Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-01-13
THE CATTLE DISEASE.

The cattle disease is creating considerable
alarm among the butchers and drovers of
Massachusetts. The following description
of the contagion and some of the remedies we
find in the Boston Advertiser:
The foot-and-mouth disease, or as it is called
in England by veterinarians, Eczema epizoo-
tica, is not a new disease. 1t made its first
appearance in England thirty years ago, but
broke out anew in that island during the
summer of 1869. 1t had then for some time
been raging in Austria and Hungary, and
there were plenty of old colonists in England
who had already been obliged to fight it in
their former homes and were prepared with
remedies. The description OF the disease
proves its identity with that which is now
spreading in Massachusetts,. It's highly con-
tagious. Isolation unless complete, and ex-
tending even to the disinfection or exclusion
of persons who have been near diseased cat
tie, is wholly Intellectual. The disease usually
first manifests itself in the hoof causing
weakness, lameness and ulcers. The animal
instinctively ticks the affected part with the
tongue and thus communicates the soreness
to the mouth, from which there is copious
discharge of saliva. The secretion of milk in
females is reduced at least one-t third in all
cases, and in many is wholly stopped. The
sick are unable to stand or walk, and at the
height of the disease are most pitiable objects
The disease has its run in about six weeks,
but the flesh is meanwhile wasted rapidly
away, and, unless strong measurs are taken
early in the disease, many months are re-
CURED for complete restoration.
Lest cattle-owners should make haste to kill
those in their herds first attacked to prevent
the spread of the contagion, we may assure
them, on the authority of those having
long experience with the disease, that it is
very rarely fatal and never necessarily so.
Indeed there are several remedies. each of
which is declared and apparently proved by
trial to be infallible. 1t is claimed to be
possible by preventives to exempt whole
herds from the contagion. That used by
one herdsman, who wrote to the London
Times frequently on the subject in 1869, was
chloride of lime and carbolic acid, but whether
used for purifying the stables or applied to
the feet, we are not informed. As one of the
remedies is to smear the feet of a diseased
animal with chloride of lime mixed with
water to the consistency of cream, we may
infer that outward application may be useful.
We do not propose to give all the prescrip-
tions which have been declared effectual, but
we may mention one or two of them. The
State cattle commissioners in their circular
have given one. Tho same with some modif-
cations, has been used with unfailing effect in
England. The Surrey herdsmen put one
pound OF blue vitriol in one gallon of soft
water. With this solution they washed the
feet of affected animals three times daily, and
also applied it to the mouth and throat in
ternally with a sponge on a stick. They
also mixed two or three tablespoonfuis of oat-
meal with an equal quantity of alum and gave
it to the animal, depositing it as far back as
possible. near the roots of the tongue. 1t is
claimed for this remedy that it will cure the
animal in three days. 1t was objected to the
treatment that the solution of vitriol was too
strong for the mouth, and it will be noticed
that the State commissioners do not recon-
mend this wash to be so strong as the English
use, and do not advise using it in the mouth.
But it was replied in the English papers that
it was not too strong. and that it did the
work quickly, thoroughly, and without injury
to the beast. Another remedy was to swab
out the mouth with gargle of solution of
chlorate of potash and dilute sulphuric acid,
feeding the animal with a mash containing
large amounts of salt. Honey and muriatic
acid for the mouth was also recommended,
but the above remedies omgh. 70 be sufficient.
In two particulars all authorities agree. The
diseased animals should be kept in dry and
comfortable place, and should be fed with
chopped food moistened, the more LIQUID
added the better. An inability to use the
tongue is one Of the invariable symptoms, and
as the reason why the food should be given
in as simple form as possible. 1t is also
said that owing to the highly contagious
character OF the disease, the treatment, which
Is IN all systems very simple, should be adopt
ed by the farmers themselves, rather than by
doctors, who must carry the epidemic with
their persons and clothing.
With regard to the effects of the disease
upon the milk and the flesh of the animals,