54 
ON SCROFULA IN OXEN AND PIGS. 
says he, “ are particularly subject to swellings and obstructions of 
the glands of the neck, which produce occasional deformity. 
These tumours of the lymphatic glands, and which are not cha- 
racterised by any acute inflammation, are called scrofulous. The 
Latins call them strumce. 
“ Scrofula has many names in common use. It consists of indo- 
lent tumours, which increase slowly and form in succession a 
species of chaplets or beads around the neck, behind the ears, 
under the lower jaw, or very frequently in an irregular series 
of lumps. They are not equally hard. Some of them have the 
density of scirrhous tumours, while others are much softer; and 
both of them occasionally appear on the same gland. In propor- 
tion as these tumours increase, they become more and more ad- 
herent to the neighbouring parts and occasionally so hard, that 
they acquire the density of marble. I have seen a large chaplet 
of scrofulous tumours under the jaw of a pig, and which adhered so 
firmly to the bone and were so hard, that they resembled a bony 
concretion. This pig, in spite of these numerous and large tu- 
mours, fattened very well. 
These scrofulous swellings never come to suppuration, and very 
rarely disperse by reason of the great density of the matter of 
which they are composed, and of the inertness of the organ affected. 
On the contrary, they more frequently have a scirrhous termina- 
tion, and, at length, they may acquire a malignant and putrid qua- 
lity under the influence of temperature and the habits of the animal, 
and cause such debility of the diseased organ, that it ulcerates and 
degenerates into cancer, a disease which is nevertheless very un- 
common in these animals. Scrofula may sometimes be hereditary 
in animals as well as in man, but is usually produced by some of 
the following causes : — damp or heavy air ; marshy pastures ; the 
use of coarse food ; excess of rest ; remaining too long in filthy or 
damp habitations. These are causes by which the organic action 
is much weakened and the lymph altered, and whence result the 
lymphatic obstructions in the glands of the neck, the jaws, and 
sometimes, but very rarely, in the other conglobate glands. 
Many skilful surgeons maintain that scrofula in children is a con- 
tagious affection, and may be communicated from diseased to 
healthy subjects by cohabitation and mutual contact. In bullocks 
and particularly in pigs, in whom this disease is common, I never 
observed it to be thus communicated. Experience proves that 
a scrofulous animal may inhabit the same stall with many other 
animals of the same age without that disease appearing in any of 
them. It is, therefore, evident that this disease in beasts is of a 
much milder character than in children, perhaps because their life 
