132 
M. WILSON. 
this microbe being contained in the vesicles that form on the 
various parts of the body, especially on the mucous mem¬ 
brane of the mouth and alimentary canal, and on the finer 
portions of the skin of the teats and digits. It is not, as is as¬ 
sumed by some, merely a local eruption in the mouth and on 
the feet, but a general constitutional, acute, febrile disorder, 
in which the eruptions and constitutional disturbance show 
that we have here also a distribution of the virus through 
the system. This then should be sufficient to condemn the 
carcase for human food, since it has been clearly proven that 
infection from this disease can be carried to the human sub¬ 
ject. 
In what is known as the Dover outbreak in 1884 we have 
conclusive proof of the transmissibility of foot and mouth 
disease from cattle to human beings through the medium of 
the milk. The symptoms in human beings were inflamma¬ 
tion of the throat accompanied by enlargement of the glands 
of the neck, vesicular eruptions preceding and accompanying 
the inflammation. In some instances the feet of those who 
suffered were swollen and painful, and in one case eczema 
occurred between the toes. The number and similiarity of 
the cases aroused suspicion, and on inquiries being made the 
disease was found over the course of one particular milk¬ 
man, and in almost every case where he supplied milk there 
were one or more cases. This led to further investigations, 
and the milk used in these cases was found to have come 
from a dairy in which the animals were affected with foot 
and mouth disease. 
Perhaps if investigations were made a little further 
than at present, we might have more light thrown on 
some of the difficult problems in the etiology of throat affec¬ 
tions. Other diseases, such as anthrax and trichina spiralis 
in swine, need no proof, neither of their transmissibility, nor 
their effect when introduced into the system in an uncooked 
state. There are still a number of infectious diseases, such 
as cattle plague, pleuro pneumonia contagiosa, swine plague, 
puerperal septicaemia, etc., of which as yet nothing is known 
as to their direct transmission to the human subject, but that 
does not make the flesh any more wholesome. 
