56 ON AN APIITIIOUS AFFECTION AMONG CATTLE. 
of marked improvement. About that time the animals usually en- 
deavour to eat. They must not, however, on any account, be 
allowed to take any large quantity of food, as, from the state of 
vacuity in which the stomachs are, serious attacks of indigestion 
will inevitably be produced. Their food should be composed of 
substances easily digested, and which do not require much masti- 
cation. Potatoes, turnips, after-grass, lucern, and good hay, 
sprinkled with bay salt, have appeared to us well adapted for food 
during the period of convalescence. 
As for pigs, their treatment is almost entirely hygienic. Clean- 
liness will, in the generality of cases, bring about a cure as speedily 
as any theurapeutic agents. M. Altmayer has made a similar ob- 
servation. Nevertheless, some animals are so violently attacked, 
that, what with fever and debility, they are scarcely able to move. 
Proper diet, acidulated drinks, ventilation of the sties, and good 
clean litter, are then imperiously called for. 
Such are the means which will in general produce a cure in 
about a fortnight in cattle. Pigs usually get well in the course of 
eight days. 
Sometimes the aphthous epizootic is so slight as to be cured bv 
the simple efforts of nature. M. Altmayer took no notice of the 
one which prevailed among oxen in 1839. M. Levigney has also 
stated, that, of the numerous cows attacked by it in Bessin, very 
few received medical treatment : most of the proprietors left them 
to themselves, and did not even observe any kind of regimen ; and 
notwithstanding this, they got perfectly well, with the exception of 
some serious complications brought on by negligence of the owners. 
We have hitherto spoken only of the aphthae in the mouth, on the 
muzzle, or round the alae of the nose; but it is very different when 
the vesicles exist round the inferior articulations of the limbs, in 
the interdigital space, or on the teats. The ulcerations then acquire, 
from their position, a certain degree of malignancy, which becomes 
increased by negligence or inattention to the cleanliness of the 
stables. 
In point of fact, all arthrites, open-joints, tendinous exfoliations, 
caries of the bone, and fall of the horn, result from cattle-owners 
not having recourse to the advice of scientific men until too late, 
and who suffer the dung to accumulate and remain under the feet 
of their animals. 
Frequent renewal of the litter, general attention to cleanliness, 
and astringent lotions, will generally effect a cure of the phlyctense 
in the interdigital space. If there is a chancrous aspect ; if the 
ulcerations are pale, and the slightest touch causes them to bleed ; 
if the animal limps much ; if the swelling of the limbs is so great 
as to impede flexion; they must be frequently bathed with emollient 
