430 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



Again, the pustules may appear, one after another, on a single animal, 

 in which ease the duration of the disease is materially lengthened. 



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 th9 sores twice daily with 

 a weak solution of zinc chloride (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 ar6 allowed to suckle the cows the pustules become 

 confluent, and the ulcerations 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 cheek the spread until it has attacked 

 each animal of the herd in turn. 



ACTINOMYCOSIS. 

 (Pis. XLI toXLIH, 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 particularly the 

 head, and due to the specific action of a certain fungus (actinomyces). 

 This fungus is an organism which occurs in the tissues in the form 

 of rosettes, and it has therefore been termed the "ray fungus." The 

 disease is not directly transmitted from one animal to another, but it 

 seems apparent that the fungus is conveyed into the tissues by vari- 

 ous foodstuffs through slight wounds of the mucous membrane of the 

 mouth, decayed teeth, or during the shedding 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. 



