The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-12-28
[ p,stsmser In Horses.

OF specific lever, mainly confined TO
young animals, and may originals from
rarious c8dsess sach as Changing from.
field to stable, or from grass 70 hry
feeding, and especially from change
of locality. Young horses, and even
those we'll advanced in years, when ta-
ken from the country into theD city arel
very liable TO have the distemper. This
Is so well known that purchasers of
horses when visiting the sales stables in
our larger cities are not surprised to ind
that the very animal they wish to pur-
chase Is more or lessLsson- his feed on.
account of distemper. 1t is also very
annoying to the salesman TO find his
youngest and perhaps most promising
horses showing general lapgpor and q
rough coat at the very time ho. would
have them look their best. But it is7one
of those things that he eau not well
avoid, for these are the symptoms. of
disternper. A few days later the ami
mails viii begin 70 cough, and there will
be a redness of the nasal membrane,
and a watery flow from the nose and
ewes. The animal finds it difficult TO
swallow food or water, and there IS q
swelling between the bones of the lower
Jaw, followed, perhaps, by rupture and
abscess, after which the animal obtains
relief and rapidly recoTers.4 These are
some of the symptoms of distemper,
disease which appears to be more or less
prevalent among young horses in all
parts of the world. 80 'fi' :. o-'i'-.
The disease possesses the essential
features of scarlet fever, measles, and
other eruptiye feyers in man. It's deyel-
opment and course are always charac
terized by fever, which has its incaba-
ton stage, lasting usually eight to ten
days. 1t Is not safe to check the fever,
but the better way is to allow IL to run
through its uniform course, accompanied
by treatment alleviative rather than Gu
rative. Sustain the strength of the pa
tent with soft, nourishing food-bran
mashes, linseed meal, warm corn meal,
puddings and Cruel. J, The nostrils may
be steamed and warm ponltices applied
to the Jaws; in fact, anything that will
promote the formation of matter and its
expulsion from the system is worth try
ing. What may be called medicines or
drugs are seldom required in distenIper;
but unless soft food is supplied, physic
may be required to prevent costiveness.
More horses are injured by. giving them
too much medicine than too little when
they. are afflicted with distemper, be-
cause their owners or attendants, in their
anxiety to relieve the 4sufferiugs of. the
poor brute, pour down q larger quanti-
ty and moro powerful medicines than
are either safe or actually necessary.
Some of the earlier veterinarians de-
MED the contagious charaeter" of dis
temper, believing it tonbe onIy the re-
suit of some special condition of soli-
peds due to domestication and restric-
ton of liberty. Later authorities, how
ever, class il among contagious diseases,
but consider it one of so mild a eharac-
ter that it is confined almost entirely to
Young animals. Sometimes, however,
it assumes, more yirulent form, and
will spread through an entire neighbor-
hood, attacking the young animals first,
and then the older ones, unless they
have had the disease in their younger
DAYS. It is seldom that an animal has
distemper twice; the first attack, as a
rule, protects the patient through life.
All animals of the equine species are
subject to this disease, including asses,
mules and zebras. An English We.
terinarian, in speaking Of this feature OF
bility would indicate that there is some
material in. their blood which affords
fitting pabulum for the feeding and null
tipEeation of the specific germs, some
what in the same manner as a few par
ticles of yeast grow and reproduce them
selves, One OF several yexed questions
connected with strangles Is whether it
can be produced de noco; whether, un-
der certain circumstances, perhaps by
retention Of effete matter from gastric
arrangement or checked perspiration,
the morbid virus of strangles can be de-
veloped from Within
:, We can see no good reason for doubt
ing the possibility Of strangies being de-
veloped, starting, as it were, in one ami
NAL, ANY more than that it can pass from
one to another. What is termed by
some old horsemen ssbreeding stran-
giles" does not involve the mooted ques-
ton of the "creation of something out
of nothing,n for the germs of this dis
ease are probably akin to the spores of
our microscopic fungi, smut, rust and
mildew, which seem to be everywhere
present in the air and earth, and when
they reach a congenial place, sprout,
grow, and multiply rapidly. s-r.s
This germ theory of disease is attract
ing increased attention nowadays, owing
in part to the recent great discoveries OF
Pasteur, the eminent French microscop-
ist, and it win probably not be many
years before the true origin and cause
of some, if not all, of our most common
contagious diseases will be fully known
and understood OF course, the air
about a horse with distemper viii. con-
tain more germs of the. disease than
that at distance; consequently another
animal coming within the radius of this
infected circle would be more, likely to
take the disease than if he remained
e ,NF Ata-
eases may be carried a long distance be-
fore losing their vitality, while others
soon die, and this may account for the
rapid spreading of some diseases over
q country, while others remain for q
long time within circqmscribed limits,
We know this is true with diseases of
plants caused by microscopic fungi. and
1t is probably the Same with the germs
of disease affecting animals
The disease known as pleuro- o-pneumo-
MIA in cattle, although known to exist in
a few localities in the Eastern States for
several years, nevertheless makes no
progress, or at least has been kept con-
fined to very circumscribed limits, while
the epizooty which prevailed among
horses 2 few years since spread over the
entire country in a very few weeks. Is
the germ of one lighter than the other,
thereby allowing more rapid dissem-
ination in the air, or are they more po-
tent and certain of finding victims?
This is question which our scientists
will probably be able to answer at some
future day, if not at the present time.
Why horse having strangles when a
colt should be able to resist the disease
in after years is another question easier
to ask than to answer.--N. Y. San.
Sweet Potato Pudding.-0ne pound
of sweet potato. boiled in a little water;
when done, take them out, peel them,
and mash very smooth; beat eight eggs