passes across the interior of the eye. This (which may be viewed as a dependency of the choroid) is a muscular curtain perforated by an aperture termed the pupil. The retina will be recognized as a delicate, glassy layer, lining the greater part of the choroid.

The refracting media of the eye are three in number, namely (1) the aqueous humor, a watery fluid inclosed in a chamber behind the cornea; (2) the crystalline lens and its capsule, a transparent, soft solid of a biconvex form, and placed behind the iris; (3) the vitreous humor, a transparent material with a consistence like thin jelly, and occupying as much of the interior of the eye as is subjacent to the choroid.

The sclerotic is a strong, opaque, fibrous membrane, which, in a great measure, maintains the form of the eyeball and protects the more delicate structures within it. Its interior portion, which is covered by the ocular conjunctiva, is commonly known as the "white of the eye." In form it is bell-shaped, and the optic nerve pierces it behind like a handle, the perforation being a little to its inner side. In front, the rim of the bell becomes continuous with the cornea. The outer surface of the membrane receives the insertion of the muscles of the eyeball. The coat is thickest over the posterior part of the eyeball, and is thinnest a little behind its junction with the cornea.

The cornea is the anterior transparent portion of the outer coat of the eyeball. It may be viewed as a part of the sclerotic specially modified to permit the passage of light into the interior of the eye. Its outline is elliptical, nearly circular, and its greatest diameter is transverse. At its periphery it joins the sclerotic by continuity of tissue, and as the edge of the cornea is slightly beveled and has the fibrous sclerotic carried for a little distance forward on its outward surface, the cornea is generally said to be fitted into the sclerotic like a watch glass into its rim. The venous canal of Schlemm runs circularly around the eyeball at the line of junction of the sclerotic and cornea. The anterior surface of the cornea is exquisitely smooth, and is kept moist by the lacrimal secretions. Its posterior surface forms the anterior boundary of the chamber in which the aqueous humor is contained. The cornea is of uniform thickness and is of a dense, almost horny, consistence. Save a few capillary loops of blood vessels at its margin the cornea is without vessels. Its structure is comprised of five distinct layers.

The aqueous humor occupies a chamber which is bounded in front by the posterior surface of the cornea and behind by the capsule and suspensory ligament of the lens and by the ends of the ciliary processes. It is across this chamber that the iris extends. The aqueous humor is composed of water, with a small proportion of common salt in solution.

The iris is a muscular, pigmented curtain extending across the interior of the eye and having about its center an aperture termed the pupil. By variations in the size of this aperture the amount of light transmitted to the retina is regulated. It varies somewhat in color, but is most frequently of a yellowish-brown tint. Its anterior face is bathed by the aqueous humor. The greater part of the posterior surface is in contact with the capsule of the lens and glides on it during the movements of the curtain. The circumferential border is attached within the junction of the sclerotic cornea. The inner border circumscribes the pupil, which varies in outline according to its size. When much contracted the pupil is a very elongated ellipse, the long axis of which is in the line joining the nasal and temporal angles of the eyelids. It contains muscular tissue, which, by contracting or relaxing, lessens or dilates the pupillary opening.

The choroid coat is a bell-shaped, dark membrane which lines the sclerotic. Its outer surface has a shaggy appearance, caused by the tunica fusca, which unites the two coats. Between the two the ciliary vessels and nerves pass forward. Behind it is pierced by the optic nerve; in front it is continued as the ciliary processes, which form, as it were, the rim of the bell. The ciliary processes form a fringe around the slightly inverted rim of the choroid.

The retina is the most delicate of the coats of the eyeball. It is formed by the expansion of the optic nerve on the inner surface of the choroid, and, like that coat, it is bell-shaped. Its inner surface is molded on the vitreous humor. The nervous structures of the retina terminate at a wavy line, the ora serrata, behind the ciliary processes. Ten distinct layers are described as composing the thickness of the retina.

The lens is situated behind the pupil and is contained within a capsule of its own.

The capsule is a close-fitting, firm, transparent membrane. The anterior surface forms the posterior boundary of the cavity containing the aqueous humor, and the iris in its movement glides on it. The posterior surface is in contact with the vitreous humor.

The vitreous humor occupies four-fifths of the interior of the eyeball. It is globular in form, with a depression in front for the lodgment of the lens. It is colorless, transparent, and of a consistency like thin jelly. It is enveloped by a delicate capsule--the hyaloid membrane--which is connected in front with the suspensory ligament of the lens, and ends by joining the capsule behind the lens.

The orbital cavity, at the side of the head, is circumscribed by a bony margin; posteriorly, however, there are no bony walls, and the cavity is often confounded with the depression above and behind the orbit--the temporal fossa. A fibrous membrane completes this cavity and keeps it distinct from the temporal fossa. This membrane--the ocular sheath or periorbita--is attached posteriorly around the opening in the back part of the orbital cavity (the orbital hiatus) and anteriorly to its inner face; then it becomes prolonged beyond the margin to form the fibrous membrane of the eyelids. When complete the orbital cavity has the form of a regular hollow cone, open at its base and closed at the apex. The opening of this cone is directed forward, downward, and outward. Independently of the globe of the eye, this cavity lodges the muscles that move it, the membrana nictitans, and the lacrimal gland.

The muscles of the eye are seven in number--one retractor, four straight, and two oblique. The retractor oculi envelops the optic nerve between the brain and the ball of the eye and becomes attached upon the external face of the sclerotic tunic. When this muscle contracts, it draws the globe back into the orbit, away from the light. The superior, inferior, external, and internal recti or straight muscles are attached to the back part of the orbital sheath and spread forward in four bundles over the globe of the eye, where they are inserted by a fibrous expansion into the sclerotic at the margin of the cornea. When they act singly, they turn the globe either upward, downward, inward, or outward. The great oblique, by its action, pivots the eye inward and upward in the orbit. The small oblique turns the eye outward and downward.

The eyelids are two movable curtains, superior and inferior, which cover and protect the eye in front. They are attached to the circumference of the orbit and have a convex external face formed by the skin and a concave internal face molded on the anterior surface of the eye and are lined by the conjunctiva, which is reflected above and below on the eyeball. The border of each lid is slightly beveled on the inner side and shows the openings of the Meibomian glands. These glands secrete an unctuous fluid, which is thrown out on the border of the lids, the function of which is to facilitate their movements and enable them to retain the tears in the ocular cavity. The eyelid is composed of a fibrous inner membrane ending in a stiff arch near the border, a muscle to close the lid, another to open it, the skin externally, and the conjunctival mucous membrane internally. The border of each lid is covered and protected by long hairs to prevent floating particles of matter in the atmosphere from gaining entrance to the eye.

The membrana nictitans, which is also named the third eyelid, winking eyelid, haw, etc., is placed at the inner angle of the eye, whence it extends over the eyeball to relieve it from foreign bodies which may fall upon it. It has for its framework a fibro-cartilage, irregular in shape, thick, nearly prismatic at its base, and thin anteriorly where it is covered by the conjunctiva; behind, it is loosely attached to a fatty cushion.

The lacrimal gland is situated between the orbital process and the upper part of the eyeball. It secretes the tears destined to lubricate the anterior surface of the eye. This fluid escapes upon the organ at the outer angle of the lids and is carried between them and the eyeball toward the inner angle.

The caruncula lacrimalis is a small round body, frequently entirely or partially black, situated in the inner angle of the eye, and is designed to direct the tears toward the puncta lacrimalia.

The puncta lacrimalia are two little openings, situated one in each eyelid, a short distance from the inner corner, which admit the tears into the lacrimal ducts leading to the lacrimal canal, whence they are emptied into the nasal passages.

CONJUNCTIVITIS (SIMPLE OPHTHALMIA).

This is an inflammation of the conjunctival mucous membrane of the eyeball and lids; in severe cases the deeper coats of the eye are involved, seriously complicating the attack.

Causes.--It may result from a bruise of the eyelid; from the introduction of foreign matters into the eye, as chaff, hayseed, dust, gnats, etc.; from exposure to cold; poisonous or irritating vapors arising from filthiness of stable. Dust, cinders, or sand blown into the eyes during transportation frequently cause conjunctivitis.

Symptoms.--A profuse flow of tears, closure of the eyelids from intolerance of light, retraction of the eyeball and corresponding protrusion of the haw, disinclination to move, diminution of milk secretion, etc. On parting the lids the lining membrane is found injected with an excess of blood, giving it a red and swollen appearance; the sclerotic, or white of the eye, is bloodshot and the cornea may be cloudy. If the disease advances, keratitis results, with its train of unfavorable symptoms.

Treatment.--Careful examination should be made to discover particles of chaff, etc., which may have lodged in the eye, and upon the discovery of such a cause prompt removal is indicated. This may be accomplished by flushing the eye with warm water by means of a syringe, or, if the foreign substance is adherent to the eyeball or lid, it may be scooped out with the handle of a teaspoon or some other blunt instrument. To relieve the congestion and local irritation, a wash composed of boracic acid in freshly boiled water, 20 grains to the ounce, or acetate of zinc, 5 grains to the ounce of pure soft water, may be used, to which may be added 20 drops of laudanum. A few drops of this should be placed in the eye with a camel's-hair pencil or soft feather three or four times daily. The animal should be placed in a cool, darkened stable; then a cloth folded into several thicknesses should be fastened to the horns in such manner as to reach below the eyes. This should be kept wet with cold water during the day and removed at night. If there is much fever and constitutional disturbance, it becomes advisable to administer 1 pound of Epsom salt dissolved in 1 quart of water.

INFECTIOUS CATARRHAL CONJUNCTIVITIS (SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA).

This generally appears in an enzootic or epizootic form and affects a considerable number in the herd. It is distinctly a contagious disease and may be brought into a previously healthy herd by one infected animal. It may continue in a herd for a season or for several years, affecting all newly purchased animals. It is seldom seen in the winter months. It affects old and young animals alike.

Symptoms.--This form of catarrh conjunctivitis is characterized chiefly by a mucopurulent discharge from the eyes, an intense degree of inflammation of the mucous membrane, accompanied with swelling of the eyelids and an early opacity of the cornea. The flow of tears is mixed with pus, sometimes streaked with blood, and the skin of the face is kept moist and soiled. The eyes are kept continually closed. The implication of the cornea in the disease frequently blinds the animal for a time, and occasionally suppurative keratitis, ulcers of the cornea, or staphyloma supervene. The attack is marked from the onset by fever, partial loss of appetite, partial loss of milk, suspended rumination, and separation from the herd.

Treatment.--The animal should be housed in a cool, dark stable, supplied with plenty of fresh water to drink and soft, succulent feed. Administer 1 pound of Epsom salt--if a very large animal, use 1-1/2 pounds--dissolved in 2 or 3 pints of water. For an eyewash, take boracic acid, 1 dram, and pour 4 ounces of boiling water over it. Use this as often as is convenient, applying it directly to the eye. In the majority of cases improvement becomes manifest in a few days, and the eye becomes clear and free from inflammation in 10 days or 2 weeks. Where the disease develops ulceration of the cornea, or well-marked, deep-seated keratitis, the treatment recommended for those conditions should be adopted.

Prevention.--Whenever this affection appears in a herd all the unaffected animals should be moved to fields which possess a different character of soil and feed. The water should also be changed, especially if they have been obtaining it from a stagnant pond.

KERATITIS (CORNEITIS).

This is an inflammation of the cornea proper, although the sclerotic at the corneal border becomes involved to some extent. It may be divided into diffuse and suppurative.

Causes.--The cornea constitutes the most prominent portion of the eyeball, hence it is subject to a variety of injuries--scratches, pricks, contusions, lacerations, etc. Inflammation of the cornea may also be due to the extension of catarrhal conjunctivitis or intraocular disease, and it may occasionally occur without any perceptible cause.

Symptoms.--Diffuse keratitis is characterized by an exudation into and an opacity of the cornea. The swelling of the anterior part of the eyeball may be of an irregular form, in points resembling small bladders, or it may commence at the periphery of the cornea by an abrupt thickening, which gradually diminishes as it approaches the center. If the whole cornea is affected, it has a uniform gray or grayish-white appearance. The flow of tears is not so marked as in conjunctivitis, nor is the suffering so acute, though both conditions often exist together. Both eyes usually become affected, unless it is caused by an external injury.

In favorable cases the exudate within the cornea begins to disappear within a week or 10 days, the eye becomes clearer and regains its transparency, until it eventually is fully restored. In unfavorable cases blood vessels form and are seen to traverse the affected part from periphery to center, vision becomes entirely lost, and permanent opacity (albugo or leucoma) remains. When it arises from constitutional causes recurrence is frequent, leaving the corneal membrane more cloudy after each attack, until the sight is permanently lost.

Suppurative keratitis may be a sequel of diffuse keratitis; more commonly, however, it abruptly becomes manifest by a raised swelling on or near the center of the cornea that very soon assumes a yellow, turbid color, while the periphery of the swelling fades into an opaque ring. Suppurative keratitis is seldom noticed for the first day or two--not until distinct pus formation has occurred. When it is the result of diffuse keratitis, ulceration and the escape of the contained pus is inevitable; otherwise the pus may be absorbed. When the deeper membranes covering the anterior chamber of the eye become involved, the contents of this chamber may be evacuated and the sight permanently lost.

Treatment.--Place the animal in a darkened stable, give green or sloppy feed, and administer 4 ounces of Glauber's salt (sulphate of soda) dissolved in a quart of water once a day. If the animal is debilitated a tablespoonful of tonic powder should be mixed with the feed three times a day. This may be composed of equal parts by weight of powdered copperas (sulphate of iron), gentian, and ginger. As an application for the eye, nitrate of silver, 3 grains to the ounce of soft water, with the addition of 1 grain sulphate of morphia, may be used several times a day. If ulceration occurs, it is well to dust powdered calomel into the eye twice daily, or apply to the eyelids a salve of yellow oxid of mercury, 5 per cent in lanolin. Some of this may go on to the cornea and beneath the lids. Apply twice daily. (See "Ulcers of the cornea.")

To remove opacity, after the inflammation has subsided, apply a few drops of the following solution twice a day: Iodid of potassium, 15 grains; tincture sanguinaria, 20 drops; distilled water, 2 ounces; mix.

Sometimes keratitis exists in a herd as a transmissible disease, spreading like infectious conjunctivitis. Calomel, applied to the eye, is especially useful in such cases.

ULCERS OF THE CORNEA.

An ulcer comes from erosion or is the consequence of the bursting of a small abscess, which may have formed beneath the delicate layer of the conjunctiva, continued over the cornea; or, in the very substance of the cornea itself, after violent keratitis, or catarrhal conjunctivitis. At other times it is produced by bruises, scratches, or other direct injury of the cornea.

Symptoms.--The ulcer is generally at first of a pale gray color, with its edges high and irregular, discharges instead of pus an acrid, watery substance, and has a tendency to spread widely and deeply. If it spreads superficially upon the cornea, the transparency of this membrane is lost; if it proceeds deeply and penetrates the anterior chamber of the aqueous humor, this fluid escapes, the iris may prolapse, and the lens and the vitreous humor become expelled, thus producing destruction of the whole organ.

Treatment.--It is of the greatest importance, as soon as an ulcer appears upon the cornea, to prevent its growing larger. The corroding process must be converted into a healthy one. For this purpose nothing is more reliable than the use of solid nitrate of silver. A stick of this medicine should be scraped to a point; the animal's head should be firmly secured; an assistant should part the lids; if necessary, the haw must be secured within the corner of the eye and then all parts of the ulcer should be lightly touched with the silver. After waiting a few minutes the eye should be thoroughly washed out with a very weak solution of common salt. This operation generally has to be repeated at the end of three or four days. If healthy action succeeds, the ulcer assumes a delicate fleshy tint, and the former redness around the ulcer disappears in proportion as the ulcer heals.

In superficial abrasions of the cornea, where there is no distinct excavation, this caustic treatment is not needed. The eye should be bathed several times a day with sulphate of zinc, 30 grains to half a pint of soft water, and protected against exposure to cold air and sunlight. Excessive ulceration sometimes assumes the form of fungous excrescence upon the cornea, appearing to derive its nourishment from loops of blood vessels of the conjunctiva. Under these circumstances the fungoid mass must be cut away and the wound cauterized with the nitrate of silver, or else the eye will soon be destroyed. When ulcers of the cornea appear indolent, with a tendency to slough, in addition to the treatment already prescribed, tonic powders of copperas, gentian, and ginger, equal parts by weight, should be given twice a day, mixed with the feed; dose, one tablespoonful.

STAPHYLOMA.

This is a disease of the eyeball, in which the cornea loses its transparency, rises above the level of the eye, and even projects beyond the eyelids in the form of an elongated, whitish, or pearl-colored tumor, which is sometimes smooth, at other times uneven.

Causes.--Inflammation is the only known cause, although it may not occur immediately; it frequently follows catarrhal conjunctivitis and keratitis as a sequela.

Treatment.--In a few cases restoration of sight may be effected by puncturing the projecting tumor and treating it afterwards with nitrate of silver in the same manner as prescribed for ulceration of the cornea. In some cases spontaneous rupture has occurred, and healing without any treatment at all.

CATARACT.

In cataract the crystalline lens becomes opaque and loses its transparency, the power of refraction is lost--the animal can not see.

Causes.--Cataract generally arises from a diminution (atrophy) or other change in the nutrition of the lens; it may occur as a result of inflammation of the deep structures of the eye. Cataract may be simple, or complicated with amaurosis, adhesions, etc.

Symptoms.--It is known by the whiteness or loss of transparency of the lens, although the pupil dilates and contracts. Sight may be totally lost; however, evidence is usually manifested that the animal distinguishes light when brought out of a darkened stable. For the most part the formation of cataract takes place slowly, the cases in which it originates very quickly being but few.

Treatment.--There is only one method for the treatment of cataract--a surgical operation for the removal of the lens; but this is not advisable, for the sight can not be perfectly restored, and objects would be seen imperfectly without the aid of glasses.

AMAUROSIS.

This is a paralysis of the nerve of sight or the expansion of the retina.

Causes.--This is the result of concussion from a blow upon the forehead, fracture of bone over the eye (causing downward pressure), rheumatic inflammation of the optic nerve, or from extension of deep inflammation of the eye involving the retina. It sometimes occurs as the result of excessive loss of blood or of great debility.

Symptoms.--In this disease observation is seldom made until the animal in its gait and by its action indicates blindness. Generally both eyes are affected. The eyeball remains clear, and the pupil is permanently dilated. No response to light is manifested.

Treatment.--If caused by debility, loss of blood, or associated with rheumatism, general blood tonics may be given in the feed, namely, powdered sulphate of iron, 1 dram; gentian, 2 drams; nux vomica, one-half dram; to be given twice a day. In cases of rheumatism, one-half ounce of saltpeter may be added.

FILARIA OCULI (WORM IN THE EYE).

Filaria oculi (provisionally taken as the larva of F. cervina) is a small white worm, found swimming in the aqueous fluid in the anterior chamber. It may be apparently harmless for a long time, but will eventually induce keratitis with inflammatory exudations.

Treatment.--The cornea may be punctured at its upper and outer margin, and the worm squeezed out with the aqueous humor. The latter will be formed again. This operation results disastrously unless the greatest care and skill are employed.

CORNEAL DERMATOMA (HAIRY TUMOR ON THE EYEBALL).

In a few instances this has been seen as a congenital growth. The tumor arises from the cornea or the sclerotic, covered by its respective membrane, with a growth of hair upon its surface. These tumors may be quite prominent or flattened, and are dark in color; the hair may protrude between the eyelids, giving the animal the appearance of having a double eyelid.

Treatment.--A surgical operation becomes necessary for their removal-- one requiring a skilled operator.

STRABISMUS (SQUINTING).

This is a very rare affection among cattle. Strabismus may be either single or double--affecting one eye or both. It is caused by a paralysis, or a weakening of one of the straight muscles of the eyeball. Generally it is a congenital defect, and the squinting is toward the nose--strabismus convergens. It is best not to attempt to remedy the defect, as the risk in an operation is greater than the chances of success warrant.

PTERYGIUM.

This term is applied to a flesh-colored membrane, triangular in form, which most frequently grows from the inner angle of the eye and extends over the cornea, thus interfering with vision. It may grow from the outer angle, or even from either the superior or inferior hemisphere of the eyeball. The figure is invariably that of a triangle, with its base on the white of the eye and its apex more or less advanced over the cornea toward its center.

The distinguishing characteristics are the constancy of the triangular form, and the facility with which the whole of it may be taken hold of with a pair of forceps and raised into a fold on the cornea. Every other kind of excrescence attached to this membrane continues firmly adherent to it, and can not be folded and raised from the surface of the cornea in any manner whatever.

Treatment.--Raise the fold and dissect it away from all points of attachment.

TRICHIASIS (INVERSION OF THE EYELASHES).

In the simplest form the eyelashes bend inwardly, touching the eyeball, causing irritation and simple conjunctivitis. It may be also associated with entropion.

Treatment.--The offending eyelashes should be cut off or pulled out. In case the natural growth of the eyelashes is directed inward, an operation similar to that for entropion becomes necessary.

ENTROPION (INVERSION OF THE EYELID).

In inversion of the eyelid the eyelashes soon irritate the anterior face of the cornea and produce more or less inflammation and opacity. The inversion may be due to the growth of a tumor within or without the lid, to abscess, laceration, or injury, causing the lid to lose its natural conformity to the eyeball, ulcerations, etc. Surgical interference in either case becomes necessary to restore the lid to its natural direction.

ECTROPION (EVERSION OF THE EYELID).

This serves to injure the eye by permitting dust or other foreign substances to enter the eye and interferes with the natural removal of them.

Treatment.--A delicate surgical operation--the removal of an elliptic section of the palpÊbral conjunctiva--may remedy the defect.

TUMORS OF THE EYELIDS.

Occasionally tumors form upon or within the substance of the eyelid. They may be of a fibroid nature and arise from the follicles of the hair as sebaceous tumors or may be in the form of an abscess. In debilitating diseases the lids sometimes become swollen and puffy, a condition which may possibly be taken for the growth of a tumor. This generally disappears with the improvement of the health of the animal. Warts not uncommonly appear on or about the eyelids of cattle.

Treatment.--The removal of a tumor in the vicinity of so delicate an organ as the eye should not be attempted by anyone not qualified to perform the operation.

LACERATION OF THE EYELID.

This accident is not uncommon where cattle are fenced in by barbed wire; an animal may be caught under the eyelid by the horn of another, or the laceration may occur in the stable by means of a projecting nail or splinter of wood.

Treatment.--The edges of the wound should be brought together closely and correctly, by means of pins pushed through very nearly the whole thickness of the lid, extending through each lip of the torn part; then a waxed silk or linen thread must be wound over each end of the pin, crossing the torn line in the form of the figure 8 (Pl. XXVII, fig. 9); the pins should be placed about three-eighths of an inch apart. The projecting ends of the pins should be cut off close to the ligature, and the parts kept anointed with vaseline, to which 2 per cent of compound cresol has been added. In place of a pin suture, silver wire, catgut, or strong linen thread may be used in the way of an ordinary suture.

FOREIGN BODIES IN THE EYE.

Splinters of wood, hedge thorns, pieces of cornstalk or leaves, stems of hay or straw, twigs of trees, or weeds may penetrate into the eye, break off, and remain, causing inflammation, blindness, abscess, etc. These substances may penetrate the eyeball, but more frequently they glide off and enter between the eye and the ocular sheath.

Treatment.--Their removal becomes often a very difficult task, from the fact that the organ is so extremely sensitive, and the retracting power so strong as to necessitate casting the animal, or even the administration of sufficient chloroform to render it completely insensible. The removal, however, is of paramount importance, and the after treatment depends upon the extent and location of the injury--cold water compress over the injured eye, the application of mild astringent and cooling washes, such as acetate or sulphate of zinc, 5 grains to the ounce of water. When there is extreme suffering from pain a solution of atropia or morphia, 5 grains to the ounce of water, may be dropped into the eye, alternating with the cooling wash several times a day. When abscesses form within the orbit a free opening must be maintained for the discharge of pus. In deep penetrating wounds of the eye there is a great tendency to the formation of a fungous growth, which often necessitates the enucleation of the whole eyeball.

ORBITAL AND PERIORBITAL ABSCESS.

Orbital abscess may form outside the globe and within the orbital sheath, as the result of a previous wound of the parts or from fracture of the bony orbit, etc. Periorbital abscess commences outside the ocular sheath, beneath the periosteal membrane covering the bone, and is usually the result of a disease or fractured bone which enters into the formation of the orbital cavity.

Symptoms.--Orbital abscess is manifested by a pushing forward of the eyeball (exophthalmos), a swelling of the conjunctiva and eyelids. The bulging out of the eye is in proportion to the size of the abscess; the movement of the eye is fixed, due to the painfulness of any voluntary movement of the eyeball. Periorbital abscess generally pushes the eye to one side; otherwise the symptoms are similar to the foregoing. The pain generally is very great; paralysis of the nerve of sight may occur, and death may be caused by the abscess extending to the brain.

Treatment.--The treatment for either orbital or periorbital abscess is the same as that for abscess occurring in any other part of the body--a free opening for the escape of imprisoned pus. This should be made as soon as the true nature of the disease is recognized. Afterwards antiseptic injections may be needed to stimulate healthy granulation and to prevent septic infection of the ocular membranes. For this purpose a saturated solution of boric acid or listerine 1 part to 10 of water may be used. When the fever runs high, Glauber's salt (sulphate of soda) may be given in 4-ounce doses once a day. The animal should be kept in a darkened stable, on soft or green feed.

FRACTURE OF THE ORBIT.

This accident occasionally occurs among belligerent animals, or as the result of blows delivered by brutal attendants. The orbital process above the eye may be entirely crushed in, pressing down upon the eyeball. In such an event the depressed bone should be elevated into its proper place, and if it fails to unite it may have to be removed with saw or chisel. The margin of the orbit may be crushed at any point and cause periorbital abscess, or necrosis may result from the presence of a splinter of bone or the excessive destruction of bone. In all cases of fracture the animal should be kept by itself until the injured part heals.

NECROSIS OF THE BONY ORBIT.

As the result of fracture of the margin of the orbit a part of the injured bone may become necrosed (dead), and periostitis and periorbital abscess will follow as a consequence. The discovery of this disease will at first resemble abscess, but on making an examination with a probe after the abscess is open we find the bone rough and brittle at the point of disease. The discharge has a peculiar fetid odor, and is often mixed with blood.

Treatment.--The affected bone must be laid bare and all diseased portions removed by scraping or, if necessary, with saw or chisel, disregarding the extent of the injury or the size of the wound necessary to be inflicted. A large portion of the bony orbit may be removed without serious danger to the eye, provided the eyeball itself has not been previously affected by the disease or involved in the original injury.

TUMORS OF THE ORBIT.

A fungous tumor of the eyeball or orbit occasionally appears, which is designated fungus hÊmatodes. This may arise without any appreciable cause, or as the result of a wound. It frequently commences within the eyeball as a small, red mass, eventually bursts through, and pushes its way outside the orbit as a large, dark-red mass, bleeding at the slightest touch. It has a peculiar, fetid odor, and early in its appearance destroys sight, involving all the contents of the orbit, not infrequently the bony wall itself.

Unless the tumor is totally removed in its early stage of growth, together with the eyeball, the disease will eventually cause emaciation and death of the animal. The enucleation of the eyeball should not be undertaken by anyone unacquainted with the anatomical structures involved in such an operation. When the operation is performed early enough the result is generally satisfactory.

Bony tumors of the orbit, the result of bruises, fractures, etc., are occasionally present in cattle. They may encroach upon the contents of the orbit, causing paralysis of the optic nerve--the condition known as amaurosis--or by pressure upon the posterior surface of the eyeball force it forward, or produce atrophy (shrinking). They may displace the eye in any direction, with or without disturbing vision.

Fibrous tumors growing within the orbit will produce symptoms similar to those of bony tumors.

Treatment.--When the outlines of the tumor, whether fungoid, bony, or fibrous, can be detected, an operation for its removal should be undertaken as soon as the sight of the eye is in any manner disturbed.

DISLOCATION OF THE EYEBALL.

The eyeball may be torn out of its socket by the horns of another animal, or it may be crowded out with the blunt end of a club, cane, or probe in the hands of a brutal attendant.

Treatment.--When the optic nerve is not lacerated and the retractor muscles at the back of the eye are intact, an attempt at reduction is advisable. This, however, must follow very soon after the injury--before swelling takes place. Divide the outer corner of the eyelid to enlarge the orifice, then by pressure with the fingers of both hands placed upon the sides of the eye the ball may be put into its place. Apply a firm compress over the injured eye and keep it constantly wet with cold water containing 1 dram of sugar of lead to each quart.

If the attempt at reduction proves unsuccessful the artery at the back of the eye should be ligated, and then the whole mass cut off as deep within the orbit as possible. The orbital cavity, after washing it out with a 3 per cent solution of carbolic acid or compound cresol, should be packed daily with fresh absorbent cotton.

INFLAMMATION AND ENLARGEMENT OF THE HAW.

The haw, or membrana nictitans, is subject to inflammation and swelling from the extension of conjunctivitis, or direct injury by foreign substances. It presents a red, swollen appearance, accompanied with considerable pain and a profuse flow of tears. A slight scarification with a sharp knife and the application of a cooling lotion, such as is recommended for conjunctivitis, will soon reduce the swelling and restore it to its normal function.

There is, however, a tendency for an inflammation of this membrane to take on a chronic character, which may eventually result in a permanent enlargement, resembling a tumor. When it attains sufficient size to protrude itself permanently over the eye, or project between the lids so as to obstruct the sight, its removal may become necessary. A threaded needle is passed through the body of the enlarged mass, by which the membrane is drawn out as far as possible, then with a blunt pair of scissors it may be dissected away from its attachments. The eye is afterwards treated with simple cooling lotions.

DISEASES OF THE EAR.

By M. R. TRUMBOWER, D. V. S.

[Revised by Leonard Pearson, B. S., V. M. D.]

Diseases of the ears of cattle are not very common, for the reasons probably that they are not subjected to the brutality of drivers so much as horses and that the horns to a great extent protect them against external violence.

OTITIS (INFLAMMATION OF THE INTERNAL EAR).

Inflammation of the deep part of the ear is often difficult to recognize in cattle. It may be caused by disease of bone in that region, from blows inflicted by drivers, or from injury by other cattle. Occasionally the ear becomes involved in actinomycosis (lumpy jaw), or the inflammation may be the result of a tuberculous affection.

Symptoms.--The animal will hold its head to one side, or shake it, while the ear itself is held immovable. The movement of the jaws in eating usually gives rise to a manifestation of pain; the base of the ear may be feverish and swollen, and very sensitive to the touch. If the inflammation has advanced to a suppurative stage, offensive matter will flow from the ear.

Treatment.--At first, hot fomentations to reduce pain and fever, followed by a sharp blister below the ear. Laudanum, 1 part to 10 of sweet oil, may be injected into the ear to relieve pain and to soften the secretions. If there is a discharge from the ear, it should be thoroughly washed out by injecting warm soapsuds until all the matter has been washed away; then inject the following mixture twice a day: Sulphate of morphia, 20 grains; water, 1 pint; glycerin, 4 ounces.

ABSCESS.

Abscesses, caused by contusions, sometimes form about the base of the ear, either inside or outside. A serous cyst is found occasionally between the cartilage and the skin on the base of the ear, which may be from a similar cause.

Treatment.--With the knife make a free incision into the most prominent part of the abscess or cyst, then, with a syringe, wash out the sac with carbolized water. If the abscess recurs, open it again, wash it out, and inject tincture of iodin, or fill it with iodoform.

FUNGOID GROWTHS.

As a result of laceration or wound of any kind, fungous growths, characterized by a raw, bleeding, granulating surface, with a tendency to become pendulous, may develop on the ear.

Treatment.--The whole tumor or diseased structure should be cut away, and the wound treated daily with a dressing of carbolized cosmoline or turpentine and sweet oil, 1 part of the former to 4 of the latter.

FOREIGN BODIES IN THE EAR.

Bugs have been known to gain entrance into the ears of animals. I once removed an acorn from the ear of a cow that had been roaming in the woods; also pieces of wood from a stanchion may be lodged accidentally in the ear.

Symptoms.--There is usually a continuous uneasiness or frequent shaking of the head, occasionally the manifestation of exceedingly great pain. The animal may rub the head and ear against trees or other objects in an endeavor to dislodge the offending body.

Treatment.--A careful examination reveals the cause, which may be removed with a pair of forceps or scraped out with a hairpin or piece of wire bent at one end. If much inflammation exists, the ear may be swollen so that the foreign substance is hidden from sight; then a probe may be inserted to feel for the object, which, when found, should be removed, even if it becomes necessary to split the ear at the base. Afterwards treat the ear with frequent warm water fomentations and the injection of soapy water or oil and water.

SCURFY EARS.

Cattle are subject to scurfy ears, which may be owing to a generally morbid condition of the skin, or may be confined to the ears alone. The affected animal shows an inclination to rub the ear; thick scales, which sometimes have the appearance of hard, dry, horny scales, of scurf collect on it. This condition is chiefly caused by a faulty secretion of the sebaceous glands of the ear. Thoroughly clean the ear with a stiff brush, then anoint it, so far as affected, with vaseline 4 parts to 1 part of white precipitate ointment. If the scurfy ears are only a part of a general scurfiness of the skin, the condition of the animal needs attention. (See "Pityriasis," p. 329.)

FROSTBITE.

It is not uncommon among young cattle which are poorly nourished and exposed outdoors to storms and extreme cold to suffer frostbite of the ear, which may constitute actual freezing of the part.

Symptoms.--Frostbite presents naturally every degree of severity from the mere chilling of the tip of the ear to positive freezing and death of a portion. In a day or two after the freezing has occurred the ear becomes swollen and very painful; the dead part remains cold and begins to shrivel; a line of separation then forms between the inflamed and the dead or dying portion, and finally the piece destroyed drops off, leaving a raw healing surface. When the ear is only slightly affected by the cold, an excoriation or peeling off of superficial skin takes place, accompanied with some pain and itching.

Treatment.--A good liniment for frozen ears is a mixture of turpentine, ammonia, and chloroform, of each 1 part, added to 6 parts of sweet oil. Rub this on the ear several times a day. It will relieve pain and stimulate the circulation, thus favoring a recovery of the injured structures.

LACERATIONS OF THE EAR.

Aggressive dogs are the most frequent cause of lacerated ear, generally leaving a torn, ragged edge and bruised cartilage.

If the wound is extensive, a trimming of the ragged edges becomes necessary; then the edges should be fastened together with silver wire, catgut, or strong, thick, linen thread, taking a deep hold, and pine tar applied.

DISEASE OF THE CARTILAGE AND NECROSIS.

Occasionally the cartilages of the ear become affected, usually the result of a deep bruise; pus forms, burrows under the skin, and may find a discharge from any part of the ear more or less distant from the seat of the disease. When the cartilage has been extensively injured, pieces of it may become dead (necrosed) and dissolve, to be carried away with the pus, or it may lead to extensive sloughing and the formation of numerous running sores. In the disease of the cartilage there is seldom much swelling or great pain. The discharge is usually very offensive, and occasionally streaked with blood. Whenever there is a long-continued, persistent discharge from one or more openings in the ear, disease of the cartilage may be suspected.

Treatment.--The sinus formed by the passage of matter should be probed and searched to the bottom for the presence of a foreign substance or the evidence of decaying cartilage. When the probe touches necrosed cartilage it will feel like a piece of dry leather or partially softened wood. A counter opening must then be made at this place, and all diseased cartilage cut away with the knife. The subsequent treatment consists in keeping the artificial wound open for the discharge of pus, and the injection of chlorid of zinc, 5 grains to the ounce of water, once or twice a day, until the wound is healed.

ENCHONDROMA OF THE EAR.

This is an excessive growth of cartilage, found at the base of the ear in the form of a hard, painless tumor, firmly attached to the movable ear. The only recourse for its removal is the knife in the hands of one acquainted with the anatomy of the part involved in the operation.

INFECTIOUS DISEASES OF CATTLE.

Revised by JOHN R. MOHLER, A. M., V. M. D.,

Chief, Bureau of Animal Industry.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

The importance, to the farmer and stock raiser, of a general knowledge of the nature of infectious diseases need not be insisted on, as it must be evident to all who have charge of farm animals. The growing facilities for intercourse between one section of a country and another, and between different countries, cause a wide distribution of the infectious diseases once restricted to a definite locality. Not only the animals themselves, but the cars, vessels, or other conveyances in which they are carried may become agents for the dissemination of disease. The growing tendency of specialization in agriculture, which leads to the maintenance of large herds of cattle, sheep, and hogs, makes infectious diseases more common and more dangerous. Fresh animals are being continually introduced which may be the carriers of disease from other herds, and when disease is once brought into a large herd the losses become very high, because it is difficult, if not impossible, to check it after it has once obtained a foothold.

These considerations make it plain that only by the most careful supervision by intelligent men who understand the nature of infectious diseases and their causes in a general way can these be kept away. We must likewise consider how incomplete our knowledge concerning many diseases is, and probably will be for some time to come. The suggestions and recommendations offered by investigators, therefore, may not always be correct, and may require frequent modification as our information grows more comprehensive and exact.

An infectious disease may be defined as any malady caused by the introduction, into the body, of minute organisms of a vegetable or animal nature which have the power of indefinite multiplication and of setting free certain peculiar poisons which are chiefly responsible for the morbid changes.

This definition might include diseases caused by certain animal parasites, such as trichinÊ, for example, which multiply in the digestive tract, but whose progeny is limited to a single generation. By common consent the term "infectious" is restricted to those diseases caused by the invasion and multiplication of certain very minute unicellular organisms included under the general classes of bacteria and protozoa. Nearly all the diseases of cattle for which a definite cause has been traced are from bacteria. Among these are tuberculosis, anthrax, blackleg, and tetanus (or lockjaw). Some diseases, such as Texas fever and nagana, are traceable to protozoa, while others, like actinomycosis and aspergillosis, are caused by fungi. Those diseases of which the cause is unknown or imperfectly worked out are pleuropneumonia, rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease, rabies, cowpox, malignant catarrh, and dysentery.

Bacteria may be defined as very minute, unicellular organisms of a plantlike character. Their form is very simple, as may be seen from an inspection of the various species depicted on Plate XXVIII. The description of these figures will be found on page 360. The magnification there given will furnish the reader some idea of their very minute size. They multiply in two ways. The bacterium elongates and then divides in the middle to form 2 daughter cells. These go through the same process at once, and thus 4 cells are produced. The division of these leads to 8, the division of 8 to 16, and so on indefinitely. The rapidity with which this multiplication takes place depends upon the nature of the bacterium. The bacillus of tuberculosis multiplies very slowly, while that of anthrax does so with great rapidity, provided both are in the most favorable condition. Another mode of reproduction, limited to certain classes of bacteria, consists in the formation of a spore within the body of the bacterium. Spore formation usually takes place when the conditions pertaining to the growth of the bacteria become unfavorable. The spores are much more resistant to destructive agents than the bacteria which produced them. The anthrax spore may live several years in a dried state, but the anthrax bacillus perishes in a few days under like conditions. This matter will be referred to again when we come to discuss the subject of disinfection.

Of the protozoa which cause disease very little is at present known. One which produces Texas fever is pictured on Plate XLV, in figs. 4 and 5. These parasites have a more complex life history than bacteria; and as they can not be grown in artificial media, their thorough investigation is at present hampered with great difficulties.

The differences in the symptoms and lesions of the various infectious diseases are due to differences in the respective organisms causing them. Similarly the great differences observed in the sources from which animals become infected and the manner in which infection takes place are due to differences in the life history of these minute organisms. Much discussion has taken place of late years concerning the precise meaning of the words "infection" and "contagion."

* * * * *

VARIOUS BACTERIA WHICH PRODUCE DISEASE IN CATTLE. DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXVIII.

The bacteria on this plate are partly from tissues, partly from cultures, and stained artificially with aniline colors (fuchsin or methylene blue). Figs 6 and 7 are copied from Fr‰nkel and Pfeiffer's atlas. All but fig. 7 are magnified 1,000 times; fig. 7, 500 times.

Fig. 1. Bacteria from pneumonia in cattle. These are also the cause of hemorrhagic septicemia and are closely related to swine-plague bacteria. These bacteria were drawn from a piece of spleen pulp (rabbit).

Fig. 2. Micrococci (streptococcus) which produce inflammation of the lining membranes of the abdomen, thorax, heart, brain, and joints. Frequently associated with the preceding bacteria in abscesses.

Fig. 3. Micrococci (staphylococcus) which produce inflammation and suppuration; also pyemia.

Fig. 4. Bacilli of blackleg. The pale oval bodies as well as the light spots in one end of the bacilli represent spores.

Fig. 5. Bacilli which produce tetanus or lockjaw. The light spot in the enlarged end of each rod represents a spore.

Fig. 6. Bacilli of tuberculosis. Microscopic sections of a pearly nodule from the lining membrane of the chest cavity. The bacilli are stained red and appear as small straight rods within the cells of the nodule or tubercle.

Fig. 7. Bacilli of anthrax. Bacilli from the spleen of a mouse inoculated with a culture. The bacilli were obtained from the blood of a cow which died of anthrax in Mississippi. The bacilli appear as rods stained blue. The round bodies are blood corpuscles, also stained artificially.

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These words, however, are now wholly inadequate to express the complex processes of infection, and it may be said that each species of bacterium or protozoon has its own peculiar way of invading the animal body, differing more or less from all the rest. There are, however, a few broad distinctions which may be expressed with the help of these old terms. Infection, as laid down above, refers at present in a comprehensive way to all microorganisms capable of setting up disease in the body. Some microorganisms are transmitted directly from one animal to another, and the diseases produced may be called contagious. Among these are included pleuropneumonia, rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease, rabies, cowpox, and tuberculosis. Again, certain organisms are perhaps never transmitted from one animal to another, but may come from the soil. Among these are tetanus, blackleg, anthrax to a large extent, and perhaps actinomycosis in part. These diseases, according to some authorities, may be called miasmatic. There is a third class of infectious diseases, the specific bacteria of which are transmitted from one animal to another, as with the contagious diseases, but the bacteria may, under certain favorable conditions, find food enough in the soil and in the surroundings of animals to multiply to some extent after they have left the sick animal and before they gain entrance into a healthy one.

This general classification is subject to change if we take other characteristics into consideration. Thus tuberculosis, because of its insidious beginning and slow course, would not by many be considered contagious in the sense that foot-and-mouth disease is; yet, in either case, the bacillus must come from preexisting disease. The disease of rabies, or hydrophobia, is not contagious in the sense that rinderpest is, because the virus of rabies must be inoculated into a wound before it can take effect; yet, in both cases, the virus passes without modification from one animal to another, though in different ways.

Again, all the diseases under the second group, which seem to come from the soil and from pastures, are in one sense contagious in that the virus may be taken from a sick animal and inoculated directly, with positive results, into a healthy animal. Other illustrations may be cited which show that these old terms are not in themselves satisfactory. There are so many conditions which enter into the process of infection that no single classification will give a sufficiently correct or comprehensive idea of it. These statements will be easily understood if the different infectious diseases in the following pages are studied with reference to the way or ways in which each disease may be contracted. Enough has been said, therefore, to show that if we wish to make ourselves acquainted with the dangers of any given disease, we must study it and not rely upon any single work to tell the whole story.

Infectious diseases have, as a general rule, a period of incubation, which comprises the time elapsing between the exposure to the infection and the actual appearance of the disease. This period varies with the malady. The most common symptom of this class of diseases is fever. The severity of the fever is measured by the temperature of the animal; this is readily and accurately ascertainable by the clinical thermometer. (See Pl. III, fig. 1.) The other symptoms are variable and depend upon the particular organ or organs most implicated. Loss of appetite, cessation of rumination and milk secretion, and general dullness are symptoms quite invariably present in most infectious diseases.

During the course of infectious diseases secondary diseases or complications may arise which are largely caused by bacteria other than those producing the original malady. These complications are often so severe as to become fatal. In general it may be stated that they are due to filthy surroundings, and hence cleanliness may become an important aid to recovery.

The treatment of infectious diseases is given under each malady so far as this is allowable or advisable. These diseases are not, as a rule, amenable to treatment. When the symptoms have once appeared the disease is liable to run its course in spite of treatment, and if it is one from which animals usually recover, all that can be done is to put them into the most favorable surroundings. Many infectious diseases lead sooner or later to death, treatment is useless so far as the sick are concerned, and it may be worse than useless for those not yet infected. All animals suffering with infectious diseases are more or less directly a menace to all others. They represent for the time being manufactories of disease germs, and they are giving them off more or less abundantly during the period of disease. They may infect others directly or they may scatter the virus about, and the surroundings may become a future source of infection for healthy animals. This leads us to the subject of prevention as the most important of all which claim our attention. In this place only a few general remarks will suffice to bring the subject before the reader.

The most important thing is to keep disease away from a herd or farm. To do this all sick or suspicious animals should be avoided. A grave form of disease may be introduced by apparently mild or trivial cases brought in from without. It is generally conceded that continual change and movement of animals are the most potent means by which infectious diseases are disseminated.

With some cattle diseases, such as anthrax, rinderpest, and pleuropneumonia, preventive inoculation is resorted to in some countries. This may be desirable when certain diseases have become established in any locality so that eradication is impossible. It should not be practiced in territories where a given disease may still be extirpated by ordinary precautions. Preventive inoculation is applicable to only a few maladies, and therefore its aid in the control of diseases is limited.

When an infectious disease has gained foothold in a herd the course to be pursued will depend upon the nature of the malady. A good rule is to kill diseased animals, especially when the disease is liable to run a chronic course, as in tuberculosis. The next important step is to separate the well from the sick by placing the former on fresh ground. This is rarely possible; hence the destruction or removal of the sick, with thorough disinfection of the infected locality, is the next thing to be done. As to the disinfectants to be used, special directions are given under the various diseases, to which the reader is referred. Here we will simply call attention briefly to the general subject.

DISINFECTION AND DISINFECTANTS.

Disinfection consists in the use of certain substances which possess the power to destroy bacteria or their spores, or both. Those which are cheapest and most available for animal diseases are ordinary freshly slaked lime or unslaked in powder, chlorid of lime, crude carbolic acid, corrosive sublimate, formaldehyde gas, formalin, and compound cresol solution.

(1) Slaked lime is perhaps the most easily procured, but its disinfecting power is limited. While it is capable of destroying all bacteria in their vegetative state, it is unable to destroy such spores as those of anthrax and blackleg. It is probable, however, that in incrusting spores it may destroy their vitality sooner or later. It is regarded as safe practice to use only spore-destroying substances for the virus of those diseases of which we have no definite knowledge. Nevertheless, in the absence of other disinfectants, lime is very useful. It may be employed as a whitewash on wood and stone and sprinkled as a dilute wash or in powder over yards, manure heaps, and over carcasses before they are buried, and over the ground on which they have lain to prevent other animals from carrying the infection away.

(2) Chlorid of lime is more efficient than simple slaked or unslaked lime, as it destroys spores. It is the ordinary bleaching powder of commerce and is quite unstable, hence old preparations, unless sealed, are of little value. A 5 per cent solution is sufficiently strong for all spore-bearing bacteria (3 ounces in 2 quarts of water). It may be efficiently applied to the walls and floor of an infected stable by mixing with limewash in the proportion of 6 ounces of the lime to each gallon of limewash. The ceilings and those portions of the walls which can not be reached should be disinfected by means of chlorin gas liberated from the chlorid of lime by crude carbolic acid. This is accomplished by making a cone of 5 or 6 pounds of chlorid of lime, in the top of which a deep crater is made for the placement of from 1 to 2 pints of crude acid. The edge of the crater is thereupon pushed into the fluid, when a lively reaction follows. The fumes of chlorin are strongly irritating to the respiratory tract and therefore all live stock should be removed before the work is started. Owing to the heat generated, it is advisable to place the lime in an iron crucible and to have nothing inflammable within a radius of 2 feet. The number and location of these cones of chlorid of lime depend on the size and structure of the building to be disinfected. As a rule, it may be stated that chlorin gas liberated from the above-sized cone will be sufficient for disinfecting 5,200 cubic feet of air space.

(3) Crude carbolic acid. The ordinary purified carbolic acid is too expensive to be used on a large scale, and the crude produce is a very good substitute. This is made more powerful by mixing with it an equal volume of commercial sulphuric acid. While the sulphuric acid is being added to the crude carbolic acid much heat is evolved, and if the glass jar in which the two are mixed is placed in cold water the resulting product is said to have a higher disinfecting power. The mixture is added to water enough to make a 5 per cent solution (about 7 ounces to 4 quarts of water). This is strong enough for all purposes. It may be kept in wood or glass, but not in metal, owing to the corroding action of the acid. It should be used freely on woodwork and on infected floors, and a force pump of the kind used by orchardists is very convenient as a means of applying the disinfectant. If the solution is warm when applied, it will penetrate the woodwork better than when cold, especially if the spraying is done during cold weather. The addition of air-slaked lime in any quantity that will dissolve in water to the above solution (say 1-1/2 pounds of lime to 7 ounces of crude carbolic acid to each gallon of water) is preferred by many, as it makes any neglected places at once visible and leaves cleaner and better air within the buildings. In most cases in which its application becomes desirable--and this rule should apply to all disinfections--the disinfected stables, stalls, etc., should remain vacant as long as possible before cattle are again stabled therein.

(4) Mercuric chlorid, or corrosive sublimate, is a powerful disinfectant, but it is likewise very poisonous; hence its uses are limited. Cattle are especially susceptible to its action and caution must be used in its application. A solution of one-tenth of 1 per cent is usually sufficient (1 ounce to 8 gallons of water). It should not be placed in wooden pails, which would form the tannate of mercury, a weak antiseptic; nor, owing to its corrosive action, should expensive metal pails be used. Agate vessels or tin pails are to be preferred. All solutions should be labeled "poison," and to avoid accidents none should be kept on hand.

(5) Formalin and formaldehyde gas have been found very efficacious as sanitary agents. Formalin is the commercial name for the 40 per cent solution of formaldehyde gas in water, and is one of the most powerful antiseptic and disinfectants that we possess. Solutions of this strength are manufactured by different commercial houses and sold by the drug trade under the name of "formalose" and "formal." In this connection it should be mentioned that while the 40 per cent solution of formaldehyde gas and formalin are exactly the same thing, the former can be purchased at 33-1/3 to 64 per cent less than the latter. Formalin, diluted with water in the proportion of 1 pint to 30 parts of water, or 4 ounces to each gallon of water, may be applied, and it may thus be used as a wash or as a spray on all paints, metals, and woodwork, as well as on clothing and other fabrics, without injuring them. It may also be applied to floors, walls, and woodwork in whitewash by mixing 1 part to 30 parts of limewash, or 4 ounces to each gallon of limewash. Formalin has the appearance of water and in the strong solution is poisonous, but when diluted as recommended above it is not dangerous. The fumes given off by it, however, are very disagreeable and irritating to the eyes and nasal mucous membranes. One and one-half ounces of formalin added to 1 gallon of water is a valuable agent for the disinfection of the skin or septic wounds, but is somewhat painful and irritating to raw surfaces.

Formaldehyde is a gas which is soluble in 2-1/2 parts of water (40 parts of formaldehyde gas to 100 parts of water); this solution constitutes the formalin of commerce. The use of formaldehyde gas is in most cases impracticable for stable disinfection. In case the stable is not too large and can be made almost air-tight the generation of formaldehyde gas, after removing all the animals, will be found very serviceable. It penetrates all parts of the stable--the walls, crevices, floors, ceiling--and is probably the best fumigating disinfectant that we have.

Probably one of the most simple and practical methods of liberating this gas is by means of the chemical reaction which takes place when formalin is poured upon permanganate of potassium. For each 1,000 cubic feet of air space, 16-2/3 ounces of crystallized or powdered permanganate of potassium is placed in a wide-surfaced pan; 20 ounces of formalin is then poured upon it, and the stable immediately closed for a period of 12 hours or longer. This method is efficient only when it is possible to seal tightly the place to be disinfected, and should be used only by experienced persons.

(6) Some coal-tar products are cheap, effective, and easily applied disinfectants, their action being due to the carbolic acid and creosote in their composition. They may be used in 3 to 5 per cent solution. As a rule they form a milky solution in water.

(7) Compound solution of cresol (liquor cresolis compositus), now recognized as an official preparation, is composed of equal parts of cresol and linseed-oil-potash soap. The mixture is a thick, dark, amber-colored fluid which mixes readily with water in all proportions to form a clear, soap solution. It is an efficient disinfectant in a 3 or 4 per cent solution, and in this strength it may be applied in the same manner as a 5 per cent solution of carbolic acid.

When it is desired to apply one of these above-mentioned agents to the stable or barnyard, a preliminary cleaning up of all dÈbris and litter is advisable, together with the scraping of the floor, mangers, and walls of the stable with hoes; also the removal of all dust and filth. This should be followed by the burning of all such accumulations, inasmuch as this material likewise contains the infectious principle and is best destroyed by heat. Heat may be applied to the surface of the affected pen, byre, or barnyard by means of a cyclone burner, which consists of a tank, pump, hose, and cyclone nozzle for spraying with paraffin (gas oil). The latter is ejected in the form of spray, which when ignited gives a very hot and effective flame to be applied to the infected ground. Where such burning is impracticable the surface soil of the yard and surroundings should be removed to a depth of 5 or 6 inches and then placed in a heap and thoroughly mixed with air-slaked lime. The fresh surface of the soil thus exposed may then be sprinkled with the disinfectant.

In addition to these artificial substances there are several natural sanitary agents of great importance as destroyers of virus. These are cleanliness, ventilation, drying, and sunshine. All virus, excepting such as may live in the soil, is killed sooner or later by drying and sunshine, and the importance of these factors in the daily life of animals need not be insisted on here. Finally, all sanitary measures which contribute to the healthfulness of animal surroundings are directly or indirectly inimical to disease germs, and all carelessness in the keeping of animals may be regarded as an ally of these destructive organisms.

CONTAGIOUS PLEUROPNEUMONIA.

[Pls. XXIX-XXXII.]

Definition and history.--This disease has been eradicated from the United States, and it is not probable that it will ever be seen in this country again. As, however, much interest was manifested in regard to it for a number of years, and as our cattle are still prohibited from some foreign markets on account of its previous existence here, the subject is treated at greater length than would otherwise be necessary.

The contagious pleuropneumonia of cattle is a specific, epizootic disease which affects bovine animals, and from which other species are exempt. It is characterized, when the disease results from exposure in the usual manner, by an inflammation of the lungs and pleurÊ, which is generally extensive, and which has a tendency to invade portions of these organs not primarily affected and to cause death of the diseased portion of the lung. This disease is frequently called the lung plague, which corresponds to its German name of Lungenseuche. In French it is spoken of as the pÈripneumonie contagieuse.

The history of the contagious pleuropneumonia of cattle can not be traced with any certainty to a period earlier than the beginning of the eighteenth century. No doubt it existed and ravaged the herds of Europe for many years and perhaps centuries before that time, but veterinary knowledge was so limited that the descriptions of the symptoms and post-mortem appearance are too vague and too limited to admit of the identification of the maladies to which they refer. It has been supposed by some writers that certain passages in the writings of Aristotle, Livy, and Virgil show the existence of pleuropneumonia at the time that their works were composed, but their references are too indefinite to be seriously accepted as indicating this rather than some other disease.

It seems quite plain that as early as 1713 and 1714 pleuropneumonia existed in Swabia and several Cantons of Switzerland. There are even clearer accounts of its prevalence in Switzerland in 1732, 1743, and 1765. In 1769 a disease called murie was investigated in Franche-ComtÈ by Bourgelat which undoubtedly was identical with the pleuropneumonia of to-day. From that period we have frequent and well-authenticated accounts of its existence in various parts of Europe. During the period from 1790 to 1812 it was spread throughout a large portion of the Continent of Europe by the cattle driven for the subsistence of the armies, which marched and countermarched in all directions. It was generally prevalent in Italy in 1800. It appears to have been unknown, however, in the Department of the Nord, France, until 1826, but during the years from 1820 to 1840 it penetrated into most parts of that country. During the same period it was introduced into and allowed to spread over Belgium and Holland.

This contagion is said to have been carried to Ireland from Holland in 1839, and is reported as existing in England in 1842. The disease was brought to the United States at several different times. Probably its first introduction was with a diseased cow sold in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1843. It came to New Jersey by importing affected animals in 1847. Massachusetts was infected in the same way in 1859.

South Africa was infected by a bull brought from Holland in 1854, and Australia likewise received the contagion with an English cow in 1858. It is also reported as existing in various parts of the Continent of Asia, but the time of its first appearance and the extent of its distribution are very uncertain.

Some countries, such as Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, which had been infected for only a short time, have succeeded in eradicating the disease without much difficulty by slaughtering all affected and exposed animals. Other countries long infected and in which the contagion was thoroughly established, like Australia, South Africa, Italy, France, Belgium, and parts of Germany, have labored long, in some cases making no progress and in others being only partially successful. Holland was one of the first of the thoroughly infected countries to free itself from the contagion.

In the United States, Massachusetts eradicated pleuropneumonia during the period from 1860 to 1866. New York and New Jersey made an attempt to eradicate it in 1879, but were not successful. Late in 1883 the contagion was carried to Ohio, probably by Jersey cattle purchased in the vicinity of Baltimore, Md., to which place it had extended before 1868. From the herd then infected it was spread by the sale of cattle during 1884 to a limited number of herds in Illinois, to one herd in Missouri, and to two in Kentucky. The alarm caused among the stock owners of the United States by this widespread dissemination of a disease so much dreaded led to the adoption of active measures for its control and eradication. By cooperation between the United States Department of Agriculture and the authorities of the affected States it was found possible to prevent the further spread of the contagion and to eradicate it after a few months' delay.

In 1886 pleuropneumonia was discovered in some of the large distillery stables of Chicago and among cows on neighboring lots. This led to renewed efforts for the complete extirpation of this disease from the country. Congress in 1887 enlarged the appropriation available for this purpose and gave more extended authority. During the same year the disease was stamped out of Chicago, and has not since appeared in any district west of the Allegheny Mountains.

The work of eradication was at the same time commenced in all the infected States. Before the end of the year 1889 Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia had been freed from the disease. More difficulties, however, were encountered in the States of New York and New Jersey, on account of the larger territory infected and the density of the population. The long struggle was successful, however, and the last animal in which the disease appeared in the State of New York was slaughtered early in 1891, and the last one affected in New Jersey met the same fate early in the spring of 1892.

During these same years a supreme effort had been made to stamp out this lung plague from Great Britain. From the official reports it appears that the number of infected districts and of diseased animals had rapidly diminished, but it was not until 1898 that the infection was finally eradicated.

The other infected European countries, though they maintain a veterinary sanitary service, are not making satisfactory progress in eradicating the disease. This is owing partly to delays in carrying out the provisions of the laws and partly to mistaken ideas as to the measures which are necessary to accomplish the object. The United States was the last of the countries having old infected districts which undertook to stamp out this contagion, and, except Holland, it was the first to reach success.

The cause (etiology) of pleuropneumonia.--This is a contagious disease, and arises only by contagion from a previously affected animal; consequently it can never be seen here except as the result of importing affected animals from the Old World. When thoroughly stamped out it does not reappear; and if imported animals continue to be properly inspected and quarantined, we have every reason to believe that pleuropneumonia will never again be seen in this country.

The exact nature of the virus or contagion of lung plague has never been determined. Various investigators have from time to time claimed the discovery of the specific organism of the disease, but it was not until 1898 that Nocard and Roux, by an ingenious method of cultivation, succeeded in obtaining a very feeble growth of an exceedingly minute microorganism. With these cultures the disease was produced in cattle.

Some investigators and writers are of the opinion that the disease can be contracted only by an animal coming near enough to a living diseased one to receive the contagion directly from it. They hold that the contagion is expired with the air from the affected lungs, and that it must be almost immediately inspired by another animal in order to produce the disease. Some experimental attempts to infect animals by placing them in stables where diseased animals have been, and by placing the diseased lungs of slaughtered animals in their feeding troughs have failed, and, consequently, apparently confirm this view.

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CONTAGIOUS PLEUROPNEUMONIA. DESCRIPTION OF PLATES.

PLATE XXIX. Upper or dorsal surface of the lungs of the ox, reduced to one-twelfth of the natural size: a, a', the right and left principal lobes. These are the largest and are situated posteriorly, resting upon the diaphragm; b, b', the ventral lobes, situated between the principal lobes; and c, c', c'' the most anterior, or cephalic, lobes. The right anterior is divided into two lobes (c, c'), the left is single (c''); d, trachea, or windpipe.

In the majority of the lungs examined in the laboratory of the bureau which were affected with contagious pleuropneumonia the principal lobes (a, a') were primarily affected.

PLATE XXX. Bronchopneumonia. The ventral or middle lobe of the right lung affected with collapse and beginning bronchopneumonia. The light yellowish portions represent healthy lung tissue; the red represents the disease. It will be noticed that the lines between the lobules are quite faint, indicating little or no inflammation of the connective tissue between the lobules. The healthy lung tissue is seen to be raised above the level of the diseased portion. In contagious pleuropneumonia the exact reverse is the case, the diseased portions being very much larger than the healthy.

PLATE XXXI. Contagious pleuropneumonia. Appearance of a cow's lung affected with contagious pleuropneumonia when sections or slices are made of it and cut surfaces examined.

Fig. 1. Transverse section through the right principal lobe in a case of acute pleuropneumonia. The area drawn includes the air tubes, veins, and arteries, and illustrates the great thickening of the interlobular connective tissue into broad whitish bands and of the walls of the air tubes, veins, and arteries: a, air tube cut obliquely; a', air tube cut directly across; b, arteries cut across; c, large vein completely occluded by a thrombus or plug formed during life. The great thickening of the walls of the artery and vein in this disease is especially brought out by stating that in the healthy lung they are so thin as to be easily overlooked.

Fig. 2. Transverse section of the principal lobe in a case of acute pleuropneumonia, illustrating the different kinds of hepatization or consolidation of the lung. These are indicated by the different colors from dark red to reddish yellow. This variation of color is regarded by some as the real marbling characteristic of pleuropneumonia, while the whitish bands penetrating the lung tissue in all directions constitute the true marbling according to other observers.

PLATE XXXII. Contagious pleuropneumonia. This illustrates what are called infarctions. The right half of the figure shows nearly normal lung tissue. The left represents a blackish mass, in which the lung tissue is filled with blood and solidified. This is caused by the plugging of the vein carrying away the blood from this portion. The heart forces the blood through the artery into the tissue at considerable pressure, but owing to the fact that its return is prevented, the minute blood vessels rupture and the air vesicles become distended with blood, which coagulates and causes the firmness of the tissue.

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On the other hand, it is known that the serum from affected lungs retains its virulence and may be used successfully for inoculation weeks or months after the death of the animal from which it was taken. This is particularly the case when this liquid is hermetically sealed in glass tubes. Other investigators state that they have successfully infected cattle by placing, in the nostrils, sponges or pledgets of cotton saturated with such serum. Cattle have also, according to the best evidence obtainable, been infected from the clothing of attendants, from horns used in drenching, and from smelling about wagons which have been used to transport affected carcasses. In the work of eradicating pleuropneumonia from the United States many stables were found in which the disease would appear and reappear after the slaughter of affected herds, and in spite of any precautions which were adopted. These were always old stables, with woodwork in a decaying condition and with floors underlaid with filth which could not be thoroughly removed or disinfected. In every one of these cases the destruction of the stable, the burning of the lumber of which it was constructed, the removal of the accumulations beneath the floors, and thorough disinfection, prevented the recurrence of the plague in new stables built upon the same premises. This experience conclusively shows that under certain conditions, at least, stables may retain the infection for a considerable time, and that when restocked the disease may break out again from such infection.

As a rule, however, the disease is acquired by a healthy animal being near an affected one and receiving the contagion direct. Affected animals may give off the contagion in the early stages of the disease before the symptoms are apparent to the observer; also, they may retain this infectious character, if they survive the attack, for six months and probably for a year after all symptoms of the disease have disappeared.

Incubation.--The time which elapses between exposure to the contagion of pleuropneumonia and the first appearance of the symptoms of this disease varies greatly with different individuals and with different outbreaks of the disease. Ordinarily the symptoms of disease make their appearance within three to six weeks after exposure; they may be observed, however, within two weeks or they may not become apparent until nearly or quite three months. It is this long period of incubation and the great length of time that an animal may disseminate the contagion after apparent recovery which give the plague that insidious character so often spoken of, and which greatly increase the difficulties of eradication.

Symptoms.--The symptoms are such as would be expected with inflammation of the lungs and pleurÊ, but they vary considerably, according to the type which the disease manifests. If the attack is an acute one, as is frequently seen in hot weather, the symptoms appear suddenly; the breathing becomes rapid and difficult, the animal grunts or moans with each expiration, the shoulders stand out from the chest, the head is extended on the neck, the back is arched, the temperature is 104∞ to 107∞ F., the milk secretion is suspended, there is no appetite, rumination is stopped, the animal may bloat and later be affected with a severe diarrhea. Such cases are generally fatal in 7 to 20 days.

Very often the attack comes on slowly and the symptoms are much less clear. In the mildest cases there is a cough for a week or two, but no appreciable loss of appetite or elevation of temperature. The lungs are but slightly affected and recovery soon follows. Such animals may disseminate the contagion for a long time without being suspected, and for that reason are the most dangerous of all.

A more severe type of the plague is the most frequently seen. In these cases the cough is frequent, more or less painful, the back somewhat arched, and the milk secretion diminished. The prominence of these symptoms increases, the appetite is affected, the animal loses flesh, the breathing becomes more rapid, the cough more painful, pressure of the fingers between the ribs shows tenderness, the hair loses its gloss and stands erect, the skin becomes adherent, little, if any, milk is secreted, and the temperature rises, varying in different animals from 103∞ to 107∞ F. Animals thus affected may continue to grow worse and die in from three to eight weeks, or they may after a time begin to improve and make an apparent recovery. The inflammation of the lung does not, as a rule, subside and the organ return to its normal condition, as is the case in ordinary pneumonia, but with this disease the life of the affected portion of the lung is destroyed, the tissue dies, and a fibrous wall is formed around it to shut it away from the living parts. The tissue, thus encysted, gradually softens, becomes disintegrated, and breaks down into pus. The recovery, therefore, is not complete; it is only apparent and partial.

To those accustomed to examining the lungs of cattle, other and extremely important symptoms may be apparent during the course of the disease. By applying the ear over the walls of the chest an area of a certain extent may be found in which the natural breathing sound is diminished or entirely lost. This represents the diseased portion of the lungs. In other cases a loud blowing sound may be heard, quite different from any sound produced when the lung is in a healthy condition. In some cases crepitation is heard near the border line of the diseased area and friction sounds produced by the roughened pleura; these can be appreciated, however, only by those whose ears have been trained to distinguish between the different sounds which reach the ear when applied to the chest wall. By percussion--that is, by pressing the fingers of the left hand firmly against the wall of the chest and tapping upon the middle finger with the ends of the fingers of the right hand--an area of dullness may be discovered corresponding to the portion from which the respiratory murmur has disappeared. This loss of respiration detected by auscultation, and the dullness brought out by percussion, are the most important evidences of an inflamed or consolidated lung.

Seriously affected animals remain standing if they have sufficient strength, but those which lie down always lie on the affected side.

The proportion of animals which become affected after being exposed varies according to the virulence of the outbreak, the susceptibility of the animals, and the length of time during which exposure is continued. Sometimes not more than 15, 20, or 30 per cent will contract the disease when a large herd is exposed; on the other hand, however, 80 or 90 per cent may be affected. The proportion of cases in which the disease proves fatal also varies greatly--it may not exceed 10 and it may reach 50 per cent. In general, it may be said that about 40 per cent of the exposed animals will contract the disease and about one-half of these cases will prove fatal.

Post-mortem appearances.--Owing to the complexity of the structure of the lung tissue, its ramifications of bronchial tubes and blood vessels, and its abundant supply of lymphatics, the pathological changes in pleuropneumonia are interpreted with great difficulty. Furthermore, there are certain kinds of pneumonia which present some resemblances to pleuropneumonia and which may therefore be confused with it in some of its phases.

If we kill an animal affected with acute pleuropneumonia and examine the cavity of the chest and lungs, the following appearances will be noted:

The thorax may contain more or less serum, which may be clear or clouded. There may be firm adhesions of different parts of the lungs to the chest wall, the extent of which depends on the stage and severity of the disease. The diseased lobes are unusually large and exceedingly firm to the touch. The weight of a single large lobe may reach 40 pounds. Usually only one side is affected, often but a single lobe, and this most commonly the large or principal lobe. The pleura may be covered with one or more layers of a firm, elastic, grayish membrane, which varies in thickness and which sometimes may be pulled away entirely. Sometimes it is absent. The pleura, however, is opaque and apparently very much thickened. This is owing to the diseased condition of the connective tissue beneath the pleura, as will be explained later. When an affected lobe is cut through at right angles to its long diameter, the cut surface presents a variety of interesting changes. In the first place the spaces between the small subdivisions of the lung (the lobules), which in the healthy lung are barely visible, are distended with a yellowish-white, usually quite firm, substance, which is coagulated fibrin. The cut surface thus appears divided into small fields by yellowish-white bands of varying thickness running in various directions through the lung tissue and beneath the pleura. (Pl. XXXI.) These bands may appear honeycombed and the spaces filled with yellowish fluid (serum) or they may be uniformly solid. It will also be noticed that the space immediately outside of and around the artery, vein, and air tube is similarly broadened by fibrinous deposits. Some authorities look upon these bands as constituting the so-called "marbling" of pleuropneumonia.

In addition to these changes which have taken place in the connective tissue between the lobules, the lung tissue itself may be markedly altered. Certain areas of the cut surface may be very firm in texture and of a brownish-red color. The cut surface is granular or roughened, not smooth to the eye. Other areas equally firm may be more grayish yellow and still others may be blackish. (Pl. XXXII.) Besides these areas which represent solidified (hepatized) lung tissue there may be others which approach the normal lung tissue in color, are soft, and float in water. From these a milky, purulent fluid may often be expressed. These different shades are represented in Plate XXXI, fig. 2, within a small compass. Some authorities are inclined to consider these variations in color on the same cut surface as the so-called marbling of pleuropneumonia. It matters not whether we regard the bands between the lobules or the varying shades of the lobules themselves as the marbling, provided either or both are peculiar to contagious pleuropneumonia. If we examine the blood vessels appearing on such cut surface they will usually be found plugged within the firmly hepatized regions. The artery contains a dark, soft, removable clot, the vein a grayish-pink, granular, fragile plug (thrombus), which adheres firmly to the wall of the vein, and if this is slit open, indications of a diseased condition of the inner coat will be readily detected. When large regions of the lung tissues are hepatized, the main air tube and its branches are usually filled with grayish, cylindrical branched masses of fibrin that are easily removed, as they do not adhere to the mucous membrane.

The views of pathologists differ as to the nature of the earliest changes in pleuropneumonia, and it is not within the scope of this work to present controverted or imperfectly developed theories. In the foregoing description we have taken as a type the acute pleuropneumonia in its fully developed phase, which can scarcely be mistaken for any other disease. We have seen that there is an inflammatory condition of the connective tissue between the lobules, resulting in the exudation of coagulable lymph. This inflammation is equally marked around the blood vessels and air tubes. It leads to inflammatory changes in the inner wall of the veins, and these cause the deposition of thrombi or plugs in the vessels, which prevent the return of the blood. The blood pumped into the lung tissue through the artery, but unable to get out by way of the vein, leaves the mesh-work of capillaries around the air vesicles, enters the latter, and produces the firm, hepatized condition so characteristic of this disease. If we bear in mind that the veins in different parts of the lung tissue are plugged at different times, and that, therefore, the affected regions are in different stages of disease, it will be easily understood how the different shades of color from dark red to grayish or yellowish red are produced.

The complete plugging of the veins may lead to the death of circumscribed masses of lung tissue. A line of separation forms between the living and the dead tissue and a thick cyst wall of fibrous tissue forms around the latter. The dead tissue for a time preserves the appearance of lung tissue, then undergoes disintegration and liquefaction. The softened mass is finally absorbed, and the walls of the cyst, or capsule around it, gradually collapse and form a cicatrix. This favorable termination takes place only when the dead mass is not too large. It may, however, involve over half of one of the large lobes. Under such circumstances recovery is improbable. A more favorable termination is the abundant growth of fibrous tissue around and into the hepatized masses. The formation of fibrous tissue may extend to the pleura, or lung covering, and cause firm adhesion of the lungs to the chest wall and to the pericardium, or heart case.

The same peculiar, inflammatory changes which take place between the lobules of the lung and around the bronchi and vessels may invade the pleural cavity, cause extensive membranous and spongy deposits on the pleura and firm deposits around the heart and large arteries, the gullet, and windpipe.

These are the main features of the lung disease caused by contagious pleuropneumonia. In the typical, acute cases there are a sufficient number of peculiarities to enable us to make a positive diagnosis. There are, however, many cases in which the disease is restricted to small areas, or to the interlobular tissue, or in which the changes are still imperfectly developed, or else so far advanced that doubts may arise as to the true nature of the affection. In such cases all obtainable facts, including the history of the case, the symptoms during life, and the pathological changes observed on post-mortem examination must be taken into consideration. Only one who has made a careful study of the disease is fitted to decide in such cases.

Other kinds of lung disease, because of certain features common to most lung diseases of cattle, may be confounded with pleuropneumonia. The inflammation of the connective tissue between the lobules is not infrequently observed in so-called interstitial pneumonia and may lead to the formation of whitish bands intersecting the lung tissues in various directions. On the cut surface these bands may give rise to a decidedly marbled appearance. Again, in traumatic pneumonia, caused, as its name implies, by the entrance of foreign bodies into the lung tissue, generally from the paunch, the connective tissue around the place of disease becomes inflamed and thickened, and the disease itself may simulate pleuropneumonia in its retrogressive stages when it is confined to a small portion of lung tissue. The filling up of the interlobular spaces with fibrin and connective tissue of inflammatory origin is not thus limited to pleuropneumonia, but may appear in a marked degree in other lung diseases. It must not be inferred from this statement that these interlobular changes are necessarily the same as those in pleuropneumonia, although to the naked eye they may appear the same. We simply note their presence without discussing their nature.

In general, the distinction between pleuropneumonia and bronchopneumonia is not difficult to make. In the latter disease the pneumonia generally invades certain lobes. The disease attacks the smaller lobes in their lowest portions first and gradually extends upward, i. e., toward the root of the lung or the back of the animal and backward into the large principal lobes. Again, both lungs in advanced cases are often symmetrically affected. In contagious pleuropneumonia the large principal lobe of one side is most frequently affected, and a symmetrical disease of both lungs is very rare, if, in fact, it has ever been observed. The lung tissue in bronchopneumonia is not enlarged, but rather more contracted than the normal tissue around it. This is well illustrated in Plate XXX. Normal, air-containing lobules may be scattered among and around the hepatized portion in an irregular manner. In pleuropneumonia the diseased and healthy portions are either sharply divided off, one from the other, or else they shade into each other by intermediate stages.

The hepatized lung tissue in bronchopneumonia when the cut surface is examined is visually of a more or less dark flesh color with paler grayish-yellow dots regularly interspersed, giving it a peculiar, mottled appearance. In the more advanced stages it becomes more firm, and may contain nodular and firmer masses disseminated through it. The air tubes usually contain more or less soft, creamy, or cheesy pus or a turbid fluid quite different from the loose, fibrinous casts of acute pleuropneumonia. The interlobular tissue may or may not be affected. It sometimes contains loose, fibrinous plugs, or it may be greatly distended with air, especially in the still normal portions of the lung. The pleura is seldom seriously diseased. If we contrast with these features the firm dark-red hepatizations, the plugging of the veins, the extensive interlobular deposits, and the well-marked pleuritis in pleuropneumonia, there is little chance for confusion between well-developed cases of these two lung diseases.

It should not be forgotten, however, that the lesions of the disease known as contagious pleuropneumonia may be confined to the serous membranes of the thorax, or they may be confined to the parenchyma of the lungs; they may affect a whole lobe, or only a small portion of it; they may or may not cause the so-called marbled appearance. In the same way bronchopneumonia may vary as to the parts of the lung affected, the extent of the lesions, the degree and kind of pathological changes in the interlobular tissue, the color of the lung on cross section and the amount of hepatization. In individual cases, therefore, it is often necessary to take into account the history of the animal, the course of the disease, and the communicability of the affection before a diagnosis can be made between the two diseases.

Prevention and treatment.--The prevention of pleuropneumonia, as of other contagious diseases, consists in keeping animals so that they will not be exposed to the contagion. As the disease arises only by contagion, there is no possibility of an animal becoming affected with it unless it has been exposed. If, therefore, pleuropneumonia exists in a locality the owner of healthy cattle should make every effort to keep his animals from coming near affected ones or which have been exposed. He should be equally particular not to allow persons who have been on the infected premises to visit his own pastures, stables, or cattle.

If pleuropneumonia breaks out in a herd, every animal in it should be slaughtered, the stables thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, and no other cattle allowed on the premises until a period of 90 days has elapsed.

Medical treatment of affected animals is unavailing and should not be attempted. No matter how valuable the diseased animals may have been before they contracted the disease, they should at once be destroyed and the contagion eradicated. This is the best policy for the individual as well as for the community.

The eradication of this disease by local or National Governments can be successful only when the same principles are adopted and carried out as here recommended for individual stables. It is then a difficult undertaking, simply because the contagion is generally widely disseminated before any measures are adopted, and because a great majority of cattle owners will never report the existence of the disease. Regulations must therefore be enforced which will insure the prompt discovery of every herd in which the disease appears, as well as the destruction of all diseased and exposed animals and the thorough disinfection of the premises.

To discover pleuropneumonia sufficiently early for this purpose, the district supposed to be infected should be clearly defined and inspectors should be constantly employed to inspect every herd in it at least once in two weeks, or, better, once a week. No bovine animal should be allowed to go out of the defined district alive, and all which enter it should be carefully inspected to insure their freedom from disease. As an assistance to the discovery of diseased herds, every animal which, from any cause, dies in the infected district and every animal which is slaughtered, even if apparently in good health, should be the subject of a careful post-mortem examination. Many affected herds will be found in this way.

In addition to these measures it is also necessary to guard against the removal of animals from one stable to another and the mixing of herds upon common pastures or in the public highways. The object must be to isolate every individual's cattle as completely as possible, or otherwise a single affected animal may infect a dozen or more herds. To prevent surreptitious sale or trading of cattle, each animal must in some way be numbered and recorded in the books kept by the official in charge of the district. In the work of the United States Department of Agriculture a numbered metal tag was fastened to each animal's ear and index books were so arranged that with a number given the owner could be at once ascertained, or from the owner's name the cattle for which he was responsible could be at once learned. In this way, if an animal was missing from a stable, the fact became apparent at once, or if one too many was found in a stable the number in its ear would indicate where it came from.

When pleuropneumonia is discovered by these means, the entire herd should be slaughtered as soon as the formalities of appraisement can be arranged. In country districts the carcasses should be buried, as it is generally impracticable to dispose of them in any other way. In city districts the animals may be taken to a slaughterhouse, with such precautions as are possible to prevent dissemination of the contagion. The animals should be slaughtered under the supervision of an inspector. The healthy carcasses may be utilized for food, but the blood, entrails, and all diseased carcasses should be heated to a temperature equal to that of boiling water or above, and then used for the manufacture of fertilizers.

The disinfection of premises should be thorough and should be carried out by a trained corps of men employed for the purpose. The floors of stables should be removed, the accumulations removed from beneath them, the contents of haylofts should be destroyed, and the woodwork and soil beneath the stables should be thoroughly drenched with a solution of bichlorid of mercury, 1 part to 2,000 of water. After the flooring is replaced the woodwork should be coated with limewash, containing one-fourth pound of chlorid of lime to the gallon of mixture.

Usually in these cases the owners are dependent upon their herd of cows for a living, and consequently it is difficult or impossible to hold the stables vacant for any considerable period. In a majority of instances cattle may be admitted at once to stables so disinfected, without the reappearance of the disease. Occasionally, however, it will reappear without apparent cause. For this reason the inspection and other measures must be maintained in the infected district for six months or a year after the last case of disease has been disposed of.

Many people have objected to the slaughter of diseased and exposed animals as an unscientific and expensive method of eradicating the disease. To these it may be answered that it is the only method which has ever proved successful, and that in the end it is much more economical than temporizing measures.

Inoculation has been adopted in many countries, and has undoubtedly lessened the death rate, but where this practice is allowed the disease is kept up and spreads. For this reason it should be prohibited wherever there is a possibility and disposition to eradicate the contagion.

RINDERPEST.

Rinderpest, also known as cattle plague, is an acute, infectious disease of cattle, in which the digestive organs are mainly involved. Though unknown in this country, the importance of having near at hand a few definite facts concerning this disease, should it ever reach our shores, will be at once appreciated. A knowledge of such facts may aid in an early recognition of the disease. It must not be forgotten, on the other hand, that a superficial knowledge of diseases, such as the layman may gain through reading, not infrequently leads to confounding comparatively harmless, noninfectious maladies with such as are truly dangerous (foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest, etc), and causes temporary panics among stock owners.

According to some authorities, rinderpest has its home in the territory around the Black Sea and the Volga River in Russia; according to others, in Central Asia. Thence it has been conveyed at various times by cattle to nearly every country of Europe and Asia, where it has proved to be a veritable bovine scourge. It probably visited Europe as early as the beginning of the Christian era, and since then the migrations of the people from the Far East have from time to time introduced the disease. Especially during the eighteenth century it was more or less prevalent in Europe, owing to the frequent wars, during which herds of cattle were brought from eastern Europe and Asia to supply the demands of the armies. It prevailed in Europe during the Franco-Prussian War. At present it exists in eastern Europe and in portions of Asia and Africa.

The virus is conveyed from one country to another chiefly by means of infected cattle, although infected hides, wool, and feed may play an important part in its dissemination. The railroad facilities of the present, which furnish the means of such rapid communication, are particularly liable to aid in the spread of the disease.

In the past rinderpest has been supposed to be identical with various human diseases, among them smallpox and typhoid fever. These suppositions are unfounded, and the view of authorities to-day is that it is a disease of a peculiar kind, not identical with any other known infectious disease.

The contagion of rinderpest.--The cause of rinderpest must be looked for among microorganisms--most likely bacteria. The investigations made thus far for this causal factor have been fruitless. However, certain recent experiments would indicate that the unseen microbe is of such dimensions that it is withheld by the dense bacterial filters, but passes through the more porous ones. Formerly it was supposed by various authorities that rinderpest virus appeared spontaneously under the influence of deteriorated feed and long and exhausting drives; also during unusual meteorological conditions. This view, however, is no longer maintained. It is probable that in its home in Asia the disease is perpetuated by continual infection of fresh animals, and some authorities go even so far as to believe that the disease would be entirely stamped out, even in its native haunts, by a destruction of all sick and infected herds. However this may be, the success of such an undertaking would largely depend on the nature of the cause. If a strictly parasitic organism, like the contagion of pleuropneumonia, it might be completely extirpated in this way. If, however, the germs or bacteria may live and multiply outside of the bovine body, in the soil, water, or in some other animal, extirpation would be impossible.

The virus may be transmitted in a variety of ways, both direct and indirect, from sick to healthy animals. It is said to be present in the various excreta, such as the discharges from the nose, and the saliva, the urine, and the manure, of the diseased. For months it retains its vitality in a moist state outside the body, and the disease is reported to have developed after feeding hay a year after it had lain in an infected stable; hence manure and the fodder and bedding soiled with discharges may convey it. Persons may carry the virus on their shoes, clothing, or implements. Even small animals, such as cats and rats, which frequent barns and stables, have been looked upon as carriers of the virus.

Cattle are very susceptible to the disease, and in its virulent type all those exposed are said to become infected. Buffaloes, sheep, and goats are likewise susceptible, but in a less degree.

It is also claimed that animals after having passed through one attack successfully resist future attacks. Inoculation with virus is said to produce immunity, but in many cases the process of inoculation itself is followed by death.

Symptoms.--The symptoms of rinderpest are not very characteristic, and hence the diagnosis of a suspected case in the beginning of an invasion is attended with difficulties. Certain appearances which are characteristic of one epizootic may be absent in another. Different observers are not quite agreed as to the most constant and important.

The period of incubation, i. e., the time between the exposure to infection and the earliest outward symptoms, varies from three to nine days. The first sign is a very high fever, which may reach 107∞ F. The heat of the skin varies in different parts of the body, and may be felt at the base of the ears and horns. Repeated chills are frequently observed. The pulse reaches 50 to 60 beats a minute, and in very severe attacks may rise to 90 or 100.

The animal manifests great debility. The head droops and rests on some object of support. One or both ears may droop. The coat is staring and the muzzle dry. The secretion of milk diminishes very rapidly. Within twelve to twenty hours the usual quantity may have become reduced one-half or two-thirds. The back is arched, and the four limbs are brought together under the body.

As the disease progresses, symptoms with reference to the digestive and respiratory organs become prominent. The mucous membrane of the mouth and the nose, as well as that of the rectum and vagina, becomes reddened, either in patches or diffusely, and assumes a scarlet hue. The discharges, at first firm, become softer, and soon diarrhea sets in. This is said to be one of the most constant symptoms. The rectum may become everted and paralyzed, and the bowels move spontaneously. The discharges become fetid, viscid, and streaked with blood. Coughing is a common symptom, and by some is considered characteristic. It is associated with discharges from the nose and vagina and dribbling of saliva from the mouth. The eyes also are affected. There is an increased formation of a viscid secretion which flows down the face.

Another series of changes prominent in some epizootics and mild or absent in others are the ulcers, or so-called "erosions," in the mouth. These begin as red patches and streaks. The mucous membrane in such localities is converted into a grayish-white slough, which, when shed, leaves a small erosion, or ulcer. At the same time similar changes may go on in the skin of the thighs, the udder, or the scrotum, or about the vagina, which lead to small sloughs.

In severe cases, which are the most common in the susceptible cattle of western Europe, death ensues four to seven days after the first appearance of the disease, and is preceded by great emaciation and debility, fetid, purulent discharges from the nose and mouth, and the relaxed rectum and vagina.

After death, if the animal is opened and the organs carefully examined, the chief changes are found in the digestive organs. The lining membrane of the mouth and pharynx is covered with mucus, is reddened in spots, and shows superficial, yellowish-gray, cheesy patches, which represent dead tissue, and when removed expose ulcerated depressions. The same reddening in spots and the yellowish-gray, cheesy deposits or patches are found in the fourth stomach, the small intestines, and more rarely in the cecum, while the third stomach, or manyplies, is more or less impacted with dry, hard feed. Similar changes may be found on the mucous membrane of the nasal cavity, larynx, trachea, the uterus, vagina, and rectum. The lungs may be injected, edematous, or pneumonic. The heart muscle is pale and flabby, and frequently hemorrhages are observed in its internal membrane. The liver may be pale or injected with blood, and at times shows hemorrhages beneath its capsule. The bile is thin and watery in consistence. The kidneys may be inflamed or contain small hemorrhages within their substance or under the capsule. The lymphatic glands may be swollen and injected or even hemorrhagic.

Treatment.--On account of the danger of spreading the infection, neither medicinal treatment nor inoculation is permitted in European countries, with the exception of Russia, where the disease is more generally diffused. The most effective method of exterminating rinderpest in those districts in which the disease is not indigenous has been found to be the slaughter of all affected and exposed animals. Where the disease is general, successful efforts adopted for its control have followed the immunization by inoculation of the exposed animals and a strict application of appropriate sanitary measures. This protective inoculation has been practiced with very gratifying results in Russia, South Africa, and in the Philippine Islands. An active immunity is thus induced in susceptible animals which lasts until the danger from exposure to the disease is over. This immunity may be attained (1) by the inoculation of pure bile from an animal which recently died of rinderpest, (2) by the inoculation of glycerinated bile, followed by pure bile or virulent blood, or (3) by the simultaneous inoculation of strong standardized serum and virulent blood.

The latter method has been adopted by the United States Government in its endeavor to exterminate the disease in the Philippines, and to protect the cattle and carabaos against rinderpest after their importation into those islands. Owing to the existence of this and other infectious diseases in the Philippine Islands, an order has been issued by the Department of Agriculture prohibiting the landing of any live stock or animals of any kind from the Philippines at any of the ports of the United States or the dependencies thereof. This prohibition removes the greatest source of danger to which the United States is exposed as the result of its intercourse with the islands. The introduction of rinderpest from those countries from which we import animals is rendered extremely improbable, especially in live animals, owing to its short period of incubation and to the 90-day quarantine for cattle (counting from date of shipment) and 15-day (counting from date of landing) quarantine for sheep and other ruminants and swine which are at present enforced in the United States at all ports of entry.

FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE.

[Pl. XXXIII.]

Foot-and-mouth disease, also known as aphthous fever, epizootic aphtha, and eczema contagiosa, is an acute, highly communicable disease chiefly confined to cloven-footed animals and characterized by an eruption of vesicles or blisters on the mucous membrane of the mouth and on the skin between the toes and above the hoofs. The vesicles rupture, forming erosions and ulcerations; there are also salivation, tenderness of the affected parts, loss of appetite, lameness, emaciation, and diminution in the quantity of milk secreted.

The tremendous ravages of the disease are seen in the number and variety of the species attacked. While it may be regarded as essentially a disease of cattle, hogs would seem to be as easy a prey. Almost in the same grade of receptivity are sheep and goats. Next in order of susceptibility come the buffalo, American bison, camel, chamois, llama, giraffe, and antelope. Horses, dogs, cats, and even poultry may occasionally become infected with the disease, the last three being particularly dangerous as carriers of the contagion. Man himself is not immune, and the frequency of his infection by coming in contact with diseased animals is established by numerous observations.

As with other communicable diseases, the source and origin of foot-and-mouth disease have given rise to much speculation. The disease had been known in Europe for centuries, but it was not until comparatively recent years that the erroneous conceptions of its spontaneous origin as a result of climatic and meteorological conditions, exhausting journeys, etc., were abandoned. It is now conceded that foot-and-mouth disease is propagated by a specific virus and that every outbreak starts from some preexisting outbreak.

So far investigators have been unable to identify or isolate the specific organism causing the disease, although numerous attempts have been made to cultivate and stain it by laboratory methods. Experiments have shown that the virus will pass through standard germ-proof filters, thus indicating its minute size and the reason it has not been detected by the staining methods. The contagion may be found in the serum of the vesicles on the mouth, feet, and udder; in the saliva, milk, and various secretions and excretions; also in the blood during the rise of temperature.

A wide distribution of the virus and a rapid infection of a herd is the result. Animals may be infected directly, as by licking, and in calves by sucking, or indirectly by such things as infected manure, hay, utensils, drinking troughs, railway cars, animal markets, barnyards, and pastures. Human beings may carry the virus on their shoes and clothing and transmit it on their hands when milking, since the udder is occasionally the seat of the eruption. It may also be carried by dogs, cats, rats, chickens, pigeons, etc. Milk in a raw state may also transmit the disease to animals fed with it.

The observations made by some veterinarians would lead us to suppose that the virus is quite readily destroyed. It is claimed that stables thoroughly cleaned become safe after drying for a short time; hence, litter of all kinds, such as manure or soiled hay and straw, may remain infective for a longer time because they do not dry out. Other authorities maintain that the virus is quite tenacious and may live in stables even so long as a year. They also state that animals which have passed through the disease may be a source of infection for several months after recovery.

Unlike most other infectious diseases, foot-and-mouth disease may repeatedly attack the same animals. The immunity conferred by an attack is of limited duration.

The period of incubation (that is, the time between the exposure of an animal to infection and the development of the disease) is variable, usually from three to six days. The disease may appear in 24 hours, or, in exceptional cases, not for 18 days or even longer.

Losses.--The highly contagious character of foot-and-mouth disease and its rapid spread to practically all exposed susceptible animals lead to heavy losses. Since the mortality is comparatively low, ranging from only 3 per cent or less in mild forms to 30 or 40 per cent in malignant cases, the havoc caused by the pestilence is sometimes underestimated. But there are other sources of loss which are much more important than the actual mortality. The fever and the difficulty of eating cause a rapid and extreme loss in flesh and a lessening or cessation of the milk secretion. The udders often become inflamed and ruined by the formation of abscesses, and cows affected in this way are sometimes rendered permanently valueless for milk production. The inflammation of the feet may cause the horn to drop from the toes, producing great lameness and lasting injury. Abortion is frequent, and typical lesions have been observed in the newly born at birth. Altogether these losses may amount to 20 or 30 per cent of the value of the affected animals.

In addition there are indirect losses of a commercial nature. Dairy farmers are put out of business for a time. Necessary quarantine restrictions greatly interfere with the movement of live stock and such commodities as hay, straw, hides, and farm produce. The business of the stockyards and slaughtering centers is greatly interfered with. Sometimes it is necessary to close stockyards for disinfection. The whole business of marketing, transporting, feeding, and slaughtering is interrupted and deranged. Losses of this character may reach enormous proportions.

The disease in other countries.--Foot-and-mouth disease has prevailed in Europe for a great many years and has occasioned tremendous economic losses there.

In Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Russia the plague has existed so long and has gained such a foothold that it is economically impossible to fight it with the American methods of slaughter and disinfection, for to do so would kill a large percentage of the live stock of those countries. In consequence, little or no progress toward eradication has been made by the authorities, though the severity of the disease in France appears to have abated somewhat in recent months.

The outbreak which appeared in Germany in 1888 increased steadily until 1892, when it diminished gradually for a few years, but the disease again reached great proportions in 1899. Thereafter it continued to exist to a greater or less extent until in 1911 it attained a virulence unequaled before. In that year 3,366,369 cattle, 1,602,927 sheep, 2,555,371 hogs, and 53,674 goats were affected. At that time the total number of cattle, sheep, swine, and goats in Germany was only 51,319,000, while there were in the United States 172,572,000, or between three and four times as many. It can readily be imagined, therefore, what it would mean to the United States if the disease were to gain the foothold here that it had in Germany, where, as these figures show, approximately one out of seven of the animals susceptible to the disease was affected.

The German Government, of course, has not left the disease to itself. It attempted to control some outbreaks by the method of slaughter, but the pestilence had gained too much headway and was too firmly established in too many portions of the country for this method to succeed, and the slaughter of the infected herds had to be abandoned. It now appears that there is no hope of getting rid of it until the virus has worn itself out. As soon as the animals' period of acquired immunity is over and favorable conditions present themselves, the contagion breaks out with renewed virulence. It has been impossible to control it by means of quarantines. One scientist has asserted that unless all the infected farms were absolutely isolated and the movement, not only of live stock but of persons, absolutely prohibited, the disease could not be stamped out. Such a quarantine is, of course, utterly impossible to enforce. In portions of Germany the farmers, realizing that the disease is inevitable, make haste to be done with it by exposing their stock deliberately to mild cases in the hope that this will result in an immediate, mild attack and immunity for several years thereafter. Such immunity, however, is very uncertain.

Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, on account of their comparatively isolated positions, have been more successful in keeping out the disease. The outbreaks in those countries have been more sporadic, and by resorting to immediate slaughter the authorities have been able to stamp them out. Great Britain has applied both quarantine and slaughter for many years, and in an outbreak near Dublin in 1912 measures were adopted which were even more stringent than any that have been used in the United States. A British official (Cope) asserted in 1899 that after his country's experience with this disease it was "more dreaded by the farmers and stock raisers of Great Britain than cattle plague or pleuropneumonia, and they are now willing and ready to put up with any restrictions, of however drastic a character, considered necessary by the central department to stamp it out." The British authorities have succeeded in suppressing each outbreak, but reinfection often occurs from the neighboring continent. At the present time (April, 1922) Great Britain is having a siege of the disease, but is applying vigorous measures for its suppression.

In November, 1906, the disease reached Belgium from France, where it was quite prevalent, and by the end of the year every Province in Belgium was affected, and the Netherlands as well. Efforts to eradicate it from Belgium were unavailing. The Netherlands apparently succeeded in stamping it out for about six months, but it reappeared there.

The disease is also more or less prevalent in Central Europe, Spain, and in the Balkan countries.

Australia and New Zealand have remained free from it.

We have less accurate information regarding Asia and Africa, but the disease is known to prevail in Japan and China and in the Philippine Islands, and it is doubtful whether any considerable part of the Orient is free from it.

In South America it is reported as common in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, and it probably exists in other countries.

Canada and Mexico are fortunately free from the disease.

Outbreaks in the United States.--Foot-and-mouth disease has appeared in the United States on six different occasions--1870, 1880, 1884, 1902, 1908, and 1914.

An extensive outbreak in 1870 was introduced by way of Canada, where the infection was brought by an importation of cattle from Scotland. It spread into the New England States and New York and appears to have been arrested within a few months. Its failure to spread more extensively and its early disappearance have been ascribed to favorable conditions, such as the movement of live stock from west to east, the limited trading at that period as compared with the present time, the restriction of traffic by winter weather, and the infrequency of travel which obtained at that time among people.

About 1880 two or three lots of animals affected by this disease were brought to the United States, but there was no extension from the animals originally affected.

In 1884, at Portland, Me., there was a small outbreak caused by imported cattle, and the disease spread to a few herds outside the quarantine station. Owing to the small number of animals affected and the limited area of territory covered by the disease, it was easily controlled by the ordinary measures of quarantine and disinfection.

It will be observed that in all these early outbreaks the contagion was introduced with imported animals. Since the development of a stringent system of inspection and quarantine of imported live stock, no instance of that kind has occurred. On subsequent occasions the infection has evidently been brought in with contaminated products or materials and not by means of live animals.

In November, 1902, the disease was discovered in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The earliest cases were traced to Chelsea, Mass., near the docks, and it was suspected for a time that the infection was brought in with foreign shipping, by some such means as hay, straw, halters, ropes, hides, hair, wool, etc. Later developments, however, and especially investigations into the cause of the 1908 outbreak, led to the belief that a more probable source of the infection was cowpox vaccine virus imported from a country (probably Japan) where foot-and-mouth disease existed, the vaccine virus being contaminated with the virus of foot-and-mouth disease.

A Federal quarantine was declared by the Secretary of Agriculture on November 27, 1902, as soon as the nature of the disease was established, and steps for eradication were at once taken by the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture in cooperation with authorities of the affected States. The methods followed consisted of inspection to trace and detect the disease, quarantine of infected premises and territory, slaughter and burial or burning of diseased and exposed animals, and disinfection of premises.

This outbreak involved Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island, and was eradicated in about six months. Two hundred and forty-four herds, including 4,712 cattle, were found infected. Of these, 205 herds with 3,872 cattle, as well as 360 hogs and 220 sheep and goats, were slaughtered. The cattle infected but not slaughtered were those that either died or completely recovered before slaughtering could be carried out. The animals slaughtered were valued at $184,155.10, and the Federal Government reimbursed owners to the extent of 70 per cent, or $128,908.57. It is understood that the States paid the remainder. The total cost to the Department of Agriculture of stamping out the disease was about $300,000.

The next appearance of the foot-and-mouth disease was early in November, 1908, when it was observed in cattle near Danville, Pa. A Federal quarantine was issued November 12. The infection was traced back to the stockyards at East Buffalo, N. Y., and to Detroit, Mich. The disease appeared in the States of Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. A careful and thorough investigation made by Mohler of the Bureau of Animal Industry and Rosenau of the Public Health Service demonstrated that the outbreak started from calves used to propagate vaccine virus at an establishment near Detroit, and that the source of the infection was contaminated Japanese vaccine virus.

Vigorous measures of eradication similar to those employed in 1902-3 were at once put into effect and the disease was stamped out in about five months at an expense of about $300,000 to the Department of Agriculture, and of about $113,000 to the States. The inspectors made 108,683 visits to farms, stockyards, etc., and inspected more than 1,500,000 animals (including reinspections). One hundred and fifty-seven premises were found infected, and 3,636 animals (2,025 cattle, 1,329 hogs, and 282 sheep and goats), valued at $90,033.18, were slaughtered. Owners were reimbursed for the value of their animals and property destroyed, one-third being paid by the States and two-thirds by the Federal Government.

The latest invasion was discovered in the vicinity of Niles, Mich., in October, 1914, after it had evidently been under way since August of the same year. This is the most serious and extensive outbreak ever known in this country. The disease extended to 22 States and the District of Columbia, at places ranging from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts. The work of eradication was not completed for more than a year. The affected States were Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Illinois had the largest infected area and the largest number of animals affected. The Union Stock Yards at Chicago became infected and were a source of dissemination of the contagion north, east, south, and west. These and other yards found infected were closed temporarily and disinfected.

The first Federal quarantine was issued October 19, 1914. A campaign to check the spread of the disease and to stamp it out was immediately begun by the United States Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the State authorities. Quarantines against the movement of animals and certain materials from the infected areas were declared, shipments were traced, rumors investigated, and thorough inspections made in an effort to discover all infected stock. As measures of eradication, diseased herds were slaughtered and buried and the premises disinfected. The owners of live stock and other property destroyed on account of the disease were reimbursed to the extent of the appraised value, half of which is paid by the Federal Government and half by the State. There were slaughtered 172,720 animals (76,575 cattle, 86,492 swine, 9,511 sheep, 133 goats, and 9 deer), in 3,482 herds. The total appraised value of these animals was more than $5,800,000. The expense to the Federal Government of eradicating this outbreak was about $4,540,000.

Symptoms.--In three to six days, or even longer, after the exposure of the animal to the infection the disease makes its appearance. It is usually first indicated by the animal suffering from a chill, quickly followed by an invasion of fever, which may cause the temperature to rise as high as 106∞ F. These symptoms are not always present, or may be in so slight a form as to escape notice. Following this in one or two days it will be noticed that small vesicles or blisters about the size of hempseeds or peas are making their appearance upon the mucous membranes of the mouth at the border and upper surface of the tongue near the tip, the inside of the cheeks, on the gums and the inner surface of the lips, or on the margin of the dental pad. These little blisters contain a yellowish, watery fluid and gradually become more extensive as the disease advances. Soon after the eruptions have appeared in the mouth of the animal considerable swelling, redness, and tenderness will be noticed about the feet, at the coronet, and between the digits of each foot. A day or two later eruptions similar to those within the mouth make their appearance upon these swollen regions of the foot, and at this stage it is usual to find that like lesions have made their appearance upon the perineum of the victim. In the case of milk cows the udder, and more particularly the teats, show the same vesicular eruption, but the latter as the result of milking soon become covered with reddened spots deprived of the superficial layer of skin and may develop deep, obstinate fissures.

As soon as the disease has become well established the patient evinces pain when attempting to eat; in fact, the appetite is often so seriously affected that all feed is refused, and the animal uneasily opens and shuts its mouth with a characteristic smacking sound, while strings of cohesive, ropy saliva hang suspended from the lips. With the advance of the disease the vesicles widen and extend until they may reach a diameter ranging from that of a dime to that of a silver dollar. These rupture soon after their appearance, sometimes on the first day, more rarely on the second or third day. After they have ruptured, the grayish-white membrane forming the blister may remain attached for a day or more, or disappear speedily and leave deeply reddened, sensitive spots or erosions, both within the mouth and upon the coronet and between the claws of the feet. Similar erosions, which quickly form scabs, as a rule, may be noticed in cases in which the teats of milk cows have become affected, and instances are reported in which sloughing of the tegument immediately around the lesions upon the udder has occurred. Owing to the tough, fibrous nature of the bovine skin, it is exceedingly rare for sloughing to occur upon any part of the body other than those mentioned.

The attack upon the feet of an animal is frequently manifested in all four feet at once, but one or more of the feet may entirely escape and remain unaffected throughout the course of the disease. The ulceration of the interdigital tissue may extend to the ligaments of the fetlock or produce disease of the joint or bone. As the feet become sensitive and sore the animal persistently lies down, and it has been found that bedsores develop with amazing rapidity in all such cases and wholly baffle all attempts at treatment until after the patient has regained its feet.

The disease may attack some of the internal organs before it appears upon any of the external tissues. These cases are very liable to prove quickly fatal. The animal dies from paralysis of the heart, due to the formation of poisonous principles within the system; it may suffocate by reason of the action of these same poisons upon the tissues of the lungs, or it may choke to death as a result of paralysis of the throat.

In cases of serious affection of the udder the erosions will often be found within the passages of the teats, resulting in a "caked" udder, and the same toxic poisoning which is the cause of death in the apoplectiform types just mentioned may arise from this source. In any event the milk from such cases is dangerous for use, causing fatal diarrhea in sucking calves or young pigs and serious illness in human consumers. The milk obtained from cows suffering with foot-and-mouth disease is not readily converted into either butter or cheese, but remains thick, slimy, and inert in spite of churning and attempts at curdling. Pregnant animals may abort. In pigs, sheep, and goats the lesions in the foot are most common, but both forms may be observed or only the mouth lesions.

When the disease has become fully established it will be found that the duration of the attack will vary greatly with different animals. From 10 to 20 days are usually required for the recovery of the normal appetite and spirits in mild outbreaks, while the return to a full flow of milk, in the case of milk cows, seldom occurs before the arrival of the following season.

In the malignant type of the disease it requires from three months to a year for an animal to recover. The mortality, as already stated, is usually low. The disease is more fatal in young animals that have been fed on infected milk, and produces death in from 60 to 80 per cent of these cases as a result of gastroenteritis. In the 1914 outbreak numerous new centers of infection started among hogs and calves which were fed on unpasteurized, infected milk from creameries.

Diagnosis.--The recognition of this affection should not, as a rule, be difficult, especially when the disease is known to be in the vicinity; in fact, the group of symptoms form a clinical picture too decided to be doubted. The combination of high fever, vesicular inflammation of the mouth, and hot, painful, swollen condition of the feet, followed 24 to 48 hours later by the appearance of numerous blisters varying in size from that of a pea to that of a walnut on the udder and feet and in the mouth should prevent any serious or long-continued error in the diagnosis; however, in the inoculation of calves we have a certain and final test. In 24 to 96 hours after inoculation the calves present the characteristic blisters. Such inoculation should be practiced, however, only by officials properly authorized to deal with contagious diseases.

Differential diagnosis.--The lesions of no other disease of cattle closely simulate the vesicular eruption of foot-and-mouth disease on the lining membrane of the mouth. When the blisters have ruptured, however, and the resulting lesions have become contaminated by numerous secondary forms of microorganisms, the correct recognition of the disease may be involved in considerable difficulty.

Cowpox or horsepox may be accidentally transmitted by inoculation. But the eruption of the "pox" goes on to the development of a pustule, while in foot-and-mouth disease the eruption is never more than a vesicle, even though the contained fluid may become turbid. The inoculation test in the case of cowpox does not respond with fever and eruption for at least 10 days, and often longer.

Necrotic stomatitis (sore mouth due to a germ) may be distinguished from foot-and-mouth disease by the fact that in the latter there is a rapid infection of the entire herd, including the adult cattle, as well as the infection of hogs and sheep. The characteristic lesion of foot-and-mouth disease is the appearance of blisters containing a serous fluid upon the mucous membrane of the mouth and upon the udder, teats, and feet of the affected animals. In necrotic stomatitis blisters are never formed, destruction of the tissues occurring from the beginning and being followed by the formation of yellowish, cheesy patches, principally found involving the lining membrane of the mouth, especially the tongue and cheeks.

In mycotic stomatitis (sore mouth due to a fungus or mold), portions of the lining membrane become inflamed and in a few days it changes to a croupous membrane which peels off, leaving a raw surface, while the thin skin between the toes may also be inflamed. The previous history of the case; the failure of the blisters, if any appear, to spread extensively; the absence of vesicular eruptions on other portions of the body, notably the udder and teats, and, characteristically, the hoof, together with the absence of rapid spread to practically all cattle in the herd and the complete negative character of inoculation of calves, distinguish between the local disease named and foot-and-mouth disease. Mycotic stomatitis occurs in only from 10 to 50 per cent of the animals in a herd, usually in the late summer or early fall after a dry spell, and it does not run a regular course.

The lesion, resulting from ergotism may be distinguished from those of foot-and-mouth disease by the lack of eruptions in the mouth and by the location of the disease at the tips of the ears, end of the tail, or upon the lower part of the legs, usually below the knees or hocks. The lesion of ergotism does not take the form of pustules or blisters, but manifests itself first as a swelling about the ankle, which later may slough and circumscribe the limb, forming a deep crack, extending entirely around the limb and forming a distinct line of demarcation between the healthy skin above and the diseased below. The absence of ulcerous sores on the coronet and between the claws, together with the healthy condition of the membranes of the mouth and the knowledge that the lesion upon the limb in question extends uninterruptedly around it, should point conclusively to a diagnosis of ergotism and to the exclusion of all fears of foot-and-mouth disease.

In foul foot or ground itch of cattle, the inflammation of the skin and toes is general and not in certain spots, as in foot-and-mouth disease. The mouth remains unaffected, and the presence of the disease may be traced to filth and poor drainage.

The severer forms of the disease might be confounded with certain general diseases. If gastrointestinal symptoms predominate, acute gastric catarrh or inflammation of the intestines might be thought of. Involvement of the lungs may lead to a diagnosis of acute congestion of the lungs or pneumonia. The distinction is apparent in these diseases by the lack of vesicular eruption on the mucous membrane or skin, and also by lack of evidences of infection in the herd or neighboring animals.

Prevention and eradication.--The measures to be adopted to prevent the spread of the affection must take into consideration the highly infectious nature of the disease, its ease of dissemination, and the liability of the virus to live for long periods outside the body of an animal. Great care should therefore be observed in keeping healthy animals unexposed to the contagion. When an outbreak occurs in a community the owner should make every effort to keep other animals from coming in contact with his diseased cattle. This especially applies to dogs, cats, goats, and poultry, which usually have access to the stables and barnyards and in this way furnish excellent means for disseminating the infectious principle. He should be equally particular in prohibiting any person from coming onto his premises, especially an attendant or owner or other person in any way connected with cattle. Such a herd may be placed under quarantine, with an inspector appointed to keep the premises under constant surveillance.

This method of quarantine alone, while very satisfactory in many instances, is rather tardy in obtaining the desired result. The experience of European Governments already mentioned shows that eradication by this method alone, when the disease has obtained a foothold, is practically impossible. For this reason, when the disease breaks out in a country like the United States, where the contagion is likely to spread rapidly by means of infected cars, manure, hay, and other feed, and where the results of its obtaining a firm foothold would be so disastrous, it seems that this method of temporizing is rather tedious, and more radical steps are required in order to suppress and eradicate completely the infection in the quickest and most thorough manner possible.

It would therefore appear better, after judicious appraisement, to concentrate the expense incident to the extermination of foot-and-mouth disease by purchasing and slaughtering all affected and exposed cattle. The carcasses of these animals should be totally destroyed, preferably by cremation, or otherwise by burying them in a hole 6 feet deep and covering them with air-slaked lime. The infected stable should be disinfected by thoroughly cleaning it, scrubbing the floor with hot water, brushing down all loose dust from the walls, and tearing off all woodwork which is partly decayed. Then the whole interior of the stable should be disinfected with one of the following substances:

A 5 per cent solution of pure carbolic acid.

Chlorid of lime, U. S. P. strength (30 per cent available chlorin), 1 pound to 3 gallons of water.

Formaldehyde, 1 quart 40 per cent solution to 5 gallons of water.

A 3 per cent solution of cresol compound, U. S. P., or accepted substitute therefor, containing at least 50 per cent cresylic acid.

All stable utensils should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected by the application of a solution of one of the above-named disinfectants. The manure should be burned or disinfected and spread over ground (other than meadow land) that is to be turned under. No other cattle should be purchased for at least sixty days after the complete disinfection of the premises.

The success in eradicating the disease by combined quarantine, slaughter, and disinfection, as practiced in the United States, Denmark, Great Britain, and a few other countries, demonstrates in a striking manner the efficacy of slaughtering and the futility of relying upon quarantine alone to stamp out the disease.

Inoculation has been adopted in some countries in order to have the disease spread quickly through the herds, and while this practice has undoubted value where the disease is indigenous, it is not desirable in this country and should not be adopted.

As a rule medicinal treatment with a view of curing affected animals is not to be recommended under conditions prevailing in the United States, where the disease has not become established, and the first object is to stamp it out as quickly as possible. Even though most animals would recover, with or without treatment, it would be practically impossible, while they were being held for recovery, to prevent the spread of the infection to others. The disease would be liable to spread faster than it could be cured. As already pointed out, it has been found impossible to prevent absolutely the spread of the contagion by the strictest quarantine alone, under the usual farm conditions. In addition, the affected animals that have passed through the disease may become a source of further infection as virus carriers for weeks and months after they have apparently recovered, and are susceptible of reinfection, as one attack does not confer permanent immunity.

Foot-and-mouth disease in man.--Foot-and-mouth disease is primarily and principally a disease of cattle; secondarily and casually, a disease of man. It is transmissible to man through the eating or drinking of raw milk, buttermilk, butter, cheese, and whey from animals suffering from foot-and-mouth disease. It is also transmitted directly, though more rarely, from the salivary secretions or other infected material which may gain entrance through the mucous membrane of the mouth. It is doubtful whether the disease can be transmitted to man by cutaneous or subcutaneous inoculation, though it is probable that the infection may be communicated if the virus directly enters the blood through wounds of any kind. Children are not infrequently infected by drinking unboiled milk during the periods in which the disease is prevalent in the neighborhood, while persons in charge of diseased animals may become infected through contact with the diseased parts or by milking, slaughtering, or caring for the animals.

The symptoms in man resemble those observed in animals. There is fever, sometimes vomiting, painful swallowing, heat and dryness of the mouth, followed by an eruption of vesicles on the mucous membrane of the mouth, and very rarely by similar ones on the fingers. The vesicles appear on the lips, gums, cheek, and edge of the tongue, and are about the size of a pea. The vesicles soon rupture, leaving a small erosion which is soon covered by a thin crust under which the new formation of epithelium proceeds rapidly. The skin eruption mostly appears on the hands, tips of the fingers, base of the nails, and more seldom on the toes and other parts of the body. Besides these local changes, during the course of the disease headache, pain in the limbs, vertigo, abdominal cramps, vomiting, diarrhea, and weakness are occasionally observed. The disease is seldom fatal, usually appearing in a very mild form except in weakened children, in whom an accompanying intestinal catarrh may lead to a fatal termination.

Veterinarians who have had considerable experience with the disease among animals regard the human affection as by no means uncommon in countries where foot-and-mouth disease prevails, but the disturbance of health is usually too slight to come to the notice of the family physician.

But few outbreaks of the disease in man have occurred in the United States, and therefore cases of its transmission to man in this country are rather rare. Dr. James Law reports having observed the disease in man from drinking infected milk during the epizootic of 1870 in the Eastern States, but the outbreaks of 1880 and 1884 affected such a small number of animals and were so quickly suppressed that no instance of its transmission to man was recorded. A few cases have been reported by Brush accompanying the New England outbreak of 1902. Similar reports have been likewise received concerning the appearance of vesicular eruptions in the mouths of children during the 1908 and 1914 outbreaks, and the history of these cases incriminates the milk supply.

Experiments by Loeffler and Froesch, as well as recent experiments which have been made in Denmark and Germany, indicate that the infection is comparatively easy to destroy by heat or the usual antiseptics. Milk pasteurized at a temperature of 60∞ C. for 20 minutes is safe so far as infection by foot-and-mouth disease is concerned.

SEPTICEMIA AND PYEMIA.

These two names are applied to diseased conditions which are so nearly alike in their symptoms that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the one from the other. Indeed, the name pyosepticemia, or septicopyemia, is often applied when it is impossible to make a distinction between septicemia and pyemia or where each is equally responsible for the diseased condition. The name septicemia is derived from two Greek words meaning "poison" and "blood," and signifies that the germ lives in the blood, hence the use of the term "blood poisoning" for this disease. Pyemia is likewise derived from two Greek words, meaning "pus" and "blood," and is that form of septicemia caused by pus-producing organisms and characterized by secondary abscesses.

Causes.--Neither of these diseases is brought about, strictly speaking, by any specific organism; hence neither can be looked upon as a specific disease. The organisms most frequently found in cases of septicemia are, on the whole, the same as those of pyemia, and may be pus cocci, the bacillus coli, or other pus-producing organisms. These organisms are often found as secondary invaders in other diseases, such as advanced cases of tuberculosis, in which cases they are responsible for the formation of pus.

Aside from the causative organism, or, in other words, the active cause, there are many secondary causes. The most important of these in pyemia is a break in continuity of the protective covering, as a wound, which affords an entrance into the tissues for the organisms. Among the different varieties of wounds may be mentioned cuts, bruises, punctures, burns, chemical or frozen wounds, and compound fractures of bones. Injuries received during parturition, stoppage of the milk ducts, and infection of the umbilicus in the newly born are also frequent causes of pyemia. Septicemia usually follows surgical wounds, local suppuration, enteritis, bronchitis--in fact, wherever there is a local lesion of any kind permitting germs to enter the blood. Septicemia was formerly applied to designate the condition in which the organisms were localized, but in which their toxins were diffused in the blood. Pyemia was made to represent that condition when the organisms were localized, but in which the pus was transported by the blood. These terms now are applied to conditions in which both the organisms and their toxins, or the pus, are present in the blood. The term septicemia is indicated when intoxication is the more pronounced symptom and pyemia if pus formation and metastatic or secondary abscess formation are observed.

Symptoms.--The symptoms of both diseases include primarily a high fever (104∞ to 107∞ F.). Coupled with this there is disinclination to move, the animal is depressed and not cognizant of its surroundings. The pulse is rapid, small, and feeble, respiration increased, mucous membrane injected, swollen, and of a yellowish tinge. Appetite is lost and death follows in the case of septicemia in from two to four days. In pyemia the symptoms come on more slowly and are not so intense as in septicemia, while the course of the disease is longer, lasting from six days to four weeks. The mortality is not so great as in septicemia, but the period of convalescence is always long.

Lesions.--Septicemia is characterized by the destructive changes in the blood, which is chocolate colored, noncoagulable, and swarms with bacteria. The lining membranes of the heart are studded with red spots, often running together to form a large hemorrhagic area. The lungs, liver, and kidneys may also show these hemorrhages. The spleen is enlarged and full of black blood. The cadaver decomposes very rapidly and in some cases forms great quantities of fetid gas. In pyemia, in addition to these lesions, abscesses are formed in the various organs throughout the body. If the disease develops slowly a post-mortem examination shows the abscesses to be the chief alterations. The pus content is usually greenish, stained with blood, and contains strings of fibrous tissue and necrosed matter.

Treatment.--Treatment is almost futile in advanced cases of either disease. Septicemia is usually fatal and pyemia frequently so. Prevention and the immediate treatment of local infections are the surest means of combating them. For local treatment of wounds the usual antiseptics are indicated, such as 3 per cent compound cresol or carbolic acid, or one one-thousandth bichlorid-of-mercury solution. For pyemia, where the abscesses are near the skin, they should be opened and treated antiseptically by injecting any of the previously mentioned germicides. General and heart stimulants are indicated, such as a drench containing digitalis 2 drams and alcohol 2 ounces. Quinin and calomel in repeated small doses of one-half dram each three times a day are sometimes beneficial. Camphor in the form of oil of camphor (camphor dissolved in 10 parts of sweet oil) is a good stimulant and has some antiseptic properties, which make it a valuable drug in combating these diseases when it is given in doses of 2 drams three times daily.

HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA.

Hemorrhagic septicemia is a name applied to a highly fatal, infectious disease existing in various species of domestic and wild animals, from a microorganism having definite biological characters and possessing the properties of producing clearly defined and characteristic lesions.

This causal agent, Bacterium bovisepticum, belongs to the same group of cocco-bacilli as those causing chicken cholera, swine plague, and rabbit septicemia, and may be described as an ovoid, nonmotile, polar-staining bacterium with rounded ends, 1/38000 of an inch wide by 1/20000 of an inch long, sometimes seen in pairs and sometimes in chains.

Various names have been applied to this disease, and though the causative agent and the distinctive lesions are well known, it is more than likely that the affection is seldom recognized. It was described by Bollinger in 1878, and named Wild und Rinderseuche, from its having affected deer, wild boars, cattle, and horses in an epizootic which swept over Germany at that time. Before this, however, several epizootics of what was evidently the same disease had been well described, notably that which occurred in England in 1854. Since then it has occurred in epizootic and enzootic forms in many sections of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. In this country the disease has been observed in Texas, Tennessee, New York, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Other names given to it are game and cattle disease, buffalo disease, barbone, pasteurellosis bovina, ghotwa, and infectious pneumoenteritis.

In earlier times it was evidently confounded with gloss anthrax, and even now it is probably mistaken in a great many instances for anthrax, blackleg, cornstalk disease, and cerebrospinal meningitis.

The disease is essentially a septicemia, or blood poisoning, and the microbic invasion occurs from inoculation probably either through abrasions of the skin or by injury to the mucous membranes from coarse fodder, etc. Moore and Smith have found in the mouths and nasal cavities of healthy animals, including cattle, bacteria belonging to this group; but these organisms proved to be nonpathogenic. As is well known, however, many pathogenic germs at times exist in a saprophytic state, and it is not hard to conceive how a microbe may cease such existence and assume parasitic or pathogenic properties when the surroundings are eminently favorable. This may be a connecting link in the etiology of sporadic outbreaks of the disease in which all other hypotheses as to its genesis seem untenable. The disease seems to occur most frequently in swampy or mucky localities or in pastures receiving the overflow from infected fields. It is said to occur usually in the spring of the year, when the melting snows and rains bring to the surface the subterranean waters from rich soils containing nitrogenous materials in which the bacteria have been existing. In a great many instances there does not seem to be any plausible explanation for an outbreak of the disease and one can only surmise as to its origin.

Symptoms.--Three forms of the disease are recognized, based upon the distribution of the lesions--the superficial, or cutaneous, the pectoral, or thoracic, and the intestinal form. The last is a usual accompaniment of the other two and may be mild or severe. Naturally the symptoms vary according to the violence of the attack and to the particular form of disease with which the animal is affected. In the superficial, or cutaneous, form the presence of a swollen tongue, throat, and dewlap, or even of the lower portion of the legs, gives us a clew to the trouble. An entire loss of appetite occurs, and in milk cows there is a diminution of the milk secretion. The temperature may be only slightly elevated, but it is usually very high. Salivation is set up by the inflammation of the mouth and pharynx. Unsuccessful efforts at eating and swallowing are made. There may be difficulty in breathing, depending on the amount of involvement of the larynx, trachea, bronchi, or lungs. There may be a blood-stained discharge from the nostrils, and the mucous membrane thereof will often show punctiform hemorrhages. The pulmonary form shows the same symptoms as croupous pneumonia, with a frequent suffocative cough and oppressed breathing, or dyspnea. When the intestines are involved the patient strains to defecate, and passes shreds of intestinal mucus along with blood-stained feces. The urine also may be tinged with blood. Finally a severe diarrhea takes place, the animal becomes correspondingly weak, and death takes place in 24 to 36 hours. Cases may die in as short a period as six to eight hours, while in the pectoral form of the disease the animal may linger six or eight days. Cases have been reported which became chronic and in which death did not take place for a month or more. In some of the cases running an acute course, symptoms of toxemia are present; there is a lack of sensation of the skin, staggering gait, trembling, eyes fixed, neck at times bent to one side, and the eyes showing a wild expression. At times the animals appear as if in pain and look around at the flanks. In the pectoral form they may stand with the forelegs wide apart in evident effort to breathe more freely. Sometimes there is a champing of the jaws and a very free flow of glairy saliva dropping from the mouth.

The prognosis is decidedly unfavorable and 80 to 90 per cent of the cases result fatally.

Lesions.--The characteristic lesions of hemorrhagic septicemia consist of hemorrhagic areas in the subcutaneous, subserous, and muscular tissues, the lymph glands, and the viscera; in fact, they are distributed more or less widely throughout the body and vary in size from a mere speck to the diameter of a half dollar or even larger. The superficial form presents itself first as a doughy tumefaction of the skin about the region of the throat, neck, dewlap, or legs, which pits on pressure. This tumefaction consists essentially of a cerogelatinous exudate into the subcutaneous and intermuscular tissues.

Bloody extravasations may take place in subcutaneous tissues in various places, but they are usually seen about the lower portion of the neck. The mucous membranes and submucous tissues of the mouth, tongue, pharynx, and larynx become involved in the process and are greatly thickened, inflamed, and infiltrated with serum. The mucous membrane becomes reddish purple, and that of the nostrils may in addition show hemorrhagic spots on its surface. The lymphatic glands in this region are also swollen and infiltrated with bloody serum. The salivary glands are pale and dry. The pectoral type, though at times existing alone, may coexist with the cutaneous form. The inflammatory edema of the mouth extends to the mucous membrane of the trachea and bronchi, producing an extensive thickening and a yellowish infiltration. The lung shows interstitial thickening from the outpouring of serum into its meshes. It may become pneumonic.

The diaphragm, heart sac, and heart walls show numerous hemorrhagic points and larger bloody extravasations. Sometimes there is a serous pleurisy, with more or less fibrinous exudate. In the intestinal form the submucous and subperitoneal tissues show alterations from a few hemorrhagic spots to large bloody suffusions, or even gelatinous infiltrations. This latter is seen about the region of the pancreas and in the folds of the mesentery. There is a severe hemorrhagic inflammation of the intestines and a staining of the intestinal contents with blood. The muscular system throughout shows hemorrhagic areas. The abdominal viscera, liver, spleen, and kidneys often present hemorrhagic lesions.

Differential diagnosis.--Anthrax, which presents superficial swellings, like hemorrhagic septicemia, may be distinguished from that affection on post-mortem examination by the enlargement and engorgement of the spleen, the contents of which are soft and tarry. The blood of anthrax animals is very dark, and does not become light red on exposure to air, nor does it coagulate, while in hemorrhagic septicemia the blood is normal in appearance and coagulates. The detection of the anthrax bacillus in the blood would be final.

In blackleg the animals affected are usually under 2 years of age. The swellings are quite evident, and usually occur on the legs, above the knees or hocks, and are distended with gas, which crackles, or crepitates, when pressed upon. If one of these tumors is opened, a bloody serum will exude, and the gas gives off the odor of rancid butter. The internal hemorrhages are not general, although they may occur. A microscopic examination of the juices from the tumefaction will show the blackleg bacillus.

In cerebrospinal meningitis the causative agent is unknown, but probably exists in the feed. It may occur in any locality and at any season of the year. There are no local swellings, and cattle are not frequently affected.

Cornstalk disease may be differentiated from this affection from the fact that it always occurs after the cattle are turned into a cornstalk field, by its sudden onset, the absence of any characteristic symptoms or post-mortem lesions, and the failure to find the causative agent in the blood.

In making a post-mortem examination of animals affected with hemorrhagic septicemia, it would be well to examine the articular surfaces of the long bones, as it has been reported that they are frequently ulcerated. This should apply especially to those cases that have shown lameness.

Treatment.--Treatment is absolutely useless, so far as we know at present, and for all practical purposes prophylaxis alone should be relied upon. The same sanitary precautions, such as isolation, disinfection, and burial or burning of all dead carcasses, should be observed as for anthrax and other highly infectious diseases. All the premises, barns, stalls, litter, and stable utensils should be thoroughly disinfected. Separate the apparently well animals from the sick by placing them in a separate lot.

Experiments by the Bureau of Animal Industry toward protective inoculation of the exposed cattle on infected premises have been made and the results have been so satisfactory that several commercial houses handling biological products are manufacturing a vaccine for hemorrhagic septicemia in accordance with the Government's experiments on this subject. The method of preparing the vaccine is similar to that recommended by LigniËres. It consists in growing the cultures of the organism of the disease at 42 to 43∞ C. and preparing from them growing at this temperature two different strengths of vaccine. The weaker vaccine, which is used for the first injection, is grown for five days at this temperature, whereas the stronger vaccine, for the second injection, is grown for only two days. These vaccines are used with an interval of 10 days between the injections, the dose being 1 cubic centimeter at each injection. The effect of this vaccine in abating outbreaks already in progress has been highly satisfactory and it is plain that the general introduction of preventive vaccination for hemorrhagic septicemia must be of material benefit to the cattle raisers in the infected districts.

VESICULAR ERUPTION OF THE GENITAL ORGANS.

This contagious disease is called coital exanthema or vesicular exanthema, and is more or less prevalent on the Continent. It has also been observed in the breeding districts of the United States. It is the subject of legislation in Germany, and governmental statistics are published annually concerning its distribution in the Empire. According to the reports from Hungary 492 head of cattle were attacked during 1898, 587 in 1899, and 207 in 1900.

A similar or perhaps identical disease of horses has the same distribution and is transmissible from horses to cattle and vice versa.

The disease may be defined as a highly contagious eruption situated upon the external genital organs of both sexes and accompanied with little or no general disturbance of health. The contagion, the nature of which remains still unknown, is transmitted mainly during copulation. The bull may have the disease and convey it to all the cows with which he comes in contact, or he may become infected by one cow, and, although not showing the disease, he may, during copulation, transmit it for several days after to all other cows. Simple contact between one cow and another may convey the disease, or the sponges used in cleaning the diseased may carry the virus to the healthy. It has also been conveyed to healthy cows by these animals lying with their hind quarters against infected wooden troughs.

Symptoms.--The period between the infection and the appearance of symptoms is somewhat variable. It is usually given as three to six days. It may be briefer or much longer. In cows the mucous membrane of the vagina and the vulva become swollen, inflamed, very tender, and covered with dark-red spots. The secretion is very abundant and consists at first largely of serum and mucus resembling the white of an egg. Small vesicles then appear, which rapidly burst and are converted into excoriations or deeper ulcerations. The secretion becomes more purulent and is apt to dry in crusts about the root of the tail. The eruption is accompanied with much itching and difficulty in urinating. The walk may be stiff and awkward. In bulls the eruption is situated on the prepuce and the end of the penis, and consists of pimples, vesicles, and ulcers, as in cows. It is accompanied with a little purulent discharge from the prepuce, itching, and difficulty in urinating. In severe cases the inflammation and swelling may extend backward to the scrotum and forward upon the abdomen.

The disease lasts from one to four weeks and always terminates in recovery. The acute stage lasts only four or five days, while the complete healing of the inflammation is slow. The eruption is usually accompanied with very little general disturbance. If the pain and irritation are severe, there may be some light loss of appetite and diminished milk secretion in cows. The disease rarely causes abortion. Chronic catarrh of the vagina and permanent sterility frequently follow as sequelÊ.

Treatment need not be resorted to excepting in severe cases. The secretion and exudation should be washed off and a mild antiseptic applied, such as a 1 per cent solution of carbolic acid (1 ounce to 3 quarts of water) or 2 per cent solution of cresol compound in water. Care must be taken not to carry the disease from the sick to the well by sponges, etc., which have come in contact with the affected organs. These should be destroyed. To prevent the spread of the disease the infected animals should be kept isolated until they have recovered.

RABIES OF CATTLE.

Rabies is a disease preeminently affecting the canine race, although all warm-blooded animals, including man, are susceptible to the malady, which is always communicated through bites from a preceding case. It has required many years of patient, scientific research to lead the ablest investigators to a clear comprehension of the cause, nature, and characteristics of this affection. It was known and described several centuries prior to the beginning of the Christian era, and from the earliest dawn of history it has been feared and dreaded. Its terrible manifestations have always been surrounded with an atmosphere of awe and mystery, and it is not surprising that myths, fallacies, and misconceptions in regard to it have been common and widely accepted. As the investigations by which we have come to a tolerably clear understanding of the facts concerning rabies have been comparatively recent, and for the most part, have appeared in scientific periodicals, fallacies in regard to the disease continue to have a strong hold upon the public mind. For instance, it is still a widely prevalent belief that if persons or animals are bitten by a dog they are liable to become rabid if the dog should contract the disease at any future time. There is no foundation for this impression, and it would be a great comfort to many people who are now and then bitten by animals if the fallacy of this idea were known. All experience, both scientific and practical, goes to show that rabies is transmitted only by animals that are actually diseased at the time the bite is inflicted. Rabies is an infectious disease involving the nervous system and characterized by extreme excitability and other nervous disorders and always terminating in death. The contagion of this disease has never been isolated, but the fact that it is caused by a specific organism principally found in the nervous system is indisputable. For instance, if an emulsion of the brain of a rabid animal is filtered through a germ-proof filter, the filtrate will be harmless. This fact indicates that the infectious principle is not in solution, but is an organism withheld from the filtrate by the filter. This contagion can be propagated only in the body of an animal. It is transmitted naturally from one animal to another solely by bites, and the old idea of spontaneous appearance of the disease is absolutely fallacious. It may be produced artificially by inoculating susceptible animals with an emulsion of the brain or spinal cord, as well as the saliva, milk, and other secretions of the affected animal. The blood, on the contrary, seems to be free from the infectious principle. The saliva contains the virus, which, under natural conditions, is introduced into or under the skin on the tooth of the rabid animal. The disease is widespread, being found in many countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in certain sections of the United States.

Owing to the rigid quarantine regulations enforced against dogs imported into Australia, that country remains absolutely free from the disease. Following the canine race, cattle seem to be the most frequently affected, probably because rabid dogs, next to their morbid desire to attack other members of their own race, have a better opportunity to bite grazing cattle than any other species of animal. The relative frequency of rabies in these two species of animals is indicated by the carefully compiled statistics of the German Empire, which shows that 904 dogs and 223 cows died of rabies in 1898, while in 1899 there were 911 cases in dogs and 171 in cattle. The latter receive bites most frequently on the hind legs and in the hips and about the lower jaw. These places are most accessible to dogs, owing to the habit of cattle to drive their tormentors away by lowering their heads and using their horns. Every animal bitten does not necessarily develop the disease, but the per cent of fatalities has been variously estimated, and averages from 25 to 30. This, however, depends on the location and size of the wound as well as the amount of hemorrhage produced, and various other conditions. In general, the nearer the bite is located to the central nervous system and the deeper the wound inflicted, the greater the danger of a fatal result. In cases in which the hemorrhage resulting from the bite is profuse, there is a possibility that the virus will be washed out of the wound and thus obviate the danger of subsequent appearance of the disease.

The virus after being deposited in the wound remains latent for an extremely variable period of time, which also depends on the size and depth of the wound as well as its location and the amount of the virulent saliva introduced. Experiments have proved that the virus follows the course of the nerves to the spinal cord and along the latter to the brain before the symptoms appear. Gerlach, having collected the statistics from 133 cases, has found this time, known as the period of incubation, to vary from 14 to 285 days. The great majority of cases, however, contract the disease in one to three months after the bite has been inflicted.

Symptoms.--As in dogs, both furious and dumb rabies are met with, the former being more common in cattle. A sharp line of distinction, however, can not be drawn between these two forms of the disease, as the furious form usually merges into the dumb, from the paralysis which appears prior to death. The typical cases of dumb rabies are those in which the paralysis appears at the beginning of the attack and remains until death. The disease first manifests itself by a loss of appetite and rumination, stopping of the secretion of milk, great restlessness, anxiety, manifestation of fear, and change in the disposition of the animal. This preliminary stage is followed in a day or two by the stage of excitation, or madness, which is indicated by increasing restlessness, loud roaring at times with a peculiar change in the sound of the voice, violent butting with the horns and pawing the ground with the feet, with an insane tendency to attack other animals, although the desire to bite is not so marked in cattle as in the canine race. A constant symptom is the increased secretion of saliva with a consequent frothing at the mouth, or the secretion may hang from the lips in long strings. Constipation is marked, and there is manifested a continual, although unsuccessful, desire to defecate. Spasms of the muscles in different parts of the body are also seen at intervals. About the fourth day the animal usually becomes quieter and the walk is stiff, unsteady, and swaying, showing that the final paralysis is coming on. This is called the paralytic stage. The loss of flesh is extremely rapid, and even during the short course of the disease the animal becomes exceedingly emaciated. The temperature is never elevated, it usually remaining about normal or even subnormal. Finally, there is complete paralysis of the hind quarters, the animal being unable to rise, and but for irregular convulsive movements lies in a comatose condition and dies usually from the fourth to the sixth day after the appearance of the first symptom.

Anatomy.--If animals which have succumbed to rabies are examined post mortem, very slight evidence of disease will be found in any of the organs, and, indeed, the absence of any specific lesions may be considered as characteristic. The blood is dark and imperfectly coagulated. The throat is frequently reddened, and there may be small spots of extravasated blood in the intestines. The stomachs are usually empty. In the spleen there may be hemorrhagic enlargements (infarcts). The cadavers rapidly undergo decomposition.

Differential diagnosis.--It is not an easy matter to decide definitely that a given animal has rabies, since the symptoms given above belong in part to a variety of other diseases, among which may be mentioned the excitement seen in young animals following close confinement, certain vegetable and mineral poisons, acute enteritis, and alterations of the central nervous system in cattle, the most common of which is tuberculosis of the brain and its covering membranes. The post-mortem lesions, however, should assist in making a correct diagnosis. Tetanus may readily be differentiated from rabies by the persistence of muscular cramps, especially of the face and abdomen, which cause these muscles to become set and as hard as wood. In tetanus there is also an absence of a depraved appetite or of a willful propensity to hurt other animals or to damage the surroundings. The cow remains quiet and the general muscular contraction gives her a rigid appearance. There is an absence of paralysis which marks the advanced stage of rabies. The form of dumb rabies in dogs is characterized by the paralysis and pendency of the lower jaw, while in tetanus the jaws are locked. This locking of the jaws in cattle renders the animal incapable of bellowing, as in rabies. Finally, tetanus may be distinguished from rabies by the fact that the central nervous system does not contain the infectious principle, while in rabies the inoculation of test rabbits with the brain or cord of a rabid animal will produce the disease with characteristic symptoms after an interval of 15 to 20 days. This period of incubation is much longer than in tetanus, since the inoculation of rabbits with tetanus cultures invariably results in death after a short period and usually within three days. The positive evidence that a rabid dog has been near cattle would greatly assist in making a decision in doubtful cases.

The disease in dogs is pretty well recognized by most people, but in case a suspected dog is killed it is desirable to open the animal and examine the contents of the stomach. While feed is absent, a variety of odd things may be present which the abnormally changed appetite of the rabid dog has induced it to swallow. Among such things may be straws, sticks, glass, rags, earth, pieces of leather, and whatever the animal may have encountered small enough to be swallowed. This miscellaneous collection in the stomach of dogs, together with absence of feed, is regarded by authorities as a very valuable sign, and in case of doubt may be made use of by laymen. In important cases, however, the head of the dog, cow, or other suspected animal should be removed and sent to the nearest biological laboratory, where a positive diagnosis can be made within 36 hours by the histological examination of the plexiform nerve ganglia, and within two or three weeks by the intracerebral inoculation of rabbits with an emulsion of the brain of the suspected animal.

Treatment.--This is useless after the first appearance of symptoms. When, however, a wound inflicted by a rabid animal can be discovered, it should be immediately cauterized or even completely extirpated, care being taken to cut entirely around the wound in the healthy tissues. For cauterizing the wound, fuming nitric acid, the hot iron, and 10 per cent solution of zinc chlorid are the most efficacious. To afford an absolute protection, this should be done within a few moments after the bite has been inflicted, although even as late as a few hours it has been known to thwart the development of the disease.

Pasteur originated and perfected a system of preventive inoculation against this disease which has greatly reduced the mortality in human subjects. Its application to animals, however, is difficult and requires considerable time and expense. A method of vaccination applicable to animals, consisting of a single injection of a suspension of "fixed" rabies virus, is now being quite extensively employed by veterinarians. Sanitary regulations which seek to control effectively the disease by exterminating it among dogs are most likely to prove successful. The measures which are adopted to this end can not be discussed in this place, but it is a striking fact that where the muzzling of all dogs has been rigidly enforced, as in England and in certain German districts, the disease has been practically stamped out.

TUBERCULOSIS.

[Pls. XXXIV-XXXVIII.]

Tuberculosis is an infectious and communicable disease characterized in its early stages by the formation, in various organs of the body, of minute nodules or tubercles, which contain Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of the disease.

The disease, in its various manifestations, has been known for many centuries, and legislative enactments having reference to the destruction of affected animals and forbidding the use of the flesh date far back into the Middle Ages. The opinions entertained regarding the nature and the cause of the malady varied much in different periods and very markedly influenced the laws and regulations in vogue. Thus, in the sixteenth century, the disease was considered identical with syphilis in man. In consequence of this belief very stringent laws were enacted, which made the destruction of tuberculous cattle compulsory. In the eighteenth century this erroneous conception of the nature of the disease was abandoned and all restrictions against the use of meat were removed. Since that time, however, its communicable nature has been established by many investigators, and the tide of opinion has again turned in favor of repressing the disease and prohibiting the sale of contaminated products.

Occurrence.--The statistics concerning tuberculosis show that it is a disease prevalent in all civilized countries. In some countries, such as the northern part of Norway and Sweden, on the steppes of eastern Europe and Russia, in Sicily and Iceland, and in Algiers, it is said to be quite rare.

The returns from testing British cattle with tuberculin, supplied by the Royal Veterinary College, as stated in March, 1900, showed that among 15,392 animals tested 4,105, or 26 per cent, reacted.

During the slaughter of cattle for pleuropneumonia careful examinations of the carcasses were made for tuberculosis. Of 300 head killed near Edinburgh 120, or 40 per cent, were tuberculous. Of 4,160 killed in England 20 per cent were tuberculous. Of one of these lots of cattle (451 animals) the president of the Lancashire Farmers' Association testified that they were fairly representative cattle--cows, heifers, and growing stock--a thoroughly mixed lot; 20 per cent of them had tuberculosis.

Of 398 bovine animals taken haphazard in the city of Manchester, 120, or 30 per cent, were tuberculous. Among them were 168 cows, 69, or 41 per cent, being tuberculous, and 2 having diseased udders.

The result of testing the Queen's herd at Windsor was that 36 out of 40, or 90 per cent, were found tuberculous.

The investigations made by the British Dairy Farmers' Association deserve particular attention, coming as they do directly from a cattle owners' organization. The council of this association "resolved to submit the general consideration of the question to a committee, with a view to some more definite understanding as to the possible extent to which tuberculosis exists in dairy cattle." The secretary was instructed to write to a number of dairy farmers being members of the association, asking their cooperation and the use of their herds for the application of the tests. Of the herds offered, 9 were selected, containing 461 cows and 12 bulls, and 188 of these animals reacted, being 40.8 per cent. There were among these cattle 335 Shorthorns, of which 119, or 35 per cent, reacted; 67 crossbreds, of which 28, or 42 per cent, reacted; 47 Ayrshires, of which 37, or 80 per cent, reacted.

Another experiment of much interest is that of the Cheshire County Council. The technical instruction committee set aside £250 to be used by a joint committee from the agricultural and horticultural schools and Worleson Dairy Institute for applying the tuberculin test to their herds. The tests were made February 15, 1899. The results were: Worleson herd of 54 animals, 16 diseased, or 29.6 per cent; agricultural school herd of 17 animals, 4 diseased, or 23.5 per cent. The Worleson herd consisted of Shorthorn cows. In each herd the purebred Shorthorn bull was tuberculous. The results of the tuberculin test were confirmed by the slaughter of the animals and examination of the carcasses.

Sir T. D. G. Carmichael, member of Parliament for Midlothian, gave evidence before the royal commission that his Polled Angus herd was tested in the spring of 1895. "The results of the test were fearfully unexpected and alarming." Of 30 tested 13 showed decided reaction--43 per cent. Again, he speaks of having 41 animals tested the same spring and 16 reacted--39.5 per cent.

Of 80 Shorthorn cattle intended for export which were tested 34 reacted, or 42 per cent.

Of a herd of 25 British Shorthorns recently tested in quarantine 40 per cent were found tuberculous.

The addition of these animals above referred to gives 20,930 head examined and 5,441, or 26 per cent, pronounced tuberculous. And these herds were not selected because they were supposed to be tuberculous, but represent the general cattle stock of the country. These animals included at least 470 head of Shorthorns, of which 170, or 34 per cent, were tuberculous.

To these facts may be added the evidence of Prof. Bang that in the first half of the nineteenth century tuberculosis was brought to Denmark by cattle from Switzerland, Schleswig, and England, and that the same thing is now going on in Sweden and Norway, particularly through English cattle. Also the evidence of M. Sivori, chief of section at the ministry of agriculture, Argentina, who has investigated tuberculosis in that country and who says that "30 or 40 years ago tuberculosis was unknown in Argentine cattle, and it is still unknown among the native (criollo) cattle. Its appearance dates from the introduction of pure breeding animals. Statistics prove that tuberculosis is observed among the grades--above all among those of the Durham and less among the Hereford."

Moreover, the reports of the royal commission of Victoria, Australia, and of the New Zealand department of agriculture show a large proportion of tuberculous cattle in those colonies, where the disease was almost certainly carried by British cattle.

In the same manner that tuberculosis has been carried from Great Britain to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Argentina, and Australia, it has also been taken to Canada. In one herd of imported cattle slaughtered in the Canadian quarantine station, 13 of the 14 animals were found tuberculous. One of the largest Shorthorn herds in Canada was some time ago tested because an animal from it was condemned when offered for shipment to the United States. This herd was found to be very badly affected, and an effort is being made to eradicate the disease by the Bang method. A Canadian official publication says of another Shorthorn herd, which at one time had a very high reputation, that when an investigation in regard to tuberculosis was recently made the disease was found among ordinary cattle wherever animals from this herd had been introduced, and that this herd, which had been looked upon as one of the greatest benefits to the farming community, was really a danger, because it disseminated tuberculosis among the farmers' herds. Still another well-known herd recently attracted attention because four animals from it offered for export to the United States were all tuberculous.

From December 23, 1900, to February 19, 1901, the period that the department inspector tested all Canadian cattle intended for shipment to the United States, 140 purebred Shorthorns and 3 Shorthorn grades were tested, and of the total number 26, or 18 per cent, reacted. During the first month that this inspection was enforced, and when it may be assumed that the condition of the cattle most nearly represented what it had previously been, 74 cattle were offered for importation, and 18, or 24.3 per cent, were found tuberculous.

In justice to Shorthorn cattle it should be said in this connection that they are probably no more susceptible to tuberculosis than are other breeds, but the disease has been allowed to spread in certain herds and families to such an extent as to give a wrong impression concerning the breed as a whole.

The slaughterhouse statistics of Prussia show 14.6 per cent of the cattle and 2.14 per cent of the hogs to be tuberculous. In Saxony the percentage is 29.13 with cattle and 3.10 with hogs. In the city of Leipzig the figures are 36.4 for cattle and 2.17 for hogs. (Siedamgrotzky.) Of 20,850 animals in Belgium tested with tuberculin in 1896, 48.88 per cent reacted. (Stubbe.) Of 25,439 tested in Denmark from 1893 to 1895, 49.3 per cent reacted; and of 67,263 tested from 1896 to 1898, 32.8 per cent reacted. (Bang.)

Figures available in the United States allow us to make a reliable estimate of the extent of tuberculosis of cattle. The following summary is presented:

Statistics of tests for tuberculosis in the United States, 1917 to March 1, 1922.

-----------------------+---------+------------+------------- State. | Number | Number | Per cent | tested. |tuberculous.|tuberculous. -----------------------+---------+------------+------------- Alabama | 68,772 | 1,071 | 1.6 Arkansas | 5,917 | 98 | 1.7 Colorado | 1,959 | 76 | 3.9 Connecticut | 29,286 | 4,695 | 16.0 Delaware | 19,003 | 2,132 | 11.2 Florida | 56,533 | 1,438 | 2.5 Georgia | 46,522 | 998 | 2.1 Idaho | 57,731 | 1,052 | 1.8 Illinois | 92,781 | 6,112 | 6.6 Indiana | 142,833 | 3,991 | 2.8 Iowa | 158,514 | 9,958 | 6.3 Kansas | 64,341 | 1,796 | 2.8 Kentucky | 66,839 | 1,492 | 2.2 Louisiana | 36,391 | 981 | 2.7 Maine | 67,406 | 1,792 | 2.7 Maryland | 65,888 | 5,491 | 8.3 Massachusetts | 26,297 | 2,371 | 9.0 Michigan | 163,323 | 5,361 | 3.3 Minnesota | 240,888 | 7,555 | 3.1 Mississippi | 99,245 | 503 | .5 Missouri | 196,208 | 2,587 | 1.3 Montana | 165,640 | 3,346 | 2.0 Nebraska | 125,162 | 3,947 | 3.2 Nevada | 29,541 | 1,042 | 3.5 New Hampshire | 16,623 | 1,697 | 10.2 New Jersey | 32,184 | 2,542 | 7.9 New Mexico | 3,897 | 39 | 1.0 New York | 167,852 | 23,071 | 13.7 North Carolina | 64,008 | 1,098 | 1.7 North Dakota | 139,501 | 4,142 | 3.0 Ohio | 97,612 | 4,470 | 4.6 Oklahoma | 67,522 | 2,453 | 3.6 Oregon | 123,792 | 2,581 | 2.1 Pennsylvania | 102,465 | 6,322 | 6.2 Rhode Island | 3,458 | 338 | 9.8 South Carolina | 41,868 | 740 | 1.8 South Dakota | 43,433 | 2,353 | 5.4 Tennessee | 63,631 | 956 | 1.5 Texas | 61,956 | 1,256 | 2.0 Utah | 59,711 | 586 | 1.0 Vermont | 160,361 | 11,486 | 7.2 Virginia | 135,677 | 3,881 | 2.9 Washington | 154,292 | 3,864 | 2.5 West Virginia | 36,603 | 798 | 2.2 Wisconsin | 285,269 | 8,166 | 2.9 Wyoming | 22,811 | 322 | 1.4 -----------------------+---------+------------+-------------

Reports of tuberculin tests made on 400,000 cattle in the United States during the years 1893 to 1908 by Federal, State, and other officers with tuberculin prepared by the Bureau of Animal Industry show 37,008 reactions, or 9.25 per cent. These were mostly dairy cattle, and in some cases herds were suspected of being diseased.

Later reports of tuberculin tests made in the United States from July 1, 1917, to March 1, 1922, on 3,911,546 cattle by State, county, and Federal officers engaged in cooperative tuberculosis eradication work showed 153,046 reactions, or 3.9 per cent.

All cattle in the District of Columbia, numbering 1,701, were tested with tuberculin in 1909-10, and 18.87 per cent reacted. In 1909-11 herds in Maryland and Virginia supplying milk to the District of Columbia were tested, with 19.03 and 15.38 per cent of reactions, respectively, among 4,501 cattle.

All cattle in the District of Columbia were tuberculin tested in 1920-21, numbering 1,313, and 5 animals reacted, or 0.4 per cent, demonstrating that tuberculosis may be eradicated from all the herds in a circumscribed area.

The beef cattle of the United States show a much smaller proportion of the disease than dairy cattle, though the percentage of cattle found tuberculous in the Government meat-inspection service has increased considerably in recent years. This increase is due partly, but not wholly, to more stringent inspection. Of 7,781,030 adult cattle slaughtered under Federal inspection during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, 76,448 were found tuberculous, a percentage of 0.98.

From the statistics above referred to, and other data, it appears that in the more densely populated areas of Europe and America from 5 to 50 per cent of the dairy cattle are more or less affected with tuberculosis, while the proportion of beef cattle affected is distinctly less, ranging from 0.14 to 30 per cent. This difference is due to a number of causes. Beef cattle average younger when slaughtered. They are not so frequently stabled, and are for that reason less liable to infection, and as the males constitute a large proportion of this class of animals the effect of milk secretion in lowering the vital forces is not so apparent. In the United States it has been estimated that about 10 per cent of the dairy cattle are tuberculous, while only about 2 per cent of the beef cattle are so infected.

Cause and nature of the disease.--The cause of tuberculosis is the tubercle bacillus, which gains entrance to the body, lodges somewhere in the tissues, and begins to grow and multiply at that point. As this bacillus vegetates and increases in numbers it excretes substances which act as irritants and poisons and which lead to the formation of a small nodule, called a tubercle, at the point of irritation. As the bacilli are disseminated through the animal body they affect many parts and cause the formation of an enormous number of tubercles. By the union of such tubercles, masses of tubercular material are formed, which in some cases are of great size. The disease is called tuberculosis because it is characterized by the formation of these peculiar nodules, and the bacillus which causes the disease is for the same reason known technically as the Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

There are undoubtedly predisposing conditions which contribute toward the development of the disease; some of these are found in the animal body and others in the environment. An enfeebled condition caused by insufficient feed, exposure to great extremes of atmospheric temperature and insanitary surroundings, or the drain occasioned by heavy production of milk, appear to aid the development of the bacillus, and there is also a special individual susceptibility in some cases which may be otherwise described as an inability of the animal tissues to resist and destroy the bacilli when they have penetrated to the inner recesses of the body.

Among the conditions of environment which aid the development of tuberculosis may be mentioned stabling with lack of ventilation, damp buildings, the keeping of many animals together, drafts of air which cause colds and catarrhs, and, in general, everything which prevents the animals from developing and maintaining the highest condition of health. None of these conditions of body or environment are sufficient to cause the disease, however, unless the animals are exposed to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis and it penetrates the tissues of their bodies.

The ways in which the tubercle bacilli find their way into the body may be considered under four heads: (1) By inhalation into the lungs; (2) by taking into the digestive tract in the milk of tuberculous cows or with other contaminated feed; (3) during coition when the sexual organs are tuberculous; (4) from the tuberculous mother to the fetus in the uterus. The bacilli can reach the lungs by inhalation only when the bacilli are thoroughly dried and pulverized and in condition to be carried by currents of air.

It is well known that the bacilli withstand drying for months before they lose their power of producing disease. They leave the bodies of diseased animals in several ways. There may be a little discharge occasionally coughed up as a spray from the diseased lungs, or this material may be swallowed and the bacilli carried off with the excrement, or milk may be spilt, or there may be a discharge from the vagina when the genital organs are tuberculous. There may also be ulcers of the intestines, from which many bacilli escape with the feces. The bacilli from these sources may become dried and pulverized and carried in the air of the stable and into the lungs of still healthy cattle, where the disease then develops.

The disease of the stomach, intestines, and mesenteric glands is very probably the result of feed infection. Tubercle bacilli may have been scattered upon the feed by diseased animals, but the most common source of such infection is the milk of tuberculous cows. Calves may become infected in this way. The disease may remain latent until the animal becomes older. The not-infrequent occurrence of tuberculosis of the uterus and ovaries makes it probable that the disease may be transmitted by a diseased bull or carried by a healthy one from a diseased cow to a number of healthy cows.

The source of infection is always some previous case of the disease, for the disease can never rise spontaneously; hence, in those stables in which there is frequent change of cattle the introduction of tuberculosis by cattle coming from other infected stables is the most frequent source of infection. Since the bacilli when dried can be carried by the air, it is not necessary that healthy animals come in direct contact with cases of disease to become infected. In general, the greatest number of cases occur in the immediate environment of cities, where there are not only abundant opportunities for infection, owing to the frequent introduction of new animals into herds, but where the sanitary conditions may be regarded as the poorest.

The bacillus of tuberculosis was discovered by Robert Koch in 1882. It is a slender, rodlike body (see Pl. XXVIII, fig. 6) from one-third to two-thirds the diameter of a red blood corpuscle in length. As already explained, when the bacillus has become lodged in any organ or tissue it begins to multiply, and thereby causes an irritation in the tissue around it, which leads to the formation of the so-called tubercle. The tubercle, when it has reached its full growth, is a little nodule about the size of a millet seed. It is composed of several kinds of tissue cells. Soon a change takes place within the tubercle. Disintegration begins, and a soft, cheesy substance is formed in the center, which may contain particles of lime salts. When these tubercles continue to form in large numbers they run together, forming masses of various sizes. The disintegration which attacks them leads to the formation of large cheesy masses of a yellowish color, containing more or less of lime salts in the form of gritty particles. These large tuberculous masses are surrounded by or embedded in layers of fibrous tissue which in some cases becomes very dense and thick.

The disease is thus a development of these tubercles in one or more organs of the body. The distribution and number of the tubercles determine the course of the disease.

In a large number of cases the changes are limited to the lungs and the serous membranes[4] of the thorax and abdomen. Pathologists have been in the habit of calling the lung disease tuberculosis and the disease of the serous membranes "pearly disease." Statistics have shown that in about one-half of the cases both lungs and serous membranes are diseased, in one-third only the lungs, and in one-fifth only the serous membranes. At the same time the lymphatic glands near the diseased organs are usually involved. Other organs, such as the liver, not infrequently contain tubercles. Though the disease may remain restricted to a single organ, it now and then is found generalized, affecting all organs of the body.

In the lungs (Pl. XXXIV) the changes observed vary according to the age and intensity of the disease process. They usually begin with the appearance of very minute tubercles. These may appear in large numbers on the surface of the lungs or within the lung tissue. Later the contents become cheesy and partly calcified. When these tubercles are sufficiently numerous to become confluent, large masses may be formed, which undergo the same retrogressive changes of caseation and calcification. In addition to the formation of tubercles in the lung tissue, certain other changes take place. There is usually bronchitis with abundant catarrhal secretion; this plugs up the smaller air tubes, and the lung tissue supplied with air by the tubes collapses. Subsequently it becomes filled with yellowish, cheesy matter, which greatly distends the small air tubes and air vesicles (bronchopneumonia). The connective tissue between the lung lobules, around the tubercles, and around the air tubes becomes thickened and indurated. In the larynx and the bronchi tubercles may vegetate upon the mucous membrane, and ulcers may result from their breaking down. The inflammatory irritation which the growth of the tubercles on the surface of the lungs arouses gives rise to adhesion of the lungs to the ribs and diaphragm. This adhesion is sometimes so firm and extensive that the lungs appear grown to the chest wall.

When, therefore, the lungs in advanced stages of the disease are cut open we observe large yellowish masses, from one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch in diameter, of a cheesy texture, in which calcified, gritty particles are embedded and which are surrounded by very firm connective tissue. The neighboring lung tissue, when collapsed and involved in bronchopneumonia, has the color and consistency of pale-red flesh. The air tubes, large and small, stand out prominently on the cut surface. They are distended with a pasty, yellowish, cheesy mass, surrounded and enveloped in thick mucus, and their walls greatly thickened. The larger bronchi may be sacculated, owing to the distention produced by the cheesy contents.

The disease usually attacks the bronchial glands, which are situated on the trachea and bronchial tubes at the bifurcation. The changes in the glands are the same as those going on in the lung tissue, and they frequently reach an enormous size.

The tubercle formation on the serous membranes covering the lungs and chest wall (Pl. XXXVII, fig. 2), which may go on at the same time with the lung disease or independent of it, has been called "pearly disease," on account of the peculiar appearance of the tubercles. These begin as very minute, grayish nodules, which give the originally smooth, lustrous membrane a roughened appearance. These minute tubercles enlarge, become confluent, and project above the surface of the membrane as wartlike masses, attaining the size of peas. In this stage their attachment to the membrane is by means of delicate fibers. The attachment is loose, so that the tubercle hangs by a short pedicle or neck and may be moved slightly to and fro. Large masses are frequently formed by a coalescence of many tubercles and the secondary formation of the same. These may be found on the lungs, the ribs, and the diaphragm. These tubercles likewise undergo degenerative changes. The center partly softens and partly calcifies into a grayish mortarlike mass, and is gritty. Associated with the formation of tubercles on the pleura, those glands situated back of the center of the lungs between the two main lobes (posterior mediastinal) become greatly enlarged and the center cheesy. (Pl. XXXVI, fig. 1.) They may compress the esophagus and interfere with swallowing. The size attained by these tumors and new growths is well illustrated by the fact that, taken together, they not infrequently weigh from 60 to 80 pounds. The bronchial glands, which in the healthy state are not so large as horse-chestnuts, have been found to attain a weight of more than 10 pounds.

In the abdominal cavity tubercles may be found, both in the organs and on the serous membranes covering them. They are situated usually on the omentum, or caul (see Pl. XXXVI, fig. 2), the diaphragm, and the walls of the abdomen. In the liver large and small tubercular masses are occasionally encountered. (See Pl. XXXV.) The mesenteric glands are occasionally enlarged and tuberculous; likewise the glands near the liver. Tubercles may also develop in the spleen, the kidneys, the uterus and ovaries, and the testicles.

Tubercular affection of the intestines seems to be quite rare, although ulcers of the large intestines have been observed. Nodules may also form under the serous covering of the intestines.

The brain and spinal cord are occasionally found tuberculous. Of 40 cases, Semmer found tuberculosis of the brain in 4. It is not improbable that, owing to the infrequency of exposing the brain and spinal cord, tuberculosis may have escaped the attention of pathologists, and it may be that it is not so uncommon as is generally supposed. The tubercles occur on the membranes of the brain as well as in the substance of the brain itself. They project into the ventricles as masses, varying in size from a pinhead to a hen's egg. They finally lead to various inflammatory changes. Jˆhne has observed numerous small tubercles on the membranes of the spinal cord.

Very rarely tuberculous lesions have been observed in the bones and muscles of the body. Not so rare, however, is the affection of the lymphatic glands embedded in the muscular tissue, and those which can be felt beneath the skin. These are situated at the joints, under the jaw, and along the neck.

Of late tubercular disease of the udder in cows (Pl. XXXVIII) has received considerable attention from sanitarians, owing to the infection of the milk with the virus of tuberculosis. According to those who have given this subject special attention, the udder becomes swollen uniformly and quite firm. This swelling, which is painless, frequently attacks but one quarter, more rarely two, these being usually the hind quarters. The larger milk ducts contain yellowish, cheesy particles, in which are many tubercle bacilli. Later larger nodules can be felt within the udder, which undergo the various changes to which tubercles are subject. The udder may grow very hard to the touch and become very large, weighing in some cases up to 40 pounds. The milk, at first normal, becomes thin and watery after a month or so, and is mixed with flakes and tubercle bacilli.

As regards the frequency of the tuberculous processes in the different organs, the following carefully compiled statistics of the disease in Bavaria and Baden may serve as a guide:

Bavaria: Per cent. Tuberculosis of lungs and serous membranes 41 Tuberculosis of lungs alone 33 Tuberculosis of serous membranes alone (pearly disease) 17 Tuberculosis of other organs 8

Baden: Tuberculosis of lungs alone 21 Tuberculosis of serous membranes alone 28 Both combined 39 Generalized tuberculosis 9 Tuberculosis of the sexual organs alone 3

Symptoms.--The beginning of the disease usually passes unnoticed, inasmuch as it is very slow and insidious and rarely accompanied with fever. When the lungs are involved a dull, short cough is noticed, which may later on become prolonged, convulsive, and very troublesome to the animal. The cough is more frequent in the morning after movement and drinking. The breathing varies. Only when much of the lung tissue is diseased is it labored and accompanied with active movements of the chest and nostrils. Discharge from the nose is rare or absent. At times, however, when the tubercles have broken down and cavities containing cheesy masses have formed in the lung tissue, or when the air tubes have become filled with cheesy and mucous masses, coughing will dislodge them and cause their discharge. In advanced stages the breath may have a disagreeable odor. Pressure on the chest wall may give rise to pain.

The general effect on the body is at first slight. In fact, animals may remain in good flesh for a considerable time. Invariably as the disease progresses loss of flesh and appetite and paleness of the mucous membranes become manifest. These symptoms are accompanied with a gradual diminution of the milk secretion. The debilitated condition of the animal is also manifested by a staring coat and a tough, dry, harsh skin (hidebound). Digestive disturbances are indicated by tympanites, or distention of the rumen by gas, colic, and diarrhea, alternating with constipation. The animal generally dies from exhaustion after a period of sickness which may last months or even years.

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TUBERCULOSIS. DESCRIPTION OF PLATES.

PLATE XXXIV. Tuberculosis of the lungs of cattle. The upper figure represents a large cheesy mass, surrounded by a capsule of connective tissue, the whole embedded in healthy lung tissue. The lower figure illustrates in section a mass of tubercles which have undergone cheesy degeneration, and some of which are surrounded by dense connective tissue.

PLATE XXXV. Tuberculosis of the liver. A large portion of the lobe represented in the plate has undergone tuberculous changes. Numerous nodules are shown in various stages of the disease, the majority of which, however, contain the yellowish, partly cheesy, partly gritty areas characteristic of advanced tuberculous degeneration. This large mass involves the surface of the liver, and also extends into the liver substance.

PLATE XXXVI. Tuberculosis of lymph gland and of omentum (caul).

Fig. 1. A lymph gland from the region of the thorax behind or above the esophagus, or gullet (posterior, or dorsal, mediastinum). The gland is shown cut through and laid open. It is very much enlarged, and the yellowish cheesy masses which represent tissue undergoing tuberculous changes are well shown on the cut surface.

Fig. 2. Omentum, or caul, resting upon the paunch. The reddish nodules with which the membrane is beset are tubercles, the product of the disease.

PLATE XXXVII. Fig. 1. Tuberculosis of the sirloin and porterhouse cuts of beef. The grapelike tuberculous growths are mainly restricted to the lining membrane of the abdomen.

Fig. 2. Tuberculosis of the pleura of a cow, so-called "pearly disease." Notice the grapelike clusters of tubercular nodules scattered over the lining membrane of the chest (pleura).

PLATE XXXVIII. Tuberculosis of cow's udder. The udder was uniformly swollen and quite firm. Small cheesy foci and yellowish lines of tuberculous material follow the course of the milk ducts. The mucous membrane of the milk cistern (a) is ulcerated and covered with yellowish cheesy particles. The supramammary lymphatic gland (b) is greatly enlarged and contains many miliary tubercular foci.

* * * * *

Tuberculosis in the abdominal organs is often signalized by abortion and by abnormal sexual manifestations. When the brain is involved, the disease may cause convulsions, unconsciousness, paralysis, as well as peculiar movements in a circle, oblique position of the head, etc. Lydtin quotes the following description of the disease as taken from a Swiss sanitary order:

A dry, short, interrupted, hoarse cough, which the sick animals manifest, especially in the morning at feeding time, still more after somewhat violent exertion. At first these animals may be full blooded and lay on a considerable amount of fat when well fed. As the disease progresses they grow thin and show more and more those appearances which indicate diseased nutrition, such as a staring, lusterless, disheveled coat; dirty, tense skin, which appears very pale in those regions free from hair. The temperature of the skin is below normal. The loss of fat causes sinking of the eyes in their sockets. They appear swimming in water, and their expression is weak. The cough is more frequent, but never or very rarely accompanied with discharge. The body continues to emaciate, even with plenty of food and a good appetite, so that the quantity of milk is small. At times in the early stages of the disease, still more in the later stages, the diseased animals manifest considerable tenderness when pressure is applied to the front or the sides of the chest by coughing, moaning, etc. Often symptoms are wanting in spite of the existence of the disease.

Lydtin also quotes at length a description of the abnormal sexual desire occasionally observed among cows when affected with this disease.

Diagnosis.--A disease so varied in its attack upon the different organs of the body and in the extent of the disease process must necessarily lead to mistakes when diagnosis is attempted by ordinary means of examination. It has been confounded with the later stages of pleuropneumonia, with parasitic diseases of the brain, the lungs, the intestines, and with actinomycosis. A careful examination of the lungs by auscultation and percussion enables the expert to locate large tuberculous masses, owing to dullness, loss of respiratory murmur, and abnormal sounds, such as blowing, whistling, and creaking. The majority of cases of tuberculosis in cattle, however, including many in which the lungs are quite seriously involved, can not be detected in this manner.

THE TUBERCULIN TEST.

The tuberculin test, which is marvelously accurate in its indications, has been almost universally adopted for the detection of tuberculosis. Tuberculin is a drug prepared by sterilizing, filtering, and concentrating the liquids in which the tubercle bacillus has been allowed to vegetate. It contains the cooked products of the growth of these bacilli, but no living bacilli; consequently, when this substance is injected under the skin of an animal it is absolutely unable to produce the disease, cause abortion, or otherwise injure the animal. In case the injected animal is normal there is no more effect upon the system than would be expected from the injection of sterile water; however, if the animal is tuberculous, a decided rise of temperature will follow the use of tuberculin by the subcutaneous method. This substance, discovered by Koch, has the effect, when injected into the tissues of a tuberculous animal, of causing a decided rise of temperature or other manifestations while it has no such effect upon animals free from the disease. The value of tuberculin for this purpose was tested during the years 1890 and 1891 by Guttman, Roeckl and Sch¸tz, Bang and Salomonsen, Lydtin, Jˆhne and Siedamgrotzky, Nocard, and many others. It was at once recognized as a most remarkable and accurate method of detecting tuberculosis even in the early stages and when the disease had yet made but little progress. It is now quite generally employed.

The tuberculin test came into existence through the most careful and thorough scientific experimentation.

As a result of its use an accurate diagnosis may be established in more than 90 per cent of the cases tested. The relatively few failures in diagnoses are included among two classes of cattle. The first class contains those that are tuberculous, but which do not react either because of the slight effect of an ordinary-sized dose of tuberculin on an advanced case of the disease with so much natural tuberculin already in the system, or on account of a recent previous test with tuberculin which produces a tolerance to this material, lasting for about six weeks. The second class includes those that are not tuberculous, but which show indications of a reaction as a result of (a) advanced pregnancy, (b) the excitement of [oe]strum, (c) concurrent diseases, as inflammation of the lungs, intestines, uterus, udder, or other parts, abortion, retention of afterbirth, indigestion, etc., (d) inclosure in a hot, stuffy stable, especially in summer, or exposure to cold drafts or rains, (e) any change in the method of feeding, watering, or stabling of the animal during the test. Notwithstanding all these possibilities of error, the results of thousands of tests show that in less than 3 per cent of the cases tested do these failures actually occur. In the first class the chances of error are decidedly reduced by the skilled veterinarian by making careful physical examination and diagnosing clinically these advanced cases, and by the injection of double or triple doses into all recently tested cattle, with the taking of the after-temperature, beginning two hours following the injection and continuing hourly for 20 hours.

It is therefore apparent that tuberculin should be applied only by or under the direction of a competent veterinarian, capable not only of injecting the tuberculin but also of interpreting the results, and particularly of picking out all clinical cases by physical examination. The latter observation is extremely important and should always be made on every animal tested.

In the second class, where the temperature test is used, errors are avoided by eliminating from the test those cases that are nearing parturition or are in heat or show evidence of the previously mentioned diseases or exhibit temperatures sufficiently high to make them unreliable for use as normal. Where other methods of test are used these conditions do not have an important bearing on the results. In addition, a satisfactory tuberculin must be used; also an accurate thermometer and a reliable syringe, in order that a sufficient dose of tuberculin may be given. Finally, the number of apparent errors of the tuberculin test will be greatly diminished if a careful post-mortem examination is made, giving especial attention to the lymph glands. This low percentage of failures being the case, cattle owners should welcome the tuberculin test, not only for their own interest but for the welfare of the public as well. Where this method of diagnosing the disease has been adopted tuberculosis is gradually being eradicated. Without its use the disease can not be controlled and the owner is confronted with serious and continuous losses; with its use the disease can be eradicated from the herd, a clean herd established in a few years without very serious loss or hardship, and the danger of its spread to man removed. Tuberculin may therefore be considered a most beneficial discovery for the stock raiser.

Law has clearly stated the question when he says--

Many stock owners still entertain an ignorant and unwarranted dread of the tuberculin test. It is true that when recklessly used by ignorant and careless people it may be made a root of evil, yet as employed by the intelligent and careful expert it is not only perfectly safe, but it is the only known means of ascertaining approximately the actual number affected in a given herd. In most infected herds living under what are in other respects good hygienic conditions two-thirds or three-fourths are not to be detected without its aid, so that in clearing a herd from tuberculosis and placing both herd and products above suspicion the test becomes essential. * * * In skilled hands the tuberculin test will show at least nine-tenths of all cases of tuberculosis when other methods of diagnosis will not detect one-tenth.

Probably the most popular objection to tuberculin is that it is too searching, since it discovers cases in which the lesions are small and obscure. While this fact is admitted, it should also be remembered that such a small lesion to-day may break down and become widely disseminated in a relatively short period. Therefore any cow affected with tuberculosis, even to a slight degree, must be considered as dangerous not only to the other animals in the herd but also to the consumer of her products.

In 1898 Bang, of Copenhagen, one of the highest European authorities, in his paper presented to the Congress for the Study of Human and Animal Tuberculosis, at Paris, said:

Numerous tests made in almost every civilized country have demonstrated that in the majority of cases tuberculin is an excellent means for diagnosing the existence or nonexistence of the disease, but giving us no positive information as to the extent to which the disease has progressed. When tuberculin produces a typical reaction we may be almost sure that there exists in the body of the animal a tubercular process. The cases in which a careful examiner has not succeeded in finding it are very rare, and I am led to believe that when, notwithstanding all the pains taken, it has escaped discovery, the reason is that it is located in a portion of the body that is particularly inaccessible. Nevertheless, it is not to be denied that a fever, entirely accidental and of short duration, may in some rare cases have simulated a reaction. However this may be, the error committed in wrongly condemning an occasional animal for tuberculosis is of no practical consequence.

A worse aspect of the case is that there are some diseased animals in which tuberculin fails to discover the existence of tuberculosis. In most of these, no doubt, the deposits are old, insignificant, and generally calcified, or they are cases where the disease is arrested and perhaps in process of recovery, and which are possibly incapable of disseminating the contagion. But it is known that there are cases, not altogether rare, where tuberculin fails to cause a reaction in a highly tuberculous animal, and consequently one in which the disease exists in an extremely contagious form. For this reason a clinical examination should always be made of an animal which does not give a reaction but which shows symptoms indicating that, notwithstanding the test, it may suffer from tuberculosis.

Nocard, of Paris, wrote also in 1898 as follows:

The degree of certainty of the indications furnished may be stated in precise terms. The observation of a clear reaction to tuberculin is unequivocal; the animal is tuberculous. The pretended errors imputed to the method are explained by the extreme sensitiveness of the reagent, which is capable of detecting the smallest lesion. It often requires prolonged and minute researches in the depths of all the tissues to discover the few miliary centers, the presence of which has been revealed. The reaction is absolutely specific. In those cases where it is observed with animals which show lesions of another disease (actinomycosis, hydatid disease, verminous bronchitis, distomatosis), it may be affirmed that there exists, in addition to these conspicuous changes, a tuberculous center which alone has provoked the reaction.

The failure to react does not necessarily imply absence of tuberculosis. Such failures of tuberculin are very exceptional. They are seen most frequently with animals affected with tuberculosis in a very advanced stage and made evident by plain external signs. Sometimes, also, there are found at the post-mortem examination of animals which have not reacted small fibrous or calcified lesions in such a condition that one is tempted to believe them cured. Whether sterile or not, these lesions have no tendency to increase, and they are not very dangerous from the point of view of contagion.

These opinions of two eminent authorities, living in different countries, after long experience of their own and after studying the results of the many tests made in different parts of the world, should have great weight. They are essentially the same throughout.

In 1897 Voges compiled statistics of tuberculin tests, the accuracy of which had been determined by post-mortem examination. Of 7,327 animals tested, it appeared that errors had been made with 204, or 2.78 per cent. In the work of the Pennsylvania Live Stock Sanitary Board post-mortem examinations were made on about 4,400 reacting cattle and the disease was found in all but 8 of those which had given characteristic reactions.

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