Part 1

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THE AMERICAN REFORMED CATTLE DOCTOR;

CONTAINING THE NECESSARY INFORMATION FOR PRESERVING THE HEALTH AND CURING THE DISEASES OF OXEN, COWS, SHEEP, AND SWINE, WITH A GREAT VARIETY OF ORIGINAL RECIPES, AND VALUABLE INFORMATION IN REFERENCE TO FARM AND DAIRY MANAGEMENT; WHEREBY EVERY MAN CAN BE HIS OWN CATTLE DOCTOR.

THE PRINCIPLES TAUGHT IN THIS WORK ARE, THAT ALL MEDICATION SHALL BE SUBSERVIENT TO NATURE; THAT ALL MEDICINAL AGENTS MUST BE SANATIVE IN THEIR OPERATION, AND ADMINISTERED WITH A VIEW OF AIDING THE VITAL POWERS, INSTEAD OF DEPRESSING, AS HERETOFORE, WITH THE LANCET AND POISON.

BY G. H. DADD, M. D., VETERINARY PRACTITIONER, AUTHOR OF "ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HORSE."

BOSTON: PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY, 110 WASHINGTON STREET. 1851.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by

G. H. DADD, M. D.,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

STEREOTYPED AT THE BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION, 9

CATTLE.

Importance of supplying Cattle with pure Water, 15 Remarks on feeding Cattle, 17 The Barn and Feeding Byre, 21 Milking, 24 Knowledge of Agricultural and Animal Chemistry important to Farmers, 25 On Breeding, 30 The Bull, 34 Value of Different Breeds of Cows, 35 Method of preparing Rennet, as practised in England, 36 Making Cheese, 37 Gloucester Cheese, 38 Chester Cheese, 39 Stilton Cheese, 40 Dunlop Cheese, 41 Green Cheese, 42 Making Butter, 44 Washing Butter, 45 Coloring Butter, 46 Description of the Organs of Digestion in Cattle, 47 Respiration and Structure of the Lungs, 53 Circulation of the Blood, 54 The Heart viewed externally, 55 Remarks on Blood-letting, 58 Efforts of Nature to remove Disease, 67 Proverbs of the Veterinary Reformers, 70 An Inquiry concerning the Souls of Brutes, 72 The Reformed Practice--Synoptical View of the Prominent Systems of Medicine, 75 Creed of the Reformers, 79 True Principles, 80 Inflammation, 88 Remarks, showing that very little is known of the Nature and Treatment of Disease, 94 Nature, Treatment, and Causes of Disease in Cattle, 105 Pleuro-Pneumonia, 107 Locked-Jaw, 115 Inflammatory Diseases, 121 Inflammation of the Stomach, (Gastritis,) 121 Inflammation of the Lungs, (Pneumonia,) 122 Inflammation of the Bowels, (Enteritis.--Inflammation of the Fibro-Muscular Coat of the Intestines,) 124 Inflammation of the Peritoneal Coat of the Intestines, (Peritonitis,) 125 Inflammation of the Kidneys, (Nephritis,) 125 Inflammation of the Bladder, (Cystitis,) 126 Inflammation of the Womb, 126 Inflammation of the Brain, (Phrenitis,) 127 Inflammation of the Eye, 128 Inflammation of the Liver, (Hepatitis,) 128 Jaundice, or Yellows, 130 Diseases of the Mucous Surface, 132 Catarrh, or Hoose, 133 Epidemic Catarrh, 134 Malignant Epidemic, (Murrain,) 135 Diarrhoea, (Looseness of the Bowels,) 136 Dysentery, 138 Scouring Rot, 139 Disease of the Ear, 140 Serous Membranes, 140 Dropsy, 141 Hoove, or "Blasting," 144 Joint Murrain, 147 Black Quarter, 149 Open Joint, 151 Swellings of Joints, 152 Sprain of the Fetlock, 153 Strain of the Hip, 154 Foul in the Foot, 154 Red Water, 157 Black Water, 160 Thick Urine, 160 Rheumatism, 161 Blain, 162 Thrush, 163 Black Tongue, 163 Inflammation of the Throat and its Appendages, 163 Bronchitis, 164 Inflammation of Glands, 164 Loss of Cud, 166 Colic, 166 Spasmodic Colic, 167 Constipation, 168 Falling down of the Fundament, 171 Calving, 171 Embryotomy, 175 Falling of the Calf-Bed, or Womb, 176 Garget, 177 Sore Teats, 178 Chapped Teats and Chafed Udder, 178 Fever, 178 Milk or Puerperal Fever, 182 Inflammatory Fever, 183 Typhus Fever, 186 Horn Ail in Cattle, 189 Abortion in Cows, 191 Cow-Pox, 194 Mange, 195 Hide-bound, 196 Lice, 196 Importance of keeping the Skin of Animals in a Healthy State, 197 Spaying Cows, 201 Operation of Spaying, 204

SHEEP.

Preliminary Remarks, 209 Staggers, 219 Foot Rot, 220 Rot, 221 Epilepsy, 222 Red Water, 223 Cachexy, or General Debility, 224 Loss of Appetite, 224 Foundering, (Rheumatism,) 224 Ticks, 225 Scab, or Itch, 225 Diarrhoea, 227 Dysentery, 227 Constipation, or Stretches, 228 Scours, 230 Dizziness, 231 Jaundice, 232 Inflammation of the Kidneys, 232 Worms, 233 Diseases of the Stomach from eating Poisonous Plants, 233 Sore Nipples, 234 Fractures, 234 Common Catarrh and Epidemic Influenza, 235 Castrating Lambs, 236 Nature of Sheep, 237 The Ram, 238 Leaping, 239 Argyleshire Breeders, 239 Fattening Sheep, 240 Improvement in Sheep, 244 Description of the Different Breeds of Sheep, 249 Teeswater Breed, 249 Lincolnshire Breed, 250 Dishley Breed, 250 Cotswold Breed, 250 Romney Marsh Breed, 251 Devonshire Breed, 251 Dorsetshire Breed, 251 Wiltshire Breed, 252 South Down Breed, 252 Herdwick Breed, 253 Cheviot Breed, 253 Merino Breed, 253 Welsh Sheep, 254

SWINE.

Preliminary Remarks, 255 Natural History of the Hog, 259 Generalities, 262 General Debility, or Emaciation, 263 Epilepsy, or Fits, 264 Rheumatism, 264 Measles, 265 Ophthalmia, 266 Vermin, 266 Red Eruption, 267 Dropsy, 267 Catarrh, 267 Colic, 268 Diarrhoea, 268 Frenzy, 268 Jaundice, 269 Soreness of the Feet, 269 Spaying, 270 Various Breeds of Swine, 271 Berkshire Breed, 271 Hampshire Breed, 271 Shropshire Breed, 272 Chinese Breed, 272 Boars and Sows for Breeding, 272 Rearing Pigs, 273 Fattening Hogs, 275 Method of Curing Swine's Flesh, 277

APPENDIX.

On the Action of Medicines, 279 Clysters, 281 Forms of Clysters, 283 Infusions, 286 Antispasmodics, 287 Fomentations, 287 Mucilages, 289 Washes, 289 Physic for Cattle, 290 Mild Physic for Cattle, 291 Poultices, 292 Styptics, to arrest Bleeding, 296 Absorbents, 296 Forms of Absorbents, 297

VETERINARY MATERIA MEDICA, embracing a List of the various Remedies used by the Author of this Work in the Practice of Medicine on Cattle, Sheep, and Swine, 299 General Remarks on Medicines, 312 Properties of Plants, 315 Potato, 316

TREATMENT OF DISEASE IN DOGS--Preliminary Remarks, 323 Distemper, 325 Fits, 326 Worms, 327 Mange, 328 Internal Abscess of the Ear, 329 Ulceration of the Ear, 329 Inflammation of the Bowels, 329 Inflammation of the Bladder, 330 Asthma, 331 Piles, 331 Dropsy, 332 Sore Throat, 332 Sore Ears, 332 Sore Feet, 333 Wounds, 333 Sprains, 333 Scalds, 334 Ophthalmia, 334 Weak Eyes, 335 Fleas and Vermin, 335 Hydrophobia, 335

MALIGNANT MILK SICKNESS of the Western States, or Contagious Typhus, 339

BONE DISORDER IN COWS, 351

INTRODUCTION.

There is no period in the history of the United States when our domestic animals have ranked so high as at the present time; yet there is no subject on which there is such a lamentable want of knowledge as the proper treatment of their diseases.

Governor Briggs, in a recent letter to the author, says, "You have my thanks, and, in my opinion, are entitled to the thanks of the community, for entering upon this important work. While the subject has engaged the attention of scientific men in other countries, it has been too long neglected in our own. Cruelty and ignorance have marked our treatment to diseased animals. Ignorant himself both of the disease and the remedy, the owner has been in the habit of administering the popular remedy of every neighbor who had no better powers of knowing what should be done than himself, until the poor animal, if the disease would not have proved fatal, is left alone, until death, with a friendly hand, puts a period to his sufferings: he is, however, often destroyed by the amount or destructive character of the remedies, or else by the cruel mode of administering them. I am persuaded that the community will approve of your exertions, and find it to their interest to support and sustain your system."

The author has labored for several years to substitute a safer and a more efficient system of medication in the treatment of diseased animals, and at the same time to point out to the American people the great benefits they will derive from the diffusion of veterinary education.

That many thousands of our most valuable cattle die under the treatment, which consists of little else than blood-letting, purging, and blistering, no one will deny; and these dangerous and destructive agents are frequently administered by men who are totally unacquainted with the nature of the agents they prescribe. But a better day is dawning; veterinary information is loudly called for--demanded; and the farmers will have it; _but it must be a safer and a more efficient system than that heretofore practised_.

The object of the veterinary art is not only congenial with human medicine, but the very same paths that lead to a knowledge of the diseases of man lead also to a knowledge of those of brutes.

Our domestic animals deserve consideration at our hands. We have tried all manner of experiments on them for the benefit of science; and science and scientific men should do something to repay the debt, by alleviating their sufferings and improving their condition. We are told that physicians of all ages have applied themselves to the dissection of animals, and that it was by analogy that those of Greece and Rome judged of the structure of the human body. For example, the Greeks and Arabians confined themselves to the dissection of apes and other quadrupeds. Galen has given us the anatomy of the ape for that of man; and it is clear that his dissections were restricted to brutes, when he says, that "if learned physicians have been guilty of gross errors, it is because they neglected to dissect animals." We advocate the establishment of veterinary schools, and the cultivation of our reformed system of veterinary medicine, on the broad principles of humanity. These poor animals are as susceptible to pain and suffering as we are. Has not the Almighty given us dominion over them, and placed them under our protection? Have we done our duty by them? Can we render a good account of our stewardship?

In almost every department of science the spirit of inquiry is abroad, investigation is active; yet, in this department, every thing is left to chance and ignorance. Men of all professions find it for their interest to protect property. The merchant, previous to sending his vessel on a voyage to a distant port, seeks out a skilful navigator to pilot that vessel into her desired haven with safety. He protects his property. We protect our property against the ravages of fire by insurance--we defend our houses from the lightning by conducting that fluid down the sides of the building into the earth. And shall we not protect our animals? Is not property invested in live stock as valuable, in proportion, as that invested in real estate? Can we permit live stock to degenerate and die prematurely from a want of knowledge of the fundamental laws of their being? Can we look on and see their heart's blood drawn from them--their flesh setoned, burned, and blistered--simply because it was the misguided custom of our ancestors?

We appeal to the American people at large. They have great encouragement to educate young men in this important branch of study; for the beneficial results will be, that the diseases of all classes of domestic animals will be better understood, and the great losses which this country sustains will, in a few years, be materially diminished. This is not all. The value of live stock will be increased at least twenty-five per cent!

Look for a moment at the amount of capital invested in live stock; and from these statistics the reader will perceive that not only the farmers, but the whole nation, will be enriched. There are in the United States at least 6,000,000 horses and mules; these, at the rate of $50 per head, amount to $300,000,000. It is also estimated that there are 20,000,000 of neat cattle; reckon these at $25 per head, and we get the snug little sum of $500,000,000. We have also 20,000,000 sheep, worth the same number of dollars. The number of swine have been computed at 24,000,000; and these, at $3 per head, give us $72,000,000. Hence the reader will see that the capital invested in this class of live stock reaches the enormous sum of $892,000,000. Add the 25 per cent. just alluded to, and we get a clear gain of $223,000,000. This sum would be sufficient to build veterinary schools and colleges capable of affording ample accommodations to every farmer's son in the Union. Hence we entreat the farming community to ponder on these subjects. They have only to say the word, and schools for the dissemination of veterinary information shall spring up in every section of the Union.

Does the reader wish to know how the _farmers_ can accomplish this important object? We answer, there are four millions of men engaged in agricultural pursuits. Their number is three times greater than that of those engaged in navigation, the learned professions, commerce, and manufactures. Hence they have the numerical power to control the government of these United States, and of course can plead their own cause in the halls of congress, and vote their own supplies for educational purposes.

When the author first commenced a warfare against the lancet and other destructive agents, his only hopes of success were based on the coöperation of this mighty host of husbandmen; he well knew that there were many prejudices to be overcome, and none greater than those existing among his brethren of the same profession. The farmers have just begun to see the absurdity of bleeding an animal to death, with a view of saving life; or pouring down their throats powerful and destructive agents, with a view of making one disease to cure another! If the cattle doctors, then, will not reform, they must be reformed through the giant influence of popular opinion. Already the cry is, and it emanates from some of the most influential agriculturists in the country,--"_No more blood-letting!_" "_Use your poisons on yourselves._"

To the cattle-rearing interest, at the hands of many of whom the author has received aid and encouragement, the following pages are dedicated; they are intended to furnish them with practical information, with a view of preventing disease, increasing the value of their stock, and restoring them to health when sick.

In reference to our reformed system of veterinary medication, it will be sufficient, in the present place, just to glance at the fundamental principles. In the succeeding pages these principles will be more fully explained. We contemplate the animal system as a complicated piece of mechanism, subject to the uncompromising and immutable laws of nature, as they are written upon the face of animate nature by the finger of Omnipotence.