The Sanitary and Sanative influences of the Bath on Horses, Cows, and the Lower Animals generally-Report of the Committee of the Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland-The advantages of the Bath in farming operations, etc.

WHAT has been said respecting Sanitary and Sanative influences of the Bath in relation to the human economy, is equally true as regards all domesticated animals. Two years after the Bath had been in use at St. Anne's, the experience Dr. Barter had acquired led him to the conclusion that it would prove singularly beneficial in the diseases to which those animals are peculiarly liable. Prima facie, on physiological grounds, there was every reason to believe that its effects on the lower animals would be similarly sanative as on man. It was indeed but reasonable to suppose that what was highly therapeutical in affections of the lungs, the bronchi, and congested conditions of the human body, would exercise a similar remedial power in pleuro-pneumonia and other distempers to which cattle are sub

ject.

Resolved to bring theory to the certain test of experience, Dr. Barter in 1858 erected a Cattle Bath and instituted a series of experiments which proved remarkably satisfactory, and realised his most sanguine expectations. "The first occasion on which the Bath was tried," says Dr. Griffith, "was that of eight cows labouring under pleuro-pneumonia, out of which number seven completely recovered and one died. About a fortnight afterwards, three cows being seized with puerperal fever, a few days after calving, the Bath was at once had recourse to, with the result of two recoveries and one death,

the Bath being administered to them twice a day. Since then, it has been the uniform habit to give every cow a few baths previous to calving, and no case of puerperal fever has since occurred. In cases of distemper, five or six baths were generally found to effect a recovery, and the animals did not show any after-appearance of being the worse for the attack."-The Turkish Bath, etc., p. 18.

The result of experience has proved that great a boon as the Bath is to humanity, it is calculated to prove even greater, when judiciously managed, to the lower animals whose wants cannot be made known. The undoubted success that attended its administration at St. Anne's, led the gentlemen in the vicinity to erect Baths for their cattle, and the farmers who kept stock followed their example. The utility of the Bath soon caused it to spread through the county, and there are now several in various parts of Ireland and in England. Two Veterinary establishments in Cork erected Baths for the regular treatment of cattle diseases, and Dr. Barter thus had the satisfaction of inaugurating a course of humane treatment for the lower animals, which is at once merciful to them, and at the same time a great protection against pecuniary loss to their owners.

In 1860 the Council of Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland appointed a committee to visit St. Anne's, "to examine and report upon the efficacy of the Turkish Bath as a remedy for distemper in horned cattle, and generally on its effects upon the health and constitution of the inferior animals." This report is very valuable, and ought to be attentively considered by every humane proprietor of stock-by every one indeed, who keeps domestic animals, and desires to maintain them in good health. The committee first examined the effects of the treatment at the St. Anne's Bath. They say

"Two dairy cows in full milk, about three months calved, had been attacked with lung distemper, one on the 27th and the other on the 29th May last; neither were put under treatment until unmistakable signs of distemper had manifested themselves, in the rapid drying up of the milk and subsequent quick respiration. The use of the bath (two hours at a

time) was ordered, at first three times, and when urgent symptoms, were got under, twice a day; and under this treatment, at the end of the third day, a manifest improvement in the state of each was the result, and at the end of the seventh or eighth day the further use of the bath was considered unnecessary; and from this period the milk, which had all but entirely disappeared during the violence of the attack, rapidly returned; and at the time of our visit, being the 17th and 19th days respectively from the date of the first attack, we were assured by the man who regularly milked them that they were both in quite as good milk as they had been previous to their being attacked; and we had no difficulty in crediting this statement, as it would have been impossible to distinguish either from any one of the 40 cows with which they were grazing, whether from the appearance of the udder or their general healthy character.

"We had also pointed out to us the several cows that were treated successfully during the last winter and early spring for distemper in the bath, and they were all, without exception, in perfect health, and stated by the herd to be in as good profit for the dairy as they had ever been previously. The diseased animals are not separated from the others, nor does any particular attention to, or change of, diet appear necessary.

"We were next shown three pigs of different ages, from four to eight months old, that had been attacked about ten days previously with a malignant form of disease, called in the country the black distemper, and from which a case of recovery scarcely ever occurs; the animal rapidly turning black about the head and ears, and generally dying in two or three days-sometimes even more rapidly.

"The effect of the bath in these cases seems to have been even more rapid and decisive than with the cattle, the fourth or fifth day's use of it having completely removed all distressing symptoms. Two of them we saw feeding greedily with the other pigs in the yard, and the third, though still a good deal cut up by the severity of the attack, feeding, and likely to do well.

"We were next shown a chesnut harness mare that had been attacked, twelve days previously, by strangles; she was treated with the bath two and three times a day, and no blister, or other application of any kind, used to the throat. This was continued for eight days, when she was so far recovered that the bath was discontinued, and when we saw her, although there were still the remains of the gatherings under the throat to be felt, she was perfectly recovered, her coat looking clear and healthy, and proved her recovery by travelling with us, on the inspection we subsequently made, a distance of some eight or nine miles, at a rapid pace, without showing the least distress."

They next proceeded to inspect the Bath of the late St. John Jefferies, Esq., Blarney Castle, who had an immense stock, as

he farmed upwards of three thousand acres.

There were several cattle under treatment, and the Bath, which was erected under Dr. Barter's directions, was similar to the one at St. Anne's,. the only difference being, says the report, that "the fire is placed in the outer, or cooling room, and over it is placed a large boiler, by which means various articles of cattle food can be prepared, and a constant supply of hot water kept, without any additional cost for fuel." The report proceeds:

"The cases under treatment were, in all, six; five being the property of Mr. Jefferies and one that of a tenant of his, named Forest, living near.

"Nos. 1 and 2 were well bred dairy cows that had been only under treatment two or three days. No. 1, a red cow, was evidently suffering severely from the attack, carried her head down, moved badly, had a quick draft on her breathing, and a short cough. No. 2, a roan cow, was also suffering under similar symptoms, but not so severely as No. 1.

"No. 3, the property of Mr. Forest, was likewise under treatment for but three days, and was much reduced in appearance, and could not be said to be in a better way than her two companions. The above three cows were at large in the paddock, and, after some time, we noticed the marks of recent bleeding on Nos. 1 and 2, and on questioning the man in charge, he informed us that both had been bled at the farmyard, previous to being sent to him for treatment, for no better reason, as far as he knew, than to see whether it would be of any service.' It is scarcely necessary to say that this treatment was very injudicious, and Doctor Barter stated that it was entirely contrary to his usage or advice in such cases, and that it must render their recovery slow and tedious.

"We next went to the bath and found two cows in it, one that we shall call No. 4, in the outer or cooling room, just after having had several buckets of water thrown over her on coming out of the warm room, and another, No. 5, was still in the hot room. No. 4 was one of those tedious, uncertain cases of distemper that every one who has suffered much from it among their cattle is familiar with. After the violence of the attack is over, the animal seems to stand still; there are no urgent symptoms, but no recovery. They become much wasted in condition, a short hard cough remains, and you feel uncertain whether they will live or die, and would almost prefer the latter, for any value they seem likely to prove. This cow had been for over two months under treatment, and for a long time with little or no perceptible improvement till about a week previous to our visit, when a copious discharge of thick matter commenced from the nostrils, which the bath seemed to encourage, and when we saw her there was an appearance of a considerable quantity having been recently discharged; she was still in very low condition, but the man in charge de

scribed her as much improved since the discharge had commenced, and stated that they had had even worse cases that had entirely recovered under the same treatment.

"On No. 4 being turned out, we went into the hot room to see No. 5 in the bath. We were informed she had been about an hour and a half in, had been eight days under treatment, and as we were able subsequently to satisfy ourselves, had scarcely a trace of disease about her, and the next day was to be returned to the herd cured. She seemed quite to enjoy her position, the perspiration was rolling off her freely, and her breathing was slightly quickened. She carried her head erect, her eyes clear and healthy, and when she was removed to the outer room to get her douche bath, no one could mistake the feeling of refreshment and pleasure that the dashing of each successive bucket of water over her seemed to give, and when she had been slightly rubbed down she was turned out to graze, the day being fine and warm; but when otherwise there is a shed close by into which the animals are turned after leaving the bath, to let them further cool and dry before being allowed out.

"The last case, No. 6, was a fine cow that had been about a week under treatment, but had been neglected for some time before being brought to the bath, and was quite in a hopeless state, breathing hard and in pain, and on examination we found that she was suffering from a complication of diseases other than lung distemper, as we ascertained that the air was circulating freely through both lungs, and we further ascertained that one of her most urgent symptoms-constipation--had been for two or three days entirely unattended to.

"We next proceeded to the farm of Mr. Forest, one of whose cows we had seen under treatment at the Blarney bath, and for whom Dr. Barter had last winter put up in the end of a small out-house a simple bath, which had cost him six pounds. This bath is similar in construction to the others we have described, but too small, and faulty in its ventilation; for these reasons, since Mr. Jefferies' bath has been opened, he prefers, with his landlord's permission, sending any cows he may have in distemper, of which he seems to be never quite free, to the Blarney bath. Here we were shown two cows which by all the persons who had seen them early last spring, are considered to illustrate the extraordinary curative power of the bath beyond any of which we have yet spoken. They were described to us to have been in a far worse state for a considerable time than the cow No. 4 mentioned in our description of Mr. Jefferies' bath. We saw both grazing with the rest of the dairy stock in full milk; one was in perhaps the best condition of any cow in the field (about 25 in number) and the other a heifer that had had her first calf at three years old, and was, in consequence (independently of her severe ordeal of last winter), in low condition, but healthy, with a clear eye and a smooth coat.

We next proceeded to Mount Desert, the residence of Nicholas Duns