38 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 



At the end of the first week but 20 or 30 liead had been attacked, and 

 from this time new cases continued to appear until March, or during 

 a period of two months. Here also it is to be remembered that in a 

 lot of animals sei)arated from the sick ones by a simple rail fence 

 there was no appearance of disease until two months after it had at- 

 tacked the first lot. Hogs were running in the lot with the worst cattle; 

 they even ate the blood of the slaughtered ones and nibbled at the 

 affected feet, but they did not suffer in the least. A sow had brought 

 forth a li:ter of pigs in a shed which forms a part of the inclosure, and j 

 these were doing well. Two calves were sucking mothers under the 

 iutiuence of the disease but were themselves in good health. 



At Pribbernow's only 8 per cent, of the animals had been attacked, j 

 and among a lot of 54 yearlings running with the other cattle there was 

 not one case of disease. 



At Beard's, in a herd of 75, the first animal was lame a week before j 

 the second was affected ; and then another week passed before the 

 others showed any symptoms. Here only 6 per cent, of the cattle on 

 the farm were attacked, and one died within twenty hours from the ap- 

 pearance of the first symptoms. 



At Kirksville the proportion of animals that suffered was not defi- 

 nitely ascertained, but there was no evidence of contagion, and sheep 

 running with the affected cattle remained healthy. 



In Illinois, on the Fauuce farm, the horses suffered from an eruption 

 in the mouth. The exact nature of this disease it was impossible to 

 ascertain at the time of my visit. It may be remarked, however, that 

 horses seldom suffer from footand mouth disease; and that this is the 

 only case which came under my notice on any of the affected farms 

 where any other animals than cattle showed symptoms that were even 

 suspected to be in any way connected with the disease among the cattle. 

 In this instance the eruption in the horses' mouths could not have re- 

 sembled foot-and-mouth disease very closely, for it lemained at least 

 six weeks, or three times the period of the latter disease. Here the 

 neighbors' hogs which were running around the farm failed to contract 

 any disease or to carry it to other farms. 



At Mr. Mason's there was still more striking evidence to show that 

 tlie disease was very different from epizootic aphtha. One hundred hogs 

 aud 40 sheep had been exposed, and not one suffered. Only 17 bovine 

 aainials out of 120, or about 15 i)er cent., showed any signs of the dis- 

 ease. At Keating's, 00 sheep and a number of hogs were exj)osed but 

 all remained well. At Dubroc's, goats were exposed without suffering. 



The disease, therefore, did not resemble foot-and-mouth disease either 

 in the proportion of the animals attacked or its rate of extension, or in 

 attacking other species of animals than cattle. | 



Occurrence at the same lime on icideli/ separated farms. — If foot-and- 

 month disease had been introduced into the heart of the country in any 

 of the extraordiiuiry ways which were offered to explain its appearance, 



I 



