126 THE HOG. 



thing he recommends besides, is thin oatmeal gruel, acidulated with 

 white-wine vinegar ; for he appears to consider the malady to be so 

 fatal that medical treatment avails nothing against it. Here, how- 

 ever, we cannot but deem him wrong ; many of the most virulent, 

 and, if neglected, fatal of the diseases to which our domesticated 

 animals are subject, will yield to the influence of a judicious course 

 of treatment, and many a valuable animal has been saved by the 

 skill and attention of a veterinary surgeon. We should recommend 

 laxative drenches, stimulating frictions, warmth, and cleanliness, and 

 a seton in the chest. 



In the epidemic which prevailed in 1841, throughout the greater 

 part of England, swine were affected, as well as horses, cattle, and 

 sheep, and often took it before any of the rest of the stock, but in 

 general had it more mildly. This malady was of a highly contagious, 

 inflammatory character, and affected chiefly the mucous and secre- 

 tory tissues. When once it entered a farm-yard, it spread rapidly, 

 until every ox, sheep, or pig was infected, and in some instances it 

 passed to the human being. Damp, wet weather appeared most 

 favorable to its development ; and, from all accounts, it seems to 

 have arisen from some atmospheric agency. 



Symptoms. Lameness of one or more of the feet, accompanied 

 with heat around the hoof and lower part of the leg ; discharge of 

 saliva from the mouth and nostrils ; champing or grinding of the 

 lower jaw ; ulceration of the mouth and tongue, extending even to 

 the snout ; dullness, inappetency, constipation, rapid emaciation, and 

 cough. 



Treatment. The ulcerated portions of the feet and the detached 

 pieces of horn should be carefully pared, and the parts daily washed 

 with a solution of blue vitriol, or smeared with warm tar ; the mouths 

 also dressed with a strong solution of alum ; and from an ounce and 

 a half to two ounces of Glauber salts, dissolved in water, and given 

 in their food. Where the malady was attacked in its onset, these 

 simple remedies sufficed to produce convalescence in from fourteen 

 to one-and-twenty days. 



Post-mortem appearances. There were patches of inflammation 

 throughout the whole of the intestines, both externally and inter- 

 nally ; the liver was sound ; the heart flabby and soft ; the lungs 

 shrivelled, flattened, and diminished to one half their natural size, 

 and in some cases hepatized ; the diaphragm, pleura, and bronchial 

 tubes of a greenish hue, and evidently gangrenous. 



The flesh of pigs that had died of this epidemic was eaten by 

 some persons without their suffering any ill effects; nevertheless the 

 experiment was hazardous. 



