382 
ON TUMOURS IN CATTLE. 
By Professor DlCK, Edinburgh. 
About three years ago, my opinion was requested regarding a 
disease to which the cattle on the farm of Inver-Brora, in Suther- 
landshire, were particularly subject. The following account of the 
disease was given by the owner, Mr. Hood : — 
“ I have had the farm eleven years, during which time I have 
had an annual loss by this disease; but till the summer of 1828, I 
had not above six or eight attacked in a year. In that season I 
had about twenty, and in the following year thirty-six. I have 
often cured them by cutting out the excrescence ; but that operation 
has become more difficult the last three years, owing to its being 
deeper in the neck ; indeed, it is often at the very root of the 
tongue, and in one or two instances the tongue itself was affected. 
They are sometimes on other parts of the animal, viz. the flank, 
back, &c. but in nine cases out of ten, they are in the throat. The 
cattle I keep are generally purchased at eighteen months old, and 
I dispose of them in August or September following. I have got 
them from all parts of the counties of Sutherland, Ross, and 
Caithness, and find them indiscriminately attacked with it; and 
when I breed any at home, they are the most unfortunate, having 
last year lost six out of seven. The months of May, June, 
and July are the fatal months, though I have sometimes had a 
few attacked sooner. The manner in which they were kept in 
the winters of 1827-8 and 1828-9, was upon straw, night and 
morning, in a dry and well-sheltered fold-yard, and for several 
hours in the middle of the day they were put into a field where they 
got as many turnips as they could eat, from the end of October 
till the first week in May, when they were put to grass. 
“ The situation of the farm is cold, and exposed to severe gales 
of wind from the west; but the soil is particularly dry, being a 
sandy loam, and producing excellent artificial grass. Last year, 
I bought fourteen cattle in the month of May, nine of which were 
seized with the distemper; indeed, I find little difference in their 
being wintered on this farm or otherwise. I should state, however, 
that these fourteen were in very poor condition when I purchased 
them. The cattle have at all times a full supply of water ; in 
winter, that of which I sent a specimen to Mr. Lawson, which I 
believe you have seen ; and in summer, the River Brora, of which 
all the cattle in the neighbourhood drink. 
“ An intelligent drover remarked to me last season, that he sus- 
pected I gave the cattle too many turnips, as small cattle did not 
