INFECTIOUS ULCER. 109 
disease is as follows : The herd consisted of twenty calves, thir¬ 
teen of which were heifers, ranging in age from ten to fourteen 
months. These calves were highly fed, with open shed for 
shelter, all in fine condition ; in fact, were fat, but had fallen 
off perceptibly during the siege. 
These thirteen heifer calves were all more or less affected 
when I saw them some eight days after the first appearance of 
the ulcer. The first thing noticed by the owner one morning 
was a wound slightly reddened on the lower portion of one of 
the vulval labia. 
No attention was paid to this, however, thinking the old 
sow had done the mischief while the calf was peacefully asleep 
under the shed. Not until eight of them were visibly affected 
was his attention sufficiently aroused and an investigation de¬ 
sired. At this juncture my services were summoned. On the 
morning of the 8th I arrived at his home and made a hurried 
examination. We secured several of the affected calves in the 
stable and made a careful examination of the parts affected. 
The first one showing signs of the disease had one lip of the 
vulva almost entirely eaten off, while the other labia showed a 
large ulcerous wound, involving the greater portion of its sur¬ 
face. The vulval tissues were so nearly displaced that one 
could hardly distinguish the animal from a male. 
The remaining twelve were all more or less affected, each 
showing different stages of the same pathological process. 
In the remaining five he had not noticed being affected, the 
ulcers were so small as to escape the attention of a casual ob¬ 
server. 
I shall not attempt to give you a lengthy or elaborate de¬ 
scription of the distinctive pathological characteristics of this 
specific ulcer, or endeavor to describe the nature and appear¬ 
ances of the particular micro-organism causing it, but simply 
and briefly describe its macroscopical appearances as they occur 
to my memory. This ulcer presented some marked peculiari¬ 
ties, namely, its tendency to spread rapidly, and in the destruct¬ 
ive agent confining its action exclusively to the vulval tissues. 
