The Bulletin 
11 
by Lea (1821) and Beach (1884) that cattle may contract trembles if 
left overnight in such areas, but if they are removed before dark the 
disease can be avoided. When such wooded land has been cleared, it is 
rendered harmless. Crook (1857) claims that “in no instance has it 
ever been known in this county (Spencer County, Ind.) during any 
other than the grazing season, and then only upon lands that had never 
been in cultivation.” This is in agreement with the claims made by 
Bennett (1822), Pickard (1857), and Simon (1888). 
Attempts have been made, also, to associate the disease with certain 
soil types. Seaton (1841) claimed that it occurred only where sand¬ 
stone entered largely into the composition of the soil. Those who did 
not agree with this view based their opinion upon the wide geographical 
distribution of milksickness with the consequent wide variety of geo¬ 
logical peculiarities. 
Another observer, Allen (1878), who believed that the disease is 
closely associated with the soil, records the peculiar instance that in 
certain localities in Effingham County, Ill., cattle lick large holes in 
the earth, after which many of them die. 
In a considerable number of instances, water from infected areas has 
been held to be responsible for the disease. White, as early as 1836, 
mentions instances of outbreaks among cattle and sheep attributed to 
water. Beach (1883) gives an account of trembles in cattle contracted 
after having eaten hay from a meadow which had been flooded by sur¬ 
face drainage from a tract of land notorious for producing the disease. 
More recently Lyday (1896) maintains that in North Carolina the 
drinking of water from streams that flow from milksick coves is re¬ 
sponsible for the disease. Fulton (1884) cites an instance in Logan 
County, Ohio, where cattle had taken the disease until a certain spring 
was fenced off, whereupon there was no more trouble. Credible in¬ 
formants told him of the disease in cattle accustomed to be watered at 
a certain well in Clark County, Ohio. When the well was closed, the 
disorder disappeared. He also recounts an instance of “a farm in 
Hardin County on which members of every family that has ever lived 
there have had the disease. On that farm I have attended patients 
who said they had not used meat, milk, batter, or cheese for weeks, 
guarding against the disease. The presumption, therefore, was that 
they and also those of previous families that had lived there had ob¬ 
tained it directly from the water.” 
Others have considered water responsible for the transmission, and 
thus indirectly allign themselves with the germ theory to be next dis¬ 
cussed. McAnelly (1836) states in support of water as the agency of 
transmission, that “the disease sometimes prevails in the human spe- 
