ON THE EPIZOOTIC DISEASES OF CATTLE, &c. 213 
more or less rapid ; and there it shewed its baneful influence, ex- 
hibiting its symptoms among some lots of Irish stock that were 
at the fair. 
These Irish stock have, by common consent, been considered 
as the introducers of the epidemic into the Yorkshire Ridings; 
and, from that period to the present, the contagion has been 
more or less rapidly spreading through every park and pasture in 
the three Ridings. Such were the first effects, that a complete and 
total stagnation took place of the sale of any kind of Irish-bred 
stock ; and the buyers of such were about as scarce as Queen 
Anne’s farthings, or, in other words, not to be then found. 
From the number of cases that I have professionally attended 
and casually heard of and seen, no state or condition — no situa- 
tion or locality — has protected the poor cattle from the sickening 
hand of the insidious foe ; for there might be seen labouring un- 
der its clutches the poor, the middle or tolerably conditioned, 
and the fat : some in the field feeding upon turnips and grass, 
some in the straw-yard living upon turnips and straw, while 
others were tied up in the house, and fed with turnips, mashes, 
hay, &c. 
Among many of the latter class was the milch cow, that had 
not been for upwards of six weeks previously in company with 
other cattle. Here I must beg to observe, that I have attended 
stock of this latter description (that is, the milch cow), that had 
never been out at all from the stall, and, therefore, could not be 
said, strictly speaking, to have received the infection by touch or 
direct communication from the infected ; and, although their 
well-sheltered and protected situation seemingly promised a bar- 
rier to the enemy, yet, strange to say, they — the sheltered and 
protected — were, in many instances, among the first that exhi- 
bited symptoms of the complaint. Sometimes the very reverse 
has happened: in fact, as before observed, as nothing could com- 
pletely stop the progress of the disease, so nothing — old or young 
— fat or lean — in warmth or cold — has completely resisted its in- 
fluence. I have even had calves of a fortnight old, and younger, 
as much, and in degree, as violently affected as their dams or 
parents. Yet, nevertheless, I found warmth of very great be- 
nefit to such as were labouring under the disorder; and also the 
too free exposure of the sick, as practised by some, very prejudi- 
cial. Experience indubitably proved to my satisfaction, that 
such stock as were labouring under the influence of the epidemic, 
when too freely exposed to the cold, generally lost a great weight 
of flesh, beside having the complaint under much worse circum- 
stances. 
The general symptoms that I observed are, a staring coat — 
VOL. XVI. F f 
