ON AN APHTHOUS AFFECTION AMONG CATTLE. Ill 
so*, and Professor Yerrier, Leschevin, considers the question of 
contagion doubtfult. 
Others again, as Lafosse, jun., and Toggia, do not give an opi- 
nion either way. 
Among the non-contagionists is M. Mathieu, of Epinal, who 
studied this epizootic at various periods among the Vosges, and 
did not observe a single case of contagionf . 
A man on whose opinion every reliance may be placed — one who 
was an extensive and observing practitioner — the learned Girard, 
sen. — collected a whole host of cases in 1810, none of which tend 
to the support of the doctrine of contagion§. 
Tessier, in his Treatise on Merinos, expressly states that suck- 
lings do not communicate the disease to the mother ||. 
The cases reported by all the numerous veterinarians of the 
south, that studied this disease in 1839, speak in favour of non- 
contagion. 
Lastly, the Consul of Health at Paris, in his report to M. the 
Prefect of the Seine, says, that “the contagiousness of the disease 
has not been provedH/’ 
Previous to entering into any examination of the merits of these 
several opinions, we will take a hasty survey of the observations 
of those authors who fancied that they discovered some analogy 
between aphthes and cow-pox. 
Led by this belief, in 1818, many medical men made various 
unsuccessful attempts to inoculate human beings with the matter 
taken from the vesicles**. In 1834 Dr. Casper, having observed 
an aphthous epizootic with eruptions on the udder of a cow, vainly 
endeavoured to inoculate an infant with it that had not been vacci- 
natedtt. 
In 1835 an aphthous epizootic of the hoof prevailed in Berlin, 
which was complicated with eruptions on the udder of young 
milch cows, and this was termed false cow-pox (falsche poken), 
(M. Rayer, loco citato ). At the time of the epizootic of 1839, 
Dr. Emery vaccinated four children with matter taken from 
* If we peruse Saintin’s work on the “ Correspondence of Fromage de 
Feugr6,” we shall find that he was not in doubt, but feared openly to attack 
received opinions. 
f Police sanitaire. We regret that we have not been able to obtain the 
original memoir of Verrier, who, we are convinced, was of the same opinion 
with Girard, sen., who was studying the aphthous epizootic at the same 
period. 
I Recueil, 1839, page 21. 
§ Recueil, 1827, page 362. 
|[ Traite sur les Merinos, page 329. 
If Journal des Veterinaires du Midi, page 376. 
** Voir le travail de M. Rayer. Recueil, 1839, page 142. 
ft Idem. 
