! 32 
THE PRESENT EPIDEMIC AMONG CATTLE. 
afraid they were poisoned. They very soon got over the com- 
plaint, and the weather at this time was very warm. They had 
been mixed with other beasts belonging to Mr. Lofts, and the 
same man that attended the sick ones also took care of the others, 
some of which very soon shewed symptoms of infection. They also 
very soon got rid of their ailments, and have since been fattened 
for the market, and obtained a very good price. I do not know 
that these twelve cows had been previously near any other dis- 
eased animals. 
T wo or three days after this I was sent for by a farmer on the 
Wolds, to inspect his milch cows that, according to the servant’s 
account, had got poison. There were nine of them. Now these 
cows had been for a length of time on the same farm, and had never 
been near any other, nor any other near them. They suffered very 
much. There had been no disease of the sort in that neighbour- 
hood at the time. After these cows recovered they gave more milk 
than they had done before, and they do so at the present time. 
My opinion is, that this malady is decidedly infectious. I have 
seen many instances in which diseased beasts have been driven 
past healthy ones, and healthy ones travel on the same road 
after diseased ones, and in both cases they have so soon taken the 
disease, that I can have no doubt about the infectious nature of the 
malady. I have also seen a lot of diseased beasts in a field with 
a lot of healthy ones in the adjoining, and the healthy have very 
quickly become diseased. 
On the other hand, in a few instances I have known them alto- 
gether resist the disease, after being regularly lodged with the sick. 
In general, however, I have no doubt that the healthy take the dis- 
ease from the sick. 
Tn the beasts that I have attended it generally has commenced by 
foaming at the mouth — the eyes, in a great many cases, partially 
closed — the hair erect, with stiffness in the hind quarters — disin- 
clination to move — the back bowed up — general costiveness — • 
great prostration of strength ; some of them scarcely capable of 
walking. The feet are also diseased from an early period of the 
attack. 
As to the questions of bleeding and physic, I have seldom found 
either necessary, particularly bleeding . 
The general duration of the disease has been from six to ten days. 
I have had 2800 beasts and about 7000 sheep, and the result has 
been a very favourable one, not losing more than six beasts, with 
very few sheep indeed : in fact, the disease, generally speaking, 
has assumed a mild form in this neighbourhood. I cannot ascer- 
tain the number of diseased animals in the country around; but I do 
not think the general result has been very serious. 
