Pleuro-pneumonia

Categories: Diseases and their Remedies

This disease, as its name implies, is an inflammatory condition of the

lungs and the pleura, or the enveloping membrane of the lungs and the

lining membrane of the chest. It is sometimes called contagious,

infectious, and epizooetic pleuro-pneumonia,--contagious or infectious,

from its supposed property of transmission from the diseased to the

healthy animal.






A contagious character th author is not ready to assign to

it,--contagious, as he understands it, being strictly applicable to

those diseases which depend upon actual contact with the poison that it

may be communicated from one animal to another. This does not

necessarily imply the actual touching of the animals themselves; for it

may be communicated from the poison left in the trough, or other places

where the diseased animal has been brought in contact with some object,

as is often the case in glanders in the horse; the matter discharged

from the nose, and left upon the manger, readily communicating that

disease to healthy animals coming in contact with it. Contagious

diseases, therefore, travel very slowly, starting, as they do, at one

point, and gradually spreading over a large district, or section of

country.



This disease is, however, regarded by the author as infectious; by which

term is meant that it is capable of being communicated from the diseased

to the healthy animal through the medium of the air, which has become

contaminated by the exhalations of poisonous matter. The ability to

inoculate other animals in this way is necessarily confined to a limited

space, sometimes not extending more than a few yards. Infectious

diseases, accordingly, spread with more rapidity than contagious ones,

and are, consequently, more to be dreaded; since we can avoid the one

with comparatively little trouble, while the other often steals upon us

when we regard ourselves as beyond its influence, carrying death and

destruction in its course.



The term by which this disease is known, is a misnomer. Pleuro-pneumonia

proper is neither a contagious, nor an infectious disease; hence, the

denial of medical men that this so-called pleuro-pneumonia is a

contagious, or infectious disease, has been the means of unnecessarily

exposing many animals to its poisonous influence.



In the Recueil de Medecine Veterinaire, for 1833, will be found a very

interesting description of this fatal malady. The author, M. Lecoy,

Assistant Professor at the Veterinary School of Lyons, France, says:

"There are few districts in the arrondissement of Avesnes where more

cattle are fattened than in that of Soire-le-Chateau. The farmers being

unable to obtain a sufficient supply of cattle in the district, are

obliged to purchase the greater part of them from other provinces; and

they procure a great number for grazing from Franche Comte. The cattle

of this country are very handsome; their forms are compact; they fatten

rapidly; and they are a kind of cattle from which the grazer would

derive most advantage, were it not that certain diseases absorb, by the

loss of some of the animals, the profits of the rest of the herd.

Amongst the diseases which most frequently attack the cattle which are

brought from the North, there is one very prevalent in some years, and

which is the more to be dreaded as it is generally incurable; and the

slaughter of the animal, before he is perceptibly wasted, is the only

means by which the farmer can avoid losing the whole value of the beast.



"This disease is chronic pleuro-pneumonia. The symptoms are scarcely

recognizable at first, and often the beast is ill for a long time

without its being perceived. He fattens well, and when he is slaughtered

the owner is astonished to find scarcely half of the lungs capable of

discharging the function of respiration. When, however, the ox has not

sufficient strength of constitution to resist the ravages of disease,

the first symptom which is observed is diminution, or irregularity of

appetite. Soon afterwards, a frequent, dry cough is heard, which becomes

feeble and painful as the disease proceeds. The dorso-lumbar portion of

the spine (loins) grows tender; the animal flinches when the part is

pressed upon, and utters a peculiar groan, or grunt, which the graziers

regard as decisive of the malady.



"Quickly after this, the movements of the flanks become irregular and

accelerated, and the act of respiration is accompanied by a kind of

balancing motion of the whole body. The sides of the chest become as

tender as the loins, or more so; for the animal immediately throws

himself down, if pressed upon with any force. The elbows become, in many

subjects, more and more separated from the sides of the chest. The pulse

is smaller than natural, and not considerably increased. The muzzle is

hot and dry, alternately. The animal lies down as in a healthy state,

but rumination is partially or entirely suspended. The faeces are

harder than they should be; the urine is of its natural color and

quantity; the mouth is often dry; and the horns and ears retain their

natural temperature.



"This first stage of the disease sometimes continues during a month, or

more, and then, if the animal is to recover, or at least, apparently so,

the symptoms gradually disappear. First of all, the appetite returns,

and the beast begins to acquire a little flesh. The proprietor should

then make haste and get rid of him; for it is very rare that the malady,

however it may be palliated for a while, does not reappear with greater

intensity than before.



"In most cases, the disease continues to pursue its course toward its

termination without any remission,--every symptom gradually increasing

in intensity. The respiration becomes more painful; the head is more

extended; the eyes are brilliant; every expiration is accompanied with a

grunt, and by a kind of puckering of the angles of the lips; the cough

becomes smaller, more suppressed, and more painful; the tongue protrudes

from the mouth, and a frothy mucus is abundantly discharged; the breath

becomes offensive; a purulent fluid of a bloody color escapes from the

nostrils; diarrhoea, profuse and fetid, succeeds to the constipation;

the animal becomes rapidly weaker; he is a complete skeleton, and at

length he dies.



"Examination after death discloses slight traces of inflammation in the

intestines, discoloration of the liver, and a hard, dry substance

contained in the manyplus. The lungs adhere to the sides and to the

diaphragm by numerous bands, evidently old and very firm. The substance

of the lungs often presents a reddish-gray hepatization throughout

almost its whole extent. At other times, there are tubercles in almost

every state of hardness, and in that of suppuration. The portion of the

lungs that is not hepatized is red, and gorged with blood. Besides the

old adhesions, there are numerous ones of recent date. The pleura is not

much reddened, but by its thickness in some points, its adhesion in

others, and the effusion of a serous fluid, it proves how much and how

long it has participated in the inflammatory action. The trachea and the

bronchia are slightly red, and the right side of the head is gorged with

blood.



"In a subject in which, during life, I could scarcely feel the beating

of the heart, I found the whole of the left lobe of the lungs adhering

to the sides, and completely hepatized. In another, that had presented

no sign of disease of the chest, and that for some days before his death

vomited the little fodder which he could take, the whole of that portion

of the oesophagus that passed through the chest was surrounded with

dense false membranes, of a yellowish hue, ranging from light to dark,

and being in some parts more than an inch in thickness, and adhering

closely to the muscular membrane of the tube, without allowing any

trace to be perceived of that portion of the mediastinal pleura on which

this unnatural covering was fixed and developed.



"The cattle purchased in Franche Comte are brought to Avesnes at two

periods of the year--in autumn and in the spring. Those which are

brought in autumn are much more subject to the disease than those which

have arrived in the spring; and it almost always happens that the years

in which it shows itself most generally are those in which the weather

was most unfavorable while the cattle were on the road. The journey is

performed by two different routes,--through Lorraine and through

Champagne,--and the disease frequently appears in cattle that have

arrived by one of these routes. The manner in which the beasts are

treated, on their arrival, may contribute not a little to the

development of the malady. These animals, which have been driven long

distances in bad weather, and frequently half starved, arrived famished,

and therefore the more fatigued, and some of them lame. Calculating on

their ravenous appetite, the graziers, instead of giving them wholesome

food, make them consume the worst that the farm contains,--musty and

mouldy fodder; and it is usually by the cough, which the eating of such

food necessarily produces, that the disease is discovered and first

developed.



"Is chronic pleuro-pneumonia contagious? The farmers believe that it is,

and I am partly of their opinion. When an animal falls sick in the

pasture, the others, after his removal, go and smell at the grass where

he has lain, and which he has covered with his saliva, and, after that,

new cases succeed to the first. It is true that this fact is not

conclusive, since the disease also appears in a great number of animals

that have been widely separated from each other. But I have myself seen

three cases in which the cattle of the country, perfectly well before,

have fallen ill, and died with the same symptoms, excepting that they

have been more acute, after they have been kept with cattle affected

with this disease. This circumstance inclines me to think that the

disease is contagious; or, at least, that, in the progress of it, the

breath infects the cow-house in which there are other animals already

predisposed to the same disease. I am induced to believe that most of

the serious internal diseases are communicated in this manner, and

particularly those which affect the organs of respiration, when the

animals are shut up in close, low, and badly-ventilated cow-houses."

[Rec. de Med. Vet. Mai, 1833.]



No malady can be more terrible and ruinous than this among dairy-stock;

and its spread all over the country, together with its continuance with

scarcely any abatement, must be attributed to the combination of various

causes. The chief are: first, the very contagious or infectious nature

of the disorder; second, inattention on the part of Government to the

importation and subsequent sale of diseased animals; and, third, the

recklessness of purchasers of dairy or feeding cattle.



This disease may be defined as an acute inflammation of the organs of

the chest, with the development of a peculiar and characteristic poison,

which is the active element of infection or contagion. It is a disease

peculiar to the cattle tribe, notwithstanding occasional assertions

regarding observations of the disease among horses, sheep, and other

animals,--which pretended observations have not been well attested.



The infectious, or contagious nature of this virulent malady is

incontestibly substantiated by an overwhelming amount of evidence, which

cannot be adduced at full length here, but which may be classified under

the following heads: first, the constant spreading of the disease from

countries in which it rages to others which, previously to the

importation of diseased animals, had been perfectly free from it. This

may be proved in the case of England, into which country it was carried

in 1842, by affected animals from Holland. Twelve months after, it

spread from England to Scotland, by means of some cattle sold at

All-Hallow Fair, and it was only twelve months afterward that cattle

imported as far north as Inverness took the disease there. Lately, a cow

taken from England to Australia was observed to be diseased upon

landing, and the evil results were limited to her owner's stock, who

gave the alarm, and ensured an effectual remedy against a wider spread.

Besides, the recent importation of pleuro-pneumonia into the United

States from Holland appears to have awakened our agricultural press

generally, and to have convinced them of the stubborn fact that our

cattle have been decimated by a fearfully infectious, through probably

preventable, plague. A letter from this country to an English author

says: "Its (pleuro-pneumonia's) contagious character seems to be settled

beyond a doubt, though some of the V.S. practitioners deny it, which is

almost as reasonable as it would be to deny any other well-authenticated

historic fact. Every case of the disease is traceable to one of two

sources; either to Mr. Chenery's stock in Belmont (near Boston,

Massachusetts), into which the disease was introduced by his importation

of four Dutch cows from Holland, which arrived here the 23d of last May;

or else to one of the three calves which he sold to a farmer in North

Brookfield, Massachusetts, last June."



2dly. Apart from the importation into countries, we have this certain

proof--to which special attention was drawn several years ago--that

cattle-dealers' farms, and public markets, constitute the busy centres

of infection. Most anxious and careful inquiries have established the

proposition that in breeding-districts, where the proprietors of

extensive dairies--as in Dumfries, Scotland, and other places--abstain

from buying, except from their neighbors, who have never had diseases of

the lungs amongst their stock, pleuro-pneumonia has not been seen. There

is a wide district in the Vicinity of Abington, England, and in the

parish of Crawford, which has not been visited by this plague, with

the exception of two farms, into which market-cattle had been imported

and thus brought the disease.



3dly. In 1854 appeared a Report of the Researches on Pleuro-Pneumonia,

by a scientific commission, instituted by the Minister of Agriculture in

France. This very able pamphlet was edited by Prof. Bouley, of Alfort,

France. The members of the commission belonged to the most eminent

veterinarians and agriculturists in France. Magendie was President;

Regnal, Secretary; besides Rayer, the renowned comparative pathologist;

Yvart, the Inspector-General of the Imperial Veterinary Schools;

Renault, Inspector of the Imperial Veterinary Schools; Delafond,

Director of Alfort College; Bouley, Lassaigne, Baudemont, Doyere, Manny

de Morny, and a few others representing the public. If such a

commission were occasionally appointed in this country for similar

purposes, how much light would be thrown on subjects of paramount

importance to the agricultural community!



Conclusions arrived at by the commission are too important to be

overlooked in this connection. The reader must peruse the Report itself,

if he needs to satisfy himself as to the care taken in conducting the

investigations: but the foregoing names sufficiently attest the

indisputable nature of the facts alluded to.



In instituting its experiments, the commission had in view the solving

of the following questions:--



1stly. Is the epizooetic pleuro-pneumonia of cattle susceptible of

being transmitted from diseased to healthy animals by cohabitation?



2dly. In the event of such contagion's existing, would all the animals

become affected, or what proportion would resist the disease?



3dly. Amongst the animals attacked by the disease, how many recover,

and under what circumstances? How many succumb?



4thly. Are there any animals of the ox species decidedly free from any

susceptibility of being affected from the contagion of pleuro-pneumonia?



5thly. Do the animals, which have been once affected by a mild form of

the disease, enjoy immunity from subsequent attacks?



6thly. Do the animals, which have once been affected by the disease in

its active form, enjoy such immunity?



To determine these questions, the commission submitted at different

times to the influence of cohabitation with diseased animals forty-six

perfectly healthy ones, chosen from districts in which they had never

been exposed to a similar influence.



Of these forty-six animals, twenty were experimented on at Pomeraye, two

at Charentonneau, thirteen at Alfort, and eleven, in the fourth

experiment, at Charentonneau.



Of this number, twenty-one animals resisted the disease when first

submitted to the influence of cohabitation, ten suffered slightly, and

fifteen took the disease. Of the fifteen affected, four died, and eleven

recovered. Consequently, the animals which apparently escaped the

disease at the first trial amounted to 45.65 per cent., and those

affected to 21.73 per cent. Of these, 23.91 per cent. recovered, and

8.69 per cent. died. But the external appearances in some instances

proved deceptive, and six of the eleven animals of the last experiment,

which were regarded as having escaped free, were found, on being

destroyed, to bear distinct evidence of having been affected. This,

therefore, modifies the foregoing calculations, and the numbers should

stand thus:--



15 enjoy immunity, or 32.61 per cent.

10 indisposed, " 21.73 "

17 animals cured, " 36.95 "

4 dead, " 8.98 "



Of the forty-two animals which were exposed in the first experiments at

Pomeraye and Charentonneau, and which escaped either without becoming

affected, or recovering, eighteen were submitted to a second trial; and

of these eighteen animals, five had, in the first experiment, suffered

from the disease and had recovered; five had now become affected; and

four had been indisposed. The four animals submitted to the influence

of contagion a third time, had been affected on the occasion of the

first trial. None of the eighteen animals contracted the disease during

these renewed exposures to the influence of contagion.



From the results of these experiments, the commission drew the following

conclusions:--



1stly. The epizooetic pleuro-pneumonia is susceptible of being

transmitted from diseased to healthy animals by cohabitation.



2dly. All the animals exposed do not take the disease; some suffer

slightly, and others not at all.



3dly. Of the affected animals, some recover and others die.



4thly. The animals, whether slightly or severely affected, possess an

immunity against subsequent attacks.



These are the general conclusions which the commission deemed themselves

authorized to draw from their experiments. The absolute proportion of

animals which become affected, or which escape the disease, or of those

which die and which recover, as a general rule, cannot be deduced from

the foregoing experiments, which, for such a purpose, are too limited.

The commission simply state the numbers resulting from their

experiments. From these it transpires that forty five of the animals

became severely affected with pleuro-pneumonia, and twenty-one per cent.

took the disease slightly, making the whole sixty-six per cent. which

were more or less severely attacked. Thirty-four per cent. remained free

from any malady. The proportion of animals which re-acquired their

wonted appearance of health amounted to eighty-three per cent., whereas

seventeen per cent. died. Many minor points might be insisted on, but it

is sufficient here to say, that the most careful analysis of all facts

has proved to practical veterinarians, as well as to experienced

agriculturists, and must prove to all who will calmly and

dispassionately consider the point, that pleuro-pneumonia is

pre-eminently an infectious, or contagious disease.






Symptoms.--From the time that an animal is exposed to the contagion to

the first manifestation of symptoms, a certain period elapses. This is

the period of incubation. It varies from a fortnight to forty days, or

even several months. The first signs, proving that the animal has been

seized, can scarcely be detected by any but a professional man; though,

if a proprietor of cattle were extremely careful, and had pains-taking

individuals about his stock, he would invariably notice a slight shiver

as ushering in the disorder, which for several days, even after the

shivering fit, would limit itself to slight interference in breathing,

readily detected on auscultation. Perhaps a cough might be noticed, and

that the appetite and milk-secretion diminished. The animal becomes

costive, and the shivering fits recur. The cough becomes more constant

and oppressive; the pulse full and frequent, usually numbering about

eighty per minute at first, and rising to upwards of one hundred. The

temperature of the body rises, and all the symptoms of acute fever set

in. A moan, or grunt, in the early part of the disease indicates a

dangerous attack, and the alae nasi (cartilages of the nose) rise

spasmodically at each inspiration; the air rushes through the inflamed

windpipe and bronchial tubes, so as to produce a loud, coarse

respiratory murmur; and the spasmodic action of the abdominal muscles

indicates the difficulty the animal also experiences in the act of

expiration. Pressure over the intercostal (between the ribs) spaces, and

pressing on the spine, induce the pain so characteristic of pleurisy,

and a deep moan not infrequently follows such an experiment. The eyes

are bloodshot, mouth clammy, skin dry and tightly bound to the

subcutaneous textures, and the urine is scanty and high-colored.



Upon auscultation, the characteristic dry, sonorous rale of ordinary

bronchitis may be detected along the windpipe, and in the bronchial

tubes. A loud sound of this description is, not infrequently, detected

at the anterior part of either side of the chest; whilst the respiratory

murmur is entirely lost, posteriorly, from consolidation of the lungs. A

decided leathery, frictional sound is detected over a considerable

portion of the thoracic surface. As the disease advances, and gangrene,

with the production of cavities in the lungs, ensues, loud, cavernous

rales are heard, which are more or less circumscribed, occasionally

attended by a decided metallic noise. When one lobe of the lungs is

alone affected, the morbid sounds are confined to one side, and on the

healthy side the respiratory murmur is uniformly louder all over.



By carefully auscultating diseased cows from day to day, interesting

changes can be discovered during the animal's lifetime. Frequently, the

abnormal sounds indicate progressive destruction; but, at other times,

portions of the lungs that have been totally impervious to air, become

the seat of sibilant rales, and gradually, a healthy respiratory

murmur proves that, by absorption of the materials which have been

plugging the tissues of the lungs, resolution is fast advancing. Some

very remarkable cases of this description have been encountered in

practice.



Unfortunately, we often find a rapid destruction of the tissues of the

lungs, and speedy dissolution. In other instances, the general symptoms

of hectic, or consumption, attend lingering cases, in which the

temperature of the body becomes low, and the animal has a dainty

appetite, or refuses all nourishment. It has a discharge from the eyes,

and a fetid, sanious discharge from the nose. Not infrequently, it

coughs up disorganized lung-tissue and putrid pus. Great prostration,

and, indeed, typhus symptoms, set in. There is a fetid diarrhoea, and

the animal sinks in the most emaciated state, often dying from

suffocation, in consequence of the complete destruction of the

respiratory structures.



Post mortem appearances.--In acute cases, the cadaverous lesions

chiefly consist in abundant false membranes in the trachea, or windpipe,

and closure of the bronchial tubes by plastic lymph. The air-vesicles

are completely plugged by this material, and very interesting specimens

may be obtained by careful dissection, in the shape of casts of the

bronchial tubes and air-vesicles, clustered together like bunches of

grapes. On slicing the lungs in these cases, hepatization is observed,

presenting a very peculiar appearance, which is, in a great measure, due

to the arrangement of the lung-tissue in cattle. The pulmonary lobules

are of a deep-red or brown color, perfectly consolidated, and

intersected or separated, one from the other, by lighter streaks of

yellowish-red lymph, occupying the interlobular, areolar tissue. In the

more chronic cases, the diseased lobes and lobules are found partly

separated from the more healthy structures.



This occurs from gangrene, and putrefactive changes, or in some

instances, from the ulcerative process, so constantly observed in the

segregation of dead from living tissues. Abscesses are not infrequently

found in different parts of the lungs. Sometimes circumscribed, at

others connected with bronchial tubes, and not infrequently

communicating with the pleural cavity. True empyema is not often seen;

but, at all times, the adhesions between the costal and visceral pleura

are extensive, and there is much effusion in the chest. In dressed

carcasses of cows that have been slaughtered from pleuro-pneumonia, even

though the disease has not been far advanced, it will be found that the

butcher has carefully scraped the serous membrane off the inner surface

of the ribs, as it would otherwise be impossible for him to give the

pleura its healthy, smooth aspect, from the firm manner in which the

abundant false membranes adhere to it. The diseased lungs sometimes

attain inordinate weight. They have been known to weigh as much as sixty

pounds.



Treatment.--The veterinary profession is regarded by many who have

sustained heavy losses from pleuro-pneumonia, as deeply ignorant,

because its members cannot often cure the disease. Persons forget that

there are several epidemics which prove equally difficult to manage on

the part of the physician, such as cholera, yellow fever, etc. The

poison in these contagious, epizooetic diseases is so virulent that the

animals may be regarded as dead from the moment they are attacked. Its

elimination from the system is impossible, and medicine cannot support

an animal through its tardy, exhausting, and destructive process of

clearing the system of so potent a virus. All antiphlogistic means have

failed, such as blood-letting and the free use of evacuants.

Derivatives, in the form of mustard-poultices, or more active blisters,

are attended with good results. Stimulants have proved of the greatest

service; and the late Prof. Tessona, of Turin, strongly recommended,

from the very onset of the disease, the administration of strong doses

of quinine. Maffei, of Ferrara, states that he has obtained great

benefit from the employment of ferruginous tonics and manganese in the

very acute stage of the malady, supported by alcoholic stimulants.

Recently, the advantages resulting from the use of sulphate of iron,

both as a preventive and curative, have been exhibited in France. It

would appear that the most valuable depurative method of treatment yet

resorted to is by the careful use of the Roman bath. Acting, like all

other sudorifics in cases of fever and blood diseases, it carries off by

the skin much of the poison, without unduly lowering the vital powers.



Prevention.--The rules laid down in Denmark, and indeed in many other

places, appear the most natural for the prevention of the disease. If

they could be carried out, the disease must necessarily be stopped; but

there are practical and insuperable difficulties in the way of enforcing

them. Thus, a Dr. Warneke says, prevention consists in "the avoidance of

contagion; the slaughter of infected beasts; the prohibition of keeping

cattle by those whose cattle have been slaughtered, for a space of ten

weeks after the last case occurring; the disinfection of stalls vacated

by slaughtering; the closing of infected places to all passing of

cattle; especial attention to the removal of the dung, and of the

remains of the carcasses of slaughtered beasts; and, finally,

undeviating severity of the law against violators."



Dr. Williams, of Hasselt, suggested and carried out, in 1851, the

inoculation of the virus of pleuro-pneumonia, in order to induce a mild

form of the disease in healthy animals, and prevent their decimation by

the severe attacks due to contagion. He met with much encouragement, and

perhaps more opposition. Didot, Corvini, Ercolani, and many more

accepted Dr. Williams's facts as incontestable, and wrote, advocating

his method of checking the spread of so destructive a plague.



The first able memoir which contested all that has been said in favor of

inoculation, appeared in Turin, and was written by Dr. Riviglio, a

Piedmontese veterinary surgeon. This was supported by the views of many

others. Prof. Simonds wrote against the plan, and, in 1854, the French

commission, whose report has been before mentioned, confirmed, in part,

Riviglio's views, though, from the incompleteness of the experiments,

further trials were recommended.



Inoculation is performed as follows: A portion of diseased lung is

chosen, and a bistoury or needle made to pierce it so as to become

charged with the material consolidating the lung, and this is afterward

plunged into any part, but, more particularly, toward the point of the

tail. If operated severely, and higher up, great exudation occurs, which

spreads upward, invades the areolar tissue round the rectum and other

pelvic organs, and death soon puts an end to the animal's excruciating

suffering. If the operation is properly performed with lymph that is not

putrid, and the incisions are not made too deep, the results are limited

to local exudation and swelling, general symptoms of fever, and gradual

recovery. The most common occurrence is sloughing of the tail; and in

London, at the present time, dairies are to be seen in which all the

cows have short-tail stumps.



Dr. Williams and others have gone too far in attempting to describe a

particular corpuscle as existing in the lymph of pleuro-pneumonia. All

animal poisons can be alone discovered from their effects. In structure

and chemical constitution, there is no difference, and often the most

potent poisons are simple fluids. The Belgian Commission, appointed to

investigate the nature and influence of inoculation for

pleuro-pneumonia, very justly expressed an opinion that Dr. Williams had

not proved that a specific product, distinguished by anatomical

characters, and appreciable by the microscope, existed in this disease.



The all-important question, "Is inoculation of service?" has to the

satisfaction of most been solved. The Belgian and French commissions,

the observations of Riviglio, Simond, Herring, and many others, prove

that a certain degree of preservative influence is derived by the

process of inoculation. It does not, however, arrest the progress of the

disease. It certainly diminishes to some extent--though often very

slightly so--the number of cases, and, particularly, of severe ones.

This effect has been ascribed to a derivative action, independent of any

specific influence, and, indeed, similar to that of introducing setons

in the dewlap.



In London, some dairymen have considerable faith in inoculation, though

its effect is uncertain, and the manner of its working a mystery. The

best counsel, in the premises, which can be given to the keeper of dairy

stock is, to select his own animals from healthy herds, and strictly to

avoid public markets. In many instances, a faithful observance of these

injunctions has been sufficient to prevent the invasion of this terrible

disease. [Gamgee.]



The existence of this disease in the United States was not generally

known until the year 1859, when Mr. Chenery, of Belmont, near Boston,

Massachusetts, imported several cows from Holland, which arrived in the

early part of the spring of that year. Some of the animals were sick

when they arrived, but the true nature of the disease was not at that

time suspected. Several of them were so bad that they were carried in

trucks to Mr. Chenery's barn. Some two months passed away before the

character of the disease was discovered.



Upon the facts becoming known, the citizens of Massachusetts became

panic-stricken, as the disease was rapidly spreading over that State. An

extra session of the Legislature was speedily convened, when a Joint

Special Committee was appointed, to adopt and carry out such measures as

in their judgment seemed necessary for the extirpation of this monster,

pleuro-pneumonia.



The Committee met in the Hall of the House of Representatives, Thursday,

May, 31, 1860, to receive evidence as to the contagious or infectious

character of the disease, in order to determine concerning the necessity

of legislative action.



Mr. Walker, one of the commissioners appointed by the Governor, made the

following statement: "The disease was introduced into North Brookfield

from Belmont. Mr. Curtis Stoddard, a young man of North Brookfield, went

down, the very last of June, last year, and purchased three calves of

Mr. Chenery, of Belmont. He brought these calves up in the cars to

Brookfield. On their way from the depot to his house, about five miles,

one of the calves was observed to falter, and when he got to his house,

it seemed to be sick, and in two or three days exhibited very great

illness; so much so, that his father came along, and, thinking he could

take better care of it, took the calf home. He took it to his own barn,

in which there were about forty head of cattle; but it grew no better,

and his son went up and brought it back again to his own house. In about

ten days after that, it died. His father, who had had the calf nearly

four days, in about a fortnight afterward observed that one of his oxen

was sick, and it grew worse very fast and died. Two weeks after, a

second also sickened, and died. Then a third was attacked and died, the

interval growing wider from the attack of one animal to that of another,

until he had lost eight oxen and cows. Young Stoddard lost no animal by

the infection,--that is, no one died on his hands. Prior to the

appointment of this Commission, about the first of November,--for

reasons independent of this disease, which I don't suppose he then knew

the nature of,--he sold off his stock. He sold off eleven heifers, or

young animals, and retained nine of the most valuable himself; which

shows that he did not then know any thing was the matter with them.



"These nine were four oxen, and five young cattle. The four he took to

his father's, three of the others to his uncle's, and the remaining two

to his father-in-law's; distributing them all among his friends,--which

furnishes another proof that he did not suppose he was doing any

mischief. He disposed of his herd in that way. From this auction, these

eleven animals went in different directions, and wherever they went,

they scattered the infection. Without a single failure the disease has

followed those cattle; in one case, more than two hundred cattle having

been infected by one which was sold at Curtis Stoddard's auction, when

he was entirely ignorant of the disease.



"When the commission was appointed, they went and examined his cattle,

and were satisfied that they were diseased,--at least, some of them.

They examined his father's herd, and found that they were very much

diseased; and when we came to kill Curtis Stoddard's cattle, seven of

the nine head were diseased. Two were not condemned, because the law

says, 'Cattle not appearing to be diseased, shall be appraised.'

Nevertheless, it proved that these animals were diseased; so that his

whole herd was affected.



"In regard to Leonard Stoddard's cattle, he lost fourteen of his animals

before the commissioners went to his place. They took eighteen more, all

of which were diseased,--most of them very bad cases,--indeed, extreme

cases. That left eight heads, which were not condemned, because not

appearing to be diseased. Here I remark, that when this disease is under

the shoulder-blade, it cannot be detected by percussion. The physicians

did not say that the animal was not diseased, but that they did not see

sufficient evidence upon which to condemn. Such animals were to be paid

for, upon the ground of their not appearing to be diseased.

Nevertheless, it is proper to state that the remaining eight which were

not condemned, were suspected to be diseased, and we told Mr. Stoddard

that we had the impression that they were diseased, notwithstanding

appearances. He said, 'There is a three-year-old animal that has never

faltered at all. She has never manifested the slightest disease. If you

will kill her, and she is diseased, I shall make up my mind that I have

not a well animal in my stalls.' We killed the animal, and found her to

be badly diseased.



"Thus, the first two herds were all infected by the disease; and in the

last of Curtis Stoddard's oxen which we killed, we found a cyst in the

lungs of each. One of these lungs is now in this building, never having

been cut open, and medical men can see the cyst which it contains. I

have said in what manner Mr. Curtis Stoddard's cattle spread the

infection.



"In regard to Mr. Leonard Stoddard's: in the first place, he kept six or

eight oxen which he employed in teaming. He was drawing some lumber, and

stopped over night, with his oxen, at Mr. Needham's. Needham lost his

whole herd. He lost eight or ten of them, and the rest were in a

terrible condition. Seven or eight more were condemned, and his whole

herd was destroyed, in consequence of Mr. Stoddard's stopping with him

over night. Mr. Stoddard sold an animal to Mr. Woodis of New Braintree.

He had twenty-three fine cows. It ruined his herd utterly. Seven or

eight animals died before the commissioners got there. Mr. L. Stoddard

also sold a yoke of cattle to Mr. Olmstead, one of his neighbors, who

had a very good herd. They stayed only five days in his hands, when

they passed over to Mr. Doane. In these five days they had so infected

his herd that it was one of the most severe instances of disease that we

have had. One third were condemned, and another third were passed over

as sound, whether they were so, or not. They did not appear to be

diseased. The cattle that were passed from Mr. Stoddard through Mr.

Olmstead to Mr. Doane, were loaned by Mr. D. to go to a moving of a

building from Oakham to New Braintree. They were put in with twenty-two

yoke of cattle, and employed a day and a half. It has since been proved

that the whole of these cattle took the contagion. They belonged to

eleven different herds, and of course, each of these herds formed a

focus from which the disease spread. Now, in these two ways the disease

has spread in different directions.



"But, when the commissioners first commenced, they had no idea that the

disease extended further than those herds in which there were animals

sick. Hence, their ideas and the ideas of those who petitioned for the

law, did not extend at all to so large a number of herds as have since

been proved to be diseased, because they only judged of those who

manifested disease. As soon as we began in that circle, we found a

second circle of infection, and another outside of that; and by that

time it had branched off in various directions to various towns. It

assumed such proportions that it was very evident that the commissioners

had not the funds to perform the operations required by the law. The law

confines the commissioners to one operation,--killing and burying. No

discretionary power is given at all. The commissioners became entirely

dissatisfied with that condition of things, because other measures

besides merely killing and burying, are quite as necessary and

important. When they arrived at that point and discovered to what extent

the infection had spread, they stopped killing the herds, and I believe

there has not been a herd killed for twenty days.



"The policy was then changed to circumscribing the disease, by isolating

the herds just as fast as possible and as surely as possible. A man's

herd has been exposed. There is no other way than to go and examine it,

and take the diseased animals away. Then he knows the animals are

diseased, and his neighbors know it. That has been the business of the

commissioners for the last twenty days; and the facts that they have no

discretionary power whatever, and that they were entirely circumscribed

in their means, and that it was hard for the farmers to lose their stock

and not be paid for it,--induced them to petition the Governor, in

connection with the Board of Agriculture, for the calling of a session

of the Legislature, to take measures for the extinction of the disease."



In response to a question, "Whether any animals that had once been

affected, had afterward recovered?"--the same gentleman stated that

instances had occurred where cattle had been sick twice, and had,

apparently, fully recovered; they ruminated readily, and were gaining

flesh. Upon examination, however, they were pronounced diseased, and,

when killed, both lungs were found in a hopeless case, very badly

diseased.



Dr. George B. Loring, another of the commissioners, stated that eight

hundred and forty-two head of cattle had, at that time, been killed, and

that, from a careful estimate, there still remained one thousand head,

which should either be killed, or isolated for such a length of time as

should establish the fact that they had no disease about them. Twenty

thousand dollars and upwards had already been appraised as the value of

the cattle then killed.



As to disinfecting measures, the farmers who had lost cattle were

requested to whitewash their barns thoroughly, and some tons of a

disinfecting powder were purchased for the advantage of the persons who

wished to use it. An early application was advised, that the barns might

be in readiness for hay the then coming season.



The practice adopted by the commissioners was, to appraise the cattle

whenever a herd was found which had been exposed, and a surgeon was

appointed to pass judgment upon the number of diseased animals. After

that judgment, the remaining animals that were pronounced sound were

killed and passed to the credit of the owner, after an appraisement made

by these persons. The fair market-prices were paid, averaging about

thirty-three dollars a head. At the time of the meeting of the

committee, some seventy cattle had died of the disease.



An examination was made of some of the animals killed, and the following

facts obtained:--



Case 1.--This cow had been sick for nineteen days; was feeble, without

much appetite, with diarrhoea, cough, shortness of breathing, hair

staring, etc. Percussion dull over the whole of the left side of the

chest; respiration weak. Killed by authority. Several gallons of serum

were found in the left side of the chest; a thick, furzy deposit of

lymph over all the pleura-costalis. This lymph was an inch in

thickness, resembling the velvety part of tripe, and quite firm. There

was a firm deposit of lymph in the whole left lung, but more especially

at its base, with strong adhesions to the diaphragm and

pleura-costalis near the spine. The lung was hard and brittle, like

liver, near its base. No pus. Right lung and right side of chest

healthy.



Case 2.--This cow was taken very sick, January 30th. In fourteen days,

she began to get better. April 12th, she is gaining flesh, breathes

well, hair healthy, gives ten quarts of milk a day, and in all other

respects bids fair for a healthy animal hereafter, except a slight

cough. Percussion dull over base of the left lung, near the spine, and

respiration feeble in the same regions.



Autopsy.--Left lung strongly adherent to diaphragm and costal pleura;

the long adhesions well smoothed off; pleura-costalis shining and

healthy. Also, the surface of the lung, when there were no adhesions,

sound and right; all the lung white, and free for the entrance of air,

except the base, in which was a cyst containing a pint or two of pus.

Loose in this pus was a hard mass, as large as a two-quart measure,

looking like marble; when cut through its centre, it appeared like the

brittle, hardened lining in case 1. It appeared as though a piece of

lung had been detached by suppuration and enclosed in an air-tight cyst,

by which decomposition was prevented. The other lung and the chest were

sound. It is to be inferred, as there were adhesions, that there had

been pleurisy and deposit of lymph and serum, as in case 1, and that

Nature had commenced the cure by absorbing the serum from the chest, and

the lymph from the free pleural surface, and smoothed off every thing to

a good working condition. The lump in the cyst was brittle and

irregular on its surface, as though it was dissolving in the pus. No

good reason can be given why Nature should not consummate the work which

she had so wisely begun.



Case 3.--This cow had been sick fourteen days; was coughing and

breathing badly; percussion dull over both chests and respiration

feeble. Killed.



Autopsy.--Both chests filled with water; deposits of lymph over all the

pleura-costalis, presenting the same velvety, furzy appearance as in

Case 1. Both lungs were hardened at the base, and the left throughout

its whole extent, and firmly adherent to diaphragm and costal pleura,

near the spine. The right lung had nearly one-third of its substance in

a condition for the entrance of air; but this portion, even, was so

compressed with the water, that a few hours longer would have terminated

the case fatally without State aid. This case had not proceeded far

enough for the formation of the cyst or pus.



In Mr. Needham's herd, about twenty-eight days intervened between the

first and second case of disease, instead of about fourteen, as in Mr.

Olmstead's.



Case 4.--A nice heifer, in fair condition, eating well, only having a

slight cough. Percussion dull over base of the left lung.



Autopsy.--Base of left lung adherent to diaphragm and costal pleura;

lung hardened. On cutting into base, found ulceration and a head of

Timothy grass, four or five inches long. Animal in every other way well.



Case 5.--This cow was taken, January 1st, with a cough, difficulty of

breathing, and the other symptoms of the disease, and continued sick

till March 1st. On taking her out, April 12th, to be slaughtered, she

capered, stuck up her tail, snuffed, and snorted, showing all the signs

of feeling well and vigorous.



Autopsy.--Right lung firmly adherent to diaphragm and costal pleura,

near the spine. Base of lung hardened, containing a cyst with a large

lump, of the size of a two-quart measure, floating in pus; outside of

the lump was of a dirty yellow-white, irregular, brittle, and cheesy;

the inside mottled, or divided into irregular squares; red like muscle,

and breaking under the finger, like liver. Costal pleura smooth,

shining; adhesions where there was motion; card-like and polished; no

serum; lung apparently performing its functions well, except for a short

distance above the air-tight cyst, where it was still hardened. It would

seem as though Nature was intending to dissolve this lump, and carry it

off by absorption. She knows how, and would have done it, in the opinion

of the writer, had she been allowed sufficient time.



Case 6.--Was taken December 18th, and was very sick; in three weeks she

was well, except a cough, quite severe, and so continued till about the

first of March, when she coughed harder and grew worse till seven days

before she was killed, April 12th, when she brought forth a calf, and

then commenced improving again.



Autopsy.--Right lung adherent to diaphragm and costal pleura. At its

base, was a flabby, fluctuating cyst. In cutting into it, the lump was

found to be breaking up by decomposition, and scenting badly. Every

thing else normal. Was not the cyst broken through by some accident,

thus letting in the air, when she grew worse? Would she not, probably,

have overcome this disagreeable accident, and recovered, in spite of it?

This cow's hair did not look well, as did that of those in which the

cyst was air-tight; but still she was beginning to eat well again, and

appeared in a tolerable way for recovery.



Case 7.--This heifer had coughed slightly for six weeks, but the owner

said he thought no one going into his herd would notice that any thing

was the matter with her.






Autopsy.--Slight adhesions of lung to diaphragm. Near these adhesions

are small cysts, of the size of a walnut, containing pus and cheesy

matter; about the cysts a little way the lung was hardened, say for half

an inch. There were several cysts, and they appeared as though the

inflammation attacked only the different lobes of the lungs, leaving

others healthy between,--Nature throwing out coagulable lymph around the

diseased lobe, and forming thereby an air-tight cyst, cutting around the

diseased lobe by suppuration, so that it could be carried off by

absorption.



In the herd to which this animal belonged, nine days after the first cow

died, the second case occurred. First cow was sick five weeks. The time

of incubation could not have been over six weeks,--probably not over

three weeks. Of these cows, one improved in eight weeks, the other in

three weeks.



Case 8.--This cow had been sick three weeks. Killed.



Autopsy.--Large quantities of serum in left chest; lung adherent, and

hardened at base. On cutting into the hardened lung, one side of the

lump was found separated from the lung, with pus between the lines of

separation, and the forming coat of the cyst outside of the pus; the

other side of the lump was part and parcel of the hardened lung which

had not yet had time to commence separation. The costal pleura was

covered with organized lymph to the thickness of an inch, with the usual

characteristics. The right chest contained a small quantity of serum,

and had several small, hardened red spots in that lung, with some

tender, weak adhesions; but most of the right lung was healthy.



Case 9.--Sick four weeks. Killed.



Autopsy.--Right lung hardened at base; adherent to diaphragm and costal

pleura; lump separated on one side only. Cyst beginning to form, outside

of separation; pus between cyst and lump, but in a very small quantity.



These two cases settle the character of the lump, and the manner of the

formation of the cyst; the lump being lung and lymph, cut out by

suppuration,--the cyst being organized, smoothed off by suppuration,

friction, etc.



Case 10.--Killed. Hair looked badly; but the cow, it was said, ate, and

appeared well. This case, however, occurred in a herd, of which no

reliable information, in detail, could be procured.



Autopsy.--Base of lung hardened, adherent to diaphragm; containing a

cyst, in which was a lump, of the size of a quart measure, but little

pus. This lump had air-tubes running through it, which were not yet cut

off by suppuration; and in one place, the cyst was perforated by a

bronchial tube, letting in the external air to the lump, which was

undergoing disorganization, and swelling badly. When cut into, it did

not present the red, mottled, organized appearance of those cases with

air-tight cysts.



Quite a number of other cases were examined, but these ten present all

the different phases. One or two cases are needed of an early stage of

the disease, to settle the point, whether, in all cases, the primary

disease is lung fever, and the pleurisy a continuation, merely, of the

primary disease; together with some six or eight cases, during five,

six, seven, eight months from attack, and so on till entire, final

recovery. Some cases were sick almost a year since, and are now

apparently quite well; perhaps all the lump and pus are not yet gone.

Many practitioners think that no severe case will ever recover, and some

think that none ever get entirely well. Others, however, can see no

reason why, as a general rule, all single cases should not recover, and

all double cases die.



The disease was the most fatal in Mr. Chenery's (the original) herd,

although it was the best-fed and the warmest-stabled. He attributed the

fatality, in part, to a want of sufficient ventilation. The other herds,

in which all the fatal cases occurred in two hours, consisted,

originally, one of forty-eight head, of which thirteen died, or were

killed, to prevent certain death; of twenty-three head, of which seven

died; of twenty-two head, of which eight died; of twenty-two head, of

which eight also died; and of twenty-one head, of which four died. A

little less than thirty per cent., therefore, of these herds died.



This estimate excludes the calves. Most of the cows which had not calved

before being attacked, lost their calves prematurely. The probable time

of incubation, as deduced from those Massachusetts cases, is from two to

three weeks; of propagation, about the same time; the acute stage of the

disease lasting about three weeks.



The author's attention was first directed to this disease, upon its

appearance in Camden and Gloucester counties, New Jersey, in the year

1859, at about the same time it made its advent in Massachusetts. The

singularity of this coincidence inclined him for the time to regard the

disease as an epizooetic--having its origin in some peculiar condition of

the atmosphere--rather than as a contagious, or infectious disease,

which position was at that time assumed by him.



This opinion was strengthened by the fact, that no case occurring in New

Jersey could be traced to a Massachusetts origin, in which State it was

claimed that the disease never had existed in this country previous to

its introduction there. It was, therefore, denied by the veterinary

surgeons in the Eastern States, that the disease in New Jersey was the

true European pleuro-pneumonia, but it was called by them the swill-milk

disease of New York City, and it was assigned an origin in the

distillery cow-houses in Brooklyn and Williamsburg.



In 1860 it found its way across the Delaware River into Philadelphia,

spreading very rapidly in all directions, particularly in the southern

section of the county, known as The Neck,--many of the dairymen losing

from one third to one half of their herds by its devastating influence.

In order to save themselves--in part, at least--from this heavy loss,

many of them, upon the first indications of the malady, sent their

animals to the butcher, to be slaughtered for beef. In 1861 the disease

found its way into Delaware, where its ravages were severely felt. So

soon, however, as it became known that the disease was infectious or

contagious, an effort was made to trace it to its starting-point; but,

in consequence of the unwillingness of dairymen to communicate the fact

that their herds were affected with pleuro-pneumonia, all efforts proved

fruitless. In 1860 the disease found its way up the Delaware to

Riverton, a short distance above the city of Philadelphia. A

cattle-dealer, named Ward, turned some cattle into a lot, adjoining

which several others were grazing. The residents of this place are

chiefly the families of gentlemen doing business in the city, many of

whom lost their favorite animals from this destructive malady.



The first case occurring at this place, to which the author's attention

was called, was a cow belonging to Mr. D. Parrish, which had been

exposed by coming in contact with Ward's cattle, had sickened, and died.

An anxiety having been manifested to ascertain the cause of the death,

the author made an examination of the animal, which, upon dissection,

proved the disease to be a genuine case of the so-called

pleuro-pneumonia. This examination was made August 20th, 1860, at the

time of the Massachusetts excitement. Two cows, belonging to Mr. Rose,

of the same place, had been exposed, and both had taken the disease.

His attention having been called to them, he placed them under the

author's treatment, and by the use of diffusible stimulants and tonics,

one of these animals recovered, while the other was slaughtered for an

examination, which revealed all the morbid conditions so characteristic

of this disease.



The next case was a cow belonging to Mr. G. H. Roach, of the same place,

which had been grazing in a lot adjoining that of Mr. Parrish. This cow

was killed in the presence of Charles Wood, V.S., of Boston, Mass., and

Arthur S. Copeman, of Utica, N. Y., who was one of a committee appointed

by the New York State Agricultural Society for the purpose of

investigating the disease. Both of these gentlemen having witnessed the

disease in-all its forms, as it appeared in Massachusetts, were the

first to identify this case with those in that State.



Upon opening the cow, the left lung was found to be completely

consolidated, and adhered to the left side, presenting the appearance

usual in such cases. As she was with calf, the lungs of the foetus

were examined, disclosing a beautiful state of red hepatization.



The author's attention was next called to the herd of Mr. Lippincott, a

farmer in the neighborhood, who had lost several cattle by the disease;

but as he had been persuaded that treatment was useless, he abandoned

the idea of attempting to save his stock in that way. From Riverton it

soon spread to Burlington, some ten miles farther up the river, where it

carried off large numbers of valuable cattle, and it continued in

existence in that neighborhood for some time.



The disease was not then confined to these localities alone, but has

spread over a large extent of country,--and that, too, prior to its

appearance in Massachusetts, as will be shown by extracts from the

following letters, published in the Country Gentleman:--



"We have a disease among the cattle here, I will class it under these

names,--congestion of the lungs, terminating with consumption, or dropsy

of the chest. Now, I have treated two cases; one five years since, as

congestion,--and the first is still able to eat her allowance, and give

a couple of pails of milk a day,--and the other, quite recently. The

great terror of this disease is, that it is not taken in its first

stages, which are the same in the cow as in the man--a difficulty in

breathing, which, if not speedily relieved, terminates in consumption or

dropsy. I have no doubt that consumption is contagious; but is that a

reason why every one taken with congestion should be killed to check the

spread of consumption? So I should reason, if I had pleuro-pneumonia in

my drove of cattle. J. BALDWIN.



"NEWARK, N. J., June 11, 1860."



"I notice that a good deal of alarm is felt in different parts of the

country about what is called the cattle-disease.



"From the diagnosis given in the papers, I have no doubt this is

pleuro-pneumonia, with which I had some acquaintance a few years ago. If

it is the same, my observation and experience may be of some service to

those suffering now.



"It was introduced into my stock, in the fall of 1853, by one of my own

cows, which, in the spring of that year, I had sent down to my brother

in Brooklyn, to be used during the summer for milk. She was kept

entirely isolated through out the summer, and in November was sent up

by the boat. There were no other cattle on the boat at the time, nor

could I learn that she had come in contact with any in passing through

the streets on her way to the boat; and she certainly did not, after

leaving it, until she mingled with her old companions, all of whom were

then, and long afterward, perfectly well. After she had been home about

two weeks, we noticed that her appetite failed, and her milk fell off:

she seemed dull and stupid, stood with her head down, and manifested a

considerable degree of languor.



"Soon her breathing became somewhat hurried, and with a decided catch in

it; she ground her teeth; continued standing, or, if she lay down, it

was only to jump up again instantly. Her cough increased, and so, too, a

purulent and, bloody discharge from her nostrils and mouth. The

excrement was fetid, black, and hard.



"In this case, we twice administered half a pound of Epsom-salts, and

afterward, a bottle of castor-oil. Very little, but a temporary effect

was produced by these doses.



"The symptoms all increased in intensity; strength diminished; limbs

drawn together; belly tucked up, etc.; until the eight day, when she

partly lay, and partly fell down, and never rose again.



"In a post-mortem examination, the lungs were gorged with black, fetid

blood; the substance of them thickened and pulpy. The pleura and

diaphragm also showed a good deal of disease and some adhesion. This

cow, on her arrival here, was put in her usual place in the stable,

between others. She remained there for two or three days after she was

taken sick, before we removed her to the hospital.



"In about three weeks from the time she died, one and then the other of

those standing on either side of her were attacked in the same way, and

with but two days between. This, certainly, looks very much like

contagion; but my attention had not before been called to this

particular disease, and to suppose inflammation or congestion of the

lungs contagious was so opposed to my preconceived notions, that I did

not even then admit it; and these animals were suffered to remain with

the others until their own comfort seemed to require the greater liberty

of open pens.



"One of them was early and copiously bled twice, while Epsom-salts were

administered, both by the stomach and with the injective-pump. The other

we endeavored to keep nauseated with ipecacuanha, and the same time to

keep her bowels open by cathartic medicine. All proved to be of no

avail. They both died,--the one in ten, the other in thirteen days.

Before these died, however, others were taken sick. And thus, later, I

had eight sick at one time.



"The leading symptoms in all were the same, with minor differences; and

so, too, was the appearance after death, on examination.



"Of all that were taken sick (sixteen) but two recovered; and they were

among those we did the least for, after we had become discouraged about

trying to cure them. In all the last cases we made no effort at all, but

to keep them as comfortable as we could. In one case, the acute

character of the disease changed to chronic, and the animal lived six or

eight weeks, until the whole texture of the lungs had become destroyed.

She had become much emaciated, and finally died with the ordinary

consumption.



"At the time the first case appeared, I had a herd of thirty-one

animals, all valuable Ayrshires, in fine condition and healthy. In all

the first cases, I had a veterinary surgeon of considerable celebrity

and experience, and every ordinary approved method of treatment was

resorted to and persevered in. The last cases--as before intimated--we

only strove to make comfortable.



"After I had paid the third or fourth forfeit, I began to awake up to

the idea that the disease was, in a high degree, contagious, whether I

would have it so or not; and that my future security was in prevention,

and not in remedy. I therefore separated all the remaining animals; in

no instance having more than two together, and generally but one in a

place.



"All were removed from the infected stalls, and put into quarantine.

Isolated cases continued to occur after this for some weeks, but the

spread of the disease was stayed; nor did a single case occur after

this, which we did not think we traced directly to previous contact.



"It is impossible to account for the first case of which I have spoken.

But, as the cow in that case was put into a sale-stable in New York

while waiting for the boat,--though there were no cattle then

present,--yet I have supposed it not unlikely that diseased animals had

been there, and had left the seeds of the disease.



"But, account for this case as we may,--and I have no doubt it is

sometimes spontaneous,--I feel convinced it is very highly contagious;

and that the only safety to a herd into which it has been introduced, is

in complete isolation,--and in this I feel as convinced that there is

safety. My cattle were not suffered to return to the barnyard or to any

part of the cattle-barns, except as invalids were sent to 'the hospital'

to die, until late the next fall, i.e., the fall of 1854. In the mean

time, the hay and straw had all been removed; the stables, stalls, cribs

and all thoroughly scrubbed with ashes and water, fumigated, and white

washed with quicklime. I have had no case since, and am persuaded I

should have avoided most of those I had before, if I had reasonably

admitted