82 
Hereditary Diseases of Cattle. 
cows tiie milk is either entirely dried up, or is yielded in very 
small quantity, and of a bad taste and odour. The animal is 
uneasy, and frequently changes its posture, shifting its weight 
from one li(nb to the other. The back is arched, tlie belly drawn 
up, and the flanks hollow. As the severity of the disease 
increases, the pulse becomes small and weak. The faeces are dark- 
coloured and mixed with serum and blood, are expelled with 
great force, and have, as well as the urine and breath, a strong 
foetid odour. Although the appetite for food is entirely gone, 
there is usually intense thirst. The legs, the dewlap, and the 
submaxillary space become anasarcous. Tlie eyes are dim and 
glazed, and, from the absorption of the fat lodged behind them, 
become deeply sunk in their sockets. The post-mortem appear- 
ances of dysentery vary according to the stage and intensity of the 
disease. The coats of the intestines are much thickened and 
infiltrated with serum ; spots of inflammation and patches of 
ulcers are scattered over the surface of the mucous coat, especially 
of the small intestines. The intestinal and mesenteric glands, 
the lungs, and the liver are all studded with tubercles. The gall- 
bladder is filled with dark-coloured unhealthy bile, and, from the 
debilitating nature of the disease, the abdominal organs, and often 
the muscles, are frequently blanched. 
A tendency to consumption and to dysentery is often indicated 
by certain well-marked signs. In cattle the most obvious of 
these are a thin and often apparently long carcase, narrow loins 
and chest, flat ribs, undue length between the prominence of the 
ilium and the last ribs, giving a hollow appearance to the flanks, 
extreme thinness and fineness of the neck and withers, hollo w- 
ness behind the ears, fulness under the jaws, a small and narrow 
muzzle, light colour of the hair and skin, especially about the 
ears, eyes, and muzzle (except where this is a character of the 
breed), hard unyielding skin (which on near inspection presents 
a dirty, dark, and scurfy appearance), thin and dry hair, irregu- 
larity in the changing of the coat, inaptitude for fattening, pro- 
minence of the bones, especially about the haunch and tail, and 
want of harmony amongst the different parts of the body, giving 
the animal a coarse and ungainly look — appearances all indul^it- 
ably hereditary, and indicative of a weak and vitiated constitu- 
tion, and of a decided scrofulous diathesis. Hence, animals 
possessed of these peculiarities should not be used for breeding 
purposes, as they cannot fail to reproduce in their offspring the 
morbid tendencies inherent to their own peculiar conformation. 
But consumption and dysentery may be produced in cattle by 
other means besides hereditary transmission, and any inherent 
tendency to those diseases is always aggravated by their ordinary 
exciting causes. Dysentery in cattle is not contagious, although 
