Contagious and Epizootic Diseases. 1 1 



feet. It is only knoT.n as communicated by contagion, 

 whether in western Europe, in Great Britain and Ireland,' 

 whei-e it was introduced in 1839-42, or in North and 

 South America, which it reached in 1870 by imported 

 stock. Like the other animal plagues it follows in tho 

 track of great armies and in the channels of commerce. 

 The contagion does not readily spread on the air, a river 

 or common road beiag often sufficient to limit it, but no 

 poison is more certainly transmitted by contact, direct or 

 through the medium of human beings, tame or wild ani- 

 mals, fodder, htter, manure, clothing, drinking-troughs, 

 etc., etc. Mnk is one of the most frequent sources of con- 

 tagion to pigs, dogs, and even to infants, producing the 

 most dangerous intestinal irritation and diarrhoea. 



Symptoms. — The poison may remain latent in the sjh- 

 tem for one or two days, or, in exceptional cases, perhaps 

 as many as six. Then there is roughness of the coat or 

 shivering, increased temperature, dry muzzle, hot red 

 mouth, teats, and interdigital spaces, lameness, inclination 

 to lie, and shrinking from the hand in milking. The sec- 

 ond or third day blisters arise, on any part of the whole 

 interior of the mouth one-half to one inch in breadth, or on 

 the teats and between the digits about one-half inch across. 

 Saliva drivels from the mouth, collecting in froth around 

 the lips, and a loud smacking is made with the hps and 

 tongue. Swine champ the jaws. Sheep and swine suffer 

 more especially in the feet, often losmg the hoofs or even 

 the digital bones, a contingency not imknown in neglected 

 cattle. 



Among the consequences may be named the loss of 

 milk, inflamed udders, blind teats, a habit .of vicious kick- 

 ing, abortions, permanent lameness, and a lenglhened in- 

 capacity for the dairy, for feeding or work. If weU cared 

 for, the disease passes in fifteen days, leaving no ill conse- 

 quences, excepting the poison hidden away in the building 

 The average loss in flesh is $5 to $10 ; in dairy cows, it is 

 much more. 



