THE LATE EPIDEMIC DISEASES AMONG HORSES, &C. 275 
pasture which was then stinted with fat cattle and sheep, and at 
that time quite ready for the butcher ; but the complaint reduced 
them to such a degree, that I was under the necessity of keeping 
them until the Christmas following, before I could get them into 
the same state of condition. 
Subsequent to that, the whole of my cattle and sheep became 
affected, which numbered about seventy head of cattle and three 
hundred sheep. I am not aware that my horses were ever 
attacked. 
What was rather singular, I never directly lost any one ani- 
mal, but indirectly I have been a great sufferer, 1st, From loss 
of condition, after which it required some months to get the 
animals into the same state as when they were first attacked. 
2dly, From my cows calving prematurely — I had twenty-three 
that did so in succession — and a very serious loss among my 
sheep in a similar way; and, 3dly, The greatest part of the ani- 
mals that were attacked had an evident inroad made in their 
constitutions, which prevented some of them from ever getting fat ; 
and many others suffered to so great a degree, that 1 found much 
difficulty in getting them into any thing like feeding condition. 
For some time 1 persevered in the use of sulphur, Epsom salts, 
and nitre, with solutions to wash their mouths and feet, consist- 
ing of roach alum and blue vitriol, boiled in vinegar; but expe- 
rience taught me that, in nine cases out of ten, that proceeding 
was useless. With the exception of a very bad case, I then gave 
1 lb or 1^ lb of Epsom salts, varying the quantity according to 
the age and size of the animal. I adopted the same plan with 
my sheep, from two to four ounces constituting a dose for each. 
I had a great number of both cattle and sheep that lost their 
hoofs. One cow was down during nine weeks — that took place 
in the early part of 184 L — after which several abscesses formed 
on different parts of her body, and which it was necessary to 
puncture. The discharge in some cases was very great. 
The following case, as related by Mr. Bates, will be read 
with peculiar interest. 
I have only had one case, a cow ; but the epidemic has pre- 
vailed in my neighbourhood and adjoining my farm. It appeared 
on the 26th day of October, 1840, in the parish of Kirkleav- 
ington, near Yarm, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The land 
was both flat and sloping and the soil clay and a clayey loam ; the 
weather was open, and my cattle had not been in communication 
with any other. 
The above cow, and about twenty more, travelled along a 
