226 DICTIONARY OF THE VETERINARY ART. 



certain district, and confined itself to that location. In 1747, 

 it appeared, and would seem that there was a strange caprice 

 about it. It would select its victims, the best of the herd, 

 around a certain district, and confine itself to that location 

 for a short time ; then disappear for several months, return, 

 and pounce upon this privileged spot. In some districts, it 

 would attack the mouth and throat ; commencing with a loss 

 of appetite and difficult respiration, terminating with a dis- 

 charge of blood from the anus. Sometimes the animals will 

 eat and work until they suddenly expire ; others will linger 

 in dreadful agony." It appears that this malady is not infec- 

 tious ; for the same author writes, " Cattle were in the same 

 barn as those infected ; they ate of the same fodder that the 

 distempered beasts had slavered upon, drank after them, and 

 constantly received their breath and steam, without being the 

 least affected. In 1756, it assumed a different form j some 

 cattle were taken all at once with violent trembling of every 

 limb, and blood ran from the nose, and bloody slime from the 

 mouth, and the animals died in a few hours." 



Epiglottis. The cartilage which covers the larynx, or 

 top of the windpipe, at the time food or water is passing into 

 the gullet. 



Epilepsy. Falling sickness ; fits. Horses, cats, and dogs, 

 are subject to fits, which often depend upon an accumulation 

 of water in the ventricles of the brain, or upon the irritation 

 of worms in the stomach or bowels. During the present 

 year, the author's attention was called to a horse, (the property 

 of Mr. Downs, of this city;) the horse was lying down, and 

 at times appeared insensible ; convulsive struggling would 

 take place occasionally. The muscles of the eye were affect- 

 ed by spasm, and distorted ; the duration of the fit varied. 

 As the disease progressed, the hind extremities were paralyzed, 

 and the horse would struggle violently at intervals of fifteen 

 minutes. On an examination, after death, nearly a peck meas- 

 ure full of the long round worm was found in the small 

 intestines. The author examined the brain of a horse that 

 was said to die in a fit, and found about five ounces of water 



