413 
REPORT OF THE ROYAL VETERINARY 
COLLEGE FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 1890. 
Investigations into outbreaks of disease among farm stock have 
been carried on during the last quarter at the College, and several 
inquiries have been conducted by the officers of the College in differ- 
ent parts of the country. 
In the beginning of the year an inquiry was made into an out- 
break in a herd of beasts in Sussex. The herd was divided into 
seven lots located at different farmsteads ; of these the disease has 
appeared in three. In one instance eight animals have succumbed, 
in another three, and in the third one. 
The malady first appeared on December 26, since which time 
twelve beasts have died. On inquiry into the question of food and 
general management, it was found that all the animals were housed 
and fed on grain and cake of various kinds supplied from the same 
stock. In addition they also received hay, which was derived from 
several sources, and in the case of three of the farmsteads green furze 
was also being employed. All the grain and cake was of foreign pro- 
duction ; it was, therefore, impossible to trace its connection with 
any particular source of contamination. The fact of the disease 
having confined itself to those farms where furze was being used is 
important, as this description of forage suggests an explanation of 
the way in which the tissues of the mouth may have been wounded, 
so as to admit of the inoculation of any virus to which they may 
have been exposed. The furze was of particularly strong growth, and 
the spines upon it were large and penetrating, conditions eminently 
calculated to injure the mouth and render it receptive of the conta- 
gion. Foreign bones for manurial purposes have been largely used 
on the farm, and as the disorder has not previously been known 
to occur upon it, these and also the grain and cakes may for the 
present be regarded as suspicious of having introduced the contagion 
there. 
As means to prevention of further spread of the disease, it was 
recommended that all the food-stuffs then being used should be dis- 
continued, and that the sheds and other parts of the premises with 
which the diseased cattle had been in contact should be thoroughly 
cleaDsed and disinfected. On these measures being adopted the 
disorder ceased at once. 
An inspection was also made of three Jersey cows, two of which 
were found to have tumours in the udder. On inquiring into the 
family history of the animals, it was found that they were all the 
produce of one cow, which had been recently slaughtered in conse- 
quence of an ulcerating growth in the same organ. On a post- 
mortem examination being made of this animal, similar growths to 
that existing in the mammary gland were also found in the abdomen 
— near to the intestines. 
The milk of the cows was submitted to microscopic examination 
in search after tubercular organisms, but none were found. As, 
