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Symptoms of the Disease
It is highly important to be able to recognize the "ox typhus fever," that the necessary measures may be taken to prevent contagion, and that the proper treatment may be pursued.
Symptoms. When the contagious typhus is raging, keep a watchful eye on your cattle. If you notice in their gait, their looks, or about their ears, any unusual signs; if they seem less eager, less active, less vigilant; if they leave part of their food when in the stables, or if, when in the fields, they no longer browse with continued alacrity, - be upon your guard. If to these changes of minor importance is added an appetite really less acute, if the rumination is less regular, if the By-and-by the animal loses his appetite more and more, rumination is shorter and less frequent.
He holds his head down, his ears sink and fall, and he grinds his teeth. Then, as to the cows, denly dries up altogether, and the lowness of their milk, which was already diminished, sud- , which was already diminished, sudspirits which had been visible for some days before, passes into stupor. If at this time you touch their horns, their extremities, or their hide in any part, you will find that all these different parts are sometimes warm and sometimes cold. From this day forward you will witness a succession of disorders, such as shiverings at the attachments of the fore and hind legs, loud, panting breathing, with slight cough, scanty and thick urine, with hard and constipated droppings, and finally generally excessive warmth. If the back is now pressed, it will cause pain, and all the signs of intense fever will be manifest.
Already these indications have divulged the nature of the malady you have to deal with, but others more significant succeed them, and will remove every doubt.
The breathing now becomes more hurried and oppressed, and more puffy; from the eyes, nostrils, and mouth there issues a discharge which is at first thin and irritating, but soon becomes thick and purulent, and of a fetid smell; diarrhea takes the place of constipation; the cattle grow leaner, and some will die at this period; if they still hold out, the diarrhea becomes more frequent, more fetid, and sometimes bloody; gases are developed under the skin along the spine, and form wide, flat tumors, which crackle when pressed upon; -finally, the mucus which runs from the head becomes still thicker and more fetid; a glutinous foam stops up the mouth; the eyes, filled with humor, sink in the orbits; the bodily warmth decreases; the animal sways his head from right lolls on one side, and he dies, panting from exto left, becoming insensible and cold; his head haustion and asphyxia, on the tenth or twelfth day after the disease has been confirmed.
The carcass exhibits a repulsive appearance; bones, which show the form of the skeleton, and the hide is dry and cracked: it sticks to the the putrid decomposition which had already set in before death, seizes rapidly on all the tissues.
The course of the disease is not always the same. Sometimes the animal is agitated at first, and all the functions of life are so disturbed that death comes on in two or three days. At times the lungs are more affected than the other internal hurried and obstructed. organs; the cough is more intense, and the breath TO DISTINGUISH FROM PLEURO-PNEUMΟΝΙΑ.
When once seen, it is impossible to mistake this disease (ox typhus - cattle plague) for any other, unless it be the chest complaint, called peri-pneumonia, which is likewise contagious; but in peri- or pleuro-pneumonia the attack is generally insidious, - the eyes preserve their vivacity, and the appetite is not lost until towards the close. In this disorder (pleuro-pneumonia) a short, dry cough shows itself from the outbreak, and persists; the breathing is frequent and painful; and the sides of the chest, when struck with the fingers, give out the hard, solid sound of a full barrel (flatness), this percussion being painful. The eyes, nose, and mouth do not discharge those purulent secretions seen in typhus, and the diarrhea only comes on at the end, being less * In a letter received by the publisher from Hon. J. BIDWELL, Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, dated July 14, 1866, he states that the Committee intend recommending the publication by Congress of an important English discovery for the cure of Rinderpest and other kindred diseases. So soon as the pamphlet is issued, we will insert the information in our next edition of this work. We are reliably informed, however, that the following are the diseases cured and treatment : Rinderpest, pleuro-pneumonia, mange, ringworm, and grease-heel in barn-yard animals and horses, and the relief of phthisis and tubercular affections of the lungs in the human patient. A small