28G Seventeenth Annual Report of the 



jaws and the formation of blisters followed by more or less circu- 

 lar raw sores on tongue, palate, dental pad, lips or gums. Later 

 there are cicatrices as in the ox. In nursing ewes, the udder and 

 teats are likely to suffer with congestion, tenderness, blisters and 

 subsequent scars as in cows. In other than nursing ewes, however, 

 the disease is likely to concentrate itself on the feet especially, so 

 that it is very easily confounded with foot rot. The interdigital 

 space is the first and main part to suffer, the disease being usually 

 conveyed by the soft, plaster-like mud hardening in the cleft and 

 causing abrasions. In sheep just off a long drive, however, the 

 bruised and inflamed heel pads become the readiest channels for 

 the entrance of infection, and the ulceration starting from that 

 point underruns the sole and the more readily leads to shedding 

 of the entire hoof. In either case more or less separation of the 

 hoof from the quick may occur. The sheep avoids standing, walk- 

 ing and pasturing. The lameness is all but universal in the flock, 

 and to avoid the pain the animal often walks on its knees in graz- 

 ing. If the season is wet and the pasture muddy, aggravated con- 

 ditions follow and the loss of the hoofs may practically ruin the 

 entire flock. As in cows, pregnant sheep are likely to abort. 



Sucking lambs are exposed to a special risk, as their mouths 

 become a means of propagating infection from ewe to ewe, and 

 the milk contaminated by the virus of the bursting blisters in its 

 turn infects the bowels of the lamb, producing specific aphthous 

 inflammation and scouring from which large numbers perish. 



SYMPTOMS IN SWINE 



In swine the mammary glands are very seldom the seat of the 

 blisters. The mouth may, however, be affected, as may be shown 

 by restless champing of the jaws, the accumulation of frothy 

 mucus in the mouth and around the lips, the redness of the 

 mucous membrane, and even the presence of blisters on the tongue, 

 cheeks, lips and roof of tbo mouth. Violent gastro-intestinal in- 

 flammation with profuse and foetid diarrhoea may also come from 

 the consumption of the infected milk or from eating the soiled 

 leavings of diseased cattle. The feet, however, are the favorite seat 

 of the most frequent lesions in swine, mainly, no doubt, because 

 of the mud and filth in the yard or pen, and the complication of 



