Mix and make into twenty powders, giving one to each adult goat morning and evening at the conclusion of the administration of calomel. After an interval of two days this treatment is repeated. In case the diarrhœa persists, the sulphate of iron has been substituted for the reduced iron, with beneficial effects.
Conclusions. After preliminary investigation, the following conclusions have been reached:—
(1.) The disease described as takosis has appeared in many parts of America, but particularly in the Northern States, where it has caused great loss to many breeders of Angora goats.
(2.) It is a progressive, debilitative, contagious disease, characterised by great emaciation and weakness, with symptoms of diarrhœa and pneumonia, and causes a mortality of 100 per cent. of those affected and from 30 to 85 per cent. of the whole flock.
(3.) From the carcases of numerous animals that have succumbed a new organism, Micrococcus caprinus, has been recovered in purity, and is presumably the etiological factor.
(4.) This micrococcus possesses pathogenic properties for goats, chickens, rabbits, guinea-pigs, and white mice, but not for sheep, dogs, or rats.
(5.) Medicinal treatment was attempted with varying success, while the immunising experiments thus far conducted (although too few to permit of any conclusive statement or accurate estimate as to their protective value) have shown highly encouraging results. When accompanied with measures of isolation and disinfection, the treatment may prove of great assistance in the suppression and eradication of the disease in an infected flock.
BLOOD POISONING (MALIGNANT ŒDEMA) IN SHEEP AND LAMBS IN NEW ZEALAND.
This disease, which occurs during the operations of shearing sheep and of castrating and docking lambs, is the cause of considerable loss annually to sheep breeders in several districts of New Zealand. In 1893 J. A. Gilruth, Chief Veterinarian for New Zealand, issued a leaflet dealing with the disease and the preventive measures to be adopted. Generally the first thing that draws the owner’s attention seriously to the condition of his flock is the discovery, in from thirty-six to forty-eight hours after docking or shearing, of a few dead sheep lying in various parts of the paddocks. Next morning he finds a few more dead, and so on for three or four days, when, as a rule, the mortality ceases.
Symptoms. In the early stages of this disease the animal seems listless, disinclined to move about, and, if the sun is shining strongly, prefers to lie in the shade. If forced to move, the hind legs are drawn forward with a peculiar stiff, dragging motion, as if there were no joints. There are slight muscular tremors all over the body, which become spasmodic as the disease progresses. If the flock be driven about much, the diseased animal soon shows signs of great fatigue, ultimately dropping to the ground thoroughly exhausted. The breathing is fast and painful, being maintained more by a series of spasmodic jerks than by any regular act. The pulse is quick and weak; the temperature is very high, registering 106° to 108° Fahr., showing acute fever; the eyes close, and the whole face is expressive of pain. Gradually the spasms cease and coma sets in, resulting in death. The scrotum and surrounding skin right along the floor of the abdomen and between the hind legs become swollen and black. This gangrenous tissue, when present before death, can be peeled off without pain to the animal. On post-mortem examination various conditions are met with. The animals are generally found to be among the best of the flock and in fairly good condition. The scrotal and perineal regions in lambs (between hind legs and below tail) are always, or almost always, gangrenous, this condition extending along to the floor of the chest, and sometimes implicating the tail. Many of the muscles, generally those of the shoulders, haunches, and loins, are dark in colour and infiltrated with a black, watery fluid. The intestines are generally healthy, though sometimes the peritoneum is inflamed. The spleen and liver are in the usual condition after death, due to febrile disturbance. In the chest, either the pleuræ (coverings of the lungs) or pericardium (covering of the heart) are often inflamed, with occasionally a fibrinous exudation, causing surfaces to adhere.