INFECTIOUS DISEASES OF CATTLE. 447 



Treatment. — In herds of cattle that regularly receive careful han- 

 dling, no special treatment will be found necessary beyond the appli- 

 cation of softening and disinfecting agents to such vesicles upon the 

 teats as may have become ruptured by the hands of the milker. Car- 

 bolized vaseline or iodoform ointment will be found well suited to 

 this work. In more persistent cases it may be found desirable to use 

 a milking tube in order to prevent the repeated opening of the pustules 

 during the operation of milking. "Washing the sores twice daily with 

 a weak solution of zinc chlorid (2| per cent solution) has been found 

 to assist in checking the inflammation and to cleanse and heal the 

 parts by its germicidal action. When the udder is hard, swollen, and 

 painful, support it by a bandage and foment frequently with hot 

 water. If calves are allowed to suckle the cows the pustules become 

 confluent, and the uclerations may extend up into the teat, causing 

 garget and ruining the whole quarter of the udder. 



As young cows are most susceptible to variola, the milker must 

 exercise constant patience with these affected animals so long as their 

 teats or udders are sore and tender, else the patient may contract 

 vicious habits while resisting painful handling. The flow of milk is 

 usually lessened as soon as the fever becomes established, but returns 

 to normal with the return of perfect health. 



The practice of thorough cleanliness in handling or milking affected 

 cattle may, in many instances, prevent the dissemination of the 

 trouble among the healthy portion of the herd, but even the greatest 

 care may prove insufficient to check the spread until it has attacked 

 each animal of the herd in turn. 



ACTINOMYCOSIS. 

 (Pis. XLI to XLIII, inclusive.) 



Actinomycosis, also known as lumpy jaw, big jaw, wooden tongue, 

 etc., is a chronic infectious disease characterized by the formation 

 of peculiar tumors in various regions of the body, more particu- 

 larly the head, and due to the specific action of a certain fungus 

 (actinomyces). This fimgus is an organism which occurs in the tis- 

 sues in the form of rosettes, and it has therefore been termed the 

 " ray fimgus." The disease is not directly transmitted from one 

 animal to another, but it seems apparent that the fungus is conveyed 

 into the tissues by various foodstuffs through slight wounds of the 

 mucous membrane of the mouth, decayed teeth, or during the shed- 

 ding of milk teeth. The ray fungus is found in nature vegetated on 

 grasses, on the awns of barley, the spears of oats, and on other grains. 

 Quantities of the fungi have been found between the vegetable fibers 

 of barley which had penetrated the gums of cattle and on the awns 

 of grain embedded in the tongues of cows. 



Although actinomycotic tumors on cattle had been the object of 

 study for many years, it was not until 1877 that the constant presence 



