78 The Lung Plague of Cattle. 



virus, several times tlirougli the skin on the ehd of the 

 tail. In Australia, a worsted thread charged with the 

 pulmonary exudation is drawn through beneath the skin 

 and left in situ. Sticker used a hollow needle with dia- 

 mond-shaped point attached to an India rubber bag con- 

 taining the fluid. The needle having been inserted under 

 the skin, the bag is squeezed so as to lodge a single drop 

 in the tissues as it is withdrawn. As a modification of 

 the same I have always used the common hypodermic syr- 

 inge carefully purifying it with boiling water before and 

 after use. Nicklas and Bartels recommend that the liq- 

 uid be lodged immediately beneath the epidermis, as be- 

 ing less likely to cause dangerous and gangrenous swell- 

 ings than if inserted more deeply. Aside from this, that 

 method is the best that exposes the inserted matter least' 

 to the action of the air, there being less danger of putre- 

 faction and dangerous swellings. In my experiments 

 with the hypodermic syringe I have lost from two to four 

 per cent from such swellings and there can be little doubt 

 that even these could have been saved had the tails been 

 amputated in time. 



After treatment is seldom wanted. Willems recom- 

 mends a pound of Epsom salts on the tenth day after the 

 operation. In case of much swelling, astringent and an- 

 tiseptic washes are recommended, but prompt am- 

 putation is much safer and if resorted to early enough 

 usually prevents those extensive swellings around the 

 root of the tail and in the pelvis which occasionally prove 

 fatal. 



Can the LuTig Plague be Spread by Inocfdated Cattle ? 



Almost all advocates of inoculation deny that an inoc- 

 ulated animal is at all dangerous to others. In this they 

 throw the gravest doubt on the value of the operation as 

 a preservative. The liquids inoculated are the virulent 

 products of the lung plague, and as these do not induce 

 disease of the lungs but only of the tissues where they 



