T HE LATE EPIDEMIC DISEASE IN FRANCE. 
333 
animals. The cows’ milk remained the same. In the epizootic, far 
from losing any portion of its good quality, the milk was of a more 
buttery character ; and, all other things being alike, the same 
quantity of milk was produced after the disease, and better than 
before. This was more than the farmers could have possibly 
expected*. 
Although pigs were principally attacked in the feet alone, the 
disease, nevertheless, did considerable harm, especially to dealers. 
It was much more serious when these animals had travelled a 
long way. The speedy loss of the hoof was always the conse- 
quence of this. The first thing that was perceived was the 
separation of the horn, and its immediate loss. 
The distance which these animals travelled, without doubt, 
increased the evil, but was not the original cause of it ; for in the 
farms of Bessin the hogs that had not travelled at all equally felt 
the effects of the epizootic. The greater part of them lost their 
hoofs, but at a considerable period after the attack of the disease. 
These animals seemed to suffer such extreme pain in the feet 
that they were not able to stand. They dragged themselves on 
their knees. The sows which gave suck more especially suffered. 
Many of them died under the complaint, as well as their young 
ones, who were often suddenly carried off. The younger they 
were, the greater was the mortality that prevailed. 
The epizootic attacked sheep in the same manner and in the 
same places as the cows. In them it was an affection of the 
mouth, or the teats, as well as the feet. I have only had occasion 
to observe it in M. Taillepied’s flock, and some sheep belonging to 
M. de Gouis, of Isigny, that I have attended. These last, 
which, at the first appearance of the attack, were grazing on the 
same pasture-ground with the infected cows, did not then expe- 
rience any of the effects of the disease. They were not attacked 
by it until more than two months had passed after their separa- 
tion from the cattle. I dressed both flocks with per-nitrate of 
iron. No difference was made between the lambs and the sheep, 
and in both the disease quickly passed away. 
I will terminate this report by proposing a question, on which 
it will be important that there shall be no misunderstanding, and 
to which I believe sufficient attention has not been paid. The 
aphthous epizootic — does it return a second or perhaps a third 
time, and attack the cows that have before suffered from it ? 
If it be so, we could seldom boast of having effectually cured 
our cattle. There would always remain some uncertainty and 
uneasiness. At present I have never seen a return of the disease. 
Several farmers assert that they have witnessed it more than 
* This was not always or usually the case in Great Britain. — En. 
VOL. XVI. Y y 
