Reports to the Lord Provost and magistrates of the city of Edinburgh on the pathological appearances, symptoms, treatment, and means of preventing cattle plague / by Andrew Smart.

Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports to the Lord Provost and magistrates of the city of Edinburgh on the pathological appearances, symptoms, treatment, and means of preventing cattle plague / by Andrew Smart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    This dose, from the commencement of treatment, may be administered thrice a-day during the entire course of the disease. It is not unfrequently necessary, especially in cases where there is persistent constipation, to combine the relaxant with the stimulant mixture. In such instances, the doses of the stimulant may be reduced one third. When convalescence is fully established, a simple tonic hastens recovery. I find none so good and safe as cinchona bark. The best quality only should be used, and given in doses of one ounce and a-half of the powder. This tonic in the early period of convalescence is combined with the stimulant, and at a later period with a quart of good sweet ale, given once daily. It is best administered at night. Two tablespoonfuls of laudanum may be added at any time to any other medicine which the animal is getting, or given in the food when it be- comes requisite to control excessive diarrhoea, or obviate straining. IV.—Diet. It should be simple, and, until decided convalescence, well cooked, and given in small and regulated quantity. I use the following :—1. Full mash. It is composed of:— Four handfuls of bran. Four handfuls of brewer's draff. 1 lb. of peasemeal. 2 lb. of mashed turnips, well boiled. Not too thick, and given night and morning. At mid-day a drink of gruel is given, made with 2 lbs. of oatmeal, well boiled in six quarts of water. In addition to these, some raw turnip (2 lbs., for example, of greentops), and 1 lb. of hay, may be allowed in small quantities during the twenty-four hours. To allay thirst, three to four quarts of water, previously boiled and allowed to cool, is given in mouthfuls during the day.* This constitutes the full diet of a decided convalescent. Half of this diet is, in most instances, during the acute course of the disease, too much. In all cases the same kind of food and periods of giving it are followed. There are some animals that for a time refuse all food, not excepting gruel. In such cases the gruel is administered by the bottle thrice daily, along with or after the medicine. The animal should get a little mash so soon as it takes it voluntarily. It is often expedient to miss a meal, especially whenever symptoms of an unfavourable indication appear. These are not of unfrequent occurrence during the course of treatment. Grass is given, and the quantity of hay and turnip increased as there is progress towards more perfect recovery. V.—Symptoms of Convalesence. The more obvious indications are,—1. Eecovery of appetite ; 2. Greater animation; 3. Return of breathing and pulse to their normal condition ; 4. Increase of milk ; * Many of the diseased animals evince a remarkable predilection for charred wood ; and as carbon is an excellent antiseptic, it is only obeying a natural indication to supply materials to satisfy this craving. To do so, charred wood may be boiled with the water, and a few small charred branches of trees placed in the stall.