28 The Cattle Plague. [Jan., 
have not been given there is great distention of the abdomen, and 
obstinate constipation. The fluid and sometimes sanguineous dis- 
charges from the bowels, which occur in some cases, are the results 
generally of the too frequent use of irritant drugs. The superficial 
membrane of the mouth peels off from the gums and lips, leaving 
the surface raw; and frequently, but not invariably, there is a viscid 
discharge from the eyes, nostrils, and vagina. The animal now dies 
without a struggle, apparently from simple exhaustion. 
“The ‘staring hide’ and ‘arched back, so frequently men- 
tioned as distinctive features of this disease, while characteristic of 
the advanced forms of pleuro-pneumonia, are not at all marks of the 
rinderpest. There is no cough or lung symptom in the pure and 
uncomplicated examples of the disease.” 
The loss of appetite is a first symptom of many other diseases 
besides rinderpest ; nevertheless such is the dread of the cattle 
plague, that in the London cowhouses, where it is the invariable 
custom to fatten cows towards the close of their milking, and to 
keep them throughout the period in tolerable condition for the 
butcher, it has latterly been almost universally the practice to 
slaughter a cow as soon as she goes off her feed. Her carcass will 
pass inspection at market, whether the earliest appearances of the 
plague (patches of inflammation on the mucous membrane of the 
fourth stomach, and longitudinal and transverse streaks on the 
membrane lining the small intestines) have been developed or not. 
And though the idea of such meat entering our markets for con- 
sumption in any quantity is not very agreeable, yet it is declared 
that while the disease is thus still in or only just passing out of 
the incubative stage, the flesh of the animal is perfectly wholesome. 
The owner thus prefers the loss in part which he sustains by the 
sale of a milk cow to the butcher, to the total loss which, if she 
prove to have the plague, he is certain to incur, for the treatment 
of the disease has hitherto been ineffectual. Some such remedy 
as Dr. Smart recommends,* common enough, indeed, as a drench 
well known to herdsmen, of which the main ingredients are sulphur 
* Dr. Smart's dose for a cow, in the earlier and later stages respectively of the 
malady, is as follows :—* There are only three kinds of drugs which I found it requi- 
site to employ. 1. Laxative, with diuretic action. This is principally used in the 
early, but often required at other periods, in the progress of the disease. It is 
composed of— 
Laxutive. 
Nitrate of potash 
Powdered Pnaror fol each 1 07. 
Powder of sublimed sulphur, 2 oz. 
Treacle, 1 Ib. 
Water to make a quart, and well mixed. 
This quantity is given night and morning, or, if requisite, oftener, until scouring 
is produced. Afterwards an occasional bottle will maintain their free, withont 
excessive, action. 
As the vital powers sink rapidly, there should be as little delay as possible in 
