hinder ones are drawn under the body, as if the better to balance the trunk and so enable it to support some grievous burden. Cudding is performed at short and irregular intervals, and with a carelessness almost amounting to loathing; or it ceases altogether. Of these symptoms, I maintain what I do of the previous ones, that, standing alone, no man can deduce from them a rational diagnosis. He sees that the animal is ill from some indefinite disorder, but, as yet, he can only guess what that disorder will turn out to be; and he would guess with a fore-knowledge that cattle plague was raging in the land.

In this place, I specially mention a fact, that during the incubatory stage of which I am still speaking, there is not a shred of evidence, derived either from the symptoms during life, or from after-death inspection, proving that any organ is the seat of morbid action. Dr. Wilson, if I rightly understand his views, as I find them reprinted in the December number of the Monthly Homœopathic Review, professes to be able to diagnose the cattle plague by auscultating the lungs in the incubation stage. I shall return to this matter further on.

2. The Stage of Fever.-The primary action of the “poison” is seen in the excitation of a systemic fever, of a low type, and remitting in the morning. Now, the incubation of the disease is at an end, and we are on the threshold of its development. There are distinct rigors, if we may so interpret the tremors and shakings of the muscles of the fore and hind quarters close to the trunk. The hair of the general surface is rough and staring, and not merely "a few hairs just beginning to stand on end along the spine,” which Dr. Wilson's "very minute and careful observation" enables him "in some instances" (when the cow has been whisking her spine with her tail?) "to single out." The skin varies in temperature, being alternately hot and cold; the hoofs and horns are subject to the same variations. The secretions are arrested, as witness the dry and dewless snout, the constipated bowels, the scanty urine, the diminished or arrested secretion of milk, the parched conjunctiva, &c. The pulse is slightly increased in frequency, small and soft, and VOL. XXIV, NO. XCV.—JANUARY, 1866.

G

decidedly wanting in tone. There is no appetite, but great thirst; and some of the ambiguous symptoms already noted persist. At the beginning of this febrile stage, the only lesion discovered in the dead body, is a faint blush of congestion, met with in the mucous membrane of the fourth stomach and downwards through the whole length of the gut-the parts, indeed, which are the characteristic local seats of this cattle disease. This condition is invariably found. Pathologically, I may here remark, the cattle plague is a febrile exanthem, the poison seeking an outlet through the whole mucous surface, respiratory, gastro-intestinal, and genito-urinary, and even, but to a minor degree, through the skin. (In some cases, I have observed distinct pustules, which have left well marked, circular pits in the cutis vera.) But it is, I repeat, on the gastro-intestinal mucous surface, that the disease specially and in every case acts. Soon after this local action is established certain appearances of the mucous outlets are observed in cases of plague, but not in any other disease whatever.

3. The Stage of Characteristic Symptoms.-If the vagina be examined, it presents, instead of its naturally white and moist condition, a faint bluish tinge, with dryness of the surface. This is followed by swelling of the vulva, and by a faint congestive blush, first observed at the upper part, partial, and in the form of streaks arranged in irregular parallels, from behind forwards. This redness gradually deepens as the disease advances, until the whole surface presents a vivid and fiery redness, and an aphthous-like eruption rises on the surface close to the junction of the mucous membrane with the skin; a more or less copious, stringy mucus being simultaneously poured forth. In no other disease but cattle plague is this condition of the vaginal membrane met with, and as the above-mentioned blush is seen in every case at a comparatively early, though distinctly developed stage, it constitutes at once a decisive and readily observable diagnostic test. I have observed it in animals that were supposed to be well from the fact of their appetite, rumination, and milk-giving power not being in the least impaired; and it

GENERAL

ERAL LIBRA

Jniversity

MICHIGAN

by Dr. George Moore.

was, on further examination, found to coexist with other symp-
toms not less distinctive. A characteristic condition of the
openings of the nostrils is likewise observed in this stage of
plague. The mucous membrane surrounding the nasal wings
is swollen and velvety to the touch, and the swelling, in pro-
portion to its greater or less amount, diminishes in the same
proportion the diameter of the nasal openings; so that in
some cases, the openings are almost closed, and there is more
than usual difficulty in introducing the fingers, as is done by
cow-herds when administering medicines. My father was
the first to notice and publicly make known the value of this
symptom as peculiar, obvious, and invariable. He also
pointed out the frequent, if not constant, presence of spots
on the surface of the snout, or upper lip. For the first time
I had the opportunity of seeing this eruption in Norfolk, the
other day. In one case suffering from well marked plague,
there were, on the mucous membrane of the snout just
below the point where the hairy skin begins and between
the openings of the nostrils, five or six irregularly circular,
copper-coloured, flat spots, of different sizes, evidently situated
in the structure of the true skin. In the mouth, too, there
are distinctive appearances. One of the earliest is a peculiar
bluish ridge along the border of the lower gum, close to the
necks of the front teeth, at that part, in fact, where the
human gum is stained by lead poisoning. This is followed
and replaced by a red line, similar to that so often observed in
human phthisis pulmonalis; and this, again, is succeeded by
softening of the membrane and when the exfoliation is re-
moved, an irregular red margin of apparent, though not
real ulceration is exposed. The bluish hue spreads from the
gum along the inner surface of the lower lip, and both lips
are obviously increased in thickness. The mucous mem-
brane covering the palate and lining the cheeks is also
streaked, or suffused with redness, according to the pro-
gress which the disease has made; and the under surface of
the tongue is notably more than usually vascular.

At a still later period, the surface of the visible mucous membrane throws off its epithelium; it is patched over with

irregular red spots; and a copious discharge from all the outlets escapes. But my object is not to go beyond the early stages, and here I stop.

To sum up what has been said so far: the plague cannot be diagnosed, in a scientific sense and manner, in the absence of those characteristic symptoms just detailed; but when they are present, and fortunately the veriest clown can see them, the nature of the case is as clear as daylight.

I now come to consider Dr. Wilson's views, and I feel sure that no one will be better pleased than himself to find them subjected to dispassionate criticism.

1. He professes to be able "to detect the incubation of the cattle plague" by auscultation-to discover certain "premonitory signs and symptoms," hitherto overlooked, by auscultation, and by that means "only." In other words, he believes that the lungs are affected in the incubation stage, and then he teaches us that the lung disorder can be discovered by detecting morbid sounds during auscultation. I do not deny that the ear can hear sounds characteristic of pneumonia, or of pleuro-pneumonia, or of bronchitis, in cattle; and auscultation, contrary to what he asserts, has been long resorted to by veterinarians in all lung and heart diseases. But I entirely deny that the lungs are affected at all in the stage of incubation of cattle plague; and therefore it follows that no morbid sounds whatever can be heard so early. At a later period the bronchial mucous membrane, in common with all the other mucous membranes, becomes congested and exudes a serous fluid, the presence of which is indicated by tracheal and bronchial rattles. In some cases, pneumonia, or pleuro-pneumonia comes on, not as an essential feature of the plague, but as a complication, and then I grant you, small crepitation, masking or absence of vesicular murmur, tubular breathing, friction sounds, &c., can be heard, as everybody knows. But Dr. Wilson is not speaking of this advanced stage.

2. Even if pneumonia or bronchitis existed in the incubatory stage, or as Dr. Wilson strangely terms it, "the premonitory stage that ushers in the incubation of the cattle

plague," his way of describing the physical signs is ambiguous and unsatisfactory. There is something wrong, he tells us, when the healthy "rustling noise or murmur is absent, or altered in character, or increased in frequency." I should think so; there must be something wrong decidedly if the respiratory murmur is absent before it is altered in character; and, further, to ascertain its frequency there is no need whatever to practise auscultation. He goes on to

that the breathing is increased from its healthy standard to "even 40 inspirations in the minute, and the noise, instead of being like the rustling of silk, is wheezing, harsh, loud, bronchial, crackling, or silent." So far as this account goes, there do not appear to be any expirations in the plague disease, and although I can understand what is meant by a wheezing, or a crackling noise, I confess myself much puzzled with a "silent noise." I maintain that no such sounds can ever be heard during the incubatory stage of plague, simply because the lungs are then unaffected. But even if Dr. Wilson had referred to a later period, when the lungs are actually congested, or inflamed, or hepatized, I could not but find fault with his mode of referring to morbid sounds, without at the same time connecting them with morbid conditions of structure. He proceeds, "any of these murmurs [namely, the 'silent noise,' &c.] being present, indicate danger of inflammatory action." If "crackling" means pulmonic crepitation, or bronchial rattle, or pleuritic rubbing; and if a "bronchial noise" means tubular breathing, or bronchitic râles, the danger of inflammation is not imminent, but actually present. En passant, that "excellent observer," Youatt, from whose works Dr. Wilson quotes, never saw a case of plague, and his description is merely a translation from D'Arboval's Dictionnaire Vétérinaire.

3. He thinks the neglect of auscultation in the "diagnosis" of the plague "seems marvellous." Auscultation has not been neglected at all; every intelligent veterinary surgeon has practised it long before Dr. Wilson's views were made public; it is a recognised method of investigation in veterinary practice, as I know well, if only from my father's