632 
ON APHTHOUS DISEASE AMONG CATTLE. 
Kirkham, V.S., West Derby, having been called in to give his 
advice, found that an abscess was forming on the left side, 
between the sixth and seventh ribs. Having lanced the part, he 
discovered the handle of a spoon protruding ; and, with the aid of 
forceps, succeeded in extracting the instrument, which is nine inches 
long. The cow was first observed to be unwell about twelve 
months ago, and there is no doubt she swallowed the spoon about 
that time. It must since then have been making its way from the 
stomach to the position in which it was found, near to the surface 
of the skin. It was originally an iron plated spoon ; but the gastric 
juice has completely dislodged the plating, and a portion of the 
iron mouth of the spoon has also been dissolved by the same pow- 
erful agent. What remains is almost as thin as a wafer. The cow 
is now in a fair way of recovery. 
The operation was skilfully performed in about ten minutes. 
Supplement of the Evening London Sun, September 27, 1845. 
Essay on an Aphthous Disease which prevailed among 
Cattle in the Canton of St. Avold (Moselle) in 1841. 
By M. Reynal, first F./S. to the Qth Regiment of Lancers , Corresponding 
Member of the Royal Academy of Metz , of the Veterinary Society of 
Calvados and Manche , and to that of the Western Departments. 
Towards the latter end of October 1841 we were informed 
that the cows had been attacked by a peculiar disease, that ap- 
peared to be spontaneously developed. The examination of one 
patient enabled us to recognize an aphthous affection, that, ac- 
cording to the statement of several cattle proprietors, had prevailed 
some two years before throughout a great portion of the depart- 
ment of the Moselle. For the first five or six days it attacked 
cattle only, and we thought it would have been confined to the 
larger animals ; but subsequently we saw several cases of it in 
pigs and sheep. We shall content ourselves with giving a plain 
and simple description of the observations that we have been 
able to make on this disease in various kinds of animals. With 
the assistance of our own researches and those of our predecessors, 
we hope to be enabled to give a tolerably complete account of the 
