CONTAGIOUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. il 



in 1839-42, or in North and South America, which it reached 

 in 1870 by imported stock. Like the other animal plagues it 

 follows in the track of great armies and in the channels of 

 commerce. The contagion does not readily spread on the air, 

 a river or common road being often sufficient to limit it, but 

 no poison is more certainly transmitted by contact, direct or 

 through the medium of human beings, tame or wild animals, 

 fodder, litter, manure, clothing, drinking-troughs, etc., etc. 

 Milk is one of the most frequent sources of contagion to pigs, 

 dogs, and even to infants, producing the most dangerous 

 intestinal irritation and diarrhcea. 



Symptoms. — The poison may remain latent in the system for 

 one or two days, or, in exceptional cases, perhaps as many as 

 six. Then there is roughness of the coat or shivering, increased 

 temperature, dry muzzle, hot red mouth, teats, and interdigital 

 spaces, lameness, inclination to lie, and shrinking from the 

 hand in milking. The second or third day blisters arise, on 

 any part of the whole interior of the mouth one-half to one 

 inch in breadth, or on the teats and between the digits about 

 one-half inch across. Saliva drivels from the mouth, collecting 

 in froth around the lips, and a loud smacking is made with 

 the lips and tongue. Swine champ the jays. Sheep and 

 swine suffer more especially in the feet, often losing the hoofs 

 or even the digital bones, a contingency not unknown in 

 neglected cattle. 



Among the consequences may be named the loss of milk, 

 inflamed udders, blind teats, a habit of vicious kicking, abor- 

 tions, permanent lameness, and a lengthened incapacity for the 

 dairy, for feeding or work. If well cared for, the disease passes 

 in fifteen days, leaving no ill consequences, excepting the 

 poison hidden away in the building. The average loss in flesh 

 is ;^i tO;^3 ; in dairy cows, it is much more. 



Treatment. — A laxative (Epsom salts) ; astringent mouth- 

 wash ^Borax and tincture of myrrh, i oz. each; water i qt, or 



