Blain was an animal disease of unknown

etiology Etiology (pronounced ; alternatively: aetiology or ætiology) is the study of causation or origination. The word is derived from the Greek (''aitiología'') "giving a reason for" (, ''aitía'', "cause"); and ('' -logía''). More completely, e ...

that was well known in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is unclear whether it is still extant, or what modern disease it corresponds to. According to

Ephraim Chambers Ephraim Chambers ( – 15 May 1740) was an English writer and encyclopaedist, who is primarily known for producing the '' Cyclopaedia, or a Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences''. Biography Chambers was born in Milton near Kendal, Westmor ...

' 18th-century '' Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences'', blain was "a distemper" (in the archaic eighteenth-century sense of the word, meaning "disease") occurring in animals, consisting of a "Bladder growing on the Root of the

Tongue The tongue is a muscular organ (anatomy), organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for mastication and swallowing as part of the digestive system, digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper surfa ...

against the Wind-Pipe", which "at length swelling, stops the Wind". It was thought to occur "by great chafing, and heating of the Stomach". Blain is also mentioned in ''Cattle: Their Breeds, Management, and Diseases'', published in 1836, where it is also identified as "gloss-anthrax". W. C. Spooner's 1888 book ''The History, Structure, Economy and Diseases of the Sheep'' also identifies blain as being the same as gloss-anthrax. A description of blain is provided in the Horticulture column of the Monday Morning edition of the Belfast News-Letter, September 13, 1852. Headline: The Prevailing Epidemic Disease in Horned Cattle - The Mouth and Food Disease. "There are two diseases of the mouth - one of a very serious character, which is called blain (gloss anthrax) or inflammation of the tongue. This is a very virulent disease, and sometimes of a very rapid action, and which should be at once attended to, and not trifled with; but though it always exhibits itself in inflammation of the membranes of the mouth, beneath or above the tongue, and the sides of the tongue itself, it soon extends through the whole system, and, according to the best veterinarians, involves inflammation and gangrene of the

oesophagus The esophagus (American English) or oesophagus (British English; both ), non-technically known also as the food pipe or gullet, is an organ in vertebrates through which food passes, aided by peristaltic contractions, from the pharynx to the ...

and

intestines The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans ...

. The symptoms are many, the eyes are inflamed, and constantly weeping; swellings appear round the eyes and some other parts of the body; the pulse quick, heaving of the flanks, and the bowels sometimes constipated. Such are the general symptoms of this formidable disease, more or less aggravated by neglect of inattention in mitigation." It continues to describe treatment including deep lancing of blisters, blood letting,

Epsom salt Epsomite, Epsom salt, or magnesium sulfate heptahydrate, is a hydrous magnesium sulfate mineral with formula MgSO4·7H2O. Epsomite crystallizes in the orthorhombic system as rarely found acicular or fibrous crystals, the normal form is as massi ...

doses,

chloride of lime Calcium hypochlorite is an inorganic compound with formula Ca(OCl)2. It is the main active ingredient of commercial products called bleaching powder, chlorine powder, or chlorinated lime, used for water treatment and as a bleaching agent. This ...

rinses,

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

of diluted

myrrh Myrrh (; from Semitic, but see '' § Etymology'') is a gum-resin extracted from a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus ''Commiphora''. Myrrh resin has been used throughout history as a perfume, incense and medicine. Myrrh mi ...

, fever treatments supplied in the animals feed, etc. Modern scholarship suggests that "gloss-anthrax" was not the same disease as modern-day

anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...

, but instead could have been

foot-and-mouth disease Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids. The virus causes a high fever lasting two to six days, followe ...

, or a viral infection with a secondary ''

Fusobacterium necrophorum ''Fusobacterium necrophorum'' is a species of bacteria responsible for Lemierre's syndrome and other medical problems. Biology ''F. necrophorum'' is a rod-shaped species of Gram-negative bacteria. It is an obligate anaerobe and is a common inha ...

'' infection. It has also been suggested that it may have been due to an extinct variant strain of true anthrax. Other sources also report

epizootic In epizoology, an epizootic (from Greek: ''epi-'' upon + ''zoon'' animal) is a disease event in a nonhuman animal population analogous to an epidemic in humans. An epizootic may be restricted to a specific locale (an "outbreak"), general (an "epi ...

s known as "blain" or "black-blain" in the 13th and 14th centuries, but it is not clear if the disease involved was the same as "gloss-anthrax".

References

* {{reflist Animal diseases Ailments of unknown cause