Now had any one conversant with the habits of the disease heard
this history, they would have had no hesitation in pronouncing it
a case of spurious cow-pox; considering its deviation in the
NUMEROUS blisters which appeared on the girl's hands; their
termination without ulceration; its not proving more generally
contagious at the farm, either among the cattle or those employed
in milking; and considering also that THE PATIENT FELT NO GENERAL
INDISPOSITION, ALTHOUGH THERE WAS SO GREAT A NUMBER OF VESICLES.
This is perhaps the most deceptious form in which an eruptive
disease can be communicated from the cow, and it certainly
requires some attention in discriminating it. The most perfect
criterion by which the judgment may be guided is perhaps that
adopted by those who attend infected cattle. These white blisters
on the nipples, they say, NEVER EAT INTO THE FLESHY PARTS like
those which are commonly of a bluish cast, and which constitute
the TRUE COW-POX, but that they affect the skin only, quickly end
in scabs, and are not nearly so infectious.
That which appeared to me as one cause of spurious eruptions, I
have already remarked in the former treatise, namely, the
transition that the cow makes in the spring from a poor to a
nutritious diet, and from the udder's becoming at this time more
vascular than usual for the supply of milk. But there is another
source of inflammation and pustules which I believe is not
uncommon in all the dairy counties in the west of England. A cow
intended to be exposed for sale, having naturally a small udder,
is previously for a day or two neither milked artificially nor is
her calf suffered to have access to her. Thus the milk is
preternaturally accumulated, and the udder and nipples become
greatly distended. The consequences frequently are inflammation
and eruptions which maturate.
Whether a disease generated in this way has the power of
affecting the constitution in any PECULIAR manner I cannot
presume positively to determine. It has been conjectured to have
been a cause of the true cow-pox, though my inquiries have not
led me to adopt this supposition in any one instance; on the
contrary, I have known the milkers affected by it, but always
found that an affection thus induced left the system as
susceptible of the smallpox as before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account