On the cattle plague Part 10

IV.

_General Considerations on the Ox-Typhus, and the Recapitulation of the Symptoms._

We have seen the causes, the symptoms, and the cadaveric alterations of the Bovine typhus, and we may therefore apply ourselves at present to the consideration of its pathogenia and its nature. Only, the limits of this book will not admit of a complete discussion of every point of this important question of pathology; for if we desired to show in what respect the typhus differs from, and in what respect it resembles, such and such a morbid ent.i.ty, febrile, infectious and contagious like it, such a dissertation would require a whole volume for itself; we are therefore obliged to keep within certain limits.

Like every watchful physician who has applied himself to the study of comparative pathology, we entertained our own preconceived opinions as to the nature of this _Cattle Plague_. Arguing _a priori_ from what we knew, from the laws of the pathogenia of those exanthematic diseases which we have alluded to in a former chapter; from the ident.i.ty of variola in various animals; from the preventive treatment to which this ident.i.ty has led; believing that animals and man have each their typhoid fever, as they have their variola or small-pox; considering with the Ecole de Tours, typhoid fever as a variola of the intestinal mucous membrane, and having proposed, in 1855,[Q] to adopt inoculation as a preventive treatment, drawing an easy comparison between the typhus we are now observing and the typhoid fever in man; hoping, we may say, indeed, to find in this typhus the inoculative and preventive virus which is required for our typhoid fever, all will understand with what eager and vivid curiosity we have examined the entrails of the victims struck down by this epizootia. For, if this typhus had been a genuine typhoid fever, the bovine species which has already provided the preventive virus for small-pox, would equally have afforded us the preventive virus for typhoid fever. In this hypothesis, our proposal to inoculate the typhoid fever, which up to this time has been tried on horses only, and in experiments badly conducted, by pupils of the Veterinary School of Lyons, was perhaps on the eve of being realised.

But we regret to say, we have been forced to submit to evidence, and to acknowledge that the present infectious typhus is not the one we require to provide us with the anti-typhoid virus.

In the same manner as pathologists disagree as to the question, whether the typhus and typhoid fever in man are one and the same disease, so should we long debate, without coming to an agreement, as to that which relates to the typhus and typhoid fever of the ox. We cannot pretend to produce a reconciliation between these dissentient schools; all we desire, is to sum up what observation has suggested to us, on account of the practical and therapeutic interest belonging to the subject.

For ourselves, the typhus and the typhoid fever of the ox are two diseases of the same order, but nevertheless distinct; and the reasons upon which we ground our opinion are suggested to us by the nature of the intestinal lesions, the symptoms, and causes of these distempers.

As we have already seen, the contagious typhus of the ox, at least that of the present epizootia, is an infectious disease, which varies in the intensity of the functional disorders and the cadaveric lesions to which it gives rise. The typhoid fever, we mean the real one,--for there are other intestinal exanthematic fevers which simulate it,--always localize on the small intestines a pustulous exanthem, and in the typhus of the ox, this pustulous exanthem and the ulcerations by which it is succeeded, are frequently wanting.

The real typhoid fever springs up in every country under the influence of local causes, and is not in the same degree infectious and contagious as the typhus proper. In fine, the typhoid fever smites many species of animals--the horse, the pig, etc., without transmitting its contagion with the same intensity.

The contagious typhus of the ox appears to be more especially proper to that animal; for in those lat.i.tudes where it developes itself other animals are not affected by it.

For these reasons, then, to which we could easily add many others, we consider the typhus of the present epizootia a special and distinct type of typhic diseases, and differing from the typhoid fever: it is the highest expression of its cla.s.s, and occupies the first degree in the scale of infectious typhic diseases. Next to it we should place the typhoid fever, which we admit is not often found in the ox. But veterinary pathology is still less understood than human pathology, and typhoid fever may perhaps be recognised in those diseases which the former science has described under the names of _adynamic_ and _ataxic fevers_. Besides, a persistent research among the veterinary memorials and reports might possibly enable us to discover some instances in which the real typhoid fever in the ox had been traced, apart from the epizootic conditions. Here is an instance of it:--

Gelle, in vol. i. page 245 of the _Pathologie Bovine_, quotes the following abstract which had been forwarded to him by one of his brethren, on the dissection of an ox, which was made on the 10th of May, 1824:--

"_Duodenum._--Uniform redness of the mucous membrane, with thickening, softening, and petechial spots. In the middle portion were discovered some of Peyer's glands, small round pustules, whitish at the top, with a reddish circ.u.mference. In some parts contiguous to these pustules lay ulcerations somewhat extensive, which seemed to be the result of the softening of the pustules which had preceded them. A dark pus issued from these ulcerations. The inflammation by which they were attended was diffused in some places, whilst in others it was circ.u.mscribed. In some parts the intestinal mucous membrane was utterly destroyed. The mesenteric glands were red and soft."

Gelle adds:--"I have recorded this interesting narrative, as it may perhaps serve hereafter to throw light on a point of doctrine."

The intention which Gelle nurtured at the time, is, we see, now fulfilled conformably with his object.

The contagious typhus of the ox not being a real typhoid fever, we shall not, consequently, be able to borrow from it the preventive virus for that disease in man. But if these diseases differ, and if it is difficult, in the present state of science, to a.s.sign to them such distinct characters as to produce a perfect agreement among all medical writers, we must, however, admit, that to designate the ox-typhus now before us by the generic name of PLAGUE, after the Germans, who have given it the name of RINDERPEST, would carry us too far back.

Let us acknowledge also, that the denomination of _contagious typhus_, adopted by the French veterinary doctors, is not, any more than the designation of TYPHUS FEVER, applied to it by English physicians, totally free from objection.

In truth, the various species of typhus whose characteristics we have already given (see p. 73), are all of them febrile and contagious.

Whoever uses the word _typhus_, speaks of a contagious and febrile malady, inasmuch as we cannot conceive typhus without its accompaniments, fever and contagion. But as the prevailing characteristic of this infectious disease is, above all, its _contagion_, we have preferred to adopt the name of _contagious typhus_, without, however, deceiving ourselves as to the value of the denomination. The final elucidation has not yet been found for these diseases; at some future day they will be methodically divided and arranged, and each of them will then receive a special t.i.tle, which will remove from the mind that vague uncertainty which at present we regret.

But if some faults of doctrine are open to debate, no doubt whatever can exist in the mind as to the morbid individuality of ox-typhus, or the general conditions of its pathogenia; and we are able to deduce from the preceding explanation, the following conclusions as so many propositions definitively settled:--

1st. The typhus of the ox is a disease essentially infectious, which is produced by the absorption of the morbigenous miasma in the air.

2nd. This typhic miasma is absorbed and engendered by the ox, under the influence of a number of special deleterious causes.

3rd. When the miasma has been absorbed and incubation produced, the disease itself is but a supreme effort of nature--a struggle between the vital forces and the morbid evolution of the poison, in order to guard and defend life against the danger which threatens it.

4th. A malady essentially general, _totius substantiae_, it directs its action, in different degrees, over the whole structure, but chiefly on the nervous centres, on the organs of respiration, and on the digestive apparatus.

5th. Its progress is regular; to the latest period of incubation it succeeds that of the general poisoning of the blood--that of the pyrexia of general fever--which for a time stops up all the secretions. Then, the morbid flux is localized according to particular predispositions: either on the nervous centres, when the animal is struck down at the outbreak; or on the lungs, when the respiratory derangements become the leading symptoms; or on the digestive channels, when the train of typhoid phenomena is observable.

6th. The period of acute inflammation, which had dried up the sources of secretion, gives place to that of the depurative and critical exhalations or secretions; from every mucous membrane, from every outlet, there issues a mucous discharge, which at first is thin and clear, but afterwards becomes thick and purulent, and endowed with the most infectious properties. The intestinal mucous membrane, smitten with a particular lesion, becomes the seat of a flux extremely copious and intolerably fetid. Gases, and occasionally purulent deposits, are developed in the cellular tissue beneath the skin.

7th. The organism or physical frame, disturbed in the very centres of life, undergoes a general transformation, a kind of organic decomposition beforehand, and all the symptoms of reaction are followed by a period of wasting atony and adynamia, which usher in dissolution or life's extinction.

8th. Finally, throughout the whole course of the distemper, one special functional derangement--_stupor_--has been witnessed as the predominant symptom, the nervous system being in a manner annihilated in its functions in consequence of the general infection.

Such are, in a brief outline, the princ.i.p.al symptoms of this typhus, which, when once engrafted on the economy, pursues its fatal march, and no treatment can then arrest its evolution. As in small-pox, so in typhoid fever and in most general disorders, Nature for a time must be allowed to exercise her new functions, which succeed each other in due course, and which the physician must not stop; for if he did, he would accelerate death; but he must watch with a vigilant eye, in order to a.s.sist the vital powers.

The medical man, satisfied with these facts, will therefore abandon the chimerical hope of finding a specific remedy for such a disease. The virus once absorbed, the frame will endure, and fatally endure, all the morbid phenomena which must produce and succeed each other. _Against such a poison no other antidote exists than the poison itself._ And this will be easily understood. What necessity have we for a specific remedy to resist a distemper, which carries within itself its preventive treatment? If it germinates and is propagated, let us not accuse Nature and render her responsible; our own blindness, the lack of a community of interests among the people, our social inst.i.tutions, the still imperfect state of the exact sciences, &c., amply explain how it is that we have not yet employed the effectual means we possess, not of curing it, but preventing it. If we could have our choice between prevention and cure, should we not naturally take the former?

Indeed, the sources, the causes which generate the typhic miasma, are thoroughly well known to us, and these we can avoid. The developed miasms hang suspended in the air; we may, perhaps, one day destroy them, if not in the outer atmosphere, at least in the stalls and sheds where the animals inhale and absorb them. In fine, if we are powerless to arrest the fell disease when its periods revolve, we may hope at some future time to act with greater efficiency upon it during its period of incubation.

On the other hand, if this formidable disease cannot be stopped in its progress, does it follow that we should not treat it at all? Certainly not! Far be such a heresy from our thoughts. What would be the consequence, if we left to their fate the sufferers from the small-pox, from typhoid fever, and from typhus itself, instead of watching over them with the utmost solicitude? If the physician, the enlightened interpreter of morbid phenomena, did not direct them with a bold and fearless hand, but abandoned Nature to her helpless course, why, necessarily, every patient would die, whereas a large number are now saved.

That which is true in the case of man, is likewise true in the case of animals: we are bound to treat them when they are ill. If to-day we think it more expeditious and more profitable to exterminate them, we certainly neglect our duty. We are the sovereign masters of animals; they are the companions of our toils and pleasures, their lives must be given to preserve our own; but on their well-being and their happiness our own well-being and happiness also depend. They will return to us the sufferings and diseases of which they die a hundred times over. Like ourselves, they die of consumptive, tubercular, cancerous, eruptive, typhoid, and parasitical diseases. And who can tell whether they have not communicated these disorders to man, who was, perhaps, originally exempt from them; and whether they do not continually communicate them to him?

What n.o.ble pages might be written on the close connexion which exists between all organized beings, both physically and morally! Let us love these animals, let us treat them with kindness, and all our other qualities will be raised by so doing.

But as a man must belong to the time he lives in, we will take up for a moment with the doctrines of the economists; we will tolerate the extermination of diseased animals, as a painful necessity. Our duty is to seek in the study of the diseases of animals _and in their cure_, the cure of the disorders which afflict the human species. We shall, therefore, now proceed to consider the subject of the treatment of horned cattle, both as relates to preventive and curative medication.

FOOTNOTES:

[O] Mr. Simonds has for three months had under his observation a cow which has lived with impunity among animals sick and dying of the typhus. And a young calf did not contract the disease for more than three weeks.

[P] Another instance of the fatal effects of the terrible disease now ravaging our flocks and herds of cattle, and resulting in the death of a veterinary surgeon, has just occurred in the town of Sudbury, Suffolk.

Last week the epidemic made its appearance in the stock-yard of Mr.

Ruffell, farmer, Melford, and the cases were attended by Mr. Robert John Plumbly, veterinary surgeon, Sudbury. On Thursday a cow, which was evidently suffering from the disease, was brought out and shot by Mr.

Plumbly, who afterwards made a partial _post-mortem_ examination of the carcase. In doing so with a small scalpel his s.h.i.+rt-sleeves became saturated with blood, &c. from the animal. He returned home, and the same day was attacked with sickness and acute pains in the head and chest, accompanied with a soreness in the bones generally. On the following day he appeared somewhat better, and was able to attend to his duties, but became worse towards evening, and was confined to his house on the following day. He considered that he was merely suffering from the effects of a severe cold, and did not call in medical a.s.sistance till Sat.u.r.day night. He slept well that night, and seemed somewhat better on Sunday morning. About two o'clock in the afternoon he got out of his bed to have it made, when he appeared comparatively strong and in good spirits; but almost immediately afterwards he was taken in what seemed to be a fit, and expired in a few minutes, before the surgeon, who only lived next door, could come to his a.s.sistance. It was thought that death had resulted from apoplexy, and a medical certificate to that effect was given. Rumours, however, soon becoming current that Mr.

Plumbly's death was caused by the cattle plague, the borough coroner (R.

Ransom, Esq.) directed a _post-mortem_ examination to be made. But, by this time, so rapid was the spread of the virus through the system that the body appeared perfectly plague-stricken, and by Tuesday morning, when the surgeons arrived to examine it, and it was taken out of the coffin, the corpse scarcely retained the semblance of a human being, the head and trunk being much swollen and black in colour, the features quite undistinguishable, and all the flesh converted into a putrid jelly-like ma.s.s. The tissues were completely disintegrated, so that it was utterly impossible to make any examination.

An inquest was held on Tuesday afternoon, at the court room, Town Hall, before the coroner, R. Ransom, Esq., and a jury; Mr. Joseph Barker, chemist, being chosen foreman. The mayor (S. Higgs, Esq.) and other gentlemen were present during the whole of the inquiry, which lasted four hours.

The jury went and viewed the body, which lay in an outhouse, but were so overcome with the fearful spectacle that they were permitted by the coroner to retire to partake of stimulants before they could further proceed with the inquiry.

The first witness called was Mr. William Brown, veterinary surgeon, and partner with the deceased, who deposed to having gone with him to Mr.

Ruffell's farm at Long Melford, on Thursday last, to examine several cows down with the cattle plague. One was brought out and shot by the deceased, who proceeded to examine the intestines and viscera, which did not present the appearances usually observable in advanced stages of the disease, there being but slight ulceration of the coats of the stomach and bowels. The lungs were not examined, as the deceased had only a small scalpel with him. In making incisions in the body the s.h.i.+rt-sleeves of the deceased became covered with blood, but he did not p.r.i.c.k or cut himself.

Henrietta Dansie, nurse, was examined, and said that deceased had been suffering from boils on his right arm, one of which she had poulticed on Wednesday, the day before he had examined the diseased animal. He removed the poultice himself, but declined to put on a plaster as the place was a small one, although not healed. He changed his linen on his return from Melford; but the same afternoon he was taken with sickness and vomiting, and complained of acute pains in his head and bones. On Sunday afternoon, shortly before he died, he wished to have his bed made, and got out and stood whilst it was being done. He then complained of faintness, and got into bed again, and witness to revive him washed his face and hands; in doing so she observed that the nails of one of the hands which had lain in the bed were turning black. She was about to give him some pills when she noticed a sudden change come over him; and thinking he was going to faint or have a fit, she rang for a.s.sistance and went herself for the doctor, who, being from home, another surgeon residing next door was called in, but by this time the unfortunate gentleman was quite dead.

Mr. Maurice Mason, surgeon, said he was called in to see the deceased the night before he died, and visited him again on Sunday morning, and ordered him a lotion and leeches for his head and effervescing drinks (the leeches were not applied). From the appearance of the body and the evidence which had been adduced, witness was of opinion that the death of the deceased was caused by the absorption of poisonous virus from the dead beast.

Mr. W. B. Smith, surgeon, gave similar evidence, and added that the tissues of the body were so disintegrated that it would have been utterly impossible to have made a _post-mortem_ examination.

After half an hour's consultation the jury returned a verdict, "that deceased died from the effects of the absorption of virus or poison into his system upon the occasion of his making a _post-mortem_ examination of a cow which had died from a certain disease called the cattle plague."

The sad occurrence has caused much sensation in the town, the deceased, who was only 23 years of age, being well known and much respected.