133 
ON THE LATE EPIZOOTIC DISEASES AMONG 
CATTLE, SHEEP, AND SWINE. 
By W. You att. 
[Continued from p. 88.] 
We pass southward from Northumberland into Cumberland. 
It is singular that from the whole of this county not a single 
paper was transmitted to the Central Agricultural Society. We 
were, however, favoured with a truly excellent one from our va- 
lued friend Mr. Carlisle, of Wigton, on the coast of the Irish sea. 
We regret that we shall be compelled very materially to contract 
it, but the readers of the Old Series will find full justice done to 
it in the 14th volume of The Veterinarian. 
Mr. Carlisle very properly remarks, that epizootic diseases are 
generated by the existence of some peculiar poison or deleterious 
gas, by which the atmosphere becomes contaminated ; and which 
coming into contact with the blood in the lungs, or through the 
medium of the skin, the vital fluid is, to a greater or less degree, 
empoisoned, and the parts that it supplies are deranged in 
structure and in function. 
The peculiar state of the atmosphere under which the various 
epidemics occur has never been satisfactorily explained. It is 
often changed or empoisoned by various miasmata which had 
escaped from the bowels of the earth, not cognizable by our 
senses, nor detectable by the best chemist. The change is 
recognized only by the effects produced on the animal body. 
Epidemics assume different forms and characters, depending 
on the locality, the predisposition of the animal, and some un- 
known atmospheric poison. Locality has often much to do 
with the character of the disease : it is an obstacle to remedial 
measures — it is the cause of some singular train of symptoms — it 
varies with the soil, pasture, and previous management of the 
animal. It is both contagious and infectious ; it has been com- 
municated to beasts previously sound, by butchers, veterinary 
surgeons, and the usual attendants on cattle; and it is often pro- 
pagated by cattle walking on roads where infected animals had 
previously gone. Its origin, however, is most frequently in the 
atmosphere, and its properties are far beyond our comprehension. 
It may be conveyed from one animal to another of the same spe- 
cies, and in such case the disease is usually found to be consider- 
ably mitigated. It is generally confined to cloven-footed animals;. 
