MILK-SCARLATINA. 271 



THE AUTHOR'S INVESTIGATION . 



An outbreak of an eruptive disease of the teats, alleged to be 

 identical with the so-called Hendon cow disease, was raging in some 

 farms in Wiltshire. In this case every facility was given by the 

 owner of the estate for a thorough investigation into the disease. 

 Not only were animals sent from the farm to London, but the 

 author was allowed to visit the farms, to inspect all the infected 

 animals, and to make every investigation, with the hearty co- 

 operation of the bailiff of the farms, and the voluntary assistance 

 of the head cowmen and those under them. Some of these cowmen 

 were unusually intelligent, while two had had experience of cows 

 for more than half a century. Thus, there was not only every 

 opportunity for studying the disease on the lines indicated by 

 Klein, but it was possible by repeated visits to the farms to enter 

 into the clinical history of the disease in the cow, to study very fully 

 the nature of the disease on the hands of the milkers, and to trace 

 the probable mode of its introduction on the estate, and the way in 

 which it spread from one part of the herd to another. 



Two cows were sent to London with disease of the teats and of 

 the udder between the teats. On the right teats of one there were 

 numerous sores, covered with crusts varying in size and in thickness, 

 and generally fissured. In some they were flat, in others conical ; 

 some were with difficulty removed with forceps, others were readily 

 detached. The crusts varied in colour from reddish-brown to very 

 dark brown or almost black. On detaching or scraping a crust 

 there was a granulating and somewhat indurated base. On the 

 right anterior teat there were several ulcers, from which appa- 

 rently the thick crusts had been detached, and new scabs were 

 forming. On the left posterior teat there were unusually large, 

 dark brown, or blackish crusts, covering a very extensive area 

 of ulceration, extending over the whole of the lower third of the 

 teat. 



In the other cow from Wiltshire there was the same disease on 

 the teats, but not in such a severe form. The sores were covered 

 with thick crusts, but though varying in size they were more 

 regular in form, and more circumscribed. 



Having entirely removed the crusts from some of the ulcer>. a 

 number of inoculations in nutrient gelatine and nutrient agar-agjn- 

 were made from the discharge, and cover-glass preparations were 

 made and stained in the ordinary way. Cultures were obtained of 

 the organisms commonly found in pus. 



