ON MURRAIN* OR THE VESICULAR EPIZOOTIC. 37 
cases, where there is ulceration and tendency to granulation, a 
diluted solution of some of the mineral acids will be found a 
useful application. A few drops of chloride of antimony (butter 
of antimony) is a favourite remedy with some practitioners. 
By attention to the feet of sheep, and even by once paring and 
dressing, they may be saved much suffering. If these precau- 
tions be neglected, and the animals allowed to remain in damp 
pastures, sloughing of the hoof will be of frequent occurrence ; 
and although this is not so serious a matter in sheep as amongst 
the larger ruminants, it will materially reduce the condition of 
the animal, and a fortnight, or even longer, may elapse before 
fresh horn be secreted, or the foot can be placed on the ground. 
In the case of sheep, it is seldom necessary to meddle with the 
mouth : the vesicles there generally run their course very fa- 
vourably, and indeed cause so little inconvenience, that the 
animals, throughout the whole course of the disease, continue to 
eat almost as usual. 
The treatment of the vesicular epizootic among pigs is, in the 
great majority of cases, very simple. Keep the animals very 
clean, and supply them with plenty of dry litter. If there be 
much lameness, examine the feet, and apply emollients or astrin- 
gents, as may seem most fit. If the vesicles about the mouth or 
nose be numerous, give a mash diet acidulated with vinegar or 
any other acid : this, besides promoting the drying up or cica- 
trization of the vesicles, will be exceedingly acceptable to the 
animal’s palate. 
Such is a brief description of the measures to be adopted in 
the palliative treatment of the vesicular epizootic as regards the 
cow, the sheep, and the pig. These measures, when timely 
and judiciously employed, will lessen the severity of the disease 
and accelerate the return to health : they are simple, and may 
be thus stated in a few words : — Avoid bleeding, except in rare 
cases where the febrile excitement is great. Administer fever 
medicine warily. Keep the bowels in good condition by the 
cautious exhibition of laxatives. Check the slightest tendency 
to diarrhoea by the use of flour-gruel and astringents. Sustain 
the powers of life by tonics, and subsequently by stimulants. 
Wash the mouth with mild astringents, and dress the udder 
with digestive ointment. Keep the byres and courts in which 
the animals are confined clean and perfectly dry. Let the feet 
be washed with astringent lotions, and trust more to cold than 
to hot applications. Do not implicitly adhere to one course of 
remedial measures, but regulate your treatment according to the 
symptoms, the condition, and the constitution of the animal, and 
the circumstances in which it is placed ; and while on the one 
hand you avoid untimely and improper interference with the 
