316 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OE THE OX. 



detached. Some of the papules meet so as to be confluent. 

 The eruption rapidly extends over the whole skin, either in a 

 discrete or in a confluent form. It is said that Down sheep 

 seem to be particularly liable to have these papules on the face, 

 in which case the malady is very fatal. These spots impart a 

 sensation of firmness when they are pressed upon ; and when 

 they are cut into, the section is not unlike that of a wart. If 

 we try to pass a needle into one of these papules, some difiBculty 

 is experienced, and nothing more than about a drop of blood 

 escapes. They are vascular only at the surface. If some of 

 the wool covering the papules is forcibly detached, the exposed 

 papules become white and then red again. The^e papules may 

 unite, and thereby produce prominent growths on the skin^ 

 sometliing like a bunch of grapes in appearance. 



At the same time as that at which this eruption is manifesting 

 itself, the sheep refuses food, and refrains from noticing com- 

 panions or surrounding objects. The disturbance arises appa- 

 rently at the same time both in the mucous membranes and in 

 the skin, the mucous membranes or inner linings of both the 

 respiratory and the digestive systems being affected. The dis- 

 charge from the Schneiderian membrane of the nose may be 

 thick, and so closely adherent to the sides of the nostrils that 

 even sufi'ocation may be brought about. The pulse is indis- 

 tinct, and even the heart's beat itself has a vague character ; the 

 ears and feet are cold, the wool comes off easily, showing the 

 skin underneath to be inflamed. 



The next three-and-a-half days after J,he formation of the 

 papules are taken up by their becoming, vesicular, as is shown by 

 their becoming white and bladder-like. Sometimes the papules 

 meet and become confluent, whereby large accumulations are 

 formed, vesication is delayed, the fever continues, and a fatal 

 result probably ensues. 



in the perfectly formed vesicles of the sheep the lymph is not 

 contained in meshes, as it is in the case of the vaccine vesicle of 

 the human subject ; and hence, while one puncture is sufficient 

 to evacuate the contents in the former, several are needed in the 

 latter. Some papules disappear without becoming vesicular, 

 and in some vesiculation is delayed. 



The next three days are taken up with the stage of suppura- 

 ration. * The vesicle of sheep-pox is flat, that of cow-pox arises- 



