On the cattle plague Part 18

Such is the course of treatment to be adopted during the first three or four days. It must be, of course, followed methodically, watching and obeying the signs of nature. The purgatives must not be given on those days when the sick animal is bled, and the doses must vary with the effects they produce.

From the fourth to the seventh day the symptoms change, diarrhoea shows itself, and the running appears at the nose, mouth, and eyes; you must then continue the use of purgatives, but the dose must be weaker.

Those mentioned above are suitable in every way. The drinks, too, continue the same. Sometimes, at this period of the disease, the animal is utterly cast down, nothing can draw him from his stupor: he lies down the whole day; in this case you give him acetate of ammonia, from 1 to 6 ounces, in a pint of water, gradually increasing from 1 to 2 ounces a day, according to the effect produced; and meanwhile, plain non-acidulated drinks should be administered.

At this stage of the disease it is right to a.s.sist the depurative work of nature. This is effected by inserting a seton in the neck, and the secretion of this issue is kept up by means of such an ointment as the basilicon with powdered cantharides. Finally, the mouth, nose, and eyes must be washed very often with an infusion of camomile and sage.

At the last period of the distemper, the beast sinks into a state of general exhaustion; his life seems all but extinguished through excess of weakness. You must now sustain and keep him up by every possible contrivance; give him bitter and stimulating drinks, beer diluted with water, adding thereto some powder of Peruvian bark, or sulphate of quinine. This is prepared by steeping in 8 pints of boiling water, Peruvian bark, gentian root, centaury leaves and flowers, and hops, 1 ounce of each; or else prepare a drink consisting of veterinary treacle, extract of juniper, 1 ounce of each, dissolved in 2 ounces of alcohol, and then mixed with 3 pints of water.

When the diarrhoea becomes fetid and b.l.o.o.d.y, give, night and morning, a clyster composed of a decoction of Peruvian bark, and a teaspoonful of powdered charcoal from the poplar, well sifted. If the running from the nostrils begins to stop, you must inject into the nasal orifices some spoonfuls of a sternutatory solution, thus composed--

Spanish pepper 1 ounce.

Essence of turpentine 1 "

Camphor 2 drachms.

Vinegar 2 pints.

Should any sores form on the skin, or should they arise from the opening of purulent deposits, dress them with the following ointment--

Acetate of copper a drachm.

Calcined alum 20 grains.

Sal ammoniac 20 "

Camphor a drachm.

Common ointment an ounce.

If the natural heat diminishes greatly, if the chill reaches the hams and skin, let the beast be rubbed all over, three times a day, with wool, moistened with the following liniment--

Laurel oil an ounce.

Green soap "

Volatile oil of lavender a drachm.

Solution of ammonia "

Simultaneously with the above, give the following cordial, to be drunk in two draughts--

Cinnamon an ounce.

Extract of gentian 1 ounce.

Red wine 2 pints.

Should the animal fall into a state of lethargy, you must have recourse to strokes of fire, according to surgical usage.

This distemper must extend to its extreme degree of gravity before it advances towards its cure; you need, therefore, not despair until the last moment. At this period of exhaustion, the drinks above-mentioned are given up, or you add nutritive beverages to them, such as beef-tea, fat soups, milk, and farinaceous drinks.

If the animal holds on, and his appet.i.te returns, which will be shown by the desquamation of the nostrils, by the return of rumination, by the habit of the beast to look right and left, to question you in a manner, add cut straw to his nutritive drinks: send him out every day into the open air, and let him return by slow degrees to his habitual feeding.

But it is extremely important to watch the intestinal functions; to diminish and change the food, if the diarrhoea returns; as such relapses often cause the death of an animal considered out of danger.

Such, then, farmers and graziers, is the treatment to be opposed to the ox typhus: it is simple as respects the remedies, and I have deemed that it ought to be so, in order that the medicines prescribed might be had everywhere, and at a cost which the poor man could command as well as the rich. The disease is variable, it is not always equally deadly; and there comes a moment when in some sort it cures itself, with a little a.s.sistance and watching. The great point is, to be careful and vigilant, to attend to nature and the instincts of the suffering cattle, and lend yourselves to both.

I cannot reproduce here the instructions given by the Privy Council to protect your cattle from contagion, and above all not to propagate it, but I shall refer you to Doctor Thudichum's _Memorandum_, page 257. This exposition is too complete to need anything added to it by me; study it well; let it be your monitor and guide; read it over again and again; your own interests and those of the whole country depend on the manner in which you shall treat this admirable warning.

There are in this disease, as in every other, unforeseen varieties and complications, such as those which are brought on by the gestation and abortion of cows, and those proceeding from prior disease; for these accidents you will provide. Moreover, such a terrible distemper can only be treated according to the advice of a professional man. Call him in, then, follow his advice and prescriptions with rigid exactness, and do not attempt to do better than he; and, above all, arm yourselves against the insidious pretensions of quacks and charlatans, whatever mantle they may put on to hide their ignorance.

FOURTH PART.

_Suggestions on the Improvements to be effected in the Study of Medical Science, in order that we may be in a Condition to confront Diseases generally, but Epizootic and Epidemic Diseases in particular._

The epizootia of bovine typhus which is now extending its unrestricted ravages over this island, and which has a.s.sumed the magnitude of a general calamity, has naturally excited and stirred up the public mind.

Thoughtful and earnest men could not look on and witness unmoved the ever progressive march of the scourge; but each observer has, consistently with his means and qualifications, striven to find a remedy to resist the evil. Thus, we have seen, and with respectful interest we have watched, the gentlemen of the press, and other men of letters, economists, scientific men, and, above all, physicians, producing from day to day in the newspapers articles and letters of remarkable merit on the all-engrossing subject of this epizootia. The re-opening of the medical colleges furnished the skilful professors at their head with a seasonable opportunity to consider this dire distemper, according to the views of general pathology and medical philosophy, and this they have done with unquestionable talent and ability. Still, something remains to be said on this important matter, and since I have taken up my pen, like others, I wish to mingle my voice with that of my brethren, and inquire whether the time is not come to avail ourselves more fully than we have done yet of the grand discoveries of the exact sciences, which, with respect to the science of medicine, are the instruments of its progress.

And my object in doing so, is, that we may, as far as possible, rise to a level with the ordeal which the future may have in store for us.

Medicine is at once an art and a science. An art it has been at all times, and in every age of civilized man; but it became a science only when human knowledge had acquired a certain expansion; when natural phenomena had been tested and explained; when mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, general anatomy, general pathology, had enabled the inquiring physician to study with important results whatever belongs to his theme; to understand the serial chain and connexion of bodies with each other, in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, and to investigate their immutable laws. Uric acid, as we see with the microscope, will always crystallize in rhombohedrons, according to a fixed law; the vegetable cell, the germination of a seed, must obey, and always submit to, the innate and indestructible forces inherent in them.

That which is true in the vegetable is true in the animal world, as regards the pre-established order which regulates and controls the phenomena of life. These laws which govern the development of organic phenomena being immutable and everlasting, permit the different generations which succeed each other on our globe to build upon a durable basis, which certifies to the slow and laborious, but irresistible march of human progress.

Medical science being in truth only the application of other positive sciences to the preservation of health and the cure of diseases, continues like them to perfect itself incessantly; but all it can do is to follow them at a distance, and it can never hope to reach their degree of superiority.

These are truths which have been long admitted and felt by us.

Therefore, we have appealed for a.s.sistance to the discoveries of the natural sciences: physics, chemistry, have in our hands become effectual means of observation and a.n.a.lysis; and we, in our age, gain more knowledge in fifty years than our forefathers did in several centuries, for they were then necessarily rather artists than scholars. In a word, medical science or biology is const.i.tuting itself, and if it be fully conscious of its impotence in the case of many diseases, it also knows its progressive improvement. It is striving to achieve the highest place among social inst.i.tutions, and the day may come when it shall obtain it, for nations will then owe to us their health and life--that is to say, their earthly happiness.

The laws by which organic phenomena are regulated, are, we have said, everlasting; we may also declare that they are general. One of these laws common to the plant, to the sh.e.l.l, to every species of vertebrata, reappears in man, whose organization comprises all the functions divided among the other organic kingdoms. Not only does the organization of man obey the laws which govern the vital phenomena of other animals; not only does he possess their organs and functions, but he is a tributary subject to their diseases. So that the knowledge of the laws affecting the functions and diseases of those creatures which are placed below him in the scale of animals ought to be the first foundation of all medical study.

These truths are too manifest to be new; they are written and professed everywhere, and every one amongst us has received general notions of comparative anatomy and physiology at the beginning of his course of study. But let us admit that these notions only served to expand the circle of our knowledge and ideas, and that we seldom or never apply them to the practice of our art. It would have been very different had we received at the beginning of our medical novitiate, not merely in theory and books, but practically and experimentally, precise notions of anatomy, physiology, and, let me add, of the _pathology of all animals_. Let us suppose for a moment that the task had been imposed upon us before entering upon the study of human maladies, to observe the structure of plants and animals, to submit their tissues to microscopical examination and chemical a.n.a.lysis; to study experimentally all their functions and diseases, and acknowledge that had such been the case, the anatomy, physiology; and pathology of man would have been far better understood, and that most of the difficulties against which we now contend in vain in our helplessness, might easily have been overcome.

Comparative anatomy and physiology are the first conditions of all medical instruction of a serious character; there can be no doubt on the subject, but the evidence being not perhaps so palpable with respect to comparative pathology, it will not be useless, therefore, to enter into fuller particulars as to this subject.

We know not whether any one has ever sought to retrace the first origin of our diseases in the animal kingdom, but it would undoubtedly be a study of great scientific interest. As for us, we gladly believe that man, created to be the sovereign lord of the earth, did not originally receive the principle of every organic disease with which we see him affected. It seems to us probable that he was created sound in body and in mind, but unequal is his vital powers, and in his faculties and talents, the social functions being various and dissimilar, and subject to physical and moral infirmities. We think it likely that plants and animals, from which, in course of time, man's substance is formed, have transmitted the first causes, the germs of some organic diseases with which they were themselves affected. We see in this transmission of animal diseases to man, a connecting link, which appears to us to be a condition of harmony, order, peace, and happiness among all living beings. It seems to us that the first injunction of a legislator should be--_love other animals like yourselves_; for if man had practised this maxim, he would have logically applied the same to his fellow-creatures; and no doubt, with such principles to guide them, past generations would not have bequeathed to us the innumerable calamities we have had to deplore.

We think that we receive from animals some of their diseases, because the fact is palpably evident; thus they have parasitical diseases, such as favus, taenia, psora, trichinosis, which they transmit to us. They are likewise smitten with small-pox, typhoid fever, and with typhus; and under certain given conditions they may transmit them to us. They die of consumption and cancer, and it is probable that they transfuse into us through their milk and flesh the germs of these diseases. Finally, we have our epidemics as they have their epizootics; and here we will limit our instances of this reciprocation.

It is certain that the study of these maladies in animals would have been for us the source of precise knowledge, which, if well understood and explained, would have often led to their preventive treatment. This is what has occurred in the case of small-pox; it is what will one day occur in typhoid fever, in times of epidemic, as will be the case in a certain number of other general or local diseases.

In truth, some complaints now looked upon as inherent to the human species, were originally foreign to it; most parasitical diseases belong to this cla.s.s. Thus man has not the _psora_, or itch--the disease does not properly belong to him; the parasite which engenders it is not bred in him, it is always transmitted to him by animals. It is the same with the taenia, or tape-worm, with the trichina, or fine hair-worm.

Medical science, inst.i.tuted on the bases of comparative pathology, would have made the study of diseases in the brute creation, not the collateral, but the princ.i.p.al object of its inquiries. It would have applied itself to the cure of the lower animals; and whilst learning to cure them, it would have ensured the cure of men's diseases.

If such be the case, can any one believe that the treatment of diathetic and hereditary maladies would be, as they still are, insoluble problems; and that the physician would have the misery of seeing decimated, whilst he helplessly looks on, a large part of the population, condemned inevitably to die of consumption and cancer? Would every man smitten with hydrophobia be irrevocably condemned to death? a.s.suredly, it would not be so.

That the physician should have been reduced to the painful necessity of confessing his want of means, when medicine could be nothing more than an art, we admit; but now that science has grown up and come of age, society has a right to challenge him to do, what in past ages could not have been expected of him. Briefly, we think that the time is come, by blending comparative pathology with anatomy and physiology, to construct one of the bases of the tripod on which medical science will have to rest. The success which has already been achieved in this direction is a certain guarantee for those which we may hope for hereafter.

Such is our deep conviction, and perhaps we have some t.i.tle to speak out decidedly on this point, as we have long since exemplified our precepts by actual proofs.

Persuaded for many years that comparative pathology afforded to industrious men a new mine, rich in precious veins for working, we several times endeavoured to explore this fertile field. But, unfortunately, our means of action not being consistent with our sanguine expectations, we were repeatedly compelled to suspend our pursuits, until at last we found at the Ecole Veterinaire d'Alfort, the favourable opportunity and the essential conditions of which we had so long been in quest.

Grieved at our helplessness to stay the ravages of pulmonary consumption, I formed one day the resolution to study that wasteful complaint in animals in order to discover, or at least to look for, the required remedy. With that view, I confined in a dark, cold, and damp cellar a number of animals to practise on: birds of different species, rabbits, a monkey, a dog, &c. To these animals I dealt out a deficient quant.i.ty of food. The monkey, as might have been expected, was the first to be affected, since in our climates they all die of consumption. Next, and for the same reason, it was the parrot's turn; then the chickens and ducks died; after them the rabbits;--in fine, at the end of fourteen months, the dog alone survived. All the rest had sunk under consumption, and exhibited tubercles in different organs--in the lungs or mesentery.

It was then necessary to have the counter-proof: to place a second set of animals in the same conditions, to produce the disease again, and attempt its cure. But the first experiment had been a long one, and I was forced to relinquish the inquiry, which, moreover, was above my means at that period.

On another occasion, it seemed to me strange that we should be obliged to open the bladder of patients suffering from the stone, or to subject them to lithotrity, which has also its perils. Nature, I said to myself, forms calculi by uniting organic elements, by crystallizing them, and by cementing them with vesical mucus. But would it not be possible to cure the disease by employing contrary means--dissolving the calculi in the bladder by means of continued injections, changing the chemical agents according to the composition of the calculus, and adding thereto the action of a galvanic current?