222 . THE OX AND THE DAIRY. 



times this is carried to such an extent that suffocation is the 

 result. In cases where this event does not take place, large 

 ulcers break out around the tongue and beneath it, and gan- 

 grene spreads its destructive ravages ; a state of low typhus 

 accompanies this disorganization, and the animal perishes. 



If the mouth of a beast labouring under this disease be ex- 

 amined, the tongue will appear to be singularly elevated and 

 swollen ; underneath it and around its sides appear numerous 

 large vesicles or bladders, varying in colour from red to a 

 dark livid hue. Sometimes these vesicles appear even on the 

 upper part of the tongue : they burst and form deep ulcera- 

 tions ; and as they burst, others appear in their turn, till, at 

 last, the tongue and parts adjacent are covered with virulent 

 ulcers. The sides of the tongue become gangrenous ; inci- 

 sions into it neither produce pain nor bring blood : the dis- 

 ease has now run its fatal course. 



The appearances on dissection, after death, are ulceration 

 and mortification of the tongue, inflammation of the muscular 

 and glandular mass between the branches of the lower jaw, 

 inflammation and ulceration of the pharynx, oesophagus, the 

 paunch, and abomasum, sometimes even accompanied by 

 patches of gangrene. The vegetable matter in the paunch 

 exhales an overwhelming foetid odour ; that in the manyplus 

 is dry and hard ; the small intestines exhibit very often traces 

 of high inflammation, and the large intestines as frequently 

 manifest palpable indications of the same morbid action. It 

 often happens that ulcers form about the heels of the foot arid 

 between the clefts of the hoofed toes, discharging a foetid 

 matter. 



At different times this disease appears as an epidemic, both 

 in our island and on the Continent, carrying off vast numbers 

 of cattle ; though the extent of the mortality has been most 

 probably increased by the inefficacy of the modes of treatment 

 adopted. Mr. Youatt assures us that this disease is conta- 

 gious : it is not communicated by the breath, but, like glan- 

 ders in the horse, by actual contact. The beasts must graze 

 in the same field, eat at the same manger, or drink at the 

 same trough; and the saliva of the diseased beast must be 

 received on some abraded, or, at least, a mucous surface. 

 Hence it is requisite that the most stringent precautions be 

 adopted and fully carried out. Instances are on record in 

 which human beings have been inoculated with this malady 

 and died. Mr. Youatt, who observes that many instances re 



