The Cattle-riague. 281 



cases. One was from Mr. Bartliropp, of Suffolk, wlio stated that lie 

 had just heard that some sheep had died on the farm of Mr. W. Scott, 

 of Floxne, and that the disease had also shown itself among some 

 sheep at Ixworth, A gentleman at Saffron Walden, on having been 

 asked whether any sheep in his district had been affected with plague, 

 replied " Yes ; eighty-six in one lot, and forty in another." On learning 

 from IMr. Barthropp that the plague had prevailed among sheep in 

 Suffolk, he immediately took the train and went do"mi to the fann 

 of Mr. Denny, Battisford. The farmer there had had eighteen oxen, 

 seventeen of which died. He also had 100 hoggets, which were kept 

 so close to the oxen that their noses almost touched, and in a short 

 time he lost thirty-five sheep. He (Dr. Crisp) examined those sheep, 

 and felt certain that they died of the plague, — the foui'th stomach 

 was ulcerated, and had the spotted apjiearance which was so prevalent 

 in the diseased ox ; the intestines had that mottled look which could not 

 be mistaken ; and the rectum also corresponded with that of the cattle 

 which had died of the disease. He had seen a sheep inoculated from 

 an ox, and an ox from a sheep, and both animals had taken the disease. 

 Surely that was the experimentum crucis as regarded that question. He 

 believed that unless great care was taken, sheep would be the means of 

 disseminating the disease to a fearful extent. It was decided in 

 Parliament on the previous night that sheep might be driven along 

 public roads, and he thought that it would be found that in that 

 and other respects the new Act would require great alteration. 

 Without more stringent measures it would be useless in his opinion to 

 attempt to extinguish the cattle-plague. 



Mr. Fawcett (Staffordshire) wished to remark, with reference to 

 Mr. Worms' treatment, that there was no novelty in the use of onions. 

 He could give the names of persons who had used them in a similar 

 form to that in which they were now administered almost for the last 

 fifty years. Mr. Thomas Ewings, who lived near Appleby, in West- 

 morland, had used onions boiled with buttei*, and mixed with ginger, 

 for cows after their calving. Neither was the use of asafoetida new, 

 the only effect of which would be to relieve spasms for a while. If 

 benefit were derived from Mr. Worms' treatment it arose from cai'efully 

 observing the breath, and taking the disease in good time. 



It was very desirable to take the hay from animals when there 

 appeared to be the slightest danger. When his hoggets were suffering, 

 he noticed that those which discontinued eating recovered, while 

 those that went on eating died. It was the same in milk-fever. If a 

 cow commenced gorging itself within forty-eight houi's after calving, 

 it was a thousand to, one that she would die. As regarded salt, he 

 would remark that about twenty years ago, in consequence of having 

 read some pamphlets on its beneficial effects, he gave it to a number of 

 calves, and the result was that the whole of them went mad. He began 

 by giving about a tablespoonful with each meal, and the quantity was 

 gradually increased to four or even six spoonsful a day. He did not 

 consider salt worth a straw, either as a preventive or as a cui-e : it 

 might, indeed, purify the blood; but he believed that vegetable 

 matter contained a sufficient quantity of salt for that pui'pose. 



