This is one of the most common diseases to which hogs are liable. The symptoms are, redness of the eyes, foulness of the skin, and depression of spirits; decline, or total departure of the appetite; small pustules about the throat, and red and purple eruptions on the skin. The last are more plainly visible after death, when they impart a peculiar appearance to the grain of the meat, with fading of its color, and distention of the fibre, giving an appearance similar to that which might be produced by puncturing the flesh.
Treatment. Allow the animal to fast, in the first instance, for twenty-four hours, and then administer a warm drink, containing a drachm of carbonate of soda, and an ounce of bole armenian; wash the animal, cleanse the sty, and change the bedding; give at every feeding, or thrice a day, thirty grains of flour of sulphur, and ten of nitre.
This malady is attributable to dirt, combined with the giving of steamed food or wash to hogs at too high a temperature. It is troublesome to eradicate, but usually yields to treatment, and is rarely fatal.
MURRAIN.
This resembles leprosy in its symptoms, with the addition of staggering, shortness of breath, and discharge of viscid matter from the eyes and mouth.
The treatment should consist of cleanliness, coolness, bleeding, purging, and limitation of food. Cloves of garlic are recommended; and as in all febrile diseases there exists a greater or less disposition to putrefaction, it is probable that garlic, from its antiseptic properties, may be useful.