VESICULAR DISEASE CONTRACTED FROM SHEEP. 471 
observe, excite a specific morbid action upon one membrane 
or organ, or upon one system of organs ; others appear to 
excite specific morbid actions upon two membranes or organs, 
and others, perhaps, upon three. Now, these observations 
more especially refer to those animal poisons which are gene- 
rated by human beings, and which are capable of being trans- 
mitted into the system of other human beings w-ho are pre- 
viously in a state of health. But the animal poisons which 
are generated by brutes, and which may be introduced into 
the system, and are capable of producing particular diseases — 
these are probably governed by analogous laws. For example, 
in that disease of this class with which we are most familiar, 
namely, vaccinia, or cow 7 -pox — the disease which is introduced 
into the human system from the cow r — these law*s to wTich I 
have adverted are most evident ; again, in that disease which 
is contracted by man from the horse, the glanders, a certain 
train of specific morbid actions is observed; and, also, in that 
more rare disease to which butchers are subject when they 
wound themselves in slaughtering oxen in a diseased state ; 
and in the disease sometimes called malignant pustule, cer- 
tain definite morbid actions also ensue. 
Now r , after these preliminary observations, I am about to 
describe a peculiar disease, w r hich I believe to be derived from 
the sheep, — a disease, as far as I know, not hitherto described 
or adverted to by systematic writers. I have myself only 
seen two examples of this disease : they both occurred in young 
butchers, who had wounded themselves while cutting up 
sheep’s heads, or dressing them for sale. The disease con- 
sists essentially of an abundant eruption of successive crops 
of vesicles and bullae, of various sizes. These vesicles and 
bullae are in some parts isolated from each other, and in other 
parts more numerous, and congregated together, — what we 
call confluent. These vesicles and bullae appear principally 
upon the finer and more delicate portions of the skin and 
body, about the cheeks, the lips, beneath the chin, on the 
throat, the breast, upon the upper and lower extremities. 
These vesicles, or bullae, however, are not confined simply to 
the cutaneous surface; they are found also upon the con- 
junctiva, upon the mucous membrane covering the tongue, 
the membrane lining the lips, upon a soft palate, and, per- 
haps, also, similar vesicles might be found on the lining mem- 
brane of the nostrils and of the pharynx. During the con- 
tinuance of the disease, a discharge of mucus exudes from 
these parts, the nostrils and pharynx. The external ap- 
pearance of this eruption generally resembles that of acute 
pemphigus, but not altogether ; for we observe, that in some 
