256 CATTLE. 



2. Other circumstances supervene, which, he we ver, are never dan- 

 gerous. In different regions of the body, cold, soft, or hard tumors, 

 of an indolent kind, form. Sometimes there remain hard indura- 

 tions, or swelhno- of the glands and teats, with suppression or diminu- 

 tion of the milky secnHion. Though the teat presents nothing ab- 

 normal, the milk is less abundant, or altered in its qualities. The 

 skin is covered with small scabs succeeding pustules which contained 

 a fluid ; the eruption occupied the entire or only a portion of the 

 body ; it is accompanied with itching or not ; the hair remains star- 

 ini^, and does not recov.er its brightnoss. The evacuations continue 

 to'be hard and scanty. There is emphysema under the skin ; cre- 

 pitation is felt on pasfmg the hand over it. The skin is completely 

 hard, and does not yield to the action of its proper muscles ; the 

 appetite and ruminations are not reestablished. 



All these sequelae yield in a little time to the prolonged use of 

 arseniciim, a dose of which is to be taken every six hours, until no 

 trace any longer remains ; which usually is the work of three or foui 

 days. The absence of appetite and sluggishness of the intestina) 

 canal quickly yield to a few doses of nux vomica. 'I'he appetitt 

 almost always returns four or six hours after the first, and if the con 

 stipation continue, the medicine is to be repeated every six hour? 

 Spiritus sulphuratus is employed for the eruption, and arsenicuv 

 for all the other ailments. 



In order to preserve the animals from the disease, they are made 

 to take, first every foity-eight hours, then every twenty-four, ana 

 lastly every twelve hours, one drop of arsenicum in the mqvning, one 

 hour before eating, and in the evening, two hours alter doing so. 



THE EPIDEMIC OF 1840 AND 1841. 



Since the last edition of this work was published, a new disease 

 has appeared amongst cattle and sheep, and for the last ten years it 

 has spread through the kingdom as an epidemic, scarcely sparing a 

 single parish from its visitation. Though not by any means usually 

 fatal in its effects, it has yet altogether destroyed a great number, 

 and the pecuniary loss has been still greater from the debilitating 

 effects which it has produced or left behind. It has been proved to 

 be extremely infe(-tious, and it is difficult to say whether the greater 

 number of cases have been thus produced or spontaneously occa- 

 sioned. It has sometimes appeared amongst the cattle of a farm, 

 scarcely sparing a single case ; and again, after some months' absence, 

 it has reappeared on the same farm amongst the sheep, or perhaps 

 the swine. In some cases, and on some occasions, the symptoms of 

 the disease have been very slight, and the cases have soon got well 

 without any medical treatment ; but in other cases the symptoms 

 have been extremely severe, anc attended with danger. It has 



