The four bovine scourges : pleuro-pneumonia, foot-and-mouth disease, cattle plague, tubercle (scrofula) : with an appendix on the inspection of live animals and meat / by Thomas Walley.

Date:: 1879

Credit: The four bovine scourges : pleuro-pneumonia, foot-and-mouth disease, cattle plague, tubercle (scrofula) : with an appendix on the inspection of live animals and meat / by Thomas Walley. 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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$than is simply represented by the presence of tuberculous lung lesions \ for by the use of this term any pathological condition of the lung marked primarily by consolida- tion, and secondarily, by rapid disintegration, or wasting, is designated Pulmonary Phthisis. As Tubercular Phthisis is only one form of Tuberculosis, I need not enter into detail with respect to its production, the localisation of the disease in the substance of the lungs being, in. the main, an accidental circumstance governed by no fixed law. Inasmuch, however, as it interferes with the functions of organs of vital importance, upon which, in fact, the due oxidation of the blood depends, it becomes the most fatal form of the affection with whicli we have to deal. The same conformation of the body is found in phthisical animals as in all tuberculous subjects—viz., narrow chest, small barrel, fiat ribs, and, in many instances, a watery, dull appearance of the eye, with a (generally) dull temperament; and it is frequently remarked of such animals, even before symptoms of disease are manifested, that they are more readily acted upon by such external influences as cold, wet weather, exposure, bad keep, and fatigue. It is this form of Tuberculosis which is transmitted, more than any other, from animal to animal, as not only is the expired air charged with infective particles, but large quantities of infective tubercular elements find their way through the expectorations into the grass and food of healthy subjects. Sym]ptoms.—The symptoms of tubercular phthisis are, in the early stages, very deceptive; in fact, in the majority of instances, the malady has made considerable progress before its existence is even suspected. At the commencement of the disease it will be probably noticed that after a very wet or cold day, or a frosty night, the animal is seen isolating itself from the rest of tlie herd, its back being arched and its coat erect; if made to move it does so stiffly and unwillingly, giving vent at the same time to a slight irritable cough or hoose, and it may be an occasional grunt: pressure over the ribs or back at this stage may or may not give rise to an expression of pain. The appetite is indif- ferent, and the bowels irregular. Much thought is not often devoted to the reading of these symptoms, and the owner, looking upon them as the result of a slight cold, has the animal placed under shelter and a dose of warm ale and ginger administered to it, with the allowance of a few mashes to eat, and under these favourable conditions the ailing beast appears to rally and is turned out with its companions until the cause whicli gave rise to the apparently temporary illness is again brought into operation and reproduces it. It is this recurrent character of the early stages of tubercular phthisis which serves, to some extent, to distinguish it from most other lung affections. If the attention of a veterinary surgeon is called to the animal at this stage he will in all probability discover slight disturbance of the respiration and circulation witli irregularity of the temperature of the body ; on auscultation of the chest a rasping sound may be detected, and here and there, on percussion, a non-resonant patch.$