116 
ON THE CARBUNCLE IN CATTLE. 
temporary illness of the dog, and the vomiting of blood. It is also 
evident, that the fork would never have escaped from the abdomen 
by any effort of Nature, but would have eventually destroyed the 
dog. Rec. de Med. Vet. 1834. 
ON THE CARBUNCLE OR MALIGNANT PUSTULE 
IN CATTLE. 
By Dr. Muller, Hombourg. 
The following remarks are from the pen of Dr. Muller, of Hom- 
bourg, who, in his opening paragraph, says, “ For (wo-and-twenty 
years I have been practising in a district were anthrax, arising 
from the carbuncle in cattle, is of such frequent occurrence, that the 
number of cases which I have treated exceeds a hundred.” 
The disease in the human subject has almost invariably been 
observed in those seasons when horned cattle were affected with 
the carbuncle, or what some authors have called “ the malignant 
pustule.” I have seen only one case in which it was attributable 
to the application of the nasal mucus of a diseased horse; this 
occurred in a groom, who nearly lost his life from the consequences 
that ensued. In the majority of my cases I have been able to trace 
the operation of direct infection — usually from the hands of the pea- 
sants and from the contact of the blood of the diseased cattle, during 
the process of skinning them. In a few cases the disease arose 
from a slight wound of the finger while bleeding the animal during 
life ; and in others from the pricks of gnats and other insects, that 
had been previously settling on the dead carcasses. On no occasion 
did it ever seem to be produced' by merely eating the flesh of the 
diseased cattle. 
The early symptoms are usually very simple. The attendant 
observes a small pustule over the affected spot. This is accom- 
panied with a feeling of slight heat or itching in the part, but no- 
thing more ; and for several days there is, probably, no change. Then, 
however, the surrounding cellular tissue begins to be affected with a 
diffused hardness, and the integuments become covered with nume- 
rous pustules, which are at first white, and more or less transpa- 
rent; then opaque, and of a yellow colour; and, lastly, put on a livid 
appearance. The induration increases ; and the tubercle, always 
diffused, becomes larger, until it acquires the size of a pigeon’s 
