Waimate County Farmers' Union.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 155, 21 January 1902, Page 3

Waimate County Farmers' Union.

LECTURE BY MR T. G, LILICO,

M.R.CV.S,

There was a large attendance of members and others in St. Augustine's schoolroom on Saturday, when the first of a series of lectures was delivered by Mr Lilico, M 8.C.V.5., the subjeist being " The Hone."

Mr,J. F. Douglas (president) occupied the chair and introduced the lecturer. The delivery of this series of lectures was one of the results of the formation of the Furmers' Union. The Government hal kindly consented to ullow Mr Lilico to address tbem, and the speaker was cure he would give them an instructive and interesting leeture. The present one was very important, for farmers often lost valuable animals through not having a shred of knowledge in regard to their ailments. If they knew enough to a case they would often b 9 able to bring speedy h"lp. Mr L>lico would give them this preliminary information, and then if they desired further assistance they cou-d at any time wire the symptoms to Mr Lilico ot Tiniaru, and ho- could reply stating the method of treatment. Dr Liiico, who was received with applause, thanked the audience for the interest displayed by their presence. Hs himself was confronted by the diffioulty of making a eemi-scientifio lecture meet thepopul<r ta*te, but it would be his endeavour throughout his lectures this -important subject necessitated several) to use as fow technical terms as possible. What they wanted was something like «first aid ' instruction, which they could carry away for future use. To understand disease it was first necessary to look at the animal in health. D sease was simply a deviation from a state of health, and the Hue of demarcation—where health ceased and disease co-nuanced -was often exceedingly difficult to find, so this would form the subject ot his lecture that day. There were four ways in wh ch one might tall ; (1) fhe general appaa'-anc9 of the horse, for one naturally looked the animal all over from head to tail; (2) The pulse, or movemont of the heart shown by the number of beats. This was best ascertained at the sub-maxilary artery, which passed under the jaw, and by keeping the finger steady one could soon learn to tell the number and the charaoter of the beat. This, even in healthy animals, varied very much ; in a thoroughbred it reached from 40 to 45 per minute, while in a coarser breed it might perhaps be 36 per minuts. The pulse was very important, as although it would not indicate the seat of tne trouble, it showed what state the animal was in. The next way was (3) respiration, not ony breathing in (inspiration) and Tjreathng out (expiration), but its whole circuit-; it practically weufc in unison with the pnlse in a certain ratio, say thrr.e to fonr beats of a pulse, to one respiration, thus to a pulae of 40 you would expect a respiration of ten or twelvo.

; These oarly remark* applied to the cow • as w«?ll, and it might be well to say th*t > the pulae of the cow was very erratio, running from 36 to 80, with a respiration of ten to fifteen, but the normal pulse was 45, though after feeding and during rumination it might iucrease vary rapidly. The of a hor»e Was, of course, taken from the rectum, and wis beat 'ascertained by a self-registering clinical thermometer. The temperature wis not as important as the puke, but still exceedingly important as an indicator of derantfemenfe. Comiug to disease itself, the causes might be divided into " predisposing"' and "exciting," The first wis always internal and the other external. There was a great deal of difference between " predisposing " and " predisposition " : for instance, after stra'iglesoracitelymphangitis, "roaring" often set up, strangles being' the predisposing cause, but a horse might never be known to have an affection of the throat and yet might be born with predisposition, and in spite of all care it would be a roarer. Long, fine-neekel horses wer« especially subject. The first great predisposing cause was age, not necessarily very old, for while there were diseases peculiar to old anima's, there were others peculiar to the younz. For example, influenza, splint, etc., wsre always found in young horses. Again, they would find one in lambs bob not in sbeep, and in waives but not in old cattle. In reference to age, some diseases of animals never occurred before a certain age ; for example, milk fever in the cow never occurs under five years of age, and thus age was' dearly a predisposing faotor of disease. Sex was another ; excluding altogether tba generative system, there were some peculiar to males and some to females. Thus, hysteria, which was oommon io females, was purely a nervoas trouble ; on' the other hand, roaring was more often found in males; in fact* he Irid not yet in all his experience found a mace suffering f<om the' disease, although "there might be iostaooea.;-

Another great predisposing cause was breed and formation. For instance, " grease" and lymphangitis wa9 common in light horse*, but not in heavy. Colour, too, was a predisposing cause of diseae, one common to white bosses or light chestnuts, and in them alone, being melanosis, a malignant cancerous growth resembling blaok bunches, found under the tail, Tribe or species was another cause, glanders and other diseases being common in other countries (be was thdnkful fo say not in New Zealand), but not known ameng cattle, while tubercu- . lotis, though common among cattle, was unknown in horsea. Previous disease was, of course, a predisposing cause, fox if an animal once suffered from a complaint it Was more ready to catch it again, or another disease. Afterinfluenza, especially if treated in ill ventilated stables, lymphangitis would also reour. He would not at that time touch on

hereditary disease*, lor later on he intended to give a lecture on that subject. Turning to exciting causes, chese might be either mechanioal (as in ■.he ease of a twisted bowel or a stone in the bladder) or chemical. When some liseage s«ts up certain processes, such as the over secretion of ure3, and the kidneys not are able to throw off th<

effete material, death u>ual!y interTeiie.l { b'ood and water improperly administered wrxe othwr exoiting c uses*. It wan a•} i-ommon thing bo stint a horse's oi tfatsr, eapeoiaUy on & j.mrney. Hia own experience led him to irjvc it as nouo'o a* it wanted. If the animtl were w*rm .

joming in, of oour.-e it should on ! y hftvr % moderate quantity. Th'-y all kne-a how refreshing it w \s to thorast'lves t cake a driuk when warm. might teed a hor>.o on hay and very littlo oats, ind »11 they would do would be t;> give it a corporation, while a horse largely fed oa bran was very li.ble to oolic. They did not want to give * horse ai once water to do it all d y any more; than they should give it twenty fnu« hours' feed at onee. The geologioa!, formation of a country had also a large amount to do witri disease, a:id so hjti tho improper veutiKti n of stables. In New Z aland stib «s wwe almost unknown, and there w n n.. noe: to go into thin part or the subject. Ho set might be overworked or underworked, and b,<th were injurious to health; therefore they must aim at striking the

\ happy medium. | By observing tho visible mucousj membrane (the eye and nostril) much might be observed. In a healthy animal it should iie a nice pink, bat in disease it took different colours according to its nature, being livid, white, or yellow. If pale, it showed a bloodless or anaemic state, whilst a sudden paleness often indicated internal haemorrhage. The external heat of the skin was also ft good indication, ind if it were extreme they would usually find when this had pissed that the eyes and legs would grow deathly eold. The expression of the face often indicated disease, although he did not wish them to think that th>y a!l could tell this without much practice. Still, ihere were ceriain facial indications which plainly showed particular troubles to those who had this experience. The pulse, which was normally 40, would run as high as 100 or 120, bub it was not so much the rapidity of the b at that was feared as the character of it. It required some time to be able lo tell the character, but they might take it that if the beat were sharp and there was more likely to be serious trouble th%n if it were quick but steady. In a bad case of colic ft short, irritable pulse wis more prounced even than in pneumonia, but such a pu'se always indicated infl.ramation, and also frequently indicated <hat a great amount of debiltv might be expected to follow. They mighc, further, place their ear against tne norae's sid-i and listen Id the movement of the bowels. In disci's of the brain and the stomach they had a pulse slower than normal, and in debilitating troubles there was what was called a pulse, where lha heart w .9 not strong enough to lend the blood right through and it came back at the jugular vein. Quickness of breath was not always an indication of disease, for it might be caused by exertion or fright of some kind. However, defective breathing usually accompanied some trouble ot lung or throat, and the Tespiration often indioited «here the trouble was. For instance, in pleurisy there was little or no thoracic breathing, it all being performed by the abdomen, and in disaaseg of the abdomen an undue share of tiie work W3S performed by the thorax, the ab lominal muscles not coming into operation. In broken wind the horse was unable to exhale the air without undue use of the abdominal musclea. Normal temperature would run about 100, bur, in disease it reached 107 to 108, over 105 boing a very bad case, although the temperature often came down very rapidly. It was a common thing on the Fifth Contingents troopship to rind hor-ies appir?nt'y wrli with a temperature of 107, but down quickly. He would not elite*, into •particular di.-evses that day, but wiu'rl and speak of administering medicines, which in most cases should not bs riotia by farmers, They often g*v* thi„fe« they knew nothing about, drenching or gir ng a ball when tiio animal only need-d a little Qimmoi s>?as-» tre.iment. Medioine might be given by the m nth in a solution or in a -bill. Med cioe migvit also be administered hypod«vmi.ally or by the rectum. Its vatai did not eon?ist in the admin<ste r iny of qu»rs or pints, which were oft -n forced dosrn poor brutes, but in th* amount actually ab3dfb°d. Th;y oou d have absorption by rubbing certain remedies on the ekin or by hy.iodrrm-c inje tion, but the latter was far the best method, for it d>d not disturb the ani nal, *nd tba solutions beingrapidly ab-o- bed, q-iiekly performed the phyai-jlogicil acaon enquired of them. Ths cbaiftmn then announced that Mr Lilico wodd be willing to answer any questions desi.-ed. Mr Beer a*ked what trea'ment would be given in a cus-j of gripes ; was it best given by i"j -cJoo o into the stomach ? The leoturer said that it was often difScu : t to give medicine at »U" and half at least was> generally spilt. .He always gave it were c* led flaid extracts, which were put on the tongue and were so small that no difficulty was experienced in swallowing. Again, it might ba given hypodermicaily. Mr Hertslett Risked what to give, and tbe-reply was that this oould not be told without a special lecture. Mr Beer said he asked his question because a horse -was brought) under his notice which bad never had gripes. Someone told hfm a horse enulcl not belch wind like a cow, and he thought it would be rank cruelty to force more into fie overloaded s:omach, and he had given a hypodermio injection. The lecturer eaid this Was a commonsense remark. Gripes were.of ten caused by distension, and it was ridiculous to put another quart into that small stomach. It might allay the pain for a while if it contained an opiate, but undoubtedly hypodermio treatment was the best.

Mr JX R. Buckingham asked the trcateneat in the ca«e of lampers. He had a horse nineteen years old bad* with this disease.; He had had them burnt out and pricked, bub that, was of no a? nl. The lectnror said there -Was no doubt great derangement, and the horse was breaking dp and sympathetic) infltmmation resulting. The "Wee, he imagined, would be low in condition, 3ae .to the want of teeth. Lampers in a great many instances did Jjttie harm, and the inflammation, might be reduoed by pricking, bat Jw- wofl'd trv and cet a man six months' ia th* State .prison who fire J

Mr Nicholls asked how. to treat a draught mare that had strangles and now " roared," but only when in the collar, and was told that blistering and a tonic might relieve it, but that rnuea care would b» required to effact a cure. Mr Borrie asked whether water would not founder borseH, and was told that it

would, just as readily as oat 3 would, the cold water sometimes setting up irifltmmation of the membrane of the stomich, but water was not necessarily the predisposing eau3e. Mr Watts asked the proper time to water—before or after feeding, and was told that it was given before and during feeding. In the United States, the lecturer said, he had noticed that water was general'y running past the feeding troughs, and the cattle helped themselves as they desired. If water were given after feeding it was likely to wash away the undigested food into the *ma!l intestines and tbus cauee much trouble, Mr H. Saunders asked the first symptoms of indigestion, and the answer was that it was usually denoted by a dull loat, eruptions of gas, trials to belch •■vind, the mouth clammy and sticky, and i foul, sour breath, besides tha indicaiot>» of the pulse. There were no further qnesHons, and the chairman drew attention toth3fkC hat Mr Liiioo, who was engaged at th. reezing wrks, found it very inconvenif.' o ".onie down on Sa ur.lay morning, as i iece«3Hated his rftmwiing ho 'ong awaj (mm Tirnaru. H-) aaked them to tix a

•lour af:,er Saturday's express arrived. I A long discussion then took p!ace. Some wanted a mid-we*k day, but Mr H launders painted out that Mr Ldic. •vould then only stiy in town a whereas he would stay from Saturday night to Monday morning and t!ii svoull bo an excellent thing th farmers of the d'Stricr. The suggestior vas rsc-ived wnh applause. Ba'unhv> wai finally adopted as the day of mee i">g, at »fven p m. Mr Norton Francis that S'->m vhing should bs done to ad-nit farmer -mployeos. to whom a knowledge o' •stock w j .a jnafc as aHo f ul as to the farnie'. Mr Hoirie propoaed and Me Htrt-lett seconded, that members' employee* br admitted.

Mr Buckingham p-oposed and Mt Bitohonflr heaonded, tiitt e*eh 'ie allows!.) t.o tionvnatn two employ«ics to be admitted fiee to tho lectures. The auiondraeul wan put and carried. On the motion of Mr Ward, seconded by Mr a hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr Lilioo for his attendance and h's lecture, The date of next meeting will ba fixed by the committee, who will select a moonb'ght night for tho better convenience of members iiving a distance away.