Chapter IV: Part 4

We hear a great deal said about sending young men from this country to Europe to acquire the principles of the veterinary art, with a view to public teaching. Now, it appears to us that the United States can boast of as great a number of talented physicians, as well qualified to soon learn and understand the fundamental principles of the veterinary art, as their brethren of the old world. There is no country, probably, that can boast of such an amount of talent, in every department of literature and art, in proportion to the population, as the United States. We know that the veterinary art, with one exception, had its existence from human practitioners, received their fostering care and attention, and grew with their growth. Have we not the materials, then, in this country, to educate and qualify young men to practise this important branch of science? Most certainly. Just send a few to us, for example, and if we do not impart to them a better system of medication than that practised in Europe, by which they will be enabled to treat disease with more success and less deaths, then we will agree to "throw physic to the dogs," and abandon our profession.

The greatest part of the most valuable time of the students of veterinary medicine is devoted to the study of pathology, in such a manner as to afford little instruction. For example, we are told that in "Bright's" disease of the kidneys they have detected albumen. What does this amount to? Does it throw any rational light on the treatment other than that proposed by us, of toning up the animal, and restoring the healthy secretions? They have studied pathology to their hearts' content; yet any intelligent farmer in this country, with a few simple herbs, can beat them at curing disease. We would give details, were it necessary. Suffice it to say, that it is done here every day, and often through the aid of a little thoroughwort tea, or other harmless agent. The pathologist may discover alterations in tissues, in the blood, and the various organs, and tell us that herein lie the cause and seat of disease; yet these changes themselves are but results, and preceding these were other manifestations of disorder; therefore pathology must always be imperfect, because it is a science of consequences.

The most powerful microscopes have been used to discover the seat of disease; yet this has not taught us to cure one single disease hitherto incurable.

The old school boast that their whole system of blood-letting, purging, and poisoning is based on _enlightened experience_! yet their victims have often discovered, by dear-bought "experience," (_many of whom are now doing penance with ulcerated gums, rotten teeth, and foetid breath_,) that, however valuable this "experience" may be to the M. D.'s, they, the recipients, have not derived that benefit which they were led to expect would accrue to them. From what has already been written in this work, the reader, provided he divests himself of all prejudice, will perceive that allopathic experience is not to be trusted, for their principles are false; hence their experience is also false. Professor Curtis, to whom we are indebted for much valuable information, says, "Do not the old school argue that the most destructive agents in nature may be made to '_aid the vital forces in the removal of disease_ by the judicious application of them'? Does not Professor Harrison say, that the lancet is the great anti-inflammatory agent of the _materia medica_, that opium is the _magnum Dei donum_ (the great gift of God) for the relief of pain, and that mercury is the great regulator of all the secretions?"

Anatomy and physiology are now being taught in our public schools. The people will, ere long, constitute themselves umpires to decide when doctors disagree. We apprehend it will then be hard work to convince the intelligent and thinking part of the community that poisons and the lancet are sanative agents.

FOOTNOTE:

[3] Mr. White says, "According to the present system of teaching in these chartered institutions, there is very little benefit to be derived by the student."

Mr. Blane experienced in his own person the results of this imperfect system of teaching. He was sent for to fire a valuable horse, and gives the following account of it: "It was my first essay in firing on my own account, and _fired_ as I was with my wishes to signalize myself, I labored to enter my novitiate with all due honor. The farrier of the village was ordered to attend, a sturdy old man, civil enough, but looking as though impressed with no very high respect for a _gentleman farrier's knowledge_. The horse was cast, awkwardly enough, and secured, as will appear, even more so. I, however, proceeded to show the superiority of the new over the old schools. I had just then left the veterinary college, not as a pupil, but as a teacher, which I only mention to mark the climax. On the very first application of the iron, up started my patient, flinging me and my assistants in all directions from him, while he trotted and snorted round the yard with rope, &c. at his heels. As may be supposed, I was taken aback, and might have gone back as I came, had not the old farrier, with much good humor, caught the horse round the neck with his arms, and by some dexterous manoeuvre brought him on his knees; when, with a jerk, as quick as unexpected, he threw him at once on his side, when our immediate assistants fixed him, and we proceeded. It is needless to remark that I retired mortified, and left the village farrier lord of the ascendant."

"It cannot be doubted that the best operators in this case are always the common country farriers, who, from devoting themselves entirely to the occupation, soon become proficient."

This admission on the part of a regular graduate of a veterinary institution of London shows that the veterinary science, as taught at the present day, is a matter for reproach. The melancholy triumph of disease over its victims shows that the science is mere moonshine; that, in regard to its most important object, the _cure of disease_, it is mere speculation, rich in theory, but poverty-stricken in its results. Hence we have not only proof that the American people will be immense gainers by availing themselves of the labors of reforms, but, as interested individuals, they have great encouragement to favor our more rational system of treatment. (For additional remarks on this subject, see the author's work on the Horse, p. 105.)

INFLAMMATION.

Inflammation has generally been considered the great bugbear of the old school, and the scarecrow of the cattle doctor. But what do they know about it? Let us see.

Dr. Thatcher says, "Numerous hypotheses or opinions respecting the true nature and cause of inflammation have for ages been advanced, and for a time sustained; but even at the present day, the various doctrines appear to be considered altogether problematical."

Professor Percival says, "Inflammation consists in an increased action of the arteries, and may be either _healthy_ or _unhealthy_[4]--a distinction that appears to relate to some peculiarity of the constitution."

We find inflammation described by most old school authors as disease, and they treat it as such. Professor Payne says, "A great majority of all the disorders to which the human frame is liable begin with inflammation, or end in inflammation, or are accompanied by inflammation in some part of their course, or resemble inflammation in their symptoms. Most of the organic changes in different parts of the body recognize inflammation as their cause, or lead to it as their effect. In short, a very large share of the premature extinctions of human life in general is more of less attributable to inflammation."

The term _inflammation_ has long been employed by medical men to denote the existence of an unusual degree of redness, pain, heat, and swelling in any of the textures or organs of which the body is composed. Professor Curtis says, "But as inflammation sometimes exists without the exhibition of any of these symptoms, authors have been obliged to describe it by its causes, in attendant symptoms, and its effects. It is not more strange than true, that, after studying this subject for, _as they say_, four thousand years, experimenting on it and with it, and defining it, the sum of all their knowledge and definitions is this--inflammation in the animal frame is either a simple or compound action, increased or diminished, or a cessation of all action; it either causes, or is caused, or is accompanied, by all the forms of disease to which the body is subject; it is the only agent of cure in every case in which a cure is effected; it destroys all that die, except by accident or old age; it is both disease itself, and the only antidote to disease; it is the pathological principle which lies at the base of all others; it is that which the profession least of all understand."

Who believes, then, that the science of medicine is based on a sure foundation?

The following selections from the allopathic works will prove what is above stated.

"Pure inflammation is rather an effort of nature than a disease; yet it always implies disease or disturbance, inasmuch as there must be a previous morbid or disturbed state to make such an effort necessary."--_Hunter_, vol. iv. pp. 293, 294.

"As inflammation is an action produced for the restoration of the most simple injury in sound parts which goes beyond the power of union by the first intention, we must look upon it as one of the most simple operations in nature, whatever it may be when arising from disease, or diseased parts. Inflammation is to be considered only a disturbed state of parts, which requires a new but salutary mode of action to restore them to that state wherein a natural mode of action alone is necessary. Therefore inflammation in itself is not to be considered a disease, but a salutary operation consequent either to some violence or to some disease."--_Ibid._ vol. iv. p. 285.

"A wound or bruise cannot recover itself but by inflammation_."--Ibid._ p. 286.

"From whatever cause inflammation arises, it appears to be nearly the same in all; for in all it is an effort intended to bring about a reinstatement of the parts to their natural function."--_Ibid._ p. 286.

_Results of Inflammation._--"Inflammation is said to terminate in resolution, effusion, adhesion, suppuration, ulceration, granulation, cicatrization, and mortification. All these different terminations, except the last, may be regarded as so many _vital_ processes, exerted in different parts of the animal economy."--_Prof. Thompson_, p. 97.

"Inflammation must needs occupy a large share of attention of both the physician and the surgeon. In nine cases out of ten, the first question which either of them asks himself, on being summoned to the patient, is, _Have I to deal with inflammation here?_ It is constantly the object of his treatment and watchful care. It affects all parts that are furnished with blood-vessels, and it affects different parts very variously.... It is by inflammation that wounds are closed and fractures repaired--that parts adhere together when their adhesion is essential to the preservation of the individual, and that foreign and hurtful matters are conveyed out of the body. A cut finger, a deep sabre wound, alike require inflammation to reunite the divided parts. Does ulceration occur in the stomach or intestines, and threaten to penetrate through them--inflammation will often forerun and provide against the danger--glue the threatened membrane to whatever surface may be next it.... The foot mortifies, is killed by injury or by exposure to cold--inflammation will cut off the dead and useless part. An abscess forms in the liver, or a large calculus concretes in the gall-bladder: how is the pus or the calculus to be got rid of?... Partial inflammation precedes and prepares for the expulsion; the liver or the gall-bladder becomes adherent to the walls of the abdomen on the one hand, or to the intestinal canal on the other; and then the surgeon may plunge his lancet into the collection of pus, or the abscess; or the calculus may cut its own way safely out of the body, through the skin or into the bowels."--_Watson_, p. 94.

"The salutary acts of restoration and prevention just adverted to, are such as nature conducts and originates. But we are ourselves able, in many instances, to direct and control the effect of inflammation--nay, we can excite it at our pleasure; and, having excited it, we are able, in a great degree, to regulate its course. And for this reason it becomes, in skilful hands, an instrument of cure."--_Ibid._ p. 94.

The above quotations are not complete. They are selections from the sources whence they are drawn of those portions which testify that fever and inflammation are one and the same thing, and that this same thing consists in a salutary effort of nature to protect the organs of the body from the action of the causes of disease, or to remove those causes and their effects from the organs once diseased. That the same authors teach the very contrary of all this in the same paragraphs, and often in the same sentences, the following extracts will clearly prove:--

_Inflammation produces disease._--"When inflammation cannot accomplish that salutary purpose, (a cure,) as in cancer, scrofula, &c., it does mischief."--_Hunter_, p. 285.

"Inflammation is occasionally the cause of disease."--_Ibid._ p. 286.

"In one point of view, it may be considered as a disease itself."--_Ibid._

"It may be divided into two kinds, the healthy and the unhealthy.... The unhealthy admits of a vast variety," &c.--_Ibid._

"Inflammation often produces mortification or death in the inflamed part."--_Ibid._ vol. iv. p. 305.

"In the light of such authorities, it is surely not strange that no definite knowledge can be obtained of the nature, character, or tendency of inflammation. Of course, no one will dispute the proposition, that medicine, as taught in the schools, is a superstructure without a foundation, and should be wholly rejected."--_Prof. Curtis._

If the regulars have no correct theory of inflammation, then their system of blood-letting is all wrong. This they acknowledge; for many with whom we have lately conversed say, "We do not use the lancet so often as formerly." One very good reason is, the sovereign people will not let them. Would it not be better for them to abolish its use altogether, as we have done, and avail themselves of the reform of the age?

The following remarks, selected from an address delivered by our respected preceptor, Professor Brown, ought to be read by every friend of humanity.

"The very air groans with the bitter anathemas the people pronounce upon calomel, antimony, copper, zinc, arsenic, arsenious acid, stramonium, foxglove, belladonna, henbane, nux vomica, opium, morphia, and narcotin.

"Hear their bitter cries, borne on every breeze, 'Help! help! help!' See the dim taper of life; it glimmers--'tis gone! Vitality struggled, and struggled manfully to the last. The poisonous dose was repeated, till the citadel was yielded up.

"The doctor arrives and attempts to comfort and quiet the broken-hearted widow, and helpless, dependent, fatherless children, by recounting the frailties of poor human nature, and reminding them of the fact that all men must die.

"And thus the work of death goes on: the tenderest ties are severed; children are left fatherless; parents are bereaved of their children; families are reduced to fragments; society deprived of her best citizens, and the world filled with misery, confusion, and poverty, in consequence of an evil system of medication....

"The ball is in motion, the banner of medical reform waves gracefully over our beloved country. Hosts of the right stripe are coming to the rescue. Poisons are condemned, the lancet is growing dull, the effusion of blood will soon cease, the battles are half fought, and the victory is sure.... While we would have you adhere to the well-established, fundamental principles of reformed medical science, as taught in this school, we would have you recollect that discoveries in knowledge are progressing.... Never entertain the foolish, absurd, and dangerous idea, that because you have been to college, you have learned all that is to be learned--that your education is finished, and you have nothing more to learn. The college is a place where we go to learn how to learn, and the world is the great university, in which our educational exercises terminate with our last expiring breath."

The author craves the reader's indulgence for introducing Dr. Brown's remarks at this stage of the work. It is intended for a class of readers (_the farmers_) who have not the time to make themselves acquainted with all that is going on in the medical world. We aim to make the book acceptable to that class of men. If we fail, the fault is in us, not in our subjects.

FOOTNOTE:

[4] Inflammation is a vital action, and cannot be properly termed _diseased_ action. The only action that can be properly termed _diseased_ is the chemical action.

REMARKS,

SHOWING THAT VERY LITTLE IS KNOWN OF THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF DISEASE.

Mr. Percival details a case of peritonitis,[5] after the usual symptoms in the early stage had subsided. "The horse's bowels became much relaxed: suspecting that there was some disorder in the alimentary canal, and that this was an effort of nature to get rid of it, I promoted the diarrhoea by giving mild doses of cathartic medicine, in combination with calomel!" [Nature did not require such assistance: warm drinks, composed of marshmallows, or slippery elm, would have been just the thing.]

"On the third day from this, prolapsus ani (falling of the fundament) made its appearance. After the return of the gut, the animal grew daily duller, and more dejected, manifesting evident signs of considerable inward disorder, though he showed none of acute pain; the diarrhoea continued; swelling of the belly and tumefaction of the legs speedily followed: eight pounds of blood were drawn, and two ounces of oil of turpentine were given internally, and in spite of another bleeding, and some subordinate measures, carried him off [the treatment, we presume] in the course of a few hours.

"Dissection: a slight blush pervaded the peritoneum; at least the parietal portion of it, for the coats of the stomach and intestines preserved their natural whiteness. About eight gallons of water were measured out of the belly.[6] The abdominal viscera, as well as the thoracic, showed no marks of disease."

We have stated, in the preceding pages, that the farmers can generally treat some cases of disease, by simple means, with much better success than some of the regulars; yet there are exceptions. Some of them have been inoculated with the virus of allopathy; and when an animal is taken sick, and manifests evident signs of great derangement, they seem to suppose that the more medicine they cram down the better, forgetting, perhaps not knowing, that the province of the physician is to know when to do nothing. Others err from want of judgment; and if they have an animal sick, they send for the neighbors; each one has a favorite remedy; down go castor oil, aloes, gin and molasses, in rapid succession. "He has inflammation of the insides," says one; "give him salts." No sooner said than done; the salts are hurried down, and, of course, find their way into the paunch. These, together with a host of medicines too numerous to mention, are tried without effect: all is commotion within; fermentation commences; gas is evolved; the animal gives signs of woe. As a last resort, paunching, bleeding, &c., follow; perhaps the horns are bored, or some form of barbarity practised, and the animal dies under the treatment.

A case similar to the above came under our notice a few months since. A cow, of a superior breed, was sent a few miles into the country to winter. Having always had the very best of feed, the owner gave particular instructions that she should be fed accordingly; instead of which, however, she was fed on foxgrass and other indigestible matter, in consequence of which she was attacked with acute indigestion, (gastric fever, as it is generally called,) more popularly known, in barn-yard language, as a "stoppage." A man professing to understand _cow-doctoring_ was sent for, who, after administering "every thing he could think of" without success, gave a mixture of hog's lard and castor oil. When asked what indication he expected to fulfil, he replied, "My object was to wake up the cow's ideas"! Unfortunately, he awoke the wrong ideas; for the cow died. On making a post mortem examination, about half a bushel of partly-masticated foxgrass was found in the paunch, and the manyplus was distended beyond its physiological capacity. On making an incision into it, the partly-digested food was quite hard and dry, and the mucous covering of the laminae--even the laminae themselves--could be detached with the slightest force. The farmer will probably inquire, What ought to be done in such cases? Before we answer the question, a few remarks on the nature of the obstruction seem to be necessary.

In the article _Description of the Organs of Digestion_, the reader will learn the modes by which the food reaches the different compartments of the stomach. In reference to the above case, the causes of derangement are self-evident, which will be seen as we proceed. The animal had, previous to the journey, (thirty miles,) received the greatest care and attention; in short, she had been petted. Being pregnant at the time, the stomach was more susceptible to derangement than at any other time. The long journey could not act otherwise than unfavorably: first, because it would fatigue the muscular system; secondly, because it would irritate the nervous. Here, then, are the first causes; and it is important, in all cases of a deviation from health, to ascertain, as near as possible, the causes, and remove them. _This is considered the first step towards a cure._ If we cannot remove the causes, we are enabled, by an inquiry into them, to adopt the most efficient means for the recovery of the animal. The animal having had a bountiful meal before starting on the journey, and not being allowed sufficient time to remasticate, (rumination is partially or totally suspended during active exercise,) probably, combined with the above causes, an acute attack of the stomach set in--subsided after a few days, and left those organs in a debilitated state. The sudden change in diet also acted unfavorably, especially as the foxgrass required more than ordinary gastric power to reduce it to a pulpy mass, fit to enter the fourth, or true digestive stomach. For want of a due share of vital action in the abomasum, (fourth stomach,) it was unable to perform its part in the physiological process of digestion; hence the accumulation found in the manyplus. The causes of the detachment of laminae, and the blanched appearances,--for it was as white as new linen,--were partly chemical and partly mechanical. The mechanical obstruction consisted in over-distention of the manyplus from food, thereby obstructing the circulation of the blood through its parietes, (walls,) and depriving it not only of nutriment, from the nerves of nutrition, but paralyzing its secretive function. It then became a prey to chemical action and decomposition. The indications of cure were, to arouse the digestive organs by stimulants, then by anti-spasmodic, relaxing, and tonic medicines, (for which see APPENDIX:) the digestive organs would probably have recommenced their healthy action, and the life of the animal might have been saved. Oil and grease, of every description and kind, are not suitable remedies to administer to cattle when laboring under indigestion; for at best their action is purely mechanical, and cannot be assimilated by the nutritive function so as to act medicinally. Linseed oil is, however, absorbed and diffused. If the animal labors under obstinate constipation, and it is evident that the obstruction is confined to the intestines, then we may resort to a dose of oil.

The reader will perceive the benefits to be derived from a knowledge of animal physiology and veterinary medicine, when based upon sound principles and common sense. He will also see the importance of having educated and honorable men employed in cattle-doctoring. No doubt there are such; but surely something is "rotten in Denmark;" for we are repeatedly told by our patrons that they "judge of the merits of the veterinary art by the men they find engaged in it."

_Scientific Treatment of Colic, or Gripes._--"On the 5th September, 1824, a young bay mare was admitted into the infirmary with symptoms of colic, for which she lost eight pounds of blood before she came in. The following drench was prescribed to be given immediately: laudanum and oil of turpentine, of each, three ounces, with the addition of six ounces of decoction of aloes. In the course of half an hour, this was repeated! But shortly after, she vomited the greater part by the mouth and nostrils. No relief having been obtained, twelve pounds of blood were taken from her, and the same drink was given. In another hour, this drench was repeated; and, for the fourth time, during the succeeding hour; both of which, before death, she rejected, as she had done the second drink. Notwithstanding these active measures were promptly taken, she died about three hours after her admission." (See Clark's _Essay on Gripes_.) It appears that the doctors made short work of it. Twelve ounces of laudanum, and the same of turpentine,[7] in three hours! But this is "_secundum artem_" "skilful treatment"--a specimen of "science and skill," and justifiable in every case where the symptoms are "alarming." Let the reader, if he has ever seen a case of colic treated by us, contrast the result. Had the case been treated with relaxing, anti-spasmodic, carminative drinks, warmth and moisture externally, injections internally, and frictions generally, the poor animal would, probably, have been saved. We have attended many cases of the same sort, and have not yet lost the first one.

_Extraordinary case of "cattle doctoring"!--which ought to be termed cattle-killing._--We were requested by Mr. S. of Waltham, December 18, 1850, to see a sick cow. The following is the history of the case: The cow, as near as we could judge, was of native breed, in good condition, and in her eighth pregnant month; pulse, 80 per minute; respirations, 36 per minute; external surface, ears, horns, and legs, cold. She had not dunged for several days. She was found lying on her belly, with her head turned round towards the left side. She struggled occasionally, and appeared to suffer from abdominal pain. She uttered a low, moaning sound when pressure was made on the abdominal muscles. The following facts were related to us by the owner, which we give in his own language. "I bought the cow, and drove her about 200 miles to this place. She had been here about a week, when I perceived she did not eat her feed as well as usual. She became sick about nine days ago, I thought it best to begin to doctor her! I employed a man who was reputed to be a pretty good cattle doctor. She got pretty well dosed between us, for we first gave her one pound of salts. The next day we gave her another pound. Finding this also failed to have the desired effect, we gave her one pound eight ounces more. She kept getting worse. We next gave her a quart of urine. She still grew worse. Two table-spoonfuls of gunpowder and a quarter of a pound of antimony were then given; still no improvement. As a last resort, we gave her eight drops of croton oil; a few hours afterwards, nine drops more were given; and a final dose of twenty drops of the same article was administered. The cow rolled her eyes as if she were about to die. I then called in the neighbors to kill her, when one of them advised me to come and see you." The reader will here perceive that we had a pretty desperate case; having been called in just at the eleventh hour. We may here remark that the cow had been under treatment nine days, during which time she had eaten scarcely any food, and passed but very little excrement. The medicine had been given at different stages during that period. There was evidently no accumulation of excrement in the rectum, for she had been raked and received several injections.

As we were not requested to take charge of the case, the owner being unwilling to incur additional expense, we, therefore, with a view of giving present relief, and fulfilling the necessary indications, ordered the following:

Powdered slippery elm, 1 table-spoonful.
" caraways, 1 tea-spoonful.
" marshmallows, 1 table-spoonful.
" skullcap, 1 tea-spoonful.
" grains of paradise, 1 tea-spoonful.

A sufficient quantity of boiling water to form it into the consistence of thin gruel; a junk bottle full to be given every two hours.

Directions were given to rub the ears and extremities until they were warm, and the strength of the animal to be supported with thin flour gruel.

The indications to be fulfilled were as follows:--

1st. To lubricate the mucous surfaces, and defend them from the action of the drugs.

2d. To arouse the digestive function, and prevent the generation of carbonic acid gas.

3d. To allay nervous excitement, and remove spasms.

Lastly. To equalize the circulation.

The first indication can be fulfilled by slippery elm and marshmallows; the second, by caraway seeds; the third, by skullcap; and the fourth, by grains of paradise.

We have not been able, up to the present time, to ascertain the result.

Here, then, are a few examples of horse and cattle doctoring, which we might multiply indefinitely, did we think it would benefit the reader. We ask the reader to ponder on these facts, and then answer the question, "What do horse and cattle doctors know about the treatment of disease?"

It gives us much pleasure, however, and probably it will the reader, to know that a few of the veterinary surgeons of London are just beginning to see the error of their ways. The following contribution to the Veterinarian, from the pen of Veterinary Surgeon Haycock, will be read with interest. The quotations are not complete. We only select those portions which we deem most instructive to our readers. The disease to which it alludes, _puerperal fever_, has made, and is at the present time making, sad havoc among the stock of our cattle-growing interest; and it stands us in hand to gather honey wherever we can find it. "Of the various questions which present themselves to traders and owners of cattle respecting puerperal fever, the following are, perhaps, a few of the most important: First. At what period of their life are cows the most liable to be attacked with puerperal fever? Secondly. At what period after the animal has calved does the disease generally supervene? Thirdly. What is the average rate of mortality amongst cows attacked with this disease? Fourthly. What is the best method to pursue with cattle, in order, if possible, to prevent the disease? Fifthly. What is the best mode of treatment to be pursued with cattle when so attacked? To these several questions I shall endeavor to reply as fully as my own knowledge of the matter will allow me. They are questions which ought to have been answered years ago; [so they would have been, doctor, if, as Curtis says, your brethren had not been _progressing in a circle, instead of direct lines_;] but no one appears to have thought it necessary. They are questions of great importance to the agriculturist; if they were fully answered, he would be able to form a pretty accurate estimate as to the amount of risk he was likely at all times to incur with respect to puerperal diseases of a febrile nature. For instance, suppose it was fully ascertained, from data furnished by the correct observations of a number of practitioners, at what period of the cow's life the animal is most liable to be attacked with puerperal fever; the agriculturist and cow-keeper would be able, in a considerable degree, to guard against it, either by feeding the animal, or taking such other steps as a like experience proved to be the best. It is of no earthly use practitioners writing 'grandiloquent' papers upon diseases like puerperal fever; or in their telling the world, that puerperal fever is a disease of the nervous system; or that the name which is given to it is very improper, _and not suggestive; or that bleeding and the administration of a powerful purgative are proper to commence with_; together with hosts of stereotyped statements of a like nature--statements which are unceasingly repeated, and which are without one jot of sound experience to substantiate them. [All good and sound doctrine.]

"Question First. _At what period of their lives are cows the most liable to be attacked with puerperal fever?_ I have in my possession notes and memoranda of twenty-nine cases of this disease, which notes and memoranda I have collected from cases I have treated from the month of July, 1842, to the month of July, 1849--a period of seven years; and with reference to the above question the figures stand thus: Out of the twenty-nine, three of them were attacked at the third parturient period, five ditto at the fourth, sixteen at the fifth, two at the sixth, and three at the eighth.

"It appears, then, from the above numbers, that cows are the most liable to puerperal fever at the fifth parturient period--a fact which is noticed by Mr. Barlow.

"Secondly. _At what period after the animal has calved does the disease generally supervene?_ With reference to this question, the twenty-nine cases stand thus:--

5 cows immediately after parturition.
8 " in 20 hours " "
6 " in 23 " " "
5 " in 24 " " "
3 " in 30 " " "
2 " in 36 " " "
1 " in 72 " " "

"It appears, then, from the above, that after the twentieth and twenty-fourth hours, the animals, comparatively speaking, may be considered as safe from the disease; and that after the seventy-second or seventy-third hour, all danger may be considered as past, beyond doubt.

"Thirdly. _What is the average rate of mortality amongst cows attacked with this disease?_ Out of the 29 cases, 12, I find, recovered and 17 died; which loss is equivalent to somewhere about 59 per cent.--a loss which, I am inclined to think, is not so great as that of many other practitioners. [It will be still less if you reject poison as well as the lancet.]

"Mr. Cartwright, in the May number of the Veterinarian of the present year, states that, 'Although I have seen at least a hundred cases, chiefly in this neighborhood, [Whitchurch,] during the last twenty-five years, yet I am almost ashamed to confess that I cannot call to recollection that I ever cured a single case, [neither will you ever cure one as long as the lancet and poison are cooeperative,] nor have I ever heard of a case ever being cured by any of the quacks in the neighborhood.' [Of course not, for the quacks follow in the footsteps of their prototypes, the _regular_ veterinary surgeons.]

"Fourthly. _What is the best method to pursue with cattle, in order, if possible, to_ PREVENT _the disease?_ This is a question which I hope to see amply discussed by veterinarians. I have but little to offer respecting it myself; but I labor under a kind of feeling that something valuable may not only be said, but done, by way of prevention. With reference to preventing the disease, Mr. Barlow, in his Essay, says, 'There is a pretty certain preventive in milking the cow some time before calving in full _blood-letting_ before or immediately after; in purgatives, very limited diet, and other depletive measures; each and all tending to illustrate the necessity of a vascular state of the system for its development!'"

Mr. Haycock continues: "So far as my own experience is concerned, it is at variance with almost every one of my observations. In the table which I have given respecting question 2, the reader will recollect that I stated that puerperal fever supervened in five cows immediately after parturition. Now, it is worthy of remark, of these five cases, that every animal had been milked many hours previous to calving. The full udder, under such circumstances, is a powerful excitant to the uterus: this is a well-known fact, and the consequence is, that if this natural excitant be withdrawn, the action of the process at once becomes diminished. I have known many cases, in addition to those already given, where the parturient process was prolonged for hours in consequence of the animal's being milked, in whom fever supervened almost immediately afterwards. The prolonged process, I think, greatly weakens the animal, and, as a natural result, the vital energies become less capable of maintaining their normal integrity. With reference, again, to bleeding and purging as preventives, I have nothing to offer in favor of either mode. I do not believe that they are preventives. [Good, again, doctor: you are one of the right stripe. It would give us pleasure to see a few such as you on this side of the water.] First of all, we require to know what percentage of calving cows are liable to be affected with puerperal fever; then, whether that percentage becomes reduced in number in consequence of such preventive measures being brought into force: these are the only modes whereby the matter can be proved; and, so far as I know, no one has ever brought the question to such a test. That bleeding and purging are considered as preventives by people in general, I know perfectly; but, like many other popular opinions, the thing which is believed requires first to be proved ere it becomes truth.

"I perfectly agree with Mr. Barlow in recommending spare diet. I regard it, in fact, as the great preventive.... When I say spare diet, I do not mean poor diet. The food should be good, but they should not have that huge bulk of matter which they are capable of devouring, and which they appear so much to desire. I should commence the process for eight or ten days prior to calving, or even, with some animals, much earlier; and the diet I would give should consist of beans, boiled linseed, and boiled oats, with occasionally small portions of hay. I should not always feed upon one mixture. I might occasionally substitute boiled barley in place of oats; and when the time for calving was very near at hand, say within a day or so, I should become more sparing with my hay, and more copious with my allowance of bran. With regard to the diet after calving, I should pursue much the same course I have named: perhaps for the first thirty hours I might allow the animal nothing but gruel and bran mash, in which I should mix a little oatmeal, or very thick gruel. I have sometimes thought--_but hitherto it has not gone beyond a thought with me_--that a broad cotton or linen bandage, fixed moderately tight round the cow's body immediately after calving, might prove of some assistance as a preventive. I have had no experience in its benefit myself; I merely suggest the thing; and if it did nothing more, it would prevent, in some measure, the animal from feeling that sensation of vacuity which must necessarily exist immediately and for some time after calving, and which, I think, under some conditions of the system, may be injurious to the animal. I am told by a medical friend of mine, that he has known puerperal fever produced in women solely from midwives' neglecting to bandage them after delivery; at any rate, a bandage, or a broad belt having straps and buckles attached, and placed securely round the cow's body immediately after calving, and kept there for a day or two, could do no harm, if it failed of doing good.

"Fifthly. _Which is the best method of treatment to pursue with cows when attacked with puerperal fever?_ Upon this question I feel that I could say much; but at present I defer its consideration.... Suffice it to say, then, that I never either bleed or administer purges. I used once to do both, but my experience has shown me, in numerous cases, that neither is necessary.... This malady I have written upon is fearfully destructive; and if such diseases cannot be met with powers capable of wrestling with it, I, for one, shall say that it is a stigma upon our art--I will say that when we are most wanted, we are of the least use."

FOOTNOTES:

[5] Inflammation of the peritoneum.

[6] Water very frequently accumulates in the belly or chest, after blood-letting.

[7] On remonstrating with a man who was about to administer half a pint of turpentine to a cow, he replied, "She has no business to be a cow!" We presume that some of the regulars have just as much, and not a particle more, of the milk of animal kindness as this man seemed to show.

NATURE, TREATMENT, AND CAUSES OF DISEASE IN CATTLE.

The pathology, or doctrine of diseases, is, as we have previously stated, little understood. Many different causes have been assigned for disease, and as many different modes of cure have been advocated. We shall not discuss either the ancient or modern doctrines any further than we conceive they interfere with correct principles. In doing so, we shall endeavor to confine ourselves to truth, reason, and nature.

We entirely discard the popular doctrine that _fever_ and _inflammation_ are disease. We look upon them as simple acts of the constitution--sanative in their nature. Then the reader may ask, "Why do you recommend medicine for them?" We do not. We only prescribe medicine, for the purpose of aiding nature to cure the diseases of which _they_ (the fever and inflammation) are symptoms, and we do not expect to accomplish even that by medicine alone. Ventilation, diet, and exercise, in nine cases out of ten, will do more good than the destructive agents that have hitherto been used, and christened "cattle medicines."

The great secret of curing diseases is, by accurately observing the indications of nature to carry off and cure disease, and by observing by what critical evacuations she does at last cast off the morbid matter which caused them, and so restores health. By thus observing, following, and assisting _nature_, agreeably to her indications, our practice will always be more satisfactory.

Whenever the great outlets (skin, lungs, and kidneys) of the animal body are obstructed, morbific and excrementitious substances are retained in the system; they irritate, stimulate, and offend nature in such a manner, that she always exerts her power to throw them off. And she acts with great regularity in her endeavors to expel the offending matter, and thus restore the animal to a healthy state.

Suppose an animal to be attacked with disease, and fever supervenes; the whole system is then aroused to cast out this disease: nature invariably points to certain outlets, as the only passages through which the enemy must evacuate the system; and it is the province of the physician to aid in this wise and well-established effort; but when such means are resorted to as in the case of the cow at Waltham, (p. 98,) instead of rendering nature the necessary assistance, her powers and energies are entirely crushed.

Let us suppose a horse to have been exercised; during that exercise, there is a determination of heat and fluids to the surface: the pores of the skin expand and permit the fluids to make their exit: now, if the horse is put into a cold stable, evaporation commences, leaving the surface cold and the pores constricted, so that, after the circulating system has rested a while, it commences a strong action again, to throw off the remaining fluids that were thus suddenly arrested; there is no chance for their escape, as the pores are closed; the skin then becomes dry and harsh, the "coat stares," and the animal has, in common parlance, taken cold, and "it has thrown him into a fever." Now, the cold is the real enemy to be overcome, and the fever should be aided by warmth, moisture, friction, and diffusables. If, at this stage, the cold is removed, the fever will disappear; but if the disease (the cold) has been allowed to advance until a general derangement or sympathetic action is set up, and there is an accumulation of morbific matter in the system, then the restorative process must be more powerful and energetic; constantly bearing in mind that we must assist nature in her endeavors to throw off whatever is the cause of her infirmities. Instead of attacking the disease with the lancet and poison,--which is on the principle of killing the horse to cure the fever,--we should use remedies that are favorable to life. It matters not what organs are affected; the means and processes are the same, and therefore the division of inflammation and fever into a great number of parts designated by as many names, and indicated by twenty times as many complications of symptoms which may never be present, only serve to bewilder the practitioner, and render his practice ineffectual.

PLEURO-PNEUMONIA.

As very little is, at present, known of the nature of this disease, we give the reader the views of Mr. Dun, who received the gold medal offered by the Agricultural Society for the best essay on this subject.

"The causes of the disease, both immediate and remote, are subjects full of interest and importance; and a knowledge of them not only aids in the prevention of disease, but also leads the practitioner to form a more correct prognosis, and to pursue the most approved course of treatment. It is, however, unfortunate that the causes of pleuro-pneumonia have not as yet been satisfactorily explained. No department of the history of the disease is less understood, or more involved in doubt and obscurity. But in this respect pleuro-pneumonia is not peculiar: it is but one of an extensive class which embraces most epidemic and epizooetic diseases. And if the causes which produce influenza, fevers, and cholera, were clearly explained, those which produce pleuro-pneumonia would, in all probability, be easy of solution.

"Viewing the wide-spread and similar effects of pleuro-pneumonia, we may surmise that they are referable to some common cause. And although much difference of opinion exists upon this subject, it cannot be denied that _contagion_ is a most active cause in the diffusion of the disease. Indeed, a due consideration of the history and spread of pleuro-pneumonia over all parts of the land will be sufficient to show that, in certain stages of the disease, it possesses the power of infecting animals apparently in a sound and healthy condition, and otherwise unexposed to the action of any exciting cause. The peculiarity of the progress of this disease, from the time that it first appeared in England, is of itself no small evidence of its contagious nature. Its slow and gradual progress is eminently characteristic of diffusion by contagion; and not only were the earlier cases which occurred in this island distinctly proved to have arisen from contact with the Irish droves, but also subsequent cases, even up to the present day, show numerous examples in which contagion is clearly and unequivocally traceable.... Although pleuro-pneumonia is not produced by the action of anyone of these circumstances alone, [referring to noxious effluvia, &c.,] yet many of them must be considered as predisposing to the disease; and although not its immediate exciting causes, yet, by depressing the physical powers, they render the system more liable to disease, and less able to withstand its assaults. Deficient ventilation, filth, insufficient and bad food, may indeed predispose to the disease, concentrate the animal effluvia, and become the _matrix_ and _nidus_ of the organic poison; but still, not one, alone, of these circumstances, or even all of them combined, can produce the disease in question. There must be the subtle poison to call them into operation, the specific influence to generate the disease."

"On the other hand, it appears probable that the exciting cause, whether it be contagion, or whatever else, cannot, of itself, generate the disease; but that certain conditions or predisposing causes are necessary to its existence, and without which its specific effects cannot be produced. But although these _remote_ or _predisposing_ causes are very numerous, they are often difficult of detection; nay, it is sometimes impossible to tell to what the disease is referable, or upon what weak point the exciting cause has fixed itself. A source of perplexity results from the fact.... The predisposing causes of the disease admit of many divisions and subdivisions; they may, however, be considered under two general heads--_hereditary_ and _acquired_.

"With reference to the former, we know that good points and properties of an animal are transmitted from one generation to another; so also are faults, and the tendencies to particular diseases. As in the same families there is a similarity of external form, so is there also an internal likeness, which accounts for the common nature of their constitution, modified, however, by difference of age, sex, &c.

"Among the acquired predisposing causes of pleuro-pneumonia may be enumerated general debility, local weakness, resulting from previous disease, irritants and stimulants, exposure to cold, damp or sudden changes of temperature, the want of cleanliness, the breathing of an atmosphere vitiated by the decomposition of animal or vegetable matters, or laden with any other impurity. In short, under this head may be included every thing which tends to lower the health and vigor of the system, and consequently to increase the susceptibility to disease.

"The primary symptoms of pleuro-pneumonia are generally obscure, and too often excite but little attention or anxiety. As the disease steals on, the animal becomes dull and dejected, and, if in the field, separates itself from its fellows. It becomes uneasy, ceases to ruminate, and the respirations are a little hurried. If it be a milk-cow, the lacteal secretion is diminished, and the udder is hot and tender. The eyes are dull, the head is lowered, nose protruded, and the nostrils expanded. The urine generally becomes scanty and high-colored. It is seldom thought that much is the matter with the animal until it ceases to eat; but this criterion does not hold good in most cases of the disease, for the animal at the outset still takes its food, and continues to do so until the blood becomes impoverished and poisoned; it is then that the system becomes deranged, the digestive process impaired, and fever established. The skin adheres to the ribs, and there is tenderness along the spine. Manipulation of the trachea, and percussion applied to the sides, causes the animal to evince pain. Although the beast may have been ill only three days, the number of pulsations are generally about seventy per minute; but they are sometimes eighty, and even more. In the first stage, the artery under the jaw feels full and large; but as the disease runs on, the pulse rapidly becomes smaller, quicker, and more oppressed. The breathing is labored, and goes on accelerating as the local inflammation increases. The fore extremities are planted wide apart, with the elbows turned out in order to arch the ribs, and form fixed points for the action of those muscles which the animal brings into operation to assist the respiratory process. In pleuro-pneumonia, the hot stage of fever is never of long duration, [_simply because there is not enough vitality in the system to keep up a continued fever_.] The state of collapse quickly ensues, when the surface heat again decreases, and the pulse becomes small and less distinct. We have now that low typhoid fever so much to be dreaded, and which characterizes the disease in common with epizooetics.