FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE. 
929 
Unlike most infectious diseases^ foot and mouth complaint 
has an extensive range of affinities. Cattle, perhaps, are 
more susceptible to the influence of the virus; but sheep, 
pigs, and poultry frequently sufier severely. Its influence on 
the human species is at the present moment a subject of dis¬ 
pute, and as soon as we have carefully analysed the evidence 
we shall again refer to it. 
Eczema, or foot and mouth complaint, belongs to the 
exanthemata, and is distinguished by a short period of incu¬ 
bation (from thirty-six to forty-eight hours); followed by a 
period of invasion, during which the temperature is increased 
from two to four degrees; and, finally, by the formation of 
vesicles, which vary in size from a fourpenny-piece to a florin, 
on the tongue, roof of the mouth, inside the lips, on the udder, 
and immediately above the hoofs, either between the digits 
or on the coronary surface and the skin of the heels, in which 
latter situation they are small and very numerous. The 
speciality of the disease is a tendency to the separation of 
cuticular tissues from their secreting struetures: thus the 
epithelium of the buccal membrane is thrown oflP in patches; 
loss of hair often occurs; portions of cuticle are removed from 
the udder; and a partial, or even in some cases complete, 
separation takes place between the hoofs and the internal 
tissues. Among diseases of cattle, foot and mouth complaint 
is probably the most infectious, and the remarkable rapidity 
of its spread is due to the facility with which it can be com¬ 
municated by indirect means. 
Under ordinary circumstances the morbid phenomena are 
not very severe in character: considerable fever is present in 
the early stage; but as soon as the vesicles are formed it 
subsides, and convalescence is established in six or seven days. 
When the malady assumes a virulent form, as it has fre¬ 
quently during the recent outbreak, the resulting lesions are 
more serious, consisting of ulceration of the mucous tissues 
of the mouth, formation of abscesses in the mammary gland 
and in other parts of the body, sloughing of hoofs, and 
extreme debility and emaciation, terminating in death. The 
losses in this malignant form of the disease amount some¬ 
times to 20 per cent, of the animals attacked. The influence 
of foot and mouth disease upon the meat and milk supply is 
a question of importance to the consumer; and it must be 
admitted that the results of recent observations on this sub¬ 
ject are not altogether satisfactory. 
Milk from cows affected with foot and mouth disease acts 
energetically upon young animals to which it is given warm. 
Calves occasionally die quite suddenly after sucking cows 
