MEDICAL TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 483 



" The fly sometimes deposits its eggs in the ulcer, and maggots 

 " appear almost before — sometimes actually before — there are any 

 " cavities formed, into which they can penetrate. The early ap- 

 " pearance of maggots greatly accelerates the process of disorgani- 

 " zation in the structures. 



" The forefeet are usually first attacked, sometimes both of 

 " them simultaneously, but more generally only one of them. 

 " The animal at first manifests but little constitutional disturb- 

 " ance. It eats as is its wont. When the disease has partly run 

 " its course in one foot, the other forefoot is likely to be attacked, 

 " and presently the hind ones. When a foot becomes considera- 

 ^' bly disorganized, it is held up by the animal. When another 

 " one reaches the same state, the miserable sufi'erer seeks its food 

 *' on its knees ; and if forced to rise and walk, its strange, hob- 

 " bling gait betrays the intense agony it endures on bringing its 

 " ulcerated feet in contact with the ground. There is a bare spot 

 " on the under side of the brisket, of the size of the palm of a 

 " man's hand, but perhaps a little longer, which looks red and 

 " inflamed. There is a degree of general fever, and the appetite 

 " is dull. The animal rapidly loses condition, but retains consid- 

 " erable strength. Nowhere else do sheep seem to me to exhibit 

 *' such tenacity of life. After the disappearance of the bottom 

 " of the hoof, the maggot speedily closes the scene. Where the 

 " rotten foot is brought in contact with the side in lying down, 

 " the filthy, ulcerous matter adheres to and saturates the short 

 " wool of the shorn sheep ; and maggots also are either carried 

 " there by the foot, or they are speedily generated by the fly. A 

 " black crust soon forms and raises a little higher round the spot. 

 *' It is the decomposition of the surrounding structures, — wool, 

 " skin, and muscle, — and innumerable maggots are at work below, 

 " burrowing into the living tissues, and eating up the miserable 

 "animal alive. The black, festering mass rapidly extends, and 

 " the cavities of the body will soon be penetrated, if the poor 

 " sufferer is not sooner relieved of its tortures by death. 



" The offensive odor of the ulcerated feet, almost from the 

 " beginning of the disease, is so peculiar that it is strictly pathog- 



