General Diseases. 355 



appear on the head, and thence gradually spread to other 

 parts of the body ; these vesicles subsequently break, and 

 the resulting scab falls off in due course. 



" A pack of hounds ate the carcases of some sheep, dead 

 of clavel^e (small-pox). Seventeen of them became ill. At 

 first, distemper was suspected, as the dogs were low-spirited, 

 weak, paralytic in their limbs, and had a viscid, greenish 

 discharge from their nostrils. A copious crop of ' pustules ' 

 appeared, and the disease was thereafter, rightly or wrongly, 

 regarded as small-pox.. Eleven died. 



" It has been stated that some dogs were infected from 

 sheep with this disease, during the recent Wiltshire 

 epidemic; and that in both animals the disease was identical 

 in its symptoms. 



"In small-pox the skin is affected in the following 

 manner : The skin of the belly, groin, etc., is redder than 

 usual, and dotted with small roundish spots, either isolated 

 or irregularly clustered together. Each spot gradually gets 

 larger, and its centre becomes prominent and pointed, and 

 contains a clear fluid, which subsequently acquires a pus- 

 like appearance. Each spot is now flattened; the contained 

 fluid escapes on the rupture of its envelope ; scabs form from 

 the drying of the fluid, and gradually fall off. In some parts 

 of the body a permanent minute scar remains, and the hair 

 is destroyed for good." 



Mr. Fleming observes :* "This is a rare malady, and may 

 be developed directly or by contagion ; it is supposed to be 

 also produced by the variola of man and of the sheep. It 

 chiefly affects young dogs, although old animals are not 

 exempt. One attack ensures immunity for the remainder 

 of the dog's life. 



" Symptoms. — The disease commences with fever, which 

 continues for two or three days, and is followed by the 

 appearance — ^over a large surface of the body, though 

 rarely on the back and sides of the trunk — of red points, 



* "Veterinary Sanitary Science," vol. ii. p. 98. 

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