98 
THE CATTLE EPIDEMIC. 
heart, and should always be combined with nitrate of potassa or 
digitalis. 
Linseed oil, or castor oil, are mild in their effects, emollient, 
demulcent, &c., and such properties are well suited to the majority 
of cases of red-water that are early seen. 
Gentlemen, I have attempted to convey to you, in the plainest 
manner I could, first, what has come under my own observation ; 
secondly, the thoughts which these observations have suggested to 
myself, with the opinions of others on some of the points in 
question ; and, thirdly, I have not hesitated to avail myself of 
general principles advocated by men of science, when at any time 
I found that these principles tended to shed additional light on the 
subject I wished to illustrate. Where I have failed in making the 
subject plain, I trust you will attribute that failure to its true 
source — the want of ability, and not the want of will. 
THE CATTLE EPIDEMIC. 
It will be seen by the subjoined extracts from foreign journals 
that the epidemic is exciting the greatest alarm on the continent ; 
so much so, that the French Government is about to send M. Yvard, 
the Inspector-general of the veterinary schools, and M. Renault, 
of the Veterinary School at Alfort, to Germany, to study the 
nature of the disease, and to devise, if possible, means to check it. 
It has appeared for some time, and is now prevailing in Cheshire, 
Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Shropshire. We were told last 
week that it had broken out near Brighton and at Reigate, and that 
in the latter place one farmer had lost six fine cows : we have since 
been informed that he has lost ten. The following paragraph from 
the Lancaster Guardian shews that it is extending in Lancashire. 
Ingleton. — Epidemic among Cattle. — The distemper among 
cattle has at last reached this neighbourhood. Christopher Parkin, 
a small farmer in this village, has within the last few weeks lost 
six good milch cows by it, which formed the whole of his stock. 
Subscriptions are at present in progress towards making up his 
loss, as he is a sober and industrious man. 
The Murrain on the Continent. — “ Several journals,” says the 
Moniteur , “ have spoken of the apprehensions inspired in Ger- 
many by the invasion of an epidemic disease that particularly 
affects horned cattle. The recollection of the dreadful ravages 
caused at different periods among the horned cattle by contagious 
typhus, but particularly in 1814, 1815, and 1816, when the cattle 
brought into France by the foreign armies imported that disease, 
