Report on the Ejjuiem'ic among Cattle. 



CXXl 



A few cases of second attacks are reported to have occurred, 

 and even third attacks are mentioned ; but these are exceptions. 



There are reports of some having been herded with infected 

 animals and entirely escaping, and some that had gone through 

 the disease, and, although re-exposed in diseased herds, had no 

 renewal. In one report vaccine inoculation from a child is said 

 to have lessened the severity of the disease. Low condition is 

 also said to have diminished its virulence. In the few that had 

 second attacks the disease in some is stated to have been in a 

 severer, and in others in its usual form.* 



The medical treatment has generally been of a purgative na- 

 ture, sometimes too strong and probably injurious, frequently 

 combined with diuretics and stimulants, &c. ; and astringents 

 were used externally to the teats, feet, and mouths, and tar in 

 some cases to the feet, and occasionally mild caustic applications. 

 Bleeding has also been practised by some and disapproved of by 

 others. Setons, issues, and blisters have also been employed. 



Abortion has seldom occurred, nor has the produce of any 

 stock been born diseased, although the mothers were labouring 

 under it during parturition. 



Some newly-born animals became sickly in two or three days 

 after birth, and died apparently from constitutional disturbance. 

 Others, in which the usual symptoms became manifest, were cut 

 off within a week. It is stated to have appeared in the feet only 

 of sucking-pigs. 



Upon the subsidence of the disease many cattle were attacked 

 with cutaneous eruptions, which usually yielded to the remedies 

 employed in ordinary cases of mange. 



In the few post-mortem examinations that were made, a dis- 

 eased state of some, and in others of all the vital organs, appeared, 

 and marked inflammatory action had been general throughout the 

 system. 



The epidemic disappeared in some farms and dairies in about 

 a month, and in others extended to six months. 



The cattle that have suffered from the disease in the country 

 are estimated to have been reduced in value 5 per cent., which is 

 much below the London estimate, and dairy- cows having newly 

 calved are calculated to have lost 30 per cent, of their original value. 



Wm. Sewell, 

 . Professor, Royal Veterinary College. 



Juhj 11th, 184L 



* Preventive treatment has been resorted to successfully as reported in 

 some eases, but failed in others, such as smearing the noses, feet, backs, 

 loins, and horns at intervals with tar. Others have applied it about the 

 premises. 



