698 
ON MURRAIN, OR TI1E VESICULAR EPIZOOTIC. 
the disease, and, if the eruption come out largely in that part, the 
mouth is generally less affected. In the majority of cases, the 
vesicles in the interdigital spaces are longer in appearing, and 
undergo the usual changes more slowly, than those in the mouth, 
which are less exposed to cold, to changes of temperature, or to 
other causes which might either prevent their coming quickly for- 
ward, or retard the various stages of their development. 
Animals in the more advanced periods of gestation, or those 
giving milk, suffer much from the udder and teats becoming in- 
volved. The participation of these parts in the condition of the 
mouth results from the large amount of mucous membrane which 
enters into their structure, and from the large quantity of blood 
with which, in the milk-cow, they are supplied. The udder and 
teats, like the mouth and feet, are covered with vesicles. In milk- 
cows the pain is very great, and is much aggravated during milk- 
ing or the sucking of the calf. In some cases the udder becomes 
actively inflamed, and the inflammation often spreads from the 
mucous membrane to the parenchyma of the organ. 
Throughout the progress of the disease the appetite is generally 
impaired ; and even in many cases in which it remains good, the 
animal, from the pain caused by mastication and deglutition, will 
not eat, and food taken into the mouth is soon dropped again. The 
breathing is slightly accelerated, and the pulse increased in fre- 
quency. The urine is diminished in quantity, and the fseces are 
dark-coloured. In the early stages the bowels are generally cos- 
tive ; but, as the disease runs on, diarrhoea is often present. 
The discharge of saliva, and the number and size of the vesicles, 
generally increase until about the third day, when the symptoms 
abate, and recovery gradually takes place. In the slighter cases, 
a marked improvement is observable even at the end of a week, 
and in a fortnight the animal is generally quite well ; and the 
lameness, a symptom which often tarries longest, is fast disap- 
pearing. 
Sometimes, however, from injudicious interference, from expo- 
sure to cold, or from other untoward circumstances, the eruption 
does not come fully out, and the disease assumes a more malignant 
character. The vesicles appear internally, and by their irritation 
excite typhoid fever. Ulcerations are produced on the surfaces of 
the internal mucous membranes. These cause functional derange- 
ment ; in the alimentary canal they induce draining diarrhoeas; 
in the pulmonary mucous membrane, impaired respiration, and, it 
may be, death by apnoea (suffocation). 
In some cases the disease continues unabated, and produces obsti- 
nate and dangerous consequences. In such instances the symptoms 
are very much aggravated ; the fever still remains, and lapses into 
VOL. xxiii. 4 z 
