ETIOLOGY OF DISEASE. 
705 
Mr. McIntosh goes on to describe the effects of the soluble 
salts of lead. I may state merely, that the cases once so com¬ 
mon in the north—now rarely seen here, since the cause was 
generally known, but still both common and fatal about 
Dumfries—are caused sometimes by refuse paint, sometimes 
by the sheet lead of the grocer, and very frequently by the worn- 
out pieces of floor-cloth, all which used to be thrown into the 
dung-pit. These forms are equally fatal, the early symptoms 
being only slightly different. Such materials are put on the 
land along with the manure and buried, but for a time only, 
as the plough and harrow bring them up again to the surface. 
It may be many years before they are picked up by the 
cattle when eating the first year’s grass, and produce all the 
fatal symptoms, ridiculously called by Mr. McIntosh u grass- 
staggers. 3 ’ It would be altogether out of place for me to say 
another word on this subject, important though it be. It 
would serve no useful purpose for me to repeat what has 
already been so well said by i( Cuming, 3 ’ but I shall be most 
happy to add largely to the list of cases illustrative of the 
disease, if Mr. McIntosh or any other gentleman should 
require further evidence in the matter. 
To the Editors of * The Veterinarian 
I am, Gentlemen, 
Yours truly. 
Facts and Observations. 
ETIOLOGY OF DISEASE. 
A statement has lately appeared in the Journal clu Loiret 
to the following effect:—A dead dog was lately thrown into 
a ditch in the parish of Cortral, and there left. The carcass 
was soon covered with flies, which then spread over the whole 
place. An epidemic of anthrax was the consequence, and the 
victims were—one cow, two horses, and forty sheep. A child 
was also attacked, but by careful and skilful treatment it 
luckily escaped .—Medical Times. 
xxxiv 
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