Distomatosis in Cattle

The Veterina1J' journal. man. A small kennel is necessary, so that no temptation is offered to the dog. to move about; and finally a I per cent. solution of atropia should be dropped in the eye three times daily during the first three weeks. As regards the anresthetic to be used, my preference-from considerable experience-is in favour of ether, and I have always been under the impression that it was particularly unsafe to administer chloroform to dogs. Dr. Clement tells me that he always gives chloroform and precedes the administration of it with a hypodermic injection of morphia, and that he has never had any unfortunate results, a fact which he thinks is explained by the administration of the morphia. DISTOMATOSIS IN CATTLE. BY VETERINARY-CAPTAIN H. T. PEASE, F.Z.S.

THE occurrence of Distomatosis as a serious epidemic disease amongst cattle in India, has not been sufficiently brought to notIce, although the presence of the fluke has been frequently noted in the livers of oxen which have succumbed to other diseases. The chief causes of this are ignorance of the diseases attacking cattle, and the fact that the parts of the country where this malady occurs are for the most part . not situated where veterinary aid can be obtained, nor are men trained as cattle doctors sufficiently educated or supervised to admit of diseases being carefully diagnosed. In very many parts of India the conditions are extremely favourable for the development of low forms of animal life, and sheep fluke is a scourge. The country in such parts is subject to periodical inundations, which gradually subside, leaving marshy land, producing a growth of coarse grasses and sedges, an extremely favourable soil for the development of infusoria and other low forms of animal life. An outbreak of Distomatosis is now reported by Stock Inspector Seethamber Davoo, from the neighbourhood of the Collair IJake in the Godaveri district where it is locally named "Iduga," and the disease is also known in parts of the Punjab under the general name" Panilag." A brief notice of the disease as it occurs in the Collair Lake may prove of interest. The Collair Lake is surrounded by the villages of Ellore, Bhumavaram and the Gudwada taluqs. The fields on the border of the lake are inundated during the rainy season owing to surplus irrigation water flowing into it. The lake contains the greatest amount of water during the rains, z~e.,

Distomatosis in Cattle. in the months of September and October, and this gradually evaporates from D ecember to May, during which latter month the lake contains the minimum quantity of water and this quantity is pretty constant until the early rains. The shores of the lake are at this season d ensely covered with decaying mosses, the water being black and muddy and emitting an unpleasant odour. The disease" Iduga," which causes great mortality amongst cattle and sheep, is enzootic in this tract, and according to the accounts received from village officers appears to carry off four or five h ead of each cultivator's stock annually. Paddy (rice) cultivation has b een extended up to the borders of the lake, and the people are obliged to send their cattle during the cultivation season to the uplands to graze, and after the harvest bring them back to graze on the shores and in the hed of the lake from February until June. The cattle, when they are put on to the lake to graze, improve in condition and milk yield and this continues for some time afterwards, but is followed by gradual loss of condition. The people say that cattle fed on the g rass grown in the stag nant water are certain to contract the disease. There is a general complaint in every village that a great number of cattle, especially buffaloes, die annually, and that they s uffer much loss in consequence. The permanent" Kurnam" of Siddapuram complained that he had bought eight hundred rupees worth of cattle last year, but only a few remain now. It appears that the g reatest mortality occurs durin g the transplanting of paddy. The most marked symptoms of this disease are gradual emaciation, unhealthy appearance of the skin, watery condition of the mucous m embranes, and what is more especially noticed by the p eople, the appearance of cedemata on the dewlap, and sometimes also in the submaxillary space, and under the abdomen. The skin becomes dry and the animal hide-bound. Digestion is deranged, rumination irregular, and the action of th e bowels irregular, the animal is occasionally constipated, at other times suffers from diarrhcea. These symptom s g radually increase in intensity, and the diarrh cea b ecom in g marked, death supervenes from exhaustion at between two to four months after the first symptoms have b een noticed. The followin g post-mortem appearances were noticed in a buffalo dead of th e d isease :Body extrem ely emaciated, the skin tig ht and dry, dropsical effusion into the sub cutaneous tissues, the fat replaced by a gelatinous m at erial. All the tissues were pale

The Vetcr£nary Journal. and flabby. Liver greatly enlarged, all ducts filled with flukes, about five ounces in quantity, and the gall bladder also containing a number of them, about 100, the bile of a black colour, duct dilated, the right lung congested, and exhibiting a dark nodule on the external surface. INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION IN THE HORSE. BY I.

MUCH as has of late been written on intestinal obstruction in the horse, it is a subject of never-failing interest to the veterinary surgeon; and the following brief remarks of a case which terminated fatally, in which the obstruction was due to the presence of a tumour situated at the junction of the floating colon and rectum, will, I trust, prove of some interest to readers of the VETERINARY JOURNAL. The specimen was forwarded to Principal Williams for examination, and he has kindly promised to describe its nature and appearances. We constantly hear of cases of obstruction due to twists, displacements, strangulation, &c., but seldom are tumours demonstrated as giving rise to this condition; more seldom still are we able to diagnose to a certainty their presence during life. But in this case the diagnosis was made comparatively easy, inasmuch as the tumour could be felt on rectal examination. The subject from which the specimen was taken was a sevenyear-old cart gelding, in good condition. There was no history of previous illness for several years, at least. The animal was first noticed to be ill, with symptoms of colic, on Sunday, December zznd of last year. Various remedies were tried, but the pains, however, continued, and I saw him for the first time on Monday, the 23rd. The symptoms were more or less continuous abdominal pain, as shown by the animal looking at the flanks and pawing with the fore-feet. The pains were never very severe, and, when down, the horse would lie quiet for twenty or thirty minutes. The pulse and temperature, however, plainly showed mischief, the latter on my first visit being 103 F., and th e pulse 70, gradually rising to 105 F. and 100 respectively. There was also that characteristic expression of the face seen in enteritis, but not quite so pronounced, perhaps, as in an acute attack of that fatal disease. It was not until my second visit on the 24th, I made out the nature of the case, owing simply to a too hurried examination per rectum on my first visit. As already said, the tumour was attached to the floating colon at its termination, almost blocking the entrance