ON EPIDEMIC DISEASES. 
403 
nature of the pest and the method of cure, or the prevention, at 
least, of this dreadful malady. Dr. Layard’s work is the most 
laboured performance ; but he drew too much from other authors, 
and gives us far too little of the result of his own observations. 
The disease generally commenced with a dry, short, husky 
cough ; but as cattle are very subject to hoose, and particularly in 
the spring and fall, this, although it continued without any other 
symptoms for eight or ten days, was generally overlooked. At 
length the coat began to appear unhealthy — the eyes were 
heavy — rumination ceased — the animal refused all food and 
drink — the milk began to decrease — it acquired an unpleasant 
taste — it became yellow, and soon afterwards dried up. 
These were precursor symptoms. The real and serious attack 
of the disease was a shivering fit, succeeded by an intense heat 
and uncertain remissions. The eyes became more heavy and 
dejected, and the conjunctiva inflamed. The cough was more 
violent, and respiration so difficult, that the animals seemed to 
struggle and pant for breath. 
A swelling became visible externally about the glands of the 
throat, which, in some cases, were so large as to threaten imme- 
diate suffocation. 
The tongue and internal part of the mouth were hot and slimy 
— the head hung down — the ears drooped — there was an unusual 
listlessness and unwillingness to stir — a seeking of solitude — a 
separation from the rest of the herd — and an evident dislike of 
being, in the slightest degree, disturbed. 
The bowels were at first costive, but looseness succeeded in less 
than forty-eight hours after the shivering fit. The excrement 
was at first green, watery, and intolerably foetid ; but it after- 
wards altered to a viscid slimy matter. The purging continued, 
in fatal cases, through the whole of the disease; but in those that 
recovered, it began to abate about the seventh day. The exist- 
ence of this looseness for awhile was necessary to the favourable 
termination of the disease ; for all in whom it did not appear 
within a few days after the shivering fit, died. 
A considerable foetid discharge proceeded in every case from 
the nostrils, and, in some instances, from the eyes and mouth. 
It was thinner, and of a more serous nature in the animals which 
•died of the distemper; but more consistent and better digested 
in those that recovered. 
If the disease terminated fortunately, the inner surface of the 
mouth and the glands of the throat continued to have a healthy 
inflammatory blush, without any tendency to gangrene or morti- 
fication. Internal ulceration was generally regarded as a most 
unfavourable symptom ; but if the external swellings, whether of 
