ON THE BLAIN. 
89 
• V - 
from the same manner, or drink from the same trough, or he in 
that situation that the saliva shall be received on some abraded 
or mucous surface. This can be too readily effected when they 
graze in the same pasture. The disease is contagious as it 
regards the human being. Athough I do not believe all the 
stories that are told of the herdsmen that have attended on cattle 
suffering under the blain, being afflicted with a similar disorder, 
yet there is one account that can scarcely be disputed ; it is of 
a man who had held down the tongue of an ox with a silver 
spoon, in order to examine the mouth, which had many of these 
vesicles. He afterwards, and without any great care about 
cleaning it, ate some broth with it. Not many days had elapsed 
when his mouth felt fore; pustules appeared on the side of the 
tongue; malignant fever succeeded, and he died. 
I am not prepared to say that is contagious in the horse or 
the dog. I have not seen any instance of it. It is not so viru¬ 
lent in these animals as it is in cattle. 
The treatment of these swellings under the tongue will be 
readily anticipated, and is plain enough. As it is a local disease, 
the first and most important means employed will be of a local 
nature. The vesicles should be freely lanced from end to end. 
There will not be much immediate discharge. The bladder 
will be found to have been distended by a substance imperfectly 
organised, or of such a glairy or inspissated nature as not readilv 
to escape; but it will very soon disappear, and in four-and-twenty 
hours, in the majority of cases, the only vestige of the disease 
will be an incision, not perhaps looking very healthy at first, 
but that will soon become so, and heal. If there have been any 
previous ulcerations, or the slightest foetor, the mouth should be 
frequently washed with a diluted solution of the chloride of lime 
(one part of the saturated solution, and eleven of water). This 
will act as a powerful disinfectant, and likewise a useful stimu¬ 
lant to the foul and indolent ulcer. When all unpleasant smell 
is removed, the mouth should be bathed with a lotion composed 
of equal parts of tincture of myrrh and w ater, or half an ounce 
of alum dissolved in a quart of water, and two ounces of the 
tincture of catechu added. I do not recollect a case in the 
horse or the dog in which more than this w as required; and in 
cattle, before there has been much foetor attending the discharge, 
or the constitution has been materially affected, these simple 
means will perfectly succeed. 
Mr. Parkinson* goes on the same principle of rupturing or de¬ 
stroying the bladders, when lie recommends the following strange 
method of cure: “ Provide a cane or stick that will bend, lomr 
7 o 
Treatise and Management of Live Stock, vol. i, |>. 231. 
