We have frequently seen accounts, in various papers, of "bone disorder
in milch cows." The bony structure of animals is composed of vital
solids studded with crystallizations of saline carbonates and
phosphates, and is liable to take on morbid action similar to other
textures. Disease of the bones may originate constitutionally, or from
derangement of the digestive organs. We have, for example, _mollities
ossium_, (softening of the bones;) the disease, however, is very rare.
It may be known by the substance of the bones being soft and yielding,
liable to bend with small force.
We have also _fragilitas ossium_, (brittleness of bones.) This is
characterized by the bony system being of a friable nature, and liable
to be fractured by slight force. We have in our possession the fragments
of the small pastern of a horse, the bone having been broken into
seventeen pieces, by a slight concussion, without any apparent injury to
the skin and cellular substance; not the slightest external injury could
be perceived.
There are several other diseases of the bones, which, we presume, our
readers are acquainted with; such as _exostosis_, _caries_, &c., neither
of which apply to the malady under consideration. We merely mention
these for the purpose of showing that the bones are not exempt from
disease, any more than other structures; yet it does not always follow
that a lack of the phosphate of lime in cow's milk is a sure sign of
diseased bones.
Reader, we do not like the term "_bone disorder_:" it does not throw the
least light on the nature of the malady; it savors too much of "_horn
ail_," "_tail ail_"--terms which only apply to symptoms. We are told
also that, in this disease, "_the bones threaten to cave in--have wasted
away_." If they do threaten to cave in, the best way we know of to give
them an outward direction is, to promote the healthy secretions and
excretions by a well-regulated diet, and to stimulate the digestive
organs to healthy action. If the bones "have wasted away," we should
like to have a few of them in our collection of morbid anatomy. That the
bones should waste away, and be capable of assuming their original shape
simply by feeding bone meal, is something never dreamt of in our
philosophy.[30] Besides, if the cows get well, (we are told they do,)
then we must infer that the bones possess the properties of sudden
expansion and contraction, similar to those of the muscles. It may be
well for us to observe, that not only the bones, but all parts of animal
organization, expand and contract in an imperceptible manner. Thus, up
to the period of puberty, all parts expand: old age comes on, and with
it a gradual wasting and collapse. This is a natural result--one of the
uncompromising laws of nature, over which human agency (bone meal
included) has not the least control. If the bones are diseased, it
results either from impaired digestion or a disproportion between the
carbon of the food and the oxygen respired; hence the "bone disorder,"
not being persistent, is only a result--a symptom; and as such we view
it. As far as we have been able to ascertain the nature of the malady,
as manifested by the symptoms, (_caving in_, _wasting_, _absence of
phosphate of lime in the milk_, &c.,) we give it as our opinion,--and we
think our medical brethren will agree with us, (although we do not often
agree,)--that "bone disorder" is a symptom of a disease very prostrating
in its character, originating in the digestive organs; hence not
confined to the bones, but affecting all parts of the animal more or
less. And the only true plan of treatment consists in restoring healthy
action to the whole animal system. The ways and means of accomplishing
this object are various. If it is clearly ascertained that the animal
system is deficient in phosphate of lime, we see no good reason why bone
meal should not be included among our remedial agents; yet, as corn meal
and linseed contain a large amount of phosphate, we should prefer them
to bone dust, although we do not seriously object to its use.
The value of food or remedial agents consists in their adaptation to
assimilation; in other words, an absence of chemical properties. These
may be very complex; yet, if they are only held together by a weak
chemical action, they readily yield to the vital principle, and are
transformed. Atoms of bones are held together by a strong chemical
affinity; and the vital principle, in order to convert bone dust into
component parts of the organism, must employ more force to transform
them than it would require for the same purpose when corn meal or
linseed were used, their chemical affinity being weaker than that of
bones.
In the treatment of any disease, we always endeavor to ascertain its
causes, and, if possible, remove them; and whatever may be indicated we
endeavor to supply to the system. Thus, if phosphates were indicated, we
should use them. In cases of general debility, however, we should prefer
linseed or corn meal, aided by stimulants, to bone dust. Why not use the
bone dust for manure? The animal would then have the benefit of it in
its fodder.
In reference to a deficiency of phosphate of lime in the milk, we would
observe, that it may result either from impaired digestion, (in such
cases, a large amount of that article may be expelled from the system in
the form of excrements,) or the food may lack it. We then have a sick
plant, for we believe that the phosphate of lime is as necessary for the
growth of the plant as it seems to be for animal development. If the
plant lacks this important constituent, then its vitality, as a whole,
will be impaired. This is all we desire to contend for in the animal,
viz., that the disease is general, and cannot be considered or treated
as a local affection.
It has been observed that successive cultivation exhausts the soil, and
deprives it of the constituents necessary for vegetable development. If
so, it follows that there will be a deficiency of silecia, carbonate of
lime,--in short, a loss of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, not
of phosphate of lime alone.
The fields might be made to produce the requisite amount of nutriment by
replacing every year, in the form of animal excrement, straw,
wood-ashes, and charcoal, as much as we remove from them in the form of
produce. An increase of crop can only be obtained when we add more to
the soil than we take away from it.
"In Flanders, the yearly loss of the necessary matters in the soil is
completely restored by covering the fields with ashes of wood or bones,
which may, or may not, have been lixiviated. The great importance of
manuring with ashes has been long recognized by agriculturists as the
result of experience. So great a value, indeed, is attached to this
material in the vicinity of Marburg, and in the Wetterau,--two
well-known agricultural districts,--that it is transported, as a manure,
from the distance of eighteen or twenty-four miles. Its use will be at
once perceived, when it is considered that the ashes, after being washed
with water, contain silicate of potass exactly in the same proportion as
in the straw, and that their only other constituents are salts of
phosphoric acid."
It is well known that phosphate of lime, potass, silecia, carbonate of
lime, magnesia, and soda are discharged in the excrement and urine of
the cow; and this happens when they are not adapted to assimilation as
well as when present in excess. If it is clearly proved that the bones
of a cow are weak, then we should be inclined to prescribe phosphates;
if they are brittle, we should prescribe gelatinous preparations; but
not in the form of bone dust: we should use linseed, which is known to
be rich in phosphates. At the same time, the general health must be
improved.
It is well known that some cows cannot be fattened, although they have
an abundance of the best kind of fodder. In such cases, we find the
digestive organs deranged, which disturbs the equilibrium of the whole
animal economy. The food may then be said to be a direct cause of
disease.
The effects of insufficient food are well known; debility includes them
all. If there is not sufficient carbon in the food, the animal is
deprived of the power of reproducing itself, and the cure consists in
supplying the deficiency. At the same time, every condition of nutrition
should be considered; and if the function of digestion is impaired, we
must look to those of absorption, circulation, and secretion also, for
they will be more or less involved. If the appetite is impaired,
accompanied by a loss of cud, it shows that the stomach is overloaded,
or that its function is suspended: stimulants and tonics are then
indicated. A voracious appetite indicates the presence of morbid
accumulations in the stomach and bowels, and they should be cleansed by
aperients; after which, a change of diet will generally effect a cure.
When gas accumulates in the intestines, we have evidence of a loss of
vital power in the digestive organs; fermentation takes place before the
food can be digested.
The cure consists in restoring the lost function. Diarrhoea is
generally caused by exposure, (taking cold,) or by eating poisons and
irritating substances; the cure may be accomplished by removing the
cold, and cleansing the system of the irritants. Costiveness often
arises from the absorption of the fluids from the solids in their slow
progress through the intestines; exercise will then be indicated. An
occasional injection, however, may be given, if necessary. General
debility, we have said, may arise from insufficient food; to which we
may add the popular practice of milking the cow while pregnant, much of
which milk is yielded at the hazard of her own health and that of her
foetus. Whatever is taken away from the cow in the form of milk ought
to be replaced by the food. Proper attention, however, must be paid to
the state of the digestive organs: they must not be overtaxed with
indigestible substances. With this object in view, we recommend a mixed
diet; for no animal can subsist on a single article of food. Dogs die,
although fed on jelly; they cannot live upon white bread, sugar, or
starch, if these are given as food, to the exclusion of all other
substances. Neither can a horse or cow live on hay alone: they will,
sooner or later, give evidences of disease. They require stimulants.
Common salt is a good stimulant. This explains why salt hay should be
occasionally fed to milch cows; it not only acts as a stimulant, but is
also an antiseptic, preventing putrefaction, &c.
A knowledge of the constituents of milk may aid the farmer in selecting
the substances proper for the nourishment of animals, and promotive of
the lacteal secretion; for much of the food contains those materials
united, though not always in the same form. "The constituents of milk
are cheese, or caseine--a compound containing nitrogen in large
proportion; butter, in which hydrogen abounds; and sugar of milk, a
substance with a large quantity of hydrogen and oxygen in the same
proportions as in water. It also contains, in solution, lactate of soda,
phosphate of lime, (the latter in very small quantities,) and common
salt; and a peculiar aromatic product exists in the butter, called
butyric acid."--_Liebig._
It is very difficult to explain the changes which the food undergoes in
the animal laboratory, (the stomach,) because that organ is under the
dominion of the vital force--an immaterial agency which the chemist
cannot control. Yet we are justified in furnishing the animal with the
elements of its own organization; for although they may not be deposited
in the different structures in their original atoms, they may be changed
into other compounds, somewhat similar. Liebig tells us that whether the
elements of non-azotized food take an immediate share in the act of
transformation of tissues, or whether their share in that process be an
indirect one, is a question probably capable of being resolved by
careful and cautious experiment and observation. It is possible that
these constituents of food, after undergoing some change, are carried
from the intestinal canal directly to the liver, and that there they are
converted into bile, where they meet with the products of the
metamorphosed tissues, and subsequently complete their course through
the circulation.
This opinion appears more probable, when we reflect that as yet no trace
of starch or sugar has been detected in arterial blood, not even in
animals that have been fed exclusively with these substances.
The following tables, from Liebig's Chemistry, will give the reader the
difference between what is taken into the system and what passes out.