Cattle and Their Diseases: Embracing Their History and Breeds, Crossing and Breeding, and Feeding and Management; with the Diseases to Which They Are Subject, and the Remedies Best Adapted to Their CureJennings, Robert
Science
Cattle and Their Diseases: Embracing Their History and Breeds, Crossing and Breeding, and Feeding and Management; with the Diseases to Which They Are Subject, and the Remedies Best Adapted to Their Cure
Jennings, Robert
Cattle -- Diseases
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.
[Illustration: THE TWINS.]
_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
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