The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-10-18
Farm AND HOUSEHOLD.
What Is SIurraIn, OF the Texas Cath
PIauEe.

What La AurrRIn, OF the Texas Cattle
PIauEe.
We notice the disease, whose name is |
placed at the head of this article, has |
made its appearance in Illinois, Ohio, |
New York, Tennessee, and probably in |
other states, and that northern veterinary |
surgeons, having little experience in the !
treatment of the malady, have mistaken |
its cause and character. The Oldest |
record of this Plauge is in Egypt, where |
1t is indigenous in a cotton region as it Is
in our sea-land cotton climate from the
tide water district of Virginia to the Rio
Grande. Before the exodus of the
Israelites it is thus referred to. " If thou
refuse to let the Hebrews go, and wilt
hold them still, behold the hand of the
Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the
field, upon the horses, upon the asses,
upon the camel, upon the OK and upon
the sheep, there shall be grevious MUIR
rain; and the Lord shall sever between
the cattle of Israel and the cattle of
Egypt, and there shall nothing die of all
the children of Israel. And the Lord
did that thing on the morrow"
This plauge is mentioned or described
by Honor, Hippocrates, Plutarch, Livy
and Virgil while its history from the
age of Virgil to the present day is exceed
ingly interesting. 1t was the prevalence
of a highly contagious and fatal cattle
fever in Europe about one hundred and
twenty-five years ago that caused the
first veterinary school to be established
on the continent. The true cause of this
malarial disease was not known until
| quite recently; and only those physicians
| who make it part Of their professional
duty to keep posted in the rapid progress
| of science appear to understand the
/ problem. Veterinary doctors in Illinois
and Ohio have very sapiently told the
| public that the numerous ticks on
southern cattle (well known to many of
our readers) produce the fever, cOrrup-
| ton and death. They might as well
ascribe the Manager in the dog to the bite
of fleas, or the rot and fukes in the liver
of the sheep to ticks in its wool. Men
often practice the healing art on farm
stock with little reading and less science.
| The light of truth comes not when the
blind lead the blind, but from systematic
! study and research.
Texas cattle, full of the germs of muir
rain, brought to Louisiana, as to New
Orleans market, do not give the disease
to cattle there, because the local climate
is malarial like that of Texas. Bring
these cattle to the healthy, nOn-malarial
districts of Tennessee, and southern
organisms of pestilence find new and
fresh pastures, and cattle susceptible to
pOisOns. Southern cattle improve in a
healthier climate, while northern animals
die from southern centagion
One form of sickness is contagious, an
other is not. We shall try to make this
question of contagion plain to our agri-
cultural friends. Cows drinking water
from springs or brooks that have copper,
lead or arsenic salts in solution, in a
mineral district, may poison, little by
little, their blood, milk and flesh. Such
milk sickness is not contagious for the
reason that no delelerious molecule OF
metal earth or gas can multiply itself,
and pass Indefinitely from one animal OF
person to another. With living germs,
whether plant or animal, the case is
different. All parasites, whether visible,
like nits and lick, or invisible like
trickinB, not only spread from one post
to another, but multiply their species
with astonishing rapidity. The farmer
should know that every contagion and
malarial disorder breeds true to its
species, so that the organisms of yellow
fever can not produce cholera, nor the
germs of cholera give existence to yellow
fever. Murrain is a thing of lie, and
should be dealt with accordingly. In.
fected animals should be wholly isolated
cleansed by cathartics and strengthened
by strong bitters, as a decOction of cherry
willow and poplar bark.
Many parasitic contagious are. expelled
ny sulphur; ana 10 give cattle, sheep
hogs and hsrses lick of equal parts O
salt and sulphur placed within theil
reach, throws the sulphur remedy int
their systems to act as a preventive o.
cure. For persons labOring under any
. common malarial disease, one may tax,
equal parts of sulphur and cream 0
tartar, in moderate doses, morning anc
,, evening.
Draining all swamps will do much t,
t purity the atmosphere, and lesson it
/ humidity. A useful book might b.
. written on murrain climate of the south
r drawing the line that bounds it on tn
Q north from James river in Virginia T.
the western bounds of Texas. In anothe
article we will cite authorities illustra
= tive of this line.---NasA0jLIe american.