524 



Quarter Evil. 



Quarter Evil, or Black Leg. 



Although quarter ill has existed in Great Britain and in 

 Ireland for a very great number of years, no reliable estimate 

 can be formed of the number of animals which annually die of 

 this disease ; but it may at least be concluded that the mor- 

 tality is very serious. 



Quarter ill may be said to lack much of the importance 

 and interest which is attached to anthrax, inasmuch as it is 

 confined to two domestic animals — sheep and cattle — and is 

 not communicable to man. It, however, resembles anthrax, 

 in so far as they are both caused by the introduction into the 

 blood of the healthy animal of specific bacilli. 



Both of these diseases have a tendency to recur on farms or 

 premises where animals affected with these diseases have been 

 previously kept. 



On the other hand, neither anthrax nor quarter ill is com- 

 municable by association of the affected with the healthy 

 animal, and in that respect they differ from most of the con- 

 tagious diseases which are legislated for in this country. 



Another peculiar feature of quarter ill is that while it is very 

 fatal to sheep at any age, cattle over two years may be said to 

 have an immunity against the disease. 



The symptoms of quarter ill in young cattle are so strikingly 

 different from any other disease, that an error in diagnosis is 

 almost impossible. The first indication of an animal being 

 affected with quarter ill is a marked stiffness or lameness of 

 one of the limbs, usually upon one of the hind quarters ; it is 

 exceedingly dull, and presents a most anxious and dejected 

 appearance, does not feed, and it is with extreme difficulty that 

 it can be forced to move. Very soon after the limb is attacked 

 a swelling appears beneath the skin, which is extremely hot' 

 increases in size rapidly, and is most painful to the animal when 

 touched. This swelling h-is a disposition to extend down the 

 leg, or perhaps along the loins and back, and when pressed 

 gives a peculiar crackling sensation to the fingers. In almost 

 every instance death supervenes within a few hours after the 

 swelling has appeared. 



In the case of sheep the symptoms are not of so marked a 



