88 
THE PRESENT EPIDEMIC AMONG CATTLE. 
The symptoms were but slight: there was lameness, accompanied 
by a little frothing at the mouth, but no breaking out at the feet. 
Nothing farther was heard of the disorder, as regards its spread- 
ing, until about a month afterwards, or the 18th of July following, 
at which time a fair was held at the village of Sopcliffe, about five 
miles south west of this place, where it shewed all its baneful 
symptoms among some lots of Irish stock that were at the fair. 
These Irish stock have, by common consent, been considered as 
the introducers of the epidemic into the Yorkshire Ridings; and 
from that period to the present the contagion has, more or less, 
been rapidly spreading through every park and pasture in the 
three Ridings. Such were the first effects, that a complete and 
total stagnation of the sale of any kind of Irish-bred stock took 
place ; for buyers of such were about as scarce as Queen Anne’s 
farthings, or, in other words, not to be then found. 
From the number of cases that I have professionally attended 
and casually heard of and seen, no state or condition, — no situation 
or locality — has protected the poor cattle from the sickening hand 
of the insidious foe ; for there might be seen labouring under its 
clutches, the poor, the middle or tolerably conditioned, and the fat : 
some in the field, feeding upon turnips and grass; some in the 
straw-yard living upon turnips and straw ; and others that were 
tied up in the house and fed with turnips, mashes, hay, &c. 
Among many of the latter class was the milch cow, that had not 
been for upwards of six weeks previously in company with other 
cattle. Here I must beg to observe, that I have attended stock of 
this latter description (that is, the milch cow), that had never been 
out at all from the stall, and, therefore, could not be said, strictly 
speaking, to have received the infection by touch or direct com- 
munication from the infected; and, although their well-sheltered 
and protected situation seemingly promised a barrier to the enemy, 
yet, strange to say, they — the sheltered and protected — were, 
in many instances, among the first that exhibited symptoms of 
the complaint. Sometimes the very reverse has happened: in 
fact, as before observed, that, as nothing could completely stop 
the progress of the disease, so nothing — old or young — fat or 
lean — in warmth or cold — has victoriously resisted its influence. 
I have even had calves of a fortnight old, and younger, as much, 
and, in degree, as violently affected as their dams or parents. 
Yet, nevertheless, I have found warmth of very great benefit to 
such as were labouring under the disorder; and also the too free 
exposure of the sick, as practised by some, very prejudicial. Ex- 
perience has indubitably proved to my satisfaction, that such stock 
as were labouring under the influence of the present epidemic, 
