Cattle and Their Diseases Part 18

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 gra.s.s, 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, s.h.i.+ning; 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A RURAL SCENE.]

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 quant.i.ties 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 quant.i.ty 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 quant.i.ty.

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 pract.i.tioners 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 Ma.s.sachusetts 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 Ma.s.sachusetts. The singularity of this coincidence inclined him for the time to regard the disease as an epizootic--having its origin in some peculiar condition of the atmosphere--rather than as a contagious, or infectious disease, which position was at that time a.s.sumed by him.

This opinion was strengthened by the fact, that no case occurring in New Jersey could be traced to a Ma.s.sachusetts 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 a.s.signed 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 Ma.s.sachusetts 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, Ma.s.s., 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 Ma.s.sachusetts, 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 Ma.s.sachusetts, 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 cla.s.s 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 pa.s.sing 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 appet.i.te 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, b.l.o.o.d.y 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 Ayrs.h.i.+res, 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.