132 THE MILK QUESTION 



swallowing, heat and dryness of the mouth, followed by 

 the eruption of vesicles in the mouth and very rarely by 

 similar bUsters on the fingers. The vesicles appear on the 

 lips, gums, cheek, and edge of the tongue, and are about 

 the size of a pea. They soon rupture, leaving a small ero- 

 sion, which is soon covered by a thin crust under which the 

 new formation of epithelium proceeds rapidly. The disease 

 is mild in children, and therefore is frequently not seen by 

 physicians, and is commoiJy regarded by the mother as a 

 form of "fever blister," "thrush," or one of the minor 

 affections of the mouth. 



The virus is readily killed by heat: it is destroyed with 

 certainty at a temperature of 60° for twenty minutes. 

 Pasteurized milk, therefore, will not convey this infec- 

 tion. 



There have been five outbreaks of foot-and-mouth dis- 

 ease in this country. Each time the epidemic was con- 

 trolled by energetic measures, such as quarantining the 

 infected areas, the destruction of the diseased cattle, and 

 general disinfection. The disease, however, prevails to a 

 very wide extent in many parts of Europe and Asia. 



Mammitis, mastitis, or garget 



This disease, or rather series of diseases of the udder, is 

 by far the most frequent affection of milch cows. It con- 

 sists of an inflammatory condition of the mammary gland. 

 The tender mammary gland is especially liable to injury 

 and is particularly subject to inflammations as a result of 

 the invasion of various germs, especially streptococci and 

 staphylococci. The list of micro-organisms found asso- 

 ciated with garget is a very long one. 



Frequently only one quarter of the udder is affected, al- 

 though the whole udder may, at times, be involved. The 

 affected quarter is greatly swollen and more or less painful 

 in the early stages. The milk at first appears normal, but 

 soon changes its character, becoming watery, light brown 



