532 
AN ACCOUNT OF A SINGULAR MORTALITY AMONG 
CATTLE. 
By Mr. J. HOWELL, V.S., Wickwar, near Wotton-under-Edge. 
I HAVE ventured to send to you the particulars of, to me, a new 
disease that has lately appeared amongst some cattle in this 
neighbourhood : and, as the mortality has hitherto been very great 
of those that have been attacked, I should be very much obliged to 
you if you would give me your opinion respecting the same, or 
in any way throw a light upon the nature and cause of it. 
I have also written to ask Mr. Simonds’s opinion, but as yet have 
not received any answer. 
Six weeks this day, I was requested to visit a farm-house six 
miles distant, for the purpose of examining a dead cow with 
two neighbouring practitioners, one of whom had been in attend- 
ance. The cow was supposed to have died from poison, two others 
having died the week previous, and five more being then ill. 
The symptoms observable in those that were then ill, were a 
peculiar dulness — dimness of the eye — arched back — coat a little 
staring, and a disinclination to move : still they ruminated — 
the muzzle was moist — the dung soft. These were all the symptoms 
observable for perhaps eight or twelve hours, when there was a 
trembling of the muscles of the neck and shoulders, with a difficulty 
of breathing and slight enlargement of the throat — frequent lying 
down — placing of the nose on the left side, when they would stretch 
out and die without a struggle, perhaps within two hours after the 
trembling fit. Those that recovered did not appear to be seized so 
severely, neither was the trembling observed so strong in them. 
The post-mortem appearances . — We observed, upon laying 
open the cavity of the abdomen, a slight redness of the peritoneum 
and omentum. Upon removing the intestines a quantity of bloody 
fluid was perceived in the cavity of the belly of a very dark colour. 
The stomachs were perfectly healthy, as also the liver. The only 
abnormal appearance was an enlargement of the spleen, which was 
four times its natural size, softened, and containing a quantity of 
very thick and dark-coloured blood, some of which was escaping 
from small ruptures on its concave surface. The heart and lungs 
were healthy, except that the lungs presented almost a white ap- 
pearance ; the brain was also normal, excepting a slight congestion 
of the plexus choroides. As the cows were supposed to be suffering 
from vegetable poison, I made a very careful examination of the 
