318 SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT. 



servants upon the estates where the disease has 

 occurred, mention that it is not uncommon in Ire- 

 land, and is there considered contagious.* The 

 mode of treatment adopted for its cure in that 

 country is to bleed and rowel the cattle, and 

 change the pasturage : it has been asserted that 

 it was unknown in the colony until within the 

 last twelvemonth ; but some declare that it has 

 existed, although not extensively, for a much 

 longer period. Dx. Gibson informed me that 

 the disease prevails principally among calves 

 and yearlings, the first marked symptoms being 

 a paralytic affection, the animal drawing the leg- 

 after it ; a swelling and tenderness are then ex- 

 perienced about the affected parts, and usually a 

 fatal termination ensues in twelve hours ; bleed- 

 ing relieves, and even has been known to cure 

 cattle thus affected, if resorted to in time ; but 

 from the rapid progress of the disease, and 

 among a large number of cattle, it is seldom 

 observed until too late. 



On the 24th of December I arrived at Lans- 

 downe Park, (or, in the language of the coun- 



* The "black leg" is evidently the disease among the 

 cattle, known in Ireland as the " crijjpawn" a kind of pa- 

 ralytic affection of the limbs, which generally ends fatally ; 

 the customary course is by bleeding, and changing them to 

 a drier pasture. 



