380 THE LATE EPIDEMIC DISEASES OF CATTLE, &C. 
be able to give you the full result of my observations with regard 
to the late epidemic. It made its first appearance in this district 
in the beginning of December 1840, and at first confined itself 
to a small district ; the occupiers of these parts having pur- 
chased cattle at the annual Edinburgh fair, in the middle of 
November, for feeding purposes. 
The first symptom I perceived of it was the hair slightly 
roughened and elevated. In eight or ten hours the hair was more 
erect. In twenty to thirty hours from its first appearance an 
eruption was observed in the mouths of some cattle, on the feet 
of others, and many were affected in the mouth, feet, and teats. 
The pulse varied much, and I believe that these symptoms de- 
pended on age, condition, and on the way in which the animals 
were kept, and the state of their bowels previous to the attack. 
It will be observed that these cattle were stalled for feeding 
purposes, and had their bowels full of indigestible matters. I or- 
dered sulphate of magnesia to be given, sufficient to produce a 
purgative effect, and the place to be well littered : the animals to 
be kept quiet, and not too hot, and to restrict the diet for a time. 
Some of these cattle were very ill and lame, but they soon re- 
covered, and did well. 
There were various paragraphs in the newspapers wherein was 
prescribed a routine of treatment for cattle having this disease ; 
and these papers being read by some of our popular and influen- 
tial agriculturists, who, on seeing these letters, consulted with 
their smiths upon the subject, the consequences that resulted were 
truly appalling. Some of these cattle w r ere severely bled, and 
died soon afterwards. 
The disease at length disappeared for two or three months, and 
then recommenced late in the spring of the year, when an unusual 
number of calves were brought to this place from Edinburgh. 
I cannot say where they were bred. They were principally sold 
to what is termed hill farmers, whose living chiefly depends on 
the breeding and grazing of them. Soon after they had reached 
these remote places, the disease broke out among the cattle that 
were at pasture, and continued for a long time. 
The milch cows, when first affected with it, w r ere confined to 
the house, fed with cut annual grass, kept dry and quiet, and 
not too hot. Those who could not eat a sufficient quantity of it to 
keep their bow'els in a proper state, in consequence of their mouths 
being sore, had sulphate of magnesia, in boiled gruel, in suffi- 
cient quantity to open the bowels. The young stock that were 
in the fields, when severely attacked, were put into dry straw- 
yards, and treated in the same manner. I believe that eighteen 
out of twenty recovered without being housed. 
