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CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY

OF

ANIMAL PLAGU ES

FROM B.C. 1490 TO A.D. 1800.

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2007 with funding from

IVIicrosoft Corporation

http://www.archive.org/details/animalplaguestheOOflem

ANIMAL PLAGUES

HISTORY, NATURE, AND PREVENTION.

GEORGE FLEMING, F.R.G.S., etc.

PRESIDENT OF THE CENTRAL VETERINARY MEDICAL SOCIETV ; MEMBER OF COUNCIL OF THE

KOVAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS ; VETERINARY SURGEON, ROYAL ENGINEERS ;

AUTHOR OP 'travels ON HORSEBACK IN MANTCHU TARTARY,'

AND •IIORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING.' ETC.

LONDON :

CEIAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY

1871.

[/•I// Ri^/ils resen>ed.^

JOHN GUILDS ANU SON, PRINTERS.

LORD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND,

THIS WORK IS

DEDICATED IN RECOGNITION OF HIS IMPORTANT SERVICES

DURING A GRAVE CRISIS IN THE AGRICULTURAL

AND COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF

GREAT BRITAIN.

Non tarn creber agens hiemen ruit sequore turbo,
Quam niulta; pecudum pestes. Nee singula morbi
Corpora corripiunt, sed tola sestiva repente
Spemque gregemque simul, cunctamque ab origine gentum.

Virgil. Georgics, lib. iii. 470.

Non est in medico semper relevetur ut seger ;
Interdum docta plus valet arte malum. — Ovid.

To be ignorant of what has occurred before our time, is ever to remain in a state of
childhood. — Cicbro.

vV

PREFACE.

For very many years the subject of 'Animal Plagues ' has occupied
a large share of my attention during the hours spared from more press-
ing every-day professional duties, and no opportunity of adding to a
knowledge of it has been allowed to pass. Since 1865, when this
country was much harassed and ravaged by a destructive exotic disease,
its importance has greatly increased, and public attention has been
much occupied by it. Previous to that year, the maladies of the lower
animalsj and particularly those of a contagious or spreading character,
had received but little if any notice, save among a few members of
the veterinary profession, who vainly attempted to point out their
dangerous tendencies, and their baneful effects on the agriculture of
the country, as well as their amenableness to legislative measures care-
fully carried out. The striking facts elucidated in this respect in 1865
and 1866, have corroborated, in every particular, the justness and value
of these unheeded indications. It is scarcely necessary to say, that had
the history of the malady then raging been better known, serious loss
and embarrassment might have been avoided, and more credit would
have been due to us as an enlightened people.

The science of Comparative Pathology has made but little progress
in this country ; it has not been looked upon with much favour by the
medical profession, and has been neglected altogether by successive

vi Preface.

Governments. In this respect Britain differs widely, and not to her
advantage, from the smallest European state.

These researches into the history of animal pestilences were under-
taken with the view of showing what an interesting and important study
we had neglected, — a study in which the comparative pathologist, phy-
sician, general historian, agriculturist, or statesman will find much
material for reflection.

Though so long ago as 1775, Paulet published his classical work,
' Recherches sur les Maladies Epizootiques,' which was translated into
Italian by Lotti in 1785, and into German by Rumpelt in 17765 and
thoucrh this was followed by similar treatises by Adami (' Beitrage zur
Geschichte der Viehseuchen.' Wien, 1781), Laubender (' Seuchen-
o-eschichte der Landwirthschaftlichen Hausthiere.' Munchen, 181 1),
Guersent (' Epizootic,' in the Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales, 18 15),
Metaxa (' Delle Malattie Contagiose ed Epizootiche. Roma, 1817),
Dupuy (' Traite Historique et Pratique sur les Maladies Epizootiques.'
Paris, 1837), Bottani (' Delle Epizoozie del Veneto Dominio.' Venezia,
1 8 19), Franque ('Geschichte der Hausthierseuchen.' Frankfort, 1834),
Wirth (' Lehrbuch der Seuchen und ansteckenden Krankheiten der
Hausthiere.' Zurich, 1 146), Heusinger ('Recherches dePathologie Com-
paree.' Cassel, 1853), and several other continental writers — all more
or less incomplete, — yet, for the reasons before mentioned, no attempt
has yet been made in this country to trace the history of these diseases,
or to afford an indication of the sources from whence such a history was
to be derived. It is therefore with diffidence that I venture to offer
this history of British and foreign epizootics from the earliest recorded
events of that kind up to recent times. For professional reasons, my
opportunities for research have been few, else this contribution to the
literature of the subject would undoubtedly have claimed more pre-
tensions to accuracy and completeness. Nevertheless, no parns have
been spared to make it what I intended it should be. The collection of
materials for such a work was no easy task, the references to animal dis-
eases of a general character in the early ages being only found in
books which treat also of other matters, and are often very rare.
From these and other causes I feel conscious that the result of my
labours must be somewhat incomplete and unsatisfactory.

Preface. vii

When possible, I have given translations of the passages in the
several histories, following the ipsissima verba as closely as the sense
would permit ; when the descriptions have proved too long for complete
transcription, a brief abstract has been made ; and when, at a later
period, writings become greatly multiplied, an enumeration of the
principal authors and the titles of their books has been given, in addition
to a notice of tlie special maladies they have described. In this respect,
Heusinger's excellent work has proved an invaluable source of
reference.^

I hav^e always been impressed with the idea that a history of many
of the ' murrains ' that have travelled across countries, often in company
with or preceding human pestilences, would prove a most valuable aid
to the student of comparative pathology, and be of service to the busy
practitioner whose leisure is more limited; while to the physician, agri-
culturist, or statesman it might serve as a guide for reference whenever
the diseases of animals shall occupy a larger share of scientific and public
interest than at present. Acting on this impulse, the task was com-
menced, and nothing but the importance and interest that appeared to
gather round it as I proceeded could have compensated for the labour
required. Unsatisfactory as the result now appears to me, yet I trust it
will be found acceptable and useful to those for whom it was written,
as a treatise on a subject of national importance.

In considering the extent and the many difficulties attending such a
work, I may say in the words of Pliny, quoted by Paulet, ' Res ardua,

vetustis novitatem dare, novis autoritatem, obscuris lucem,

fastiditis gratiam, dubiis fidem, omnibus vero naturam et natura suae
omnia.'

• In addition to this and the other works mentioned above, the following also
treat of epizootic diseases, though generally in a didactic manner, and are seldom,
if at all, noticed in the body of this treatise. IVollsiein. Das Bach von den
Viehseuchen. Wien, 1811. Werner. Handbuch von den Seuchen des Vichs.
Breslau, 1798. Bojanus. Anleitung ziir Kenntniss und Behandlung der wichtig-
sten Seuchen unterdem Rindvieli und Pferden. Wilna, 1830. Plank. Grundriss
der Epizoonologie oder Thierseuchenlehre. Munchen, 1833.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Introduction xv

CHAPTER I.

PERIOD FROM B.C. 1490 TO A.D. 400.

Early History of Animal Plagues. Egypt and its ' Murrains.'
First Recorded Panzooty in Ireland. Pestilence in Troy. Greek
Historians and Plagues. Homer and the Siege of Troy. Droughts
and their Effects. Rome and its Epizootics. The Plague of Athens.
Aristotle. The ' Abortus Epidemicus.' The Siege of Syracuse. Cato
the Elder. Locusts. Virgil's Panzooty. First Great Famine in Ire-
land. Comets and Eclipses. Columella. A ' Loimic ' Plague. Ir-
ruption of the Huns. First Recorded Invasion of the ' Cattle Plague.'
Vegetius Renatus i

CHAPTER II.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 400 TO A.D. 1500.

State of Veterinary Science. Hieroclcs and Pelagonius. First
Recorded Mortality among Fish. Pestilence in Britain and Ireland.
The Ligurian Plague. Variola and Cattle Disease in Italy and Gaul.
Cattle and Horse Epizooty in Touraine. Anthrax in France and
Belgium. Destruction among Birds and Fowls. Murrains in Eng-
land and Ireland. The 'Maclgarth.' Charlemagne's Campaigns.
Mortality among Horses and Cattle. Great Irruption of the Cattle
Plague from Asia into Europe ; Britain Invaded. War in Pannonia.
Plague amongst Oxen in the Rhine Provinces. Locusts in Britain and
Ireland. Arnulph's Campaign. Rabies in a Bear at Lyons. Death

Contents.

PAGE

of Cattle and Birds in Ireland. Cattle Plague in France, Italy, and
Germany. A 'Fight' among Birds. Mortality of Bees in Ireland.
Disease among Cattle in the Roman Territories. Destruction of
People and Cattle among the Saxons, Britons, and Gauls. Wales
and its Agrarian Laws. Pestilences in England and Ireland. Ergot-
ism and Carbuncular Fever in France and Germany. Plague of Rats.
'Conach' in Ireland. First mention of Swine Disease in Ireland.
The' ' Ignis Divina.' Plagues in Bavaria, England, and Ireland.
The ' Ignis Sacer.' Severe Panzooty in London. Dreadful Murrain
in England and Ireland. Epizooty in Belgium and Germany. First
Notice of ' Influenza.' The ' Feu Sacrd.' The Mongol Invasions
and the ' Cattle Plague,' with Death of Sheep. Anthrax in Ireland.
Disease in Mankind, Animals, and Fishes. Anthrax in England.
Remarkable Epizooty among Sheep. Ovine Variola : its History.
Diseases of Sheep. Horse Epizooty in Iceland, at Seville, and at
Rome. Famine and Animal Plagues in England and Gaul. Influenza
in Ireland. Deadly Epizooty among Horses and Mules at Yemen.
The ' Black Death ' and Animal Plagues. The Manor of Heacham.
Cattle Diseases in Somerset and Devon. The ' Second Plague.'
Murrain among Deer in England. Epizooty among Horses in the
Abruzo. 'Signaculo.' ...... • • 33

CHAPTER III.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 150O TO A.D. 1700.

Progress of Medical Science. Inclement Seasons. Blood-rain.
Fracastor's Epizooty. The ' Cattle Plague, in Friuli, Venice, France,
Spain, and England. Its Transmission to Sheep. Epizooty among
Cats in England. The 'Tac' 'The Sweating Sickness ' and Pestilence
in Animals. Mortality among Cattle in England. Its Effect on the
Mayor and Aldermen of London. Anthrax in Italy. Small-pox of
Sheep on the Continent. Influenza. Plague of Mice and Murrain of
Cattle in Kent and Essex. Rabies Canina. The 'Cattle Plague' in
Italy : Goats affected. Epizooty of Rabies in Paris. Disease in
Cats at Constantinople. Epizooty among Fowls in Bohemia. An-
thrax in Italy : with the ' Cattle Plague' and Disease in Sheep.
Catherine Miget. The 'Flying Pestilence.' Epizooty amongthe French
Army Horses in Germany. Ovine Small-pox in Padua. Dangerous
Disease among Fish. Destruction of Pelicans. Probable Outbreak
of Cattle Plague in Italy : Sheep affected. General 'Rot' in Sheep
and Cattle. Great Plague of London. Exanthematous Disease
among Cats in Westphalia. ' Rot ' in Denmark. Venomous Insects
in Hungary. Disease in Fish in Germany. General Epizooty of
Glossanthrax on the Continent. Pestilential Mists. ' Foot and
Mouth ' Disease in Silesia. Influenza in Mankind and Horses in

Contents. xi

PAGE

England and Ireland. Insects in Ireland. Diseases of Plants.
Ramazzini. Diseases in Italy. Glossanthrax in Switzerland. Pul-
monic Disease among Cattle in Hesse. Epizootic Catarrh among
Horses. Ergotism in Man and Animals. Epizootic Ekzema in
Hesse. Glossanthrax in Sweden. The Small-pox of Birds. Honey-
dew and ' Mutterkorn.' 123

CHAPTER IV.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1700 TO A.D. I715.

The Condition of Comparative Pathology in the i8th and 19th
Centuries. Unpropitious Seasons. Importation of Horses into
England Prohibited. A Chamois Epizooty. Epizootic Ekzema in
Franconia. Epidemic and Epizootic Influenza. 'Rot' in Sheep in
Dublin. Commencement of the Great Epizooty of ' Cattle Plague.'
Kanold's History. Gerbezius. Schroeckius. Borromeo. Ramaz-
zini's Description. Sheep Small-pox in England. Anthrax and
an Epizooty of Rabies among Deer in Hungary. Anthrax in
France and Germany. Extensive Epizooty among Horses on the
Continent. Kanold and Lancisi's Descriptions. The Epizooty of
' Cattle Plague ' : Sheep and Goats affected. Mortality among Cats
in Hungary. Lancisi and the ' Cattle Plague.' Horse Plague in
Italy. Ovine Small-pox in France and Italy. Canine ' Distemper'
in France. The ' Cattle Plague ' in England. Bates' Description
and Successful Management 173

CHAPTER V.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1715 TO A.D. 1 745.

Lanzoni on the Seasons. Sickness among Horses. The ' Cattle
Plague' on the Continent. 'Rot' in Sheep in Ireland. Mortality
among Bees and Carp in Silesia, and among Turkeys and Geese in
Hungary. Horse Disease in Finland. Termination of the Epizooty
of ' Cattle Plague.' Fowl Mortality at Wismar and Silesia. Equine
Glossanthrax in Silesia. Silkworm Disease in Italy. Rabies in Dogs.
Invasion of Mice in Transylvania and Abortion in Cattle and Horses.
Diseases in Provence. Epidemy in Peru and Disease in Animals.
Ergotism in Silesia. Storks at Breslau. Laborious Parturition.
' Cattle Plague ' in Sweden. Strange Epizooty in the Venetian States.
Death of Fish in Lake Constance. Ovine Small-pox in the Venetian
States and France. Astruc's Observations. ' Sheep-rot ' in Silesia,
Poland, and Prussia. ' Cattle Plague ' in Thuringia, Saxony, and
Magdeburg. Disease in Mice in Silesia, and Rabies in Dogs and

xii Co7itents.

PAGE

Wolves. Epizooty of ' Grease ' in Horses. Car'ouncular Fever
among Cattle in Germany. Bovine Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia in
Switzerland. Fowl Mortality in Courland. Horse Influenza in
England and Ireland. Epidemic Influenza and Diseases in Animals.
Destruction of Fish. Plague at Cadiz. ' Cattle Plague ' in Russia,
Germany, and the Venetian States. Goelicke and Bruckner.
' Strangles ' among Horses in England. Remarkable Epizooty of
Glossanthrax. Epidemy and Epizooty of Influenza. Gibson's De-
scriptions. Rabies in England and 'Rot ' in Hares. Poultry Mortality
in Coburg. Great ' Sheep-rot ' in England. The ' Cattle Plague '
in Italy. Dog ' Distemper ' in South America. Cattle Disease in
Scotland. Carbuncular Plague at Tobolsk. Great Sheep and Rabbit
'Rot,' and First Potato 'Rot' in Ireland. 'Cattle Plague' in
Bohemia and Bavaria. Severe Seasons. Epidemic Influenza.
'Cattle Plague' in France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Hol-
land 225

CHAPTER VI.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1745 TO A.D. 1771.

The 'Cattle Plague' in England, Ireland, and Scotland, and at Con-
stantinople. Its Introduction into England. Mortimer's Description
and Observations. Dr Lobb's Remarks. Malcolm Flemming and
Dobson on Inoculation. Layard. Legislative Measures. Their In-
completeness and Futility. Terrible Destruction of Cattle. Treatises
on the Malady. Its Re-introduction into England from Holland.
Outbreak at Portsoy. Dr Cullen's Report. Layard's Account of Out-
break in Haifipshire. The Malady on the Continent. Inoculation.
Dossie's History of the ' Cattle Plague' Invasion : its Nature and
Treatment. Progress of the Plague on the Continent. Clerc's De-
scription. Grashius and Mauchart. Goats Affected. Ens' Report.
Danish Physicians. Chomel and Sauvages. Goats and Sheep
attacked in France. Courtivron, Blondet, Camper, and Engleman.
Paulet's Remarks. 269

CHAPTER VII.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1746 TO A.D. 1774.

Sheep Small-pox. Locusts. Sheep-rot in England. Unfavourable
Seasons. Epidemic Ergotism. Severe Epizooty of Influenza in
England and Ireland. Osmer. Glossanthrax in Hanover. Horse
Plague in Austria. Aphthous Fever in Franconia. Sheep Small-pox
in Switzerland and Inoculation and Vaccination. Anthrax. 'Cattle

Contents. xiii

Plague' at Eichsfeld and ]\Iinden. Anthrax at Minorca. Carbun-
cular Epizooty in France. Chaignebrun's Description. Anthrax in
Finland and Russia. Glossanthrax at Verona. Aphthous Disease
and ' Cattle Plague ' among Reindeer in Lapland. Horse Influenza
in England and Scotland. Epidemy and Epizooty in Peru. Fish
Mortality in France. 'Louvet' in Switzerland. Epidemic and
Epizootic Influenza in England. ' Sheep-rot ' in France. Cattle
Disease in Austria. Great Epizooty of Canine 'Distemper.' Epi-
zooty among Cattle in Sweden, and among Horses and Cattle in
France. Glossanthrax in Switzerland. Numerous Epizootics in
Europe. Malignant Anthrax at Rochelle. Nicolau's Description.
Extraordinary Epizooty among Fowls. Aphthous Fever in Moravia,
France, and Holstein. Sagar's Report. General Prevalence of this
Malady. ' Cattle Plague' in Hungary and supposed Infection of
Sheep. Unhealthy Seasons in England and General Mortality among
Animals. ' Murie.' ' Cattle Plague' in Holland. Vicq-d'Azyr's Ob-
servations. Epizooty among Horses in Germany. Cattle Mortality
in France and Italy. ' Cattle Plague' on the Continent. Dufot and
Le Cat. Epidemic Plague at Moscow and Moldavia. Anthrax in St
Domingo and Siberia. Animal Diseases in America. ' Distemper ' in
Dogs at Moscow and Wallachia. Destruction of Fowls in Germany.
' Foot and Mouth' Disease in Paris. ' Cattle Plague' in Flanders.
Haller's Memoir. Raulin and Paulet. ...... 382

CHAPTER VIII.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1 774 TO A.D. 180O.

Anthrax at St Domingo. Epizooty among Geese in Lorraine.
' Cattle Plague ' in Holland and France. Outbreak in the Southern
Provinces. Vicq-d'Azyr's Investigations. De Berg's Description.
Bellerocq, Faur, Prat, Doazan, and Guyot. Paulet's Observations.
' Cattle Plague' in Spain and England. Epidemic and Epizootic
Influenza in Europe. Epizootic Disease in Fishes and Fowls.
' Cattle Plague ' at Minden. Anthrax in Finland. Disease among
Oysters and Lobsters. Glanders in France. Mortality among Foxes
and Wolves in Africa. Rabies in the Antilles. ' Ekzema Epizootica '
in Austria. Epizooty among Horses near Turin. Death of Geese at
Hanover. Anthrax in Germany and France. Cattle Diseases in
Picardy. Vicq-d'Azyr's Memoir. ' Cattle Plague ' in Austria, Styria,
and Belgium. Prevalence of Anthracoid Diseases. 'Cattle Plague'
in England. Influenza in Mankind, Horses, and Cattle. Darwin's
Observations. ' Distemper ' among Cattle in Derbyshire. Volcanic
Eruption in Iceland. Its Disastrous Effects. Rabies in Jamaica.
Anthrax in the Island of Grenada, Barbadoes, and on the Continent.
Glossanthrax in Nassau and Anthrax at Lippc and in Bavaria, &c.

xiv Contents.

PAGE

Effects of Unfavourable Seasons. Great Epizooty among Fowls in
Upper Italy. ' Rot ' in Wurtemberg. Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia.
Anthrax in Hungary. Spanish Sheep Foot-rot. Abortion among
Cows in Italy. Invasion of Lemmings. Anthrax in France. Gil-
bert's Description. Anthrax in Bavaria. ' Cattle Plague ' on the
Continent. Various Writers. Epizootic Ekzema in the Tyrol and
Verona. Acute Glanders on the Continent. 'Egg-rot' of Bees in
Saxony. Extensive Epizooty among Cats. Verminous Disease of
Fowls in America. Glanders and I niluenza in Horses. 'Foot and
Mouth ' Disease in Piedmont, the Venetian States, and Lombardy.
Supposed outbreaks of ' Cattle Plague ' in England. . . . 465

INTRODUCTION.

I

When a nation has passed from a savage or semi-savage condition —
from that of the hunter or fisherman, caring but little for anything
beyond what may be sufficient for the brief but precarious maintenance
which is found in the chase — to the more civilized and civilizing state
of a pastoral people, a great change is manifested in its character. The
most noteworthy feature in this transformation is the high value that
begins to be attached to those animals which, in the former stage of
civilization, were pursued and destroyed in a wild state, bat have now
by kindness, and other means founded on motives of economy, become
domesticated and soon form the wealth and well-being of their owners.
From them the pastoral people derive their subsistence, in the form of
food and clothing j and on them they rely for most essential services
during life. In return, the welfare of these animals is carefully
studied ; their increase in number and in individual value is a matter
of social as well as political importance j but the experience necessary
for this successful increase and amelioration can only be acquired by
long and close observation, the needful training for which exalts and
expands the human mind.

Wandering with their flocks and herds to new pastures, when
impelled by the seasons, by the multiplication of tribes and families,
or by changes of a terrestrial character, these nomads, ever seeking
for tlie prosperity and safety of the animals on which they depended
for existence, were, in prehistoric times, the pioneers of civilization.
Their dumb companions in these pilgrimages became, as it were, a

XVI

Inti^oduction.

portion of their national life, and exercised no small influence on
their moral and intellectual development — on their religion, manners,
and customs 5 this influence even extending itself to the language, the
poetry, and the arts of these primitive shepherds.

The immense Steppes of Central Asia still furnish us with examples
of this condition of the unsettled races who wander over them with
their countless herds and flocks; and a recent traveller^ in that region
of the world pleasantly describes some of the scenes he witnessed among
them, ' Just as the day dawned I turned out to examine our position,
when I discovered the snowy peaks of the Syan-Shan. They appeared
cold and ghost-like against the deep blue sky; presently they were
tipped with the sun's rays, and shone forth like rubies. I sat on the
o-round watching the changes with much interest, till the whole land-
scape was lighted up. Immediately near me was a busy scene — on
one side the men were milking the mares, to the number of more than
one hundred, and carrying the leathern pails of milk to the " Koumis "
bag in the " yourt 5 " the young foals being secured in two long lines to
pegs driven into the ground. In front, and on the opposite side, the
women were milking cows, sheep, and goats, and at a little distance
beyond these the camels were suckling their young. Around the
" aoul " (camp) the Steppe was filled with animal life. The sultan told
me that there were more than two thousand horses, half the number
of cows and oxen, two hundred and eighty camels, and more than six
thousand sheep and goats. The screams of the camels, the bellowing
of the bulls, the neighing of horses, and the bleating of sheep and goats,
formed a pastoral chorus such as I had never heard in Europe.' On
another occasion he writes : ' All were out with the dawn, and then
commenced a scene in pastoral life highly interesting to me. I had
left the " yourt " (tent), and looked around in every direction, but be-
held only a mass of living animals. The whole of the herds are
brought to the aoul at night, where they are most carefully guarded
by watchmen and dogs placed in every direction, rendering it almost
impossible to enter any aoul without detection. In my childhood I
lived in localities where there were many horses and cattle, and used to
think a flock of five or six hundred sheep a large one ; but was now
astonished by the numbers before and around me. The noise at first
was almost intolerable — there was the sharp cry of the camels, the
neighing of the horses, the bellowing of the bulls, the bleating of the
sheep and goats, the barking of the dogs, and the shouting of the men,

' Atkinson. Oriental and Western Siberia, p. 497.

I}it}'odiLctio7i. xvii

— a very Babel. I counted one hundred and six camels, including their
young 3 there were more than two thousand horses, one thousand oxen
and cows, and six thousand sheep and goats. Even these, large as the
number may appear, were far short of the total number of animals
belonging to the patriarch chief : he had two other aouls, at each of
which were one thousand horses and other cattle. Women were busy
milking the cows, and the men were preparing to drive these vast herds
to their pastures. The horses and camels are driven to the greatest
distance — as much as ten and fifteen versts — the oxen come next,
and tlie sheep remain nearest the aoul ; but these ramble five or six
versts away. It was, indeed, a wonderful sight when they were marched
off in ditferent directions, spreading themselves out in living streams,
as they moved slowly along the Steppe.' '

Such is man in a pastoral condition. But when a suitable and pro-
pitious locality has been found for their animals, the wanderers perhaps
become a settled people, and till the ground for themselves while still
attending to the herds 5 and this combination of pursuits, which we term
Agriculture, generally ensures a progressive and prosperous civilization.
Humboldt," speaking of the Steppes or Llanos of the New World, thus
philosophically demonstrates the influence of the larger domesticated
animals on civilization and social progress : ' The Llanos separate the
chain of the coast of Caraccas and the Andes of New Granada from
the region of forests ; from that woody region of the Orinoco which,
from the first discovery of America, has been inhabited by nations more
rude, and further removed from civilization, than the inhabitants of the
coast, and still more than the mountaineers of the Cordilleras. The
Steppes, however, were no more heretofore the rampart of civilization
than they are now the ramparts of the liberty of the hordes that live in
the forests. They have not hindered the nations of the lower Orinoco
from going up the little rivers and making excursions to the north and
the west. If, according to the various distribution of animals on the
globe, the pastoral life could have existed in the New World, — if, before
the arrival of the Spaniards, the Llanos and the Pampas had been filled
with those numerous herds of cows and horses that graze there, Colum-
bus would have found the human race in a state quite difterent. Pas-
toral nations living on milk and cheese, real nomad races, would have
spread themselves over those vast plains which communicate with each
other. They would have been seen at the period of great droughts,

1 Ibid., p. 289.
''■ Travels in the L'(|uinoctial Regions of America, vol. ii. p. 98.

xviii Introduction.

and even at that of inundations, fighting for the possession of pastures 5
subjugating one another mutually 5 and, united by the common tie ot
manners, language, and worship, they would have risen to that state of
semi-civihzation which we observe with surprise in the nations of the
Mono-ol and Tartar race. America would then, like the centre of Asia,
have had its conquerors, who, ascending from the plains to the table-
lands of the Cordilleras, and abandoning a wandering life, would have
subdued the civilized nations of Peru and New Granada, overturned
the throne of the Incas and of the Zaque (the secular chief of Cun-
dinamarca), and substituted for the despotism which is the fruit of
theocracy, that despotism which arises from the patriarchal government
of a pastoral people. In the New World the human race has not ex-
perienced tliese great moral and political changes, because the Steppes,
though more fertile than those of Asia, have remained without herds ;
because none of the animals that furnish milk in abundance are natives
of the plains of South America 5 and because, in the progressive un-
folding of American civilization, the intermediate link is wanting that
connects the hunting with the agricultural nations.'

The primitive herdsman or agriculturist would soon discover that
the domestication of animals sometimes entailed great sacrifices. While
watching his stars and his gods for favourable omens, diseases un-
known to him when the creatures were in a wild state, would ap-
pear 5 and from their unusual character, the suddenness of their attack,
and the great mortality attending them, would strike him with fear
and amazement. In his sombre and crude belief in the agency of
good and evil spirits, and in his ignorance of the influence of physical
phenomena on health, he would only see in these visitations the opera-
tion of malignant divinities. All barbarous and ignorant nations have
ever substituted for the simple and universal laws of nature, which are
unknown to them, the operation of spirits, genii, and strange gods.
And when the benignant spirits have been made subordinate to those
of a malevolent character, and his cattle decline and die, the half civil-
ized man betakes himself to prayers, sacrifices, imprecations, and other
rites to avert the loss and assuage his fears. At a more advanced stage
he has recourse to magic to obtain a cure 3 the animal and vegetable,
more rarely the mineral, kingdoms are ransacked j sorcery, enchantments,
incantations, and other unreasonable and unhallowed rituals are devised
to appease the wrath of the invisible destroyer; and while the potion is
being prepared or administered, the mystic formula is uttered in a weird
imploring voice to the oflfended spirit.

Among all people this has been the commencement of what we

Introduction. xix

may term veterinary medicine ; and even in recent times traces of this in-
fantile belief have not been effaced from the customs of the most civilized
nations of Europe. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Teutons, Celts,
and other nations — pastoral and agricultural — all resorted to polytheism
and the kindred belief in incantations and magic for the cure of dis-
eases. History often tells us how these dismal rites were carried out.
With half-civilized communities at the present day, we have glimpses
of these fantastic notions.

My friend, Mr Michie,^ tells us of a Mongol superstition, to the
practice of which he was a witness. ' As a preventive against cattle
being killed by lightning, a horse is devoted to the god of thunder —
light grey or white being preferred. He is brought to the door of his
owner's tent, and while the Shaman ceremonies are going on, a cup of
milk is placed on his back. When the ceremonies are concluded, the
horse is cast loose, the milk falls, and the animal is thenceforth sacred.
No one may use him again, and, when he dies, his tail and mane are
cut off and twisted into those of another horse, which, from that time,
also becomes sacred to the god of thunder.'

But with advancing civilization and a higher development of the
intellectual faculties, induced by favourable circumstances, the mind
would begin to be disenthralled from the depressing influence of mysti-
cism and impotent idolatry ; the benign or malign effects of physical
agencies on the domestic animals would at first be almost inappreciably
though certainly noted, and the skill of the age invoked to bring them
more under the influence of the first and beyond the power of the
second j while the measures adopted would often be, to a certain
extent, aided by the instincts of the creatures themselves, who would
naturally shun that which did them harm, and seek for those things
which nature indicated as best for them. Their guardians would
not be slow in attending to these indications, and in this way would
veterinary medicine receive its fundamental empirical teachings.
Reason, the divine attribute of the human mind, thus prompted and
directed by economic principles, and by that restless, resistless curiosity
which seems to seize it whenever it has succeeded in emerging a certain
distance from the obscurity of ignorance, would next exert itself to
learn the connection between cause and effect; the phenomena of
nature and of life would engage the earliest efforts of a dawning philo-
sophy ; and the actions and re-actions ever taking place between agencies
external to the body and those operating within it, would lead to the

' Overland Route from Peking to St Pelcrsburg. London, 1864. P. 200.

XX

Introduction.

investigation of the causes of disease, and to their possible discovery m
the organs or tissues of the stricken creatures.

In this manner may the science of medicine—human and coi^inpara-
tive — have been begun, and the rudiments of its several branches feeen
slowly but surely acquired. Hippocrates and many of the early phyu'i"
cians obtained their knowledge of anatomy only from the dissection ot
animals, and these men were the founders of modern as well as ancient
medical knowledge. ' Choose an ape for dissection,' says Rufus, who
lived about the time of Trajan, ' if you have one ; if not, take a bear 5
and if you have not a bear, take any animal you can get.'

The religious rites pertaining to auguries sought for in the entrails
of animals ; the examination of their bodies to discover whether, as
food, they were pure or impure j and the offerings of portions of im-
molated creatures to their deities, were all aiding in this work, and
olfering grand opportunities for observation, notwithstanding the super-
stitions and impostures of the priests who officiated.

When the nomad saw that the pestilence among his flocks either
preceded, accompanied, or was followed by another equally fatal to his
own species, we cannot wonder that appeals and sacrifices were made
to the supposed authors of such appalling destruction. In a compara-
tively late era, when a beautiful mythology had sprung up among the
Greeks, and when epidemics and epizootics appeared nearly always to
accompany each other, this was more particularly observable. Apollo,
who presided over flocks and herds, showered his arrows among them
when displeased, and slew men and beasts alike by his vengeful but
unseen darts. Homer speaks of the plague which prostrated the Greek
camp at the siege of Troy, and ascribes it to the wrath of that deity, who
was offended by an insult offered to Chryses, his high priest. But
though deep-rooted superstition was fain to impose on the gentle god
the blame of the hurtful visitation, the great poet does not forget to
indicate a powerful auxiliary to the god's malevolence in the filth lying
about the camp, and introduces Agamemnon who orders it to be
thrown into the sea. This, if the first recorded step in sanitary re-
form, is certainly a notable one, and shows the inclination, even in
those distant days, to break through the barriers of ignorance and
credulity, by seeking out and removing the real causes of pestilential
diseases.

In imperial Rome, so often the seat of fearful plagues, superstition
played a prominent part, and during the prevalence of epidemic or
epizootic disorders, the Senate had recourse to the Sibylline books and
lectisternium to appease the ire of the enraged gods. And the Sallii,

Introdiution. xxi

or priests of Mars, were not slow in procuring for themselves greater
favours in attributing the abatement of pestilence to their manipula-
tion of, and devotion to, the sacred shields. The true nature of the
malady, or its predisposing or exciting causes, were seldom the sub-
ject for investigation. ' Pestis et ira Deum Stygiis sese extulit ' was
generally sufficient to account for its presence among them. Sacrifices,
idolatrous prayers, and implicit faith in what the soothsayers or priests
thought fit to teach, mark the history of these inflictions in early times.
The terror and desperation induced by such a calamity as a plague is
well illustrated in the instance cited by Baronius, in which we are told
that a visitation of this kind raged with such fury at Carthage, that
parents sacrificed their children to appease the gods.

In our own country many superstitious customs, having reference
to the preservation of the domestic animals, appear to have been derived*
from the early traders \\\x\\ Britain — the Phoenicians. Some of these
rites, if they do not now exist, were at any rate in vogue at no very
distant date. The worship of Baal, Bel, or Belus, the son of Nimrod,
was a Phoenician rite. Fires were set blazing for him at certain times
of the year, and if the object of their suppHcations demanded it, human
beings were offered as a sacrifice 5 but on ordinary and later occasions,
the person or animal for whom protection was entreated, rushed, or
was driven rapidly through the flames. In the Highlands of Scot-
land, so late as the middle of the last century, the remains of this
gross superstition were noted by Pennant. ' On the first of May, the
herdsmen of every village in the Highlands hold their Bel-tien, or rural
sacrifice. They cut a square trench in the ground, leaving the turf in
the middle ; on that they make a large fire, on which they dress eggs,
butter, oatmeal, and milk, and bring, besides, the ingredients for the
caudle, plenty of beer and whisky, for each of the company must con-
tribute something. The rites begin by pouring some of the caudle on
the ground by way of libation, on, which every one takes a cake of
oatmeal, with nine square knobs raised upon it, each dedicated to some
particular being, the supposed preserver of their flocks and herds, or to
some particular animal, the real destroyer of them. Each person then
turns his face to the fire, breaks off a knob, and flings it over his
shoulder, saying, ' This I give to thee ! preserve thou my horses j this to
thee! preserve thou my sheep 5 ' and so on. After that they use the
same ceremony to the noxious animals. 'This I give to thee, oh lox.
spare thou my lambs 5 this to thee, oh eagle j this to thee, oh hooded

crow ! '

c

xxii Introduction.

'When the ceremony is over, they dine on the caudle.' '

In Ireland 'Bel-tien,' according to Macpherson/ is celebrated on the
2 1st of June at the solstice, by making fires on the hill-tops, when peo-
ple and beasts are made to pass through them, to ensure protection
against pestilence.

Neither was the influence of the ' evil eye ' less dreaded and
guarded against by strange and oftentimes curious rites and customs.
It is surprising to find this superstition existing widely over the world
in ancient and modern times. Virgil's shepherd exclaims, 'Nescio
quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos ! ' The Irish and Scotch
believed that their cattle could be blighted by an evil eye ; the Mala-
bars, Hindus, Arabians, Turks, and other eastern peoples wear charms
to avert its influence j the Mahometans suspend objects from tlie
'ceiUngs of their apartments with the same intention ; in Ceylon the
Singhalese place white vessels on their gables to guard against the myste-
rious agency, which the Tamils at Jaffiia, in the same island, believe to
work injury on their herds and flocks. Sir J. Emerson Tennent ^ even
asks if there is any hidden connection between the prohibition to covet
contained in the tenth commandment, and the horror of the 'evil eye,'
so frequently mentioned in the Old and New Testaments.

The fear and panic reigning in countries where plagues, either of
man or the lower animals, have shown themselves, have never much
abated 5 and at the present day, with all our science and enlighten-
ment, the public mind is almost as troubled at their appearance as in
earlier times : troubled not so much, perhaps, by the apparently inevit-
able destruction they are likely to cause, as by the mystery that shrouds
their origin.

Though a Christian civilization has to a great extent removed the
influence of superstitious ideas, with regard to the agency of evil spirits
or spiteful gods, and though the polytheism of the heroic ages has been
supplanted by monotheism, the commencement of these aflflictions has
still been often enough ascribed to sources as erroneous as before, and
only too frequently the wrath of many gods has merely been condensed,
if we may use the term, into that of one. Hebrew traditions have
brought in the anger of Jehovah as a frequent cause of pestilence, and
His displeasure as being made manifest, not on sinful man alone, but
also on the unoflending creatures around him. The wise King, Solo-
mon, a witness to the participation of the inferior animals in the

1 Tour in Scotland in 1769, p. 100. 2 Critical Dissertations.

■' Ceylon, vol. ii. p. 177.

Introduction. xxiii

calamities which befell men, enunciated a truthful saying, when draw-
ing a comparison between the lord of the creation and his less favoured
companions, and which may have had reference to their suffering alike
from plagues : ' For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth
beasts j even one thing befalleth them : as the one dieth, so dieth the
other J yea, they have all one breath j so that a man hath no pre-
eminence above a beast.' '

To a people like the primitive Jews, next to a pestilence appearino-
among themselves, was a plague among their herds and flocks. ' Blessed, '
says Moses, ' shalt thou be in the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy
kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.' - And a curse from the Almighty was
imagined to be the cause when the health of their cattle and sheep was
blighted by sudden disease and death. The Egyptians were told, in the
first plague which history mentions, that because they would not listen
to Moses, or believe in his mission, ' Behold, the hand of the Lord is
upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses,
upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep : there shall be a
very grievous murrain.' ^ The displeasure of the Creator was the ever-
present cause 5 agencies of a physical nature were left unnoticed,
and doubtless ' murrains ' must have been frequent, general, and most
severe, when the real exciting or predisposing causes were thus allowed
to prevail unchecked.

The most striking examples of rampant superstition and gross
ignorance meet us at nearly every step in our investigation into the
history of animal plagues; and one is puzzled whether to lay most
blame on those who led ignorant people astray, or on the people who
could be so credulous and short-sighted as to be guided and ruined by
designing or infatuated men. In the early Christian ages, the sign of the
cross was burnt with a hot iron on the heads of menaced or already in-
fected flocks, or their bodies were anointed with the oil and water from
the lamps of some church in which reposed the musty bones of some
saint or other; or at other times rows of such relics were lauded by the
priests as efficacious remedies ; while all the time the diseases — their
causes, nature, and distinctive characteristics — were entirely neglected by
the gullible priest-ridden people, until they were all but ruined, as is
apparent in almost every page of the history of these visitations in the
early and middle ages.

And the obstructive ideas which then prevailed have not even yet
abated much in their rancour in many parts of the world. A displeased

' Lcclcs. ill. 19. ' Dcut. xxviii. 4. ^ Exod. ix. 3.

xxiv Introduction.

or spiteful Creator is still appealed to by prayers, ceremonies, and sacri-
fices to remove the devastating pestilence that revels amid indolence^
bigotry, filth, and impurity. It is generally so much easier to pray than
to obey sanitary behests. Laziness and priestcraft would rather believe
in the vengeance of an Almighty power than in the troublesome causes
which need active exertion and enlightened minds for their removal
or prevention. In the middle of the 19th century processions of
Greek and Turkish priests stream barefooted through the plague-swept
streets of Constantinople, the former uttering loud appeals for deliverance
from the scourge, and the latter calling upon Allah to protect them,
though they are opposing the most urgent sanitary measures as contrary
to the teachings of the Koran ; all the while the two perplexed sects,
in their dismal peregrinations, can scarcely breathe for the putrifying
matters surrounding them, through which they have to scramble as
they best can, 'and which is directly or indirectly slaying its thousands
of the benighted population.^ About the same period, in our own
land, a dreadfiil contagion is decimating the herds and flocks 5 physicians
prescribe impotent medical treatment 5 fast-days are appointed, and
prayers are offered for riddance of the disease, for whose advent
various reasons are given, but which are generally on a par with those
of the early period of civilization. The imported ' Cattle Plague ' in
Britain is attributed by a learned priest (a Roman Catholic) directly to
God's displeasure at our great love for animals, or 'cattle worship,' as
he terms it; and he hesitates not to say of his own species, ' Perhaps
the cholera is now sent to bring down the pride of the human intellect,
and to compel the godless philosophy of the age to admire the inter-
vention of the hand of God in all human events.' ' In the mean time,
all that is necessary is a little energy and wisdom on the part of states-
men and people to get rid of a contagion that is readily preventible, and
that should never have been allowed to appear, and at any rate to
spread.

But we must not be too hard upon the enlightened bishop for de-
claring that kindness to animals, which we have always considered a
virtue, and looked upon as a part of Scriptural injunction, should be
visited with punishment not on sinful man but on the innocent rumin-
ants. During the same visitation the most extraordinary opinions have
been emitted by preachers of another rt^igious sect. One of these
worthies in particular traced the origin of the malady to our national,

' See Times' Correspondent's letter from Constantinople, dated September ist,
1865.

- Dr Ciillau On the Approach of the Cholera Morbus and other Evils, 1865.

Introduction. xxv

but carnal love of beef, for which the murrain was sent as a Di\ine
chastisement j and more than one clergyman declared the infliction of
this painful malady on the creatures who had never sinned to be a
mark of the Almighty's anger at the laches of the nation. There was
no allusion, however, to the fact of such countries as Ireland or France,
which may have been equally sinful, evading the terrible punishment
by a little judicious care, and the exercise of that power and kno\^'-
ledge witli which a benevolent, and not a malevolent. Creator, had en-
dowed them. Such doctrines are unworthy of Christians, and carry us
back to ages when the perpetration of the most atrocious crimes and
the cold-blooded slaughter of whole tribes of men, women, and children
were laid to the favour or disfavour of the God of mercy and love.

On the Continent, St Cornelius and other saints of France, and St
Antonio of Rome and Italy in general, are the protectors of four-footed
creatures ; and it is much less troublesome for their owners, and more
proritable to the priests, to obtain exemption from an approaching
plague through the merits of a mouldy saint than by the adoption
of onerous, heretical measures of a hygienic kind, which do not benefit
the Church.

This blind superstition and infatuation, almost amounting to pro-
fanity, and which is incompatible with reason or true religion, is now
happily on the wane j but in ages gone by it has acted most prejudici-
ally, by diverting men's minds from the study of the nature and causes
of diseases of this class. For what need was there to investigate or
attempt to avert them, when they were sent from Heaven to punish
sinful man ?

Chiefly for this reason, we are left much in want of positive in-
formation as to the character of the various epizootic diseases which
have appeared since history first began ' to record them. As old as
animated nature itself, their beginning is lost in the gloom of antiquity.
The ancients, often completely ignorant of veterinary science, have left
us but little information regarding them, for they seemed to dread
transmitting more than vague generalities to posterity ; and several of
the detailed accounts are those of poets, who, in describing some one of
tho.->e dreadful pests which spread far and wide, and caused fear and
desolation to prevail, have probably had poetical effect more in view
than accuracy.

Up to the 14th or 15th centuries, we can identify but few of the
epizfjuties mentioned as occurring in the preceding eras; for the histori-
ans of the early, dark, and middle ages were men who were cillier un-
acquainted with the lornis assumed by disease, and merely tell us (jf their

xxvi Introduction.

disastrous effects as public calamities 3 or they were priests, usually-
only anxious to speak of the marvellous virtues of their prayers and
mummeries in driving them from their locaHties. The natural events
of a striking character which have either preceded or accompanied
animal plagues, — and which might have led the inquiring mind to a
more correct appreciation of the connection between them, and the
appearance or disappearance of these maladies, — are, when noticed,
generally too briefly described to affbrd any satisfactory guidance in
this respect. It was generally considered sufficient to ascribe their
advent to whatever might appear unusual in the celestial or terrestrial
worlds J or, if these atforded nothing marvellous, to the wrath of a
resentful deity. There was usually no attempt to chronicle those
symptoms which would have rendered their descriptions of the
greatest value to future historians 5 and it was, as a rule, only necessary
to designate them by such general, though vague terms, as conveyed a
striking idea of their deadly character, without preserving their distinct-
ive features.

Thus it is that the word ">^"7 deher, signifying plague, was
employed in Hebrew speech to denote every kind of epidemic or
epizootic disease j while the Greeks gave the collective denomination of
Xot/ioc, a plague, pestilence, or XoifiiKr) voaoc, a pestilential disease, alike
to the general affections of men or animals, no matter what form they
assumed or from what cause they arose. The Roman writers were no
more explicit, but ambiguously styled them pestis, pestilentia, or strages
pecorum ; and the ignis sacer of Lucretius is scarcely more intelligible
than any of the other terms employed.

The chroniclers of the Middle Ages, in transferring these designations
to their own times, have added the equally indefinite appellatives of
mortalitas, clades, lues, &c. Undoubtedly these vague expressions
arose from ignorance and want of observation ; for the bodies of the
affected, while alive, were seldom, if ever, carefully examined, and
scrutiny or dissection of the dead which may have perished from plagues
of the most diverse character, was neglected or forbidden. Pathologi-
cal anatomy had not made such progress as to convince the popular
mind of its value ; and, besides, what was the need for this troublesome
inquiry when these afflictions were believed to arise from sources beyond
the reach or power of man.

Terms as little significative as those of less enlightened centuries,
such as plague, wurrain, distemper, &c., are still in use as popular
designations for these maladies. The term * murrain ' is, perhaps, for
general purposes that best adapted to express that which technically

i

hitrodiiction. xxvii

is termed an epizooty. It is a very ancient word, and is to be found in
many languages besides English. For example, it appears in Italian as
' moria,' and in French as ' murie.' Its root is found in the Greek
fiapaivw — marainoj in the Sanskrit 'mr,' the Latin ' mori,' German
' mar,' and the Celtic ' muire.'

Whatever term may now be employed, however, whether it be
murrain, plague, distemper, or pest, thanks to science we need not fear
its obscuring the real nature of the maladies designated, nor veil their
possible sources by attributing tliem to agencies beyond man's powers of
elucidation and control.

But from the circumstances before-mentioned, the historian of
epizoiiiic diseases who would endeavour to compile a satisfactory chron-
ological account of those visitations which have from time to time
swept the plain, the homestead, and the stable of their occupants, pre-
vious to the centuries indicated, has but a slender chance of doing more
than citing meagre facts, solitary, or in opposition to others which
might otherwise give these facts more interest and certainty. Even to
do this, he must labour earnestly, and gather from many sources the
clue necessary to guide him in fixing the advent and duration of these
maladies J and after all has been accomplished, in the immense ma-
jority of instances he will find himself unable to tell with precision
what were the morbid characters distinguishing them from each
other, or from diseases existing enzootically elsewhere. The only ad-
vantage he might obtain in thus studying the plagues of the domestic
animals, would be, at rare intervals, to find in the geographical in-
vasion of certain epizootics a marked connection between them and
contemporary events, which might authorize him in making deductions
of some value. It must be borne in mind, also, that famines, droughts,
and the destruction of vegetation by locusts and various causes, as \\c'll
as other mishaps, would affect domesticated and feral creatures no less,
perhaps, than mankind 3 but that in very many instances the sufferings
of these would have remained unrecorded when the panic and mortality
among his own species entirely engrossed the attention of the historian.
Hence, in reading of particular epidemics, particularly in the early cen-
turies, we gre only able to guess at the existence of contemporary
epizootics ; and as it would be departing from one object of this work,
I have in most instances omitted any mention of plagues described as
affecting the human race only.

It is not until we approach the commencement of the i8lh century,
that the study of animal plagues becomes really interesting and satis-
factory, and that research is abundantly rt-warded l)y tlu- fullest descrip-

xxviii Introduction.

tions of these visitations ; for we iiiid facts grouped according to their
atiinity in the series of cause and etfect. This scientilic method of
transmitting what should be known of the history and nature of animal
diseases to future generations, was inaugurated by the Italian physician
Ramazzini, who undoubtedly laid the foundation for accurate observa-
tion in this department of veterinary science. And to this philosopher
history is indebted for much that is known of one of the greatest
epizooties of modern days. From that time to the present, maladies
of this class have been neither few nor far between ; but observers
have rapidly increased in number, and in proportion as these have at-
tained the scientilic proficiency necessary for such a ditficult study, so
have the nature of animal plagues, and the measures needed for their
mitigation and prevention, become better known.

A detailed description of all the epizootic or panzootic diseases which
have occurred would occupy far too large a space, and might not after
all be a very useful study ; those occurring within the last two or three
centuries, however, deserve much attention, as competent men have
exerted themselves to discover their origin, trace their affinities, define
their characteristics, and, best of all, to modify or avert their desolat-
ing influences. A record of epizootic diseases founded on history
and accurate observation, cannot fail to be a work of great importance
to medical science and to civilization. Nothing can be more useful
than to possess the most exact details as to the character, progress,
duration, and termination of these maladies, and especially if our
knowledge of pathological changes of structure be brought to bear
in observing and describing the organic lesions effected by them.

The comparative pathologist can no more afford to dispense with the
history of diseases, than the healer of mankind, especially those of a
general character ; for in proportion as he knows the past, he is in a
better position to control the present, and make provision for the future.
As an eloquent writer remarks, when about to describe an epidemic dis-
order whose cause was very obscure : ' No single generation of medical
practitioners can be expected to possess a sufficient range of observation,
or to accumulate adequate materials of information on the subject, to
enable them to detect the clue by which to thread the intricacies of
this inquiry. The past must be scrutinized, and its reflected hght
brought to our aid ; old and new facts when collated, by the harmony
which they exhibit, become mutually illustrative, and acquire a value
previously unknown. It is true, that medical records abound in falla-
cious and imperfect observations, transmitted from one generation to
another, and that popular prejudices have exercised an influence in dis-

Introduction . x xix

seminating error, which the obstinacy engendered by the evidence of
imperfectly observed facts has tended to confirm and to perpetuate ;
but it is possible to manifest too indiscriminate a contempt for state-
ments which partake of popular superstition.'

Vicq-d' Azyr truly says, that if there is in medicine an object worthy
tlie investigation of scientitic men, it is without contradiction the pesti-
lential epidemic diseases. Obscure and often mysterious in their causes,
rapid in their progress, perplexing in their symptoms, and murderous in
tlieir effects, they often sweep away the majority of the individuals
attacked, and through their violence put it beyond the power of the
physician to diminish the number of victims. And the illustrious
Hecker justly affirms that the study of epidemic diseases ' is a subject
in which science is deeply interested, and which, according to the
direct evidence of nature herself, is one of the most exalted and im-
portant that can be submitted to the researches of the learned. How
often,' he adds, ' has it appeared on the breaking out of epidemics, as
if the experience of so many centuries had been accumulated in vain.
Men gazed at the phenomena with astonishment, and even before they
had a just perception of their nature, pronounced their opinions, which,
as they were divided into strongly-opposed parties, they defended with
all the ardour of zealots.'

The study and prevention of animal scourges, as we have seen, is
scarcely second to those affecting our own species, but they are attended
with even greater difficulties. The healer of men, consulted when a
pestilence is raging, and when death is seizing numberless victims, can,
as we are all too painfully aware, afford but little aid. The rapidity
with which the disease does its work, and its generally obscure nature,
throws him into a sea of doubt, from which he can but slowly, if at all,
extricate himself. He who ministers to the ailments of animals, and who
ordinarily has to contend with obstacles to which the other is a stranger,
is seldom in a better plight when a formidable spreading disease visits
one or more species. Those people among whose herds a malady ot
tliis kind tirst appears are too often the opposite of intelligent, and
usually see in its invasion the simple effects of some vulgar cause which
they imagine can be easily determined j while in the death of their cattle
they are only conscious of a local and individual loss, far from involv-
ing the most insignificant interests of their country.

As in man, when general diseases or ' plagues ' first appear in the
lower animals, they are usually very acute, and in consecjuence ot this,
of the suddenness of their attack and the rapidity of their course, as
well as their tendency to spread, it is a matter of the utmost import-

XXX Introduction.

ance, in order that a nation be spared great loss, inconvenience^ and
anxiety, that the science of comparative pathology should receive that
wide and judicious study and that fostering care to which it may with
great justice lay claim. And as it is yet in its infancy in this country, and
is obliged to contend with prejudice and charlatanism, it cannot be
wondered at that great losses have been sustained, that the science of
medicine in general should make but little progress, and that the defect-
ive state of our sanitary police should merit the derision of continental
nations.

The medicine of the lower animals differs from that of man in no
particular, perhaps, so much as in those principles which may be termed
' utilitarian.' The life, or rather the vigour and sound condition, of all the
domestic animals, has a money value which greatly modifies consider-
ations of a curative kind, when health and usefulness are replaced by
disease and inefficiency. The life of man, though it be robbed of
nearly all its attractions or utility, is yet considered too sacred to have a
mere pecuniary value. But that of the creatures we have domesticated
is in almost every case worthless, if, when they are attacked by disease,
the expense of medical treatment exceeds their market price, even
though a thorough cure may be possible. But when there are doubts
as to the certainty of complete restoration to health and soundness,
monetary considerations ordinarily decide against the adoption of re-
medial measures.

This peculiar feature in the medicine of the domesticated animals,
brings all the more prominently before us the value of the old adage that
' prevention is better than cure.' The comparative pathologist must not
only be well skilled in all those branches of science of which medical
knowledge is composed, and be able to minister to the varied and nu-
merous ailments of the domestic animals, but above all he should be
thoroughly conversant with the history and nature of general diseases,
their causes, particularly their mode of extension, as well as the best
measures to recommend for their prevention and eradication, so as to
be able to guard the country from the risk of serious loss and embar-
rassment.

In Britain, as before mentioned, the value of comparative pathology,
in the relation it bears to human medicine, to the public health, to
agriculture, and to legislation, has been strangely overlooked, — and this,
in recent times, has not only been the cause of a great national calamity,
but to some extent a national disgrace.

In consequence of this neglect, but little allowance has been made
for the difficulties the comparative pathologist has to contend with, nor

Introduction. xxxi

has the chief object of this science received much consideration. The
rare instances in which animals can be seen by the Veterinary Surgeon
in the earhest stages of disease, — when it would prove most amenable to
medical treatment, — due to the incapacity of those who have the care of
them to recognize these early periods ; the fact that animals cannot, ex-
cept in a negative way, tell their wrongs or explain their sensations j the
absence of those accessories and comforts of the sick-room which cannot
be called in to ameliorate their condition ; the violence or stupor, as
well as the structural arrangements and position, of the plague-stricken
creatures ; the many obstacles to their complete segregation when the
malady is of a contagious character ; the slender means generally af-
forded for attending to recommendations and injunctions ; and the
oftentimes intractable nature of general diseases, as well as the utilitarian
influences spoken of above 3 — all these, in the majority of instances,
militate against the adoption of curative measures, and add a thousand-
fold to the value of those which have the prevention of disease for their
object. And these considerations demand that the whole aim and skill
of the comparative pathologist should be employed not in curing, but
in preventing disease.

That this object has in this country formed but an insignificant
element in medical teaching, is amply illustrated in the history of the
cattle epizooty of 1865, when this easily suppressed scourge was allowed
to spread over the land through the silly endeavour to exorcise it
by pills, potions, and fantastic nostrums prescribed by men who neither
knew the organization of the animal nor the nature of the malady tor
which they were prescribing, and this despite the urgent remon-
strances of those who had studied veterinary science.

To the comparative pathologist, the history and investigation of
animal plagues will ever be of paramount interest, as they must always
demand his most earnest study. To discover their affinities in the
various species of animals brought under the dominion of man, to
ascertain all that can be learned of their nature and the laws by which
they are governed, as well as to elucidate the causes which originate
them, and their mode of propagation, is no light task ; but it is only
by this study that he can reasonably hope to resist them with success.

Besides this, their investigation is a most attractive occupation for
the enlightened mind, apart from its practical bearing. An introduction
is afforded to subjects of the mightiest importance in the physical and
organic worlds } and the wonderful relationship which exists between
life and the elements surrounding it — the reciprocal intliKiice ot these,
and the connection between cause and effect — are the most in-

xxxii Introduction.

teresting and engrossing of any subject the human intellect can grasp
for examination. In the beautiful language of Hecker, ' that Omnipo-
tence which has called the world with all its living creatures into one
animated being, especially reveals himself in the desolation of great
pestilences. The powers of creation come into violent coUision 5 the
sultry dryness of the atmosphere ; the subterraneous thunders ; the
mist of overflowing waters, are all the harbingers of destruction.
Nature is not satisfied with the ordinary alternations of life and death,
and the destroying angel waves over man and beast his flaming sword.'

To the general historian, the history of these plagues proves a valu-
able guide in determining the progress of mankind, by showing the
checks which have tended to retard that progress and have often pro-
duced marked changes in the manners and customs of a nation, in
peace as in war. In this history we can clearly trace the advance of
human improvement.

To the medical philosopher who desires to see his science stand on
the broadest basis, as well as to the lover of his species, the study of
general diseases in animals cannot fail to be of much moment. The
same class of causes which generate epidemic maladies are, we may
be certain, fertile in inducing similar diseases in the lower animals,
and perhaps also in plants, on which the human family so much
depends. For it has been a matter of common observation from the
earliest times, and our history will testify to its accuracy, that wide-
spread pestilence in plants, and murrain in animals, have frequently
either preceded, accompanied, or followed closely on those visitations
which caused mortality and mourning in the habitations of men 3 show-
ing an identity of causation or affinity which strongly tempts the in-
quirer to solve the secret of their joint production. And when it is
remembered that some of the animal plagues are readily transmissible
to man, and often induce deadly maladies in him, there is additional
incitement to their study.

To the agriculturist and political economist a knowledge of the
history of these atfections must always be of the most pressing import-
ance, as the science of comparative pathology has clearly shown that
many of the diseases of animals which are indigenous to our soil may
be deprived of their generating causes, and thus be altogether abolished.

Up to a recent period, the almost isolated position of Britain, with her
superb flocks and herds, her matchless breeds of horses, and her fine
pastures, has rendered her comparatively secure against an invasion of
those dread epizootics which are foreign to her shores. Since, however,
her ports have been opened to the importation of animals from all parts

Introduction. xxxiii

of the world, and since communication by sea and land has become so
rapid and extensive, she is scarcely more exempt from these afflictions
than her continental neighbours. Nor is she so well prepared to
encounter them. The science on which other nations rely, and with
such benefit, to suppress these contagions, has scarcely yet found a
home in Britain.

When a destructive disease threatens the domestic animals, and,
through them, the most valuable section of our national wealth, it should
be the duty of all concerned to obey the dictates of science and experience,
in order to avert danger and loss. But it must be confessed that to attain
successful results individual efforts go for little. It is on the strict observ-
ance of sanitary laws, and to the wise measures prescribed by authority,
that rehance must be placed. In the words of an eminent medical ,
writer, ' The day has gone past for an isolated individual or craft to
avert pestilence, as Empedocles did when he shut out the sirocco by]
stopping a mountain-gap, and removed intermittent fevers by changing'
the course of the river Hypsa. These large and benelicent operations'
are in our day reserved for Governments ; and our duty as a profes-
sion is to urge upon Government, by means of our own governing
bodies, the necessity of undertaking the prevention of epidemic disease,
both among men and animals, to point out the best modes of securing
this prevention, and to see that these measures, when become law, are
properly carried out. In a word, it is our duty not to appropriate to
ourselves, as is too often erroneously done, but to endeavour to impress
upon our rulers the sentiment so nobly urged upon Caesar by Tully,
' Homines enim ad Deos nulla re proprius accedent quam salutem
hominibus dando.'

Agriculture must ever occupy a higher position than manufactures ; \
and the prevention of epizootic diseases should be regarded as a political \
question, involving more or less the well-being of the whole com- j
munity ; not merely affecting those who own or who endeavour to derive
profit from rearing animals, but also affecting the public at large, as
regards health, the supply of food, and other essentials. In the exten-
sion of a disease of this kind, not only is there loss to the individuals
who possess the animals, but also to the public, who have not only a
diminished quantity or more expensive supply of food, but also often
incur the risk of obtaining it of an inferior or injurious (juality, or are
otherwise inconvenienced.

No more startling fact is afforded us in the history of animal plagues,
than (hat which proves that the cattle of this country have been per-
secuted by contagious diseases of a most destructive character for nearly

xxxiv Introduction.

thirty years without any attempt worthy of the name having been
made to check them, though they were, and are now, of a preventible
nature, and spread solely through the medium of infectious or con-
tagious principles. The losses from only two exotic bovine maladies
(' contagious pleuro-pneumonia ' and the so-called ' foot and mouth dis-
ease' ) have been estimated to amount, during the thirty years that have
elapsed since our ports were thrown open to foreign cattle, to 5,549,780
head, roughly valued at ^^83,616,854. The late Invasion of 'Cattle
Plague,' which was suppressed within two years of its introduction, has
been calculated to have caused a money loss of from five to eight millions
of pounds. But these examples and estimates, after all, give but a slender
idea of the devastation, misery, embarrassment, and loss that has been
due to our ignorance, apathy, and neglect of the teachings of veterinary
and sanitary science, which must, nevertheless, claim the merit of
having conclusively demonstrated that the most formidable diseases can
be readily repressed or altogether abolished,' though not by attempting
to cure them 5 and having done so, nothing remains for these sciences
to accomplish than to indicate the steps necessary to make the legis-
lation of a wise Government effective in its dealings with animal plagues
in general.

^.c^-^■^,

HISTORY

OF

ANIMAL PLAGUES,

CHAPTER I.

PERIOD FROM B.C. 1490 TO A.D. 400.

History can never inform us of the long-continued and
great losses which have befallen the nomadic tribes, many of
whom have never heard bread even mentioned, and who derive
their subsistence entirelv from the milk and flesh of their domes-
ticated animals.

True, the fossil remains of creatures exposed now and then
in the upper crust of the earth make us ac(]uainted, to a certain
extent, with diseases to which the lower orders of creatures were
suijject, ' long ere the waters overflowed and the mountains sank,'
but their feeble testimony serves us but little. We can only
learn that infinite myriads paid their debt to nature untold ages
before mankind appeared in the world ; but of the cosmical
changes which induced their destruction, or the general maladies
which may have swept oil' whole species, we are in ignorance.

So that, in reality, the history of c]iizootic diseases, as noted
in the records of ci\ilization, is limited, and embraces but a
small portion of that great history which can never be written,
because the materials for it have never been chronicled.

Our earliest researches begin with the land of Kgypt as the
unenviable l)irrh-place of plagues aflecting the inferior creatures,
no less than mankind. Its ge()gra])hic-al j)o>ition and its physical

1 Histojy of Animal Plagues.

configuration have contributed much to render it insalubrious.
The lower country is annually exposed to far-spreading inunda-
tions by the flooding of the Nile; and the retiring sea leaves
behind it a reeking morass^ which, owing to the nature of the
deposit left behind, together with the large amount of moisture,
and the hot sun shedding its rays direct upon it, shortly after
becomes a beautifully green plain, covered with the rankest and
most luxuriant vegetation, and pools of stagnant corrupted water.
Then quickly succeeds a period when it is an arid desert, deeply
laid with dust and hot sand, and endowed with nothing that
could tend to the welfare of animal life.

The indefatigable professor of the school at Abou Zabel, M.
Hamont, says of Egypt, relative to epizootic maladies: 'The
breed of cattle in Egypt is generally weak in constitution, and
neglected. Epizootic diseases frequently effect the most dread-
ful ravages among them ; sometimes they devastate the coun-
try to such a degree that men are harnessed to the plough
and the cart, in order that the land may be, although im-
perfectly, cultivated, and some assistance obtained.' Horses
suffer much from farcy, and the same authority adds: 'Soften-
ing of the liver in Egypt is a primitive and essential malady, very
widespread in the army and in the country, more common in
summer than in winter, and attacking by preference the fattest
horses, and those of an adult age. It is a very redoubtable dis-
ease, and kills many horses.^

Intestinal hemorrhages are also very frequent and most fatal
to horses. These animals — cattle, sheep, and camels, also — suffer
from a deadly dysentery. Hamont continues : ^ Dysentery is
very conmion in summer among troop and other horses, attack-
ing those which live in the open air, as well as those which in-
habit low, badly ventilated stables. In regiments there some-
times breaks out, during the months of July and August, an
acute form of dysentery which kills the horses in a few hours.
The mud, earth, and sand which the water of the Nile contains,
and which these animals drink, is the cause of this dysentery;
these matters arc found in the intestines. The great crowding
of animals, the intense heat, too dry and unvaried food, are also
determining causes. . . . The dysentery of cattle is especially

History of Animal Plagues. 3

widespread, attacking the oxen in the villages and towns, and
all over the country ; as well as the government herds. It is a
murderous disease, destroying life with great rapidity. . . . The
dysentery of camels is sometimes acute, sometimes chronic, and
kills a very great number; when it is acute its course is very
rapid. At Cairo, tiie camels are lodged in great enclosures open
on nearly every side. There they pass their days and nights in
the cold season, after a very hot summer, and in this state, of
course, they must experience the troublesome effects of the sud-
den diminutions of temperature which take place.'

One of the forms of anthrax, which is enzootic and epizootic
in i^gypt, appears to be very destructive among cattle in the form
of gangrenous sore-throat. ' This disease reigns over the whole
of Egypt in winter, summer, springtime, and autumn. It is con-
tagious, and carries off the animals in two, four, and six hours.
It has its seat in the throat ; a tumour appears there, quickly
increases in size and extent, and at last causes death. The ex-
pired air and the saliva communicate the disease, as experience
has testified. It is sporadic, enzootic, and epizootic, and its
causes are unknown. If the practitioner arrives in the com-
mencement of the disease, he ought at once to apply the actual
cautery to the throat, then some blistering ointment.' ^

Splenic apoplexy is also very frequent among ruminants, and
malignant pustule is seen in the horse in the months of May and
June, during the prcv^alence of the very hot wind of the Kames-
sine. On the extreme confines of history — but not until long
after civilization had made great progress — and among its earliest
notices, do we find striking descriptions of the havoc that reigned
in that ancient region.

In the 80th year of the life of Moses, in the reign of Pharaoh
IV., King of that country, 'a very grievous murrain,' known as
the ' Fifth Plague,' fell upon the flocks and herds of the Egyptians,
and destroyed them. Many perturbations in the natural world
were noted. After a damp winter, an uidiealthy summer set in,
the days being hot and liery, the nights cold and dewy, and
sometimes rain\'. 'i'owards the autunni there was tluuuler and

' //anions. l.'Egypte sous Mdicnict Ali, vol. i. pp. 564, 565, 574, 577, 5S3.

I •

4 History of Animal Plagues.

lightning, heavy hailstorms, and excessive drought. The air
seemed pestilential, and as if of fire, while the nights were damp
and chilling. Storms of sand and dust thickly enveloped every-
thino- as they were borne along on the sultry wind ; and cattle, as
well as the human species, were exposed to great risk ol suffoca-
tion. The waters, owing to their impregnation with some sub-
stance, or to the sudden appearance of some animal or vegetable
matter, became of a red or blood colour. In the rivers and
streams all the fish died ; and these, as well as the lakes, became
putrid throughout the lowlands of Egypt. The peculiar condi-
tion of the atmosphere, and the corrupt state of the water, caused
the rapid growth of innnense swarms of frogs, which invaded
every place. By some unknown agency these were all destroyed,
and when their remains were gathered into great mounds by the
fear-stricken inhabitants, the disgusting odour from the putrefy-
ing heaps became a deadly poison. Vermin covered the bodies
of men and animals; clouds of winged insects harassed them
night and day; and these misfortunes, together with the tem-
pestuous weather, originated a fearful pestilence among all the
domestic creatures then kept by the Egvptians. The human
species were next attacked, and suffered much ; and a terrible
storm of lightning and hail destroyed cattle and vegetation.
Masses of locusts, carried over the land by the east wind, black-
ened the face of the earth and devoured what was left of the
herbage. Other horrors were added, and, to crown all, a dread
distemper slew the firstborn of man and beast.

If we can judge by the meagre description of the malady
that attacked the Egyptians at the same time that their cattle
were suffering, and which was known as the '^ sixth plague,' the
epidemy and epizooty would appear to have been of a carbun-
cular nature.^ Paulet "' remarks, with reference to the character
of the disease : ^1 y a apparence que ces ulceres etoient la suite
de tumeurs inflammatoires, n'etoient autre chose que des char-
bons on des bubons pestilentiels, surtout de charbons, converts
de cloches ou de vescies, qui s'abscedoient, ce qui arrive souvent
dans ce cas, et constituoient une peste, vraiscmblablement moins

^ Exodus, chap. ix.
- Rccherclies sur les Maladies Epizootiques. Paris, 1775. Vol. i. p. 22.

History of Aniiiial Plagues. t

nieurtriere que la premiere, qui fut mortellc pour tous les ani-
maux, et designee par ces mots, pestis valde gravis. Ce qui
suppose un degre de foree de plus.'

Whewell ^ says that it is supposed the murrain only attacked
those cattle which were exposed on open pasture ; another proof
as to the probability of the disease being anthrax. A still
stronger proof than this, however, is to be found in the exemj)-
tion of the cattle of the Israelites from the plague of boils as well
as flies, and which has been judiciouslv ascribed, I think, to the
fact, that ' the land of Goshen, in which the Israelites dwelt,'
was sandy pasture above the level of the river, while the rest of
Egypt was low-lying, and its soil submerged by the rising of the
Niie.2

We might surmise, however, that the Israelites and their
flocks and herds escaped destruction owing very much, besides
the miraculous intervention of Providence, to the great care
with which Moses inculcated upon that people the necessity for
separating the clean from the unclean, the healthy from the dis-
eased, and taught the value of disinfection;^ as if the influence
of contagion had been alreadv known to mankind.

That the Egyptians were accjuainted with the Veterinary Art
from a very early period is certain, for on their most ancient
frescoes veterinary surgeons are accurately depicted attend ino- to
the maladies of oxen and other animals, while the written cha-
racters indicating physician or doctor of these various creatures
are plainly inscribed underneath the jiaintings.* We can well
imagine the severe trial their skill would underoo in contendino-
with such a murderous pest as that just noticed.

B.C. 2048 (a.m. 2820.) Anepidemyand epizootv in Ireland.
The Partholani, or tribe of Parthalon, waged war with ' rebellious
miscreants and tyrannous giants/ whom they utterly annihilated
in a fierce battle, and cast their carcases out ' like a sort of dead
dogs, whereof tiwough stinke of the same, such an infective pesti-
lence ensued in all ])laces throughout the island, by corru]ition of
the ague, that few escaped with life except those that got them

' History of the Jews. - IVc'sluiood. The Enlonioloi^'isl's Text Book.

' Leviticus, chap. xiii.

* Willdtison. Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians.

6 History of Animal Plagues.

away by sea ; yea^ the infection was so great of those cursed car-
cases of Cham and his posterity, that the dogs and wolves died
thereof.'^ The chronology of the Irish epizootics up to the
Christian era is not so well established as one could desire. I
can only make an approximation to the dates, those given in
brackets being the ones shown in the ' Census of Ireland for the
year 1851, part 5/

B.C. 1260. To Seneca we are indebted for the description of
an epizooty and epidemy in Troy during the reign of King
Laomedon. ' The first fury of the pestilence struck the listless
sheep by their loathing the rich grass. The priest stood ready
to strike, whilst his hand raised on high threatened instant death.
The sluggish bull with gilded horns staggers : with unrestrained
neck, he suffers from a tremendous blow. Nor did his blood
stain the iron instrument with which he was killed for sacrifice.
Black corrupt blood welled forth from the wound. The horse,
still more torpid, fell in his course in the ring, and threw his rider
with his shoulder to the ground. The cattle in the fields lie
down. The bull, the herd perishing, pines away. The shepherd
is disheartened, his herds and flocks being diminished, and he
dies in the midst of the rapidly wasting oxen. The stags do not
fear the ravenous wolves; the roaring of the angry lion ceases;
there is no fierceness in the shaggy bear ; the slothful snake ex-
hibits symptoms of the plague, is dried up, and dies with his
poison vapid. The woods lack their beautiful foliage, which
usually affords shade to the dense mountains. The country does
not flourish with the fruitfulness of the soil.'' ^

(a.m. 3197.) Grafton, speaking of Riuallus, King of Bri-
tain, who reigned at this period, writes : ' In his time (as Gau-
fride sayeth) it rained blood by the space of three days continu-
ally within the land of Britain. After which rain ensued a
great and exceeding number and multitude of flies, the which
were so noisome and contagious that they slew many people.
And after this (as sayeth an old author) ensued great sickness
and mortality, to the great desolation of this land.'^

' Ilanmer. Chronicle of Ireland. - Oildipus, v. 37, 70, 124, 201.

3 Grafton. A Chronicle at large and Meere History of the Affayres of Eng-
land. London, 1569.

History of Animal Plagiics. 7

(a.m. 3972.) In Ireland it is mentioned that 'every cow
that was cah'ed in Findoll's reign was white-headed.^^

B.C. I200. During the reign of Minos, the island of -^gina
was visited bv a plague which did fearful injury to living crea-
tures, and which Ovid has most graphically described. M.
Paulet imagjines the disease to have been a form of gangrenous
sore-throat, accompanied by acute fever, and perhaps erysipelas,
and of a contagious nature. The cause of it, of course, was the
wrath of an enraged god, though the long-continued heat and
damp state of the weather, predisposing to malignant and
putrid disease, is not overlooked in the description. The poet^
makes the distressed ^Eacus relate its commencement and
course. Dogs, birds, sheep, and oxen, as well as wild creatures,
were attacked by the pestilence before mankind, a fact worthy
of notice in this poem, which, as might be expected, bears traces
of exao:o-eration and fanciful description, mixed up with much
that must have been gathered from observation.

The early Greek historians have left but few records of pesti-
lential diseases among the domestic animals. The fathers of
medicine may have bestowed more attention on the maladies
incidental to their own species than to those of the creatures they
had domesticated, and thus neglected the study of the diseases to
which they were liable. But perhaps the principal reason why
epizootic affections are not alluded to arose from their rarity, the
natural salubrity of the climate of Greece, and the isolated situa-
tion of its various islands, which afforded but little opportunity
for the oriirin or diffusion of general affections. Hippocrates,
who appears to have collected all the medical knowledge existing
before his time, and who often examined dead animals, scarcely
notices the diseases peculiar to them. In one passage, he ob-
serves that goats and sheep are very liable to epilepsy {Lib. de
Morl'o Sacra), probably due to hydatids on the brain ; in
another it is remarked that cattle are much disposed to luxations
of the hip {Lib. de ArliculU); and most remarkable of all, he
refers to oxen, sheep, and swine as infested by hydatids, when
endeavouring to prove that di'opsy in man often de])eiuls on

' Book of Lecan. ^ Metamorphoses, liook vii.

8 History of Animal Plagues.

the presence of these entozoa. ' Hydropem etiam ex phymatis
oriri niihi argumento sunt boves, oves, et suesj ha his enim
fere quadrupedibus puhiionis phymataoriuntur, quae aquam con-
tinent : sectione nanique facta citissime cognoveris cum aqua
effluet/ [Dt internis jlffect. par. v.) He speaks of having been
informed by those who understood horses, that these animals
were liable to all the infirmities with which mankind is afflicted.

(a.m. 5001.) 'There was a great mortality of kine in Ire-
land in Breasal's reiirn.^^ From this circumstance the kins;
received the cognomen of Bodhiobhadh (cow destruction), or
Breasal Bodivo. ' In his (Breasal's) time there was such a mor-
reen (murrain) of cows in the land, as there were no more then
left alive but one bull and one heifer in the whole kingdom,
which bull and heifer lived in a place called Gleam-Samasge.''^
The tradition of this event is still preserved in Glensawisk, or
the Glen of the Heifer, in the parish of Lower Bodoney, County
Tyrone. This is the first cattle epizooty on record in Ireland.

B.C. 1 1 83. An epidemy and epizooty broke out, according
to Homer (b.c. 907), during the siege of Troy. At that time,
'whence to Greece unnumbered ills arose,' Chryses, high-priest
of Apollo, was dismissed by Atrides, with threats, when he
went to the Grecian camp to ransom his daughter from the
hands of her captors. The old man in his anger prays to Apol-
lo for revenge :

' . . . . his pray'r Apollo heard :
Along Olympus' heights he pass'd, his heart
Burning with wrath ; behind his shoulder hung
His bow, and ample quiver ; at his back
Rattled the fateful arrows as he moved :
Like the night-cloud he pass'd ; and from afar
He bent against the ships, and sped the bolt ;
And fierce and deadly twang'd the silver bow.
First on the mules and dogs, on man the last,
Was pour'd the arrowy storm ; and through the camp,
Constant and num'rous, blazed the fun'ral fires.
Nine days the heav'nly archer on the troops
Hurl'd his dread shafts.'^

^ Annals of the Four Masters. - Annals of Clonmacnoise.

^ Homer'' s Iliad, Book i., Earl Derby's Translation.

History of Animal riagues. 9

Homer docs not forget to indicate the cause or the probably
contagious character of the pestilence^ by describing the precau-
tions taken in the Greek camp to cleanse and purify^ and to
throw all filth and obnoxious matter into the sea.

B.C. 1 100. There were twenty-five years' drought in Spain,
so that there was neither food for man nor pasture for cattle.
Springs dried up, rivers failed or became stagnant, and only a
few olive trees on the banks of the Ebro and Guadalquiver
remained to testify to the little vitality yet left in the vegetable
kingdom. The land was full of ^ dreadful mortalities, plagues,
and miseries of every description.'

The occurrence of droughts almost invariably, as we will
have occasion to notice, forebodes disease to man and beast, and
they have ever been looked upon with dread.

' While travelling through the country, I received several
vivid descriptions of the effects of a late great drought, and the
account of this may throw some light on the cases where vast
numbers of animals have been embedded together. The period
included between the years 1827 and 1830 is called the "Gran
scco," or the great drought. During this time so little rain fell
that the vegetation, even to the thistles, failed; the brooks were
dried uj), and the whole country assumed the appearance of a
dusty high-road. This was especially the case in the northern
part of the province of Buenos Ayres and the southern part of St
Fe, Very great numbers of birds, wild animals, cattle, and
horses perished from the want of food and water. A man told
me that the deer used to come into his courtyard to the well
which he had been obliged to dig to supply his own family with
water, and that the partridges had hardly strength to fly away
when pursued. The lowest estimation of the loss of cattle in
the province of Buenos Ayres alone was taken at one million
head. A proprietor at San Pedro had j)reviously to tiiis 20,000
cattle; at the end not one remained.'^

^*-C- 753- IMutarch^ informs us that soon after the nuu-der
of 'J'atius a great pestilence Ijroke out at Koine, which was in-

* C. Darwin. Journal of Researches. 6th edit. London, 1845, p. 133.
'■* Vita Romulus.

lo Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

stantaneously fatal to animals and men. It did great evil, and
during its fury blood is said to have been rained. The red colour
of the rain was due, no doubt, to the presence of a vegetable organ-
ism in the atmosphere, owing to some favourable conditions for
its development. Zonaras says that the earth and cattle were
barren: 'sterilitas agrorum et pecudum.' The crops failed, and
the beautiful and fertile country of Campania, before greatly
depressed by the murder of Tatius, was now sadly troubled by
famine, pestilence, and the sword.

From the earliest ages animal plagues recur in the history of
Rome, a city which was afterwards to become so famous for terrible
calamities that Livy styled it ' urbs assiduis exhausta funeribus.'
Tacitus, in his description of Rome, intimates the almost regular
occurrence of ' tempus grave aut annus pestilentiae.' Its situation,
no doubt, greatly favoured these attacks. Built on the low banks
of the Tiber, surrounded by malarious tracts of country, and
subject to inundations and commotions of the elements, it fur-
nished for centuries the most fearful examples of epidemic and
epizootic visitations. To the south lay the Pontine marshes, a
tract of land extending from Nettuno to Terracina, about 45
miles long and from 4 to 11 broad, which at no distant period
before had been covered by the sea. In the early times of the
Roman Republic, according to Pliny, 33 cities existed there; but
these, either by wars or increasing miasma, very soon dis-
appeared. What are termed the marshes are formed by great
quantities of water, received from innumerable streams, which,
rising in the neighbouring mountains, run into the plain, where,
for want of a sufficient declivity towards the sea, their course is
very slow, until they become stagnant, and at length lose them-
selves in the sand. They now contain immense pastures, where
horses, cattle, and herds of buffaloes graze as in the early ages
of that once great empire. The air, particularly in some seasons
of the year, is even at present very unwholesome. The inhabit-
ants are pale and sallow, suffer much from fever, and the lower
animals are subject to various maladies peculiar to such situa-
tions.

In the south part of Tuscany, and not far from the Eternal
City, lies the Maremma, another marshy region, which^ by reason

Histoi'y of Animal Plagues. 1 1

of its being pervaded by unhealthy exhalations from a soil
abounding in sulphur and alum, cannot be inhabited in summer
without danger, for then the population is driven away by fever,
and the maVar'ia frequently sweeps down the streets of Rome.

The great Ostiensian marshes, similar to the Pontine, added
their insalubrious emanations to those from the other sources; so
that, during unfavourable seasons, Rome and its environs gen-
erally suffered severely. Even the most fertile and healthv
districts, on which the Romans depended for grain and cattle,
were sometimes exposed to these influences ; and Campania,
still one of the most beautiful and productive parts of Italy, once
the resort of the most distinguished patricians, and where, as
Goethe says, ' it is worth while to till the ground,' did not escape
those devastations for which the country in general w^as so noted.
Eusebius, the Father of Ecclesiastical History, when describing
a plague which reigned in the Roman Empire in a.d. 314, men-
tions the state of the atmosphere. ' The air was so noxious and
everywhere so deranged with corrupt vapours, fumes from the
earth so putrid, winds from the sea, exhalations from marshes
and rivers, so injurious, that a certain poisonous liquor, as it
were from putrid carcases, was brought by the elements, and
covered the subjacent seats or benches, walls, ai:d sides of houses,
and the dew appeared like the sanies of dead bodies.'^ Much
was also due, no doubt, to the unsettled state of the empire.
Constant wars and revolutions retarded agricultural operations,
desolation often reigned, and severe famine was but too frequently
a consequence. Hygiene was neglected, even the rivers and
fields were filled with putrefying matter; so that men and beasts,
birds and fishes, perished together, vnlgato per omne genus anima-
Uum morl'o. At the present day, notwithstanding attempts at
drainage around Rome, the plain of Latium and the country
near it arc uninhabited deserts, miasmatic to a dcadlv degree.

The e])izootic maladies of the domestic animals, but es])eci-
ally of the ox, a creature j^articularlv susceptible of disease, would
be very serious with such a pco]ile as the Romans, who de]K'iulcd so
much upon the services to be obtained from them. A destruction

' Eiiscbiiis. Clironicon. Paris, 1C2S.

12 History of Animal Plagues.

of cattle was with them a destruction of the earth's produce, for
the soil could not be tilled, and from this would arise a famine.
' Sine quibus (sc. Bobiis) nee terra excoli nee humanura genus
sustentari ullatenus poterunt/ says Vegetius. Livy mentions
that neglect of culture and scarcity of corn were the usual effects
of epidemical sickness : Defiincta civitate plurimorum morh'ia per-
paucis funerihus pestilentem annum inopia frugiim neglecto cultu
agrorum, ut plerumque jit, excep'it. This neglect of agriculture
might, on many occasions, be the effect of disease among the
cattle, as it was here of sickness among men; in which case it
would be the cause of an epidemic, as it is here said to have
been the effect of it.

B.C. 545-6. A great famine and pestilence at Rome and in
the plain of Latium. Vast numbers of cattle died from a murrain,
and to such extremities were the inhabitants reduced that the
Volsci were compelled to petition the Romans for assistance in
re-peopling their cities.^

B.C. 488. A plague of animals and of men. 'A certain
pestilential disease affected all creatures, and made great havoc
amongst cattle. The mortality among mankind, however, was
not great, for they escaped the dangers arising from this dis-
ease,-' ^

B.C. 476. During this year, and for some years subse-
quent to this period, Spain was visited by various pestilences.^

B.C. 472. According to Mariana* a plague reigned through-
out nearly the whole world. It began in Egypt, and at length
reached Spain, the disease generally conmiencmg among the
cattle. A peculiar feature in its progress was that it nearly
always appeared in the country districts before it reached the
towns.

B.C. 463. During a year of great heat and drought, the
Latins and Hernici were devastating the country around Rome.
The evil consequences arising from the fatigues of war were
greatly increased by crowds of country people, who, with their

^ Dionysiits Ilalicarnassiis, Functius, and Rluratori.
2 Dionysius llalicaniassus. Antiq. Rom. vii. 68.
•* Florian de Campo. Vol. i. lib. ii. chap. 45.
* Juan de Mariana. Historia General de Espana.

I

i

History of Animal Plagues. 13

herds and flocks, fled for safety from the plundering tribes within
the walls of the imperial capital. As a result of the over-crowd-
ing and the other misfortunes, disease appeared about the calends
of September, and caused great mortality until the end of Novem-
ber. Horses and cattle were first attacked, then man. Diony-
sius writes : '^When first attacked bv this disease, the horses and
the oxen fell victims. After them goats and sheep succumbed,
so that it was necessary to destroy all four-footed beasts. Then
it (the pestilence) attacked herdsmen and farmers, and passinor-
over the whole country, at length fell upon the eity.^ ^

(a.m. 5160.) To show the mildness of the season in Ire-
land, we are told that in the reign of Conaire there was abund-
ance of nuts. '■ The cattle were without keepers in Ireland in
his reign, on account of the greatness of the peace and concord.
The wind did not take a hair oflT the cattle from the middle of
autumn to the middle of spring. Little but the trees bent from
the greatness of their fruit during his time.'-

B.C. 453. According to Livy and Dionvsius, the pestilence
loimikie (probably anthrax) destroyed nearly one-half the in-
habitants of Rome as well as their cattle. The disease spread to
the ^qui, Sabines, and Volsci, and inflicted great loss on them,
killing their herds and flocks, and causing such havoc that the
land was left uncultivated, and famine thereby induced. Another
plague succeeded this, which lasted from B.C. 443 to 438.^

H.c. 431. At Rome a disease appeared among animals in
this year, which extended to mankind. Livy writes concerning it :
' Great suffering prevailed that year in consequence of drought.
Not only were the heavens without water, but the earth, being
deprived of its natural moisture, hardly supplied the perennial
rivers. Everywhere the cattle died from thirst around dry foun-
tains and streams. The murrain having ceased, common con-
ta<iious diseases seized tlu' people; those residing in the country
were first affected, after which the city was ravaged. Nor were
their bodies alone aflected by the pestilence, for their minds were
also assailed by manifold religious cerenH)nies, most of thcni ot
foreign origin.' ^

' Op. cit. ix. 67. " Annals of llic Four M.nslcr.s.

3 Livv. Lib. iii. 32. Dioiiys. Lil). x. 53. * Livy. Lib. iv. 25, 30.

14 History of Anhnal Plagues.

B.C. 430. The plague of Athens, so lucidly described bj
Thucydides^ occurred during the second year of the Peloponnesian
war. Thucydides and Lucretius mention that birds were rare, dogs
died, and that rapacious animals would not devour the bodies of
the dead. ' For the same reason there came a disease to cattle, also
sickness to bleating flocks. And although many unburied bodies
lay on the ground, yet the birds and beasts of prey either kept at
a distance to escape the stench, or when they had eaten of them
they began to grow weak as death approached. Neither did
any birds rashly appear in these lands, nor did the wild beasts
leave their haunts in the woods at night, for they began to
languish from the pestilence and die. But, foremost of all, the
faithful dog was attacked, tainting the air in the highways with
his disease, while the ruthless poison drove the sickening spirit
from every limb.' ^

Thucydides gives us the supposed cause. '^As they (the
Athenians) had no houses, but dwelt in booths all the summer
season, and in which there was scarcely room to breathe, the
pestilence destroyed with the greatest confusion ; so that they
lay together in heaps, the dying upon the dead, and the dead
upon the dying. They were tumbling one over the other in the
public streets, or lay expiring round every fountain, whither they
had crept to assuage the intolerable thirst which was consuming
them. The temples of which they had taken possession were

full of the dead bodies of those who had expired there For

as this distemper was in general virulent beyond expression, and
its every part more grievous than had yet fallen to the lot of
human nature, so in one particular feature it appeared to be
none of the natural infirmities of man, since the birds and beasts
that prey on human flesh either never approached the dead
bodies, of which many lay uninterred, or certainly perished if
they ever tasted it. One proof of this is the total disappearance
at that time of such birds, for not one was to be seen either in
any other place or near the carcases. But the dogs, because
of their constant familiarity with man, afforded a more notorious
proof of this event.' ^

' Lucretius. Lib. vi. 1 123, et seq. '^ Thucydides. Bcllo Pclop. ii. 49.

History of Animal Plagtics. 13

A similar pestilence raged in Persia, Egypt, Libva, and
Ethiopia.

B.C. 399. A great epizooty at Rome is described by Liw.
'The year was remarkable for its stormy and frosty winter; so
severe. was it that the Tiber was unnavigable. Either in con-
sequence of the unseasonableness of the weather — a sudden
change havino; taken place, or from some other cause, a trying,
and to all animals a pestilential, summer, succeeded the terrible
winter. Neither the cause nor the termination of this incurable
mortality could be divined In the former year an un-
bearable and almost miraculous winter set in ; in the following
year pestilence raged through town and country, as though the
angry gods were venting their displeasure.^^

It is somewhat strange that Aristotle, who lived about this
period, did not give any detailed description of epizootic diseases
in his History of Animals. He mentions scabies, canine mad-
ness, and arthritis — a disease endemic and enzootic in Greece,
and the only one, according to this writer, to which the unbroken
droves of horses wandering over the plains were liable. Some
of the maladies of animals are enumerated by him, such as
tetanus, the iliac passion, and phthisis of cattle, but the great
animal plagues are forgotten, if we except the one termed mal'i:i
which, he says, was peculiar to the ass species. This word was
used by the Greeks to signify the most serious diseases of ani-
mals, in something the same manner as the word lo'imos was
employed to distinguish the pestilential maladies of man.

The malis manifested itself principally by a discharge of thick
mucosities from the nostrils, and it was believed the seat of the
disease was usually in the head. ' If the malady reached the chest,'
savs Aristotle, ' they died, but if it was confined to the head it
could be cured.' The etymology of the word signified nothing-
more than a glanderous discharge, and the Romans translated or
rendered it by the term projluvhim utlkiim, a disease, or rather
a symptom, according to them, nearly always fata! in animals,
but which characterized more particularly what we now teru)
' glanders ' in horses and asses.

Op. cit. V. 13 — 15.

1 6 History of Animal Plagues.

Aristotle excluded fishes from the list of animals subject to
pestilential diseases. ^ Morbus pestilens null us insidere piseibus
videtur, qualis plerumque hominibus et quadrupedibus^ equis, et
bubus, et reliquis generis nonnullis accidit turn feris turn urbanis/
(Histor. Animal, lib. viii. chap. 19.)

B.C. 332, 296, 291, 278. The Tarentian war was succeeded
by a most desolating pestilence, invading both cities and suburbs,
and carrying off chiefly women and cattle. In 278 it was known
as the Abortus epidemicns, and was particularly fatal to pregnant
females and cows at Rome. ^A grievous pestilence invaded the
city and its environs, which attacked all, but especially the women.
The fcEtus was killed in the womb, and discharged from it.
Miscarriages exposed mothers to great danger; so much so, that
it was feared that a future population and breed of animals would
be wantino;.^ ^

B.C. 218. In Spain there was a fatal epizooty among dogs
and birds."

B.C. 216. Polybius mentions that the horses of Hannibal^s
army were attacked by a disease while they were in the marshes
of Etruria, and through which they lost their hoofs. ' Equorum
etiam multis, ob longum per paludes iter, ungulae exciderunt.' "^

B.C. 212. At the siege of Syracuse, a putrid disease broke
out amono; the Carthao-inians and Romans who were under the
command of Marcellus. It was supposed to have arisen from
over-crowding, a badly cultivated and undrained country, scarcity
and bad quality of provisions, and the inundations from a stag-
nant lake which was always suspected of being the cause of
maladies. After speaking of the excessive heat of the autumn,
and the miasma arising from the marshes, Silius Italicus goes on
to say, — ' First the dogs felt the effects of the plague ; next, the
pestilential vapours in their rapid course attacked the birds, then
laid low the wild beasts in the woods. Still surely onwards
crept the infernal pest, and finally devastated the camp by
destroying the troops. The tongue became dry, and a cold sweat
crept over the trembling body; the drooping jaws denied the

^ P. Orosii. liistor. Lib. iv. p. 2. ^ Mariana. Op. cit.

^ Universal History.

History of A niuial PlagiLcs. 1 7

proflTered food, a hacking cough wore out their kmgs, and the
hot breath came out from the parched mouth.' ^

B.C. 203. In the neighbourhood of Capua, a mio-htv swarm
of locusts filled the country, and caused general destruction every-
where.^

B.C. 200. Cato the Elder, who lived about this time, in his
valuable and admired treatise on husbandry makes allusion to the
epizootic and other diseases of the lower animals. While giving
superstition its full share of attention, he wisely has an earnest
desire to be more practical. ' If there be reason to fear,' says he,
'the presence of an epizootic disease, it is most essential to give
to the cattle a mixture of salt, laurel leaves, onions, cloves of
garlic,"'' incense, powdered rue, and burning charcoal, made up
with a little wine.' So much for his preventive treatment. His
remedial measures were simpler. ^ If an animal becomes affected
with the disease, make it swallow an cofg whole, and the next
day give a clove of garlic beaten up in wine.' To restore the
appetite of oxen which are sick, he recommends sprinkling their
forage with oil dre^s, and this fluid might also be given in a
little water every four or five days as a restorative and fortifiant.
'By this means,' he adds, 'cattle will be insured against disease
and kept in a thriving state.'*

B.C. 175-6. Rome was again the scene of a dreadful pesti-
lence. This was preceded by a most inclement season, and while
the malady lasted swarms of locusts ravaged Apulia and cleared
off the vegetation before them. Sicinius the praetor was sent
with an army to drive them away. Livy says that the disease
began amongst the cattle, and soon after attacked mankind.
Those who lived for sevx'u days did so with great difficulty, and
were liable to be seized with a quartan fever. The lower classes
were the principal sufferers, and their dead bodies lav about the
roads, untouched by dogs or vultures, and were allowed to rot
there. No vultures were seen in this, nor yet in the former year,''

' Siliits Ilalicits. I'unic War, chap. xiv. v. 5S0 — 626.
^ Livy. Lit), xxx. 2.

' Onions and garlic formed the principal ingredients in a pretended specific for
<?attle plague in a.d. 1865.

* Rci Kustica Scriptores Veteres. Leipsic, 1735. * Livy. Lib. xli. iS — 21.

2

i8 History of Animal Plagues.

B.C. 134. The army oF Scipio ^milianus, the Numantinej
was operating in Palestine and the adjacent countries. Water
proved to be so scarce that wells had to be made, but the liquid
obtained from them gave rise to a malignant epizooty among
the horses and beasts of burden. Great loss was sustained ;
and the disease continuing to spread, the army had to be
moved to the healthier plains of Numantia, in order to get rid of
the pestilence.

B.C. 126. An eruption of Mount Etna. The following year
(127) pestilence in Africa, which was attributed to shoals of
dead locusts. These creatures having been brought over by a
strong east wind, and having devoured all vegetation, even to
the bark of the trees, were driven by a southerly gale into the
Mediterranean and drowned, after which they were again washed
on shore during hot weather, and putrefied there. The pestilence
occasioned by the decomposition of their bodies destroyed more
than a million of people, and the domestic animals also suffered.
The odour was intolerable.

Thomson has well said that plagues are ^ the offspring of in-
clement skies, and of legions of putrefying locusts.' The visits
of these creatures to eastern countries have frequently induced
famine, pestilence, and death, and histoiy records these effects
of their incursions, alas ! too often.

B.C. 43. Eruptions of Etna; an excessively hot summer;
dark, gloomy weather; heavy rains; extensive inundations of
the Po, the Ciuca, Segre, and the Isonzo, were the cause of
many diseases, but especially those of a carbuncular nature
affecting oxen, horses, dogs, and even many other crea-
tures. The deer tribe in the forests were not exempt from the
attacks.

This period is remarkable for the poetical description of
some of these epizootic diseases written by the illustrious Ro-
man poet Virgil, he who sang of ' shepherds, fields, and heroes'
deeds.'

If he had made veterinary science a special study, he could
not have sung more truthfully or learnedly for the age in which
he lived. The frequent visitations of, and sad havoc wrought by,
epizootic diseases seems to have struck him as an alarming fact.

History of Animal Plagues. 19

' Not whirlwinds from the sea so frequent rush,
Big with the storm, as pests 'mid cattle rage.
Nor individuals sole disorders seize,
But, suddcnh', whole flocks, with every hope,
At once, and, from the youngest, all the race.'

And when the pestilence had broken out^ and

' Tisiphone, all pale, before her drives
Disease and fear, and each succeeding day
Tow'rs more and more with her detested brow — '

who so careful to watch her progress and note her mani-
festations as the Mantuan bard? In the third book of his
Georgies he gives an account of a dire disease which destroyed
nearly all the living creatures on land or in the water in the vicin-
ity of the Julian Alps. Some authorities imagine that he has at-
tempted to describe the different diseases of each species : the ma-
lignant exanthematous affections or the ardent pestilential fever
accompanied by vertigo of the horse, the pleuro-pneumonia of the
cow, the inflammatory fever of the sheep, the malignant sore-
throat of the pig, and the rabies of the dog ; but in all probabilitv
it is an account of one of those dreadful calamities that smote
all, from man downwards, perhaps a little exaggerated for poetical
efl'ect, though of this we must not judge too harshly. In his other
descriptions of kindred subjects in the same poem we find great
accuracy, and a fidelity which will hold good even now, and for
all time; therefore we must conclude that an adherence to truth
was his great object, and that the real value of his precepts was
never sacrificed to his poetical genius, but only polished and
embellished by the mind of a great master.

llie apparent causes of the disease were severe autunmal
iieat, im|)ure water, and rank pasturage.

' From tainted air arose
A dreadful storm, inflamed by autumn's heat,
And gave to death all cattle, tame or wild.
Corrupting lakes, poisoning the grassy food.'

Death was fearfully sudden, for he says,

* Oft at the altar as the victim stood,
Amidst the sacred honours of the gods,

2,0 " History of Animal Plagues.

While the white fillet cover'd that of wool,
As paused the lingering priest, it fell and died :
Or had the flamen timely struck the blow.
On altars placed, fibi'es refuse their blaze.
And question'd prophets can no answer give :
And scarce the steel employ'd is tinged with blood.
That barely stains the surface of the soil.'

His pictures of the various animals passing through the
different stages of the disease are most vivid and strikino;, and
betray much feehng for the sufferings they endure.

' Hence amidst springing grass young cattle die.
And yield their gentle lives at loaded stalls ;
Hence madden fawning dogs, and the sick swine
With suffocation shake, and panting cough.'

The horse obtains the largest share of notice.

' He falls — his fire all lost — his grass forgot —
The victor horse ; from fountains turns away.
And quick and oft beats with his feet the ground ;
Fallen are his ears — uncertain is his heat.
And clammy chills proclaim approaching death ;
Arid and hard, his skin resists the touch.
These earliest signs announce the fatal pest ;
But if in progress the disease grows fierce.
Then are the eyes inflamed, and deep the breath
Is drawn, sometimes with heavy groans ; the flanks
Distend with lengthen'd sobs ; the nostrils run

) Black blood, and the rough tongue clings
To the obstructed jaws. Through the inserted horn
Lenasan streams infused once gave relief.
And this for the dying seem'd the only hope.
But this inflamed the pest, when strong in rage
They burn'd, and now themselves, 'mid pangs of death
(May the gods guard the pious, and thus curse our foes I)
Tore their own mangled limbs with naked teeth.'

Next, the toihng, ' traihng-footcd ox ^ has his history told.

' Lo ! as the bull under the plough-share smokes,
He falls, and vomits mingled foam and gore.
And makes his final groan. The ploughman sad
Disjoins the ox that mourns his brother's fate,

History of A ninial Plagiics. i j

And leaves the rooted plough, the work half done.
The shades of deep'ning groves, the softest meads
Move him not now, nor stream through rocky bed
That pure as amber freshens all the plain.
His flanks are all relax'd, and his dull eye
A stupor covers, and to earth his neck
Down rushes with the heavy weight it bore.
What profit then their service and their toil .''
Yet not the sparkling flow of Massic wine,
Nor feasts replenish'd, ever injured them;
They feed on leaves, and eat the simplest herbs,
Their cup the liquid founts and rapid streams ;
They have no cares to break their wholesome sleep.'

So deadly had been the plague among cattle that

' No other time, they say, those regions knew
When cows were sought for Juno's sacred rites.
And unmatch'd bulls drew to her shrine the car.
Therefore men toiling break the earth with rakes.
And with their very nails prepare the crops,
And over lofty hills, with outstretch'd necks,
Drag on the creaking cart.'

The species of the victims increase.

' The felon wolf
No longer lays his plots around the fold,
Or takes his nightly walk ; a sterner care
Subdues him. Timid deer and flying stags
Now amongst dogs and horses range at large ;
Whilst of the sea immense, all swimming things
On the shore's verge, like shipwreck'd bodies, float,
Wash'd by the wave. Phocae to rivers fly.
And seek a refuge never known before.
In vain defended by his winding den,
The viper dies, and with his scales erect.
The frightcn'd hydra ; while the birds themselves
Insufferable find the tainted gale,
And falling, leave in lofty air tlicir lives.'

All remedies seem to have l)een in vain, for we are told that

' No change of food affords relief,
And ari implored destroys j'

22 History of Animal Plagues.

sig-aifying, probablv, that the medicines employed tended only
to aggravate the disease. The shepherd could do nothing but,

' Sitting still, pray heav'n for better luck,'

or take advice, and

' With speedy knife the fault coerce, ere yet
The dire disease creeps through the careless flock.'

Human skill was foiled.

' The masters yield,
Philyrian Chiron, and Melampus sage.'

The mortality among the domesticated animals increases
fearfully,

* Till men dig deep and bury them in earth.
The skins are useless, nor the tainted flesh
Can water cleanse, nor raging fire subdue ;
Nor is it possible to sheer the fleece,
So damaged with disease and filthiness ;
Nor can the weaver touch the putrid web.
But should a man attempt the odious garb.
With burning pimples and disgusting sweat
His limbs are seized, and in no lengthen'd time.
The fire accursed consumes his poison'd frame.' '

A.D. lo — 14. After the destruction of the Milesian nobility
by the Attacottl, the first great famine which we read of in
Christian times occurred in Ireland in the reign of Cairbre the
' Cat-headed,^ the last king of the Aitheach-Tuatha. ' The
earth did not yield its fi uits to the Attacotti after the great mas-
sacre which they had made of the nobility of Ireland, so that the
corn, fruits, and produce of Ireland were barren; for there used
to be but one grain upon the stalk, one acorn upon the oak, and
one nut upon the hazel. Fruitless were her arbours_, milkless her

^ Virgil. Georgics, lib. iii. v. 495, et seq. Some commentators are of opinion
that Virgil's description of this dreadful epizootic anthrax fever (which much re-
sembles the South American derreiigadera, as described by Don Ramoro Paez for
the year 1838) has been written in imitation of Thucydides and Lucretius. Others,
again, think that the principal facts have been derived from personal observation
in the year 43 B.C., a dreadful period in history, and described in his first Georgic.
— &^ Heynes' 'Notes.'

History of Animal Plagues. 23

cattle^ so that a 2;eneral famine prevailed over Ireland/* during
the five years that Cairbre was in the sovereignty.

A.D. 67. A comet was seen this year, after which followed a
destructive tempest in Campania. Earthquakes took place at
Hicropolis and Laodicea. Six hundred sheep were killed in Italy
by gases emitted during an earthquake.^

'The desire shown by ancient writers to preserve the records
of eclipses which preceded or followed any important event is of
the o-reatcst value, as we can thus easilv fix the date of such
events; for the chronology of eclipses is founded on innnutable
causes, and any fact stated to have occurred synchronously with
phenomena of the kind, can at once, by that very circumstance,
find its determined place in chronology.'^ By eclipses we can
also test the veracity of a historian, and frequently discover the
system of his chronology. An idea prevailed very extensively,
and to a certain degree obtains credence still among writers upon
philosophy as well as medicine, that eclipses and cometary in-
fluences afTect the organized world, and are one of the causes of
blights and pestilences ; and it was probably from being imbued
with such impressions, that the early annalists noted eclipses of
the sun and moon so carefully. But the object of introducing
their occurrence into a modern history of these pestilences is
more with a view to fix a clue to the date and authenticity of
these, than to favour such theories.*

A.D. 69. During the reign of the Emperor Nero it rained so
much of the so-called blood in Albania, that rivers ran blood.
An epizooty broke out among the domestic animals, and an
epidemy in man.^ The accounts of some Roman authors would
lead to the inference that the symptoms of the malady corre-
sponded with those of the epizootic pleuro-pneunionia of our own
times.

Columella, who lived at this period, and whose influence on
the progress of Veterinary Science in that early age was very

' O' deary. Book of Conquests.

- Seneca. Also Orosius, vii. ; and Magd. Eccles. Ilist. ii. 53.

^ L'Art de Verifier les Dates, &c. Paris, 1783, vol. i.

* The Census of Ireland.

* Tacitus. Annals, xvi. Suetonius. Vila Nero, 39.

24 History of Animal Plagues.

great, speaks of many of the diseases of the lower animals; and
after mentioning the symptoms of this attack, says that the
death of the cattle might be averted if a seton was put in the
ear, by means of a fibre from the hellebore root, and giving
them for many days a pint of leek juice, mixed with a like
quantity of olive oil and a pint of wine. The pest was deadly
— a kind of phthisis: Est etiam ilia gravis pernicies cum pulmo
exulceratur, inde tussis et macies et ad ultinium phthisis invadit.
The same writer also mentions a kind of pest which affected
mares, but the symptoms described do not permit us to recog-
nize it. The animals became suddenly emaciated, and died in a
short time. In the commencement of the maladv, it was useful
to inject fish-brine every day into the nostrils, in order, as he
says, to purge the pituitary membrane, and cure the patients.
He likewise describes an epizootic affection that showed itself
in lambs and young goats, and which Paulet says bears some
resemblance to a peculiar ovine disease now known, which local-
izes itself in the skin of the face, and is analogous to ring-worm.
The shepherds of those days called it mentigo or ostigo, and it
consisted in ulcers of a bad character about the lips and inside
the mouth. Its ordinary cause was eating herbage yet covered
with dew. It was fatal to the unweaned animals : — lahes morti-
fera lactantihus. The remedy was to rub the affected parts with
a decoction of equal parts of hyssop and salt ; to wash them
with vinegar, and then to dress them with an ointment com-
posed of liquid pitch and lard. In all likelihood it was an
aphthous afl'ection.

The flocks of sheep and goats were very subject to general
diseases. Such was the goat plague — caprarum pestileiitia, a
^ most formidable and deadly malady, which swept off whole
flocks in a very brief space. ' These animals, usually so lively and
hardy, do not lose condition or show languor, like other animals
when attacked, but they drop all at once, as if struck by light-
ning, and quickly perish. From the moment one is seen to be
affected, the whole flock should be bled, the sickly ones should be
killed, and those yet in health have the juice of reed-roots and
hawthorn to drink in rain-water.''

The pneumonia of sheep is indicated ; the treatment was to

History of Animal Plagtics. 25

be the same as that for pigs — ovcm pulmonurium ut suein curare
coiwenit, Sec.

There was another disease, to which the inhabitants of the
Cam|)agna gave the name of Coriago. It consisted in so close
an adherence of the skin to the ribs, that it was impossible to
detach it. Columella attributed it to the heavy rains to which
the oxen were exposed during their labour. His remedy was to
rub them frequently with wine in the sunshine.

Much attention is given to the ig/iis sacer of sheep. He says,
'Est etiam insanabilis ignis sacer, queni pusiilam vocant pas-
tores.' ' If it is not arrested,' he adds, 'when the first animal is
attacked, it soon affects the whole flock. There is no remedy for
it. The disease is irritated by the least touch, and nothing but
the milk of goats can help to allay its intensity.' Dolus Mende-
sius, a veterinarian of Egyptian origin, is cited by him as one who
was able to give the method of recognizing and arresting the dis-
ease. This method consisted in often examining the backs of
the sheep, and if the slightest redness was perceptible, they were
to be promptly killed, and buried in their skins. Was this the
ovine small-pox ? Some authors have thought it was. There are
some circumstances in favour of this opinion, which we will
notice at a later period.

In the ninth chapter of the sixth book ^ Columella goes on to
say, ' When an ox has the fever,' — which may have been that
peculiar type of Cattle Plague of which we have had such painful
experience, — ' he must not be allowed to cat for the space of a
day; after which, and before he has eaten anything, a little
blood must be abstracted from under the tail, then he must
be made to swallow thirty cabbage leaves baked in oil. This
food is to i)e given for ^wi:: davs, and while fasting, and he is to '
have, besides, the tops of the lentisk, the olive tree, or any other
species of tender-leaved ]-)lants, or branches of the vine, and cold
water is to be allowed him to drink three times a-day.' 'This
treatment,' he insists, ' ought to be followed out in the cow-
house, and the animal should not be allowed in the open air
until cured.' 'The fever is present,' he adds, 'when tears are

' Scriptorcs Rc-i Rustica. Gcsncr, 17S7.

i6 History of A^iimal Plagues.

trickling down tlie face, when the head is carried low and heavily,
and the eyes are closed ; when the saliva flows from the mouth ;
when the respiration is shorter than in health, and seemingly
embarrassed, or sometimes accompanied by groaning/ In chapter
xiv. we have a description of the epizooty. ' It is a grave disease,
consisting in ulceration of the lungs. It produces cough, loss
of flesh, and consumption. Another disease is noticed, in which
sometimes there arises a swelling of the palate, which causes the
animal to refuse food, to sigh, suspiriosd lahorantes, and to seem
uncertain on which side he should fall. The palate must be
torn with the iron to make it bleed, and he must be given
softened vetches.' Change of air he lays much stress on, after
recommending setons in the ears. — Suspir'iose luborantibus auri-
culce ferro rescindendce, mulandceqiie regiones ; quod hi omnibus
morbis ac pestibiisjieri debere censemus.

The most sensible advice he gives, with regard to the treat-
ment of animals, is to separate the healthy from the unhealthy
— Segregandi u sanis morbidi; and he sarcastically makes
mention of Dolus Mendesius, a contemporary veterinarian, as a
man who recommended that the first sheep that was attacked by
the /'""/zwiaccr, gangrenous erysipelas (?), should be killed and buried
at the entrance of the sheep-fold, as if he thought it a danger-
ous custom in those days; for this disease was often epizootic,
and it is believed now to be very contagious when so.

A.D. 76. ' God took vengeance on the Aitheach-Tuatha
(Attacotti) for their evil deed (the slaughter by King Fiacha of
the white cattle in a.d. 56) during the time that Elim was in
the sovereignty, namely, Ireland was without corn, without
milk, without fruit, without fish, and without every other great
advantage.' ^

A.D. 92. A lo'imic plague is described by the Jewish philoso-
pher Philo, who believed it to have been caused by hot dust.
' The clouds of dust suddenly falling on men and cattle, pro-
duced over the whole skin a severe and intractable ulceration.
The body immediately became tumid with elTlorcscences, or

1 Annals of the Four Masters.

History of Animal Plagues. 27

purulent phlyctenoe, which appeared like blisters excited by a
secret liie beneath.^

A. D. T90. 'About this time a great pestilence raged over
all Italy, and became most violent in Rome by reason of" the
great concourse of people assembled from all quarters of the
world. Wherefore a great loss of life took place amongst oxeii
and men, the excited cattle perishing amongst the people/ ^
The sweet smell of the laurel-tree was supposed to counteract
the contagion. The people of Rome were advised bv their phy-
sicians to fill their noses and cars with odorous substances, and
tO|Use perfumes, sp as to nullify human effluvia and the con-
tagious atmospliere. Famine and pestilence raged for three
years.

A. D. 216. Widespread pestilence in Italy, affecting man
and beast.-

A.D. 238. In Ceylon ' a great famine and plague occurred
during this reign, attributed to the malignity of the red-eyed
demon. It was to appease this demon that a devil-dance was
instituted, which is kept up to this day.^ ^ Forbes thinks this
was smallpox, a disease which afterwards ravaged that island on
many occasions.

A.D. 260. When Saphor, King of Persia, was besieging
Nisibus, his elephants and beasts of burden were so suddenly
and furiously attacked by swarms of gnats, as to kill or disable
them, thus causing the siege to be raised, and subsequently lead-
ing to the discomfiture of that monarches army.'' *

A.D. 314. In the reign of Constantine the Great, the large
island of Cyprus was 36 years without rain. So great a
famine ensued that all its animal inhabitants forsook it and
flcd.^

A.D. 376. In this long interval, epidemics of various kinds
had reigned throughout the world, and caused incalculable mor-
tality; but though some of these, from their nature, may have
extended themselves to the lf)wer animals, and thus rendered

' Ilerodian. Hist., I^ook i. "- Ilclvdlus. Cavriol. Hist. Urix.

^ Forbes. Eleven Years in Ceylon. Appendix, p. 286.

' 'I'hcodorile. Hist. Ecclcs. book ii., chap. 30. '•' Petaviiis.

2 8 History of Animal Plagues.

their infliction doubly severe, there is no mention of their having
done so. In these obscure ages, and in nearly every subsequent
one, as we will often have occasion to observe, when plagues
I have slain myriads of human beings, the greater evil has swallowed
j up the lesser, or rather veiled it, and no record is made of epizo-
I otic diseases, though we may strongly suspect that they have
i often accompanied, if they have not preceded and perhaps caused,
i directly or indirectly, those widespread maladies in mankind.

In this year, after the sanguinary irruption of the Huns
under Attila, the expulsion of the Goths from Hungary, and the
fierce internecine wars of the whole Germanic population, there
was an extraordinary famine and a deadly epidemic. The pre-
ceding winter had been very cold, the sunmier very dry, and
shocks of earthquake had been frequent.

A most severe and memorable epizooty began in the east of
Europe and spread westward. It was exceedingly fatal, and
caused great loss, the cattle being no sooner attacked than they
died. Curative measures proved useless, and no healthy animal
was safe unless it was branded on the forehead with a red-hot
iron in the form of a cross. So says, at any rate, the credulous
• and nmrvel-loving Cardinal Baronius,^ who of course adds that
this miracle converted crowds of people to Christianity.

Paulet and Dupuy think there may have really been some
virtue in this application of the actual cautery, but only that of a
physical kind. As might be expected, any benefit supposed to
be conferred on the animals by means of this crucial firing, when
suggested by the miracle-working priests, would be readily placed
to the credit of the Church. The shape of the iron was all-
important, and Camper fancied that the custom of painting
white crosses on the stable-doors in Holland was the remains of
this superstition.

As is well known, Europe was in a sadly disturbed state at
this time from the invasions of the so-called barbarians, while the
consternation and fear their advance and depredations occasioned
was rendere'd more embarrassing by this Cattle Plague. St Am-
brose, who lived at this period, plaintively writes: ' Hunni in

^ Barojiius. Annales Ecclesiastics, vol. iv.

History of Animal Plagues. 29

Alanos, Alani in Gothos, Gotlil in Taifalos et Sarmatos insnr-
rexerunt. Nos quoque in Illyrico — exulcs patrire^ Gothoruni
exilia fecenint et nonduni est finis. Qiise omnium esset fames
lues pariter hominum cneterique pecoris, nt etiam nos qui helium
non pertulimuSj debellatis tamen pares fecerit pestilential ^

From the course pursued by the epizooty and its deadliness,
we have every reason to believe that it was the veritable ' Cattle
Plague/ so called, of our own days. In a curious poem, entitled
'De Mortibus Boum,' written by Sanctus Severus,^ one of the
earliest Christian poets, and a native of Aquitania, who lived in
the 4th century, its progress and fatality are particularly dwelt
upon, and for the first time we have mention made of Hungary
as the birth-place of plagues — a country which for centuries after-
wards was to bear this unenviable reputation. The poem is in
the form of an eclogue, in which three shepherds are introduced.
One of these, Buculus, is lamenting his bad fortune in having
lost all his cattle, while the others try to console him in offering
their sympathy. In this lament we are enlightened as to the
origin, symptoms, and most efficacious treatment of the malady,
the siijn of the cross being the one certain preventive recom-
mended. The disease appears to have travelled from Hungary,
through Austria, to Dalmatia. By Brabant it obtained access
to the Low Countries, Flanders, Picardy, and so on to the other
provinces of France.

A.D, 381. Theodosius being emperor, Constantinople
suffered much by an carthcjuake. Fifty-seven of its late-built
towers on the walls were thrown down. It lasted by fits for
six months, deniolished many fair churches and fortresses, and
expelled the citizens from their houses to the fields. It raged
also by sea, swallowed uj) many ships and several fine islands,

These earthquakes were followed by a great famine, and

the air was so infected that many thousands of people perished by
the contagion, with nniltitudes of cattle.^

Vegetius Kcnatus, whose writings we will notice more par-
ticularly hereafter, was a skilfid agriculturist and hij^piatrist, was

' Commcntar. in Luc. Lib. ix. 21.

* Magna I3il;Iiotheca Octerum ratrum, jjcr M. dc la V>\'gnc, p. 334.

' Clark. Exampl.

30 History of Animal Plagues.

probably contemporary with the invasion of the Huns at this
period, and may have been an observer of this epizooty. He gives
us the following description of what he terms the malls or malleus
(designated maul in the old English translation), and which may
have been the Cattle Plague. After dwelling on the care
to be taken of oxen while in health, and showing that no less
care and diligence must be employed against their maladies than
against those of horses, he says of this malleus : ' As this disease,
and removing in different species of distempers from one to many,
does by its infection destroy the horse kind, so it also kills oxen,
though by different persons it is called by a difl'erent name, and for
the most part by that which the common people give it. If at any
time this disease attacks an ox, it is recognized bv the following
symptoms : The hair is erect, and the animal appears sad, his eyes
stupid and languid, the head and neck drooping, and saliva con-
tinually flowing from his mouth ; his walk is slower than usual ;
his spine appears to be stiff; he shows a very great loathing, and
ruminates very little. If about the beginning of the distemper
vou attempt to give him relief, he will escape the danger; but if
through negligence you be too slow in applying a remedy, the
destructive quality of a disease that is become inveterate cannot
be overcome.' After describing the treatment to be pursued,
and the necessity for mixing salt with the fodder of oxen, he
remarks as to the causes of disease in these animals, but particu-
larly this inalis, in these words : ' If oxen be roused up, so as
to be put upon running at their full speed, at any time of the
year, but especially in summer, either they contract thereby a
looseness which proves pernicious to them, or it gives occasion
to slight fevers; for this animal being naturally slow, and rather
adapted to labour than to swift motion, is grievously hurt if

forced to any work to which it is not accustomed But if

an ox has swallowed hog^s excrement, then he presently under-
goes the plague of that contagious disease called the m.aid (I
quote from the old English translation), which, when once
it has broken in upon a herd, either of great or small cattle,
whether of such as are trained for labour or otherwise, presently
all the animals which have the least suspicion of the distemper
must be removed from the usual pasture-ground and distributed

History of Animal Plagues. 31

in those places where no cattle are pastured, so that thcv may
neither hurt one another nor thenjselves; for, bv feeding on the
grass, they infect it, and the fountains, also, by drinking in them ;
and they also infect the cribs in the stalls where thev stand : so
that oxen, though previously perfectly sound and in good health,
perish by the smell and bv the breath of those that are sick and
diseased blowing upon them. The dead carcases also must be
thrown out at a great distance beyond the bounds of the villa,
and buried very deep in the earth, lest the bodies of those that
are sound be infected by them, and they perish. This distem-
per is called by one general name, the Plague, or Pestilence, but
there are many varieties of it.^ The nature of this malady can-
not be accurately determined by the symptoms enumerated, but
it is obvious that several affections are included in this general
designation. For instance, ' it is named the '' humid distemper"
when a humour flows from the ox's mouth and nostrils, and a
loathing and sickness follows upon it. It is called the " dry dis-
temper" when no discharge appears, but the animal loses con-
dition daily, and has no appetite. It is called the "articular dis-
ease" when the oxen go lame, sometimes in their fore-fcct, and
sometimes in their hind-feet, although their hoofs are perfectly
sound. It is called the " subrenal disease" whenever there ap-
pears a weakness in their hinder parts, and because they are
supposed to have a pain in their loins. It is called the "farci-
minous disease" when tubercles come out over the oxen's whole
body, open themselves, and are healed, and break out again in
other places. It is also called the '^ subcutaneous disease" when-
ever a very bad humour breaks out in different parts of the oxen's
body, and discharges. It is called ''elephantiasis" when very
small cicatrices appear like scabs, or like small lentils. It is
called a " mania " or " madness," which takes away the senses
from oxen that are in good condition, so that thev neither hear
nor see in their usual manner; of which distenii)er thev very
(juickiy die, though they may look fat and cheerfid.

'All these diseases are very contagious, and if one animal be
seized by them they pass innnediatcly to all; and so they ijring
destruction sometimes either ujK)n whole herds or u])on all those
that are fiillv domesticated ami trained to lai)our. Therefore it

32, History of Animal Plagues.

is that the animals which have been attacked must, with all dili-
gence and care, be separated from the herd, put apart by them-
selves, and sent to those places where no animal is pastured, lest
by their contagion they endanger all the rest, and the negligence
of the owner be imputed (as is usually done by fools) to the
Divine displeasure/ ^

Apsyrtus, a renowned Greek Veterinarian of this period,
also speaks in his writings of this malls (ixakis), though it is
quite as evident that he mixes up indiscriminately the character-
istics of several dangerous maladies under the indefinite term.

Hus Renatus. Ars Veter. London, 1748, p- 221.

I

33

CHAPTER II.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 400 TO A.D. 1500.

A.D. 400. In this century we find veterinary science progressing,
and becoming more fit to take cognizance of epizootic diseases.
The authors who treat of veterinary subjects are more numerous,
and some of their works are yet extant. The Emperor of the
Eastern Empire, Constantine, gave every encouragement to the
noble emulation he had raised in regard to the conservation of
the domestic animals, and the perfecting of the veterinary art,
and many able writers dedicated the results of their researches
to him. Among these we have Vegetius Renatus, Count of
Constantinople, who complains that in his time the science was
much neglected, and did not receive all the attention which its
importance demanded, and which he estimates next to that
of human medicine. In his 'Treatise on the Veterinary Art'
he has left us a clearer, more precise, and a more extended cata-
logue of diseases than any of his predecessors. There is much,
of course, in the treatise derived from ignorance and supersti-
tion. As a proof of this, wc may notice that he avers that if an
ox cats the excrement of a pig, he must be treated as a pestifer-
ous animal.^ These weaknesses we must tolerate in return for

' Si anlcm porciniim stercus bos devoraverit statim pcstilcvtiain contagionis illiu^
mallei sustiiid morbi. Book iii. chap. ii. It is curious to find Columella giving
a similar opinion : Et id pracipuc quod egerit sus ccgra pestilentiam J'accre valet.
Book vi. chap. v.

3

34 History of Animal Plagues.

the anxiety he displays to add to the slender stock of knowledge
in this department of science. He enumerates a great number
of pests^ all of which he specifies as contagious, but of the cor-
rectness of this we may justly have our suspicions.

The humid pest, or malls of the Greeks, — the prqfluvium
attiaim of the Romans, — was marked by a mucus, or purulent
discharoe from the nostrils and mouth, and loathins; of food. It
appears to have been the glanders of the horse, and in all proba-
bility a cattle plague; Nam equimnn gemis morbus qui appella-
tur MALLEUS, diverso geuere passiojmm emigrans per plures con-
tagione consamit. Boves quoque idem morbus interjicit sed a
diversis diverso nomine vocatur. The articular pest was character-
ized by lameness of the anterior or posterior limbs, the feet
being also affected. The skin or subcutaneous pest was con-
tajrious, and due to the presence of an acrid humour, which
attacked different parts of the body, and did much harm. The
animals were continually rubbing themselves. The plague of
elephantiasis, or leprosy, was another affection of the skin. The
mad plague, in which the oxen neither heard nor saw, and from
which they died quickly, although they were lively and in good
condition but a short time before. There were also the farcinous,
the dry, the renal, and other plagues. According to this writer,
whenever an animal was affected by any of these pests, it imme-
diately infected all the others ; hence the urgent reason for
separating all the diseased at once from those yet in health, and
in such a manner that no contact, mediate or immediate, could
take place. Cohabitation was always a source of great danger.
A change of air and situation was particularly lauded : ne co)i-
tugione sua omnibus periculum generct et negUgentia Domini sicut
solet a stultis fieri, diuince imputentur offensce. When all this
had been done, and not till then, every effort was to be made to
cure the tainted. Incense and other medicaments, powdered
and dissolved in wine, were prescribed and administered by the
nostrils. Perfuming and deodorizing with sulphur, bitumen, and
marjorum were enjoined, because not only did they favour the
operation of the remedies, but they assisted in destroying the
pestilential virus, and preserving other animals from the plague.'^
' Vesretius Renatus. Re Veteriaaria.

History of Animal Plagiics. 35

Apsyrtus, a famous veterinarian, though not treatino- of
epizootic afiections in his ' Hippiatrica/ aj)pears to be better
informed than \'egetius on diseases in general, and his treat-
ment is always simple. His descriptions of the symptoms of
disease are more exact and life-like, and he seems to have in-
vestigated the causes of maladies with much skill. We have an
example of this in what he says of the horse when suffering from
what he terms fever. ' When the horse is sick from fever, he
carries his head heavily, and as if immovable; the eyes are swollen,
and he can scarcely open them. The lips and all the body are
flaccid, the testicles pendent, the breath and the body have a burn-
ing heat ; he fixes his limbs, and is insensible to blows, and when
compelled to walk, he is every moment likely to fall.' We may
notice in passing that his picture of fever reminds one most forci-
bly of the symptoms we observe in influenza of the horse. The
causes of fever, he explains, are violent riding, heat, cold, and in-
digestion, especially that form which arises from having eaten too
much grass in the spring-time. His curative measures were bleed-
ing from the temples, and giving exercise moderately the first day.
In winter it was necessary to clothe and to keep the patient in a
warm stable. If he began to walk better, it was then advisable,
if circumstances permitted, to let him go to pasture, or sprinkle
his hav with fresh water, but only to allow food gradually.
Barley-water could also be given with advantage. To know if
a horse had fever, one had only to present him with oats or
barley ; if he ate, then was he only fatigued, for a feverish horse
abhors food, is dull, and only cares to drink. He throws himself
on -the ground, and is scarcely able to rise. In i)leeding it was
necessary to take away the blood from vems which were not
near nerves (tendons?), because if injured they suffer distension.
' If the disease increases in intensity, the horse dies in three days,
not being able to support the violence of the fever any longer
than that time. Wt ought not to believe those who pretend
that they can recognize fever by touching the ears or the
shoulders. We outi-ht not to bleed the fati<:ued horse, because
it weakens his strength, and may produce ilangeroiis con-
secjuences. It is onlv necessary when the iiead is overcharged
with blood, and the disease requires it.' He tells us that the

^6 History of Animal Plagues.

ignis sacer (gangrenous erysipelas or carbuncle) usually affected
the back of the horse, and consisted of a tumour filled with
matter, at other times a hard swelling, covered by a crust or
scab. The treatment was to open it, dress with pomegranate
powder, and poultice with meal. The next day pounded cypress
leaves were to be applied, mixed with vinegar, after the wound
had been washed. Cabbage leaves bruised in meal were to be
used subsequently.^

Hierocles, a Greek hippiatrist, of whose work only three
chapters remain, says that the horse is exposed to many kinds of
fevers or plagues : one which runs its course in twenty-four
hours, and is caused by excesses of any kind., It is an inflammation
of the spirits, which affects the blood, and is cured bv repose.
The second fever begins by shivering, and finishes by perspir-
ation. The paroxysms last only twelve hours, and when they
go beyond that time it is termed bastard fever. To cure it,
blood must be abstracted in larger quantity than authors indi-
cate, and experience teaches that bleeding from the neck is very
beneficial. Refreshing drinks are also eflBcacious. Much good
results by keeping the bowels open by lavements of mallow,
mercury, honev, &c. The next fever is one of a continuous
nature, and pestilential, due to the presence of corrupt humours
in the interior of the vessels, and which it was necessary to treat
by blood-letting from the neck, and giving refreshing and cool-
m^ food, barley gruel, and enemas. Its cause is owing to too
much phlegm in the system, in consequence of bad feeding.
Horses too fat and flabby are usually attacked by it in the autumn,
\and it is difficult to cure. Moderate exercise is necessary for
I these cases, and the skin should be rubbed with hot oil; while
their food should be stimulating and nourishing. This writer
only notices the carl)uncular disease spoken of by Vegetius as
very dangerous to mares, and that it is necessary to dress the
tumours, which are hard, and to bathe them with vinegar.

Another Greek veterinarian, by name Pelagonius, who
lived about this time, imagines that horses had the pest from too
much severe labour, by excessive heat, by great cold, sometimes

1 Apsyrtiis. Scrip. Grrec. Vet.

I

History of Animal Plagues. 37

from having suffered from starvation, at other times from havingr
been put to full speed after a long rest, or drinking while hot
and perspiring. His remedies were two. The first was an
antidote, composed of myrrh, laurel leaves, scrapings of ivory,
gentian, and other articles, mixed with wine, and given in doses
until the horse was cured. The second smacks strongly of the
disgusting quackery of a much later time. A cygnet was to be
taken with its feathers on, and simmered in a pot until reduced
to ashes. Of these, a portion was to be given in good wine,
until the disease disappeared. Salt brine was to be administered
at the same time by the nostrils. It was observed in the time of
this writer that pestilential and contagious diseases often broke
out among the horses of an army when on active service in the
field, and were thought to be due to bad nourishment. But
when these diseases broke out in time of peace, and in town and
country alike, then were the causes more obscure, though they
could generally be traced to improper or tainted forage, putrid
water, and the foul. atmosphere of stables. Much stress is laid
in ascertaining the causes of these maladies, and nothing was to
be left undone in discovering them. Then means w^ere to be
adopted for destroying the poison by medicaments — such as
gentian, ivory raspings, laurel leaves, 8cc. If the horse was of
a sanguine nature, he was to be bled from the jugular veins, and
enemas were to be given. The symptoms of contagious diseases
were similar to those of fever, only there was a drier and more
furred mouth, and the breathing was more frequent.^

About this time St Jerome writes : ' We have seen in our
days swarms of locusts over the land of Judcea, which were after-
wards, through the mercy of God, driven by the wind into the
first and last sea {in mure prhninn ct novissimum — the Eastern
and Western Sea). And when the shores of both seas were filled
with heaps of dead locusts, the putrefaction and stench of them
were noxious to sucli a degree as to corrupt the air, and jirotluce
a pestilence both among men and some kinds of animals {pesli-
U'ltliu Idrnj lime lit oniDi (jiunn lunninum gigiierclur).' '

A.D. 443. The winter was dreadfully severe. So iiuicli snow

' La Veterinaria di Pelagonio. Podova, 1828.
''■ Ilicroiiymtis. ComniLnt in Joel, cliap. ii.

38 History of Animal Plagties.

fell that it was scarcely dissolved iu six months after; hence
a great destruction of people and cattle.^

A.D. 444. A comet ; repeated earthquakes in Turkey followed,
and then fever, and, lastly, the plague most extensively. A great
mortality among fish. The pabulum of plants seemed at length
to be vitiated, and in England there was a great scarcity.^

A.D. 446. In September a severe earthquake, accompanied
by disease and famine, at Constantinople. 'At this time a
famine invaded Constantinople. ... A great portion of the
city walls with fifty-seven towers fell to the ground. Many
cities were destroyed. Famine and the stench of the atmosphere
killed a great number of men and a thousand oxen.' ^

A.D. 466. A grievous famine prevailed in Britain, and a
pestiferous smell in the air killed both man and beast."

A.D. 484. There was such a drought in Africa that all the
springs and rivers were dried up, and men and animals struggled
for the withered grass roots in the open fields. So great was the
famine, that all living creatures died in heaps, and their bodies
lay in every road, without any one to bury them. There was
neither dew nor rain, the earth was parched, no corn, vines,
olives, or other fruits, nor leaves on any tree. Hence a grievous
plague.''

A.D. 502. Scotland suffered very much from an epidemy and
epizooty, which killed great numbers of men and animals.

A.D. 547. St Filo fled from Wales, first to Cornwall and
then to Armorica, ' on account of the pestilence which nearly
destroyed the whole nation.' This disorder ' raged not only
against men, but also against beasts and reptiles.' " ' There was
a mortality in Britain and Ireland.' "^ During the yellow pesti-
lence in Britain and Ireland, cattle were affected.^

A.D. 561. In Ireland ' a poisoned pool made its appearance in
that region (Meath), through a chasm of the earth, and a vapour
proceeded from it which produced a fatal disease in men and

^ Christ. Matth. - Niccphortis, xv. lO.

^ Bede. Eccles. Hist. ii. p. 66. * Baronius. ^ Ibid.

^ Book of Landaff. ' Cambrian Annals.

® Liber Landavensis. ' Mortalitas magna qux dicebatur "crom conaille" vel
flava scabies.' — Tigern, year 550.

History of Animal Plagues. 39

beasts of burden/ ^ ' At that time a dreadful pestilence [lii'idhe
choJinaUl) was ravaging the common people.' ^

A.D. 565. The whole world suftercd more or less from epi-
demic diseases for a number of years. The Ligurian plague
raged during this and the following years among mankind.
Paulus Diaconus writes^ ' Dwellings are vacant and towns
deserted, men have disappeared, and there is a great destruction
of animals.'^ While the plague was at its height Nicephorus
describes a strange fact. ' Certain little marks appeared on the
doors and outsides of their houses, on their garments, and on
their utensils ; some white crusts of a peculiar deposition from
the air adhered to all things as damp moulds do on the walls or
dwellings, or dew on grass.' ^ This unhappy state of afllairs was
more particularly noted in France, Italy, and Germany.

A.D. 569. ' In this year a great disease, accompanied by dy-
sentery and variola f' afflicted Italy and Gaul, and neat cattle
especially perished in these countries.' "

A.D. 570. According to Marius, Bishop of Avranches, an
epizooty spread in France and Italy which destroyed nearly all
the cattle. This may have been a continuance of that which is
mentioned as occurring in the last year. A glandular affection
also manifested itself among men.''

' St .■^dus, vol. i. p. 422.

- St Brigidia, vol. ii. p. 536. In the ancient Irish records mention is often
made of the Buidhe Choniiaill, which was a disease affecting both the human and
bovine species.

^ Paid. Diacon. Caps. iv. x.xiii. Muratori. Scrip. Reriim Ital., vol. i. p. 426.

* Nicephorus. Hist. Eccles.

* Grave doubts are entertained as to the etymology of this word, and the ques-
tion remains a disputed one as to whether it be the variolus disease that is here meant.
Heusinger thinks that this variola, because it is mentioned with other maladies of
a pustular and bubonic nature, was nothing else than the true plague, and he only
believes in the appearance of small-pox at a much later period. There can be now
no doubt, however, that the learned pathologist is incorrect : small-pox is frequent-
ly mentioned in the early Saxon writings, both by its common and Latin designa-
tions, and its presence in Ireland is indicated at a period not far removed from this
mentioned by Marius. Ilecker (Aitiialcii, 1828) is, therefore, I think, ciuite justi-
fied in writing ' wir stehen nicht linger an die pustularfest im sechsten jahrhundcrt
fiir pocken zu erklaren.' For the notices of this disease in early England refer to
Saxon Lccchdoms, London, 1866.

" Marius. Ljjiscop. Chronicon. Ducltaiic. Scri]>. Rcr. Franc, vol. i. ]v 215.
' Ibid.

4© History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 571. On September 24 there was a prodigious slaughter
of wild fowl in a fight. ^

A.D. 580. Great floods, tempests, earthquakes, hail, and other
misfortunes, ushered in a dreadful plague of a dysenteric nature,
and great loss of cattle, during the fifth year of the reign of King
Childebert.

A.D. 581. There was in this year an epizooty among the cattle
in Touraine, which, according to Gregory of Tours, could not
be prevented or cured until the Church interfered, when a
religious ceremony had the wished-for effect in driving away the
malady.^ The same credulous worthy informs us that about this
time an epizooty also broke out among the horses of Bordelais,
which would not cease its ravages until vows were made to St
Martin, and the solipeds had their foreheads branded with a red-
hot key, probably belonging to the church door.

A.D. 582. In Ireland 'great snow, — great cattle mortality.' ^

A.D. 583. Inundations in France. ' A disease amongst cat-
tle followed this inundation, so that scarcely one remained,
and it was a novelty for any one to see an ox or a heifer in the
land.'*

A.D. 584. ^ Locusts in the province of Carpitania, which they
laid waste for five years. In this year they departed by the
public roads to another province. The hoar frost greatly dam-
aged the vines, and a tempest of hailstones followed, which de-
stroyed them, and also the crops in many places. A severe
drought finished the work of the hailstorm. But little fruit was
seen on some vines, on others none; so that men being wroth
with the gods, threw open their vineyards, and the cattle trod all
down. The trees which brought forth apples in July had a
second crop in September. A disease of cattle invaded them a
second time, so that scarcely one remained.^ ^

A.D. 589. Great floods in Italy, doing much damage. The
Tiber overflowed its banks, deluged Rome and the surrounding
country, drowning great numbers of men and cattle. On the

^ T. Short. A General Chronological History of the Air, etc. London, 1749,
vol. i. p. 73.

^ Greg. Titr. De Mirac. St Martin, lib. iii. cap. 18.

3 Annals of Innisfallen. * St Gregory. Francor. Histor. vol. vi. p. 31.

^ Ibid. vi. Bouquet, vol. ii. p. 289.

I

History of Animal Plagues. 41

disappearance of the waters, all the fields were found covered with
slime and mud, the grain was all destroyed, and myriads of ser-
pents and other creatures lay putrefying in the hot steaming
atmosphere. This is supposed to have given rise to the plague
which soon broke out in mankind and the lower animals.^

A.D. 591. A plague of locusts invaded Italy. They were
supposed to have come from Africa. After eating up every
green herb or leaf, they were, as usual, blown into the sea, and
being washed on shore again, their putrefaction was the cause of
disease, which killed nearly a million of men and beasts. Man-
kind in Britain, Turcnne, and the provinces of Arragon and
Vivares, suflered much from an epidemic named Inguinaria,
marked chiefly by buboes. St Gregory gives us the following
account of an epizooty which appeared in France and Belgium.
' In the second month of this year a great pestilence destroyed,
the people and a fearful drought ensued, which no kind of'
herb escaped ; from this arose a grievous plague amongst cattle
and oxen, which increasing, left scarcely any to breed from.j
Not only did this plague afl'ect the domestic animals, — it also
attacked wild creatures. The remains of a multitude of stao;s
and other beasts were found dead in the forests. Forage was
destroyed by the overflowing of the rivers and streams, and corn
there was none. Vines, however, were heavily laden, but acorns
did not attain their full development.^ ^ Wirth is of opinion that
the epizooty was one of anthrax or ' milzbrand.^ ^

A.D. 605-6. In these years there was excessively hot
weather with droughts, which gave rise to a famine, and conse-
quent plague in mankind and in cattle throughout Italy.*

A.D. 661. ' After one year more, there was a great pestilence
among the birds, so that there was an intolerable stench by sea
and land, arising from the carcases of birds, both great and small.'®

A.D. 671. ' This year there was a great mortality among the
fowls {Jviria va/)."^

A.D. 684. 'A mortality (r/r-slaughtcr) upon all animals in

' Baroniiis. Imper. Hist. * St Gregoiy. Op. cit., vol. x. p. 30.

' Wirth. Lehrbuch der .Seuchen unci Ansteckenden Krankheiten der Ilaus-
thicre. Zurich, 1846, p. 85. ^ Baronius. Op. cit.

* The Chronicle of Fabius Ethelwcrd. " Chronic. .Saxon. Edit. 6"/^w//, p. 41.

4-1 Histojy of Animal Plagues.

general throughout the whole world for the space of three years,
so that there escaped not one out of the thousand of any kind of
animals. There was great frost in this year, so that the lakes
and rivers of Ireland were frozen; and the sea between Ireland
and Scotland was frozen, so that there was a communication
between them on the ice. Adamnan went to Saxon land/^

A.i>, 689. An epizooty devastated the cattle of Ireland.
' It rained blood in Leinster this year; butter was turned into
the colour of blood.' ^ ' It rained blood seven days together
through all Britain ; and milk, cheese, and butter turned to
blood.' 3

A.D. 694. ' A great morren of cattle throughout all Eng-
land.'*

Hardyng/ narrating the distress in England about this
period, writes :

' Their catell dyed for faute of fode eche daye,
Withouten meate or any sustenance,
In townes and feldes, and the common waye,
Through which their infecte was by that chance,
That multitude of folke, in great substaunce,
On hepys laye full lyke unto the mountaynes
That horrible was of sight above the playns.'

A.D. 695. 'The same morren of cowes came into Ireland
the next year, and began in Moythrea, in Teaffia. There was
such famyne and scarcitie in Ireland for three years together,
that men and women did eat one another for want.' ^

A.D. 696. 'A mortalitv broke out among cows in Hibernia,
on the Kalends of February, in Magh Treagha, in Tcathbha . . .
Great frost in this year, so that the lakes and rivers of Erinn
were frozen over, and the sea between Erinn and Alba was frozen
to such an extent that people used to travel to and fro on the
ice. Famine and pestilence prevailed during three years in
Hibernia, to that degree that man ate man.' '^

1 The Annals of the Four Masters. " Annals of Clonmacnoise.

•^ Isac. Chronic. Clark's Mirrour. * Annals of Clonmacnoise.

^ The Chronicle of John flardyng, composed in the I4tli century.
^ Annals of Clonmacnoise. ' Chronicon Scotorum.

History of Animal Plagues. 43

A.D. 698. ' Cattle destruction in Saxon land/ *

A.D. 699. ^A mortality of cattle raged in Ireland in the
Kalends of February^ in the plain of Trego, in the region of
Teffia/ - now Moytra, in the county of Longford. 'The mor-
tality of cattle broke out on the first of the Calends of Febru-
ary, in Magh Tregha, in Tethbha/^ 'Destruction of black
cattle in Saxonia (Saxon land)/^

A.D. 700, 701, 704, 707. 'A distemper of black cattle
kindled in Ireland on the first of February, in the plain of Trego,
in Teffia.^ ' A mortality of cattle.' — Bov'ina mortaUtas.^

A.D. 708. 'The plague which is called Baccagn (lameness),
with dysentery in Ireland.'" The term Baccacn is sometimes
applied to the dry murrain in cattle in this island. (Sir W.
Wylde, Census of Ireland.)

A.D. 744, 747, 748. Snow of unusual depth, so that almost
all the cattle of Ireland perished, followed in 744 and 748 by
unaccustomed drought. '^

A.D. 765. In Ireland, ' Great mortality among cows this
vear.^ *

A.D. 770. 'There reigned many diseases in Ireland this
year. A great morren of cows ran over the whole kingdom,
called the Moylegaroii.'^ This is the first introduction of the
term Maelgurth, a skin disease of cattle characterized by rough-
ness and loss of hair, and which appeared frequently in after
times. It is difficult to make out what malady is meant, whe-
ther it be scabies, erysipelas, or even the carbuncular form of
anthrax.

' Annals of Clonmacnoise. - Annals of Ulster.

^ Chronicon Scotorum. ^ Annals of Tighernach.

* Ibid. Annals of Ulster. Chronicon Scotorum, Edit. 1867. In early Irish
history, epizootics are defined as Ar, mortality : such as Bo-ar, cattle mortality,
usually rendered by the early English translators of the annals, 'a murrain.' Oc-
casionally the term Dibltadh, loss, or total failure, is applied to cattle pesti-
lences ; thus, one of the ancient kings is styled Breasal Bodhibhadh, ' Brassil of
the cow-mortality,' because in his reign it is said nearly all the cows of Ireland be-
came extinct. Dith, loss, want, destruction — applies to inanimate things as well
as to mortality of men or animals.

'■ Annals of Ulster.

'' Annals of Clonmacnoise. Annals of Ulster. Annals of 'I'ighcriiach.

" Annals of Innisfallen. " Annals of Clonmacnoise.

44 History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 772. ^7"he murrain of the cows in Ireland still con-
tinued^ and which was worse, great scarcity and penury of
victuals among men continued. The pox (small-pox) came all
over the kingdom/ ^

A.D. 776. 'A great fall of rain and great wind. Dysentery
[Rithfola) and many diseases besides. Mortality almost; the
great mortality of cows {Bo-ar-mor).' '^

A.D. 777. In Ireland^ 'The running of blood {Ritu-fola,
dysentery). The great mortality of cows (Bo-ar-mor).' ^

A.D. 778. In Ireland, ' Mortality of cattle [Boviim mortali-
ias) ceased not, and the mortality of men from want. The
small-pox [Bolgach) all over Erinn. A very great wind at the
end of autumn.^ *

A.D. 784. In Germany a severe drought, and a plague
among men and animals.^

A.D. 791. Campaign of Charlemagne against the Huns,
beyond the Danube, and in Bavaria and Austria. 'This ex-
pedition was accomplished without any mishap, except that in
the portion of the army led by the king (while in Hungary)
there broke out so great a plague among the horses that it is said
scarcely a tenth part of the many thousands remained.^ ^ We
are left in doubt as to the nature of the malady.

A.D. 797. In Ireland, 'destruction of cows among the
Momonians, Darians, and Adhuar, son of Nechin."^

A.D. 798. In Ireland, 'great snow, in which much cattle
and people perished.' *

A.D. 800. A great earthquake and a severe winter. Cattle
epizootics in various places, as well as epidemics. ' In this year
the sea overflowed its boundaries, forgetting that which the
Psalmist says, " I have placed this boundary, which shall not be
transgressed. '^ It caused great havoc among cattle in many
parts.' ^

A.D. 801. Earthquakes experienced in France, Germany,

* Annals of Clonmacnoise. ^ Annals of Ulster.

3 Ibid. * Ibid.

^ Hagek and Liboczan. Annal. Bohemor., vol. i. p. 348.

^ EinJiardi. Annal. Pertz., M. i. p. 177.

"^ Annals of Innisfallen. ** Annals of Ulster.

^ Simon Dutiehnens. De Gest. Rer. Angl. Twysden. Scrip. His. Angl. p. ii6.

History of Animal Plagues. 45

and Italy. St Paul's, at Rome, was thrown down in the month
of April. 'Plagues and epizooties, following sanguinary wars,
as well as shocks of" earthquake, occurred in the realms of Char-
lemagne, soon after the crowning of that monarch.'^

Agobard, an archbishop of Lyons, who lived in the reign of
Charlemagne, recounts the history of a great epizooty among
cattle in France. Its origin was attributed to Grimoald, Duke
of Benevento, who, it was said, hated the Christian king, and
sent emissaries with enchanted powders to sprinkle over the land ;
these powders were composed of a substance capable of killing
animals. This poisonous ingredient was sprinkled over the pas-
ture on mountain and plain, or on the cattle; even the springs
of water were rendered deadly by it. Some of the men were
seized, and, when tortured, confessed that they had been using
powders to cause the death of the oxen; after which confession
they were tied to planks and thrown into a river.^ Such is the
archbishop's version of the story.

The great mortality would lead one to infer that it was the
real ^ hovuin pestilens,' con\Q.ytdt. from the districts in which the
great emperor had been conqueror, and where he had, no doubt,
levied taxes in kind on the conquered. But poisons of this nature
were often supposed to be propagated by wicked or stupid
people, in ages of darkness, and even in those of more enlightened
times. Indeed, it would seem that from the time of Thucy-
didcs to the present day, when a strange disease suddenly
appeared, tlie masses have always entertained suspicions as to
its mortal effects being due to poisonous substances introduced
into the water, food, or air, by malicious people.

A.D. 804. In Bohemia, ' ^. plague raged not only in man,
but in all kinds of animals, and attacked Mnata himself.'^

A.D. 809-10. A great epizooty among cattle on the Con-
tinent. It came from the east and penetrated to the west.-* A
Saxon poet gives us the following description : ' On all sides the
peace of the present year had gladdened the empire to its bound-

^ Metaxa. Delle Malattie Contagiose ed Epizoiitichc, etc. Roma, i Si 7. Vol.
i. p. 133. ''■ Baluze. Annal. dc Franc. Year 801.

•* Ila:;ck and Liboczan. Annals of Holiemia, vol. i. \>. 413.
* Chronicon Moissiac. Pcrtz, M. i. p. 309.

4-6 History of Aiiwial Plagues.

aries; but a certain sadness had touched many lands, for a
very fierce pestilence destroyed every kind of cattle. Joyfully
the shepherds drove their flocks and herds to the green fields,
from whence, however, but a small portion returned, drooping
and heavy, showing symptoms of disease and the near approach
of death in their emaciated condition. The greater number lay
stretched in the meadows, where they breathed forth their lives
amid the sweet herbage. And now the pastures stink from the

dead bodies spread out on them The stables were cleansed

with such great labour, that when they saw an animal sick and
about to die they preferred rather to slay it. This they did with
an iron instrument. Immediately from the bloody wound there
flowed the poison which betrayed its efl^ects throughout the
whole body. Noricus and the neighbouring regions are said to
have suffered most grievously from this plague.^ ^

This, in all probability, was another invasion of the dreadful
'■ Rinderpest,' which appears to have extended beyond Norica,
and to have committed havoc in this country; for we read that
' eight hundred and ten was the year of Christ when the
moon turned black on Christmas Day (according to Petrie and
Sharp, '' Monumenta Historica Britannica,'' this was in 809),
and Menevia was burnt, and there happened the greatest
mortality among horned cattle in Britain that is on record.' ^
'^A mortality among cattle in Britain (inortalitas pecorum in
Britannia) ' ^

It would be most interesting if we could trace this disease
in its progress to the British isles, but I think there can be no
doubt whatever as to the existence of the 'Cattle Plague' in
Britain at this early period. The Archives of the Imperial
Agricultural Society of Southern Russia state that the disease
at this period was imported from the Asian shores of the Black
Sea into Europe. It appeared in Hungary and Illyria, and from
thence spread rapidly throughout Germany, Austria, and Flanders,
destroying enormous numbers of cattle. From thence it was
probably imported into England.

* Poela; Saxon. Annal. Bouquet, vol. v. p. 169, v. 236.
- Brut y Tywysogion, or Chronicles of the Prince of Wales.
2 Annales Cambriie.

History of Animal Plagues. 47

The origin of the malady, or rather the cause of its spread,
misiht be ascribed to the wars then occurring.

Indeed, \vc read for 810, that in the can}paign of Charle-
magne against the Northmen or Scandinavians on the Elbe and
Weser, 'So great was the pestilence of oxen in this expedition
that scarcely in the \\ hole army did one remain, but all perish-
ed ; and not only there, but a plague among animals, causing
a dreadful mortality, broke out in all the provinces conquered
bv the Emperor/^ Elsewhere for this year it is noted: 'A
very great mortality amongst oxen laid waste nearly the whole
of Europe, and more especially Britain/'* In the Chronicle of
St Denis it is mentioned that the oxen and the l^tes aumailles
in France perished in great numbers.^ Wirth* speaks of anthrax
being prevalent in Germany, but it may have been this ' Cattle
Plague.'

A.D. 820. Excessive rains and cold damp weather, with
inundations and scarcity of food, in Gaul. War against the
Sclavonians in Pannonia. 'In this year, on account of the per-
petual rains and the moist state of the atmosphere, great evils
occurred. For a pestilence soon spread both to man and beast,
so that scarcely any part of the whole kingdom of the Franks
escaped its ravages. The corn, also, and the leguminous plants
were damaged by the continual rains. The grapes did not ripen;
thev were sour and unpleasant.' ^

The ' Cattle Plague ' appeared in Hungary, and after raging
there with great violence, passed away to the west of Europe."
This mav have been the malady mentioned above as devastating
the kinjidom of the Franks.

A.D. 823. A severe winter and a dry summer, with heavy
storms. The snow lay on the groimd for twenty-nine weeks,
and caused great loss of human and animal life. Pestilence in
the summer, ' In many places the crops were destroyed by hail-
storms, and in certain localities stones of immense weight fell. . .

' Einhardi. Annales. Tcrtz, M. i. p. 198. Annal. Fuldcns. Ibid. I.
2 IligJeiii. I'olychronicon. Gale. Scrip. Hist. Brit., i. p. 252.
^ Chroniques de St Denis. I^dit. /'aii/iin; 1837.

* IVirl/i. Op. cit. p. 85.

^Einhardi. Op. cit. p. 207. Annal. Fuldcns, p. 357.

* Archives Imp. Agric Soc. of Southern Russia.

48 History of Animal Plagues.

Men and other animals were killed by lightning. Then fol-
lowed a great plague among men, which extended through the
whole of France in a fearful manner, destroying multitudes of
different sexes and ages.'^ This plague of an unknown character
extended to Germany, killing men and animals.

A.D. 829. 'There was a plague in Greece, Thrace, and Bul-
garia, contemporaneously with an epizooty among sheep.' ^

A.D. 842. ' A dreadful famine and consequent mortality, with
a '^ murrian " among cattle, caused great calamities throughout
the world.' ^

A.D. 850. Great mortality among the cattle in France, so
that many provinces were nearly entirely cleared of their horned
stock.* This appears to have been another invasion of the ' Cattle
Plague,' which also ravaged Germany and Spain at this time.^

A.D. 860. The preceding winter was so severe that the
Mediterranean was frozen over to such an extent, that carriages
were driven on the Adriatic Sea. ' A severe winter and mor-
tality amongst animals.' ^

A.D. 866. 'This year a disease of animals took place, and in
the third year afterwards a mortality followed in the human
species.' ^

A.D. 868. ' A comet, severe famine, and mortality of men and
animals.' ^ This occurred in Germany, and nearly all over Eu-
rope, but France appears to have suffered most.^ ' In this year
the Northmen invaded England ; and plundering the country,
retired to York with their booty. A great famine, and a fearful
mortality among cattle and the human race occurred.'^''

A.D. 869. ' In the year of our Lord's incarnation 869,
which was the twenty-first of King Alfred's life, there was a
great famine (in England), and mortality of men, and a pesti-
lence among the cattle.' ^^

' Einhardi. Op. cit. p. 212. ^ Frari. Delia Peste, vol. ii. p. 211.

^ Odericus Vitalis. Eccles. Hist., book i. cap. 24.

* Belleforest. Annales de France.

5 Arch. Agric. Soc. of Southern Russia.

^ Annales Sangallens. Pertz, M. i. p. 76. ' Eulogium Historiarum.

** Duchesne. Vol. iii. p. 473. ' Annal. Verdun.

'" Asser. De Rebus Gestis Alfredi, p. 20. Edit. Oxon. 1722.

" The Chronicle of Fabius Ethelwerd. Chronicle of St Evroult.

History of Animal Plagues. 40

A.D. 870. A hot and dry summer^ and multitudes of locusts
in France. ' A pestilence among cattle in some parts of France,
which spread so rapidlv as to cause great loss to many.' ^ Tem-
pests of hail and lightning did great damage to people, cattle,
and grain.^

A.D. 873-4. An invasion of locusts in Gaul.^ A very
severe and long winter, which destroyed great numbers of
animals and men.*

A.D. 878. 'An eclipse of the moon in October. An eclipse
of the sun in November. In Germany, a great plague amongst
oxen, especially in the Rhine provinces. Soon after a pestilence
appeared in man, which resembled that in cattle.'" A certain
town in Wormacense, not far from the Palatinate of Ingalen-
heim, named Walahesheim, had wonderful things happen in it;
for whilst dead animals were daily dragged from their stables into
the fields, the dogs which were in this town, as is their custom,
devoured the dead bodies by tearing them to pieces. On a
certain day, however, nearly all of them being congregated in
one place, they all went away, and so completely had they dis-
appeared, that none of them, either living or dead, were ever
found.' ^ 'A mortal pestilence amongst cattle, especially about
the Rhine. Dogs and birds, which at first collected round the
dead bodies, suddenly disappeared.' " This was in all probability
an cpizooty of anthrax, and the carnivorous creatures were no
doubt poisoned by feeding on the carcases. In Ireland, ' Great
dearth {ascolt mor) of cattle-food in the spring ; a great flux
{Jiuxus magnus) in the autumn.' *

A.D. 883. A famine and plague in Italy, and in the follow-
ing year a pestilence at Oxford, which also affected the cattle,
slaying great numbers.

A.D. 886. ' This year pestilence in animals throughout the
whole world.' "

A.D. 887. 'I'hc j)re\ ious year had been very wet, and there
were great inundations. ' A very severe and tedious w niter,

' Annalcs Fuldens. Pertz, M. v. p. 383. - Chronic. Magdeburg.

' Re^inotiis. Chronic, book ii. * Annal. Fuldctis.

* Ibid. " Ibid. '' I'istor. German. Hist., vol. ii. p. 570.

* Annals of Ulster. * Eulogium Ilistoriarum.

4

5© History of Animal Plagues.

also a plague amongst oxen and sheep extended beyond measure
in France, so that scarcely any of these animals were left/ ^

A.D. 888. The campaign of the Emperor Arnulph, or Arnold,
of Germany, in Upper Italy, towards Friuli. ' In this march,
great consternation was caused bv the horses dying so rapidly,
that the loss was unparalleled in history.^ ^

A.D. 894. Anthrax prevailed among animals in Italy.^

A.D. 895-7. The first recorded invasion of locusts in Britain
and Ireland, preceded by bloody rain, and followed by a general
scarcity, when great mortality of cattle and other animals occur-
red : the effects lasted thirteen years. All the authorities who
mention it are Welsh. ' Provisions failed in Ireland ; for vermin
of a mole-like nature, each having two teeth, fell from heaven,
which devoured all the food ; and through fasting and prayer
they were driven away.^* 'After this, anno 897, poore Ireland
had another scourge ; for, saith Caradoc Lhancarvan in his
British Chronicle, and likewise Polichronicon, this country was
destroyed bv strange worm.s, having two teeth, so that there was
neither corn nor grasse, nor food for man or beast, for all was
consumed that was greene in the land for the season of the
yeare.' ^

A.D. 896. A dreadful famine and pestilence, caused by un-
seasonable weather, in Gaul, Germany, and Italv. Arnulph, on
his return from Italy across the Alps, seems again to have had
an epizooty among his horses. ' The great plague amongst the
horses increased, being aggravated by the extraordinary diffi-
culties of the march ; so that, contrary to custom, oxen were
employed to draw the litters instead of horses.'^ Wirth speaks
of anthrax having prevailed on a most extensive scale amon2;st
the domestic animals in Europe, and of its being without doubt
transmitted to mankind, as an epidemy of this nature was
prevalent. '^

A.D. 897. Great famine in France and Germany, but especi-
ally in Bavaria. In England, disease in cattle and in men. 'In the
summer of this year went the army, some into East Anglia, and

1 Annal. Fuldens. - Ibid. » Wirth. Op. cit. p. 85.

* Chronicles of Wales. * Hanmer. Chronicle.

* Annal. Fuldens, v. ' Op. cit. p. 85.

History of Animal Plagiies. 51

some into Northumbria ; and those that were penniless e;ot
them ships, and went south over sea to the Seine. The enemy
had not, thank God, entirely destroyed the English nation ; but
it was much more weakened in these three vears bv the disease
in cattle, and, most of all, in men, so that many of the mightiest
of the King's thanes that were in the land^ died within three
years.' ^

A.D. 899. In Ireland, 'a rainy year; a great dearth; mor-
tality of cattle.' "- Rabies in a bear at Lyons, and singular
escape of some men whom it had bitten. ' About the year 900
of our era immense forests covered Burgundy, Maconnais,
Brescia, and part of Lyonnais. These forests were tenanted by
wild boars, wolves, bears, and other ferocious animals. One day,
a mad bear, following the course of the river Saone, at last
reached the quay at Lyons. Everybody fled at its approach,
except some boatmen who, armed with heavy sticks, attempted
to kill it. The bear, however, little intimidated by their num-
ber, rushed amongst them, and bit many — about twenty. Of
this party six were smothered in about twenty-seven days, in
consequence of fearful madness. The other fourteen, howeverj
had thrown themselves into the river to escape the animal's
attacks, and having to swim to the opposite bank, were thus
preserved from the effects of the poison ; the water of the river
had saved them, for in beating against their wounds it had
washed away the venom.' ^

A.D. 903. In Ireland, ^ great mortality of cattle and birds,
so that the voice of thrush or blackbird was not heard this
year.' *

A.D. 908. In Ireland, '' mortality of cattle.' ^

A.D. 916. 'Great snow, cold, and unusual frost in this year,
so that the chief lakes and rivers of Ireland were passable; and
a destruction was brought upon cattle, birds, and salmon. Evil
signs, too ; the heavens seemed to glow with comets, a flame of
fire arose, and passed from beyond the west of Ireland until
it passed over the sea eastwards.' "

' Chronicles of the Saxons. * Annals of Ulster.

' Messager de Provence. '• Annals of Innisfallen.

* Annals of Ulster. « Ibid.

52 History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 918. In Ireland, ' great cold [coisne] and snow, which
brought on mortality of cattle/^

A.D. 929. A most severe winter, and the Thames frozen
over.

A.D. 939. ^Kalend. Jun. die Sabbati hora nona flammaexivit
de mari et incendit plurimas villas et urbes et homines et bestias,
et in ipso mari pinnas incendit.'^

A.D. 940. An epizooty among the cattle in France, Italy,
and Germany.^ Probably the ' Rinderpest.'

A.D. 941. An epizooty of a deadly character in the north of
Europe. Thousands of cattle died. 'A comet was seen, and
an extensive Qiortality amongst the oxen followed its appear-
ance.' * After this animal plague, which may have been the
same as in the previous year, an epidemy broke out in man.

A.D. 942. Inundations, and subsequently a murrain among
cattle in Germany.^ 'A great famine throughout the whole of
France and Burgundy, and extensive mortality among the oxen,
which increased to such a degree that few remained in these
countries.' ^ Comets appeared in the month of October, which
lasted for twenty-one days, and after that time there happened
a disease among oxen.''' ' In this year (941) a comet appeared
in the western heavens. The year following there was a severe
murrain among oxen throughout the whole of Germany, France,
Burgundy, Aquitaine, and Italy, but it did not last long in the
latter country.' ^

In Ireland, a disease or ^ fio-ht ^ amono; birds. 'There was

' DO

contention seen to be between the fowls of the sea and the fowls
of the land at Clonvicknose, where there was a great slaughter

' DO

of crows of one side.' ^

A.D. 943. For this year we find the continental historians

^ Chronicon Scotorum. ^ Chronicon Burgens. Espana Sagrada.

' Herman. Chronicon.
' * Re^inon. Chronic. Pistor. .Scrip. Rerum German., i. p. 104.

^ Widiikindi. Lib. ii. Pertz, M. v. p. 446.

^ Chronicon Frodoardi. Bouquet. Vol. viii. p. 196.

'' Chronic. Monast. Florent. Bojiquct. Vol. ix. p. 55. Lobiiieaii. Hist, de
Bretagne.

** Chronic. Andegav. Bouquet. Vol. viii. p. 252.

" Annals of Clonmacnoise.

{

History of Animal Plagues. 53

mention the same events as in the previous year, and as occur-
ring in the same countries.^ Wirth speaks of the epizooty in
Germany as anthrax.

A.D. 945. ' There was in this year a furious mortality of
people throughout France, caused not only by the famine and
scarcity of food, but by an epidemic malady known as the
' faim canine/ '

A.D. 950. In Ireland, ' a mortality of bees.' ^

A.D. 952. ' A destruction in Ireland through unknown
insects having two teeth.'* Evidently locusts.

A.D. 953. 'A great destruction of cows throughout Ireland.'^

A.D, 955. ' There was a great dearth of cattle this year, and
many diseases generally reigned all over Ireland, by reason of
the great frost and snow, which procured the intemperature of
the air.'*'

A.D. 959. In Ireland, ' a bolt of fire passed southwards
through Leinster, and it killed a thousand persons and flocks, as
far as Athclaith.' '' In 960, 'an arrow of fire came from the
south-west along Leinster, and killed hundred thousands of
men and cattle, with the houses of Dublin burned,' ^ To what
extent the lightning caused this mortality cannot be surmised,
but it is not improbable that the effects of epidemic and epi-
zootic disorders may be referred to, the liohtnino; beino- used
figuratively.

A.D. 960, A widely-spread destructive malady amongst
cattle in the Roman territories. ' And in those days, even long
ago, there went on both invading the land of the Romans, and
ravaffinsr and destrovino; the horned cattle, the infectious and
pestilential affection which is called " crabra." And they say
that this aflTection or disease took its rise in the days of the old
Roman (Romanus I., Emperor of the East?); for when very
near to the cistern or reservoir {Kiva-Tipvrjs) of Bonus, the Roman
was erecting, as a resting-place for himself, a sunnner jialace (or

' Chronic. St Maxent. Bouquet. Vol. ix. p. 8.

^ Mczeray. Hist, de France, 1685. Vol. i. p. 677.

■' Annals of Ulster. '' Dowling. Annals of Ireland. '' Annals of Ulster.

" Annals of Clonmacnoise.

' Annals of the Four Masters. " Annals of Ulster.

54 History of Animal Plagues.

palaces for the summer season)^ and they were laying the found-
ations, it was reported that there was found a marble ox's head,
which the finders having broken up, cast into the lime-kiln.
From that time, and up to the present, the breeds of cattle have
not ceased to be destroyed in all parts of the earth wheresoever
the Empire of the Romans extends.'^

In Ireland, "^ A great (plaigh) upon cattle, with snow and
diseases [galar).' ^

A.D. 975. A severe winter and scarcity of food in London,
and also in Italy. A comet was seen. ' In the time of this
Edward (the martyr) appeared a blazing star, after which en-
sued many inconveniences, as well to man as to beasts, such as
hunger, sickness, murrain, and other like calamities, but none of
these things happened in the days of this Edward, but after his
death.' ^

A.D. 981. A moil garb, or epizooty of a cutaneous character,
previously unknown in Ireland until 770, began, and preceded a
most severe form of colic, called ' pestilential.' ' This year began
the murrain of cows, called, in Ireland, the Moilgarbh.' *

A.D. 986. ' In this year first came the great murrain [yrf-
cvalm) among the cattle into England.'^ 'A great sudden de-
struction, which caused a loss of people and cattle among the
Saxons, Britons, and Gauls.' *" '^ And the same year there was a
great murrain [moreyn) of cattle through all Wales.' ^

' Godfrey, son of Harold, with the black host, devastated the
isle of Mona, and two thousand men were blinded (captured ?),
and the remainder Maredudd, son of Owain, took with him to
Ceredigion and Dyved. And then a mortality {uarcrolyaeth)
took place among all the cattle over the whole island of
Britain.' *

What the nature of this very prevalent and destructive epi-
zooty may have been it is difficult now to conjecture ; but from

1 G. Cedremcs. Synop. Historiarum. Edit. Bonn, ii. p. 343.

- Chronicon Scotorum. The edition of 1867 gives 959 as the date.

3 Grafton. Chronicles of the History of England. London, 1569.

* Annals of Clonmacnoise. ^ Chronic. Saxon. " Annals of Ulster.

' D. Paujd. The History of Cambria, 1584.

" Brut y Tywysogion, or Chronicles of the Prince of Wales.

History of Animal P f agues. ^e^

what is narrated for the subsequent year, it would appear to
have been of a dysenteric character. What is worthy of note,
however, in reference to the condition of comparative pathology
and agriculture at this period, is, that though Wales often suf-
fered from the evil effects of general diseases among animals,
yet, from the earliest days of her written history, we find the
ancient Welsh far in advance of other western nations in agri-
culture and the rearing and preservation of the domesticated
animals. The state of their medical science is less known, and
regret must be expressed that the Red Book of Hergest {Med-
dygon Myddfat) has not yet found a translator;^ containing,
as it may do, very much that would be of value to the student
of medicine.

From her agrarian laws, which are greatly superior to those
of France or Germanv at that somewhat remote epoch, we find
every provision made for equitable dealing in animals, and some-
times also a reference to important maladies of a sporadic or
general kind. The laws of warranty appear to have been very
wisely framed, and enumerate the chief animal disorders as fol-
lows : — -

'A horse is to be warranted a2"ainst three disorders : aeainst
the staggers, for three dew-falls; against the "black strangles"
(this has been literally translated, as the latter term is, at present,
the appellation for that distemper. With the prefix "black,"
it may mean the " glanders " ), for three moons ; and against the
farcy (the original " Ibnmeirich " appears to signify some disorder
accompanied with serious humours) for one year.' 'The worth
of a horse's foot is his full worth, and a third of his worth is an
eye, and the worth of the other eye is another third. For every
blemish in a horse, one third of his worth is to be returned, his
cars and tail included.

' If a horse be sold in wliich there is a fault, but not visible
on the skin, it is not to be compensated, unless it be oneot the
three natural disorders, but an oath is to be made of its not be-
ing shown.

' Tlic MS. is now, I believe, at Oxford.

^ Thebe extracts arc from tlie Laws of Ilowel tlic Good, wiiich were revised
about A.D. 1026.

^6 History of Animal Plagues.

' Whosoever shall sell a steer to another, it is right for him to
be answerable for the three disorders incident to cattle; and,
further, for the mange {clauery) until the feast of Saint Patrick.
The person who shall buy it is to keep it in pasture, and in a
healthy place, and in a building wherein no mange has previously
occurred for seven years; and for the staggers three dew-falls.-'

The teithi of a sow are, that she be not always brimming, and
that she do not devour her pigs; and to be warranted three
nights and three days against the quinsey (the original signifies
some disorder affecting the throat). ' If the boar be gelded and
die, his two testicles are worth two sows, and his carcase equal
to another.^ ^

Sheep were to be warranted against the rot ' until the calends
of May, when she shall have satiated herself three times with the
new herbage.^ (B. iii. c. 8.)

' Whoever shall sell a horse is to insure its dilysrwydd until
death ; and against the staggers, for three dew-falls; against the
strangles, for three moons; against the farcy, a year; and, in
addition, he is to insure it against any inward disorder.' (B. ii.

C. 28.) 2

' Whoever shall sell sheep, let him be answerable for three
diseases : the rot '{y lledorcr), the red-water [ar daris or dauyr rud),
and the scab {(tr claiiri) ; until thev obtain their fill three times
of the new grass in spring, if he sell them after the kalends of
winter.^ (B. ii. c. 12.) ^

* The judges of Howel the Good were notable to fix a legal
worth on a brock : for, during the year that the swine were
affected with the quinsey, it obtained the privilege of a dog (with
regard to value), and during the year that there was a madness
among the dogs, it then obtained the privilege of a sow.^ (Gwen-
tian Code, B. ii. c. 23.)

In other codes of about the same period we find, for pigs,
the following : —

' Siquis uendiderit sues, debet esse sub tribus: id est, dylys-
sruyt (evictione) ; et morbo menyclauch (strumarum) tribus die-

^ These are from the Venedotian Code.
^ From the Dimetian Code. "* From the Gwentian Code.

History of Animal Plagues. ^ 57

bus et tribus noctibus, et ne comedant porcellos; et si come-
derint^ tercia pars precii reddatur emptori^ nee recambire debent
inditio/

And for sheep : —

' Signis oves vendidcrit, debet esse sub dylyssruyt (evictione) ;
et sub dere (vertigine) tribus diebus et tribus noctibus ; et sub
llederu (morbo pulmonis) a festo Sancti Michaelis in autumno
usque- ad medium Aprilis, donee ter comederunt usque ad
satietatem ac novis parellis in vere.'

'Agnorum venditor debet esse sub dilyssruyt (evictione); et
sub dere (vertigine) tribus diebus et noctibus ; et sub Scobie a
festo Omnium Sanctorum usque ad Kalendas Aprilis ; et sub
llederu (morbo pulmonis) a predicto festo usque Kalendas Mail;
emptor non debet ducere eos agnos Scai'iosos septem annis
ante.'

A.D. 987. An excessive drought and a most scorching heat
during the summer. Bad weather brought a famine on many
countries.^ A serious epizooty appeared among cattle in Eng-
land in the form of dysentery, which caused a great mortality.
Malignant fevers among the people. ' In this year two plagues
of an unknown character appeared in England, to wit : fever
among men, and pestilence among animals and men, which the
English term ' scitta,' but which in Latin is known as dysentery
{Jluxus). These ravaged the whole of England, and the destruc-
tion to men and animals was quite incredible/^'

These pestilences appear to have prevailed in Ireland at
the same time. ' Great and unusual wind. Preternatural [i.e.
magical) sickness [tregait Fitlinaisi, demoniacal colic), bydemons,
in the east of Ireland, which caused mortality (a/--slaughtcr) of
men plainly before men's eyes,' ' The commencement of the
great murrain of cows [lo-ar mar) — the strange " maelgarbh,"
which had never come before.' ^ ' A pestilence {treghail-coYic)
in the eastern parts of Ireland frcjin demons, which caused a

' Fimctitis. Chronicon.

' Simeon Duncliin-n. De Gest. Reg. Angl. Scrip. Hist. Angl. (Tvvysden)
p. 161. See also Joh. Brompton. Hist. Angl. p. 878. Henry dc Ktiyghton. De
Event. Angl., p. 2314.

* Annals of the Four Masters.

5 8 History of A nimal Plagues.

slaughter {ar) of people ; and they used to be before the eyes of the
people visibly (in daylight). The beginning of the great mor-
tality of oxen {bo-ar), that is, the unknown "■ maelgarbh/^ hav-
ing come for the first time/ ^ This expression Dr O'Connor
translates ' scabies valde insolita.'

A,D. 992. A long and severe winter, and an extremely dry
summer, followed by famine. The wheat crops were affected
with blight or ergot, and the forage was generally of a bad
quality. Soon after there was a widespread and deadly epidemy
of ergotism {feu sacre) in France. In this year, in Germany,
there was an extensive epizooty of carbuncular fever in the lower
animals."

' A great mortality upon men {dniiie-hadh), cattle, and bees
in Ireland this year.' ^ Bees were largely kept in Ireland at
this time, and were a great source of wealth to the people.

' After these great troubles, there followed within a year after
such famine and scarcitie in South Wales, that many perished
for want of food.' *

A.D. 994. 'A very rigorous winter, commencing on the nth
November, and lasting till the nth May. Pestilential and cold
winds blew, and heavy dews fell. Towards the middle of July
there was a great frost, and so severe was the drought, that the
fish died in many pools, and numbers of trees withered. The
flax and corn perished. A terrible plague broke out amongst
men, pigs, and sheep. In this year a grievous famine in many
parts of Saxony.' '" In France ergotism {feu sacre) was pre-
valent.

A.D. 995. A comet was seen this year in England. A deadly
form of dysentery attacked man and beast, and proved most
destructive.^ It was ' a worse year in Saxony than the former,
for so great a pestilence, which was named Osterhidi, raged
amongst them, that not only their houses, but many of their
towns, remained empty, their inhabitants being dead.' ^ ' A

1 Annals of Tighernach.

^ Spangenberg. Op. cit. Fabricius. Origines Saxon, p. 218. IVirth. Op.
cit. p. 85.

■* Annals of Ulster. * D. Fcnvel. Hist, of Cambria.

^ Annales Quedlinburgens. Pertz, M. v. p. 72.

* Short. Op. cit. p. 93. ' Annal. Quedlin.

Histojy of Animal PlagiLcs. 59

notable year for its drought, many people and cattle dying of
thirst.'^

A.D. 1014. Mn the previous year there had been many pre-
cursory celestial signs, omens of strange import, which were
verified this year in Bohemia, where there was a fearful heat and
drought. During the whole of the spring, and for nearly the
whole summer, the weather was hotter than molten lava; the
plains and the beautiful woods were scorched by the heat of the
sun. The rivers were dried up, the springs were exhausted, the
lakes and ponds were corrupted and putrescent, many people
perished, as well as the greatest part of all kinds of animals.
Especially did immense numbers of fish die.^ '"

A.D. 1015. In Ireland, ' a disease of the legs {Cofi ghalar,
probably scurvy) among the Danes, and a plague of rats (or mice.
Luck) among the Danes and the Leinstermen.'^ The term
Lnch is applied indiscriminately to rats or mice. The word
' Narrawai/' is still used by the Irish-speaking people for the
modern brown rat, which, it is believed by naturalists, replaced
the old Irish black rat. They were probably introduced by the
Scandinavian vessels, then so numerous on the coasts of Ireland.
The Chronicon Scotorum gives the year 1013, as the date of
this occurrence. Mr Wenessev thinks that the irruption of rats
should be translated a plague of putrefaction among the foreign-
ers and Lagenenians.

A.D. 1016. In Ireland, "^ great mortality of cattle on account
of the excessive rains.^ *

A.D. 1022. A most unfortunate year, in which a great mor-
tality prevailed amongst animals, and ])estilence in mankind.
Fruits and plants were destroyed,^ and in Spain there was an
invasion of locusts.

A.D, 1028. ' In the present year an invasion of cicadas and
caterpillars in Bohemia, following a very plentiful harvest. In-
numerable swarms of butterflies also appeared, so that every-
thing green in garden and field or in the woods was devoured.
Dense and foul-smelling vapours had preceded this visitation,

' Annal. Sangall. ^ //a^ei and Liboczan. Annal. ItoliLiiior., v. p. 74.

^ Chronic. Scolorum. * Annals of liinisfalloii.

* Mirac. Veroli. Presbyt. Acta Sancta. Bolland., p. 385.

6o ' History of Animal Plagues.

rising as they did about Easter^ when the spring was coming in.
After these insects had eaten everything up, they themselves in-
creased the stench; the trees, also, stripped of their leaves, died
and rotted. As a consequence, there was great mortality
amongst men and animals, but especially in dogs, in the autumn/^
England and Gaul, and indeed the whole of Europe, suffered in
the same way, and from the same causes.

A.D. 1030. In the old translation of the Ulster Annals in
the British Museum it is recorded — ' Maelduin Mac Ciarmaic,
(who had profaned the effigy of) the Lady Mary, of Kindred
Binni of Glans, killed by the disease that killeth cattle, in Irish
called Conacli.' If this be a correct translation, which is dis-
puted, it would be the earliest instance to be found in the Irish
annals of mankind being affected by the diseases of animals. It
is difficult to make out the disease, however, for the term Coiiach
has had its origin in the popular belief, not yet extinct, that
horned cattle, if they eat the grass over which the Conach or
Connough IVorm (the large fleshy caterpillar of the Sphinx
Elephas moth) has passed, become afflicted with a fatal distem-
per characterized by madness, a sort of hydrophobia.^

A.D. 1035. A very severe winter, the summer extremely
dry. 'This year there was an unheard-of loss amongst animals,
and this, with the destruction of bees, afflicted the whole of Ba-
varia.' ^ The weather was so cold in England, in June, that all
the corn and fruit was destroyed.

A.D. 1040. In Ireland, '^ abundance of produce {mess mor :
fructum abundantiu) this year, and mortality of cattle and
swine.^* This is the first epizooty specially mentioned as affect-
ing swine in Ireland.

A.D. 1 041. Most uni)ropitious weather, accompanied by
earthquakes, tempests, and inundations. It snowed heavily

^ Hagek and Liboczaii. Op. cit., vol. v. p. 152.

^ There is nothing at all astonishing in this relation of the Irish chief dying
from some cattle malady, probably anthrax. Such cases must have been extremely
frequent, if the ancient records are to be received as proof. Anthracoid erysipelas
(omatt or koman) may have been one of those forms of anthrax which affected
men and animals in this country.

•' y. Staindelii. Chronicle of CEfele. Scrip, rer. Boic, vol. i. p. 472.

* Annals of Innisfallen.

History of Animal Plagues. 6i

during harvest time; in many parts of Europe there were heavy
rains throughout the year. Flanders was inundated by the sea,
and there were great storms. The consequences of these dis-
turbances were famine and disease in England, Germany, and
France. Cattle and men appear to have suffered equally. ' The
plague of Divine Fire {}gm'> d'tvhia, ergotism or erysipelas) afflict-
ed many, who were only saved through the merits of the blessed
Virgin.''^ 'And in all that year it was very sad in many and
various things, both in tempests and in earth's fruits. And so
much cattle perished in this year as no man before remembered,
both through various diseases and through bad weather.'^ (Refer
to 1044.)

A.D. 1044. An eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In Germany,
' Plague in cattle ; the winter very severe, and heavy snows
felj.'^ 'There died at this time (1043), '"^ ^^'^ neighbourhood,
many people, and there also reigned a special epizooty amongst
cattle/^

For Ireland we read, ' Clonmacnoise was plundered by the
people Conmhaicne (County Longford), whereupon God and
Ciaran sent upon them the unknown distemper {Tamil anaithi-
7iidh), which killed almost all their people and cattle.'^

A.D. 1046. 'And this same year after Candlemas (Feb. 2nd)
came the severe winter with frost and snow, and with all kinds
of heavy weather, so that there was no man alive who could
remember so severe a winter as that was, both through mortali-
ty of men and murrain of cattle; both birds and fishes perished
through the great cold and hunger.'"

A.D. 1047. On January 1st there fell in the West of Eng-
land a very great and deep snow, which broke down most woods.
It lay till March ist. The ensuing summer had such tempests
of thunder and lightning that the growing corn was burnt and
blasted, and several towns the lightning reduced to ashes. There

' Chronic. St Bavonis. Corp. Chronic. Flandr., i. p. 385.
'■' The Anglo-.Saxon Chronicle. ' Chronic. Ursperg.

* Spaugenberg. Op. cit.

' Chronic. Scotorum. .See also, Annals of the Four Masters. Annals of
Clonmacnoise.

^ The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

62 History of Animal Plagues.

followed a great dearth, and death of people and cattle.^ On
March ist there was an earthquake. The great mortality fol-
lowed.

In Ireland it is mentioned : ' Great snow this year from the
festival of Mary in winter (8th Dec.) to the festival of Patrick
(7th March), the like of which had not been known; with a
destruction of men, cattle, and of the wild animals of the sea,
and birds. ^ ^

A.D. 1048. An eruption of Vesuvius. In Germany swarms
of mice appeared. Earthquakes occurred in many parts of Eng-
land and Scotland. ' And in this year was also an earthquake,
on the Kal. of May (May ist) in many places, at Worcester,
at Wick, and at Derby, and elsewhere; there was also a great
mortality among men, and a murrain among cattle, and the
wildfire {ignis atrius vulgo dictiis sylvaticus) also did much evil
in Derbyshire and elsewhere.^ ^

A.D. 1054. Famine in Germany. Cedrenus* writes : ' A
pestilential disease smote the country, so that the living had
not strength to bear away the dead, and this great affliction was
endured throughout the whole summer. Not only were many
men destroyed by it, but also animals.'

England appears also to have suifered. ' And in this year
was so great a murrain among the cattle as no man remembered
for many winters {vhitrum) before.' ^

A.D. 1059. For Bavaria it is recorded : ' In this year there
was an abundant harvest of corn and grapes, but a direful
plague smote man and beast throughout the whole province.' "

A.D. 1060. In Ireland ' a great storm in the autumn of
this year, and very great destruction of crops. In this year
foxes were taken among the herds, and in such numbers as the
people chose, on account of the great number of dead car-
cases.^ ^

A.D. 1078. ^Snow and great frost, so that the principal
rivers and lakes in Ireland were passable dry-shod. Great nior-

1 Ranulf. Hilgf]. " Annals of Ulster.

•' Simeon Diinelinen. Op. cit , p. 183. * Ccdnnms. Hist. Comp., ii. p. 609.
^ Saxon Chronic. ■ '' Stainddii. Chronic. Gifele .Scrip. Eoic, i. p. 477.

' Annals of Innisfallen.

History of Animal Plagues. d'^^

tality of cattle in this year {ar mor fors na-cearthra). Great
mortality among the people {mortlaid mor) of Ireland, and the
cattle, which carried off a great number of men. Great store
of the fruits of the earth this vear.' ^

A.D. 1084. In Ireland pestilence in mankind, possibly
tvphus fever, began, and continued for thirteen vears. It was
believed to be caused by demons (the demons of pestilence).
'This is the best year that came for its fertility in fruits and
crops. Great mortality amongst cattle in this year, in the
southern half of Ireland, called the half of Mogha (Munster).'^

A.D. 1085. Epidemic erysipelas (ergotism?) in France, with
inundations and famine. ' In the year 1085 there was disease in
plants and also in animals throughout the world. ^ ^

In England, intemperate weather and a great death of
cattle.*

In Ireland, ' there was destruction of men and cattle in this
year to such an extent that rich men were made husbandmen in
it.^^

A.D. 1086. ' There was a very severe season, and a swinkful
and sorrowful year in England, in murrain of cattle, and corn
and fruits were at a standstill, and so much untowardness in the
weather, as a man may not easily think. So tremendous was
the thunder and lightning, that it killed many men."

Hemingsford says that sheep as well as cattle suffered from
the great intemperature of the air." Several other old chroni-
clers speak of this unfortunate season.*

A.D. 1087. The misfortunes of England were continued in
the form of famine and disease.^ Rain fell incessantly, the crops
were destroyed, and great multitudes of people and animals
perished. ^ About this season, the people in all places were

' Annals of Innisfallen. "^ Ibid.

■' A'dnigsho/t'ti. Elsassiche und Strasburgische Clironic.

* Chronic. Saxon. S/o7u. Annals.

' Annals of the Four Masters. " Chronic. Saxon.

' IValt. Ileminf^sford. Chronic. Gali\ ii. p. 461.

" //. de Kitygkton. De P.vent. Angl. Twysden, p. 2353. Annal. Waverleiens.
Gale, ii. p. 133. Will. Malmesbury. De Gest. Keg. Angl. p. 62. Grafton.
Chronic, p. 16.

* Annal. Waverleiens.

64 History of Animal Plagues.

pitiFullv plagued with burning fevers, which brought many
to their end; a murrain also came to their cattle, whereof a won-
derful number died. At the same time (which is more marvel-
lous) tame fowls, such as hens, geese, and peacocks, forsaking
their owners' houses, fled to the woods, and became wild. Great
hurt was done in many places of the realm by fire/^ In Ireland,
* great abundance of nuts and fruit. Murrain of cows and
dearth in this year, and a great wind which destroyed houses
and churches.' ^

A.D. 1088. In Ireland, 'great snow in this year, and great
mortality of oxen, and sheep, and pigs in the sameyear.^^

A.D. 1089-9T. On the Continent, 'in these years many men
were killed by the ignis sacer (ergotism or gangrenous erysipelas),
which destroyed their vitals, putrefied their flesh, and blackened
their limbs like to charcoal. Even if their lives were preserved,
their extremities were so afl^ected, that they were only reserved
for a most pitiable existence.' * This epidemy is mentioned by
several ancient chroniclers. Animals sufi'ered as well as the
human species.

A.D. 109 1. Great floods at Constantinople which drowned
thousands of people and cattle. Immense swarms of locusts ar-
rived, whose masses, when in flight, darkened the sun. From
their putrefaction next year arose a most desolating plaoue in
man and beast.^

A.D. 1092-4. ' In 1092 there was a great mortality in men
and cattle in all countries, which lasted for three, and in some
places for four, years.'" This disease in men and animals pre-
\ailed in Germany, France, Italy, and England, and lasted until
1094;^ indeed, calamities of this description appear to have pre-
vailed almost incessantly since 1087. 'Ex quo namque furoris
sui rabiem vesana multitudo in principem religiosum evomuit,
agri fructibus steriles, prata herbis attenuantur, silva glandibus

' Holinshed. Chronicles of England.

- Annals of the Four Masters. 3 Annals of Innisfallen.

■* Chronic. St Bavon. Corp. Chronic. Flandrise.
•'' Polydorus, Zonarius, and Crantzius.
^ Spangenberg. Op. cit., 228.

' Hofmamii. Annal. Bamberg. Lndwig. Scrip, rer. Bamberg, p. 90.
Agrkola. De Peste. Briet. Annal. Rlund. Fabricins. Origin. Saxon., p. 218.

History of Animal Plagues. 6^

rara, unda piscibus infoecunda permansit^ peat'is armcnta consu-
iiiit, homines morbus debilitat, fames aggravate ^

A.D. 1098. ' On the fifth day before the calends of October,
in many parts of France, the heavens seemed on fire by night,
and this appearance was followed by a dreadful pestilence to
cattle, and destruction to crops through the heavy rains which
followed.' - In Syria, during the siege of Antioch, ' there was
great destruction to cattle from drought/ ^ ' Horses, asses,
camels, oxen, and many other animals died.' ^ In Saxony, ' the
heavens appeared on fire, then followed a great death of
cattle {vichsterhen), and the fruits of the fields were nearly all de-
stroyed.' ^

A.D. 1099. Gangrenous erysipelas (ergotism ?) in France in
the human species.^ From the severity of the epidemv, we may
infer that animals also suffered. There were great inundations
in England by the sea and the rivers, whereby people, cattle,
and whole towns were drowned.''

A.D. 1103. Very unhealthy seasons. 'This was a very de-
structive vear in this land (England), through manifold taxes,
and through cattle disease [cvealm),^ and scant produce both of
corn and of fruit of all kinds.' ^ An epidemy in the human
species followed.^"

A.D. 11C9. 'Mice eat up all the corn-fields in certain terri-
tories in Ireland.' " ' A great cow-mortality.' ^-

A.D. 1 1 10. 'A very great mortality amongst cattle in Eng-
land.'^^

^ yEhiot/ii. Hist. S. Canuti Reg. La^igabek. Scrip, rer. Dan., iii. p. 375-
See also Saxo Granimaticiis, p. 222.

- Siegebcrt Gemblac. Chronog. Pistor. Scrip, rer. Germ., i. p. S52.
■^ VVil. Tyrens. Lib. iv. cap. 17. Lib. viii. cap. 17.

* Alb. Aquetis. Hist. Hieros., Lib. iii. cap. i, 2.
'■' Dressenis. Sachs. Chronic, p. 192.

^ Chronic. Ursperg. Edit. Mylius, pp. 177, 180.
" Short. Op. cit., p. 105.

* The Saxon word ruealm, or ' quahn,' is that used in these Clironicles to sig-
nify plague or pest. The Saxon viicel cveahii has its analogue in the Scotch 'sair
trouble,' severe illness or misfortune.

^ Gibson. Saxon Chronicles, p. 21 1.

'" Papon. Chronol. de la Peste, vol. ii. p. 270.

" The Annals of the Four Masters. '" Chronicon Scotorum.

'■* Matl/uw 0/ Paris, p. 62.

5

66 History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. iiii. According to Holinshed, a dreadful plague visited
London, which not only caused a terrible mortality amongst its
citizens, but extended itself to cattle, fowls, and other domestic-
ated animals. ' About the same time many wonders were seen
and heard of. The river of Trent, near to Nottingham, for the
space of a mile, ceased to run the wonted course during the time
of four-and-twenty hours, so that, the channel being dried up,
men might pass to and fro dry-shod. Also a sow brought forth
a pig with a face like a man, and a chicken was hatched with
four feet. Moreover, a comet or blazing star appeared in a
strange sort, for rising in the east, when it once came aloft in
the firmament, it kept not the course forward, but seemed to go
backward, as if it had been retrograde.^ ^ 'Tn this year there was
a very severe winter; the people died in great numbers ; the loss
of cattle was great; all domestic animals suffered. Birds were
destroyed in great numbers.^ ^ In Ireland, 'extreme ill weather
of frost and snow, which made slaughter of tame and wild
beasts.' ^

A.D. III2. In England, 'this yeare was a great mortalitie of
men, and morcin (murrain) of beasts ^ *

A.D. II 13. In Ireland, 'a great mortality of cows. O'Lon-
gan, Erenach of Ardpatrick, was killed by lightning on
Cruagh Patrick.' ^

A.D. II 15. ' In this year (in England) there was so hard a
winter, with snow and with frost, that no n)an living ever
remembers a harder, and throuoh it there was a great cattle
plague/ " Cattle, birds, and people also perished in Ireland.''

A.D. 1 1 24. 'There was on the third of August an eclipse
of the sun, which was followed by a great pestilence amongst
oxen, sheep, pigs, and bees. Even the crops failed.'^ The
winter was so severe that fishes in ponds, and even eels, were
killed. After this there was a severe famine in England, and
destruction of men and cattle.

' Ilolinshed. Chronicles. Saxon. Chronic, p. 217.

- Simeon Djinelm. De Gest. Reg. Angl. Twysdcn. Scrip, p. 234.

3 Annals of Ulster. 4 stoiv. Chronicles of England.

* Chronic. Scotorum. 6 Chronic. Saxon., p. 219.
' Annals of the Four Masters. Chronic. Scot. Annals of Boyle, &c.

* Cosmae. Prag. Chronic., book iii.

History of Animal Plagues. 67

A.D. 1125. Severe weather. Pestilence in men and cattle
throughout nearly the whole of Europe, with famine. In Eng-
land, ^ in this same year were such great floods on St Law-
rence's mass dav, that many towns and men were drowned, and
bridges broken down, and corn and meadows spoilt withal,
so that there was famine and plague amongst men and on
beasts, and in all fruits so great untimeliness as had not been for
many years before.' ^

A.D. 1 1 27. The ' divine plague '(ergotism ?) appeared in man-
kind in France. Pravcrs to the Virgin Mary healed the afflicted,
it is recorded. Great pestilence amongst animals. -

A.D, 1 1 29. Heavy snow and rain in January. Great inun-
dations. Plague in oxen, cows, pigs, bears, stags, and goats.
The igms divinis in man over a large portion of Europe.^ For
Ireland it is recorded: 'A "maelgarbh" (murrain) in this year
which killed the cows of Erinn, and its pigs, except a very few.'
And for 1130: 'The same destruction (distemper) as in the
previous vear, on the cattle of Lcthchuinn.' *

A.D. 1 131. Mortality amongst the domestic animals over
the whole of England, which continued for some years, so that
there was scarcely a farm which was free from the plague. The
pigsties were emptied, and the stalls of oxen were deserted.^
William of Malmesbury says: ' In the 31st year of King Henry
a dreadful murrain among domestic animals extended over the
whole of England. Entire herds of swine suddenly perished ;
whole stalls of oxen were swept away in a moment; the same
contagion continued in the following years, so that no village
throuirhout the kinffdom was free from this calamity, or able to
exult at the loss of its neighbours.' Another historian says :
' This year there was so great a cattle plague as never before
was in man's memory, over all England. It affected oxen and
swine as well, so that in a town where there were usually ten or
twelve ploughs at work, there was now not one left, and the
man who owned two or three hundred swine, often lost them all.

' Saxon Chronicle, p. 229.

2 Si Bavouis. Chronicle. '' Aiisdm Gcinbhu. Chronic. Tistor.

* Chronicon Scotorum. Edit. 1867.

' Annals de Margan. Gale. Scrip., ii. p. 6.

68 History of Animal Plagues.

At this time also died the hen fowls {henne fugeles), and now
grew scant the flesh meat, the cheese, and the butter.' ^

A.D. 1 133. ^A destruction of cows {hodhiohhadh) came into
all Ireland, the like of which was not known since the former
destruction of cows in the time of Flaithbheartach, son of
Loingsech, and there were 432 years between them.' ^

'A maelgarhh this year, which killed the cows and swine
of Erinn, excepting a trifle.' ^

A.D. 1 134. ' The same cow-mortality still devastates Ireland.' *
In France, the air was so intemperate that birds fell dead. Flan-
ders and the neighbouring countries were inundated by the sea
during this and the next year, so that great loss in human life
and in cattle was sustained.' ^

A.D. 1 142-3. Tempestuous weather in England, which in-
duced a desolating famine that lasted for twelve years. At this
time immense swarms of what were called small flying worms,
which darkened the sun, appeared. These ate everything up.
From a had air a sore plague arose on man and beast.®

A.D. 1 149. A snowy and severe winter, on which account
the grain was destroyed in the fields by snow. An epizooty in
Belgium. ' In our land, by some death-bringing contagion or
pestilence, sheep, oxen, and all kinds of cattle were hurried away
b\' death. Wherefore I have devoted one-fourth of my herd of
cattle to the blessed Gerlacus.' " In Germany, a great mortality
among cattle, which in the pastures and sheds suddenly fell and
died.^

A.D. 1151. 'Inundations and heavy rains, followed by a
most grievous pestilence among men and cattle. Failure of the
crops, and consequent famine of a dreadful kind.' ** From this
time till 1169, there were severe winters and dry summers, and
famine and pestilence swept the world, but especially did Scot-

1 Chronic. Saxon. Barnes. Hist. Edward III. Eulogium Historiarum.

^ Annals of Kilroonan.

3 Chronic. Scotorum. Sec also the Annals of the Four Masters.

* Annals of Kilroonan. 5 T. Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 117.

* 71 Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 119.

'' Acta Sanctor. Bolland, Jan. 2, p. 318.

® Spangenberg. Op. cit., 258.

' Chronogr. Saxo. Leihnitz. Access. Hist., vol. i. p. 304.

History of Animal Plagues. 69

land, Ireland, Italy, Gaul, Sicily, Judea, Asia, and Africa
suffer.

A.D. 1 154. 'There was a great destruction of the cattle
{ttidilil'li — cattle in general) of Ireland this year. The second
Henry was made king ov^er the Saxons on the 27th of October.' ^
A.D. 1162. Great tempests. The sea inundated Friesland to
an extent never before known, drowning thousands of people
and cattle. At the same time hail made fearful havoc amono-
men, beasts, trees, and horses. There was a famine in Poland.
In Mediolana fell twelve great snows, which greatly afflicted both
animals and vegetables. In June it rained blood. Famine and
plague in Aquitania."

A.D. 1166. In Saxony, Mieavv storms of thunder and lio-ht-
ning, and inundations about harvest time. Plague and mortality
in children and beasts of burthen.^ ^

A.D. 1 171. Inundations destroyed the crops in many places,
Quadragesima suffered most severely. Disease in cattle, sheep,
and men throughout Germany. Every place was filled with the
dead bodies of men and cattle.* On December 25th, terrible
thunder and hail in England, which killed birds, beasts, and
people, in England, Scotland, Ireland, and France.^ ^

A.D. 1 1 72. The English king, with his arnjy, returning to
England, brought with them dysentery, caused, it was said, by
eating too much fresh fish and flesh. This disease spread over
the whole of England. It was, however, prevalent in other
parts of the world." The Spanish chronicles say: 'There was
a great famine over the whole earth, such as had never been
seen since the creation. It was greatly deplored by all men,
for there was constant death throughout the world both in man
and beast.' '^

A.D. 1173-4. To veterinary surgeons it may be interesting
to know that at this period history affords us the first intimation
of 'influenza' in the human species. 'This year the whole

1 Annals of the Four Masters. " Chronic. Magdeburg.

3 Chronogr. Saxo. Leibnitz. Access. Ilist., vol. i. p. 308.

* Chronic. Magdeburg. Hoffman. Annal. Bamberg.

* T. Short. Op. cit., p. 124. '' H^iJ-
' Chronic. Conimbric. Espana Sagrada, vol. xxiii. p. 334.

JO Histo7y of Animal Plagues.

world was afflicted with a cloudy corrupt air^ which occasioned
a most universal cough and catarrh fatal to many/ ^

A.D. 1176. There was a great inundation of the sea in Hol-
land, and in Lincolnshire, which drowned much cattle and
many people. A storm of blood-rain fell over the Isle of Wight
for two hours.-

A.D. 1 1 78. A blood shower in England. A comet was
seen; and the next day, on the west, a few hours after, a shower
of great hail killed men, sheep, and goats.^ ^ To the 5th July,
^78, the weather was moderate. Rains then came on until
January, which prevented agricultural operations. In September
there was an eclipse. In the following spring very hard weather.
Forage was excessively dear, and, as a consequence, there was
very great loss among sheep and cattle.^ ^

A.D. 1 187. Great floods and inundations in Britain.'^ There
was a grievous and pestilent mortality of men and cattle in
England.** An unusual conjunction of planets in Libra, and the
people being then addicted to astrology, got frightened, and a
fast was ordered by the Archbishop of Canterbury.''

A.D. 1188. In England, 'there was a dreadful tempest of
wind, rain, thunder and lightning, and hail fell in masses as
large as pigeons' eggs. The sea overflowed its banks to a great
height, and killed much people and cattle.' ^

A.D. 1200. 'About this time (in Portugal, from 1185 to
121 1) a disease never before seen sprang up. The viscera of
mankind were disturbed as if by some raging heat, which caused
raving as if of madness. A famine arose from the destruction of
corn by tempests and vermin, and a plague not less destructive
to cattle than to man appeared, so that the stables of many were
left empty."*

A.D. 1201. In England 'the spring had glutting and con-

1 T. Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 125. Chronogr. Saxo. p. 310. Ymagines. Hist.
Twysden. P. 579.

'i Speed. History of the Isle of Wight. ^ T. Short. Op. cit., p. 126.

* Anselm. Gemblac. Chronic. Pistor. Scrip., vol. i. p. 9S6.

s Chronic. Saxon. 0 Benedict Abbas.

' Forster. Atmospherical Origin of Disease, p. 147.

* T. Short. Op. cit , p. 129.

» De Vera Reg. Portugal. Hispauia Illustrata, vol. ii. p. 1257.

History of Aninial Plagues. yi

tinual rains and very great floods. On Jnnc the 25th and July
the loth were great tempests of thunder, lightnuig, hail as hi"-
as eggs, and prodigious rains, destroying corn, cattle, people,
meadows, &c. The rains continued from Pentecost to Nativity
of the blessed Virgin, which not only hindered corn and fruits
from ripening, but rendered them mostly useless and unprofit-
able. A great dearth of animals followed, but chiefly of sheep.' ^
Possibly from dropsy or ' rot.' For the previous five years, the
ignis sacer had been widely prevalent on the continent and in
England, in mankind, coincidently with /7/.v/ of plants and
famine.

A.D. 1202. 'This winter (after the great summer rains of
1201) was severe beyond any in the memory of man for extreme
cold and long continuance. After the frosts followed the like
tempests of thunder, lightning, rain, and hail as big as hens'
eggs, destroying corn, fruit, young cattle and horses, Sec' ^

A.D. 1207. In Ireland ' o. great destruction {dit/i) of men
and cattle this year.' ^

A.D. 12 13. Gangrenous erysipelas {feu sacr^) in mankind in
France and Spain. 'Neither was the scarcity limited to the fruits
of the earth, nor disease to the human species ; for birds, cattle,
and sheep became sterile and brought forth no young, and
many ridmg and other horses perished for lack of straw and
barley.' ^

A.D. 121 7. The drought was so great as to ruin the harvests
in Spain, and to burn up all the pasture. There was conse-
quently a famine, with pestilential disease in men and cattle.^
In Italy there raged a fearful plague in the human species, which
left scarcely a tenth part of the inhabitants alive.

A.D. 1221. This year were continual great rains all the sum-
mer in l\)land ; hence such great floods, that many villages were
swept down, the winter corn was lost, and there was no sowing
in the spring; a sharp horrid cold winter followed, then came
three years' famine and plague, whereof died niyriads of people
and cattle.'"

' T. Short. Op. cit., p. 133. ^ i],j,i. ^ Annals of Ulster.

* Villalba. Epidemiologia Espaiiola, vol. i. p. 54-

* Zitrila. Vol. i. p. 108. Villalba. Vol. i. ]). 57.

* Chronic. Magdeburg.

72 History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 1223-25. From the beginning of this century till 1241,
the Mongol invasions from Asia, through Russia, to Silesia,
took place, and it has been correctly conjectured, I think, that
these irruptions were the cause of many epizootics being intro-
duced into the western hemisphere. These maladies, especially
those occurring in 1222, 1233, and 1238, are supposed to have
been the Cattle Plague, or ' Rinderpest/ 1223. In this year there
was a very 2;reat epizooty of cattle, which seems to have begun
in the east, and to have spread, by way of Hungary and Austria,
into Italy, Germany, France, and England/ 'In the year 1223,
there was a great mortality among cattle, but grain crops were
not affected. It lasted three whole years, and the greater portion
of the cattle died.' ^ ' A great death of sheep in England.' ^

A.D. 1224. In Ireland, anthrax appears to have been very
fatal. ' An awfully great and frightful shower fell in parts of
Connaught this year, i. e. the Hy-Maney, and in Sodan, and
in Hy-Diarmada, and in Clannteige, from which grew a very
great mortal distemper [Teidhm galair) to the cows and cattle
of the aforesaid territories, after eating of the grass and herbage,
and in the people who partook of their milk or flesh it produced
various belly (or middle) sicknesses.' * ' Their milk and flesh
produced various distempers in the people that partook of them.
A great mortality of people in this year.' ^ A great war raged
in Connaught this year, 'and after the slaughter and destruction
of the cattle, and the people of the country, and after driving
them out to cold and hunger, a severe and mortal disease grew
up in the whole country, namely, a species of Teasca (pro-
bably typhus), through which towns were emptied without
leaving a single person in them ; some recovered, but they were
few.'«

A.D. 1233. Thunder and lightning for thirteen days in Eng-
land, with heavy rains. All the vegetation was destroyed, and
as a consequence famine and disease prevailed.

' In this year so terrible a cattle plague broke out, commenc-
ing in Hungary, and spreading into this and more distant lands,

' Conrad. Coenobit. Scliyreus. Tritheni.

2 Konigshofen. Els. Chron. p. 302. ^ -j^^ Short. Op. cit-, vol. i.- p. 139.

* Annals of Connaught. ^ Annals of Kilroonan. ^ Ibid.

Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

10

that nearly all the cattle died^ and one scarcely knew where to
obtain more/ ^

A.D. 1234. Aventinus speaks of a great epizooty [magna pes,-
t'l^ peciidtim) among cattle in this year.^ Probably it was a con-
tinuation of that mentioned for last year.

A.D. 1235. 'Tristan Calcho, the historian, informs us that
a pest broke out among quadrupeds, and was destructive to
nearly every beast of burden. Amongst birds it was particularly
destructive to domestic fowls.' ^

A.D. 1238. ' A severe and dreadful winter. . . . Afterwards
a plague broke out among birds, and chiefly amongst fowls.
Oxen and many other useful beasts suffered greatly.' *

A.D. 1240. Disease (?) attacked the fish on the coast of Eng-
land, and pestilence raged in various parts of the country. Short
writes : — ' For about four months together, it scarcely ever
ceased raining, but about Easter it began to take up, turn clear
and fair. Then three months' drought caused great famine to
follow. In February appeared a comet which continued for
thirty days. Sore and heavy diseases on man and beast. There
was also a great battle among the fishes on the English coast,
by which eleven whales and multitudes of other large mon-
strous fishes were cast on the shore dead.'^ The battle
amongst the fishes was an ignorant way, no doubt, of account-
ing for the mortality amongst these denizens of the deep.

In this year, according to the Archives of the Agricultural
Society of Southern Russia, the Cattle Plague appeared in Hun-
gary, and spread throughout nearly the whole of Europe.

A.D. 1248. ' A plague and great famine in Britain and Ire-
land.'«

A.D. 1249. Inundations were so frequent in Fricsland that
agricultural operations were greatly retarded. Famine ensued,
and a disease broke out amongst cattle which nearly tlestroyed
them all. Mankind afterwards suflfered from pestilence. This
state of aflfairs continued throughout the next year, and it was

1 Walset. Appenzeller Chronik. p. 154. - Aiinal. Boj., p. 637.

^ Miscellan. Medic. Curios. Col. Agripp. 1677, p. 41.

■• Roland. Hist. Muratori. Govern, delle I'este, p. 6.

'■' T. Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 143. " Annales Camb-ioe.

74 Histo7j of Animal Plagues.

so aggravated by the excessive heat of the summer that fears were
entertained it would rival the Athenian plague itself.^

In Frissingen there was such a plague of mice, that corn,
hay, and all vegetation was eaten up.^

A.D. 1 25 1. A most intolerably hot summer. Famine in
Italy and epidemic disease in England.

'Thunder and lightning came in the summer of this year,
which killed many men and cattle in Ireland.'^

A.D. 1252. Great epizooty of anthrax fever in England.
'The summer was very hot and dry throughout England, and
from Easter to autumn no rain fell, neither did dew in any way
supplv the deficiency, so that the surface of the ground was
never even moist, whence it happened that grass scarcely grew
at all, and by reason of this a severe famine ensued, and a great
mortality among men and cattle.' * ' In the same year, for the
greatest part of March, and the whole of the months of April
and May, a burning sun prevailed, and northerly winds continued.
The dryness of the weather continued and the dews ceased,
so that apples and other fruits, which were now beginning to
ripen, withered and fell from the trees, and there was scarcely
any fruit, although the spring blossoms gave great promise. Of
what remained an unseasonable morning hoar frost, which philo-
sophers call uredo, blighted the young apples, and all kinds of
fruit and herbs, so that scarcely a tenth part remained. Never-
theless, through the original abundance, had all the apples ar-
rived at maturity, the trees could not have supported them.
When the sun had attained its meridian, it was so intensely hot
and intolerable, that the surface of the ground was thoroughly
parched, so that all the grass being burnt up, food was denied
to cattle and sheep. At night the excessive heat produced flies
and other hurtful parasites, by which the life of all animals was
rendered wearisome. This is from ocular testimony

' In the course of the same year, after the excessive heat of
the summer, and at the approach of autumn, a plague-like mor-
tality broke out amongst the cattle in manv places in England,

^ Ubbon. Emmii Rer. Fries. Hist. 15 16.

- Chronic. Magdeburg. » Annals of Connaiight.

■* Thomas Wilkes. A Chronicle of English Affairs.

Histoj-y of Animal Plagties. 75

but especially in Norfolk, the marshes, and in the southern dis-
tricts, than could ever be remembered, in which pestilence this
remarkable fact was observed : all the dogs and crows which fed
on the bodies of the dead cattle immediately became infected,
grew intensely swollen, and died on the spot. On this account,
nobody dared to eat beef of any kind, for fear of being poisoned
by this disease. Another remarkable circumstance noticed
amongst the cattle : the cows and full-grown bullocks sucked
the teats of the milch cows like calves. There is another fact
worthy of mention at this time, namely, that at the period when
the pears and apples would be fully ripe, the trees were observed
to blossom, as if in the month of April. The excessive mortality
amongst the cattle and the unseasonable blossomino-, tooether
with the unnatural desire of the young cattle, were evidently
caused by the heat and dryness of the weather. And this is
also to be wondered at, the grass in the meadows was so rotten,
hard and dry, during the months of May, June, and July, that
if it were rubbed in one's hands it immediately crumbled into
dust. When, therefore, the equinoctial season brought rain in
abundance to the dried ground, the earth, on account of the
sudden opening of its pores, was prodigal of its richness, where-
fore it produced grass in large quantitv, but of an inferior and un-
natural quality. The famished and hungry cattle seized upon this
with such avidity, and became so distended with sudden fotness,
that they made useless flesh (or flesh useless as food), and this
gave rise to inordinate humours. Finally they went mad, and
frisked about in an unusual manner, until, becoming suddenly
infected with the disease, they fell dead ; and the contagion
from them, owing to the virulence of the disease, infected
others as well. A similar cause can also be assigned for the
trees blossoming out of season.' ^ At the same time a disease

' Matthew of Paris. Op. cit., pp. 806 — 820. This year affords us some well-
marked examples of that particular disease termed anthrax, anthrax fever, car-
buncular erysipelas, or splenic apoplexy, and which in its more malignant forms
is now somewhat rare in England, though on the continent and in many parts
of the world it prevails very extensively and severely, especially during the sum-
mer season. In this country it is commonly known as 'black quarter,' 'quarter
ill,' the ' hlain' (glossanthrax), &c. It is perhaps the most general disease of ani-
mals—attacking quadrupeds, bipeds, fowls, and fishes. It especially attacks all

76 History of Animal Plagues.

appeared in horses, in England and France, of a most fatal cha-
racter, called the ' evil of the tongue,' or tongue ill,^ which was
in all probability of an anthracoid nature.

' This year was remarkable in Ireland for a great drought,
by which multitudes of cattle perished.-"^

This anthrax or carbonous disease has been considered by
some modern medical authorities quite a recent and an exotic
malady in England. How far this is correct the above evidence
will testify; indeed, we have every reason to believe, that, from
time immemorial, anthrax and anthracoid fever have been present
among the lower animals, both domestic and feral, and that it has
been communicated from them to the human species, and to other
creatures which may have partaken of the flesh of these diseased
beasts. The frequent mention of ' blains ' and 'black blains'
(blejene, blacan blejene) — terms Still employed to designate a par-
ticular form of this class of affections in cattle — as afflicting man-
kind, in the early Anglo-Saxon marmscripts, and the continually-

the domestic animals, and even those of the deer tribe, appearing sporadically,
enzootically, or epizootically. It is believed to be highly contagious, passing from
one animal to another, even of a different species, but not perhaps from man to man.
In the early days of Britain, when the country was badly cultivated and the ground
undrained — when there were many extensive marshes, and much land covered with
swamps and vegetable matter in a decomposing state, such as now exist in Russia,
where malignant pustule and other forms of this malady rage — severe epizootics must
have been frequent. The form of anthrax described by Matthew of Paris would ap-
pear to be that now commonly known as black quarter or splenic apoplexy, a dis-
ease in cattle often arising in our time from the same causes as those enumerated
by the worthy historian.

That form which attacked horses is the one technically termed glossanthrax,
and is now, so far as I am aware, unknown in Britain. Indeed, I can find no
mention of its occurrence in this animal for some centuries. On the continent, and
especially in Russia, the equine species is particularly liable to attacks of anthrax.
The symptoms, when the tongue is the special seat of disease, have been noted in
France, where the malady is then termed chancre volant. Large bladders filled
with a reddish-coloured liquid form on that organ ; in a short time they burst, and
give rise to ulcers which rapidly become a mass of gangrene. The tongue sloughs
away in pieces, and death quickly takes place in the midst of convulsions.

Cattle die in from six to twenty-four hours after being attacked. It is curious
to find a disease, probably of the same nature, now very prevalent in America
amongst deer, and designated ' tongue evil.'

' Dunstaple. Short. Op. cit., p. 149. •

- Smith. History of Waterford.

History of Animal Plagues. 77

recurring remedies prescribed in the Saxon leechdoms/ would in-
dicate such to be the case. And when we consider the backward
state of agriculture, and the unsanitary conditions in which ani-
mals were maintained at this period, we can scarcely wonder that
wide-spread outbreaks of this fatal and virulent disorder were
by no means rare, or that they should be accompanied or fol-
lowed bv malignant pustule or anthrax fever in man.

The laws enacted during the reign of Henry TIL, at the
commencement of this century, appear to have been judiciously
framed, at least in so far as the public health in regard to food
was concerned ; and thev also give us some idea of the principal
maladies affecting animals then sold for their flesh. From them
we are led to infer that anthrax was not at all rare, and that
pork was, as it now is, looked upon with suspicion. Butchers were
forbidden to sell contagious flesh, or that had died of the murrain
[carnes-suscientas vel morte morlna) ; to buy flesh of Jews, and
then sell it to Christians; or to sell flesh '^measled' or flesh dead
of the ' murrain ' {porcinas supsennuates, ut carnes de mori?ia) .'^

Mr Rogers' researches into the state of agriculture at this
period lead him to the following conclusions with regard to
pigs : ' Pigs are occasionally said to be leprous, and were especi-
ally liable to measles, that is, to entozoa, and the accounts fre-
quently allude to forced sales of animals, in which the latter
disease was present or suspected, though it does not appear that
such a circumstance seriously depreciated the market value of the
animal.^ ^

A.D. 1253. ' This year throughout was abundant in corn and
fruit; so much so, that the price of a measure of corn fell to
thirty pence. But . . . the sea overflowing its bounds, by its
sudden inundations, overwhelmed men and cattle, and when it
happened by night it drowned many the more.' *

A.D. 1254. A very severe Avinter in England. ^ Also there

' For the remedies and incantations in use to cure this disease in people diirint;
the Middle Ages in England, see Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Larly
England. London, 1864-5-6.

- Statutes of the Realm, vol. i. ^ Hist. Agric , vol. i. p. 337-

* Matthew of Paris. Op. cit.

^8 History of Animal Plagues.

chanced the same year a great murrain, and death of sheep and
deer, so that of whole flocks and herds scarce the half escaped/^
' On that same day (St Gregory's), too, the severity of the frost
o-ave way, which has lasted uninterruptedly for nearly the whole
winter; at least, ever since the night of circumcision, when there
was seen the wonderful apparition of the ship in the sky, or a
cloud very like a ship. The apparition was believed, at the time,
to be a sio'n of coming tempestuous weather, and was, moreover,
followed by such a deadly disease amongst sheep and wild
beasts, that the sheep-folds were void of sheep, and the forests of
wild beasts; indeed, in large flocks scarcely one half survived.' ^

A.D. 1257. ' In Ji^dy were excessive rains and floods, and a
great scarcity of horses and cattle in England. All the marshes
were like a flooded desert' ^

A.D. 1258. 'In this same year, the calm temperature of
autumn lasted to the end of January, so that the surface of the
water was not frozen in any place during that time. But from
about this period, that is to say, from the purification of the
blessed Virgin imtil the end of March, the north wind blew
without intermission, a continued frost prevailed, accompanied
by snow and such unendurable cold, that it bound up the face of
the earth, sorely afflicted the poor, suspended all cultivation, and
killed the young of the cattle to such an extent, that it seemed
as if a general plague was raging amongst the sheep and lambs.'*
' On the eve of St John the Baptist (June 23rd) this year, such
a violent tempest of rain fell on the waters of the Severn from
Shrewsbury towards Bristol, as had not been seen in our
days.'^

A.D. 1259. 'In this year was a great hunger, that men and
beasts died for default of meat.' ^

A.D. 1260. A great inundation on the Rhine, fatal to multi-
tudes of people and cattle."

A.D. 1264. A comet was seen from the beginning of August
until the middle of October. Its appearance in Germany was

' HoUnshed. Op. cit.

2 Matthew of Paris. Op. cit. ^ t. Short. Op. cit. p. 150.

* Mattheio of Paris. Op. cit. ^ Matthew of Westminster.

* Capgrave. Chronicles of England. " T. Short. Op. cit. p. 151.

I

Histoi'y of A HI Dial Plagues. 79

followed by a o-reat famine, effusion of blood, and death amonir
animals. The famine was so great that many families emigrated
into Poland. The mortality among animals was sueh that no
one dared to eat or buy the flesh of oxen.^ Sheep and cattle
were most affected.^ A murrain destroyed many horses and
cattle in England.^

A.D. 1266. Swarms of 'Palmer' worms ate up all fruits,
herbsj grass, and vegetation in Scotland, and there were such
great floods from the sea, the Tay, and the Forth, that innumer-
able villages, people, and cattle were lost.*

A.D. 1274. The Annals tell us that a deadly disease {lues
oviumY broke out amongst sheep, which persisted for twenty-five
or twenty-eight years, and destroyed nearly all the flocks in
Eniiland. This epizooty will be more fully noticed in subse-
quent years.

A.D. 1275-6. ' Very heavy rains in France for these two
years; so much so, that the crops could not be gathered, nor
the corn sown. A dreadful famine, followed by a still more
dreadful pestilence, ensued, by which a great number of men
and cattle were destroyed.' ^ ' Great earthquakes in London,
and in the whole world. At the same time the rain fell a
bright red, as of blood, in Wales. In this year (1275) was first
observed the outbreak of common scab [scabies) in sheep."
Stow, following Thomas of Walsingham, has the following-
notice of this event for this year: 'A rich man of France
brought into Northumberland a Spanish ewe as big as a calf of
two years, which ewe being rotten, infected so the country that
it spread over all the realm. This plague of murrain continued
twenty-eight years ere it ended, and was the first rot that ever
was in England.' * If this be correct, merinos were then first in-
troduced into Britain.

' Chronic. Siles. Vetust. Sommersberg, p. 17. Annal. ^yratisl. Snmmersberg,

P- 173-

- Henel. ab Henncfeld. Annal. Silcs. Sommersberg.

3 T. Short. Op. cit., p. 152. '' H'i'l- P- I53-

'•> Thoincc Walsiiii^ha77i. I listeria Anglicana.

'' Jlofinaiini. Annal. Bamlierg. Ludeiuijr. Scriji. rer. Bamberg, p. 176.

' Ihnry de Knygltton. 'l"he Events of England.

" St(nv. The Annalcs or Generall Chronicle of England. London, 1614, p. 200.

8o History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 1277. ' In this year scab in sheep reigned throughout the
whole of Enoland. It was commonly termed " clausick," ^
and by it all the sheep in the country were infected. A certain
ointment composed of quicksilver and pork fat was found to be
a good remedy/ ^

This epizooty among sheep deserves most particular notice
for the following reasons. Stow plainly mentions it as an im-
ported disease, and terms it rot. Other authors term it scuhies,
and one mentions what would no doubt have been a very effect-
ive remedy for that aflection — lard and mercury. Now, the rot
of the present dav is not contagious or infectious ; therefore the
Spanish sheep could not have contaminated others. The ' scab '
certainly is contagious, but. Stow, one would think, would not
have designated the malady as rot when the other term was com-
monly used. Therefore I think it is most probable that two con-
tagious diseases were introduced into England in these years : —
the one scabies, and the other ovine small-pox. The most dili-
gent search through the most likely Annals of these and the

^ This is the first time I find the terra clansick employed to designate a dis-
ease. It is evidently derived from the Celtic word chnvr, clefre, or clatiri, to
claw or scratch, as in the itch ; and the Anglo-Saxon word sioc, siec, to be sick or
unwell. The name is a new one, and was evidently looked upon as such by the
historian. A portion of this history of the supposed first invasion of 'variola ovina '
in Britain was published in the VeterinariaJi for May, 1867, and appeared soon
alter in the Annales Vcterinaires of Brussels, having been translated by Veterinary
Surgeon Dele, of Antwerp. This gentleman, in a note, offers the following opinion
as to 'clausick.' 'The word clausick has a striking resemblance to the German
word klauenseuche, and the Dutch word klaairwziekte, which signifies disease of the
claw or hoof. The affection mentioned by Mr Fleming may, then, be a conta-
gions disease of the hoof, rather than the scab. There can be no doubt as to
the meaning of the English term siek, derived from the Anglo-Saxon sioc, siec,
which corresponds to the German word seucJie, and the Dutch ziekte, that is to say,
diseased. With regard to the word claw, which Mr Fleming says comes from the
Celtic clawr, clefre, clanri, and which he translates as to scratch, its analogy with the
German word Man, and the Dutch word klaanw (nail, hoof, claw, talon) is perfect.
There is as much reason to suppose that the word clausick was applied to a
disease of the hoof as to one in which the foot was used to scratch the itching skin.'
I think M. Dele is not quite correct in supposing that this can be a hoof disease
instead of scab. The meaning of the word, as applied in this instance, is undoubt-
edly to tear with the nails or claws : to tear or scratch in general. I am not aware
that any contagious foot disease was known in sheep at this early period. Besides,
here we have distinct evidence of the nature of the malady in the success of the
remedv — mercury and lard.

- Waverly Annals, vol. ii. j). 233.

History of Animal Plagues. 8i

preceding years lead nie to the conclusion that this is correct,
and that the first trace we obtain in history ot this serious malady
— sheep sniall-pox — appearing as an epizootv, is in Britain.
This is rather singular, considering that the malady is believed
to be exotic, and that in those countries from whence we usually
derive it, there were at that time numerous chroniclers, who
would, we might suppose, have mentioned the outbreaks of this
formidable contagion. Such is not the case, however ; and to
EnHish historians we are indebted for sufficient evidence to
establish a reasonable supposition that ovine variola was, in a
masked form, imported into Britain by a Spanish ewe. In 1847
the disease was imported bv Spanish or merino sheep, and caused
severe loss.

But that this disease of sheep existed and was well-known
in Britain more than two hundred years before 1275, cannot be
a matter for doubt; and that its cure had engaged the attention
of the leeches of these days is also a certain fact. In a curious
Saxon manuscript of the Harleian collection (No. 585), sup-
posed to be written in the tenth or eleventh century, and in-
scribed 'Lacnunga' is the following recipe: ^ For pocks and
skin eruptions (pi(5 poccum y pceapa hjieoplan) : lupin and ever-
fern, the nether part of it, the upper part of spearwort, ground,
great or horse beans, pound all together very small in honey,
and in holy water, and mingle all well together, put one dose
into the animal's mouth with a spoon, three doses a-day
always; for nine times if niickle need be.' ^ This is certainly
the earliest notice I can find of this malady; but whether it was
very prevalent, or whether its contagious nature was understood
by the Saxon doctors, is tjuite a mystery. Beyond the recipe and
the mention of the disease, all is darkness. At this somewhat
early period, however, the symptoms of disease arc but rarely
entered in the Lx-cch-books ; and for many centuries after this
time, the medical philosophers in Britain were content to limit
their skill to the ])rincij)les of cure by means of uncouth and
fantastic recipes.

The clauri or scabies of the Welsh sheep has been already

• Ke7: Onvald Cockayne. Lecclnloms, Worlcunniiit;, and Staiciart of Pearly
England. London, 1865. Vol. iii. p. 57.

6

82 History of Animal Plagues.

mentioned in our notice of the Laws of Howel, revised more
than two hundred years before this period ; and the scab and
tetter (fceb, tereji) were well-known diseases among the Saxon
shepherds.*

The term rot appears subsequently to have been applied to
small-pox, or some other malady which was contagious, and to
have continued in use for some time.^ For instance, Dryden, four
centuries after this invasion, says : —

' Your teeming ewes shall no strange meadows try,
Nor fear a rot from tainted company.'

In the fourteenth century, the century following these de-
scriptions, we have direct testimony that the small-pox of sheep
was known to poets, and that in England. Delightful old
Chaucer is the very first non-scientific writer who, in this way,
gives us the plainest proof of its existence when he wrote his
famous Canterbury Tales, about the middle of that century. In
the Pardoner's Story, when that knavish ecclesiastic is describ-
ing his mummeries and conceits, he is made to say : —

' Then show I forth my longe crystal stones,
Ycrammed full of cloutes and of bones.
Relics they be, as weenen they each one,^
Then have I in laton'* a shoulder-bone,
Which that was of a holy Jew^s sheep.
Good men, say I, take of my wordes keep.
If that this bone be wash'd in any well,
If cow, or calf, or sheep, or oxe swell.
That any worm hath eat, or worm ystung,^
Take water of that well, and wash his tongue,
And it is whole anon ; and, furthermore.
Of pockes^ and of scab, ajid every sore,

^ Rev. Osivald Cockayne. Leechdoms, Wortciinning, and Starcraft of Early
England. London, 1865. Vol. i. p. 24.

'^ Vc\.'L,o\\Aovi!'~, Encyclopccdia of Agriculture, published so late as 1839, it is noted
that the rot is a popular term among shepherds, and includes within its range dis-
eases widely different. This writer speaks of blood rot, glanderous rot, the great
rot, hydropic rot, pelt rot, and hunger rot.

'^ As each one weens or believes. '

* A cross made of a mixture of metals resembling brass. * Stung.

^ The Saxon /(7r/Cr, old Anglo-Saxon 'pocca.' The Germans still usually term
this disease ' Schafpocke,' and pock is not an unfrequent word among ourselves
to designate the variolous eruption.

History of Aimnal Plagues. 83

Shall every sheep be whole, that of this well
Drinketh a draught : take keep of that I tell.'

It is not until nearly four centuries after the Saxon Jccch-
book had been written, and a century after Chaucer, in undeni-
able English, explicitly designates the maladv bv the name now
familiar to us (though in mentioning ^a//' the poet savs nothino- of
rot, an indigenous maladv), that the earliest notice of it is to be
found on the continent.

Tn the Avocal Pat/ieltn (the Craftv Lawyer), a farce which ap-
pears to have been published in France in 1460, though it may
have been played before that time, we learn that the disease
was sometimes prevalent amongst the flocks, and was known as
clavelee (from c/avus, a nail; probably owing to the way in
which the scabs or pustules studded the skin like nail-heads),
the popular name for it in France at the present day. One of the
actors, Agnelet (lambkin), blames it for causing a considerable
mortality.^ The first notice we have of it by a medical writer
is in 1578.

Some writers have believed the disease known as piisulu
(another form of expression for pustiila, a blister, pimple, or pus-
tule) by the Romans, and mentioned by Marcus Columella to be
ovine small-pox ; but there is little proof that such was the case.
On the contrary, we have it distinctly stated that it was the ignis
sacer. ' Est etium insainihiUs ignis sacer, quern piisidam I'ocant
pnstores.'^ We will examine this part of the subject hereafter.
At present our researches into the history of small-pox in sheep
efTcctually demolishes the absurd notion of a orcat French na-

' Laharpe. Cours de Litterat., part ii. chap. vii. Luard. Melange de Litterat.
Hist, du Tlieatre Fran5aise, vol. iv. p. 36.

- There is some difficulty here in the stereotyped phrase ignis sacer. The
ancients applied the words to many skin affections, we liave reason to believe ; and
with the exception of the extreme contagiousness of that malady, its chiefly affect-
ing the surface of the body, and its being designated a pustular disease by the
Roman shepherds, we have no proof as to its identity with small-pox. The ignis
sacer has usually been supposed to be gangrenous erysipelas, which is sometimes
epizootic amongst the flocks of southern countries (Gclle. Pathologic Bovine),
and is thought by some to be only a form of anthrax. (See Gaspariu. Maladies
des Betes jt Laine. Reynal. Dictionnaire de M6d. &c., Veterinaires, vol. vi.
Art. ' Erysipele.') At a certain stage of the malady vesicles or bull.e are formed,
which may have misled the shepherds, who would think them pustules.

84 History of Animal Plagues.

turalist/ that the variolous disease owed its origin to the turkey
{Meleagris gallopavo). a hird only imported into Europe by the
Spaniards in 1530, nearly five-hundred years alter it is mention-
ed as a known disease, and two hundred after Chaucer distinctly
alludes to it; as well as three hundred after a probable outbreak
in Encjland, due to the importation of a diseased Spanish sheep,
and which lasted for twenty-eight years. Besides, the disease
(like cow-pox ? ") has never, to my knowledge, been seen in
Mexico, the native country of the turkey.

Much mvstery attends the early history of human variola in
Europe. We have already seen that in a.d. 569 the word
variola was employed to designate an epidemic in Italy and
France ; the malady certainly appears to have been sufficiently
specified towards the end of the sixth century under the de-
signations of lues cum vesicis pusulce or pustulce, and morbus dy-
sentericus cum pustulis, as well as coralis. Gregory of Tours
says : Rusticiores vera corales has pustulas nomiuahant ; and in
A.D. 772 the pox (small-pox) is reported to have raged over
the whole of Ireland. Rhazes, or Razi, an Arab physician,
accurately described the disease in a special monograph, about
the year 900; and Dr Short, an excellent medical historian, ap-
pears to believe that the malady was one of ancient date in
Europe, but had not attracted much attention because of the
mild form it exhibited. '^The small-pox seem not to have been
so severe and fatal formerly as in late ages, since the ancients do
not treat of them particularly; but are thought to intend them
under such general names as some think sufficient to express
their nature, as papulas, JU/us ignis, carbones ad ustos, pustulas
latas sublimes vigras, ulcerosas caput cutemque puerorum occti-
pare ; exanthemata eithymata inulta et varia exercere, &c. The
Arabians first treated of them professedly, and they always joined
them to the plague and pestilential fevers ; but neither Greeks,
Latins, nor Arabians tell us when they first begun : probably be-
cause they were long before their days, but not being so fatal as

' Biiffon. Hist. Nat. du Dindon.

2 For evidence witii regard to the probable existence of cow-pox among tlie
cattle of South America from the earliest times, see Humboldt, Essai Politique sur
la Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne, vol. i. p. 67.

History of Animal Plagues. 85

now, thev challenged no such particular regard I do not

take the small-pox in general to depend on either season or tem-
perature of the air; for in different places, in the same climate
and constitution, I find them a perpetual epidemic, scarce ever
out in all places of Britain at once ; and besides (as Dr Lister and
Dr Hillarv well observe), they are originally an exotic disease, un-
known to Europe, Asia Minor, or Africa, before the spice trade
was opened to the remotest part of the East Indies, when thev
were first brought into Africa, thence into Europe. The first
time we meet with them in English history is in 907.' ^

In a Saxon ' Laece Boc,' or Leech Book, of the first half of
the tenth centurv, we find several recipes for the cure of the
small-pox, which is there termed ' poc addle' (pocafele), or pock
ailment. The recipes consist of internal remedies, chiefly de-
coctions of herbs, and salves (Sealp). One of the recipes says:
'Against pocks (pif^poccum), a man shall freely employ blood-
letting and drink melted butter, a bowl full of it : if they break
out one must delve or dig away each one of them with a thorn ;
and then let him drip wine or alder drink within them, then
they will not be seen, or no traces will remain.' And to show
that the disease was greatly dreaded, we have a prayer against
it. In a Cottonian MS. there is a charm against small-
pox. The MSS. containing these recipes, prayers, and charms,
were, in all probability, written at periods but little removed from
the date when Rhazes composed his monograph on this serious
malady.

Burton- says that the ' Judari,' or small-pox, appears to be
indigenous to the countries bordering upon the Red Sea. He
observes that we read of it there in the earliest works of the
Arabs; and even to the present day it sometimes sweeps through
Arabia and the Somali country with desolating violence. Con-
jecture, however, goes a long way beyond reason when it dis-
covers small-pox in the Tayr Ababil, the 'swallow-birds,' which,
according to the Koran, destroyed the Abyssinian host of Abra-
hat el Aslirand in 569 or 572.^ There is some difficulty about

i T. Short. Op. cit., vol. ii. \)\). 361,415.

2 Burton. Pilgrimage to El Mcdinali and Mcccali, vol. i. p. 367.

' Hecker. Geschichte der Medicin, vol. ii. p. 152.

86 History of Animal Plagues.

the word ahahil, Major Price having translated it as the plural of
ab'dali, a vesicle ; but Burton thinks the former is an Arabic and
the latter a Persian word, and that they have no connection what-
ever. M. C. de Perceval, quoting the * Sirat el Rasul/ which
savs that at that time small-pox first appeared in Arabia, ascribes
the destruction of the host of Yemen to an epidemic and a
violent tempest. The strangest part of the story is, that al-
thouo-h it occurred at Meccah, about two months before Maho-
met's birth, and therefore within the memory of many living at
the time, the prophet alludes to it in the Koran as a miracle.
The same intrepid traveller, Burton, in another work on Africa,
remarks: ' The most dangerous disease is small-pox, which history
traces to Eastern Abyssinia, where it still becomes at times a vio-
lent epidemic, sweeping off its thousands.^ ^ And elsewhere, in
speaking of the diseases of East Africa, he seems to think the
small-pox a native of that country. ^The most dangerous epi-
demic is its aborigen, the small-pox, which propagated without
contact or fomites, sweeps at times like a storm of death over the
land.' 2

Niebuhr ^ informs us that a rude form of inoculation — the
mother pricking the child's arm with a thorn — has been known
in Yemen from time immemorial. Forbes thought small-pox in
man had been known in Ceylon since the 3rd century. When
mentioning vaccination in that island, he expresses a hope that
it will ' prevent any very extensive ravages from a cause which
has formerly contributed materially to the depopulation of the
island, and is probably the Red-eyed Demon of pestilence who
is recorded to have swept the country of half its numbers in the
3rd century, and in the reign of Sirisangabo.' * It may at this
primitive period have been introduced from Africa.

With regard to variola ovina, it is curious to find that its
supposed earliest invasion of this country as an epizooty, and
its presence here and elsewhere since the 13th century, should
be in connection with the importation or introduction of Merino

^ First Footsteps in East Africa, p. 180.

- The Lake Regions of Central Africa, vol. ii. p. 318.

^ Beschriebung von Arabien, 1772.

* Eleven Years in Ceylon, vol. i. p. 357.

History of Animal Plagues. 87

sheep. It is asserted that the sheep of the South Atlas_, Africa,
are the progenitors of the Spanish Merino;^ and, according to
Erman/ the original Spanish sheep were black, with a coarse
and very inferior wool, till the Roman colonists settled there and
introduced a taste for rural pursuits. Marcus Columella (a.d. 40)
was the first to notice the wild mouiions at Cadiz, which were
on their wav from Africa to the Arena at Rome, and which race
he afterwards used for the improvement of the Spanish breed. Did
these African sheep introduce the disease into Europe at this
period, when they were exported from a region where the small-
pox of man appears to have had its earliest home ? It will be
seen hereafter that this breed introduced into France and Ger-
many a malady unknown amongst them in Spain, and never
seen or heard of until they were imported into those countries
— the contagious foot disease. Columella was the first to breed
the wild mouflon with the Spanish sheep; he was also the first
to describe an extremely contagious and fatal disease amongst
sheep, which he designated 'ignis sacer, but which the shepherds
called pusida. Was this the variolous disease of the ovine
species? It would scarcely be safe to pronounce in a positive
manner; and unfortunately the paucity of writers between the
1st and 9th or loth centuries, when the malady is for the first
time properly named, is a great bar to further investigation
in this direction.

For the year 1280, there is mention made of perhaps this
same sheep mortality, which may have extended to Wales. ' There
was a great murrain among sheep {magnum monna ovitim),
which began in the ))rcceding year.-* ^

A distinguished professor,* in discussing the agricultural
history for this epoch, writes: 'Among the diseases peculiar to
sheep, the scab is very frequently mentioned. This disease
made its appearance at or about the year T2(S8 (?), and became
endemic. It was at first treated with copperas and verdigris;
but in time, that is, at about the close of the 13th century, it wag

' Tristram. The Great Sahara, p. 56.

- Travels in Siberia, vol. ii. p. 161. ' Annnles Caml)rin:.

* 7- Ro:^crs. Hist, of Aj^TicuUurc in the 13th and 14II1 centuries, vol. i.

88 History of Animal Plagues.

discovered that tar (generally called bitumen in the accounts of
the farm bailiffs^ but occasionally by its English name) was a
specilic for the complaint. Shortly after this time the purchase
of tar is a regular entry. It is clear that the remedy was mixed
with butter or lard, and then rubbed in. Note is occasionally
taken of any exceptional prevalence of this disease, which seems
never to have been eradicated, but only to have varied in in-
tensity and frequency. ^ And for this year (1288), in the farm
accounts of Stanham, he finds the following entry : Nimia in-
firmitas et Scabies bidentium : fleeces small/

' Sheep, again,^ observes Mr Rogers,^ in referring to this period,
' were liable to several diseases, and among these the rot and the
scab. The former affecting the general health of the animal, the
latter its most valuable produce, were the cause of continual
anxiety to the medieval farmer as they are to his descendant.'

'^ There are,' says Walter de Henley, ' several means by which
shepherds profess to discover the existence of rot. 1. They look
at the veins under the eyelid. If these are red, the sheep is sound ;
if white, unsound. 2. 7'hev try the wool on the ribs. If it holds
firmly to the skin, it is a good sign; if it pulls off* easily, it is a
bad one. 3. If the skin, on rubbing, reddens, the sheep is sound ;
if it remains pale, the animal is rotten. 4. About All Saints'
day, November i, if the hoar-frost in the morning is found to
cling to the wool, it is a good sign; but if it be melted, it is a
sign that the animal is suffering from an unnatural heat, and
that it is probably unsound. If one of your sheep dies, put the
flesh at once into water, and keep it there from daybreak to
three o'clock [nones), then hang it up to drain thoroughly, salt
it and dry it. It will do for your labourers.'^

The venerable and learned Fleta,^ who also writes at this
period, gives us an excellent description of the duties of the shep-
herd, the care to be taken of the sheep, and the maladies to
which they were then liable. The great rarity of this work, and
the value of its author's remarks in the chapter entitled ' De
toribus,' almost induce me to offer a translation, but space
forbids.

1 Rogers. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 334. 2 Ibid.

2 Fleta. Commentarius Juris Anglicani, lib. ii. cap. 79.

History of Animal Plagues. 89

A.D. 1279. '^^^ ^^^ year, in every young horse that was
foaled, there appeared four permanent teeth/ ^

A.D. 1283. Mr Rogers informs us that in the accounts for
fiirm stock for Ditchingham, under this date, there is the entry,
* Morbus generahs/ - When King Philip of France was invading
Spain with 200,000 infantry and 86,000 cavalry, and while at
Gerona, the whole force sufiered severely from disease, losing 4000
men, and nearly as many horses. Tremendous swarms of flies
{moscas) as large as acorns, and of a difierent shape from the or-
dinarj^ flies, appeared, and attacked both men and horses. No
sooner were these stung by them than they died. So great was
the sickness that this monarch was unable to show himself before
Cataluna. This dreadful plague, savs the chronicler, was attri-
buted to a miracle wrought by St Narcissus.^

A.D. 1286. A strange kind of worm infested Prussia. It
had a tail like a crab, and whatever animal was stung by it was
dead within three days.* ' Throughout Austria and some other
countries the following unheard-of occurrence took place : the
fowls and small birds that were previously perfectly healthy
suddenly dropped down dead, and the heavens were so robbed
of their small birds that scarcely a magpie, or a crow, or any
other bird, was to be seen.^ ^

A.D. 1291. An epizooty in Iceland among horses. 'The
great icebergs melted, and winter went away; then came a
disease among cattle {feUi vetr)."^

A.D. 1299. An epizooty among horses at Seville. Accord-
ino- to the veterinarians Martin Arrendondoand Fernando Calvo,
who derived their information from Laurentius Rusius, it
manifested itself with great severity, and killed more than one
thousand horses. Rusius says of it: 'There was a certain
fever broke out among horses which seemed to be incurable.

' Chronic. Clauslro-Neoburgens. - Rogers. Op. cit., vol. ii.

3 Villalba. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 63. These flies may have been the Simulum
rcptans, a native of eastern countries and of Hungary ; or even tiie African lly,
Chrysops coecidiens, which is said to attack horses and to blind them. They might
have been carried over by high winds to Spain.

* Chronic. Magdeburg. =" Chronic. Claustro-Neol)urgens.

« Annals Isl. Langebek, vol. iii. p. 119.

90 History of Animal Plagites.

The horse carried its head drooping, would eat nothing, tears
ran from the eyes, and there was hurried beating of the flanks.
The malady was epidemical, and in that year more than one
thousand horses died/ ^ For Germany there is noted the follow-
ing: ^ In this year a deadly disease broke out among cattle,
which dei^troyed many throughout the world/ ^

*At Genelow Castle, in Burgundy, was a great fight or
battle of dogs, wherein of 3000 all were killed but one/ ^

What may have been merely the result of epizootic diseases
amongst some of the lower animals, old authors, in all probabi-
lity, ascribed to battles between them. It must not be forgotten,
however, that sometimes affrays of this kind do happen, though
very rarely, and that damage is not unfrequent. Amongst dogs,
for example, rival factions now and again meet and decide their
differences by combat, like Christians, as Burton and Hooker
testify.'*

A.D. 1302. ^ A great loss of cows [ho-dhith), and a slaughter
[ar) upon all the beasts of Ireland this year.^^

A.D. 1308. In Ireland, 'in the Easter, in the month of
March in this year, there was a destruction of men and cattle in
it, and great inclemency of weather too.' ® ' There was a great
murrain of cattle.' ^

A.D. 1310. In Germany, destruction of plants and inun-
dations. ' This year was a very unfortunate year in consequence
of the large quantity of vermin and caterpillars and mice, which
ate up everything before them. Then, because of the great in-
undations, which began on the 13th of July, were greater 1st
of August, and greatest on the 2nd of August, much damage
was done.' ^

' There was so great a famine and scarcity of victuals in
the kingdom of Scotland, Anno Domini 13 10, that in many

^ Laure/itius Riuitis. Hippatria or Marescalia, vol. i. chap. clvi. p. 135.
Heusinger says the epizobty occurred at Rome. It may have been, and probably
was, what is now popularly termed ' influenza.'

- Chronic. Ensdorf. OLfele, vol. i. p. 585. 3 f Short. Op. cit., p. 159.

* Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Mcccah, vol. i. p. 289. Tour in Iceland.

^ Annals of Connaught. 6 Ibid.

' Annals of Clonmacnoise.

** JleiiHcbcrgsche. Chronik., i. p. 329.

History of Animal Plagues. 91

districts multitudes were compelled through hunger to eat the
flesh of horses and of other unclean animals.' ^

A.D. 1313. An epizooty among the horses at Rome. Rusius
says of it: 'An epizooty of horses at Rome. Some called the
disease a fever, and some esquinancy {angina). I myself lost
more than fiftv horses in mv time.' '^ There was also an epizoo-
tic disease amongst horses [hrofifeU'is vetr) in Iceland.^

A.D. 13 14. Famine in England. ' The morrow after Candle-
mas day there assembled a parliament at London to treat of the
state of the kingdom, and how to bring down the prices of vic-
tuals, that were now grown to be so dear that the common
people were not able to live. . . . Notwithstanding the statutes
of the last parliament, the King's writs, &c., all things were sold
dearer than before. No flesh could be had, capons and geese
would not be found, eggs were hard to come hs^, sheep died of
the rot, swine were out of the way; a quartern of wheat, beans,
pease were sold for twenty shillings, a quartern of malt for a
mark, a quarter of salt for thirty-five shillings, &:c. . . . The
king in a parliament at London revoked the provisions before
made for selling of victuals, and permitted all men to make the
best of what they had. Nevertheless, the dearth increased
through the abundance of rain that fell in the harvest, so that a
quarter of wheat or malt was sold before midsunmier for thirty
shillings, and after for forty shillings. There followed this
famine a grievous mortality of people, so that the quick had

enough to do to bury the dead The beasts and cattle

also, by the corrupt grass whereof they fed, died, whereby
it came to pass that the eating of flesh was suspected of all
men, for flesh of beasts not corrupted was hard to find.
Horse-flesh was counted great delicates, the poor stole fat dogs
to eat, some (it was said) compelled through famine, in hidden
places, did eat the flesh of their own children, and some stole
others which they devoured. Those who were in prisons did
pluck in pieces those that were newly brought amongst them,
and greedily devoured them half alive.'*

' Johaniiis dc fordiin. .Scotichronicon, p. IO05.

- Laun'nt. Knsius. Op. cit.

•'' Annals Island. Latigebek, vol. iii. p. 129. * Siow. Annals, p. 217, 21 S.

92 Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 1315. ' Also in the ninth year of King Edward's reign,
before Christmas, a blazing star or comet appeared in the north
part of the element by the space of a month together, and after

followed dearth and death The dearth, by reason of the

unseasonable weather in the summer and harvest last past, still
increased, so that which with much ado was issued (carried),
after, when it came to the proofs, yielded nothing to the value of
that which in sheaf it seemed to contain, so that wheat and
other grain which was at a sore price before, now was enhanced
to a far higher rate, the scarcity thereof being so great, that a
quarter of wheat was sold for forty shillings, which was a great
price, if we consider the value of money then current. Also by
reason of the murrain that fell among cattle, beeves and muttons
were unreasonably priced/ ^

A.D. 1316. For this year Duchesne makes mention of a
general epizooty and epidemy which prevailed in England. It
was supposed to be due to extreme humidity of the air occasioned
by long- continued rains after a severe winter, and inundations.
The grain was rotted, and fruit and all kinds of forage and grain
were destroyed. The consequence was a most intractable and
deadly form of dysentery, which carried off large numbers of
men and animals." ' Wheat, though poor stuff, was sold at
forty and forty-four shillings per quarter; and by reason of the
murrain among cattle, beef and mutton were exceeding dear;
after this, both famine and mortality increased mucli, together
with a general failure of all fruits of the earth, by excessive rains
and unseasonable weather.' ^ Rogers discovers in the records of
Ponteland, that the bailiff is allowed for six oxen which had died
of the disease ' current ' in the country. A similar state of
affairs was noted in Saxony.^

In many countries the extraordinary state of the weather
gave rise to famme and disease.^

A.D. 1317. ' In this season victuals were so scant and dear,
and wheat and other grain brought so high a price, that the

* Holinshed. Op. cit.

- A. Duchesne. Histoire Gen. d'Angleterre, p. 728.

3 T. Short. Op. cit., p. 161. 1 Hist. Agric, vol. ii.

* See Frari, and also Schnurrer.

History of Animal Plagues. 93

people were constrained through {amine to eat the flesh of horses,
dogs, and other vile beasts, whieh is wonderful to believe, and
yet for default there died a great multitude of people in divers
places of the land. Fourpence in bread of the coarsest sort
would not suffice a man a day. Wheat was sold in London for
four marks the quarter, and even more. Then after this dearth
and scarcity of victuals ensued a great death and mortality of
people.' ^ ' In that same year was great murrain of beasts,
which began in Essex, and after it spread through the land. It
reijjned most in oxen, and when the beasts were dead doo^s
would not eat of the flesh.''

A.D. 1318^. 'A great murrain of kine happened, which were
so mortally infected, that dogs and ravens eating of the carrion
of the kine, were poisoned, and did swell to death, so that no
man durst eat any beef.' ^ Mr Rogers reports that in this year,
at Southampton, there was ' murrain among oxen. Hav
scarce.^ *

A.D. 1319. '^ In this season, to wit, 1319, a great murrain
and death of cattle chanced through the whole of the realm,
spreading from place to place, but especially this year it raged
most in the north, whereas in the years before it began in the
south parts.' ^ The carrion still poisonous." 'In the same
year there was an unheard-of pestilence among animals in
England, but from what cause is doubtful. It began in Essex
about Easter, and spread itself in a short time through the
whole island, lasting throughout the whole year, and con-
taminating almost all the cattle of the realm. It is rumoured,
what is most unusual, and what will be perhaps incredible to
future ages, that dogs died from eating the dead bodies of the
cattle, and crows were swollen innnediatelv after feeding on
them, and were as though intoxicated with poison, and fell
down dead, on account of which circumstance, no man dared
to eat the flesh of oxen, because this pest prevailed chiefly in
oxen. It was said that the whole of Gaul was infected with

' Ilolinslu'd. Op. cit.

* Capgrave. Chronicles of England.

^ Sto-M. Op. cit., p. 219. * Ko:^t-rs. Op. cit , vol. ii.

'' Ilolinshcd. Op. cit. « T. Short. Op. cit., y. l6;,.

94- History of Animal Plagues.

this disease about the same time.' ^ This was, without doubt,
another severe and wide-spread outbreak of anthrax.

A.D. 1320. At Southampton, according to Mr Rogers' re-
searches, ' Ffarsine (farcy) was prevalent among horses in the
summer.' -

A.D. 1321. An exceeding hot and dry summer in England ;
springs and rivers failed, beasts and cattle suffered extremely ;
many died for want of drink. ^

A.D. 1331, 1322. ' A great destruction of cows throughout
all Ireland, the like of which was never known.' *

A.D. 1324. ' The murrain of cows continued still in Ireland,
and was called the " movie dawine." ' ^ ' The same destruction
of cows throughout all Ireland this year, and it was it that was
called the "maeldarnhnaigh."'" 'There was a general plague of
cows and also other animals, which was called in Ireland " mal-
dow.'"^ This was probably the same epizooty that prevailed
in England in 1319.

A.D. 1325. A great drought in England. ' Here, in the sum-
mer of this and the following year, there was so great a drought
that it may truly be said concerning this land what Theodolus
has applied to it : —

Anglorum terras jam fervida torruit testas,
In cancro solis dum volvitur aureus axis.

' In consequence of the drought, the great rivers were dried
up, the springs failed, and in many places water had entirely
disappeared. In consequence of this misfortune, great multi-
tudes of animals, wild as well as domestic, perished of thirst.' *

Influenza, for the first time in the annals of that country,
is mentioned as occurring in Ireland. '^An epidemical disease
{teidhm galair) common throughout all Erinn, and which was
called " slaedan" (prostration-influenza), which aflccted, during
three or four days, every person, so that it was second only to
death.' '-^

1 Tho7nas Walsingham. Historia Anglicana.

- Hist. Agricult.

" T. Short. Op. cit., p. 163. ■* Annals of Connaught.

^ Ibid. 6 j|^i^,_ 7 Annals of Ross.

* Tho7nas Walsingham. Op. cit. » Annals of Ulster.

History of Animal Plagues. 95

A.D. 1328. In an Arab treatise on veterinary science, written
bv a wealthy chief of Yemen in 909 of the Hegira, and entitled
' Kitab cl-akoual/ there is an account of a disastrous epizoiitv
among the famed horses of Yemen in this year. The transla-
tion of M. Perron ^ runs as follows : —

' The epizooty that attacked the horses of Yemen in the
year of the Hegira 728, was of the worst character and was
rapidly mortal. No one knew how to recognize or characterize
it, and in no book or hippiatric treatise of past ages could any
distinctive traces of it be found mentioned. No efficacious
remedy could be derived to cure it. The animal attacked was not
allowed time to benefit by medical or any other kind of treat-
ment. This malady had not, like other diseases, any premonitory
symptoms. It suddenly struck the animal, which perhaps would
be eating, and all at once something escaped from the nostrils like
mucus; for a moment the horse^s head was drooping on the
jrround, from which he had no longer streno;th to raise it, and
then he fell dead. Sometimes he struggled for a few seconds
before he expired. The malady first began in the kingdom of
HadramaClt, then it was propagated into Yemen, and as far as
Mecca. An incalculable number of horses perished.

'Mules also died in great numbers, but not so extensively as
the horses. The best and purest bred horses furnished the
largest number of victims to the scourge. At the great fair of
Aden thev died in crowds. So quickly did the animals succumb,
that while two individuals were discussing the price of a horse, the
disease attacked it, and it died before they had time to conclude
the bar(»;ain. Horse-dealers from India also bought horses
there at very high prices, but these carried the malady with them
and suddenly perished. It was observed, as a consequence of these
frequent repetitions, that the Indian dealers carefully everted the
upper eyelid of any horse they were about to buy ; and any animal
that showed a yellow tint in this part they abstained from pur-
chasing. Indeed, when this tinge was present, it was not long
before the horse succumbed to the malady.' This may have
been an epizooty of the protean malady 'influenza' or typhus

1 Le Naceri. Paris, iS6o. Vol. iii. p- 275.

9 6 History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 1333. 'The losses of stock sustained by the medieval
farmer/ says Mr Rogers/ Svere enormous. As has been said, all
deaths were grouped under the general name "murrain." But
at Maiden, the farmer, in 1333, reports the loss of more than
half his sheep and lambs ; at Letherhead the loss is little short of
the same rate ; at Farley it is more than twenty-five per cent ;
at Woolford and Basingstoke it is about thirty-four per cent ; at
Wolford a little less than fourteen; and at Cuxham about
eleven.'

A.D. 1334. Inundations in England. 'This vear were so
great waters, that they broke down walls in Temse (Thames?),
and other places overcovered the lands, and killed many beasts.'^

A.D. 1335. In England, 'after abundance of rain of this
vear, came a murrain of cattle and dearth of corn. Wheat at
forty shillings a quarter.^ " '■ So great a death in England that
scarce could the living bury the dead.' *

In Ireland, ' there was such a great snow in the spring of
this year, that the most part of the small fowie of Erinn died.' *
' A great snow in the spring of this year, by which was destroyed
almost all the small birds of Ireland.'^ Great swarms of locusts
in Italy.''

A.D. 1336. A mortality among animals in Iceland. 'Then
in spring came a storm of water so great, that all kinds of cattle
were destroyed.' ^

In Ireland, ' a great plague of snow and of frost in this year,
from the first fortnight of winter until a part of the spring had
commenced. A great portion of the cattle of Erinn were lost in
it; and the grass and corn-fields of Ireland were destroyed the
same year.' ^

A.D. 1338. Heavy rain in Germany. In the previous year
locusts appeared in crowds in every part of Europe. In this
year in Germany there appears to have been a scarcity of salt.
' Worms were bred in human bodies, so that many people died.
Out of the mouths of these the worms crept — a sight dreadful to

' Hist. Agricult., vol. i. p. 53.

- Capgrave. Op. cit.

■' Henry de Knyghton. Op. cit. ^ How. ^ Annals of Clonmacnoise.

" Annals of Connaught. "^ Corio. Storia di Milano.

* Annal. Island. Langebck. Scrip, rer. Dan., iii. 134. ^ Annals of Ulster.

History of Animal Plagues. 97

look at. The frequent rains in the marshy places caused im-
mense mortality to man and beast, through the dykes having
been broken down.' ^

In Ireland, ' intense frost, with very deep snow, from the
2nd of December to the loth of February.'- 'This year was
very tempestuous, and noxious to man and beast .... and in
this year oxen and cowcs died, and sheep, particularly, were
almost destroyed, so that, according to the common complaint,
scarcely the seventh part escaped from the pestilence ; but the
loss of lambs was greater.'^ This is the first recorded ovine
epizooty in Ireland.

A.D. 1339. ' A great plague [pluigh) from frost and from
snow upon the cattle and the grass and corn-fields of Ireland,
from a fortnight of winter to a part of the spring.' * In this and
the following year locusts were in Europe.

A.D. 1345. In the bailift''s accounts for Walford, there is the
following entry : ' Tantum (of tar and grease) ; projitcr caristiam
et nimiam scabiem.' ^ Plague in mankind in Illyria and Italy
during this and successive years."

A.D. 1347-9. Before this period, there had been terrible cos-
mical perturbations, which caused great physical changes in
China and other countries, and destroyed inmiense multitudes of
lunnan beings. ' From China to the Atlantic, the foundations
of the earth were shaken. Throughout Asia and Europe the
atmosphere was in commotion, and endangered, by its banehil
influence, both vegetable and animal life. The series of these
great events began in the year 1333, fifteen years before the
plague (the "Black Death," Sorte Diod, or Schwarze Tod) broke
out in Europe; they first appeared in China. Here a parching
drought, accompanied by famine, commenced in the tract of
country w atered by the rivers Kiang and Iloangho. This was fol-
lowed b\' such violent torrents of rain, in and about Kiangsi, at
that time the capital of the Empire, that, according to tradition,
more than 400,000 people perished in tlic floods. Finally the

' Hamsfortii. Chronologia. Langcbek. Vol. i. p. 303.
- Grace. Annals. •' Clyii. Annals.

* Annals of Connaught. '•' Ilisl. Agriciilt., vol. ii.

" I-'rari. Op. cit. p. 295.

7

9 8 History of Animal Plagues.

mountain Tsinchow fell in^ and vast clefts were formed in the
earth. On the succeeding year (1334), passing over fabulous
traditions, the neighbourhood of Canton was visited by inunda-
tions; whilst in Tche, after an unexampled drought, a plague
arose, which is said to have carried off 5,000,000 people. A few
months afterwards an earthquake followed, at and near Kiangsi ;
and subsequent to the falling in of the mountains of Ki-ming-
shan, a lake was formed of more than a hundred leagues in cir-
cumference, where, again, thousands found their grave. In
How-kwang and Honan a drought prevailed for five months,
and innumerable swarms of locusts destroyed the vegetation;
while famine and pestilence, as usual, followed in their train.
Connected accounts of the condition of Europe are not to be ex-
pected from the writers of the fourteenth century. It is remark-
able, however, that simultaneously with a drought and renewed
floods in China, in 1336, many uncommon atmospheric pheno-
mena, and in the winter frequent thunder-storms, were observed
in the north of IVance ; and so early as the eventful year of
1333 an eruption of Etna took place. According to the Chinese
Annals, about 4,000,000 people perished by famine in the neigh-
bourhood of Kiang in 1337; and deluges, swarms of locusts,
and an earthquake which lasted six days, caused incredible de-
vastation. In the same year the first swarms of locusts ap-
peared in Franconia, which were succeeded in the following year
by myriads of these insects. In 1338, Kiangsi was visited by an
earthquake of ten days^ duration ; at the same time France
suffered from a failure in the harvest ; and thenceforth, till the
year 1342, there was in China a constant succession of inunda-
tions, earthquakes, and famines. In the same year great floods
occurred in the vicinity of the Rhine and in France, which could
not be attributed to rain alone ; for everywhere, even on the
tops of mountains, springs were seen to burst forth, and dry
tracts were laid under water in an inexplicable manner. In the
following year the mountain Hong-tchang, in China, fell in,
and caused a destructive deluge; and in Pien-chow and Leang-
chow, after three months' rain, there followed unheard-of in-
undations, which destroyed seven cities. In Egypt and Syria
violent earthquakes took^place ; and in China they became, from

Histoj-y of Animal Plagues.

99

this time, more and more frequent; for they recurred in 1344,
in Ven-chow, where the sea overflowed in consequence; in 1345,
in Ki-cho\v, and in both the following years in Canton, with
subterraneous thunder. Meanwhile floods and famines devast-
ated various districts, until 1347, when the fury of the elements
subsided in China. ^

The signs of terrestrial commotions commenced in Europe
in the year 1348, after the intervening districts of countrv in
Asia had probably been visited in the same manner.

On the island of Cyprus^ the plague from the East had
alreadv broken out ; when an earthquake shook the foundations
of the island, and was accompanied by so frightful a hurricane,
that the inhabitants who had slain their Mahometan slaves,
in order that thev might not themselves be subjugated bv them,
fled in dismay, in all directions. The sea overflowed, the ships
were dashed to pieces on the rocks, and few outlived the terrific
event, wherebv this fertile and blooming island was converted
into a desert. Before the earthquake, a pestiferous wind spread
so poisonous an odour, that many, being overpowered by it, fell
down suddenly and expired in dreadful agonies.^ Villanius, the
historian of Florence, gives an account of a pestilence, which,
beginning in Upper Asia, in 1346, spread from Cathay, the
ancient name for China, in all directions, nearly depopulating
the whole of Asia, and penetrating Egypt, Greece, and Italy, to
France, Spain, England, and Germany. It arose, he tells us,
from a foul-smelling vapour, which was imagined to have eman-
ated from some fiery body of aerial or terrestrial origin. This
gas destroyed all that stood in its way, and horses and cattle
suffered severely, but not more so than the human species. Trees,
and everything else, for the space of fifteen days' journey around
its track, were blighted, and curious creatures, furnished with
feet and tails, worms, and swarms of snakes, fell upon the earth.
In a short time these putrefied, and the stench from them so in-
fected the atmosphere, that pestilence prevailed everywhere.^

This phenomena is one of the rarest that has ever been ob-
served, for nothing is more constant than the composition ot the

* Deguignes. History of Cliina, p. 226. * Ibid. p. 225.

' Gio. Villani. Istorie Fiorcntine, book xii. chap. 121, 122.

100 History of Animal Plagties.

air; and in no respect has nature been more careful in the pre-
servation of organic hfe. Never have naturalists discovered in
the atmosphere foreign elements, which, evident to the senses,
and borne by the winds, spread from land to land, carrying
disease over whole portions of the earth, as is recounted to have
taken place in the year 1348. It is, therefore, the more to be
regretted, that in this extraordinary period, which, owing to the
low condition of science, was. very deficient in accurate observers,
so little can be depended on respecting those uncommon occur-
rences in the air, should have been recorded. Yet, German
accounts say expressly, that a thick, stinking mist advanced from
the east, and spread itself over Italy; and there could be no
deception in so palpable a phenomenon, Schnurrer and Chalin
mention this, and Spangenberg says, '■ There were also many
locusts, which had been blown into the sea by a hurricane, and
afterwards cast dead upon the shore, and produced a noxious
exhalation ; and a dense and awful fog was seen in the heavens,
rising in the east, and descending vpon Italy.' ^ The credibility
of unadorned traditions, however little they may satisfy physical
research, can scarcely be called in question when we consider
the connection of events; for just at this time earthquakes were
more general than they had been within the range of history.
In thousands of places chasms were formed, from whence arose
noxious vapours ; and as at that time natural occurrences were
transformed into miracles, it was reported that a fiery meteor,
which descended on the earth far in the east, had destroyed
everything within a circumference of more than a hundred
leagues, infecting the air far and wide.^ The consequences of
innumerable floods contributed to the same eflfect ; vast river
districts had been converted into swamps; foul vapours arose
everywhere, increased by the odour of putrefied locusts, which
had never perhaps darkened the sun in thicker swarms spreading
from the east to the west, and of countless corpses, which even
in the well-regulated countries of Europe, they knew not how to
remove quickly enough out of the sight of the living. It is pro-
bable, therefore, that the atmosphere contained foreign, and

^ Cyriac Spangenberg. Mansfeld Chronicle, chap. 287, fol. 336.
2 Mezeray. Histoire de France, vol. ii. p. 418. Paris, 1685.

History of Animal Plagues. loi

sensibly perceptible, admixtures to a great extent, which, at
least in the lower regions, could not be decomposed, or rendered
ineffective bv separation. Now, if we go back to the symptoms
oF the disease, the ardent inflammation of the lungs points out
that the organs of respiration yielded to the attack of an atmo-
spheric poison — a poison which, if we admit the independent
origin of the Black Plague at any one place on the globe, which
under such extraordinary circumstances it would be difficult to
doubt, attacked the course of the circulation in as hostile a
manner as that which produced inflammation of the spleen, and
other animal contagions that cause swelling and inflammation of
the lymphatic glands.

Pursuing the course of these grand revolutions further, we
find notice of an unexampled earthquake, which, on the 25th of
January, 1348, shook Greece, Italy, and the neighbouring
countries. Naples, Rome, Pisa, Bologna, Padua, Venice, and
many other cities suffered considerably. Whole villages were
swallowed up. Castles, houses, and churches were overthrown,
and hundreds of people were buried beneath their ruins. In
Carinthia thirty villages, together with all the churches, were
demolished; more than a thousand corpses were drawn out of
the rubbish; the city of Villach was so completely destroyed,
that very few of its inhabitants were saved ; and when the earth
ceased to tremble, it was found that mountains had been moved
from their positions, and that many hamlets were left in ruins.
It is recorded that, during this earthquake, the wine in the casks
became turbid, a statement which may be considered as furnish-
ing a proof, that changes causing a decomposition of the atmo-
sphere had taken place; but if we had no other information from
vviiich the excitement of conflicting powers of nature dining
these commotions might be itd'erred, yet scientific observations
in n)odern times have shown that the relation of the atmosphere
to the earth is changed by volcanic influences. . . . Independ-
ently of this, however, we know that during this earth([uake, the
duration of which is stated by some to have been a week, and
by others a fortnight, people experienced an unusual stupor and
headache, and that many fainted away.^ These destructive

' Albert A rgentittiens. Chronic, in Urstis. .Scrip, rcr. Germanic. Fr.mcof. 1585.

102 History of Animal Plagues.

earthquakes extended as far as the neighbourhood of Bas]e_, and
recurred until the year 1360, throughout Germany, France,
Silesia, Poland, England, and Denmark, and much further
north. Towerino; icebergs formed at the same time on the
coast of East Greenland, in consequence of the general concus-
sion of the earth^s organism ; and no mortal, from that time
forward, has ever seen that shore or its inhabitants. Mezeray
says, ' A universal earthquake, even in France and the northern
countries, threw down entire cities, tore up trees and mountains,
covered the regions of the world with abysses so profound that
it appeared as if the infernal regions had opened to swallow up
the human species.'^

Great and extraordinary meteors appeared in many places,
and were regarded with superstitious horror. A pillar of fire,
which on the 30th of December, 1348, remained for an hour at
sunrise over the Pope's palace in Avignon;^ a fireball, which in
August of the same year was seen at sunset over Paris, and was
distinguished from similar phenomena by its longer duration,
not to mention other instances mixed up with wonderful prophe-
cies and omens, are recorded in the chronicles of that age. The
order of the seasons seemed to be inverted — rains (in Germany
these were blood-coloured), floods, and failures in crops were
so general, that few places were exempt from them. The con-
sequences of these failures were soon felt, especially in Italy and
the surrounding countries, where, in this year, a rain which had
continued for four months, destroyed the seed. ... To attempt,
five centuries after that age of desolation, to point out the causes
of a cosmical commotion, which has never recurred to an equal
extent, to indicate scientifically the influences which called forth
so terrific a poison in the bodies of men and animals, exceeds
the limits of human understanding. ... In the progress of con-
nected natural phenomena, from east to west, that great law of
nature is plainly revealed which has so often and evidently mani-
fested itself in the earth's organism, as well as in the state of
nations dependent upon it. In the inmost depths of the globe
that impulse was given in the year 1333, which in uninterrupted

1 Mezeray. Op. cit. p. 418. 2 villani. Op. cit.

History of Animal Plagues. 103

succession for six-and-twenty years shook the surface of the
earth, even to the western shores of Europe. From the very
beginning the air partook of the terrestrial concussion, atmo-
spherical waters overflowed the land, or its plants and animals
perished under the scorching heat. The insect tribe was wonder-
fully called into life, as if animated beings were destined to com-
plete the destruction which astral and telluric powers had bciiun.
Thus did this dreadful work of nature advance from year to
year; it was a progressive infection of the zones, which exerted
a powerful influence both above and beneath the surface of the
earth ; and after having been perceptible in slighter indications,
at the commencement of the terrestrial commotions in China,
convulsed the whole earth. ^

Observers have remarked that in many instances the lower
animals were strangely aflfected, and that fatal disease among
them either preceded, accompanied, or followed the Black Death.
Cutteis, for example, says, ' Rapacious wolves howled around the
walls of the cities by night and sated themselves with human
blood, though not by hiding in secret places, but by openly
bursting into the houses and tearino; the children from the
breasts of their mothers. And not only did the children suffer
from their cruel teeth, but even well-armed men, and they also
devoured many bodies by digging up the graves of the dead.
rhey seemed not to be wolves, but demons. Cuckoos and owls,
sitting on the housetops by night, used to utter dismal sounds;
bats in swarms on the houses, and while buildmg their nests in
the roofs, made a strange noise; crows without number, flying
about by day over the country, croaked ominously ; kites and
vultures in great crowds, while soarins; in the air, gave vent
to doleful cries ; and many other birds in the woods, and differ-
ent brute beasts, coming from their lairs, wandered about the
country in great multitudes, giving many extraordinary signs of
evil import. ... In the first place, a virulent plague broke
amonir the brute animals. Scab and le])rosy attacked horses,
oxen, sheep, and goats, so that the hair fell from off' their bodies,

1 A portion of this description is taken from Ilecker's admirable History of the
Epidemics of the Middle Ages, translated by Dr_ Habington, and published by tlie
Sydenham Society. j

I04 History of Animal Plagues.

and they became emaciated and weak, and after a few days died.
Then this fearful pest rushed onwards in its terrific course
through the whole world, and raged against miserable man in
a most deadly manner.' ^

At Rome, at the same time as mankind, cats and dogs,
fowls, and all other animals, became sick and died.^ At Gaza,
22,coo people and most of the animals were carried off in less
than six weeks.^ 'As it (the Sorte Diod) advanced, not only
men but animals fell sick and shortly expired, if they had touched
things belonoing to the diseased or dead. Thus Boccaccio him-
self saw, at Florence, two hogs on the rags of a person w ho had
died of plague, and which, after staggering about for a short time,
fell down dead, as if they had taken poison. ' What gave the
more virulence to this plague was that, by being communicated
from the sick to the hale, it spread daily, like fire when it comes in
contact with large masses of combustibles. Nor was it caught only
by conversing with or coming near the sick, but even by touching
their clothes, or anything that they had before touched. It is
wonderful what I am going to mention, and had I not seen it
with my own eyes, and were there not many witnesses to attest
it beside myself, I should never venture to relate it, however
worthy it w^ere of belief. Such, I say, was the quality of the
pestilential matter, as to pass not only from man to mail, but,
what is more strange, it has been often known that anything
belonging to the infected, if touched by other creatures, would
certainly infect, and even kill, that creature in a short space of
time. One instance of this kind I took particular notice of.
The rags of a poor man just dead had been thrown into the
street; two hogs came up, and after rooting about amongst
these rags, and shaking them about in their mouths, in less than
an hour they both turned round and died on the spot.' *

In other places, multitudes of dogs, cats, fowls, and other
animals fell victims to the contagion ; ^ and it is to be presumed,

1 Ctitteis. In Farlato Illyricum Sacrum, vol. iii. Frari. Op. cit. p. 314.
^ Metaxa. Op. cit. Vol. ii. p. 141. 3 j/ecker. Op. cit.

* Boccaccio. Decameron, Giomo i . introd.

* Anger, de Bitteris. Vitas Romanor. Pontificum Muratori. Scrip, vol. iii.
p. 556.

HistoTy of Animal Plagues. 105

remarks Hecker^that other epizootics among animals likewise took
place, although the ignorant writers of the 14th century are silent
on this point. ^ 'Thus did the plague spread over England with un-
exampled rapidity after it had first broken out in the county of
Dorset, whence it advanced through the counties of Devon
and Somerset to Bristol, and thence reached Gloucester, Oxford,
and London. Probably few places escaped, perhaps not any,
for the annals of contemporaries report that throughout the

land only a tenth part of the inhabitants remained alive

Ireland was much less heavily visited than England, The dis-
ease seems to have scarcely reached the mountainous districts
of that kingdom. And Scotland, too, would perhaps have re-
mained free, had not the Scots availed themselves of the dis-
comfiture of the English to make an irruption into their terri-
tory, which terminated in the destruction of their army by the
plague and by the sword, and the extension of the pestilence,
through those who had escaped, over the whole country. At
the commencement, there was in England a superabundance of all
the necessaries of life; but the plague, which seemed then to be
the sole disease, was accompanied by a fatal murrain among the
cattle. Wandering about without their herdsmen, they fell by
thousands; and, as has likewise been observed in Africa, the
birds and beasts of prey are said not to have touched them. Of
what nature this murrain may have been, can no more be deter-
mined than whether it originated from communication with
plague patients or from other causes; but thus much is certain,
that it did not break out until after the commencement of the
Black Death.'

In consequence of this murrain, and the impossibility of

1 Hecker. The knowledge of contagion, especially as applied to an under-
standing of the diffusion of pestilential maladies, seems in the Middle Ages to have
been very exact and comprehensive. Hecker, in treating of this Black Plague of the
14th century, incidentally speaks of Gentilis of Foligno, a celebrated physician, who
fell a victim to that disease while attending to the sick. He says of him : ' He
believed in a progressive infection from country to country, according to the notions
of the present day ; and the contagious power of the disease, even in the vicinity
of those affected by the plague, was, in his opinion, beyond all doubt (vmeiiosa
ptitredo circa partes cordis et pulmonis de quibtis exeunte venetioso vapore, pertculum
est in vicinitatibus). On this point intelligent contemporaries were all agreed.' —
The Epidemics of the Middle A ^es.

io6 History of Animal Plagites.

removing the corn from the fields^ there was everywhere a great
rise in the price of food, which to many was inexphcable, be-
cause the harvest had been plentiful. By others it was attributed
to the wicked designs of the labourers and dealers ; but it really
had its foundation in the actual deficiency arising from circum-
stances by which individual classes at all times endeavour to
profit. For a whole year, until it terminated in August, 1349,
the Black Plague prevailed in this beautiful island, and every-
where poisoned the springs of comfort and prosperity.^ The
diseased cattle were slaughtered, and infected herds were as
much as possible separated from those which were sound, while
the herdsmen who attended the former were not allowed to
come near the latter. ^ In the same year there was a great plague
among sheep [liie^ ovium) in every part of the kingdom (England),
so that in one pasture-land alone more than 5000 died, and their
carcases were so putrid that neither beast nor bird would touch
them.^ ^ Barnes says of the epizooty : ' And first, by occasion
of the plague, the cattle, for want of men to look to them,
wandered about in fields at random, from whence nobody
drove or gathered them, so that they began to perish among
hedges and ditches in such numbers, that it was no less loss than
wonder to behold ; for there died, in and about one pasture,
more than 5000 sheep. Wherefore it might be supposed that
they also died in this manner, through some kind of plague
that was as stransre and unaccountable amoncr them as the
former had been to mankind; for it is said that neither beast
nor bird of prey would touch the carcases. And this is another
instance that the late pestilence doth yet differ from those of other
times, since usually beasts, by reason of their prone looks down-
wards on the earth, and their quicker scent therewithal, are first
infected, but here it happened quite contrary. However, there
shortly ensued hereby such a scarcity of cattle, that all provisions

^ Heckcr, who quotes from Barnes and Wood. This learned author informs us,
on good authority, that 'after the cessation of the Blaclc Plague, a greater fecundity
in women was everywhere remarkable— a grand phenomenon, which, from its
occurrence after a very destructive pestilence, proves to conviction, if any occurrence
can do so, the prevalence of a higher power in the direction of general organic
life.'

'^ Henry de Knyghton. Op. cit. Tioysdeii. P. 2598.

History of Animal Plagues. 107

of flesh became excessively dear, as well as other beasts for use
and labour. Whereas, in the plague time, partly through their
great abundance, and partly, also, because, through the present
apprehension of death, men were then less intent upon gain, a
good horse, worth forty shillings before, might be bought for a
mark; a large ftit ox for four shillings, a cow for one shilling,
a heifer for sixpence, a fat mutton for fourpence, a sheep for
twopence, a lamb for twopence, one stone of wool for ninepence,
and other thino^s went at the same rate in Ensrland. But now
the state of affairs was altered ; and, besides the prodigious
decay of cattle aforesaid, there succeeded also a great dearth of
corn in many parts of the world, not so much through any defect
or parsimony of Nature (for the fields were sufficiently clothed
with grain in many parts, especially here in England), as partly
through an inordinate desire of gain in some, and also partly
from the want of men in most places to gather it/ ^

Adam Murimuth, for the year 1348 (but in reality for 1349),
after noticing the unusual fall of rain that occurred in that year,
and which continued night and day for a long time, adds: 'At
which time a great mortality took place among men throughout
the land, beginning in the south and extending northwards, and
with such slaughter that scarcely one-half of the inhabitants
remained. In certain religious houses two alone survived out
of twenty ; and, according to some, it destroyed a tenth part of
all the inhabitants. It was followed by a plague among animals
(E vestigia lues animaUum est secuta) ; then the remaining people
perished ; and the land, robbed of the people who cultivated it,
remained sterile, and such great misery followed that the land
could never after recover its former state.^ ^

Speed only says with regard to the mortality of cattle suc-
ceeding the epidemy : ' It rained from midsummer till Christ-
mas ; and so terrible a plague ran through the world, that the
earth was filled with graves and the air with cries, which was
seconded with nmrreri of cattle and dearth of all things.' ^

1 Barnes. The History of King Edward III. Cambridge, 1688, p. 440. For
the revolution in the system of agriculture which this grave pestilence occasioned,
see y. E. T. Rogers. A History of Agriculture and Prices in England. Oxford,
1866. - Adami Murimuth. Chronica.

2 Speed. The Historic of Great Brilaine. London, 1C32, p. 694.

io8 History of Animal Plagties.

In the bailifls of Standon's accounts there is the entry for this
year : 'Defectus propter pestilentiam hoc anno ; ' and forVVellow,
* High price of tar and fat, due to pestilence, defectus servientium
et magna mortalitas garcionuni in patria.' ^

Through the courtesy of Henry Harrod, Esq., F.S.A., I am
enabled to refer to a paper read by him before the Society of
Antiquaries, and entitled 'Details of a Murrain of the Fourteenth
Century, from the Court Rolls of a Norfolk Manor,' ^ which
will give the student of English epizootics some idea of the losses
incidental to an estate at this period, from what were, in those
days, when the nature of animal diseases was scarcely known,
termed 'murrains.' The details extend over a period of 6^
years; and it is evident that many and various maladies must
have been grouped under the vague but terrible denomination.
It is but right to mention here that there is no proof whatever
that the disease affecting the cattle was /Ae Cattle Plague. On the
contrary, there is every probability that it was not that malady,
from the fact that during this long period almost every kind of
domestic animal was affected, and the loss in cattle was never suffi-
ciently great in any one year; while sheep appear to have been the
principal sufferers. And there was not one murrain during this
long period, but very many ; and no doubt the majority of the
deaths were due to enzootic, and, in part, to sporadic affections.
However, the account is sufficiently interesting to find a place here,
as it may in some degree furnish us with assistance in obtaining
a key to the ravages of murrains and their nature in the early
centuries of British agriculture, when oxen were so poor and
badly fed that six of them were required to draw the rude iron
plough-share, and scarcely half an acre could be turned up in a
long day's work.

Mr Harrod relates as follows : ' In looking over some Court
Rolls of the Manor of Heacham, in the county of Norfolk, I
met with some particulars of the murrain during the reigns of
Edward III., Richard II., and Henry IV., which I have ex-

^ Rogers. Op. cit.

- The Archaeologia, vol. xli. 1866. A large portion of this interesting commu-
nication I am reluctantly compelled to omit ; but the comparative pathologist will
find himself well rewarded by a perusal of the Appendix A and B.

History of Animal Plagues. loo

tracted, and by the courtesy of the soHcitors of Mr Le Stramre
the present lord, I am permitted to bring them before the
society.

'The accounts taken were extremely minute and careful,
and the particulars of the live stock showed all the additions,
sales, and losses of every description during the year endino; at
Michaelmas. To assist the auditors in testing the accounts of
the bailiff, the presentments of the losses by murrain appear
to have been made on oath at the Manor Courts; another
reason, probably, was to absolve the shepherds, who were bond
tenants of the manor, from liability on account of the losses
when not happening from want of proper care on their part.

'The presentments on the Court Roll commence in the 31st
year of Edward III., 1347, and whatever may have been the
case in other parts, in this corner of the kingdom the murrain
seems to have continued more or less severely during the rest
of the reiirn of Edward III., durino; the entire reiffn of Richard
II., and until the 13th year of Henry IV., a period of 63 years.

'The bailiffs' accounts for the whole of this period have not
been preserved ; a portion of them only remains ; and from this
I have gleaned a few particulars to assist in explaining the
entries on the rolls.

' The stock account for the 33rd year of Edward III. shows
that at that time there were upon the farm 12 horses and stots (I
have treated the animals described ' stots ' as horses — not because
I believe them to be so in every case where the word is used, but
because the Stock Accounts of this Manor clearly designate the
horses so)/ ^7^ head of cattle, and 7 calves, ']'>^'^ sheep, and 140
lambs.

^ The word ' slot ' is used in tlie Scolch lowlands to designate a bullock. I
never heard of the term being employed for horses in recent times. In Sir David
Lyndsay, however, as well as in Chaucer, horses are so named ; and the designa-
tion is evidently derived from beyond the border. Chaucer, in the fourteenth
century, the period of our Court Roll, when describing the steward's apjiearance
in the Canterbury Pilgrimage, testifies to this :

' This Reev6 sat upon a right good slot,
That was all pomeleegray (dappled gray) and highle (liigh-bred) Scot.'

Stot is supposed by Richardson, in his Dictionary of the English Language, to be
derived from the Anglo-Saxon ' stod-hors,' and is of course only applicable to

110 History of A nimal Plagues.

' In that of the i8th year of Richard II. there were lo horses^
46 head of cattle, and 8 calves, 374 sheep, and 70 lambs.

' I hav-e been unable to find any later accounts of Richard II.
or any of Henry IV.

' The great pestilence commenced in London in November,
1348, and the chroniclers generally state that the murrain
amongst the cattle commenced at or about the same time, but
the first presentment I find about it in the Heacham Court Rolls
fixes the commencement of it in that manor in August, 1346,
more than two years before,

* This presentment, which was at a Court held the Monday
after the feast of the Invention of the Cross, in the 21st year of
Edward III., is to the following effect: — "Demurina, jurati
presentant quod unus bos, tres boviculi, unus stottus, unus hur-
tardus, tres multones, tres oves matrices, et quinque hogastri
moriebantur inter Gulam Augusti et diem hujus curiae casualiter
et non ob defectum alicujus custodie. Item quod sex porculi
similiter moriebantur in hyeme non ob defectum, &c. Item
quod septem porcelli in hyeme similiter, &c."

' Little more than another month had elapsed when another
Court was held on the Thursday after the feast of St Barnabas,
when the following presentment appears : — '' De murina, jurati
presentant quod una vacca post vitulacionem circa festum Sancte
Trinitatis moriebatur, unus vitulus similiter moriebatur, septem
multones ante tonsionem, novem oves matrices ante tonsionem
et agnelacionem, novem hoggastri ante tonsionem, et triginti et
sex agni et octo porculi similiter non ob defectum, &c.-"

'But it is not my intention to place the whole mass of these
presentments before you. I have appended a number of them
sufficient to show the character of them to this paper — (these
extracts include the whole of the entries of murrain for the 21st

horses. He, however, admits that it also refers to oxen, being obtained from the
Swedish ' stut 'land Danish ' stud,' a steer.
Piers Ploughman writes

' Grace of his goodnesse, gaf
Peers foure stottes.'

Rogers (Hist. Agric. ) affirms that stotts were the small rough horses sometirAes
called ' affiri ' in medieval husbandry. — G. F.

History of Animal Plagues. m

and 39th years of Edward III., the nth and 22nd of Richard
II., and the 8th and 9th of Henry IV, It is as well, however,
that I should state that every presentment on the Rolls relatino-
to murrain was extracted, and remains in my possession, so that
the figures of the general statement can be tested at any time) —
and will now merely state that during the 21st year of Edward
III. there appears to have died on this farm i horse, 7 bullocks,
2 cows, a calf, 48 sheep and 36 lambs, 3 sows, and 43 pio-s.

' In the 22nd year, i horse, 5 bullocks, a cow, 3 calves, 60
sheep, and 40 lambs.

' In the 23rd year, the year of the pestilence, there is but one
presentment, recording the death of 1 1 ewes and 6 pigs.

'In the following year but a single death, that of a ewe, and
in the 25th year nothing whatever, and it might fairly be sup-
posed to have ended. The Rolls for this year and the 29th are
not complete; and, since the above was written, a small frag-
ment of one of this year, with the remains of a murrain entry
on it, has been found, but too much decayed to make out any-
thing but the marginal note. In the 26th year it begins again,
commits more havoc in the 27th year, but less again in the 28th,
and the 29th year is again a blank ; once more it is rife in the
30th; and in the 31st, 129 sheep and 96 Iambs are on the death
roll ; it has again nearly spent itself in the 35th year, but deaths
by it continue in each successive year; and in the 39th the
numbers rise again to 152 sheep and 190 lambs. In the nth
year of Richard II. 143 sheep and 113 lambs died.

'During all this time other cattle suffered, but not at all in
like proportion to the sheep.

' The effect of its ravages will be better understood by the
statement I have carefully prepared from the presentments, which
shows the total of deaths of each kind of stock in every year
durinjr the continuance of the murrain. It will be seen from it
that so late as the 8th year of Henry IV., 8 bullocks, 13 cows,
and 66 sheep died, and the account closes in the 13th year with
a sow and 3 pigs.

' It will be seen, too, from this account, that among the
sheep, the lambs, ewes, and hoggets were most affected by it, and
the calves and cows more in proportion than the other stock.

1 1 2 History of A uimal Plagues.

Occasionally, too, the swans and peacocks died from it; a few
geese and capons are recorded, but other poultry are scarcely
once mentioned. Where the loss has arisen from other causes,
and has been accidentally included in the murrain account, the
cause of the loss is inserted. In the 42nd Edward III. "Item
octo hyves apum,'' is immediately followed by " per tempestatem
vemis."

' But perhaps the most curious fact appearing in these ex-
tracts, is that the murrain alTected the bees. I began to suspect,
when the first few entries of hives of bees fell under my notice,
that losses from other causes than murrain were mixed up in
these presentments; but two of the 45th year of Edward III.
put the matter at rest, as they expressly state that so many
"^ruscae apium sunt in morina." As many as ten hives were lost
in that year, and there was some loss in the apiary nearly every
year for twenty years. ^

' The first presentments I have called attention to were made
by the jury or homage of the court, on the Thursday after St
Martin, in the 21st of Edward III. The presentment is made
by the coroners, and so it continues down to the 26th year, when
the homage and coroners jointly make it ; and on the Wednes-
day before the feast of St Thomas the Apostle of that year the
entry is "Humagium et Coronatores presentant quod Dominus
habet in murina viginti et septem hoggastros," &c.

'After this for some years the entry simply states the fact
that the lord had in murrain such and such cattle, without ex-
pressly stating by whom such presentment was made. In the
46th year of Edward III. new officers appear on the scene. At
the court on Monday after the Purification the presentment is
made by the bailiff', sub-bailiff', and cadaverators, but during the
rest of the reign as before. In the first of Richard II., at the
court on Monday before St Wynwaloc the Abbot, the present-

^ It must be borne in mind that for long before this period, and for some time
after, bees formed no inconsiderable portion of the agricultural wealth. All food
that required it was sweetened with honey before sugar was had recourse to, and
into the composition of many of the Saxon beverages that article largely entered.
Therefore it was that a mortality amongst the bees was considered a somewhat
serious calamity, and of sufficient importance to obtain a notice in the chronicles
of the period. But there was evidently no relationship between the viorind of the
bees and that of the sheep and cows.

History of A nhnal Plagues. 113

meat is made by the whole homage with the cadaverators, and
by these latter many of the subsequent presentments are made.

' I presume these officers had the charge of the disposal of
the carcases of the cattle dying of murrain, and I occasionallv
met with their election by the homage of the courts, as on the
Tuesdav after St Valentine 7th Richard II. — '"'They elect John
Barnege and Geffrey Cay into the office of cadaverators, who
say, 8cc. ; " and again in the course of the following year — " They
elect John Baronne and Geffrey Cay into that office, and they
are sworn, &cc."

' From the two bailiffs' accounts I have before referred to,
the 33rd Edward III. and the i8th Richard II., it will seem that
the stock on the farm had considerably diminished, the sheep in
the latter account amounting to only about half the number
mentioned in the former. The purchases of stock were less on
some occasions, the lambs much less numerous, and many ewes
are stated to have been sterile; and I also observe such entries
as, that a dozen very sickly hoggets were sold " pro timore mori-
naj." These particular ones were sold at 3^ J. a head, the current
price at that time being 17^/. If they were (as it seems likely they
were) affected with the disease, it was a ready way of spreading it.

' I trust I have sufficiently shown, without troubling you
with a mass of extracts (of which those in Appendix B are not
a twentieth part), that the murrain mentioned to have occurred
in 1348, and those of 1363 and 1369, were really one continuous
visitation.

' It is quite certain, that on this one flirm in the western
part of the county of Norfolk it commenced in 1346, and con-
tinued rising and falling in intensity, until it almost suddenly
ceased in November, 141 1. So accustomed had people becon)e
to it by the 44th Edward III., that it is spoken of as the ''com-
mon murrain," and although it does not appear to have swept
off the entire flock, as in the case mentioned by Knyghton, the
aggregate loss is very large, and if the numbers lost on otbcr
farms bore any proportion to these, the effect in such a county
as Norfolk must have been very serious.' '

' Mr Harrofl appears to have been fully iniprcsscd with tlie idea lliat the term
' murrain,' employed so frequently in this roll, could refer to nothing but the Cattle

8

114 History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 1349. ' In this year the contagion (of the plague) pene-
trated to the citv of Zara, the capital of Austrian Dalmatia, and
produced extreme terror, as well as mortality, killing more than
two thousand people. At the same time, a ferocious epizooty
broke out over the whole country, which destroyed nearly all the
animals/^ In England, ^ great rains from St John's day to
Christmas, so that a day scarcely passed in which it did not rain
either by day or by night. From this intemperance a great
mortality of people ensued ; according to some scarcely a tenth
of the population were left ; cattle rqortality followed.' ^ ' Severe
diseases seized the cattle throughout the counties of Somerset
and Devon, and a great mortality took place among them,
which was the origin of taking gold in payment for cattle from
Englishmen.' ^ This last has reference to the intercourse between
England and Ireland.

A.D. 1350. ' A grievous plague (in Germany), so that death
oppressed both man and beast/ * ' There was a great famine in
Barbary and Morocco ; to supply which Christian nations trans-
ported such quantities of corn as made it too cheap and plentiful
there, but left a famine at home. This was followed by terrible
inundations, storms, and tempests ; by fearful meteors of flames,
and fire in the air. These were succeeded by excessive drought
and want of water; from all which followed the destruction of
most animals and vegetables. This year the great plague
reached Coventry.' ^

A.D. 1352. ' So droughty a summer, that for want of water
much cattle died in the pastures; the fens and marshes were so
dried, that there was a way where there was none before.'*'

A.D. 1353. At Cremona, near Mantua, a mightv storm of
hail which destroyed cattle and people, and even damaged houses.
Some of the hailstones weighed eight pounds, and their general
weight was one pound.'

A.D. 1356. 'A fearful plague in Germany, which was pre-

Plague which was so destructive in this country when his interesting paper was
published.

1 F?-ari. Op. cit., p. 315. 2 Otterhounte. ^ Tola MS.

■* Chronic. Langebek. Vol. i. p. 58.

^ T. Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 177. ^ Ibid.

'' Barnes. Op. cit.

History of A nimal Plagues. 1 1 r

ceded by an eclipse of the sun and nioonj and great earthquakes,
by which many castles aud other buildings were thrown down.
The pestilence that followed first attacked the flocks of sheep,
then passed on to the cattle, and finally destroyed a orcat multi-
tude of men/ ^

A.D. 1360. * There was a great dearth this year, and mor-
tality of people, called the " second plague,^' because it was the
second In the reign of Edward III., and a very great death of
cattle and horses. Six thousand horses died in the army ; many
houses were burnt bv thunder and lightning; many strange
meteors were seen in the air.^ ^

A.D. 1363. Under this date, William of Worcester mentions
a great epizootv among animals in England. ' In this year, the
twenty-eighth year of King Edward's reign, there was a severe
scarcity of corn in the summer, and a great murrain of animals
{iiingna mor'ina animcduim).' '^

A.D. 1366. A disease, or, as it is called, a battle, among spar-
rows. ' Hiis year fell abundance of rain in time of hay harvest,
whereby much hay and corn was lost. This year also happened
a great quarrel among the sparrows, which came to a decisive
battle, wherein not numbers, but great heaps, were killed. A
great mortality of people followed, so as many who went well to
bed at night, were found dead next morning.' *

A.D. 1369. In England, a great mortality in man, ' and like-
wise a marvellous murrain upon cattell, so that the like had not
been seen in many years before.'^

A.n. 1370. '^This year began the next great plague, called
the third mortality. This was very great, both of people and
cattle ; the like seldom heard of. The west country, as Oxford,
was most afflicted by it/ "

A.D. 1375. An epizootv among deer, roebucks, hogs, hares,
and foxes in Germany, according to the report of Gassari.
Mencken says, 'There was a contagious disease which destroyed

' //. Mitiius. Chronic. Piston Scrip, rcr. Ccrman. Edit. Slruvc. II. p. 896.

- T. Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 178.

^ IVilliclnn IVyrccstcr. Annalcs Rcrum Anylic.

■• 7: Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 180.

5 Grafton. Op. cit. ^ T. Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 180.

1 1 6 Histoiy of A nunal Plagues.

stags, wolves, fawns, bears, goats, wild boars, hares, and foxes.
I find in the old chronicles that the native hunters were not
astonished at this mortality/ *

A.D. 1383. 'This Lent, the Duke of Lancaster, and the
English army, lying on a marshy ground in Scotland, had a
great loss both of men and horse, from the extraordinary cold
and wet.' ^

A.D. 1385. In the accounts of Alton Barnes, Mr Rogers
finds the following item : ^ Gr^at mortality among sheep — 15
per cent, of sheep, ^^ of lambs, died.' ^

A.D. 1385-7. 'The greater portion of the bovine species in
the State and episcopate of Placentia died ; and the same thing
happened, though to a greater extent, in the States of Lombardy.
All the fowls, too, died, from a contagious disease; so that when
one began to die, they all died.' * In the same years there was
much disease in mankind at Mallorca, Lisbon, and Gallicia, and
influenza was very prevalent.

A.D. 1385. A murrain of cattle in England.^

A.D. 1389. 'March 5th, rose a sore and terrible wind, which
overthrew houses, broke and rent trees, and destroyed much
cattle. This was followed by a great mortality and plague;
much youth died everywhere in cities (from anginas and dysen-
tery), towns, and country. After this a great dearth of corn.
. . . Whilst the king was at Sheen, in July, in his court were
seen such swarms of flies and gnats skirmishing with one
another, that in the end their killed were swept away with
brooms, and bushels were filled with them."* A murrain among
deer in England : * Murrena damarum ferarum.' '' The farm
accounts of Alton Barnes, according to Mr Rogers/ exhibit the
following entry : ' Scab and sickness very prevalent among
sheep.' Those for Letherhead have the same report.

A.D. 1390. When King Edward was on his march to
Chartres, a terrible storm of thunder and lia;;htning overtook his
army, and killed six thousand horses and one thousand men.

' Mencken. Vol. i. p. 1516. - T. Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 182.

3 Rogers. Op. cit. * Muratori. Chronic. Placentia.

^ //. de Knyghton. Op. cit. « Baker. Op. cit.

■' //. deKnyghton. Op. cit. » Hist. Agricult.

History of Animal Plagues. 117

A.D. 1392. ^During the whole of the past summer, the
largest rivers of France, which carry the tribute of their waters
to the sea, were dried up, and could no longer serve as transport.
Not only did no rain fall, but the earth scarcely furnished the
springs with water. In certain places this famine of water
made great ravages among the flocks, which died of thirst on
the banks of fountains and streams, or succumbed to contatrious
maladies/ ^

A.D. 1401. In England, '^the insects of leaves did immense
injury throughout the country, by consuming the leaves and grass
to such an extent that no provender was left for cattle.' ^ They
were destroyed by lime, which likewise fertilized the ground,
and is said to have given origin to lime manuring.

A.D. 1407. ' A long and severe winter in England. Frost
and snow lay all December, January, February, and March.
Thrushes, blackbirds, and many thousands of smaller birds died
from hunger and cold.'^ In Ireland, Wery inclement weather,
and a great destruction of cattle in this year.' * ' There was
foul and bad weather this year, and a great murrain of cattle.''"'
A pestilence in Wales from a putrid fish which was cast ashore."

A.D. 1414. According to Saxo Grammaticus, a severe form
of dysentery ravaged German^;, affecting horses, cattle, dogs,
and cats, as well as man.

A.D. 1423. The priory of All Saints, which stood upon the
site now occupied by Trinity College, Dublin, 'was reduced to
such a state of misery, by the unfruitfulness of the seasons, by
the mortality of men and cattle,' and other circumstances, that
the revenue of the establishment was insufficient for its support.^

A.D. 1425. 'Very inclement weather in Ireland this year
from November ist to May, which caused a great destruction
upon cows, and delay in ploughing throughout the island, and
loss of people.' *

A.D. 1430. An epidemy in Italy, and soon after i^^\) a great

' Chroniques de St Denys, ii. p. 45. Edition, 1840.

2 lola MS. 3 T. Short. Op. cit., p. 185.

* Annals of Connauglit. '■' Annals of Clonmacnoise.

« lola M.S.

' Registry of the Priory of All Saints. Irish Archx'ol. Transactions.

^ Annals of Clonmacnoise.

ii8 History of Anmial Plagties.

mortality of people at Augsburg, in Germany, succeeded by a
serious epizooty among horses. ' Et sicuti superiore aestate
homines, ita hac equi apud nos sua quadam strage magno
numero periere.' ^

A.D. 1433. In Germany, a severe winter, inundations, famine,
and a mortality among cattle/ "

In Spain, ' in the month of January, 1433, there happened
in the kingdom of Aragon and Navarre a terrible snow-storm
{nevasco tan fiirioso), which continued for forty days, and
during which there perished a vast number of people and cattle;
though whether this loss arose from the great cold, or from some
epidemic and epizootic diseases occurring at that time, is not
known.' ^

A.D. 1434. In Ireland, ' a great frost commenced at the end
of this year, i.e. five weeks before Christmas, and it continued
seven weeks after it; and droves of cows, and troops of horses
and people, used to pass upon the chief lakes of Erinn ; and
there was great slaughter brought upon the birds of Erinn by
that frost.'*

A.D. 1441. During the reign of Frederick III. an epizooty of
all the domestic animals broke out in Germany, consequent, it
would appear, on inundations, caused by long rains and the
overflowing of rivers. It was apparently a violent form of
dysentery. Saxo attributed it to the corruption of the water
and the general unhealthiness of the pastures and fruits.^

A.D. 1442. In Germany, a severe epizooty among cattle
{mortalitas boum), following the appearance of a comet which
was visible for fourteen nights.^

A.D. 1443. For Ireland it is recorded : '^ A rainy tempestuous
year after May, so that very many fishes multiplied in all the
rivers in Ireland, and it much hurted both bees and sheepe in
Ireland also.'' This is the third epizooty of bees and the

^ Gassari. Alencken. Scrip, i. p. 1581.

- Spangenberg. Mans. Chronic.

•* Villalba. EpidemiologiaEspaiiola, i. p. 95.

^ Annals of Ulster.

^ Michael Saxo. Chronic. Cses. Spangenberg. Op. cit., p. 380.

^ Cosm<£. Prag. Chronic. Mencken. Scrip, rer. German., i. p. 1992.

'' Mac Firbis. Annals of Ireland.

History of Animal Plagues. iio

second of sheep in Ireland. In Italy, Gaul, Germany, Spain,
and other countries, and also in Asia, famine and plaoues
reigned for nearly seven years. At this period Don Alonzo V.,
King of Aragon, surnamed The Wise, subdued the kingdom of
Naples. In consequence, however, of a stubborn resistance
shown in the province of the Abruzo, and the toil and hardship
inseparable from a desperate and lingering war, the cavalry,
almost the only arm employed, suffered very much, the horses
dying by hundreds from an epizooty of a particular character.
The king, in view of this great mortality, ordered his major-
domo, Manuel Diaz, to assemble all the veterinary surgeons of
the cavalry to investigate the nature of the malady, and to com-
pose a book on veterinary medicine. This order was complied
with, and veterinary science thereby received a fresh impulse, as
is noted in the Spanish Hippatria, or veterinary manual of
Spain. ^

A.D. 1445. 'A great mortalitie of the cattle throughout
Ireland; both want of victuals and dearth of corn in Ireland
also.'^

A.D. 1450. In Ireland, 'a hard warlike year was this, with
many storms and great losse of cattle.^ ^

A.D. 1456. In this year a comet appeared which struck
terror throughout Europe, already in a sad state of consternation
from the inroads of the Turks. Pope Calixtus III., as supersti-
tious as the ignorant masses, or desirous of gratifying them,
ordered a prayer, in which he conjured the Turks and the comet
alike. The wheat was all destroyed by red blight.

A.D. 1462. 'Create frost in this yeare that slaughtered many
flocks of birds in Ireland.^* Fabyn speaks of the King of Eng-
land, Edward IV., being in this year 'vysyted with the syke-
nesse of pockys (smalj-pox). ' '"

A.D. 1464. An epidemic colic or cholera in Ireland, which

1 Villalha. Epid. Espan. i. p. 98. This work was written in tiie Limousin-
Catalane dialect, and was multiplied by many written copies. At a later period it
was translated into Castilian and printed. Perhaps the earliest edition is one that
had the following title : Libro de Albeyteria, por Don Manuel Diaz. <,\i''ig<J?a.
1495. Another addition, corrected, appeared at Toledo, in 151 1.

''■ Mac Firbis. Annals of Ireland. ''Ibid. ' Ibid.

'•' Fabyn. Chronicle. London, 1559. \'ol. ii. pt. 7.

I20 History of Animal Plagues.

likewise attacked the lower animals, and was believed to be
infections, for we read that ' Murtagh, the son of Art O'Melag-
lin, and his wife, daughter of O'Coffey, and three others besides,
died in one dav, from having seen a horse that had perished of
the same spasms.' ^ In another record it is stated that these people
died from looking ' at a horse which died of the sa?ne lumps; ' ^
and another has it, 'it was eaid that the occasion of their death
was their coming to see a horse that perished by some swelling
knobs/ ^ Might this not rather be anthrax or farcy which
affected the horse ? From the sudden death of the people men-
tioned, I think there is every probability of its being the former
contagious malady.

A.D. 1473. ^" Ireland, ' a great destruction of cows [Bo-dhitli)
this year/ *

A.D. 1479. ' ^" *^^'^ y^^'' ^^^ great mortality and death by
the pestilence, not only in London, but in divers parts of the
realm, which began in the latter end of September in the year
last before passed, and continued all this year till the beginning
of November, which was about fourteen months, in the which
space died innumerable of people in the said city and elsewhere.^ °

A.D. 1480. A murrain among cattle in England.*' The pre-
ceding summer had been very hot, and there was a great drought.
This year was very wet, and there were extensive inundations of
the Tiber, the Po, the Danube, the Rhine, and most of the other
great rivers. Famine and disease followed, from the destruction
of the crops and the saturation of the air with moisture.'' In

' Annals of the Four Masters. - Annals of Connaught.

^ Mac Firbis. Op. cit. * Annals of Connaught.

^ Holliishcd. Op. cit.

** The Royal Commissioners in their First Report published in October, 1865,
think that this murrain, as well as that which appeared in 1348-9, was analogous
to, if not identical with, the Cattle Plague then devastating England. Of this I
cannot find the slightest proof, for the symptoms of diseases in these early times
are, except in rare instances, so obscurely enumerated, if at all, that we might as
well believe them to be eczema epizootica, epizootic dysentery, epizootic anthrax,
or any other likely malady. From the fact that almost every kind of animal was
attacked by disease during the Black Death, it seems exceedingly probable that the
panzootic malady was similar to that in man. I may add I am unable to find any
mention of this epizooty besides that in the report of the Commissioners, though I
have made diligent search for it.

' Werlich. Chronica. Statt. Augsburg, p. 236. Spangenberg. Op. cit.

History of Animal Plagues. ii\

Switzerland and Southern Germany malignant epidemics ap-
peared in this year and the next, and putrid fever raged in man-
kind in Westphalia, Hesse, and Friesland.^ There had neverl
been in the mcmorv of the inhabitants so many ignis fatiii seen
as during this period. In France, under the oppressive reign of
Louis XL, famine, disease, and misery. The peasantry south
of the Loire had nothing to eat but the roots of wild herbs. In
many places women and children were obliged to draw the
plough, yro/;/ the want of draught cattle ; they were obliged, too J
to carry on the cultivation by night, that they might not be ob- i
served by the king's inhuman revenue officers.' '

A.D. 1481. Drought and famine in Switzerland and Germany,
and putrid fever in the human species in Westphalia, Hesse, and
Friesland. The harvests failed. Unprecedented appearance of
ignis fatui in these countries, which had been ravaged by innu-
merable swarms of locusts for some years. There was also a
very grave plague amongst animals, which caused the loss of
one-third of their number.^

A.D. 1490. An earthquake in Sligo. ' Many horses and
cows were also killed bv it, and much putrid flesh was thrown
up; and a lake in which fish is (now) caught, sprang up in the
place.' ■•

A.D. 149 1. The sweating sickness in mankind in Ireland.
'This year there was such a famine that it was called the " Dis-
mal year." ' ^ In 1491 appeared a comet; the season was very
wet; an epidemic swept away cattle, and a famine afflicted Ire-
land.' '^ ' There was a comet in Poland, with a great eclipse of
the sun. Afterwards there was a great dearth of cattle.' ^

A.D. 1492. In Ireland, 'this summer was so dry, that abund-
ance of cattle perished for want of water; and the air grew so
pestilential that a multitude of people, and particularly the Lord
of Slane, died of the plague.' ®

' Franck Von Woed. Chronica. Zeytbuch und Geschychtibitcl. fol. 211.
^ Mezeray. Loc. cit., vol. ii. p. 720. Hecker.

3 Annals of Langebek, vol. i. p. 195. * Annals of the Four Masters.

■'' Smith. History of Cork.

« Webster. A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases. London,
1800. Vol. i. p. 238.

" Functius. * Ilibernica Anglicana.

122 History of Animal Plagiies.

A.D. 1495. Locusts in Spain. In the preceding year there
was a severe niortahty amongst wild animals {sijlvestrium anima-
liiim mortaUtas), presaging (it was remarked) the bubonic plague
which occurred this year in the human species.^

A.D. 1496. In Ireland, ' Great inclemency this year, so that
great destruction was brought upon cows and all other beasts. A
great dearth {ascolt) throughout nearly the whole of Erinn this
year; and a great hindrance to fattening this year. Great in-
clemency in the autumn of this year, by which all men, and par-
ticularly in Fermanagh, were ruined in respect to their corn/ ^

A.D. 1499. In Germany there was a dreadful murrain in
cattle, and people were much afflicted by pestilence. Vegetation
was nearly destroyed by blights and caterpillars, and mould-
spots, or signaada,^ were observed in France and Germany.
Schenkius tells us that famine reigned in many parts of Europe,
accompanied by disease. The preceding winter had been so
severe as to kill nearly the whole of the brute creation, and the
summer was so intensely hot, that trees were set on fire by the
heat of the sun.*

^ Chron. Monast. Mellic. Pez. Scrip, rer. Austriac, vol. i. p. 273.

- Annals of Ulster.

^ The exact nature of these signacula, or blood spots, does not seem to have been
investigated until 1819, when, in Padua, a farmer having experienced great alarm
from discovering crimson spots, like blood, on his maize porridge, a commission of
scientific men was appointed to investigate the alarming phenomenon. One of
the commission, M. Sette, imagined the vivid patches to be composed of micro-
scopical fungi, which he designated Zoogalactina itnetrofa. The renowned Ehren-
berg, however, considers them to be made up not of fungi, but a kind of animal-
cule which he named Moiias prodigiosa, from its extreme minuteness. Like the
blood corpuscles, these creatures when examined individually appear as transparent
and without colour, but when viewed as a mass have the tint of blood. In size
they are from the three-thousandth to an eight-thousandth part of a line in length,
and a cubic inch is supposed by the great microscopist and naturalist to be capable
of containing from 46,656,000,000,000 to 884,836,000,000,000 of these animated
specks.' Passat Staub und Bliit-regen.V)Qx\\w, 1849. Hist. Influenza.

* Schenkius. Hist. Gen. Hanover.

12

CHAPTER III.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1 500 TO A.D. I70O.

We have now advanced so far in the history of epizootic
maladies that it would seem desirable to pause, as we find our-
selves leaving a most unprofitable era, and about to enter on the
threshold of one pregnant with great results to the sciences in
general, but especially to that of medicine. We have glanced,
furtively it n)ay be, at the position of veterinary medicine in the
beginning of the Christian centuries, and found that it occupied
a place among the sciences of the Greeks and Romans. From
the Egyptians, the Greeks had no doubt borrowed very much
of what they knew of the diseases pertaining to the domestic
animals, and they had been, with their love for learning of all
kinds, and their great regard for the welfare of the social quad-
rupeds, most careful in not only treasuring up this knowledge,
but addino; to it.

The Romans not only copied what the Greeks knew, but cm-
ployed the most skilful Greek veterinarians in their armies, and
some of the writings of these men, as we have seen, are yet extant.
The diseases of the horse and ox were found to be particularly
worthy of study, as a vast amount of national wealth w as invested
in these animals ; and also because, from the hazards of war,
and the little advance agriculture and the study of the laws of
health had yet made, they were particularly liable to attacks o.
disease which destroyed vast niunbers, and rendered attempts at

124 History of Anmial Plagues.

remedial measures really of great moment. Before the Christian
era^ and up to the fourth century, there were veterinarians, and
even veterinary schools, and physicians acquired much of their
learning from the study of animal medicine. But on the death of
Augustus and the fall of the Roman Empire, the progress of learn-
ino; and the arts sustained a sad reverse. The horrors and the
desolation attendant upon the invasion of this ancient but ad-
vanced civilization by thetjoths and Vandals in the sixth cen-
tury, buried all in gloom. This great revolution, which marked
the termination of an antiquated civilization in as great obscurity
as it had begun, was quicklv succeeded by a startling event — the
commencement of modern history in the midst of this confusion,
and the appearance of a new dominant race, the Arab, ruling
over many of the semi-civilized and barbarous tribes dwelling in
Europe, Asia, and Africa. A new religion stimulated this people
to conquest, and Mahomet propagated his creed sword in
hand. Under his successors, the remaining Alexandrian library
— containing, it is said, 700,000 volumes — was burnt, and the
treatises on medicine which escaped destruction were but few.
Medical science made scarcely any progress in the changes and
contentions which ensued for supremacy.

The Goths were a nation of warriors, who forbade their
children the knowledge of reading and writing, or any other kind
of learning, save that pertaining to the use of warlike weapons ;
believing, as they did, that education and the arts and sciences
had enervated and made efieminate the strength and bravery of
the Romans. True it is, that in the davs of the Byzantine em-
pire veterinary medicine wa5 in a somewhat flourishing condition,
having such representatives as Apsyrtus, Hippocrates, Theom-
nestus, and others, and in general was in advance of human medi-
cine, until the fall of that empire. But neither were in very
promising state, and in Europe the Arabs were but slow in
making their learning known, though in 980 Avicenna had
written his celebrated system of medicine. When the Byzantine
empire was finally demolished, learning may be said to have
slumbered. But by degrees, though slowly, it began to awake,
and the arts tardily commenced to revive; yet, under the Saracens,
that most essential branch of medical study, anatomy, was

Histojy of Animal Plagues. 125

absolutely neglected, the Koran percniptorilv forbidclinir the
touching- of dead bodies, much less their dissection. It was not
till the middle of the fifteenth century that human medicine had
sufficient attention bestowed on it to redeem it from almost utter
neglect ; though veterinary medicine was yet in advance. Jor-
danus Ruffus, Laurentius Rusius, and others of this period, excel-
led the most noted physicians in simply and faithfully describing
the diseases of the lower animals; and even the Arabs had far more
love for the horse than their own species; for their writings havinsr
reference to its maladies are numerous and more complete than
those referrino; to man. One cause of this revival was, doubtless,
due to the influence the Crusades had in carrying back from the
Holy Land copies of such writings as those of Aristotle, and
the works of Arab physicians. But, perhaps, the greatest impulse
the arts and sciences then received, was that derived from the
refugees from Greece and elsewhere, particularly after the capture
of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. ^^'^^ manuscripts and
the monuments of skill and learning which they carried to Flor-
ence, the City of the Arts, were a grand nucleus for the expan-
sion of human wisdom and enterprise. In 1506 the writings of
Dioscorides, the physician and botanist of Greece, were pub-
lished ; in 1525 those of Galen, another and a greater student
of physic; and in 1526 the works of the Immortal Hippocrates,
the father of medicine, were given forth to the world in numer-
ous copies of clear letter-press. Western medicine begins with
the school of Salerno, where physic was taught on the Greek
principles. The medical school of Montpellicr was founded in
1 150, that of Paris in 1220, and Bologna at the commencement
of the 14th century, about which period anatomy was greatly
improved bv Mondini. The titles of bachelors and doctors of
medicine were conferred, for the first time, in the University of
Paris in 1231. The reign of Henry VI. was remarkable for the
patronage afforded to practitioners in human medicine, and
every aid was afforded to the development of that science whiib
may be said to have the prolongation of life, and the mainten-
ance of health for its chief study.

This backward glance at the long j)eri()d we have i)as-^ed
over, will ex])]ain the absence of details, or of exact inloriration,

126 History of Animal Plagues.

as to the nature of the epizooties which have been enumerated.
All we can glean from the deep obscurity are the facts, that in
those centuries, as in later, the bovine species has been most
liable to attacks of fatal and wide-spread disease, possibly to some
extent from their peculiar temperament and phlegmatic consti-
tution; that very many of these bovine plagues could be traced to
the East, just as Pliny had traced the origin of the typhus or
putrid fever of man which appeared in Italy to the same quarter
long before ; that, usually, they were of brief duration, for the
very o-ood reason that they generally exterminated the whole of
the herds they attacked, and that speedily ; that the equine
species have been least affected by these visitations; and that
France and Germany were more frequently the ground of their
selection than other countries.

Unfortunately, in the next period, we find veterinary medicine
nearly at a stand-still, but human medicine making rapid strides.
The consequence is, that while the more serious epizooties
have been studied bv physicians, who, we may surmise, had not
given comparative pathology their attention until called upon to
investigate these invasions of disease, much that is valuable
and of a practical nature has been overlooked. But there is
much more exactness in the symptoms described, and often we
have the history of the disease accurately traced from beginning
to end, with not unfrequently the effects of remedial measures.
Italy continued to be the chief, if not almost the sole, refuge for
veterinary science, and Naples was more particularly the great
school of equitation and animal medicine for the whole of Eu-
rope; though the writings of the Greek and Roman hippiatrists,
and those of RufTus and Rusius, were yet the text-books for
general reference. Towards the sixteenth, and during the seven-
teenth centuries, we have abundant evidence, from the numerous
treatises published on the continent and in this country, that
much attention was being directed to this branch of science;
but there was little originality or real progress; anatomy was
greatly neglected; and, altogether, veterinary was in a much less
satisfactory condition than human medicine.

A.T>. 1500. This century began with much inclemency of
weather, which caused great destruction to cattle, and was fol-

History of Animal Plagues. 127

lowed bv a series of severe epizootic diseases. Accordincr to
Hecker, evil was prognosticated bv a cornet.^

In Ireland 'great inclemency [doincun) this year, which
killed almost all the cattle of Erinn, and prevented the earth^s
responding to the husbandman.''^ Spain was said to be ravaged
bv rabies canina.^

A.D. 1501. Tremendous inundation in Silesia. As a con-
sequence, an epizooty among cattle and many other kinds of
animals.*

A.D, 1504. Great drought, failure of the crops, and mor-
tality amongst cattle in Saxony. ° ' And in this year there was
a cold winter; thereupon followed a very hot and dry summer.
For many months, from the beginning of April to the end of
July, there was no rain. The sky was cloudless, the sun \\as
glaring and hot, whereby the grass was scorched, so that there
was no hay or lattermath. The oats failed, and other crops
were little more fruitful. Hereupon followed a great scarcity.
Pi<;s died in large numbers. Many farmers drove out fine herds
in the morning, of which one-third did not return at night.
Neither had the previous great mortality ceased, but, owing to
the intense heat, it rather increased ; so that in some places the

half, in others one-third, of the people died '^5'^5- A very

wet summer. Then came the pestilence, which had already
lasted several years. It was now more severe amongst the cattle
than it had hitherto been, and among men it was none the less
so.' " There was a great invasion of caterpillars in Northern
Germany, which destroyed all the foliage. Signacula, or blood-
spots, which Agricolo supposed to be lichens, so abounded on
linen, the veils of women, the food, and even in the air, in the
form of blond-rain, as to cause great fear.' The great murrain
amono- the cattle at Meissen, in Saxony, led to the execution
of some hose huben, or supposed miscreants, who were suspected

' Heckcr. Epidemics of the Middle Ages. - Annals of Ulster.

^ Blaine. Canine Pathology.

* Chronic. Princep. Polon. Stcnzcl. Vol. i. p. i68.

* Fabricius. Annals Misn. p. 170.

•■• Spaii(;cnberg. Mansfcld. Chronic, book i. p. 402.
' Mczcray. Op. cit., p. 819.

1 28 History of Animal Plagues.

of poisoning the pastures. Wirth thinks the malady was ^ milz-
brand/ or splenic apoplexy — a form of anthrax.

A.D. 1508. The summer very wet ; inundations. In
Austria an epizooty amongst cattle and hogs, which was named
lues inter CHS — plague, or dropsy under the skin.^ Locusts devas-
tated Spain, and epidemic pestilence followed.

A.D. 1513-14. After a severe winter, a sudden thaw, famine,
rains, and inundations, an epizooty, contagious in its nature,
appeared in Friuli, from whence it spread to the States of
Venice, thence to Verona, and at last to France and England.
An epidemic in mankind raged at the same time in Italy and
in England.

Fracastor, who is the first writer to give detailed svmptoms
of these animal plagues in modern times, describes the malady.
He says : ' We refer to the unusual contagion of the year 1514,
which attacked oxen alone. It was first seen in the country
around Friuli, and gradually, but yet rapidly, was it carried to
Venice, and from thence to our own country (Verona). The
ox at first, and without any manifest cause, ceased to eat. But
the herdsmen noticed in those infected a certain roughness and
small pustules over the whole mouth and palate [asperitas qiice-
dam et paruce pustulce percipiehantur in palato et ore toto). It
was necessary to separate those infected from the rest of the herd,
otherwise the whole became contaminated. By degrees the spots
Or pustules descended to the shoulders, and thence to the feet.
Almost all in which this symptom was noticed recovered, but of
those who did not exhibit this extension of the eruption the greatest
part died.' ^ No treatment of the malady is indicated. In recent
times the nature of this pest, as described by Fracastor, has
given rise to some discussion. Paulet, who has given us a class-
ical work on epizootic diseases, says that ' la maladie en ques-
tion n'etoit autre chose qu'une fi^vre pestilentielle exanthe-
matique, qui se terminoit par une eruption critique aux parties
anterieures du corps, de la meme manicre que les fievres eriip-
tives qu'on observe sur les hommes, telles que la petite verole, la
rougeole, les ficvTes pourpreuses; mais elle ressemble encore

' Chronic. Mellic.
- Fmcastorus. Tract, de Contagiosis Morbis, lib. i. cap. 12.

History of Animal Plagues. 129

plus particulierement a cettc fievre de Sydenham ; ^ ou niiliaire
iiialignCj decrite par Hamilton/' Allioni/ et surtout par Wal-
thierus,* qui a observe que toutes les fois que I'eruption se
faissoit du cote du visage, ou qu'elle occupoit les oreilles, le cou,
les bras, Petoit la meilleure crise qu'on put csperer, et celle qui
sauve ordinairement les malades. Hippocrate porte le meme
prognostic dans les squinancies, lorsque I'humcur morbifique se
manifeste au-dehors.'^ It may be observed that this author de-
signated the Cattle Plague or Rinderpest a Pklogoso-gangrrneuse.
Dupuv '^ (who termed the Cattle Plague a Cachex'ie or D'latliese
Farioleuse) and others think it was variolous in its nature. Loriu-
ser ^ imagined it must be the coiifagious fi/phus, or Cattle Plague;
and others, again, that it was glossanthrax. A few are of opinion
that Heusinger^ was right in declaring it to be a malignant
form of Stomatitis aplithosa ; but one cannot help concluding,
from the symptoms enumerated, the contagious character of the
malady, its great mortality, and its likeness to the plague which
threatened to decimate our herds in 1865, that those who assert
its identity with the Rinderpest are justified in doing so. Though
Fracastor, in one part of his treatise, asserts that oxen alone were
affected, yet in another he says that not only did the plague
sweep away ' the wretched cattle, but also nearly the whole of
the unhappy flocks of sheep.' This gives additional evidence as
to the disease being the veritable Plague ; though, as will be
subsequently noticed, diseases of a pestilential kind were preva-
lent among sheep from the beginning of the century. Besides,
the archives of the Imperial Agricultural Society of Southern
Russia mention that the 'Cattle Plague' appeared in Spain at
this period; so that Europe may have again been widely de-
vastated by this scourge.

And Schenkius" informs us that at this time Venice and Padua

1 Sydenham. De Nova Febris Nigressu Schcdula Monitoria.
^ Hamilton. De Febre Miliar!.

* Allionni. Febris Miliari Tractatio, No. 76.

* Medic. Germani, p. 151. ^ Paulct. Rechcrdics, &c., vob i. p. 37.
® Dupuv. Traite sur les Maladies Epizootiques. Pariii, 1836.

' Lorinscr. Die Rinderpest.

" lit-usiftger. Reclierches de Pathologie Comparee, vol. ii. p. 165.
'' Schenkius. History of Hanover, chap. xi.

9

130 History of Animal Plagues.

were visited by a malignant epidemic dysentery, from the people
havinff eaten the flesh of some diseased cattle that the butchers
had imported from Hungary. The squabble between the
butchers and the populace was serious.

Forster^ and Webster^ mention an epizooty, or ^distemper/
as having destroyed much cattle in England in this year. They
also notice an epizooty among cats in England, but unfortunately
they neither give their authorities^ nor do they describe the
symptoms.

A.D. 1515. There appeared this year in France, though it
had been noticed here and there since the commencement of the
century, a disease amongst sheep, which was contagious and
very dangerous. It was named fehris pestifera, vari ingri, or
more commonly the 'Tacj' a term, it seems, for a pestilential
disease which had appeared in the human species in 1411.^

Gesner, in his ' Historia Animalium,' makes mention of the
disease as scabies: "^Scabiem ovium Galli vocant Tcc.^ Ambrose
Pare * says that the Tac usually appears in the pestilential fever
(of man), and sometimes before the tumours or carbuncles be-
come apparent : ' In some cases there are eruptions on the skin
similar to the bites of fleas or bugs; sometimes^ also, there are
elevations like small millet-seeds or the small-pox of children.

The vulgar call them the Tac,' &c. Belon, a learned

physician, who wrote a work on medicine^ in the 16th century,
in speaking of the 'Tac' oil {hidle de tac), says that this sub-
stance was so named because it was employed in the treatment
of a disease of that name, ' a pestilential disease which attacks
and kills sheep.' 'The peasantry of Celtic Gaul,' he further
observes, 'knowing better than we how to cure it, go to the
apothecaries and ask for the 7ac, which is an empyreum^,tic oil,
obtained from juniper wood, and which is designated Cade Serb'm
in the South of France, a name borrowed from the Jews.' In
Languedoc and other parts of France this oil is yet named
' oli de cade.'

The origin of the word appears to have been derived

^ Forster. The Disorders of Health, p. 153.

2 N: Webster. Op. cit.

^ Panlet. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 88. * Q^uvres ed. Malgaigne, vol. iii. p. 423.

^ Medicamentis Servandi Cadaveris Vini Obtinentibus.

Hisiory of A nimal Plagues. 1 3 1

from the facility with wliich the affection could he propao-ated
h]j the touch, or contact. In this sense the term has heen some-
what misapphed by the French, who have nsed it to signify the
scabies, and also the pourriture, or ' rot,' of cattle and sheep.

Scheuchzerl mentions that the peasants of Lugano give this
name to the disease known as glossanthrax.

A.D. 1517. 'Was a very droughty and frosty winter, a very
hot summer, a very early and plentiful harvest. Wheat fell
from ten shillings a bushel to ten pence. There was a great \
murrain of kinc, so mortally infectious, that dogs and ravens '
feeding on their flesh were poisoned and swelled to death.
None durst eat beef. In the beginning of this year (says
Tyenius) rasfcd a pain and inflanunation of the throat, so pest-
iferous, malignant, and contagious, that whoever, within six or
eight hours' seizure, had not proper remedies applied, died in
sixteen or twenty hours.'- The epidemic sweating sickness-
began at midsummer this year.

A.D. 1518. In the city of Cascante, kingdom of Navarre,
Spain, an epizootic disease appeared among the horses, which
consisted in a mass of abscesses about the head and throat,
accompanied by insatiable thirst, hectic fever, and emaciation.
Pedro Lopez of Zamora, chief veterinary surgeon of the king-
dom, gave directions for its treatment, which were promptly
successful.^

A.D. 1524. In Ireland, ' great inclemency of weather, and a
mortality of cattle at the beginning of this year.' •*

A.D. 1529. During the reign of the sweating sickness in !
mankind, the weather was most inclement all over Europe, and
caused much alarm. Heavy rains had prevailed for a long time,
the earth was soaked, and the air was laden with moisture.
Deluges were frequent everywhere in Europe. In Brandenburg,
in the preceding year, swarms of locusts appeared ; '' and in that
country, as well as in the north of Germany generally, it was
dangerous to eat fish, as it was reported that malignant and con-
tagious diseases in mankind had been traced to this cause." There

• Zungenkrebs, p. 4. - 7! S/iort. Op. cit.,vc)I. i. p. SS.
3 Villalba. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 135. ^ Annals of Kihooiian.

* Annales Berlino-Marchici. '"' Lailhin^er. Scriptoruni, p. 90.

132 History of Animal Plagues.

was probably some plague and development of a peculiar poison

in the finny tribes; pestilence in man and animals raging nearly

everywhere. In various parts of the German states, the birds of

the air became affected with disease. In the neighbourhood of

Freyburg, in the Briesgau, for instance, they were found dead in

great numbers scattered under the trees, with pustules as large as

peas under their wings; indicating among them a disease that, in

all likelihood, extended far beyond the southern districts of the

Rhine. -"^ Earthquakes were felt in Italy, and comets and meteors

were frequent everywhere; blood-coloured rain fell at Cremona,^

and disease prev^ailed among the porpoises in the Baltic. ' During

Lent, to the astonishment of the inhabitants of Stettin, it was

observed that porpoises came in great numbers up the frische HafF

as far as the bridge, and that the Baltic cast on its shores many

dead animals of this kind, which gave rise to the opinion that

jthe waters of the sea were poisoned.^ ^ Frightful famine in

j Germany and France. In Switzerland, an epizooty among the

/cattle.*! A great epizooty among the pigs at Augsburg and

! Thuringia during the prevalence of the sweating sickness in

\ mankind. Out of seventy attacked at Posangia, only ten were

; left Six hundred died at Ceyca, and were thrown out of the

city to be devoured by the wild beasts.^

A.D. 1530. During the pest at Milan, according to Ripa-
montius, after mankind had been seized with the disease, cattle
were attacked.

A.D. 1534. Severe winter. 'Disease among pigs continued
in Ceyca, and in the country around, to the great detriment
of the poor people. Forty died in our own Monastery. The
year, however, was healthy and fruitful.^"

A.D. 1539. In Ireland, '■ fever and bloody fluxes being rife
everywhere, whereof many died. An extreme hard winter
followed, insomuch that store of cattle perished in many places.^^

I ^ /. Schiller. De Peste Britanic. Commentai-y, fol. 3. ' The fowls of the air,

i with their delicate and irritable organs of respiration, feel the injurious influence

, much earlier and more sensitively than any of the unfeathered tribes, and have often

been the harbingers of great danger, ere man was aware of its approach. ' — Hecker.

2 Campo. Pp. 150, 151. 3 Xlemzen. P. 254.

* Hajis Stockars. Heimfart von Jerusalem. 1839, p. 197. ^ ]\[i,fic};cn. Op. cit.

^ Lannus. Chronic. Nurembergens. ' Ware. Annals.

History of Animal Plagues. 133

In England, 'in 1539, the thirty-first year of Henrv VIII.,
was great death of burning agues and flixes; and such a drousrht
that Welles and small rivers were dryed up, and many cattle
dyed for lacke of water; the saltwater flowed above London
bridge.' ^

A.D. 1541-2. The summer of 1540 had been so excessively
hot, that the woods often took fire spontaneously. At this time
plague appeared in mankind in many parts of Europe, butj
especially at Constantinople. At Geneva, Textor observed
that birds left their nests at the commencement of the plaguej
and Fallopius thought he had discovered a pestilential bubo
on a bird. The following year^ clouds of red locusts which
came from the interior of Asia, through Turkey^ passed over
Sclavonia, Croatia, Austria, and Italy, and alighting in Spain
destroyed all vegetation, and were the cause of much misery.^
Kaye saw a cloud of them in Padua which extended as far as
the eye could reach, and it was full two hours before they had
passed. ' In September a large number of locusts were seen
in this country, and especially around Leipsic, some nith four,
and others with six win2;s — the king was about the size of a
sparrow. Wherever thev came they devoured every leaf, herb,
and grass, and besmeared everything with a red blood-coloured
substance. In the day-time they travelled almost a mile (five
English miles) without resting; when they settled anywhere, or
were blown down by the wind, they lay a foot deep, and created
a dreadful stench.' ^

A.D. 1543. 'By reason of a great mortality among the cattle,
occasioned by great rains in the preceding season, meat rose to
such an excessive price that mutton was sold at two shillings and
fourpence the quarter, and a lamb at three shillings and four-
pence. The consideration whereof induced the Lord Mayor and
Common Council to make a sumptuary law, for ])revcriting
luxurious eating; whereby the Mayor was rcstramed from
having more than se\en dishes at either dinner or su]iper, and
the Aldermen and Sherifls to six, upon the ])enah\' of forty

' Stow. Annals.

'■' Villalba. Op. cit. Lupercio Fanzano. Annales dc Aragon.

^ Voxels. Annal. Leipzig, p. 151.

134 History of Animal Plagiies. •

shillings for every supeniumery dish ; the sword-bearer to have
foLir^ and the mayor and sheriff's officers three dishes.' ^

A.D. 1544. In Peru, the wild and domesticated alpacas died
in great numbers from a cutaneous disease.^ This malady has
been observed to destroy these animals in modern times^ when
they have been transferred from high to low countries.

A.D. 1552. The previous year had been remarkable for very
unusual weather, the atmosphere being heavily charged with
water, and various electrical phenomena were manifested. Mould
spots, or signacula, were observed on clothes in Germany, the
water was affected by red discolourations, and there was an
exuberance of the lowest cryptogamic species of vegetation.
Anthrax appeared among cattle at Lucca in Italy. ' When,
however, the farmers had considered the nature of the malady,
they immediately slew any cattle that were affected. In this
disease it was worthy of notice, that if the blood of any of the
infected animals came in contact with the bare skin of a man it
produced carbuncles, which, if not opened, were harmless — a
wonderful circumstance ; but if opened, and not immediately
cauterized, they would rapidly spread, and be the cause of speedy
death. The flesh of the slaughtered and diseased cattle was
'cooked and eaten, and yet caused no inconvenience, but broth
made from it proved fatal to whomsoever partook of it.'^

A.D. 1556. An epizooty following a blight of the crops in
the cantons of Berne and Basle, in Switzerland.* In all proba-
bility this was anthrax.

A.D. 1559. ' In this month (July) there occurred a remark-
able circumstance : several wolves came in open day from the
woods near Horla and Wolffsberg, and hunted cattle and people;
they destroyed several cattle. In the circle of Magdeburg, there
arose, in certain parts, a contagion and mortality among cattle.'^

A.D. 1567. Small-pox raging in the human species in many
countries. For the first time, for certain, according; to some

1 Maitla>id. History of London, 1739, p. 141. Holhished. Op. cit.

^ Garcilasso. Historia General del Peru, 1722.

^ IVierns. De Prsestig. daemon., lib. iv. chap. 30.

* Urstis. Chronic. Basil., vol. viii. p. 22.

* Spangenberg. Op. cit., 479.

History of Animal Plagues.

00

authors (but erroneously, as I have shown), there is mention
made of the small-pox in sheep. Joubert, a physician, in allud-
ing to the plague in man, thus notices the disease : 'Neither do
those people think wrongly, in my opinion, who argue that the
corpses of men who die by the plague are more hurtful to man
than those of horses are to horses, and of other animals to ani-
mals of their own species. Sometimes, nevertheless, it happens,
as Ficinus relates, that the plague passes from men to pigs, not
on account of any similarity in their dispositions, but in their
flesh. The people of Montpellicr commonly call the pest in
sheep picota {' picotte,^ the French term for variola ovina) : Mons-
pelienses pestem pecoribus famiUarem, P'tccottam appellant. If
we may believe Arnoldus Villanovanus, the plague of man never|
attacks sheep, and that of sheep never attacks man. In pre-f
vious years, as I hear, a certain pest attacked the cats alone in
Lutetia, Parrhisii, and carried off an innumerable quantity.^ ^ j

'After Lent there came a great mortality among the sheep,
so that several thousand in my neighbourhood alone died, and
the same occurred in other parts.' ^

A.D. 1571. An epizooty among cattle, and an epidemy in
mankind at Memmingen.^

A.D. 1572. In Ireland ' there was a great mortality of men
and cattle in this year.' ^

A.D. 1578. Epizootic disease among cats and poultry at
Paris.^

A.D. 1580-1. Influenza in man, as well as malignant fever
and small-pox, raged over Europe. According to Riverius, a pro-
digious plague of insects appeared in April and May, immediate-
ly before the breaking out of the influenza. They were supposed
to rise out of the earth ; and so dense a multitude were they^
that the daylight was obscured by tliem, and they were crushed
by millions on the roads." The air seems to have been tainted
to a strange degree, for birds felt its evil influence, and abandoned

'^ Jonhcrt. De Pcstc Libellus. Liiyd. 1567. Sec the year 1277.

''■ Spani;enbcrg. Op. cit., p. 489.

3 Erhardt. Topograpliy of Memmingcn, p. ()i.

* Annals of the Four Masters. '' Paiilet. Vol. i. p. 56.

* Riverius. Opera Omnia Medica. Lugd. 1OC9, p. 585.

136 History of Animal Plagues.

;the countries in which the epidemic appeared. The birds of
.'passage migrated before their appointed time^ and those whose
nature it is to build on trees and in elevated situations rested
during the night on the ground. Not only did this occur^ but
animals which fed on herbs and leaves became sickened with
their usual food, which seemed to be polluted by some virus in
the atmosphere.^

In 1581^ says Dr Shorty 'at six o'clock in the evenings in
Aprilj was an earthquake not far from York, which in some
places shook the stones out of the buildings, and made the
church bells jingle ; the next night the earth trembled once or
twicein Kent, as it did also May the ist following. November
the 1st, in Kent and the marshes of Essex, was a sore plague of
strange mice suddenly covering the earth, and gnawing the
grass roots ; this poisoned all field herbage, for it raised the
plague of murrain among cattle grazing on it. No wit or
art of man could destroy these mice, till another strange flight
of owls came, and killed them all. A great earthquake in
Peru.' ^

' Salitis Diversus. De Febre Pestilente. Francof. 1586, p. 62.

• T. Sho7't. Op. cit., vol. |i. p. 267. Stow. Annals. This very unusual
irruption of mice in Kent and the marshes of Essex appears to have caused
some dismay ; and well it might, for the occurrence must have been as perplex-
ing 9,s it was unusual. In other countries, however, this is not so, and the mice
or rats, or some cognate species, are noted for their migratory habits ; though
perhaps all do not give rise to'a 'plague of murrain,' whatever that may have
been. Some notices of these appear in this ' History ; ' a ie>N others are men-
tioned as follows. Wrangell, when travelling in the far north of Siberia, speaks
of the misfortunes of a native hunter. ' He had expected that his dogs would
have been able to subsist during the summer on the mice, which they are in the
habit of catching, and had brought with him only as much food for them as he
calculated he should require for them on his return. Unfortunately the mice had
migrated, and in consequence the greater part of his dogs died.' ' The mice often
emigrate in large numbers from one island to another, and sometimes even to the
continent of Asia.' — Travels in the North of Siberia, pp. 497, 498.

Tschudi, for Peru, says : ' Numbers of the mouse family, from the small tree
mouse {Drymomys parvidus) to the large, loathsome, spinous rat {Echinomys
leptosotna), swarm over all the Montanas, and love to approximate to the dwellings
of man. These animals destroy the gathered harvest, and even in these remote
regions they become a plague.' — Travels in Pene, p. 424.

A species of marmot {Lagopus Tibetamis, Hodgson : the ' Kardiepien ' of the
Tibetans) sometimes migrates in swarms, like the Lapland lemming, from Tibet,
as far as Tungu. — Hooker. Himalayan Journals, vol. ii. p. 93.

The ermine also, according to Brooke {Travels in Norway, p. 310), Pontoppi-

History of A ninial Plagues. 1 3 y

A.D, 1586. According to Forstcr^ there was an cpizooty of
rabies among dogs during the epidemic plague in Flanders, Tur-
key, Hungary, and Austria.^ It may be this epizooty to which
Dr Short refers in 1587, when he says : '■ The Belgians 2:roaued
under a terrible plague and famine; for the inhabitants of great
towns and villages in Flanders were either slain in war, dead of
the plague, or starved with hunger. All the country was waste,
so as wolves and wild beasts stabled in the houses; they were
become so numerous, that they killed and tore in pieces, not
only cattle, but men, women, and children. Dogs, with hunger
and madness, run up and down the country, biting and killing
cattle and one another.^ ^

dan {Natural History of Norway), and Pennant {Arctic Zoology), emigrates in im-
mense numbers. But the most curious and notable of all creatures for this pro-
pensity is the lemming. Olaus Magnus believed them to be poisonous in their
action on vegetation. He says : ' In the aforesaid Helsingia, and provinces that
are near to it, in the diocese of Upsal, small beasts with four feet, that they call
lemmar, or lemmus, as big as a rat, with a skin diverse coloured, fall out of the
ayr, in tempests and sudden showers ; but no man knows from whence they come;
whether from the remoter islands, and are brought thither by the wind, or else
they breed of feculent matter in the clouds : yet this is proved, that as soon as
they fall down there is found green grass in their bellies, not yet digested. These,
like locusts, falling in great swarms, destroy all green things, and all dyes they bite
on, by the venome of them. This swarm lives so long as they feed on no new
grass. Also they come together in troops like swallows, that are ready to fly
away ; but at the set time they either die in heaps with a contagion of the earth
(by the corruption of them, the ayr grows pestilentiall, and the people are
troubled with vertigos, or the jaundice), or they are devoured by beasts, common-
ly called lekat, or hermelin, and these ermines grow fat thereby, and their skins
grow larger.' — History of Goths and Vandals.

Lloyd has the following : ' We are informed by M. Malin, the naturalist, who
spent some time in Lapland, that in the summer and autumn, when the lemmings
traverse the forest and the 'fjalls,' they are pursued, killed, and eaten by the
reindeer when pasturing. — Scandinavian Adventures, vol. ii. p. 74.

The ' Old Bushmen ' thus speaks of the sea-gulls of Lapland : ' Although oc-
casionally seen accidentally in other parts of Scandinavia, the peculiar breeding
home of the Buffons Skua (a variety of gull) is on the Lapland fells. Tliey are
not always seen in the same numbers every year, and they say that it is the lem-
mings which draw them down to certain localities. One thing, however, is cer-
tain, that in 1862 we had a migration of lemmings at Quickiock, and that year
in one fell meadow, a little distance from the village, I shot about twenty-five okl
birds, and procured above thirty eggs.' — Ten Years in Sweden, p. 401.

• Foster. Op. cit., p. 156.

2 T. Short. Op. cit., p. 271. It is somewhat remarkable, that, until this date,
we should have no exact record of any epizootics of rabies in the dog. Tiie

138 History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 1590. Rabies in wolves was epizootic at Montbel-
liard.i

A.D. 1591. In Sicily^ an epidemy and epizooty during a
hot and damp year. ' In this year there was a good deal of
blight, which the people called resin {uredo, rubigove, quam
valgus resinum appellat), on the trees, plants, corn, and every-
thing green ; and, miserable to relate, it destroyed all these in
a very short space of time. Cows, sheep, and all herds, on
account of the blighted and bad quality of the forage, became
emaciated, as if the blight had been of a deadly nature to
them, as well as to the vegetation. All milk was foul and of
a pale colour, and all the corn, pulse, and barley was light,
mildewed [cerug'niata) , and had a bad and corrupt smell, from
the constant rains, when collected by the farmers.^ ^

A.D. 1592. Mortality among the fish at Leipsic.^ In
England was an excessive drought, and great death of cattle
from want of water. Springs and brooks were dried up; horse-
men could ride across the Thames at London."* The following
winter was so severe at Vienna, that the wolves entered the
town and attacked men and cattle.

A.D. 1598. After inundations and heavy fogs, there was a
general epizooty among cattle in Germany.^ In the same year
there appeared ergotism in the human species.

disease was known from the very earliest times, for Homer appears to allude
to it in the Iliad.

' Not half so dreadful rises to the sight,
Thro' the thick gloom of some tempestuous night,
Orion's dog (the year when Autumn weighs).
And o'er the feebler stars exerts his rays ;
Terrific glory ! for his burning breath
Taints the red air with fevers, plagues, and death.'

Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Dioscorides describe it, and it was well known to
the Greek and Latin writers of a later age. And yet until the present century I have
been unable to trace its existence in an epizootic form. We have noted its occur-
rence in other animals, but not in the dog ; though in the early ages of our era
it must have been very prevalent, for we find that in Belgium, at a remote date,
pilgrimages used to be made to the shrine of St Hubert, as they now are, for the
cure of hydrophobia. Dudley Costdlo. The Valley of the Meuse, p. 297.

^ J. Bauhin. Memorab. Historia Luporum, &c. Montbelliard, 1591.

^ Ma>xellt{s Capra. De Morbo Pandemonio, fol. 2.

3 Vogds. Annal., p. 268. * T. Short. Op. cit., p. 274.

* A77ipsingii. De Medic, et Astron. Conjugio. Rostok, 1629, p. 206.

History of Animal Plagues. 139

A.D. 1599. Plague in mankind in various parts of the
worldj but especially in France and Upper Italy. To this was
added, in ItaKv, disease in cattle, which destroyed more than
thirteen thousand beasts.^ 'There is a certain manuscript,
which is worthy of credence, in which Antonius Faccius says,
that in the ninety-ninth year of that age in which Fracastorius
lived, so grievous a plague attacked the oxen, that the Senate
was bound to issue edicts to the public, to the efl'ect that no
flesh of oxen, no cheese lately made, no butter, nor yet milk,
should be sold in the State under pain of death ; but that nnit-
ton alone should be eaten/" ' A plague among cattle and goats
in Italy, and by them communicated to other animals.' ^

An epidemic of dysentery in Venice and Padua was the
cause of the above order, which gave rise to a great contention
between the inhabitants and the butchers. The disease among
the cattle was supposed to have been imported from Hungary.
It mav here be remarked, that the cities of Venice and Padua
had, from tin)e immemorial, drawn their supplies of cattle from
Hungary andDalmatia, and so severely and frequently did they
sufler from epizootic diseases, that at a later period they were
compelled to renounce this source of supply. Wirth, however,
as usual, classes the disease amongst the animals as one of an
anthracoid character.^

A.D. 1603. Very inclement season in London, and a pestil-
ence among mankind which was supposed to have been intro-
duced from the Low Countries. A famine prevailed, and ex-
tensive disease amongst all animals, but particularly cattle.
Even dogs suffered greatly.

A.D. 1604. In October great floods in England and Wales,
which destroyed cattle and everything else in the marshy coun-
try. Rabies canina was epizootic in Paris, and caused great
alarm."

A.D. 1609. A plague in Memmingcn from July to Decem-
ber, killing a number of people. From December, an cpizocity

^ Palladio. Storia de Friuli, vol. ii. p. 235.

2 Ramazzini. De Contag. Kpid. Bourn, 0pp. Genev. p. 794.

3 Cole. Quoted by Dr .Short, p. 287. * Op. cit., p. 85.
* Journal dc Henri IV., vol. iii. p. 221.

140 History of Annual Plagues.

in cattle, which was so fatal that all attacked died.^ ' Was a
most rigorous hard frost from December to April ; the Thames
became a highway ; birds and garden stuff were killed.^ "

A.D. 1610. Plague showed itself in the suburbs of Grenada,
and spread rapidly. Spain and Constantinople suffered very much
from pestilence. The same epizooty as in the preceding year
became more general, and at the same time a malignant epi-
zooty reigned in Alsace, which did not even allow untamed birds
to escape ; these were often seen falling to the ground dead.^

Gangrenous sore-throat declared itself in Old Castile this
year among the horses, cattle, and hogs; it destroyed entire
herds.* Catarrh prevailed in mankind throughout Europe.
' As in the previous year, the trees suffered much from cold, so
in this year the bark and leaves were eaten by vermin, so that
there was no fruit; on the contrary, there was much wine.
Amono; the cattle there rao-ed a contao-ious disease in the mouth,
so that many died.'^ Was this the same disease that reigned in
Memmingen, Alsace, and Spain ? And was it anthrax (affect-
ing the mouth and throat), influenza, or ekzema, or all three?

During the plague in mankind at Constantinople, there was
a dreadful visitation of locusts. ' Such clouds, or swarms, of
grasshoppers so plagued the city and country about Constanti-
nople that they darkened the sun, and left not any green herb
or leaf in all the country; they entered the bed-chambers; they
were near as large as dormice, with red wings/ ^

A.D. 1612. An epidemy in Hesse and other parts of Germany,
followed by a great pestilence among pigs and cattle, according
to Gcelenius. Previous to this a sudden and amazing number
of spiders appeared, and swarms of locusts swept Provence.

A.D. 1613. Plague in man still raged at Constantinople.
The cats were transported to Scutari, under a supposition that
they were the cause of the plague, being thennselves distempered.''

' Erhart. Op. cit, , p. 63. '

^ Clark's Examples. T. Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 292.

^ Lcbenswald. Landstadt-und Haus-arzneibuch. Nuremberg, 1695.

* Fontecha. De Anginis Disput. Compent., 161 1.

® Walser. Appenzeller Chronik., p. 581.

® T. Short. Op. cit., p. 294. Turkish Histoiy.

' Forster. Op. cit., p. 157. T. Short, Mignot.

History of Animal Plagues. 141

A.D. 1614. A very deadly epidcmy, and an epizootic dis-
ease among the fowls in Bohemia.^ The fowls coUeeted in
groups of six or seven, according to Schottky, and holdino; their
heads close together, would fall to the ground and die. A o;reat
snow-storni in the west of England. The snow lay very deep,
and for a long time, and destroyed much cattle and sheep.

A.D. 1615. Epizouty among the horses in the canton of
Appenzell.-

A.D. 1616. Malignant angina appeared in the human
species at Naples. Plague appeared in Egypt, Norway, Denmark,
Bergen, the Levant, and other places. 'In consequence of an epi-
zooty, the character and results of which, as well as the source,
were unknown, and which manifested itself with great severity in
the provinces of Padua, Treviso, Vicenza, and Udine, the sale of
the flesh of hullocks and calves was strictly prohibited until the
month of August. The slaughter of calves was interdicted until
the end of September. These orders were in force throuijhout
the Venetian dominions, as far as the Mincio.' ^

A.D. 1617. Mercurialis plainly indicates that the epizooty
reigning at Venice, where it was named giaudiissa, was afurina
maligna, a form of anthrax which was even transmissible to man.
' On account of the daily rains the herbage on the plains became
covered witii mud, and the cattle eating this, were seized with
putridity of the throat, became suffocated, and died. Some, when
half dead, were killed to be eaten, and the herdsmen and farmers,
fearing no such evil, quickly succumbed to the noxious food.
The calamity afl'ected all proprietors to a like extent.^ *

The same disease appeared in the kingdom of Naples ; and,
indeed, from what one can gather, there is every probability
that since 1609 this malady has held sway in the greater part of
Europe among cattle. ' In this year a great slaughter of cattle
haj^pened everywhere from the ignea pestis (anthrax), so that
they could not masticate their food, far less swallow it; where-
fore very many perished by a most miserable death, as I see re-
marked in some manuscript chronicles."^ 'In i6i(S, a disease

' ll'alsc'r. Op. cit. - Ibid. ^ Bottani. Op. cil., vol. ii. p. 34.

* Atk. Kirchcri. Scrutinium Physico-Med. Pestis. Rome, 1658, p. 60.

* 6". Oul/tovii. Judicia Jchova*. Groningcn, 1721, p. 740.

142. History of Animal Plagues.

among the oxen happened in our country, by which they fell
down choked in a wonderful manner. Spain was the first place
which felt the full force of this malady. Afterwards Malta,
Sicily, Sardinia, Hydruntum, Apulia, Calabria, Latium, and at
length the whole of the Neapolitan province was affected; to
which, after two and twenty years, it had become so domiciled,
that many thought it would be some centuries before it entirely
disappeared.' ^ From its becoming endemic, it was designated
the ' houm annua lues.'

The garrotillo, or quinsy, was about this period committing
great havoc in man, especially in Naples, where it was also
named the male in canna. It may be mentioned here, that in
the winter of this year a terrific snow-storm happened in Eng-
land, which continued for thirteen days and nights, causing the
loss of 20,000 sheep in one district alone, — that of Eskdale
Moor.

A.D. 1625. Inundations, destroying cattle and horses at
Seville and Salamanca. On the authority of the archives of
the Agricultural Society of Southern Russia, the Cattle Plague
broke out in Hungary, passing thence into Italy, where it
appears to have raged for some time, as it is mentioned for sub-
sequent years.

A.D. 1628. In the states of Venice, Rot [pourriture, hiatta,
marciiime) amongst sheep.^

A.D. 1630. Famine in Italy the two preceding years. In
this year great inundations, and disease of plants, and famine in
Germany, lasting during 1631. An epidcmy in man, and a bovine
pest in the whole of Upper Italy. ^ Wirth, erroneously, I think,
mentions anthrax as prevalent in Italy. It was far more likely
to be the Cattle Plague, which had prevailed since 1625; ^'^
which year he also mentions it as present in that country. At
Padua an epizooty among cats,*

A.D. 1635. Plague in mankind at Nimeguen, during which,
Diemerbroek says, 'about twenty hens, which were raking

1 Severinns. De Recondita Abscess. Nat. pp. 431 — 446.
^ Bottani. Vol. ii. p. 37.

■' Ibid. p. 43. Ramazzini. De Contagiosa Epidemia.
* Mtiratori. Govern, della Peste, p. 8.

History of Animal Plagues. 143

into some of the nastiness thrown out of an infected house in
the time of the plague at Nimeguen, contracted the distemper
and died. Some of them had the pathognomonic signs of
the plague.' He also mentions that before the plague broke
out, birds which were kept in cages died in many houses where)
the disease afterwards appeared.^

A.D. 1638. Cattle epizoiJty in Friuli.-

A.D. 1640. ' The unforeseen uprising of the Portuguese in
1640, amongst other evils, was the cause of a cruel epizooty of
contagious scrofulous tumours {lamparones co?itagiosas) among the
horses, the result of a skirmish between the Spanish and Portu-
guese cavalry, and taking the captured horses toBadajoz; so
that, according to Martin Arredondo, there died more than 500
horses, which no remedies could savc.^ ^ This was in all pro-
bability an epizootv of glanders and farcy. An epizooty ap-
peared among the cattle of the Jura Alps, which caused great
devastation among the herds and alarm to the people. During
the panic, a poor woman, Catherine Miget, was put to the
torture and publicly burnt, as it was believed she had bewitched
the fountains of Sancy (Franche Comte) and the herds of the
district.

A.D. 1643. A bovine pest in Saxony. Week says: ^A
cattle contagion, the so-called flying pestilence {ftlssende pest)
appeared, of which many thousand head of cattle died, and fori
which but one single remedy was found efficacious, namely : if|
the infected animals were placed among horses, these took the'
infection, and the cattle recovered.' *

A.D. 1648. An epizooty among the horses of the French
army in Germany. Solleysel, a celebrated French veterinarian
and author, has given us a description of it. It began by fever,
great prostration, and tears running from the eyes, and there
was an abundant mucous discharge of a greenish colour from
the nostrils. The horses also experienced loss of appetite, and
their cars were cold. Few of those attacked recovered. The
treatment adopted was with a view to neutralize the malignity

^ Diemerbrock. De Peste. • Bottani. Vol. ii. p. 45.

' Villalba. Epid. Espanol. vol. ii. p. 69.
* Meyer. Topography of Dresden, p. 276.

144 History of Animal Plagues.

of the poison and to fortify nature ; ^ for it was a poison/
says this writer, 'which gave rise to the disorder and was the
cause of the fever. Remedies, at the commencement of the
epizooty, were of no avail. Precautions were taken to have all
the healthy horses removed from the infected stables, and they
were not to return to them until they had been fumigated,
whitewashed, and otherwise cleansed.^ ^ Solleysel designated it
a ' fievre pestilentielle,^ very deadly at its commencement, but
afterwards amenable to medical treatment. It was evidently
'■ influenza.' A catarrhal fever had been epidemic the previous
year.

A.D. 1649. Small-pox in sheep in Padua.^ Epidemic small-
pox raging in mankind in Boston, U.S. Plague in Spain and
France.

A.D. 1650. A volcanic eruption in the Gulf of Santorin.
The accompanying evolution of sulphur and hydrogen issuing
from the sea killed more than fifty persons, and more than one
thousand domestic animals.^ Ergotism in man, especially in
Sologne. Pestilence in Russia and Poland. Myriads of locusts
were seen to enter Russia in three different directions, and soon
after they spread over Poland and Lithuania in such swarms
that air and earth was obscured by them. So numerous were they,
that in many places they lay heaped to a depth of four feet, and
the very trees bent with their weight. They caused a fearful
amount of damage, epidemic influenza all over Europe.

A.D. 1655. A disease among fish in the lakes and ponds,
according to the Chronicle of Godfrey. People who had gathered
the dead and dying creatures and had eaten them, were attacked
by a pestilential disease which killed a very great number; even
the dogs which ate the unburied dead were attacked by mad-
ness.*

A.D. 1656. Pestilence in man in the Neapolitan territories
and the Ecclesiastical States, which caused an immense loss of
life. An epizootic disease appears to have reigned at the same
time. It is noted: 'With regard to the human pestilence which

"^Solleysel. Parfait Marechal. Paris, 16S4, p. 404. • Bottani. P. 46.
^ Lyell. Principles of Geology, p. 443.
* Gothofred. Chronic.

History of Animal Plagues. 145

invaded the city of Ricti and other cities of the Ecclesiastical
States, it is certain that these places received the contaiiion
more than once^ from those who were emploved in the hosjiitals
conveying it when they passed into the houses of the healthy.
But the animals seem to propagate their pestilence aniono- each
other without being brought into actual contact/ ^

' At the same time (as the plague in man), a cruel epizootic
disease acro-ravated the pestilence by attackinir and dcstrovino"
the greater part of the oxen and sheep.' ' A strange epizooty
was observed to affect the pelicans in the West Indies. So
mortal was the disease, that their dead bodies covered many
islands. ' In the year 1656, and in the month of September,
there was a great mortality among these birds, particularly the
young ones; for all the shores of the islands of St Alousie, St
Vincent, Becoiiya, and all the Grenadins, were covered with
the bodies of these dead birds.' ^

A.D. 1659. Either the same or another epizootic disease
appears to have prevaded in Italy m this year, for we liud that
the Senate of Venice was obliged to issue an order relative to
the use of the flesh of diseased cattle. 'Joint notice was given
to the villages of Tessera, Campalto, and San Martino — com-
munes under the magistracy of Mestre, that all diseased cattle
were to be killed; and in order, for the protection of human life,
that their flesh might not be sold as food, they were to be
buried or publicly destroyed. This law was published in these
villages.' *

A.D. 1661. In England, Pepys writes on the 21st of .January:
' It is strange what weather we have had all this winter. No
cold at all ; but the ways are dusty, the flyes fly up and down,
and the rose-bushes are fidl of leaves, such a time of the year
as was never known in this world before here.'^ 'This dry, hot
sunuTier drove many animals to frenzy and to madness, l)y
which farmers experienced much loss. It was remarked that
horses, oxen, and shec]) were first attacked with symptoms of

' Colaiitonj Ragguaglio. Delle Peste Scoj)Lita in Ricli. Rome, 165S.

"^ Frari. Vol. ii. p. 484.

^ DiiUrlrc. Hist. Generale des Antilles. Paris, 1567, vol. ii. p. 273.

* Bottani. Vol. ii. p. 49.

* Samuel Pepys. Diary and Correspondence.

10

146 Histojy of Animal Plagices.

phrenitis and vertigo. The herdsmen noticed that there were
worms in the heads of the affected animals.'^

A.D. 1663. The year 1662 was remarkable for a great
drought in England, but the subsequent years were wet and
unhealthy, not only in Europe, but also in North America,
where plants and animals were alike diseased. Rot in sheep
was particularly observed in England, Germany, and other
countries, and even wild animals were said to suffer from this
aflTection. In Germany, ' one owner, who had originally in his
flocks 3000 sheep, now had scarcely 40 left. This disease was

commonly termed egeln, egelichte, lebern Amongst wild

beasts, stags and hares were the first in that vear which, chiefly
in the district of Rodacum, were either found dead, or so de-
prived of strength as to become an easy prey to the hunters.
The bodies of the dead creatures, when examined, ex-
hibited the liver and lungs in a putrid state. The livers of
stags were full of hydatids {vermiitm). Among domestic ani-
mals, the plague committed the greatest ravages in sheep and
young cattle. The sheep, without any distinction as to age,
were affected; and, moreover, the animals in utero were found
to have the same diseased appearances.^- The causes were
alleged to have been frequent inundations, the honey-dew and
rust of herbage, and corrupt water. The disease continued in
the two following years.

'The whole Venetian territories were seized this year with a
malignant epidemic, which infected 60,000 people. They beo-an
with horror and a fever : some died quickly, the rest recovered.
It proceeded from monstrous and incredible numbers of small
worms.^ This year and the following, the livers of all sheep,
oxen, deer, hares. Sec, were only bags of worms, like leeches,
and often the lungs also. Out of 3000 sheep not 40 were left
alive. Only old bullocks and sheep escaped, for all the young
and middle-aged died of this plague. Even the livers of young
in utero were eaten up with this vermin. Some farmers ascribed
it to the cattle eating ?iumular/a, which is very unlikely, both

1 Thoijws Bartolini. Epist. Med. Cent., iii. Ep. 48. Hafn. 1667.
- Frohmattn. Miscell. Nat. Cur., p. 245. ^ Boiiet. T. Short. Op. cit., p. 338.

History of Animal Plagues. 147

since it is a restringent (astringent), and that it grows and is
eaten every vear as well as this.^ To some great sheep-masters
this makes one of their epochs still, and is called the " Rotten
Year/' most of all their great flocks of sheep dying then. In '63
was a great death of cattle in England from a most severely
rainy wet autumn. Their carcases were sold at very small
prices among ordinary people.' "

Schnurrer writes: 'The year 1663 was a very damp one in
England, so that the sheep and cattle suffered severely from
fluke-worms [Es;ela ilrmern).'^

A.D. 1664. Small-pox in sheep in Venice.'' During the sum-
mer a comet was observed, and a malignant epidemy is de-
scribed, which soon after developed itself as the Great Plague of
London. The signs said to foreshadow this plague were many,'
but the principal were the birds and wild beasts having left their
accustomed haunts, and the almost total absence of swallows ;
swarms of flies everywhere, ants in masses, and the ditches filled,
with frogs and insects.

A.D, 1669. 'This year was remarkable in consequence of the
unusual drought and heat of the summer. From May till Mar-
tinmas scarcely any rain fell. There arose a great scarcity of
water, especially upon the Alps. The cattle disease (viehpresten)
raged rather dangerously, and with mankind there appeared
dysentery.' ^ ' After honey-dew {honigthau) in plants, a great
cattle disease followed.'" 'July 31st, was seen a great dark cloud
rise in the east near Litchfield, which coming near the city, was
over it about noon, and was a prodigious swarm of ant-flies, so
thick that they darkened the sky. They then fell down, filled
the houses, stung many people, put all the horses mad, and
market people were forced to pack up and be gone, and the
people at harvest-work were driven home. 'I'hus they con-
tinued for three hours, covered and laid thick on the streets;
many of them were dead, and were sweepcd together in great

' Bonet. Sepulcr. Anatomic. ^ Hodges. T. Short. Loc. cit.

'^Schnurrer. Chronik dcr Scuchen. * Bottani. Vol. ii. p, 134.

* Trutnpy. Glarner Chronik, p. 377.

* Scheiichzcr. Oryctoga Helvetic, p. 20.

148 History of Animal Plagues.

heaps; the remainder took their flight northward and molested
other places.^

A.D. 167 1-3. An extensive exanthematous epizooty among
cats in Westphaha. ' The head was covered with scahies, and
at first the ears were inwardly crusted with scaly matter. The
eyes seemed as if they were covered with a film, although the
animals could see until suppuration took place; after this period
they died. Sleep continually oppressed them; and so drowsy were
thev, that they appeared as if they had heard that celebrated
speech on the joys of sleep after dinner. The skin disease did
not proceed further than the head and neck. There was scarcely
a house in which some were not infected; and unless common
rumour be false, it seemed that it could be communicated from
one to another, as well as generated spontaneously. As a proof
of this, it attacked some which were closely shut up, so that they
? mioht be free from all contaffion from the diseased. Some are
! supposed to have been cured by the fat of a whale; in the case
I of most, however, medicine was of no avail, and few survived.' ^
In this year small-pox again appeared amongst sheep in the
Venetian states.^

A.D. 1674. Small-pox in sheep again in the Venetian territory.
In Seeland, the largest of the Danish islands, ' rot ' in sheep, and
the customary fluke [d'lstoma hepatica) found not only in the
livers of these animals, but in those of other domesticated and
wild creatures, Willius gives the following observ^ations : * All
the race of oxen sickened. A languor seized their whole body,
their breathing was short and rapid ; they had a frequent hack-
ing cough. They ate as usual, bred, and grew fat. The fatness
was in every part of the body most extraordinary, but the flesh
was very flaccid. The lungs were filled with innumerable
hydatid cysts, some of which were the size of two fists. On the
exterior of the lungs of one cow I reckoned seventeen, but they
lay so thick within, that they would not admit of being counted.
The whole of the thorax was filled with reddish serum ; the
vessels of the heart were enveloped in copious fat; in the peri-
cardium a liquid, similar to that observed in the chest, was

^ Clark. Examples. T. Short. P. 353.
2 WedHtis. Miscel. Nat. Curios., Dec. i. ■' Bottani. Loc. cit.

History of Animal Plagues. 149

found ; and the nuiscular fibres of the heart, when exposed, were
seen to be soft and wasted. The hver, however, in all of them,
was most affected. In many cows it was full of watery tumours,
varying in size from a fist^ an apple^ a walnut, or a hazel nut.
In some cases there was a laroe tumour in which a few of the
lesser ones were included. The livers of some oxen were free
from hydatid cysts, but they were everywhere scirrhous. The
gall bladder was very much increased in size, and full of peculiar
fluid which was pale in colour, and flowed like water. Not only
in nearly all the branches of the vena portse, but also in the
biliary ducts, many worms were found (like distoma). ... I also
remember that in this year I found some dead hares in the
month of spring in the country, and their hearts were flaccid,
while their livers were dotted here and therewith black spots.' ^

A.D. 1679. Great epidemy in Andalusia, but more severely
at Vienna. The summer hot and damp. Mushrooms were
very plentiful, according to Sorbait. Cats and birds died in
Vienna during the plague. In Hungary, diseases of a carbun-
cular nature appeared. The following account may be interest-
ing. ' In the little town of Czierko (in Hungary), in the sum-
mer of 1679, ^ certain winged insect, unknown to all, appeared,
and mortally wounded both man and beast with its sting,
causing great mortality among them. For instance, in this one
little township, thirty-five men, and a great number of oxen and
horses, were killed by them. No one was proof against their at-
tack, and they fixed their stings on any part not covered by a gar-
ment, namely, the face, the neck (and in this spot the Poles par-
ticularly suffered, on account of their habit of cutting their hair),
the hands, or any other part of the naked flesh. A hard tumour
soon formed on the part stung, and unless the wounds were im-
mediately attended to in the first three hours, and the poison ex-
tracted by scarification, or some other like means, all after-treat-
ment was unavailing, and the sufferers died within a few days.
This species of insect was unknown in these parts, and had ne\er
before been seen by any one. Many people were persuaded that it
was sent by God for a punishment ; and it seems evident tliat it
was the work of a deity, because they confined themselves within
^ WilHus. Acta Ilavnicns. 1674, p. 132, obs. 76.

150 History of Animal Plagues.

the borders of Czierko, and leaving the Germans alone, had sought
only the Poles. At the end of September, however, a violent
wind drove these insects to us, but on account of the extreme
cold, we did not suffer an equal amount of loss, for except
one ox and two horses which they killed, only one person was
stung, who, however, recovered.' ^ This was written on the
confines of Silesia and Poland.

A.D. 1680. A cold winter and heavy storms in the spring-
time and summer. Invasion of locusts. ' Some annals attest,
and the following history certifies, that an epidemic disease in
fish is a most sure prognostication of a future plague. Before
ithe last attack of the plague, in the year 1680, fish in the fresh
water lake of Mansfeldi, and, in a less degree, in the salt lake of
jLangenbogia, perished in great numbers from some epidemic
'.disease. They had spots of various colours — black, red, yellow,
and green — dotted here and there over their bodies. They
exhaled a foul odour and had a nauseous taste; and from
eating them, people of the poorer class suffered great pains in the
chest, intense prostration of body, nausea, vomiting, and foul
and malignant fevers. The medical men at Halle, Islebie, and
some other places, after carefully examining this wonderful
phenomenon, all attributed it to one cause, — namely, the foul
nebulae which pervaded the water at that time; for these nebulae
were so corrosive, that the faces of men fishing in the lakes
became ulcerated. The surface of the water was covered with a
greenish scum.' -

A.D. 1682. Damp summer and inundations. An eruption of
Vesuvius ; the city of Catania destroyed by an earthquake ; an
eruption of Mount Etna, destroying 60,000 people. A comet
was seen, and fogs or mists of a blue colour and sulphureous
odour, which destroyed the forage, and extended from Italy to
England, were spoken of. In this year there was a great epizooty
of glossanthrax, or carbuncle of the tongue, which seemed to
spread from west to cast, through Switzerland, France, Ger-
many, and Poland. A witness to its ravages in Holland, to
which country it had at last found its way, in the month of

1 Stt'gmann. Ephem. Nat. Curios., vol. ii. p. 427.
' Ibid. Dec, vol. ii. p. 386.

History of Animal Plagues. 131

May, thus describes it : ' I am able to bear witness, that, in the
year 1682, the iguca pcitUcutia raged among the cattle in the
country of Groningen, for in that year I happened to be living
there; and it was said that this deadly fire was first kindled in
Italy. Then it crept into Burgundy, and spread over the whole
of Switzerland, Germany, and Brabant, and in its course, in the
month of May, it attacked the cattle in the district of Gronin-
gen, where it continued up to the end of the year; and if I am
not deceived, in the following year it held its course as far as
Friesland. The disease was a fiery burning, and the cattle suf-
fered from inflamed pustules on the tongue, and not until great
havoc had been created was any remedy found. The following
treatment proved eflfective. Sharp and jagged silver instru-
ments were used to scrape the tongues of the sick animals
until they were raw and bleeding. In this way art over-
came disease.^ ^ Dr Winder, chief physician to the Prince
Palatine, and who wrote from the Rhine in December, 1682,
to his friend Dr Slare, gives a very lucid account of its com-
mencement and progress. ' In 1682, on the borders of Italy, a
murrain infected the cattle, which spread into Switzerland, the
territories of Wurtemburg, and other provinces, making great
destruction among the cattle. The contagion seemed to projia-
gate itself in the form of a blue mist,^ which fell upon those

1 Oiitkovii. Judicia Jehovse. Groningen, 1721,13.740.

^ Tlie influence of a 'mist' in the production of disease, either in the animal or •
vegetable kingdoms, has, from the earliest times, been looked upon as a certainly.
This history of epizootics will testify to some of these instances, in relation to the
plagues of the lower animals, but more numerous examples will perhaps be found
in the narratives of epidemic invasions. We constantly read in the ancient records
of atmospherical perturbations either preceding or accompanying severe pestilential ,'
visitations. 'On the island of Cyprus, before the earthquake, a pestiferous wind I
spread so poisonous an odour, tliat many, being overpowered by it, fell down sud-
denly and expired in dreadful agonies. A thick stinking mist advanced from the
east, and spread itself over Italy.' This was previous to the Black Death, and
Hecker remarks that the German accounts make particular mention, with regard to '
that infliction, of a 'thick stinking mist wliich advanced from the east and spread
over Italy ; there could be no deception in so palpable a i)]ienomenon.' The Abbe
Hue, a Jesuit missionary, who travelled much in China, gives a curious and strik-
ing description, gathered from the Chinese, of a 'mist' seen in the ]irovince of
Shantung, north China, which proved to be a precursor of cholera. — llie Chinese
Empire, p. 286.

The invasions of cholera in tliis country have been similarly heralded or

152, Histo7'y of Animal Plagues.

pastures where the cattle grazed^ insomuch that whole herds
returned home sick ; being very dull, forbearing their food, and
most of them would die in twenty-four hours. Upon dissection
there were discovered large and corrupted spleens, sphacelous
and corrupted tongues, and some had angina maligna. Those
persons who carelessly managed their cattle, without a due
regard to their own health, were themselves infocted, and died
like their beasts. Some imputed it to the witchcraft of three
Capucins in Switzerland, who were killed ; but,' says he, ' this
contagion may perhaps proceed from some noxious exhalations
emitted from the earth, by three distinct earthquakes, perceived
here in the space of one year.' The treatment was simple —
generally scraping or cleaning the tongue, washing it with a
lotion of salt and vinegar, and the administration of garlic, or a
dose of gunpowder, soot, brimstone, and salt. Dr Slare adds in
a postscript : ' I lately received an account from two ingenious
travellers, who assured me the contagion had reached their
quarters on the borders of Poland, having passed quite through
Germany, and that the method used in our relation preserved
and cured their cattle. They told me the contagion was observed
to make its progress daily, spreading near two German miles in
twenty-four hours. This, they say, was certainly observed by many
curious persons, that it continually, without intermission, made
its progress, and suffered no neighbouring parish to escape ; but
it did not at the same time infect places at great distances. They
added that cattle at rack and manger were equally infected with
those in the field.' ^ Dr Slare fancied the infection was con-
veyed by some volatile insect. On the 20th of June, at Nord-
lingen, it was noted, ' we yesterday saw the first symptoms of

accompanied. Dr Williams, in his ' Principles of Medicine,' remarks : 'The pre-
valence of the south-east wind was observed to be particularly favourable to
the increase of both cholera and influenza ; and I cannot but think that this had
some connection with the general tendency exhibited by the former to spread from
east to west. Has the morlnfic property of this wind aught to do with the haziness
of the air when it prevails — a haziness seen in the country remote from smoke, and
quite distinct from fog ? What is this haze ? In the west of England a hazy day
in spring is called a blight.' In more recent times, so late as 1866, a blue mist was
noticed in England during the mild visitation of cholera.

^ An Account of a Murren in Switzerland, and the Method of its Cure. Philo-
sophical Transactions, vol. xiii.

History of Animal Plagiies. 153

this disease in our town's-cattle. It was called the " flving cancer"
{Jiiegende krebs), and it travelled, in twenty-tour hours, two
leagues in length by four miles in breadth/ ^

In August it was in Saxony, where it was observed that it
travelled at the above rate.^ In the Journal des Savaiis for that
period, we find the following account : ' This disease, which is
perhaps the same as that which the last news informed us was
afflicting Flanders and Catalonia, commenced in the summer in
the Lyonnais and Dauphine, and spread with fury to many
other provinces of the kingdom. The cattle which were at-
tacked ate, worked, and performed all their other ordinary
functions of life, until all at once they were seen to fall and die.
There formed on the tongue a black or violet-coloured vesicle
which formed an eschar in five or six hours. This no sooner fell
off than the animals died. In some of those which were opened,
the entrails appeared as if rotten, and the tongue for the most
part gangrenous and falling to pieces. All kinds of remedies
were tried against the disease, but that which answered best was
to rub the vesicle on the tongue with a piece of silver until the
blood came. After this the wound was dressed with vinegar in
which was dissolved salt and pepper. This disease was so con-
tagious, that it was easily contracted by simply touching any-
thing that had been near the part affected. A man lost his life
through being helped to food from a spoon which had been used
to rub the tongue of a diseased ox, and a gentleman of a town
in Guienne was attacked by the malady in consequence of hav-
ing put in his pocket a piece of thirty sous with which his farmer
had scraped another affected animal's tongue. He was treated
like the ox, and recovered.'^

1 Nachricht aus Welschland und Spanien wegen Bezaubciung des Vichs. 16S2.

^ Vogds. Annalen von Leipzig, p. 816.

3 Journal des Savans, 1682, p. 399. The quaint veterinary writer, Leonard
Mascal (Of Oxen, Horses, Sheepes, Hogges, Dogges. London, 1596), is the
earliest writer in England whom I can find describing the blaine, or glossanthrax.
There is no proof that the disease ever reached Britain during the progress of
those great epizooties of this nature which marched in such a mysterious, yet regular,
course on the continent of Europe. The outbreak of 1252, among horses and
cattle, appears to have been limited to England, and from.what Mascal relates, llie
malady would seem to have existed in this country from time immemorial, and to
have been due to local and other circumscribed influences.

154 History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 1683-4. The winters of these years were the coldest ever
known ; the summers were rainy, and the autumns cold. Gloss-
anthrax was yet prevalent in Germany. 'The sunnner of the first
year was again very wet. On the 25th of November great cold
set in, which lasted until the 6th of February the next year.
The ensuing summer was very hot and dry; then came an early
harvest. In both these years there raged an epizooty among
cattle, called the burning cancer [hrennende krehs). Small silver
saws were used to scrape off the blisters or ulcers from the
tongues.^ ^

A.D. 1685. ' In November, a plague amongst cattle began
at Groeblowitzius, Tschechnitius, where all perished of an un-
known infection. Some we sent to Kuntzendorsum, but there
also they all died. No medicines, no remedies availed aught,
although we tried many.' ^ Heusinger suspects this was a variolous
affection. In the spring an immense flight of grasshoppers de-
stroyed all the corn, the vines, willows, pulse, and hemp in
Languedoc.

A.D. 1686. Friesland inundated, and many thousands of men
and cattle drowned. A terrific hail-storm did an immense
amount of damage. After the capture of Luxembourg by the
French, the army suffered from scurvy. ' After this expedition,
when the army was approaching the town of Treves, on the
Moselle, it came to the Monastery of St Matthew the apostle, for
whose feast a countryman had kept a team of three fine horses.
Having no place where he could put them, they were left with-
out fodder for three days in the part where the inhabitants of
the Monastery were accustomed to urinate. The horses, op-
pressed with hunger, devoured the long grass which was impreg-
nated with urine, and when their master saw this, he prognosti-
cated they would suffer; and the result proved him to be correct,
for the fattest of them was seized around its feet and legs, and
at length over its whole body, with scabs and foetid ulcers, and
being led out by its master in the middle of the night into the
pasture-land where numbers of horses of the Gallic army were
feeding, it infected many, and spread this pest as if it had been

' Stetdnng. Topographic der Stadt Herborn, p. 21.
^ Fibiger. Acta Mag. Wralislaw. Stcnzel. Scrip, rer. Silesia.

Hisiory of Animal Plagues.

OD

an endemic among the troops. One ot" the remaining two wasted
away from the disease and died; the other became immensely
swollen in the abdomen, and also died. The men with scurvy
had the same symptoms as these horses exhibited.' ^ This may
hav^e been an outbreak of farcy. In July all the cattle in Stein,
Groblowitz, and Metzdorf (Silesia) were affected with ' foot and
mouth disease ' {peUe ex lingua et iingiilh decentilnis — aphthous
fever).- Diderich in his ' Historia Pestis ' savs : 'I have re-
marked among mv cows in Schamburg, near Custrine, in the
year 1686, as well as among all the other cattle in the place,
that, in the middle of the winter, fourteen days after each other,
and without a single exception, all were thoroughly salivated,
just as happens when the old women of Hamburg cure the
French, and other chronic diseases, with mercury. Never-
theless, no single head died, although during the whole time
the stock could eat but little. This stranoe sickness was not re-
marked bevond this place.' ^

A.D. 1688. 'The winter was severely cold in Germany, with
great snow, followed by a sudden thaw and heat. In summer
broke forth an epidemic catarrh, with danger of suffocation. . .
It was called the hot catarrh, for the matter discharged by the
nose was very thin, clear, and hot. A slight fever attended the
defluxions. . . . About the middle of May began a fever in
London, and all over England, which reached and spread all
over Ireland \\\ .July. The symptoms were the same in all. It
began and ended its course in seven weeks. . . . I'hough not one
of fifteen escajied it, yet not one of a thousand that had it died.
It was generally obser\ed, both in England and Ireland, that
some times before the fever beijan a sliii;ht but universal disease
seized horses, viz. a great defluxion of rheum from their noses.
This fever spread all over Europe from east to west.' ' ' An
epidemic of influenza in England and at Dublin, which was pre-
ceded by a distemper attended by nasal defluxion (thought to be
glanders) among horses, especially those belonging to the king's

' Eggerdes. Ephem. Nat. Curios., p. 416.
^ Stenzel. Scrip. .Siles., vol. ii. p. 363.

* Kanold. Jahreshistorie von d. Seuchcn dcs Viclis. p. 80.

* Dr Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 455.

156 History of Animal Plagues.

army, then encamped on the Carragh of Kildare.' ^ ^ Earth-
) quake of Smyrna. Swarms of insects foreboded a pestilence ; an
epidemic catarrh followed all over Europe, beginning among
, horses and ending with men, as is frequently the case/ ^

Great swarms of insects are mentioned by Sir Thomas Moly-
neux as infesting Ireland and eating up everything of the herbage
and leaves of trees and plants. In this account^ concerning the
swarms of insects that of late years have much infested some
parts of the province of Connaught, in Ireland/ he says, 'The
first time o;reat numbers of insects were taken notice of in this
kingdom, I find, was in the year 1688. They appeared on the
south-west coast of the county of Galloway (Galway), brought
thither by a south-west wind, — one of the common, I might
almost say trade-winds, of this country, it blows so much more
from this quarter in Ireland than all the rest of the compass.^
They passed inland towards Headford, ' and in the adjacent
country, multitudes of them showed themselves among the trees
and hedges in the day-time, hanging by the boughs, thousands
together, in clusters, sticking to the back one of another, as in
the manner of bees when they swarm. . . . Those that were
travelling on the roads or abroad in the fields found it very un-
easy to make their way through them, they would so beat and
knock themselves against their faces in their flight, and with such
a force as to smart the place where they hit, and leave a slight
mark behind them. . . . A short while after their coming, they
had so entirely eat up and destroyed all the leaves of the trees

' Dr Thompson. Annals of Influenza, Sydenham Soc. 1852.

'^ T. Forster. Atmospherical Origin of Epidemic Disorders of Health, p. 162.
A curious superstition was formerly prevalent regarding St Stephen's Day (Dec.
26th), viz. that horses should then, after being first well galloped, be copiously let
blood, to insure them against disease in the following year. In Barnaby Googe's
translation of Naogeorgus, the following lines occur relative to this popular notion :

'Then followeth Saint Stephen's Day, whereon doth every man
His horses jaunt and course abrode, as swiftly as he can,
Until they doe extreemely sweate, and then they let them blood,
For this being done upon this day, they say doth do them good.
And keeps them from all maladies and sicknesse through the yeare,
As if that Steven any time tooke charge of horses heare.'

The origin of this practice is very ancient and somewhat obscure, but the anti-
quary Douee supposes it to have been introduced into Britain by the Danes.

I

History of Anii7tal Plagues. 157

for some miles about, that the whole country — thous:h it was
in the middle of summer, was left as bare and naked as if it had
been the depth of winter, making a most unseemly and, indeed,
frightful appearance; and the noise they made whilst they were
seizing and devouring this their prey was as surprisinir, for the
grinding of the leaves in the mouths of this vast multitude alto-
gether made a noise very much reseinbling the sawing of timber/
Every green thing was devoured by these animals, and ' out of
the gardens they got into the houses, where numbers of them,
crawling about, were very irksome/ And in the ensuing spring
of 1689 their 'spawn, which thev lodged underground, next the
upper sod of the earth, did more harm in that close retirement
than all the flying swarms of their parents had done abroad, for
this voung destructive brood did not withhold from what was
much more necessary to have been spared,' but devoured ' the
roots of the corn and grass, and eating them up, ruined both
the support of man and beast.' The insect appears to have
been the Melolontha vulgaris, or connnon cockchafer. This
plague was checked as follows: 'High winds, wet and misly
weather, were extrcmelv disagreeable to the nature of this insect,
and so prejudicial as to destroy many millions of them in one
day's time. . . . During these unfavourable seasons of weather,
the swine and poultry of the country at length grew so cunning
as to watch under the trees for their falling,' and eat them in
abundance ; and the author was assured ' that the poorer sort of
the native Irish (the country then labouring under a scarcity of
provisions) had a way of dressing them, and lived upon them as
food.' It was also found that smoke was very oflTensive to them,
and therefore large numbers were got rid of ' by burning
heath, fern, and such like weeds,' in their vicinity. Towards
the end of summer they began to disjierse; 'and so wholly dis-
appeared, that in a few days you should not see one left in all
those parts that was so lately pestered with them.' During the
ensuing spring 'great quantities of the eggs of this insect were
exposed, on ploughing or digging up the ground,'

Rutty, describing this influenza in man, mentions that an
' universal distemper seized the horses in Dublin.' ^
' Jiu/(y. History of the Wcatlicr and Seasons.

158 History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 1689. In mankind, 'spotted fever, small-pox, and
others; then followed murrahi of sheep.' ^

A.D. 1690. Ramazzini writes: 'For the first four or five
years preceding this, the whole of Italy had experienced uncom-
monly dry weather, during which time all the crops were most
abundant, and it was imagined that there would be universal
good health ; for it is commonly and correctly believed that
evervthing is more healthy in dry weather. In the year preced-
I ing this, however (1689), about the time of the equinox, heavy
rains fell, which continuing during the whole spring of the year,
produced an unfavourable season. The summer continued for
the most part rainy. About the time of the summer solstice
signs of rust ^ [ruh'igo) in the wheat began to be observed, which

1 T. Forster. Loc. cit.

^ The rust of plants, the Epv(T(|8j; of the Greeks, robigo of the Romans, who
had their fiction regarding the god Robigus, and their Robigalia or Rohigalia festa
in his honour to avert this destroyer, the roziille of the French, der rost of the Ger-
mans, and the ruhigo of the botanist, has been known from the earliest times, but
it may well be doubted' if, until modern days, many diseases of plants have not
been included in this term. It is only within a few years that the study of the
various microscopical fungi has revealed the true nature of the enphytozics or epi-
phytozics to which they give rise. Unger was of opinion that the causes which
led to their appearance in the plant are to be found in the ground, the electricity
of the atmosphere, humidity, and the absence of light. Theophrastus thought
rust was due to the rays of the full moon, and Diogenes Laertius relates how the
philosopher Empedocles preserved the crops of Agrigentum against the rust by
hanging up the skins of animals between them and the north wind. The physi-
cians of the sixteenth century imagined its appearance was owing to a malignant
dew, and in the south of France at the present day the agriculturists are so per-
suaded that the rust of wheat is due to a fog or mist, that they term it the jnaladie
brouiHard. The generative faculty and contagious character of the several fungi
are not yet sufficiently known to be definitely pronounced upon. Mr Cook, in his
excellent little work on ' Microscopi Fungi,' says of them : ' Unfortunately, this
group of fungi contains species but too well known for their ravages amongst gram-
inaceous plants, especially the cereals. " Corn rust," as it is generally called, has a
reputation little better than mildew, and it really deserves no better, for it is only
another form of that pest of the farm, from the mycelium of which the corn-mildew
is at length developed. There are two species very closely allied (doubtless only
forms of the same species with different spores) which attack the leaves and culms
of growing corn, and bursting through the cuticle, give a peculiar rusty appearance
to the plant. One of these corn-rusts is botanically termed IVichohasis ridngo-vera,
or the "true rust Trichobasis" the latter, which is the generic name, being a com-
pound of two Greek words (tkrix, a hair, and basis, a foundation), on account of
the spores being at first furnished at their base with a short, thread-like peduncle,
which at length falls away. The otiier corn-rust is Trichobasis U7ieans, or " line-like
Trichobasis, " because the sori or pustules are linear, or lengthened out like a line ;

History of Animal Plagues. 159

perceptibly increasing, proved highly obnoxious to the jirain,
covering, as it did, the plants from the stalk to the ear with
spots like blood. This pestilence also attacked beans and all
other kinds of pulse; so that in a few days were destroyed all
the preconceived hopes for the prosperity of the vear. Never-
theless, the extreme fertilitv of the previous years had enabled
them to lay up some store for the future, and this lessened the
calamity. In the beginning of September, and vet more at the
exact time of the equinox, rain fell more copiously, and lasted
throughout the whole month of October, and as a consequence,
the banks of the rivers could with difficulty restrain the tremend-
ous power of the floods flowing between them. The two last
months were nearly rainless, and the vear 1689 closed with
favourable weather. But in the beginning of the year 1660
(during which the pestilence of rust, by eating into the corn
and every other kind of crop, brought desperate fevers first to
those in the country, then to those in the towai), the rain
returning, but more heavily and nearly continuously, clouded
the minds of all. Thus we passed a dreadful winter, with

the spores nearly double the length of those of the other corn-nist, and not so
bright in colour. By intermediate forms these two rusts pass insensibly the one
into the other, so that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish them. Both have the
spores clustered together in the pustules, at first attached by their peduncles, but
they soon become free, and are scattered like rust powder over the plant.'

There can be no doubt whatever, that plants infested by these minute fungi,
and used as food by animals, often cause diseases of a serious nature, and this
fact was well known to the old physicians. We have here the evidence of Ramaz-
zini, and others will be found in this history. Niemann declared that sheep would
not eat wheaten or oaten straw when it was covered with rust or Puccinia. — Gas-
farin, p. 236.

M. Gohier gives many examples of epizootics which he believed were caused by
the rust of straw. — Sur les effets da Paillcs Rouillh. l.yons, 1804.

Gerlach maintains that straw covered with Uredo linearis and Uredo riibigo-
vera is often the cause of anthrax. lie also observes that horses employed to carry
away colewort were often attacked by ptyalism, and that this might be due to the
Stdlaria media, which was very plentiful, and was always covered with Uredo
caryophyllacearum ; for he noticed this affection in sheep which had pastured on
the Stellaria media. The same author also testifies to anthrax being due to vetches
and clover infested by Uredo leguminosarum, and that the Piiccinia pisi ox 'pea
rust,' has been the cause of abortions in sheep, inversion of the uterus, anil jnicr-
peral fever. — Mag. F. Thierheilh, vii. p. 216.

Metaxa has witnessed the production of anthrax after the use of food contami-
nated l)y Uredo ruhigo. — Annaii, ix. p. 68. Other veterinary authorities migiit be
quoted in suj)port of the above assertion.

i6o History of Animal Plagues.

constant rains, accompanied by intense cold, and snow which
kept falling and thawing. The month of March, however,
contrary to custom, was without rain, and remaining so up
to the time of the equinox, with great serenity of the atmo-
sphere, raised our spirits; when, once more, the heavens seemed
to let loose upon us all the water contained in their bosom; so
that for the space of a night and a day everything was full of
water, and this State (Lombardy) presented the appearance of an
island. In the beginning of June signs of rust appeared, as in
the previous year. The mulberry first became affected. The
same blight, the worst disease that attacks crops, increasing little
bv little, soon laid hold of the corn and all kinds of pulse, but
especially beans ; and it did this not only on the low ground
where the water was stagnant, but also in the more elevated
places, and on the very hills themselves. It was a most grievous
and deplorable sight for the eyes to look around, and see the
fields not green, but black and covered with a kind of soot. For
as in the preceding year this disease had covered the corn with a
red colour, so in this year it sprinkled it with a carbonaceous
matter known as the great smut^ {magna atredo). In the whole

1 Mr Cooke says regarding this agricultural pest: — 'One of the fungal
diseases of corn long and widely known has obtained amongst agriculturists
different appellations iu different localities. In some it is the "smut," in others
it is respectively "dust-brand," "burnt-ear," "black-ball," and "chimney-
sweeper," all referring, more or less, to the blackish soot-like dust with which
the infected and abortive ears are covered. This fungus does not generally
excite so much concern amongst farmers as the other affections to which their corn
crops are liable. Perhaps it is really not so extensively injurious, although it en-
tirely destroys every ear of corn upon which it establishes itself Wheat, barley,
oats, rye, and many grasses are subject to its attacks, and farmers have been heard
to declare that they like to see a little of it, becaTuse its presence proves the general
excellence of the whole crop. No one who has passed through a field of standing
corn, after its greenness has passed away, but before it is fully ripe, can have failed
to notice, here and there, a spare lean-looking ear, completely blackened with a
coating of minute dust. If he has been guilty of brushing in amongst the corn, it will
still be remembered how his hands and clothing became dusted with this powder ;
and if at the time he should have been clad in sombre black, evidence will have
been afforded — in the rusty-looking tint of the powder when sprinkled upon his
black continuations — that, however sooty this powder might appear whilst still
adhering to the ears of corn, it has an evident brown tint when in contact with
one's clothes. This powder, minute as it is, every granule of it constitutes a spore
or protospore capable of germination, and ultimately, after several intermediate
stages, of reproducing a fungus like the parent of which it formed a part. During

History of Aiiijual Plagues. i6i

of the province of Este, which is usually the most fruitful of all
the vintage had never heen so poor^ whole bunches of grapes
being eaten away slowly by this pest. Nuts alone, which, stran^re
to say, in the preceding years had been very scanty, were not

the growth of the plant its virulent contents flow like a poison through the inner-
most tissues, and at length attack the peduncle or axis of the spikelets of the ear,
raising up the essential organs and reducing them to a rudimentary state. Brong-
niart, who made this species the special subject of observation, states that the
fleshy mass which is occupied by the fungus consists entirely of uniform tissue,
presenting large, almost quadrilateral cavities, separated by walls, composed of one
or two layers of very small cells filled with a compact homogeneous mass of very
minute granules, perfectly spherical and equal, slightly adhering to each other, and
at first green, afterwards free or simply conglomerate towards the centre of each
mass, and of a pale rufous hue ; at length the cellular walls disappear, the globules
become completely insulated, and the whole mass is changed into a heap of powder
consisting of very regular globules, perfectly alike, black, and just like the repro-
ductive bodies of other fungi. . . . The spores in this species are exceedingly minute.
It has been ascertained that forty-nine of them would be contained within a space
the one hundred and sixty thousandth part of a square inch ; hence one square inch
of surface would contain little less than eight millions. These myriads of spores
are shed from the ears, and nothing remains but the barren matrix in which they
were borne when the farmer proceeds to gather in his crops. At that time he sees
no more of the " smut," all remembrance of it for the time is gone ; his only thought
is to stack his corn in good condition. But the millions of spores are dispersed,
ten millions at least for every ear that has been " smutted," and will they not, many of
them, reappear next year, and thus year after year, with as much certainty as the
grain upon which they are parasitic ? Like many of the parasitic fungi, so destruct-
ive in the farm and the garden, this species belongs to the family in which the
spores are the distinctive feature. After many botanical changes, the " smut " is at
length regarded as a fixed resident in the genus Ustilago, with the specific name of
Segetum, which latter signifies "standing corn ;" it is therefore the Usiilago, or Sj>ni(
of the standing com.'' — Ibidem, p. 76.

The reports as to the efl"ects of these fungi on the health of animals are conflict-
ing. Some authors assert that they are innocuous, others that they cause disease.
Among the latter we may cite Gerlach, who reports that geese and ducks to which
he had given the refuse of bunted wheat died from anthrax. A more striking ex-
ample is the following : 'In the years 1842 and 1844, I have observed in one
farm a gangrenous fever and real anthrax among horses. Instead of oats they had
been fed on wheat, and then on the refuse of bunted wheat ; shortly afterwards
they were attacked by indigestion, the faeces were hard, and the balls which were
evacuated were covered with flakes of mucus ; daily they were seized with colics,
and the slightest occasion, such as a chill, over-exertion, &c., would bring on a
typhus or gangrenous fever and a true form of anthrax of such a violent description,
that in one day two or three animals would become ill and die.' In the same jour-
nal (MagazinfUr ThierhcilLunde) an observation is given which would go to prove
that the forage obtained from wheat that has been alTected with smut will cause
abortion in cows, and another observation that it may induce what is known as the

' arthritis ' of lambs.

II

1 62 History of Animal Plagties.

affected by the mildew. Nearly all the vegetables were destroyed,
as bv a blast from heaven.

' Even another species of destruction was added to this, for
caterpillars and insects laid waste whole gardens, leaving the
plots bare. A similar disease appeared in melons, so that ani-
mals rejected them as food. The heavy rains, which had almost
unremittingly continued up to the end of July, were followed by
a dry period of nearly two months ; it was nevertheless unac-
companied by great heat. Animals of every species showed the
effects of the long-delayed drought, by dying in great numbers.
Sheep were first attacked, and, after they had sickened for a few
days, variolous eruptions appeared on their heads and necks, and
generally caused blindness; so that, if they did not perish from
the virulence of the disease, they at length died from hunger.
Pigs also perished in droves from suffocation. . . . That which
was the cause of death in animals, in my opinion, arose from
the acid nature of the mildew ; for not taking into consideration
the morbid constitution of the atmosphere, which was no doubt
noxious to beasts, on account of the contaminated character of
the forage, the blood became acid and circulated feebly, and
either whole flocks of sheep died suddenly, or were seized
with small-pox; for one can confidently assert that the erup-
tion which appeared on the head, neck, and legs was undoubt-
edly variolous, when neither in shape, nor in colour, nor in the
matter contained in them, nor in their size, nor in the way in
which after suppuration a black scab remained, did the pustules
differ from those of small-pox in children. In like manner, other
animals suffered from the diseased plants. Even bees, extracting
no sweetness from the calyces of the flowers, but a bitter poison,
either died or left the country. And it is not to be wondered at
that cicadae in this year were mute ; for although there was heat
in the summer, it had no influence in exciting them to sing,
probably because they did not obtain the nutritious food neces-
sary, or they had for the most part died.' ^

' In the year 1690, and on the 13th of March, I observed an
epidemic among dogs at Anda, of an anginous character. After

^ Ramazzini. Const. Epid. Op., ed. Geneva, p. 120 — 141.

History of Animal Plagues. 163

a very mi^ty night, domestic and sporting dogs, besides three
others, all perished in the town, of whieh, out of curiosity, I took
the trouble to take twenty-one for examination, and I found
their necks swollen externally, and their fauces intcrnallv, while
the muscles of their throats were much inflamed.' ^ Wirth ascribes
the losses in Italy amongst the cattle, sheep, and other animals,
to anthrax.^ Miliary fevers or sweating sickness committed
great ravages in mankind in Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Erfurt, and
Jena. Spain and Italy also suffered much from epidemic dis-
eases.

Locusts invaded Poland and Lithuania in three bodies, and
in three different directions. The Abbe Ussans, who was an
eye-witness, says that in some places where they had died on the
top of each other, they lay in masses four feet high. Those
which were alive and took refuge on the trees, bent the branches
to the ground, so great was their number and weight. The
people believed that they had Hebrew eharacters on their wings,
and a rabbi pretended to translate them as the ^ wrath of God.'
Rains came and killed them, and their putrefying bodies so in-
fected the air, that the stench was nearly insupportable. Cattle
which grazed in the fields afterwards, also died in great numbers,
and very quickly.^

A.D. 1 69 1. Glossanthrax in Switzerland. Ramazzini con-
tinues, 'The character of the weather in this year ('91) was dry
and dusty ; at first, on account of the north winds, and after-
wards because of the continual and scorching heat. As the
month of January was drawing to a close, strong north winds
blowing at the time, so intense a cold set in that the rivers were
frozen over, and everything was stiff with frost. But since no
snow fell, we suffered not only a very cold, but also a very dry
winter. About the time of the equinox the frost broke up, and
so sudden was the change from intense cold to immoderate heat,
that from the time of the equinox to the end of March, the
weather did not differ much from sunnner. In the month of
April the heat somewhat relaxed, but it remained as dry as be-

1 Stegmann. Ephem. Nat. Cur., p. 384. ^ Wirtk. Op. cit., p. 85.

' L. Figuier. Les Insectes, 1867, p. 366.

164 History of Animal Plagues.

fore. This dry state of the atmosphere continued to May, with
the exception of a few moderate showers, so that we suffered
from a great lack of herbage in this year ; beans, also, and all
kind of pulse became dried up, because of the want of moisture,
and but a scanty hope remained that a good harvest would be
the result. In the same way as in the preceding year, great
destruction was caused to animals, and especially to sheep, so
that the whole of the ovine race was nearly swept away. So hot
a summer succeeded as had never been seen before; the Etesian
winds brought no alleviation of the continual heat, and on this
account many animals, and especially dogs, were driven to mad-
ness. . . . This tempest of diseases entirely disappeared, except
small-pox, which was increased to such a pitch by the intense
heat, that not only were young people attacked, but even the
aged, and especially those who were pregnant.^ ^

A.D. 169T-93. Eruption of Mount Etna. Earthquakes felt
in England, France, and Germany. Swarms of locusts from the
east invaded Germany. 'The winter of this year ('91) was
seasonable; the whole year, indeed, was a favourable one. The
following year, however, was not marked with the same moder-
ation. The winter was mild, and had the character of spring,
and to it succeeded a spring with the character of winter, as
if the seasons had been changed; and from the vernal equinox
up to the solstice, frosts, with strong north winds, were continual,
and the rains were so frequent and heavy, that rivers everywhere
broke down their banks and inundated the country. Every one
was already prepared for an unpropitious and unhealthy year,
both on account of the destructive nature of the rains, which
indicate disease to seedling plants, and also because of the appar-
ent signs of blight on the leaves of the mulberry tree, which is a
forerunner of sterility, as we had experienced in previous years
in the great calamity which then attacked the cispadane and
transpadane countries. The summer that followed up to the
dog days seemed like spring, and what appeared very strange,
the nightingale was heard to sing in the vineyards before the
cicadae were observed. Thus the summer arrived with the mild-

^ Ramazzini. Op. cil., p. 157 — 1S6.

History of Anivial Plagues, 165

est state of the atmosphere ; but yet to us it was unseasonable,
rains from time to time falHng with great force. Hence, on
account of the moist state of the soil, and the moderate temper-
ature, all kinds of grain grew to so great a height and luxuriance
that the fear of a bad harvest speedily left the minds of all. But
an unforeseen mildew speedily dispelled their hopes, for the
wheat, barley, and all kinds of pulse were quickly demolished, as
if stricken by a blast from heaven. The same contagious blight
struck the whole cispadane and transpadane country. The
epidemic disease, which, in these three years, all so dissimilar in
their character, had filled both city and country with many deaths,
was the purpurata or petechial fever (scurvy).' ^ In Hesse, for
1693, Valentine describes a pulmonic affection among cattle,
which killed great numbers. He says, 'The preceding winter
being wet, but towards the close very cold, at the beginning of
spring an unusual heat set in, and continued throughout the
whole summer; which sudden change produced an unequal and
unnatural motion of the humours and breath, followed by death
to man and beast. Oxen and cows succumbed in numbers.
Amongst other causes, a corrosive dew, which spotted linen with
marks more or less dark-coloured, and corroded everything, was
supposed to produce ill effects. From the observations of the
butchers, it was proved that these animals died from pulmonary
phthisis {phthisi pulmonali necahantiir) , to which, without doubt,
the severe cold after the intense heat much contributed. At the
end of July and the beginning of August, besides dysentery and
malignant fevers, a certain intermittent fever, like tertian fever,
attacked man.' ^

Wirth, and a few other veterinary writers, have imagined this
outbreak to be an cpizooty of contagious pleuro-pneumonia, i)iit
there is every reason to doubt the correctness of their surmise.
That malady was not known for certain till a later period.

A.D. 1692. In October swarms of locusts apjiearcd in Pem-
brokeshire and the coasts of Wales ; they seem, from the descrip-
tion, to have been the true eastern locust.?

' Ramazzini. Op. cit., 187 — 1 93.

2 M. B. Valentini. Constitutio Epid. Hassiaca. Ephem.Nat. Curios. Syden-
ham. Op. ed. Geneva. Vol. i. p. 276. =* riiilosophical Transactions.

1 66 History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 1693. ^^^ earthquake, the shocks of which were per-
ceived in England, France, and Germany, but particularly in
Sicily; also an eruption of Mount Etna. An invasion of locusts
in Germany, proceeding from the east. Saxony more especially
suffered from their ravages. Epizootic catarrh among horses in
Europe, followed by epidemic catarrh in October.^ ' In Britain
and Ireland, October was a course of moderately warm weather
for the season; but some snow falling in the mountains and in
the country, it turned suddenly extremely cold, and there quickly
succeeded a hard frost for some few days at least. After this
followed such a general cough and cold, as not one out of thirty
escaped. ... It spent its fury in five weeks. It was three weeks
sooner in England than in Ireland. It not only affected these,
but the whole continent, though not all at the same time.' ^ ' In
October, an influenza began among horses, and then attacked
men, as usual.' ^

A.D. 1694. An eruption of Mount Vesuvius. A supposed
epidemy and epizooty of ergotism. Brunner writes: 'By what
unfortunate combination of circumstances, for so many years,
the whole of nature seemed to labour under an unhealthy atmo-
sphere, remains a secret. Many men, and those most learned,
have written on the state of the air, and I have been a spectator
of most grievous calamities ; for not only did unwonted fevers
attack and kill the human race, and would submit to no remedies,
but also the beasts were harassed by deadly diseases. I know
that sheep, cattle, pigs, horses, and geese were not free from the
contagion. There was also a lack of corn, not only on account
of the inordinate consumption of it by the soldiers, but also from
the character of the ground. Some of the corn was so plainly
diseased, that it was dangerous for man to eat of it. I know also
that peas, which formed a great part of the food of the army,
w^re infested and diseased by a small insect which made a minute
hole in them. I never remember seeing such an abundant crop
of darnel (or tares) mixed with the oats, and which prevented
the making of good oatmeal, our chief food, for it was needless to

1 Webster. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 335.

2 Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 395. Philosophical Transactions.
* T. Forster. Op. cit., p. 163.

History of Animal Plagues. 167

attempt to labour on it, it was so bad. All grain disappeared,
and in its place small, black, born-shaped masses became ap-
parent, which were highly injurious to mankind. These were
named '' St Martin's corn." A woman was shown to me by a
surgeon who suffered from convulsions every eleventh day, solely
from eating this corrupt grain; and the same surgeon told me
he had amputated a leg mortified from the same cause.' ^

A.D. 1695. In the spring and summer of this year, many
stinking fogs prevailed in Limerick and Tipperary. During the
winter, spring, and part of the harvest, there fell in several
places a kind of thick dew like butter, soft, clammv, and of a
dark vellow colour. It fell in the night, chiefly in marshy low
grounds, on grass, and the thatch of cabins. It seldom fell
twice in the same place. It lay near a fortnight on the earth,
then changed colour, turned dry and black. It fell often in
lumps as big as one's finjjer-end, lay thin and scattered, had
a strong ill scent. Country people used it for scabs or sore
heads with great success. Cattle browsed safely on the ground
where it fell.'- Apoplexy became quite epidemic in Italy, from
the excessive scorching heat and great drought of the summers of
1693 and '94, which were followed by most severe winters, and
continued heavy rains from October, '94, to April, '95. Volcanic
eruptions and earthquakes were frequent. In Banda, the volcano
of Mount Gounoug Apy vomited forth fire and ashes in such
heaps that the sea at its base became dry land. The stench of
brimstone was so intolerable, that during the westerly monsoon
it could not be endured in the streets of Neira. The noise was
terrific. Banda was in a great terror, and much sickness pre-
vailed in Neira. The rains tasted sour from the sulphureous;
fumes, and the whole country became a desert through the fire,
stones, and ashes thrown over it.^ Inflammation of the feet of
cattle in Hesse, coincidently with aphthae in man. 'At the
time of the autunmal e(|uinox (towards the end of August),
mankind was afflicted by an inflammation in the gums, tongue,
and mouth. I also observed, here and there, an inllannnation in

^ Brunner. Ephem. Nat. Curios. Dec. 1694.

'■* Philosophical Transactions. Dr Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 402.

^ Dr Short. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 399.

1 68 History of Animal Plagues.

the feet of brutes {in hrui'is verum pedum injiammationes).' ^ At
Pesth, in Hungary^ Rayger writes, 'On the seventh of June, the
dew was noticed to be of a purple colour on the leaves of the
trees and vines; also on the linen garments of the men labouring
in the vineyards, where it exactly resembled the colour of spots
of mulberry or cherry juice.' ^

A.D. 1697. In Sweden, glossanthrax in cattle.* Epidemic
small-pox was very prevalent in the human species in Germany, at
Augsburg, Stuttgart, Bale, &:c. Stegmann says, 'In the month of
February of this year, dogs were observed to die in some places
from an epidemic disease marked by a burning fever. When
their bodies were dissected, nothing was found worthy of remark
except thickened blood, and a quantity of black bile. ... In the
same month of this year fowls, pigeons, and geese perished from
an epidemic; under their wings were found ulcerated pustules,
and when their bodies were dissected, the liver was observed to
be dry and parched.'* November and December, '98. 'In
these months, small-pox attacked men of all ages, for I saw a
woman more than seventy years of age, and a man more than
sixty, both stricken with the disease. Animals, also, were not free
from the small-pox ; of these the winged tribe, but particularly
geese and poultry, nearly all perished. Sheep and pigs, however,
which were given purging draughts with care (such as ashes of
the stalks of beans or cut corn, mixed with human urine), for the
most part recovered.'^

At a later period, I have entered into a review of the
opinions of several eminent comparative pathologists on the
variolous disorders of animals, and their transmissibility to dif-
ferent species. It may be remarked here, however, that the small-
pox of birds is a malady which very ancient authors have noticed.
Palladius,^ for example (a.d. 300), in his description of the dis-
eases of common poultry and peacocks, mentions an exanthema-
tous affection by the name o^ grana circa oculos, which has been
supposed to be this malady [Heusinger). ' Si amarum lupinum

^ Sydenham. Opp. Geneva, vol. i. p. 283.

- Ibid. Op. cit., p. 731. ^ Schnurrer. Op. cit., voL ii. p. 229.

* Stegma)in. Constat. Mansfeld. Epheni. Nat. Curios., p. 384.

5 Ibid., p. 108. ^ Scrip, rer. Rustic. Edit. Schneider. Vol. iii.

History of Animal Plagues. 169

comedant [gaUiuce), sub ocidis illis grana ipsa procedimt, qitce
?iisi acu leviter apertis peUiculis auferanlur, exstinguunt.' Deme-
trius (a. d. 1261) says: 'Si in ore aut in alia corporis parte pustules
sint, trade alteri accipitrem scite tenendum, tu vero acicula pus-
tulas aperito, cesque sinito evaporari, deinde meUe nosato i/linito.'
And in De Cresentiis (a.d. 1233 — 1307) / we have a more decided
designation : ' Item nascuntur columhls varioli circa oculus, qui
exccecant eos, maxime mense Augusta, l^endendi sunt aut come-
dendi cutn solo capite sunt infecti.' Buhle and Bossi '" assert that
a disease similar to small-pox is known to affect turkeys, and
that the Italians term it coralli. Nitsch^ says that wild goslings
and wild pigeons, when young, often have the small-pox {pocken
krankheit). Bechstein* also declares that wild fowl are affected
with the 'blattern,' and that the disease is contagious. In India
the malady appears to have been known from the highest an-
tiquity, and an English observer in quite recent days thus alludes
to it: 'While on this subject, I would beg to submit to the
society the propriety of inquiring into the exact nature of that
disease among fowls, which is called small-pox, or maota, by the
natives. In Calcutta it is not much heard of; but up the
country, where almost every one is compelled to keep their own
stock, it becomes a very interesting matter. It generally appears
in the rains, and seems highly infectious or epidemic; when one
fowl is attacked, it is generally followed by a succession of others,
so as sometimes to depopulate the farm-yard. The symptoms
are pyrexia and a refusal of food, soon after which pustules break
out on the head, aiiout the ears and eyes, and on the upper and
lower surface of the tongue. Indeed, I believe they generally
appear first in this latter situation. Afterwards they appear in.
different parts of the body, chiefly under the wings. The animal |
languishes for four or five days, and then dies. Is this disease
at all allied to human variola ? In its symptoms it bears a good
deal of resemblance to it, and deserves, on that account, to be
investigated.' ^

' Opus Ruralium Cominodoriim, 1471-

2 Bossi. Trattato de MalaUie degli Ucclli. Milan, 1823.

3 Naumann. Naturgcsch. die Vogcl Dcutschlands, vol. i. p. 125.
■* Naturgeschichte der Stubcnvogcl, pp. 20, 456.

* Tytler. Transactions of Med. and I'hys. iioc. ofCalcuUa, vol. iv. p. 423.

lyo History of Animal Plagues.

The malady is probably prevalent at times in all hot coun-
tries^ and affects different species of the feathered tribe. Guer-
sent speaks of its frequency in pigeons in Italy. 'Birds, particu-
larly ringdoves, are principally liable, in warm countries, to an
eruption of pustules {houtons) very like those of variola ; but this
disease has not yet been well described. It is so common in
Italy, that in a dove-cot containing a thousand pigeons, scarcely
a hundred will be found which have not been affected; otherwise
it is rarely grave, for at the most no more than a twentieth of
those attacked die.' ^

Swediaur, in describing the pian, or 'yaws,' a disease affecting
the human species, and which is endemic in West Africa,
Guiana, the West Indies, and Brazil, informs us that in the
latter country young turkeys, chickens, and pigeons contract a
disease accompanied by the eruption of tuberculous pustules,
exactly like those seen in the squamous form of the yaws. ' The
eruption takes place around the eyes, on the neck, on the
wattles, and also on the crest of gallinaceous creatures. When
they are affected, their feathers stand erect ; they are dull and
prostrated; they separate themselves from the other birds, and die
in great numbers.'

The supposed variolous malady is very contagious, and various
authors have asserted that, in Europe, turtle-doves have caught
the infection of small-pox from man.^

As before noticed, it has been declared that the ovine small-
pox was derived from the turkey ; and many writers have
affirmed that sheep were infected by fowls and turkeys.^ Brug-
none, Leroi, and Toggia fully recognize the analogy, if not
identity, of the variola of turkeys with the variolous diseases of
quadrupeds, and Toggia is strong in his belief that turkeys can
communicate their small-pox to sheep. During a very deadly
epizooty of the disease among these birds this veterinarian en-
deavoured to preserve them by vaccination, but utterly failed.*

^ Diet, des Sciences Medicales, vol.'xiii. p. 87.

- Der Wohlerfahrene Thierarzt, vol. ii. p. 37. Bechstcin. P. 557.
3 Mem. de la Soc. Agricol. 1791, p. 145. Gilbert. Instruction sur le
Claveau.

* Storia e Cura delle Malatti de Buoi, vol. iii. p. 221 ; vol. iv. p. 173.

History of Animal Plagues. 171

Heusinger, however, is not quite satisfied as to the identity of
this bird disease with small-pox.

A.D. 1698, Epidemic catarrh in France and an epizootv
among cattle, but especially horses, and which has been de-
scribed as a bilious plague.^

A.D. 1699. 'Volcanoes and earthquakes. Widespread in-
fluenza in the human species in America all the previous
winter, followed by malignant spotted and other fevers. Catarrh
among horses, and then among people.^ ^ 'In 1699 a severe
and awful catarrh was epidemic in England, and the same
malady, with much cough, was epizootic among horses in
England and France.'^ The plague of insects in Ireland, noticed
in 1688, appeared again this year.

In Germany, in 1700, small-pox was prevalent, and ergotism
was very frequent. ' On the 4th July, a.d. 1699, a moisture of a
sweet and glutinous character was observed on the corn and
the leaves of trees and fruits. This honey-like substance, or
dew, although of a sweet and pleasing flavour, seemed neverthe-
less to conceal a volatile pungency or sharpness; so that some
of those who were sufficiently curious to touch it with their lips
were immediately affected with a singular nausea and vomiting,
and on the lips of several people a small ulcer appeared. A
few persons, who had at that time delayed too long in the
fields, were seized with burning fevers, and those who walked
with naked feet, as the field labourers were accustomed to do,
were suddenly attacked with pustules and ulcerations on them.
Corn, also, and especially the grain of wheat, on which the dew
had settled most largely, was diseased in a remarkable manner,
being black and gross. This is what is commonly called
'blighted corn^ {m utter- korn). But as in more fertile years the
grain was marked in this way, so in the present was it very
al)undant, especially in the valleys and low grounds throughout
the whole of Thuringia, and in the country and prox luces around
Erfurt; so that in the memory of man a more jjrolific crop had
never been seen. From the use of this, instead ot orduiary and

' Bascome. Op. cit. ^ Forstcr. Op. cit., p. l6j.

* Webster. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 344.

172 History of Animal Plagues.

good food, in the subsequent year (1700), men, both old and
young, were afflicted with many epidemies.

'A dew of" hke consistency and flavour was noticed in the
next year (1701), and came at spring-time. It was not so hurt-
ful to corn as to apples and garden-stuff, in which it caused
disease and worms.' ^

1 Hoyeriis. De Rore Melleo. Miscellany Natural Curios., p. 172.

^n

CHAPTER IV.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1700 TO I715.

In the advent of the i8th century, we have the commence-
ment of a most interesting period with regard to the history of
epizootic diseases. Medical science was rapidly becoming more
exact, in consequence of the greater care with which it was
studied, the larger amount of patronage it was receiving, and
the increasing number of great minds who set themselves to im-
prove it. Some of the collateral sciences, which have since
afforded medicine such welcome aid, were also attracting at-
tention, and were being developed slowly, though sureK^,
through the united or individual influence of philosophers and
men of genius.

The diseases of the lower animals^ especially those of an
epizootic character, were receiving more careful investigation,
because of the great national interests involved; and from this
time, we find a few of the most eminent physicians devoting all
their energies in prosecuting researches of vast moment for the
welfare of this department of comparative pathology. The de-
scriptions of epizootic diseases have been drawn up with the
greatest care by these men, who spared no time or labour in
inquiring into their nature, their origin, and the best means for
their prevention, or for curing the ])est-stricken herds and flocks.

Another feature or event in this centurv deserves notice.
The vetcrinarv art was progressing, though lar more tardily than

1/4 History of Aimnal Plagues.

human medicine. Until the middle of the century, in France,
and indeed in every other country where the health of the
domestic animals was at all cared for, those who ministered
to their maladies were generally most incompetent for that
office — being farriers (horse-shoers), shepherds, butchers, grooms,
coachmen, and charlatans of every description, whose ignorance
made them bold, but who, in the majority of instances, only
added to the misery of their patients. Those who really in-
tended to devote themselves to acquire a knowledge of animal
diseases, took lessons from some one of these men who had ac-
quired a reputation for superior skill. These individuals were
generally to be found attached to the great stables belong-
ing to kings or noblemen, or to regiments of cavalry. Not-
withstanding the very meagre education they acquired, it was
sometimes noted that distinguished men originated from these
somewhat barren sources. But in reality the veterinary art
was in a most unsatisfactory state until 1762. In this year
M. Bourgelat, an advocate, seeing the great havoc caused by
cattle and other animal plagues, was the means of establishing
the first veterinary school at Lyons ; and to this zealous veter-
inarian is due the honour of being the founder of modern
scientific research, as applied to the medicine of the lower ani-
mals. The following year, the French government, ever in
advance, and ever ready to befriend science, instituted the
veterinary college now at Alfort, near Paris. By means of the
great liberality exercised towards this institution, it became the
focus of veterinary science and the parent of all other institu-
tions established for a similar purpose, and it has remained since
that time the first in the world. Many of its professors and
graduates have afforded invaluable assistance in promoting their
science, and some of them have greatly distinguished themselves
in inquiries pertaining to epiozootic maladies. A third govern-
ment school was founded at Toulouse, and soon after Vienna
had a national college established by order of Maria Theresa,
which, remodelled and reorganized by Joseph II., is now the
largest in Germany. Prussia quickly followed ; for in 1768, so
severely had that country suffered from animal plagues, that the
illustrious Cothenius, physician to the King of Prussia, brought

Histoi'y of Animal Plagues. iji^

before the Berlin Academy of Sciences a project for the estab-
Hshment of a veterinary school in that city. The idea appears
to have originated with the King himself, Frederick the Great;
but through the able representations and zealous interposition of
Cothenius, the national school was founded at Berlin, and it has
proved of incalculable benefit to Prussia from that to the pre-
sent time. At Munich, Dresden, Hanover, Carlsruhe, and
Stuttgart, others sprang up. In Spain, a magnificent school
was commenced; and in Italy four such establishments were
soon flourishing. Holland, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden,
and Russia, with great liberality and discernment, founded col-
leges for teaching veterinary science. It was not until 1792,
however, that England had a veterinary school, but this of a
])rivate and speculative nature, deriving no benefit from the
State, but allowed to push its own way from the fluctuating
support or patronage of private subscribers, and the fees of the
students. The Scottish capital, in the beginning of the 19th
century, through the patient and energetic exertions of a private
individual, had a school ; and in recent years others, also pri-
vate, have been commenced in Glasgow and London. Un-
fortunately, however, and much to the cost of the country,
veterinary medicine has not received that encouragement and
confidence so necessary to the welfare of any branch of science.
In Britain, it has been left to grapple with ignorance and
empiricism. In many instances it has also, greatly to the de-
triment of commerce and the welfare of the nation, been ig-
nored by prejudice and narrow-mindedness, and its representa-
tives put aside for the self-sufficient amateur, the unlearned
cow-leech, or the plausible impostor — a mode of proceeding
which has kept it far behind, when compared with continental
nations.

Consequently, to men of education and natural ability, it at
present ofltrs the most meagre inducements as a way to distinc-
tion or emolument; and the samo public apathy which permits
the ravages of disease to decimate our herds and flocks, also pre-
vents those men from entering the profession and studying this
science, whose object it is to avert or ameliorate these ravages.

From this change in the mode of investigating the diseases

176 History of Animal Plagues,

of animals by scientific teachings and demonstrations on the
continent, since the middle of the i8th century, it may easily be
inferred that a great re-action would take place, and that those
fearful scourges — fearful alike to the nations and to the animals
which they visited, would receive much elucidation as science
became more competent to observe and to speculate.

And this has been the case. The task of notins; their besrin-
ning, their progress, their various phases, and their nature, has
been removed from the domain of the oftentimes obscure general
observer of passing events, whose abilities were nearly in all cases
far from those of a scientific tendency, to a special domain
swarming with anxious investigators ; until, as we draw nearer
to our own day, the real difficulty the chronicler has to contend
with is the great number of authorities to be consulted, and the
immense amount of matter he must examine before he can
satisfy himself as to the best extracts for historical purposes.

A.D. 1701. An eruption of Vesuvius. The winter long and
cold, followed by a dry and hot summer. In Suabia and in Ger-
many generally, an epizooty affecting cattle and other animals,
which carried off large numbers. It was said to be a dropsy of the
chest. ' At the commencement of spring the weather was cold,
and continued so imtil the end of April. From this time, how-
ever, the heat was intense, and the scant and light rains made
no impression on the parched state of the ground. No cold set
in until the end of September, when frost appeared. After the
slow germination, and contrary to all hope, the harvest and
vintage were good ; but the apples and pears fell from the trees
before their time, in consequence of disease from worm; nor
could they be preserved in any way, being too much destroyed.
The leaves of the beech-trees were covered with an extraordinary
quantity of gall-nuts, and cabbages were greatly damaged by
being eaten into by caterpillars. Somewhere in the neighbour-
hood (our own district of Tubingen being safe), dropsy in the
chest [hydrops pectoris) carried off many cows, and there was a
great mortality among young geese in some places, so that they
were obliged to be buried, on account of the stench. The sum-
mer induced great relaxation of the bowels. Infants were first
attacked in the month of June, more in the month of July, in

History of Animal PlagiLcs. 177

which month a kind of griping diarrhoea affected adults, and
at last cholera appeared, with vomiting and cramps in the
legs.'^

A.D. 1702. A disease among horses on the banks of the
Rhine, following cold and damp weather, and in Lombardy
through a failure in the forage.- The weather in Yorkshire was
so fearfully hot that within six miles^ compass, in the month of
April, thirty-six or thirty-seven draught of oxen were killed in
ploughing. The same in other places.^

A.D. 1703. Very wet and damp. Inundations. In Eno--
land a fearful thunder-storm. A great storm and flood at
Bristol, in which 2000 sheep were drowned. At Berkeley 15,000
sheep were drowned, and multitudes of cattle on both banks of
the Severn. An earthquake in Italy, during which springs of
water became opaque and milky in colour, exhaled an odour of
sulphur, and sometimes emitted foul-smelling gases. ■* Ergotism
prevailed throughout the whole country of Frieburg. The dis-
eases of horses and cattle were more frequent than in the pre-
ceding year. They appeared in Mantua, on the banks of the
Rhine, in Prussia, and especially on the banks of the Oder.
Kanold writes that ' the principal cause of these maladies con-
sisted in the presence of immense moving swarms of vermin m
Prussia, and especially in Elbingen, in the month of May. They
fell upon the earth in such numbers, that they might have been
gathered bv shovelsful. They were considered by some people
to be ants; nevertheless they were provided with four wings. ^"

A.D. 1704. An eruption of Vesuvius. Epizootics among
horses in Germany, Alsace, in the Low Countries, and in Po-
land, where they died in great numbers. The diseases were
believed to be contagious, and the importation of horses from
these places into England was prohibited."

A.D. 1705. A malignant epidemic fever broke out at Ceuta,
causing great mortality. The post-mortem appearances of those

' Camerariiis. Ephem. Nat. Cur. pp. 66, 67.

-Kanold. Jahreshistorie von den Seuchen des Viches, von 1701 bis 1717.
Ludissin, 1721, p. 4.

■'' T. Sliorl. Op. cit., p. 425. ■' Schnurrer. Vol. ii. p. 235.

' A'unold. Op. cit., p. 5. ''' Ibid. P. 7.

12

178 History of Animal Plagues.

who died were as follows : the blood coagulated in the ventricles
of the heart, especially in that of the right side, and also in the
vena cavae; the pulmonary artery was similarly engorged. In
the aorta the blood was also very thick, but in moderate quantity;
the pulmonary veins were nearly empty. These phenomena
were not observed in all cases, since in the majority the blood
was only thickened and not coagulated ; and the cause of this
difference was according to the greater or less degree of power of
the malignant ferment. The mortality among horses in Poland
still raging. Very many also dying in Saxony, and on the banks of
the Rhine. ^ Glossanthrax again appeared in Dauphine.
Wirth says: 'In the year 1705 this disease again appeared
in France, and a portion of Switzerland also suffered from it.' ^
We find noticed in this year an epizooty among the chamois in
Switzerland. It appears to have been cutaneous, and very
deadly. 'A similar, and as it proved, a severe disease, resem-
bling a leprous scab, attacked not only the old animals, but also
many young ones. Upon the Freiburg were found this year
numbers of dead chamois which had leprous skins. Of the
nature and origin of this disease, the hunters have various
opinions.' ^

A.D. 1707. An eruption of Vesuvius, and an island five miles
in circumference thrown up from the bottom of the sea in the
Archipelago. An extraordinary and memorable invasion of flies
in London. They covered the clothes of every one, and lay
so thickly on the streets that the imprints of the people and
horses' feet were made visible as if it had been snowing.^ An
aphthous malady attacked the feet and tongues of cattle in
Franconia. ' A certain territory in our country was affected by a
malignant disease which attacked vegetables, and from which
animals sickened and died. In the course of the spring of this
year, in the whole district of Hannaberg and Franconia, nearly

1 Kaiiold. Op. cit., p. 7. Heusinc^er cannot find a description of the disease,
and my researches have proved no more availing in discovering its nature. In
all likelihood the malady was a form of that protean epizooty — ' influenza.'

2 Wirth. Op. cit., p. 362.

3 Scheiicher. Naturgesch. des Schweizerlandes.
* Chamberlain. History of London.

History of Animal Plagues. 179

all cattle were infected with a tumour in the extremities
{liimorem parthnn extremariim), accompanied with emaciation
and intense debility. The " serum '' of the blood beinc- very
impure, also caused a tumour on the tongue which was intensely
hot, and there was a great loss of saliva, and even a slouohino; of
some parts of the organ. The disease disappeared in time from
prescribed remedies. . . . The same disease, arising from impurity
of the " serum," affected many young men, by wasting away
their strength with malignant catarrh.'^ Epidemic influenza in
England. ' In April horses had dangerous coughs.^ ' July 8th,
a most memorable excessive hot day; many horses died on the
road.' ^

A.D. 1708. A comet appeared, and there were volcanic erup-
tions. During the spring-time and the summer the above
aphthongiilar malady (aphthous fever) raged in Silesia and in
Poland.^ Great mortality among the horses of the armies on the
Rhine. Plague in man at Dantzic, and in the city of Seville the
previous year. Immense crowds of insects, especially spiders,
were observed, previous to the occurrence of pestilence. Influenza
in man was general in Europe and America. In Hungary and in
Transylvania, a disease of a carbuncular nature amongst animals.
Ansfeld, a physician, asserts that a black cloud ha\ing obscured
the sky and filled the air with a foul odour, all aninials — cattle,
horses, pigs, dogs, wolves, hares, and foxes — died soon after in
great numbers.* In November universal catarrh in Europe, fol-
lowed by an epizooty in horned cattle and horses, especially in
Holland." In Ireland, Sir Thomas Molyneux gives an account
of an ' universal cold that appeared in 1708, and was immediately
preceded by a very sudden transition of atmospheric tempera-
ture from heat to cold, in Dublin and its vicinity.' " Rutty says
that the frost lasted 'about nine weeks,' and that about that
period there was ' another great R<A among the sheep here
(Dublin).'^ Rabies was epizootic amongst dogs in Suabia.^

A.D. 1709. In the whole of Europe a most severe winter,

• Stmrlin. Ephem. Nat. Curios., p. 156. * T. Short. Op. cit., 435.
' Kanold. Op. cit, p. 9. ^ Loigk. History of the Pest, pp. 35S, 421, 437.

* Webster. Op. cit. " Memoirs.

' Rutty. Registry. * Wiith. (tp. cit., p. 236.

i8o History of Animal Plagues.

and in the spring wide-spread inundations^ causing a great
famine and destruction among men^ cattle, birds, and other
animals. Influenza in man in Dublin. In France and in Italy
the olive trees were destroyed. Sologne and other countries were
visited by scorbutic disease and gangrenous ergotism, a fourth
part of the rye crop having been infected with the ergot or spur.
A most unfavourable summer in England, the crops suffering
very much, and the wheat generally on the N.E. side of the fur-
rows being destroyed. In Dantzic, an epidemy of a very serious
character. Previous to its appearance, ' crows, daws, sparrows,
and other birds, which at other times are to be seen in the town
and about the gardens in vast numbers, were all fled, and none
of them were to be seen until November ; the same was likewise
observed of the storks and swallows.^ None were to be seen for
four months.^ In France and in Suabia, heavy mortality amongst
animals, and a pustular epizooty destroyed nearly all the fish in
the lake of Zurich.^ In Russia and in Asia, locusts committed
great depredations. Kanold asserts that the dreaded epizooty of
contagious typhus (Cattle Plague, Rinderpest, Pestilentz des
Viehs) had commenced its ravages in Russia. He says of the
weather, in writing from Dantzic to J. Kanold at Breslau : ^ We
have now so strong a frost that the like has not been seen for
twenty or thirty years. It has already lasted fourteen days. As a
consequence, the pestilence in Thorn, as also in Graudenz, has
subsided ; yet the misery is great, for the cold presses hard upon
the poor, and many men are frozen to death in the open
streets. Cattle and birds die from the frost, and many rivers
are entirely frozen. Thence arises much distress, especially as
grain is very dear. As in Poland, the pest arose solely and
alone from the great need of the people, who were obliged to
live upon roots, bark, &c. I much fear this evil will extend
itself.^ ^ And elsewhere he states : ' The contagion of the plague
(in man) is the most cruel of all, and from the year 1709,
which year had already struck terror into every one from
the fearful cold accompanying its commencement, the two fear-

^ Philosophical Transactions, No. 337, p. loi.
- Hartmaiui. Helvetische Iclithyologie, 1827.
^ Sendschriben von der Teste in Dantzii^^, p. 4.

History of Aiiinial Plagues. i8i

ful inundations which followed the cold, as well as from the
alarming spread of the human pestilence, we had still to learn
that it could strike yet greater terror through an unusual
epizooty in cattle. The first beginning or appearance of the
disease in Europe, arose in that part of Tartary which lies on the
borders of Asia ; but whether it was originally generated in this
corner of Europe, or whether it was brought thence from Asia,
or yet whether perhaps it was an endemic disease, as the plague
of man is in Turkey and Egypt, I am unable to decide with so
much certainty. I content myself in remarking upon the com-
mencement of this epizooty in the year 1709, in the above-men-
tioned neighbourhoods. Although the accounts written at the
time, and from these places, were very sparing, especially as to
the numbers of those attacked by this disease, yet it seems that it
appeared first in Astrakan, on the banks of the Don, or Tanais,
and the Volga; from thence it spread to Kazan, in Lesser
Tartary, and even to Moscow, when it caused great ravages in
these governments among the horned and horse stock, but prin-
cipally the former. From the symptoms of the disease itself, one
learns at the time nothing, except that from the very first attack
it was highly contagious; that it affected large numbers of cattle,
and that very suddenly, killing them almost at once; and that
it spread itself quickly in many neighbourhoods. So well marked
were its characteristics, that its progress was easily noted. It
extended itself steadily, but uniformly, over many kingdoms
and lands during many years, even notwithstanding the best care
and tending, until at last in later times, and in enlightened
countries, attention was directed to the study of its nature
and symptoms.' ^

A.D. 1 7 10. The weather was generally fine and apparently
healthy. Dr Short, however, says that in October and November
great floods prevailed, that the winds were very variable, but
mostly south, and that 'the air was foggy, thick, moist, vapid,
often stagnant, long without sun, and very unhealthy in Carniola
and Au<rsburo;.' ^ Sweatinti; sickness in man at Copenhasicn and
in Sweden, and pestilence in Lithuania. Eartli(|uake at Stettin.

1 Kanold. Jahreshistoric, p. 17. ^ Dr Short. Op. cit.

I»2

Histojy of Aniinal Plagues.

Russia was ravaged by the Tartars. Swarms of locusts in the
Ukraine^ Podolia^ Kiev^ Pioly, Kaininietz, Buczinow, GalHcia,
Wallachia, and Hungary.^ They also appeared in Saxony, in
August. In Transylvania, animals suffered equally with man
from plague. ' Dogs especially were driven to madness -, they
made a noise with their mouths, and were gasping with the heat
like owls. They were marked on the body with carbuncles. On
the pigs which succumbed to this disease, huge tumours and hard
scabs of a carbuncular nature were observed behind their ears.
Swarms of locusts intercepted the rays of the sun, so that a bird
could scarcely fly horizontally. There was, also, so large a mass
of worms, caterpillars, toads, and such like things, that all food
in the shape of vegetables was unpleasant and injurious to man.'^
The contagious typhus of cattle (Cattle Plague) was spreading
onwards in Russia, in the governments of Riazan, Worotin, and
Moscow. In the autumn it had got as far into the Ukraine as
Kiev and Tcherkasi, and was extending in Volhynia, Podolia,
and Transylvania. Cattle, above all other animals, suffered from
it, but also often enough the horses.^ This is undoubtedly a
similar mistake to that made by some zealous but imperfectly
informed people, when the same disease appeared among cattle
in England in 1865. Horses and other solipeds — indeed, all
animals except ruminants, are exempted from it. Kanold, the
author of this statement, imagined the disease was caused by
the locusts.

A.D. 171 1. Swarms of locusts in Southern Russia and in the
kingdom of Naples. Disease in birds and fishes.* Towards the
end of the year a deadly epizooty appeared among horses in
Naples. It continued until the following year, in which it will
be more fully noticed.

The contagious typhus of cattle spread this year from Russia,
by way of Poland, into Prussia, Brandenburg, and Silesia; from
Hungary into Austria, Bavaria, and Suabia ; from Dalmatia
into Italy ; and from Russia into Moldavia and Wallachia. It

1 Kanold. Op. cit., p. 27. - Loigk. Hist. Pest., p. 359.

•^ Kanold. Jahresliistorie, p. 25.

•* Ibid. Histor. Relationen von der Pestilentz des Hornviehs. Breslau, I7I4>
P- 43-

History of Annual P /agues. 133

found its way through the governments of Moscow, Riazan,
VVorotin, Ukraine, PodoUa, and X'olhynia; and from these coun-
tries travelled into the provinces of Polesia, Lithuania, Sendoniir,
Lul^lin, Cracow, Siradin, Kahsch, Posen, Masovie, and entered
Prussia, where, in the month of October, it hatl got as far as the
neighbourhood of Konigsberg; on the other side, it penetrated
from Poland into Silesia, from whence it became diffused in the
vicinity of Bojanowa, Medzibor, Ohlau, Brieg, and Breslau.
It only spread by contagion, and Kanold says that whatever
course it pursued, ' notwithstanding the lateness of the season,
they who had two or three herds of stock upon their lands could
scarce keep a single animal, and large numbers of cattle were
found lying dead upon the roads.' ^

From Hungary it was carried into Carinthia, Styria, Austria,
and as far as Augsburg in Bavaria. Gerbezius, writing on the
28th of December from Lavbach to Augsburg, says : ' Animals
also continued to die. It is certain that so many showers, ac-
companied with rust (blight), had made the pastures very un-
healthy ; and yet it is more probable that the continuation of
the mortality is rather to be attributed to the spreading of
the contagion which was brought among them, than to the
imhealthy pastures.^ ^ And writing on the 12th of January,
1712, to Fabaeus at Vienna, lie adds, 'You make mention
of that disease by which nearly all the oxen, cows, and calves
have been killed about you ; know, then, that there has been
a like mortality among the same animals with us, except that
hitherto it has not extended so far, but has remained on each
side of the Rcn'al road {regia via), along which Hungarian
cattle are driven from Styria into Italy ; on that tract nearly
all have perished ; and as with you, no trustworthy remedy can
be found which will prove satisfactory. Every one agrees that the
cause of this disease arises from infected cattle being driven from
Hungary into Italy; but whence it was originally derived there are
many differences of opinion. But if we take into consideration tiie
warm and rainy character of the end of last summer, and the \\ hole
of the autumn, we may easily perceive that the infection was

' A'aitold. Jahrusliistorie, \>. 33.
- Ephem. Nat. Curios. Appendix, p. 36.

184 History of Animal Plagues.

derived from the corrupt state of the pasture lands from the ex-
cessive rains ; and besides this, to the putridity occasioned by
the numbers of dead locusts and cicadas that were about at the
end of the summer and beginning of the autumn of 17 10.
They say that the State of Carniola avoided the plague through
prohibiting, by public edicts, the admission of pigs from Croatia,
because there might have been mixed with the acorns they ate
in the oak forests thereabouts, some of the locusts which com-
pletely covered the ground around Sagratia, and the vicinity of
Hungary and Croatia. It was also remarked with us that dogs,
and some say crows, which fed on the diseased flesh, immediately
died.'i

According to Schroeckius, it manifested itself at Augsburg
towards the end of the summer of 171 1. 'About the end of
the summer and throughout the autumn, that plague which had
been so destructive to the bovine race in Germany and Italy,
after it had proceeded by degrees from Hungary towards the
Danube, attacked our territory and produced great destruction
to beasts, sometimes destroying whole herds amongst us, and in
many neighbouring places. And this was not caused by any
foulness in the atmosphere, but by the contagion of oxen
brought from the infected countries ; and this was patent,
because it first attacked those pastures adjoining the foreigners,
and altogether spared those cattle to which no infected animals
had approached, and which had been immediately separated from
any in the same herd that were infected.'^ He termed it a
' malignant dysentery.^ ' The saliva that the diseased beasts drop-
ped in the pastures infected them, and thus communicated the
malady to those cattle which afterwards grazed thereon. It ap-
peared certain that this acrid matter passed by way of the mouth,
oesophagus, the stomachs, and the bowels, and, in infecting these,
caused an irritation which was soon communicated to the nerves,
from whence arose the spasmodic movements. The constriction
of the vessels which followed, induced congestions and inflamma-
tions, and converted the whole body into a corrupt mass. In

1 Gerbczii. Chronologia Medico-practica. Frankfort, 1 7 13, p. 203.

^ Schroeckii. Constitutio Epidemica, Ephem. Nat. Curios. Appendix, p. 23.

History of Aiiwial Plagues. i8

D

some the tono-ue was inflamed and covered with red vesicles :
the excretions were sanguinolent, as in malignant dysentery. The
principal symptom of the disease, at the commencement, was a
difficulty in breathing and a higher temperature than in health.
The intestines, near the liver, were found after death covered with
bile, and the stomachs inflamed.^ Schroeckius designated it a
malignant dysentery — a name which gave it a widely different
signification from those given it by other writers of the period.
This diversity of opinions, says Paulet, on the denomination of
a disease, proves how difficult it is to characterize it sufficiently.
The disease spread from Russia and from Hungary, into Mol-
davia, Wallachia, Sclavonia, Istria, and Dalmatia.^ As has been
already noticed, this fearfully contagious malady was conveyed
from Hungary into Friuli, in Italy ; but its history is best told
when the infection had been introduced into the province of
Padua. On the 27th of August, 17 11, a drove of infected
cattle from Hungary, sent through the agency of Dalmatian
merchants, and which had been disembarked at Venice, passed
through the village of Sermeola, about two leagues distant from
l^adua; and one of these beasts, straying from the others, was
taken to a farm named Pampagnini, belonging to the brothers
Borromeo, where it was put into one of the cow-houses. In
about eight days the whole of the cattle on this farm became ill,
and soon all died, with the exception of one, which had been
treated by a seton in the neck. The disease soon spread into the
neighbouring districts, and it was believed, and the public records
sanctioned this belief, that this Hungarian ox had conveyed the
germs of the pestilence.^ Though Lancisi mentions this fact,
and although it has been recognized by many authors^as the only
source of the epizooty in the whole of Italy, yet a comparison
of the preceding observations will show that it had many other
sources. Already, in this year, it had cruelly devastated the whole
of the Venetian territory, had scourged Mantua, Brescia, Pavia,
Voghera, Tortona, Alessandria, Parma, and Genoa, and had even
reached Switzerland and the kingdom of Naples. Nevertheless,

^ Kanold. Op. cit., pp. 51—53.

2 Epistola de Padre Borromeo, Teatino, scritta ad un suo amico {Laueisi).
Rome, 15th Dec. 1711. Naples, 1712.

1 86 History of Animal Plagiies.

there can be no doubt as to the correctness of the opinion which
attached suspicion to the Hungarian cattle. For many centuries,
the herds of Venice and Lombardy have suffered from invasions
of the Cattle Plao-ue, throu2;h the commerce in foreign cattle
across the Adriatic, as this history testifies. Dalmatian cattle-
dealers are frequently mentioned in connection with the advent
of this scourge — these men being engaged in carrying oxen
to Italy from a country which, from the earliest times, has
borne the unenviable reputation of harbouring the contagion.
And to this source may we not ascribe the many outbreaks
of ovine v^ariola which have decimated the flocks of Venice and
Lombardy ?

Many excellent authorities testify to the progressive inroad
of this most remarkable and deadly epizooty, and there was
no lack of close observers; but of all these, the best were, perhaps,
Lancisi and Ramazzini — two physicians who gave the malady
their utmost attention. Ramazzini, who gives the most classical
description, describes it as follows: 'It is evident that this disease,
which has created such dreadful havoc among the whole bovine
race, from its cold shiverings, followed by excessive heat through-
out the whole body, is a malignant and deadly fever, as its accom-
panying symptoms testify. In the first place, there is intense
anguish, heavy breathing and continued snorting (or groaning)
accompanied by fever, stupor, and slothfulness or weariness; a
continued running of ill-odoured matter from the mouth and
nostrils is observed, and most foetid excrement, sometimes mixed
with blood, is passed ; there is loss of appetite, and chewing the
cud (rumination) ceases. On the fifth and sixth days, pustules
break out over the whole body, and tubercles of a variolous cha-
racter. On the fifth or seventh day, death ensues, which very few
escape, and those more by chance than from the effects of reme-
dies. We may reasonably suppose that the miserable oxen suffer
much internal pain, when they lie groaning, or while they stand
motionless with heads cast down towards the ground ; but from
dumb animals, who can make no signs, it is impossible to say for
certain what is the ailment in their case, and therefore remedies
are difficult to find. In the carcases of as many oxen as were
dissected by the eminent professors Molinetto and Viscardo, it

History of Animal Plagues. 187

was noticed in all, strange to say, that the omasum was hard and
compact, and the leaves closely adherent; while all were of threat
size and emitted a horrid stench. In other parts, such as the
brain and lungs, hydatids were found, enclosed in huge bladders
as if full of wind; these, when dissected, exhaled a noxious efiki-
vium. The tongue was covered with ulcers towards the root,
and full of little vesicles on its sides. I know for certain, that
that portion of the body which was observed in the abdomen (the
stomach) to be hard and compact like stone, was primarily pro-
duced by a contagious miasma, which, while pursuing its own
course of destruction, weakened and corrupted the gastric juice
[illud veto corpus durum et compactum ad instar calcis quod in
omaso ohservatur, pr'imuui productum esse co/itagiosi miasmatis
pro certo habeo, dum tacite sa'vit'unn suam exereens, stomuch'icum
fermentum hihefuctut et corrumpit .) ... It might reasonably be
expected that mankind would be left uninjured ; for if, in the
space of three months, the plague had attacked no other ru-
minating and horned animal, or in any way injured horses, pigs,
or wild creatures, there is no reason why it should affect men,
who are so different from these creatures.^ ^

Ramazzini and other physicians were of opinion that the
disease was similar to, or identical with, small-pox in man ; and
this opinion was discussed and controverted in a circular issued
by the Philosophical College of Padua, on the 28th of October,
17TI,

This bulletin goes on to say : ' We have seen the effects of
the disease to be most frequently in the viscera already de-
scribed ; that is to say, in the first ventricle or omasum {prituo
ventricolo, delta Omaso: this is an error, as the "omasum '' is the
third compartment of the ox's stomach), where one sees dryness,
hardness, and contraction towards the middle, with a collection
of alimentary substances rendered hard and stony; the second
ventricle {secondo ventricolo) is found extremely full of food

{escrementi),\\'\X.\\ an abundance of fetid gas The following

organic changes are found in the viscera, with few exceptions :
we see the lungs evidently inffamed, as well as the neighbouring

^ Rainazzi)ii. Diss, dc Contagiosa Epidcmia qua: in Pataviiio agio in liovcs
irrepsit. Geneva, ijn..

1 88 History of Animal Plagues.

parts; but at other times only the bronchial glands, tonsils,
and adjoining textures, as well as the muscles of the oesophagus
and larynx; the morbid appearances often extending to the
tongue in a o;reat number of cattle as a deep and somewhat
transverse fissure, sometimes involving the whole organ; these
fissures, as the disease progresses, become foul callous ulcers.
Besides these various morbid characteristics, other rare (or incon-
stant) appearances are observed, such as suppurating tumours
showing themselves in the glands of the throat, and abscesses
in the lungs and liver; at other times, a number of small tumours
arise upon the skin covering the body, which neither suppurate
nor change colour, but slowly disappear or remain until the death
of the animal. From this last and rare circumstance, it has been
the opinion of some that this affection should be universally
designated '^ variola bovina ; " to which disease, however, many
high authorities thought oxen were not liable. But yet, if this
be the case, as might be suspected, how is it that, in so general a
disease as this variola is, so small a number exhibit the morbid
eruption on the skin ? Nor does variola usually make such great
slaughter of the sick, nor yet is it so general or so rapid in its
course. Besides, in what other cutaneous affection was so rarely
seen a simple elevation of the skin, except in the human morbilli ?
or some hard and badly suppurating tumours unequally raised on
one or more parts of the body ? ^^ The writer who drew up this
report was Marco Novara, professor of practical medicine at
Patavia.

In this year, or the preceding, the small-pox of sheep is sup-
posed to have appeared in England for the first time, — though
erroneously, if the student will refer to the year 1277. ^''
Fuller, in his work on Eruptive Fevers, says : ' There was,
about the year 17 10 or 171 1, upon the South Downs in Sussex,
a certain fever raging epidemically among the sheep which the
shepherds called the small-pox ; and truly, in most things, it nearly
resembled it. It began with a burning heat and unquenchable
thirst; it broke out in fiery pustules all the body over. These

' Bottani. Op. cit., vol. vi. p. 98. Dr Michelotti, who was in the Venetian
territories in October, 171 1, gives an excellent description of the malady ; a trans-
lation will be found in the Philosophical Transactions, No. 365, p. 83.

History of Animal Plagues. 189

pustules maturated, and, if death happened not first, dried up
into seabs about the twelfth day.

' It could not be cured, no, nor in the least mitigated, by phle-
botomy, drinks, or any medicines or methods they could invent
or hear of. It was exceedingly contagious and mortal, for when
it came it swept away almost whole flocks; but yet it could in
nowise be accounted the same with our human small-pox, be-
cause it never afllected mankind.' ^

A.D. 1712. Winter cloudy; much snow. Summer damp.
Inundations in various countries. Earthquakes, and a <>reat
eruption of Vesuvius, lasting from February until July.
Epidemic miliary or sweating pestilence at Miimpelgart, and
catarrhal fever or influenza in various places. In Hungary many,
insects and venomous reptiles. ' In the months of June anc|
July there was intense heat, accompanied by swarms of insects]
snakes, and reptiles, which especially attacked the country people.
The whole of the body of one who had been bitten was inmie-
diately impregnated with a poison of a sulphureo-saline nature,
and swelled throughout, beginning with the tongue, and to such
a degree that articulation was impossible. There was also acute
head-ache. Cattle, too, were attacked by them, and great mor-

' Thomas Fuller, M.D. Exanthematologia, or an Account of Eruptive Fe-
vers, especially the Measles and Small-pox. London, 1730. A Mr Hall, who
lived about the middle of the last century, and who published a work on agriculture
{The Gentleman Farmer), mentions a disease somewhat analogous to sheep small-
pox ; but as unfortunately I am not now in a position to be able to refer to the
book, I will quote what Dr Paulet says in his Treatise on Epizootics, published in
1775, when speaking of what he terms the 'crystalline disease' of sheep : 'We
ought to distinguish clearly between the hydatids which accompany the rot and a
crystalline eruption to which sheep are liable, particularly in England. It begins
at first, according to Mr Hall (seeZf Gentilhotnme Cultivateur, tome x. chap.-xxxi. ), by
an inflammation of the skin around the chest and the belly, from whence it extends
to the other parts. This inflammation is always accompanied by blisters {cloches)
which contain an acrid blood-coloured fluid. The disease is very contagious ; and
if the affected sheep are not sejiarated from the healthy ones, the whole flock nms
the risk of being infected. This is, perhaps, the disease which the ancients termed
piisiila. It is necessary to change the water and the pasture. The best means of
treating it consists in taking two drachms of sulphur, half an ounce of honey mixed
up in half a pint of nettle-juice, and giving this to tlie sick sheep every day for two
weeks. The blisters must be opened in order to allow the humour to escape, and
the wounds washed with the juice of wormwood. The fourtli day, the sheep must
be bled.' Vol. ii. p. 287.

iQo History of Animal Plagues.

tality ensued. Many of the men to whom remedies were not
immediately appHed on the first day, died from the poison. It
was worthy of remari<, that at certain hours the water was foetid
and red, and after some days regained its limpid character.
When chemically examined, a kind of red earth was found in
the water, mixed with nitrous particles, but the stench was
attributed to a bituminous viscid matter.^ ^

Anthrax also appeared in Hungary, and an epizooty of
rabies amongst the deer tribe. ' August being excessively wet,
the mortality among cattle increased, and they were seized with
a white pustular eruption {pustidis alhlcantihus), attended with
difficulty of breathing. When the pustules were opened, a
purulent matter with a noxious exhalation was discharged,
as well as an intolerable stench from the mouth. The animals
groaned loudly from the intense pain. Wild beasts of all kinds
perished in large numbers at Somogy; and in the woods the
country people found dogs which had been driven there by
madness after feeding on these beasts ; and men bitten by them
were quickly seized with frenzy and hydrophobia, imitating the
barking and the madness of dogs, and attacking those near
by biting at them. Some even contracted the madness while
trving the remedy of washing the mouths of the beasts with
vinegar and salt.' ^

In Lower Hungarv, there was an extraordinarv mortality
amongst the wild hogs. They died in such great numbers, and
their jnitrefving bodies were such a nuisance, that an order was
issued for their interment.^

An epizooty of anthrax in France;* also in the neighbour-
hood of Augsburg, which was imagined to be derived from Hun-
gary. Schroeckius writes: ' The grievous plague must not be over-
looked, which seized and killed many horses, mostly without the
city, and afterwards did not spare the oxen, pigs, geese, fowls, or
even the wild beasts, while it lasted up to July. Hard tumours ap-
peared on the breast and groin, and other places, and they so
quickly spread themselves in all directions, that in a short space
of time death ensued. It seems to me that this arose from the

^ Gensellii. Constit. Epid. Infer. Hungariae. Eph. Nat. Curios., App. p. 4.
2 Ibid. p. 4. 3 XanolJ. Op. cit., p. 104. * FauUt. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 93.

History of Animal Plagues. 191

stings of hornets, which were observed in incredible numbers
and of unwonted size. It is not very wonderful, then, that,
as the dead bodies of the oxen that had died the previous vear
were nowhere buried sufficiently deep, and had become putrid and
fit food for these insects, thev should in this way have gener-
ated and increased the virulcncv of the poisoned humours. Thus
these poisonous atoms in the humours of animals stung by them,
multiplied themselves, and were then able to infect other animals.
As an example of this, there was a horse belonging to a baron
kept in a stable in the vicinity of some animals that had died of
this malady, and were not buried sufficiently deep, so that one
foot protruded through the ground. This was cut off with an
axe by a servant, and while he was doing so some matter flew up
into his eve. This soon caused swelling and inflammation,
which quickly spread to the other eye and over the whole head,
and as the poor man was without medical aid, he shortly died.^ ^
With regard to the French epizooty, M. Herment states :
^ In many provinces, it is observed that the horses and cattle are
attacked by a kind of farcied tumour, about the size of a nut,
which appears about the flanks and gradually increases, com-
municating with the scrotum, which becomes prodigiously swoll-
en. The vessels in the neighbourhood are so engorged, that they
become like cords. The tumour is hard, black, and docs not
contain pus, resembling in this respect the anthracoid swellings
which often manifest themselves in man during the progress of

' Schrocckii. Constit. Epid. Eph. Nat. Curios., App. 27. Trofessor Gamgee,
in his Treatise on the Diseases of the Domestic Animals, gives us a perhaps more
striking illustration than this of Schroeckius, of the potency of the carbuncular poison.
He says : ' I have seen various forms of anthrax in the marshy plains of the Papal
.States during the summer months, especially in July, August, and September. The
activity of the developed poison was very great, and one instance more particularly
struck me. One of the fine white bullocks of the Roman States was conveyed in
a cart to the slaughter-house at Ferrara, in the month of August, 1854. Professor
MafTei condemned the animal as being affected with carbuncular fever. The animal
was buried ; but a jobber determined to sell the flesh, and during the night disin-
terred the carcase. He removed the meat in bags to a hiding-place, and ni doing
so carried the bags over his shoulders. He had throvvn off his jacket and set to
work in his shirt. Next morning, a diffuse erysipelatous inflammation .set up over
the back, notwithstanding that no abrasion of the skin could be detected, and the
juice of the flesh had had to permeate through the bags and shirt. In three days
the man was a corpse.' P. 283.

192 History of Animal Plagiies.

contagious diseases. When this tumour, which the peasants
call charhon, shows itself" on the breast or about the head, the
animals die so quickly, that there is scarcely time to aid them.
When the swelling is accompanied by considerable fever and
beating of the flanks, it is necessary to begin the treatment by
bleeding, and soon afterwards by opening the tumour, wherever
it may be, by incisions in the form of a St Andrew^s cross, wash-
ino" the wound with salt water or with brandy,' &c.^

In Lower Hungary, an epizooty of small-pox in sheep, de-
scribed by Adam Gensel, destroyed whole flocks.

A severe epizooty among horses manifested itself over nearly
the whole of Europe, frequently in different places appearing at
the same time as the so-called contagious typhus of cattle;
at other times, and in other localities, breaking out before or
after that disease. ThiS affection among horses prevailed in
Russia, Lithuania, Podolia, Volhynia, Prussia, Pomerania,
Brandenburg, Moldavia, and Wallachia.''' At the same time it
raged over nearly the whole of Germany, in Belgium, the north
of France, and in Italy, — especially, it would appear, in the
environs of Naples and Rome. Army horses suffered very
much. Kanold describes it as it appeared in Germany: 'But
I must not here forget to mention that in many countries and
neighbourhoods cattle were not the only animals aflTected : prin-
cipally, and in some instances alone, horses were attacked and
died in large numbers; for the same sickness could be traced
from July, and sometimes even from May, till the winter, in
Pomerania, in Brandenburg, in Saxony, in Franconia, Suabia,
Mecklenburg, Hanover, Holstein, but especially in Trittow,
Rheinbeck, and Eutin ; so that often, in many villages, two or
three horses alone escaped. In Brandenburg and Mecklenburg
it attained its greatest severity in July and August, but after
October it began to decline. Further, it ravaged the v^arious
neighbourhoods of the Upper Rhine, in Alsace, the horses in
both armies, and especially Landau, Germershcim, Philipsburg,
and elsewhere. Also on the Lower Rhine, particularly in the

1 M. Herment. Remedes pour Preserver et Guerir les Chevaux et les Bestiaux.
Geneva, 1716.

- Kanold. Jahreshistorie, p. 94.

History of Animal Plagues. 193

Cologne district, where no less than in Luxemburg, in Brabant,
and Artois, in the armies a troop could scarcely muster a dozen
effective horses. Also in Picardy, and other places on the borders
of France and Germanv^, it did much damage; and it caused
a great mortality among the horses in Lithuania, Poland, Prussia,
Hungary, Moldavia, Wallachia, and far into the interior of
Turkey/ ^

Lancisi describes it as it appeared at Rome: 'A disease of
this kind sprung up amongst us at the commencement of the
month of March. There had been a most grievous mortality
among the herds of oxen at Padua, and afterwards among the
horses in the stables at Naples, especially in the months of
January and February; so much so, that out of every ten
horses seized by the plague at Rome, scarcely one survived. At
the end of June of the same year, 171 2, by the grace of God,
the epidemic among the horses at Rome ceased, the contagion
being checked within the city and its environs. Judsrincr from
those which had been attacked, it was clearly evident that the
epidemic was of two kinds — both of which, however, arose from
the same ill disposition of the blood ; in the one case the circula-
tion being too languid, and in the other too rapid. The too
rapid circulation differed in no way from an acute fever, which
at first produced cold shiverings over the whole body, accom-
panied by loss of appetite and constipation, and, as a consequence,
colic severely affected them. At length inflammation set in,
especially of the whole intestines — omcntimi, bowels, and
stomach. This was found to be the case on post-mortem examin-
ations of some of the bodies. This kind of disease, although
the least frequent, was more severe and fatal than the other, for
it quickly polluted the whole body as if by contagion, and in
two days the animals died.

'But the second kind, which was less grievous in its results,
oppressed us most heavily, so that it might with justice be called
the epidemic. The horse at first refuses food and drink, hangs
its head low and averted, while the eyes are dull and seemingly
vacant. The jaws are not closed, but are observed to be pro-
truded and more rigid than usual to the very top of the wind-

^ Kanold. Jahrcshistoric, pp. 94, 119.
13

194 Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

pipe, though without any symptom of pain. In this condition,
if any one continues to exhaust or fatigue a horse whose health
is impaired by neglect, as is sometimes the case, the disease
immediately increases. Acute fever and anguish ensue, there is
a discharge from the nostrils, and the throat soon begins to swell.
Others become sluggish and thrust out their tongues, which are
coloured with a yellowish tint; then there arises shivering and
convulsions of the body and staring of the coat, retention of
urine, and cold sweats ; those so affected for the most part die.
On the other hand, those recover, when, from their mouths and
nostrils there is a more copious discharge, and who give vent to
a large flow of ill-odoured urine, or who have swellings on the

limbs or joints As regards the origin of the disease, all

are agreed that the internal and chief cause of the epidemic was
the fact of the blood abounding in over-stimulating or lymphatic
particles ; for on the surface of the blood taken from the veins,
a portion became of a whitish-yellow colour, and of the nature of
lard. Besides this, there was the mucus discharge from the nos-
trils, both by natural and artificial means, and which marked the
disease. Lastly, dissection of the dead bodies showed hard sub-
stances of a polypoid nature in the heart and about the pericar-
dium, and even in the windpipe and oesophagus, which most
clearly indicated that lymph itself, which usually has the power
of adding solidity to the textures, makes the disease more intense
than the variety of the parts affected would warrant us in sup-
posing. We attribute the external cause of this calamity to the
impurity of the atmosphere, thinking, as we do, that in this year
the air was full of noxious liquid particles which adhered to the
bodies of the horses ; and we are led to this opinion because the
plague attacked the whole equine race without distinction, and
in so large a city there must have been a great dissimilarity in
the food and water; moreover, nothing could be found to check
jthe epidemic. As regards contagion, all are of opinion, and
rightly so, that the disease was not carried in the breath or ex-
halations; for, generally speaking, it was not those in neighbour-
ing stables to the infected that were attacked. ■* ^

' Lancisii. De Equorum Epidemia, quae Romee Grassata est vere. Rome, 17 15.

History of Animal Plagues. 195

The treatment consisted in bleeding, but only in the feverish
or hot stage, because in the cold one it was found to be hurtful.
In the latter stage, treacle and cordials were given, and jrruel of
barley or bran, with sal-ammoniac dissolved therein. The liver of
antimony, and those drugs which induced salivation, were the
favourite medicines. Emollient enemas were much lauded.
Vesicants were not much used, but setons were thouo;;ht to be
beneficial. Frictions with the hands, often and lonjr-continued,
were deemed of most service. If the disease extended to the
articulations, it formed swellings, which condition Lancisi, follow-
ing Vegetius, denominated the vialis arthrhlca, as he fancied it
to be the same disease as the malis of the Greeks. This exten-
sion, or transference, of the malady to the limbs, he indicates as a
favourable symptom. The disease, with careful treatment, was
not a fatal one; indeed, this author says that all the horses
might have been saved.

Though in one part of his treatise he thinks it was not a
contagious disease, yet in another he believes that the saliva of
an affected horse might communicate it to a healthy one. The
Italian hippiatrists termed it the 'epidemic fever of horses,' but
we have no difficulty, I think, in distinguishing an epizooty of
the protean equine disease, ' influenza.' The way in which they
induced salivation was to fix a bit in the horse's mouth around
which was wrapped in linen a quantity of assa-fcetida, and a
like quantity of laurel-leaves, all mixed up with vinegar.

Kanold, strangely confounding many diseases with the con-
tagious tvphus of cattle, and believing that it might be com-
municated to horses, is yet strongly of opinion that at least in
Holstein, Alsace, Artois, and other places, the horse disease was
not contagious, that it could not be transmitted to cattle, and
that it was not propagated like the virulent malady of these ani-
mals, but that it ceased suddenly in the winter of 1712-13.^

The Cattle Plague, in the mean time, still raged in Russia, Po-
land, Silesia, and Turkey, attacking one place after another in
those countries it had missed in the preceding year." In Silesia
alone, Kanold computed that 100,000 head of cattle had per-

' Kanold. Op. cit., p. 124. - Ibid. Jalucshistoiic, p. 124.

196 History of Animal Plagues.

ished.^ It spread into Moravia, Austria, Styria, and the Tyrol, and
it even invaded Switzerland.^ In Italy its ravages were dread-
fully severe. 'At the end of the preceding year, a ruinous mor-
tality among cattle had penetrated from Hungary into Italy : —
a scourge which all who witnessed it thought the most disastrous
event that had ever befallen mankind. This year it spread
itself widely in the State of Milan — to wit, Verona, Brescia,
and Mantua — causino; a horrid slaughter of these essential animals.
The same happened in the kingdom of Naples and in the States
of the Church, in which immense damage was inflicted during
the month of September. In that month, it has been estimated
that 70,000 head of oxen and cows perished ; and in Cremona
alone, there died more than 40,000. The pestilence made terrible
havoc in this vicinity.'^ In Germany it was still spreading, and
having penetrated Saxony the year before, it now diffused its
subtle poison in Thuringia, spread wider and wider in Bavaria
and Saxony, and at last wandered into Franconia, where it
harassed the districts of Anspach, Neubourg, Bamberg, and
Wurzburg, as far as Fulda.*

A.D. 1713. In Hungary, the year was wet. Many swarms of
mice appeared in that country, in France, and in Saxony, where
the weather was excessively dry. Insects destroyed the vines.
In Russia, Poland, and Italy, multitudes of grasshoppers.
Small-pox in man at Constantinople, where inoculation was
practised. An epidemy (the plague) was very fatal in Austria.

Altogether the year was a very unpropitious one for animal
life. At Basle, the fowls and geese and the deer tribe died in
great numbers. Hares, wolves, and foxes were also found dead
in large quantities. In Poland, the mortality was very great
among moorfowl ; and in Silesia and Alsace, deer suffered much.
In Hungary, hares, foxes, and wild hogs perished from a disease
resembling, or identical with, rot in sheep. ^ In the country of

1 Kanold. Histor. Relationen, chap. ii.

2 Walzer. Appenzeller. Chronik. p. 715.

^ Miiratori. Annali d'ltalia, vol. xvi. p. 412.

* Nottelmann. Vorstellung was die jetzt herumvagirende Seuche sei. Niim-
berg, 1713. Romeisens. Untersuchung der jetzt wuthenden Viehseuche. Wurz-
burg, 1 7 13.

^ Kanold. Jahreshistorie, p. 184.

History of Animal Plagues. 197

Kaskow, Hungary, an epizooty raged among cats durino- the
spring, and so deadly was it, that in many villages not one of
these creatures remained alive, and the peasantry complained
very much of the mischief done by the increasing swarms of mice,
in consequence of their destroyers dying.^

Sheep, of all other kinds of animals, perhaps perished in
largest numbers. In some places where this happened, the disease,
from some accounts, was rot, and from others it was supposed
to be small-pox. In the upper part of the kingdom of Naples the
malady was so severe, that in a short time 50,000 sheep and pitjs
perished — showing, too, that the porcine tribe was affected. The
disastrous epizooty also visited the sheep and goats in Poland,
Prussia, Silesia (where on six farms alone there succumbed 1470
animals), and appeared in Saxony, Franconia, Bavaria, Suabia,
Austria, Hungary, France, and Holland. Kanold describes it
as follows : — ' The sheep began to tremble, and became so weak
that they immediately lay down, and seldom got up asrain. Yet
usually they continued to eat, sometimes with avidity, but still
they did not recover their strength. They convulsively jerked the
head and neck upwards, which was generallya verydano-crous si<Tn.
The ewes in lamb aborted, and those which reached the full time
of gestation had flaccid udders and were deficient in milk, and-
the lambs were very weak. The wool, which previously was of a
fine white, became of a blackish colour, as if it had been strewed
over with black dust. The symptoms generally continued until
the fourth day, and sometimes even to the eighth day, when they
died. On examining the bodies after death, much external
dropsy was observed, and this often occurred in the internal
cavities ; the abdominal viscera were frequently found inflamed,
the gall-bladder was in some large, in others small ; the lungs
and liver were, generally speaking, diseased, and in the majority
of cases gangrenous; the heart was flaccid and wasted. I have
been positively assured that the disease was so contagious, that
the shepherds have carried the infection in their clothes from the
unhealthy to the healthy.' ^

He adds, that though contagious, it was not nearly so much

1 Loigk. liistor. Pcstis, v. 437. ^ Kanold. i\\ cil., 175.

198 History of Animal Plagues.

%o, nor yet so prevalent^ as the Cattle Plague; in fact, he cHngs to
the opinion that the disease was not the same as that then affect-
ing the bovine species, nor was it caused by that malady. Some
believed that this complaint in sheep was induced by the mice,
but Kanold says : ' In the mean while, it appears that the above
visitation of mice was not the real cause of the disease in sheep;
but that both were brought about by the unusual sultriness
and humidity of the weather/^ There can scarcely be a doubt,
however, that this great mortality amongst the sheep and goats
really originated from contact with the diseased cattle, and was
produced by the same contagion.

According to Wirth, the epizootic contagious pleuro-pneu-
monia of cattle was present in Switzerland. He says, ' Certain it
is, that it (pleuro-pneumonia) manifested itself in the years 17T3
and 1 7 14 in Suabia, and also in several cantons of Switzerland.' ^

The Cattle Plague continued its ravages in all the countries
named in the preceding year. In Russia, it had enlarged its
boundaries, and attacked the governments of Novgorod, Plaskow,
Petersburg, and Ingermanland. In Germany, it was reported
in Bresgau, Wiirtemburg, Baden, the valley of the Rhine, Pfalz,
and Alsace. It was still spreading in Switzerland, but in Hol-
land its violence was excessive, and it was said that there alone,
from 1 7 13 to 1723, it had destroyed 200,000 cattle. In Italy it
was steadily marching on, and causing sad havoc in every place,
with the exception of Piedmont. In the kingdom of Naples, in
Calabria, and in the Romagna, its advances were causing the ut-
most apprehension and fear. The learned doctor and physician
to Pope Clement XL, Giovanni Lancisi, was sent to investigate
the nature, and prescribe measures for the suppression, of the
murderous pest raging amongst the herds of the Romagna. To
the ability displayed by this man, while obeying his instructions, we
are much indebted for an accurate description of the symptoms
and post-mortem appearances of the malady, as manifested in that
part of the Roman dominions. His report is as follows : ^ In the
middle of the summer of 17 13, there was a rumour at Rome that

1 Kanold. Op. cit.

2 Lelirbuch der Seuchen unci ansteckenden Krankheiten der Hausthiere. Zu-
rich, 1846, p. 298.

History of Anivial Plagues.

99

a large number of infected oxen, from the districts on the Medi-
terranean, were being driven from the market of Frusino to us;
wherefore it was wisely decreed that no markets should be held,
nc^r any cattle admitted into the place. But merchants intro-
duced oxen into the city secretly by by-ways, because their hopes
of selling them publicly had been frustrated; and these being
driven about in all directions, and becoming mixed with our
hitherto healthy stock, spread abroad the disease. For when any
foreign merchants had doubtful or suspicious cattle thcv could
not sell in their own country, they brought them to Rome surrep-
titiously, and sold them for less than the usual price. But the
butchers of the city, who had not yet discovered the deceit prac-
tised upon them, were led to buv these animals at a reasonable
rate, and in this way were immediately disseminated the germs

of the hidden contagion Every fact clearly shows that

the cause of the plague is some exceedingly fine and pernicious
particles [corporis particulas, quce siimmd qiiidem tenuitate, et
pernicitate prceditce) which pass from one body to another, by
contact, or by the means of fomites. It therefore resembles a
special virulent poison ; a few particles affecting the whole or-
ganism, and acting, in all likelihood, just as we see a ferment act
in bread or wine, a minute portion leavening the entire mass. .
'The first svmptoms of disease in some oxen we had under
observation were timidity, bellowing, snorting, and other indi-
cations of sudden fright or agitation, as if some poison had
affected their moh'tle spirits, causing spasms of their nervous
fibres, and producing convulsions externally and internally. We
also saw others, but a few only, which were naturally weak and
destitute of stamina, die suddenly, as if struck with a thunder-
bolt. In general, however, the first symptoms of the plague
were debility, sudden dulness, drooping of the head, tears flow-
ing from the heavy eyes, and mucus and saliva from the nostrils
and mouth. This was accompanied, in the mean while, by fever,
with shivering and staring of the coat, nausea, and an inclination
to lie down. There were always inflammations {phhgoscs),
pustules, hydatids, and ulcers on the tongue and mouth, accom-
panied by intense fever. In not a few there were scattered over
the skin watery tubercles, and the hair fell off. At lirst they

200 History of Animal Plagues.

suffered from excessive thirst, and drank greedily ; afterwards
they wholly abstained from food and water, and were unable to
bwallow or chew the cud. The want of sustenance caused death
to take place more quickly than would have been the case from
the nature of the disease. In the stomach lumbrici (worms)
were very often found, and the dejections were very fetid, of
various colours, and sometimes stained with bloody humours.
Nearly all the cattle, at the later stages, were foul-smelling; their
breathing was laborious and heavy ; not unfrequently there was
a cough, and within seven days they generally died. Those
which reached another day (but they were very few) usually
escaped, especially if the hair became rough and fell off; and if
they could not easily arise from a recumbent position, it was
usual to prevent their attempting to do so.

' It was proved by examination, that they continually suffered
from affections of the bowels. This appeared most evident on
three examinations which we held on the dead bodies of oxen,
that had died of the disease; for besides ulcers in the mouth,
fauces, oesophagus, stomach, and lungs, there were spots of a
colour varying from red to livid or gangrenous, nearly the same
in each animal; but the lesions in the intestines were not alike in
all. For in the first ox which had perished on the third day, we
found in the omasum {omaso) a hard mass of hay, and that ball
which Pliny calls the tophus of young heifers, produced by licking
off the hairs with their tongue and rapidly swallowing them,
when, by the peristaltic motion, they were rolled up, and the
saliva was obliged to pass through, as in a filter. The other
intestines were in a fair, healthy state. In the second, which
died on the sixth day, the liver, intestines, and lungs were com-
pletely mortified. In the third, the heart and brain were nearly
corrupt. ... And it is extremely wonderful that this deadly
poison, which had destroyed the bovine race with such havoc in
these years, was wholly innocuous to other animals. ... It is
also remarkable, that the seeds of the contagion were not only
carried by sick oxen, but were more frequently conveyed by shep-
herds and veterinary surgeons, who brought the infection to the
healthy ; and it was also transmitted by dogs and other animals
which had touched the diseased with their hair, winos, or

History of Animal Plagues. 201

feathers.-' ^ This philosophic and far-seeing patriot gives us such
a high opinion of his wisdom and truthfuhiess in his work on
this plague, that we must quote more largely from it, in order
that we may satisfy ourselves how advanced were his opinions,
and what the adoption of them by his disciples of a later age
would have saved our own country in a similar emergency. As to
its being an imported disease, he had no doubt whatever; Ille
fatalis, navi ex Hu/igarid advectiis bos. As quickly as possible,
when its presence was discovered, all traffic in cattle was to be pro-
hibited, and the law enforced w ith the utmost rigour in the case
oi those who moved cattle about. But the disease was still
raging; 'as a neglected spark at first, it had at length set Italy in
a blaze,^ and it was extending everywhere. Pope Clement, with
real paternal solicitude, awaited the result of Lancisi's inquiries,
and w hen the time came that the report was to be delivered, there
was an assembly of cardinals. Lancisi described the disease,
dwelt on its terrific character, and the hopelessness of medical
treatment, and then recommended wdiat he deemed the wisest
course. ' I advised that every diseased animal should be
killed ; for I maintained that, should they be left to a slow-
death, the costs for medicines, veterinary surgeons, attendants,
and other means, would be very great ; and not only this, but
their very presence would assist in the diflusion of the contagion.
The Sacred College, however, ordained that this measure was
too severe, and that remedies should be tried ; and, in truth,
they were greatly influenced in this decision by the number of
people who pretended they had infallible cures for the affec-
tion. But the fact is,' added the sagacious Lancisi, ' that in
the cattle, as in the human plague, not every one who takes the
disease dies of it. Some recover, thanks to Nature, rather than
to the remedies which are resorted to.' The attempts to cure
the disease only resulted in failure, and its indefinite extension.
Edicts were issued, forbiddino; the briniring of cattle from the
Campagna into the city district of Rome, under jjcnalty of death
to a layman, and of the galleys for life to an ecclesiastic. The

' Laucisii. Disscrtatio Ilistoricadc Bovillu Teste ex Campanix finibus, anno
1 713. Kume, 1715.

202 History of Animal Plagues.

sale of hides was interdicted, and the flesh, horns, and fat of
the animals were ordered to be buried in deep pits and covered
with- quicklime. Religious ceremonies were prescribed, and
prayers offered, by order of the Sacred College, to stay the pro-
gress of the plague. Measures also were taken to prevent the
sale of diseased meat. Inspectors were appointed to visit the
markets ; and only those pieces of flesh which were stamped
with a hot iron by the inspector were allowed to be sold. Salt-
ing the diseased meat was also forbidden. ' It may, perhaps, be
doubtful,' says Lancisi, ' whether the eating of diseased meat is
hurtful; but still it is best to err on the safe side.' Skinning
the dead carcases was prohibited, because thereby exit would be
given to diseased matters, which might thus be spread abroad by
the wind, and through the infected soil. ' The severity of the
edicts were complained of,' he adds, ' but it is a fact that here,
where the laws were strictly enforced, the plague was arrested
much sooner than in the other parts of Italy.'

A number of sage measures are detailed, intended to anticipate
the misery which might arise from the destruction of cattle;
and the great liberality shown by the Papal Government to those
who had suffered losses is made manifest. Calculations made of
the beasts killed by the plague, during its nine months' visitation
in the Campagna and the city district, showed that 26,252 had
perished.

The various edicts issued by the Sacred College are given at
length by Lancisi, because ' he thinks they will be of great
service to posterity, if a similar misfortune should ever again hap-
pen— which may Heaven avert! They may be regarded as sure and
certain documents, teaching how the plague may be extinguish-
ed,' &c. With regard to the nature of the malady, he agrees
very closely with the opinion given by Ramazzini in 1711. He
reminds us that the Greeks made four classes of cattle diseases :
the dry, the moist, the articular, and subcutaneous; and he en-
deavours to show, that, in this contagion, three of these classes
were present, the articular alone being absent. He asks, ' why
should we exclude the subcutaneous ? . . . Do we not see
that the skin is stripped of its hair by the disease, horripila-
tion, tremor of the shoulders and buttocks, and that it is

History of Animal Plagues. 203

infected with spots and pustules {macuUs demque et pustulis
infccta cutis) ? so much so^ indeed^ that some have thought that \
the oxen were destroyed, not by the plague, but by the puStular |
disease called small-pox [bovcs non lue, sed ipsis pustulis, quas
variolas vacant, inter ire).' As before mentioned, he had no doubt
whatever about the origin of the malady in Italy, though there
seems to have b^en some disputation regarding it; thus afi'ording
us another wonderful example of the analogy of the outbreak
in those days and in that part of the world, to that which
we recently suffered from. He says: ' I now come to a question
of the deepest importance, wherein there can be no dispute
about the mere signification of words. Whence came the pesti
lence ? It is certain that our cattle were free from the plague, pre
vious to the arrival of the Hungarian ox at the estate of Count
Borromeo. From that spot, and from that moment, spread thel
flame which has decimated our herds. The arguments used by
some objectors, that the plague appears amongst cattle far
removed from a manifest source of infection, are easily disposed
of. .... Is it not certain that the still more terrible plague
which destroys mankind, is often carried to great distances by
animals, and in clothes, papers, 8cc. But where could I fmd a
better proof of the fact than in your own excellent commentaries
(those of Bishop Borromaeus)? Did not the herdsman who
attended the diseased animals, afterwards visit other cattle in per-
fect health and infect them all, through the contagious particles
adhering to his clothes ? Did not the most learned Valisnerius
write to caution me that the disease might be conveyed long dis-
tances by dogs ? Considering these things, and reflecting in how
many ways, and how far the pestilential virus may be carried by
men and animals and by winds, there is no need for me to seek for
hidden and unknown causes of the disease, when I have before
my eyes tiie proof of its origin oflcrcd by that Hungarian ox.
You yourself relate the case of an ox in perfect health, which tell
ill immediately after feeding in a field where diseased cattle had
been previously pastured; reminding me of the words of Gesncr:
'Oxen in feeding infect the grass, in drinking the fountains;
when housed they infect their stalls, and in this way healthy
cattle peiish through breathing the emanations from the sick.'

204 ' History of Animal Plagues.

Lancisi believed that the virus obtained access to the body by the
air passages and the stomach.

We have already seen what his preventive measures were;
but, he asks, what should we do for its cure? ' My opinion is
this (setting aside the prevention of its contagion, which, me-
hercules ! I would say, is the most excellent and only mode of
averting the disease), that we must endeavour to preserve the
oxen from being infected, by giving them proper diet ; and that
when they are infected, the only thing which can save them from
death is still a proper diet. Hitherto the disease has eluded all
the powers of pharmacy ; and experience has shown, that
nothing avails more than a sparing diet. Applications of vine-
gar, oil, &c., may be used to the tongue, palate, &c. But as to
venesection and violent remedies, they are always hurtful in con-
tagious diseases; and the sentence of Hippocrates may be here
well called to mind : " So act that if you do no good, you at
least may do no harm.-*^ I think it is well posterity should know
that, of all the many and powerful remedies tried during the
pestilence, none has been found which will bear the name of a
proper or specific remedy.' He tells us what modes of treat-
ment were generally adopted ; how purgation and bleeding only
hastened the approach of death, but that acids, mixed with
aromatic substances, soothed the inflammation in the mouth.
The inhabitants of Mantua and Venice made much use of sul-
phur, of onions, and of juniper-berries, but, he adds, ^As for
our experience at Rome, I must confess that we met with no
remedy which could be called true, sure, or sound and specific.
Many we found useless; many hurtful; and some few seemed
useful.' Some success from his prescribed treatment (giving
good food in small quantities at frequent intervals, and washing
out the mouth with a mixture of garlic, sulphur, vinegar, and
common oil) was supposed to have occurred in the Ecclesiast-
ical States and in Tuscany. As topical agents to be employed in
anticipation of an attack, he recommended setons and caustics
to be used in the neck, shoulders, and thighs, in order, as he
says, to give issue to the virulent matter in a direct manner. One
of his chapters is headed thus : ' The only sure Remedy for
Warding-ofF the Pestilence is to prevent all Intercourse of

History of Animal Plagues. 205

Healthy with Infected Cattle, and with all other Infected Bodies.'
' It was observed/ he says, ' that those who carefullv obstructed
everv chink through which contagion might approach, preserved
their cattle from the plague. Thus, while the disease was raging
everywhere, the cattle on the estates of Prince Pamphilo and of
Prince Borghese, by the greatest care and watching to avert
everv possible source of infection, remained unaffected ; it was
also observed that others, the owners of large herds, had a simi-
lar good fortune; and that the Monasteries also escaped the con-
tagion when the disease was rife in the towns, even though they
were built in the centre of the plague-haunted districts. This
was owing to their cattle having no communication whatever
with those bevond the high walls enclosing their pastures.

The last chapter of the invaluable work sums up his admir-
able reflections on this disease. ' The steps which a wise
government should instantly take, whenever (which may Heaven
avert !) the pestilence may again appear upon our borders,
are these. All roads and by-paths should be carefully guarded,
so that no ox or dog be allowed to enter the country. Any
animal so entering should be forthwith destroyed and buried.
Should the pestilence, however, gain admission, the separation
of the sick from the healthy must be enforced by decree. In-
deed, in my opinion, hy far the safest course is instantly to
destroy the animal, and ivith the poleaxe, so that no infected
Hood may escape on to the ground ; for, in attempting to cure
the diseased animal, the veterinary surgeon may convey the
plague to healthy oxen. The healthy cattle must be removed
from their former pastures, which must now be regarded as
contaminated. The diseased oxen should be kept in stables,
to which no one is admitted except the veterinary surgeon
or the herdsman. The fountains and vessels used by the ani-
mals should be frequently cleaned with quick lime. The clothes
of the shepherds also should be fumigated. The dead carcases,
from which not one hair is to be removed, must be buried
in deep pits; and any saliva or secretions which may drop
from them on the way to the pit are to be carefully removeii.
If any cows are infected, their milk is instantly to he thrown
into a hole in the ground; and the severest punishment should be

2o6 History of Animal Plagues,

inflicted on those who disobey this order. The passage of all
rustics and dogs should be forbidden.

' Such are the means^ and the reasons for employing them,
which I offer for the purpose both of avoiding and of suppressing
the plague. For in truth, when I reflect upon the difficulties — the
expense, the dangers, and the labours incurred in carrying them
out, I confess that I know of no means by which the plague
may be more easily, inore surely, and more expeditiously
suppressed, than by instantly knocking on the head every infected
animal, and burying it deeply in the earth.' In apologizing
for writing the treatise, he says : ' I may be asked of what bene-
fit can this commentary be to posterity, as I have no remedy to
offer for the cure of the plague? I answer, of very great bene-
fit ; for it is no little thing in human affairs to know what to
avoid and what is true — lucrum etiam in rehus humanis non
exigimur est habere certum atque exploraturn cjuod vitemus. And
surely we have learnt this much, that, from the very beginning
of the plague, all commerce in cattle must be arrested ; and that
if we are not able to cure the disease, we know at least how to
deal with the evils attending it. Here, as happens in many
other diseases, we may prevent their occurrence ; but, when once
they have possession of the body, we are powerless to cure them —
-E contrario, cum jam facta sunt, nulli cedunt medicamini.'
' Should this plague ever recur hereafter, posterity may study
these pages with some satisfaction, and certainly with profit.'
Through the energetic measures recommended by this true
patriot, Rome and the Campagnawere rid of the disease in nine
months ; while in other parts of Italy it raged for several years.
In Ferrara, the malady was observed and described by Nigrisoli^
and Lanzoni; ^ in the states of Venice, by Mazini; in Modena,
by Morandi; and in Cremona, by Cogrossi.^ Nigrisoli's ac-
count of the malady is lucid and exact. The disease was a
mali2:nant and contagious fever, and among the remarkably well-
observed symptoms, the ulcers and pustules on the palate, throat,
and tongue were not overlooked.

1 Nigrisoli. Opinions on the Epidemic Disease in Cattle, 17 14.
2 Lanzoni. Acta Eruditor, 1 713, 1714. " Journal de Venise, vol. .\.

History of Animal Plagues. 207

Lanzoni's description of the symptoms is good. ' The oxen
attacked by the malady spat out their food ; then suddenly their
ears dropped^ and their hair became erect; nearly always a tremor
was present ; tears ran from the eyes, aiid mucus (or lymph)
flowed from the nose; there was diarrhoea; pustules made their
appearance in some cases under the skin, so that they seemed to
be attacked by small-pox. At length, in the short space of seven
days, thev died in great pain (manifested by groaning).'

The malady was also well described at this time by the
Medical Society of Geneva.^

An epizootic disease appeared among the horses this year in
Italy. ^ It was, in all probability, a continuation of that reigning
in the previous year. Valisnieri saw the epizooty in Verona
and Mantua at this time, and attributed it, and the great losses
it occasioned, to the presence of enormous numbers of larvae of
the gad-fly [I'ots), which he generally found in the stomach. Dr
Gasneri describes the malady, and from his account we gather
that the inflammation extended to the serous coat of that organ,
and that the mucous membrane was attacked by ulceration of a
serious character; this morl)id state of the stomach he thought
should be considered as the cause of the mortality.^

A.D. 1 7 14. Owing to some local causes, the fish died in many
lakes in Silesia; and in Alsace, cattle, fowls, hogs, geese, sheep,
and horses perished,* though Kanold does not specify from what
kind of malady. At Frankfort-on-the-Maine, horses and hogs
also died.^ In Dauphine and the country of Gex, in the begin-
ning of the summer, cattle were attacked by glossanthrax." In
many parts of Germany, dropsy or rot {pourritiire) had prevailed
amongst cows, sheep, and goats from the spring-time until the
autumn.'' Small-pox in sheep was general in many regions, and
Heusingcr thinks it was this disease which appeared in Paris in this
and the following year; when so many sheep died, that an ordi-

1 Reflexions sur la Maladic du Gros Bclail. Tar la Sociote dcs Medccins de
Geneve, 1715. Paris, 174$.

- Brugnone. Zucht der Pferde und Maulthiere.

•' Rcanmnr. Memoires pour Servir i I'Histoirc des Insects, p. 548.

^ Kanold. Jahreshist., pp. 1 19— 206. ^ I'^'"'- 1^- -'5-

« Reflexions de Medec. Genev. 1716, p. 251. ' Kanold. Op. cil., p. 177.

2o8 History of Anwial Plagues.

nance was issued to kill all the pigeons and other birds which
might diffuse the contagion. The same disease was common in
Italy. ^ The Faculty of Geneva, to whose invaluable Reflections we
owe so much, come to our aid in describing this disease as it
showed itself at Vernier, a short distance from Paris. ' In this
malady there appeared a great number of pustules over the whole
of the body, which, after being formed a certain number of days,
dried up, and left, when the scabs had fallen off, spots and cicatrices
on the skin, very similar to those produced on man after the small-
pox. One of the members of our Society had the good fortune
to have two of these sheep sent to him, and, on examining them,
he reported that the pustules on one of the animals had entirely dis-
appeared, and that there only remained those marks and cicatrices.
This sheep appeared lively and thriving. The other had yet the
scabs and scurf of the pustules adherent to the skin, but well
separated from each other, as in the distinct [discreta) small-pox
of man, and unequal in size. They appeared very marked about
the muzzle and under the belly, and they could be perceived bv
the touch on the rest of the body through the fleece. The
shepherd who brought them said, that, at the commencement of
the disease, the sheep were sick and very much prostrated; that
their eyes were bleared and tearful ; and that after some days
the pustules began to appear, and kept increasing for eight
or nine days, about which time they began to dry up. He
added, that they had only lost four or five out of a flock of one
hundred and twenty sheep. We have also been informed that
this malady is very common, and is well-known to the French
peasants under the name of claviUere. It has not been serious
this year, but there are times when it is very malignant.^ ^
Heusinger imagines that in this description we have the first
most complete account of the malady; but my readers will find
that Dr Fuller had distinctly made out the analogy between the
variola of rnan and the sheep in 1710 — 11, though his work was
not published until 1730.

In March of this year, canine ' distemper^ raged in all the
southern provinces of France as an epizooty, complicated with

^ Kanold. Op. cit., p. 177. '^ Reflexions, &c., p. 130.

History of Animal Plagues. 209

gangrenous angina.^ The Cattle Plague not only vet raored in
those countries in which it had been allowed to remain for so
many years, but it had also invaded those which had been
hitherto free from it. From Russia it penetrated Livonia ; -
from Holland, where, as already stated, it is calculated it killed
more than 200,000 cattle, it passed into Liege at the begin-
ning of this year ; ^ from Italy, where it was stamped out of Rome
in the month of April, after destroying nearly 30,000 head, it
attacked Savoy and Piedmont, where it also, according to Fanto-
nius. Professor of Medicine and Anatomy at Turin, slew 70,000.
It became spread over Switzerland, and entering France on
many sides, it was already in Lorraine and Champagne in the
month of March ; while, during the spring-time, it was in Dau-
phine, Lyonnois, Bourgogne, Nivernois, Berry, Blaisois, Beauce,
Orleans, and even in the Isle of France.* From the French au-
thorities who described the disease, we have but meagre and un-
satisfactory reports, and not at all equal to those of the Italian
physicians. The principal would appear to be Guillo, Drouin,
and Herment;^ and it would seem that the terrible malignancy
of the plague, its excessive fatalitv, its extreme infectiousness,
and the utter impotency of all remedial measures adopted,
severely tested the skill of the physicians, and the fortitude of
the agriculturists of France at this time.

In the month of September, according to Kanold," the disease
was carried from Holland to England, where it had not been
seen for some centuries. But if we believe. Mr Bates, it
was introduced into London two months earlier. This gen-
tleman was surgeon to George L, and was appointed to as-
certain the nature of the disease which had reached Islington,
and was spreading in the neighbourhood of London.^ He states :

' //. d'' Arboval. Diet. Veter. art. Maladic du Chiens. Wirth. Op. cit., p. 215.

^ Fisclier. Liefl. Landwirtscliaftsbuch, pp. 406 — 409.

' Kanold. Op. cit., p. 157. ■• Ibid. p. 204. Reflexion,':, &c., p. 5.

* The observations and opinions of these authorities will be found in the ' Reflex-
ions' of the Medical Society of Geneva already alluded to. Some essays on this
subject are also to be seen in a volume entitled ' Jugcment de la Faculle de Medc-
cine de Paris sur les Mcmoires qui courent touchant la Mortalite des IJestiaux.'
Paris, 1 714.

* Op. cit., p. 227.

' To those who are curious in the meteorological phenomena manifested prc-

14

2IO History of Animal Plagues.

' About the middle of July the distemper appeared at Islington,
and thereupon their Excellencies, the Lords Justices, having notice
of it, were pleased to command that I should examine into the
truth of the report of its being contagious ; and ordered the

vious to the breaking out of this epizootic disease, or to those who are yet believers in
the spontaneous origin of this malady in Britain, I will take the liberty of transcrib-
ing the principal characters of the months which had elapsed 'before its outbreak
in 1 7 14. Dr Short says : ' We are now entered on a set of dry years, which con-
tinued to the end of 17 19 ; the last four were exceeding hot and dry, preceded this
year by an uncommon height of the barometer continuing many weeks together,
notwithstanding the greatest rains I ever remember. All January, the mercury
stood almost invariably at settled dry, commonly marked settled fair. As the
weather is mostly close when the mercury is highest, such was the state of this
month, the greatest part cold, but little frost. Wind sometimes S.W., but preva-
lently E. and N.E. On the 6th some flights of small snow ; the i8th, 25th, and
29th, small showers. . . . First half of February generally fair and mild like May ;
the 14th to the end, squally weather, with some white frosts, wind N. ; the 17th,
gooseberries in bloom ; the 19th, dreadful storm at N., and with this a very high
tide, overflowing all the Deans. The 15th, morning, wind S.W. blowing hard; p.m.
squally, N.W. 3 hor. Morning 5, N.W.; p.m. 6J, N.W., or W.N.W., small
storm, then northerly from P.M. 5^ to 6|. A great number of ships in the road
sunk, shored, or driven from their anchors ; and houses stript. The mercury sunk
the most suddenly that afternoon that ever I observed, and rose as quickly 6\ degrees
when the storm was over at 8 o'clock. . . . March, glorious days and nights from
the 1st to the 12th, yet hard frost in the morning, wind southerly ; then still warmer
west winds, and showery weather, with clear nights ; the 20th to the 3.1st, wind
northerly, yet sundry pleasant days. Grass grew so fast, that my grass-plot was
mown the 13th and the 31st; the i6th, currants shot an inch long, yet the wind
southerly ; the 26th to the 31st, wind N.E. The leaves of the gooseberries were
blasted. I had observed the caterpillars on them in the depth of winter, and they now
appeared thick. . . . The beginning of April, the weather set in so cold with hail and
snow lying two inches thick, that on the 3rd it froze within-doors. This frost lasted
four or five days, the nights cloudless ; yet from the 9th to the 12th, 15th, and 17th,
warmer by the thermometer than it often is in May or June, especially the I2th.
Wind S.W. and southerly. The 19th to the 28th, wind N.E., dry weather, variable
winds and showers to the end, with some fogs. . . . The first days of May, warm as
those in April ; from the 4th to the 6th, wind N.W. with squally weather ; to the
24th, easterly winds, and mostly very dry, cold, and clear. Gooseberries and cur-
rants not all out of bloom ; the 19th, distant thunder, with hail and rain ; the 27th,
rained almost all day. The artichokes which were fruited in winter, were now no
bigger than large apples. . . . June began dry; the ist to the 3rd, N.E, then west-
erly and stormy from the 6th to the loth ; the rest of the month N.E. and dry ;
not very hot yet. . . . July, currants began to ripen, and gooseberries next week.
Wind sometimes westerly, but chiefly at E. this month ; the 2nd, loth, and 20th,
remote thunder ; little rain before the 12th and 13th ; the latter half showery, and
a great deal the last weeks ; the 24th, new corn brought to the mills ; the 2nd,
numberless butterflies hanging about the gooseberry bushes, or rising from them ;
on the 7th, the air swarmed with them. Their wings were red, spotted with white ;
the spawn of the silk-worm caterpillar.' — Op. cit., vol. i. p. 470.

Histo7'y of Animal Plagues. 211

Lord Harcourt^ then Lord High Chancellor, to grant such au-
thority as would he proper to make the discovery. Accordincrly
Mr Milner, Mr Offley, Mr Richardson, and Mr Ward, four
justices of the peace for the county of Middlesex, were appointed
to make the necessary examinations. I\irsuant to these orders,
we went to Islington, where Mr Ratcliff had lost 120 out of
200; Mr Rufford 62 out of 72; and Mr Pullen 38 out of 87.
They were very unwilling to own it, because so soon as it should
be known none would buy their milk ; but Mr Ratcliff, a man of
good judgment in cattle, after much persuasion, gave us the
following account, viz. that they first refused their food, the
next day had huskish coughs, and voided excrements like clay ;
their heads swelled, and sometimes their bodies. In a day or
two more there was a great discharge of mucous matter by the
nose, and their breaths smelled offensively. Lastly, a severe
purging (sometimes bloody), which terminated in death. That
some died in three days, and others in five or six, but the bulls
lived eight or ten. That during their whole illness, they refused
all manner of food, and were very hot. We then advised with
several of the cow-leeches, or doctors, who all agreed that it was
a murrain, or rather a plague; and that the methods they had
tried for a cure had proved unsuccessful. This disease was so
surprising, that some of those men who used to look after them,
were afraid to go near them.

' We then ordered some of the sick cows to be housed, and
several sorts of cattle to be kept with them, to see whether the
contagion would affect any other species. The next day I made
a verbal report to their Excellencies, of all the several opinions
and discourses which I have had about it, and left them debat-
ing what method to take ; at last I was called in, and ordered to
consider of it again the next day, and to deliver to them in writ-
ing what would be proper to be done. Accordingly I drew up,
and gave them, the following proposals.

' I. That all such cows as are now in the possession of Mr
Ratcliff, Rufford, and Pullen be brought, killed, atul burnt ; or,
at least, that the sick be burnt ; and the well kept and secured
on the grounds where they now are, that such of them as sicken
or die of this distemper may be burnt.

212 History of Animal Plagties.

' 2. That the houses in which those sick cows have stood be
washed very clean, and then smoked by the burning of pitch tar
and wormwood, and be kept three months at least before any
other cows are put therein,

' 3. That the fields where those sick cows have grazed be
kept two months before any other cows are suffered to stand or
graze thereon.

'4.. That the persons looking after such as are ill should
have no communication with those that are well.

^5, That the same methods be observed if any other of the
cow-keepers should get this distemper among them ; and that
they be all summoned and told, that as soon as they perceive
any of their cows to refuse their meat, or have any other symp-
toms of this distemper, that they immediately separate them
from their others, and give notice to such persons as your Excel-
lencies shall appoint, that they may be burnt ; and the places
where they have stood or grazed to be ordered as before.

' 6. That the cow-keepers be required to divide their cows
into small parcels, not more than ten or twelve in a field to-
gether; and that they be allowed such satisfaction for complying
with these proposals as your Excellencies shall think fit ; all
which is most humbly submitted, &c.

'The next day their Excellencies consulted the four gentlemen
before-named, and gave them orders to comply with the preced-
ing proposals, and to allow forty shillings for every sick cow
which they burnt, that belonged to Mr Ratcliff, Rufford, and
Pullen; but the free intercourse which both masters and servants
had had with each other's cows (before we were appointed) had
spread the contagion ; and the disease began soon to appear in
several other neighbouring places.

' The gentlemen then summoned all the cow-keepers in the
county, and acquainted them with the above-named proposals
(to most of which they readily complied, as being visibly their
interest), and oflTered them forty shillings for every cow which
they burnt, that had not been sick above twenty-four hours ; but
for such as had been longer ill, or were dead, they would allow
them only the value of their skins and horns. ^

^ In a book of poems published in 171 7, by John Morphew of London, refer-

History of Animal Plagues. 21^

'Some of the cow-keepers appeared not content with this re-
gulation, and beheving that the disease would become general,
designed to have sold their cows at some distant market; which
the gentlemen having notice of, appointed several butchers to
watch near their grounds, and count their numbers every morn-
ing, with orders to follow such as they sent to any market, and
prevent their being sold, by telling the people what they were.

'Another great obstacle at the first, was the cow-keepers not
owning the disease till they had lost several cows; for so soon as
it was known that anv man had but one sick, none would buy

ence is made to this ' German Cattle Plague,' which, the poet asserts, came in with
the accession of the German dynasty into England, after the death of Queen Anne.
The poem is very satirical, and particularly dwells on the straits people were put to
in the matter of beef and milk.

' As soon as Britain had sustain'd
That fatal loss which Heaven had gain'd,
And parties squabbled to a madness
About their sorrows and their gladness,
A plague unprophesy'd succeeded.
That only reach'd the Horniheaded,
And like a fatal Rot or Murrain,
Turn'd all our bulls and cows to carrion.

' The farriers now their skill employ" d,
But still the cows in number dy'd,
And with their horns and hides together
Were Inirnt, without reserve of leather.,

' Some cunning huxters, who had cows
Old, dry, and lean, not worth a souse,
Tho' sound in health, but scarce deserving
Of pasture, to prevent their starving.
These wisely knock'd 'em on the head
By night, when neighbours were in bed.
Next day assign'd their expiration
To this new fatal visitation :
So bore 'em to some distant pit
Or ditch, for such a purpose fit ;
There, to the terror of our isle.
Consumed 'em in their funeral pile.
Then like true hypocrites, put on
A mournful look, as if undone,
And claim'd'the sum of forty shilling
For every cow of Heaven's killing —
A gen'rous bounty, that destroy'd
More cattle than the plague annoy'd.'

214 History of Animal Plagues.

his milk ; and to those who kept many cows that loss was con-
siderable,

'Nor was there ever wanting one or other who gave them
hopes of a cure.

'To obviate these three difficulties/ the gentlemen encouraged
them to hope for a brief (charitable collection)^ but assured them
that such only as complied with these directions should have any
benefit of it. Accordingly they ordered a daily account to be
taken of the conduct of each cow-keeper, and allowed or dis-
allowed their pretensions to this brief, as well as to the forty
shillings per cow, as they complied or disregarded these direc-
tions.

' This had a pretty good effect ; but here in England, where
every man is at liberty to dispose of his cattle as he pleases,
nothing but making them sensible that it was each man's par-
ticular interest to comply with these methods could do ; this,
though true in fact, yet the reader will readily judge to be very
difficult among such a number ; but the gentlemen spared no
labour to accomplish it; for that purpose they summoned them
one or twice every week, urged all that could be said to induce
their compliance, and omitted no warrantable means to frustrate
their folly. I had orders from the beginning to assist those gen-
tlemen with my advice, which I did at most of their meetings; as
also to make a stricter inquiry into the disease by dissections, &c.

' Accordingly I discoursed the cow-leeches about the customs
and diseases that cows were subject to, and consulted such books
as treated of them ; but concerning this disease could gain but
small assistance from either.

' I then made dissections of sixteen cows in different degrees
of infection, and found the putrefaction of their viscera to in-
crease in proportion to the time of their illness.

' The first five that I opened had herded with those that were
ill, and the symptoms of this distemper were just become visible.
In these the gall-bladders were larger than usual, and filled with
bile of a natural taste and smell, but of a greener colour. Their
pancreas were shrivelled, some of the glands obstructed and
tumified. Many of the glands in their mesentery were twice or
thrice their natural bigness. Their lungs were a little inflamed.

History of Animal Plagues.

i\ ;

and their flesh felt hot. All other parts of their viscera appeared
as in a healthftd state,

' The next six that I opened had been ill about two davs. In
them the livers were blacker than usual, and in two of them there
were several cysts filled with a petrified substance like chalk,
about the bigness of a pea. Their gall-bladders were about
three times their usual bigness, and filled with bile of a natural
taste and smell, but of a deep green colour. The glands in their
mesenteries were many of them distended to eight or ten times
their natural bigness, were very black; and in the pelvis of most
of those glands in two cows there was a yellow petrifaction of
the consistence of a sandy stone. Their intestines were the
colour of a snake, their inner coat excoriated by purging. Their
lungs were much inflamed, with several cysts containing a vellow
purulent matter, manv of them as big as a nutmeg. Their flesh
was extremely hot, though vcrv little altered in colour.

' I have here only given you a general account of my dissec-
tions in the three difl^erent stages of the disease ; for as the differ-
ence was but small and the disease incurable, it could neither be
useful nor pleasant to the reader to have each particular dissec-
tion at large, though I have now the minutes by me. But the
following cases being very extraordinary, I could not omit the
mention of them, viz. : in one of them the bile was petrified in
its vessels, and resembled a tree of coral, but of a dark yellow
colour and brittle substance. In another there were several in-
flammations on the ed2;es of the liver, some as lar<re as a half-
crown, cracked round the edges, and appearing separated from
the sound part like a pestilential carbuncle. In a third, the
liquor contained in the pericardium (for lubricating the heart in
its motions) appeared like the subsidings of aqua calcis ; and
had excoriated, and given as yellow a colour to the whole surface
of the heart and pericardium, as aqua calcis could possibly have
done.

' In giving my opinion of this distemper, I must beg leave to
premise that all cows have naturally a purgation by the anus for
five or six weeks in the spring, from (as the cow-keepers term
it) the firmness of the grass; during which time they are brisk
and lively, their milk becomes thinner and of a bluish colour,

2i6 History of Animal Plagues.

sweeter to the taste^ and in greater plenty ; but the spring pre-
ceding this distemper was all over Europe so dry^ that the like
has not been known in the memory of any one living; the con-
sequence of which was little grass^ and that so dry and void of
that firmness which it has in other years, that I could not hear
of one cow-keeper who had observed his cows to have that
purgation in the same degree as usual, and very few who had ob-
served any at all. They all agreed that their cows had not given
above half so much milk that summer as they did in others ;
that some of them were almost dry ; that the milk they did give
was much thicker and yellower than in other years. It was
observed by the whole town that very little of the milk then sold
would boil without turning ; and it is a known truth, that the
weakest of the common purges you can give a cow entirely takes
away her milk ; from all which circumstances, I think it is
evident that the want of that natural purgation was the sole
cause of this disease, by producing those obstructions which
terminated in a putrefaction, and made this distemper con-
tagious.

^ During my daily conversation at that time with cow-keepers,
&c., there occurred many other circumstances of less moment
to confirm me in this opinion; but as there was no one reason
to give me the least notion of any other cause, I shall not
trouble the reader with a useless detail of them.

' Cows are likewise subject to a purgation (though in a less
degree) from the same quality in the grass, about the latter end
of September, which is called the latter spring, and which, I
believe, contributed not a little to the preventing the increase of
this distemper ; for this purgation coming so soon after the dis-
ease appeared, it is not unreasonable to suppose that it freed such
cows as were not much injured from the ill effects of these
obstructions, occasioned by the want of their vernal evacuations.

' Several physicians attempted the cure, and made many essays
for that purpose; but the dissections convinced me of the im-
probability of their succeeding, with which I acquainted their
Excellencies. However, they having received the following re-
cipe and directions from some in Holland, said to have been used
there with good success, gave me orders to make trial of it. But

Histo)'}' of Animal Plagues. 21^

the effect was answerable to my expectation, for in very many
instances I was not sensible of the least benefit.

Herb. Aristoloch. Rotundee,

Veronica;, aa n\. viij.

Pulmonaria;,

Hyssopi,

Scordij. aa m_. 4.
Rad. Gentianae,

Angelicae,

Petasitidis,

Tormentillae,

Carlin^E, aa lb. ss.
Bacc. Lauri,

Juniperi, aa Jxij. Misce, fiat Pulv.

This powder is to be given in water^ one ounce at a time, three
or four mornings successively ; then rest four days, and if the
disease continues, repeat the powders in warm water, as before.

' I think there is no one method in practice but what was
tried on this occasion, though I cannot say that any of them
was attended with an appearance of success, except that of
bleeding plentifully, and giving great quantities of cooling and
diluting liquids. But by this method, the instances of success
were so few that they do not descrx^e any further mention.

'Their Excellencies being informed that the feeding cows with
distillers' grains was a new custom, and was the cause of this
disease, gave me orders to examine into the truth of it; but
upon inquiry, I found it to have been the practice of several of
the cow-keepers above twenty years without the least appearance
of any inconvenience, and that some of those persons who had
suffered most had never given any. Nor is there any difference
between those of brewers and distillers, only that the latter are
the drier.

' It was likewise said that the want of water was the cause of
this disease, for that the springs and places where people used
to water their cows were almost everywhere dry, and that manv
were obliged to send them several miles for water. This might
produce diseases, but such only as they got by the fatigue ot
being driven so far; for Mr Katcliff, Mr Kufford, and Mr i'ulicii,

21 8 History of Animal Plagues.

the three persons where this disease first appeared, had the New
River water running through the very grounds where their cows
constantly grazed, and could drink at their pleasure, and so had
most of the cow-keepers at Islington.

'There were at that time several other reports of the cause of
this disease, but none that had a show of reason.

'About the latter end of September the disease increased, and
the numbers brought to be burnt were so great that it could not
be well executed; therefore it was judged proper only to bury
them fifteen or twenty feet deep, but first to make large incisions
in the most fleshy parts, and to cover them with quick-lime.

^ At the same time, having notice that it was a custom with
the cow-keepers to send their calves, when a week old, to Rum-
ford, &c., to be sold ; and apprehending by this means that the
contagion might be carried into the country, I required all such
as had sick cows to bring their calves to be buried, to which they
readily consented, and were allowed from five to ten shillings
per calf.

' In the beginning of October, being informed that some of
the cows in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Hertfordshire had got this dis-
ease, and apprehending that it would become general, I gave in
the following report to a committee of council : ''The distemper
among the cattle increasing, and beginning to appear in several
other counties, I thought it my duty to acquaint your lordships
with the hazard that mav attend their not being duly buried.
It is the opinion of all authors in physic that treat of contagious
diseases, as well as of several of the physicians in town, that the
putrefaction of so many cows as there is reason to fear will die
of this distemper, may produce some contagious disease among
men, unless they are buried so deep that the infectious effluvia
cannot injure the air, which I am certain has very seldom been
complied with except in the counties of Middlesex, Essex, and
Surrey, the gentlemen employed being capable of acting in
those counties only. It is affirmed by several now living that
there was a mortality among the cattle a little before the
last great plague in the year 1665,* which was imputed to

' Mr Bates evidently refers to the great destruction of cattle and sheep caused
by 'rot ' in 1663.

Hisioi'y of Animal Plagues. 219

the want of a due care in burving them. And your lord-
ships may know of what importance it was judged bv the
Kinff of Prussia, the States of Holland, and several other
Princes and States, bv the care they took to publish decrees and
placards commanding them to be buried upon pain of death or
other severe penalties; and I humbly conceive it would be neces-
sarv not only to bury those which shall die, but that such as are
already dead may have the same care, as also that they be
buried nine or ten feet deep at least. All of which is most
humbly submitted. Sec."

'Their lordships thought fit to defer all proceeding upon this
report till the distemper, becoming more general, should make
it necessary ; but I thank God that necessity never happened,
for within three weeks or a month after the giving in of that
report the following particulars concurred to put an end to the
disease.

'The cows began their latter purging, which contributed
much to prevent the disease from appearing in fresh places, and
the eow-keepers were convinced that the disease was incurable.

' The knowledge of the disease was spread all over England,
so that none would buy a cow in the country; and the gentle-
men prevented their being killed in town by having the markets
examined daily, and such meat condemned as appeared sus-
picious.

'They now divided their cows into small parcels, by which
thev lost only that in which the disease happened ; whereas be-
fore that method, when one cow got this disease, if she had
herded with one, two, or three hundred (the contagion was such),
scarce one did escape.

' Those who had no sick cows avoided all communication with
such as had. They likewise found that the keeping their cows
so long when ill had been the chief cause of their loss; they
therefore now brought them to be buried on the first appearance
of the disease, before the contagion could possibly have got to
any great height.

' These were the eflects of the cow-keepers' dear-bought cxi)cn-
ence ; but it was the indefatigable care and diligence of those
four gentlemen, who gave a daily attendance, both early aiul late,

2,20 History of Animal Plagues.

that secured Great Britain from that terrible ravage, which was
made by this distemper in several parts of Europe.

' The severity of this disease in England did not last above
three months, though it was not entirely suppressed till about
Christmas, but in several other countries it continued two or
three years, and I am credibly assured that in Holland it now
rages with as much violence as ever ; and that they have lost in
cows, oxen, and bulls, above three hundred thousand.

' The Providence of God has so disposed the matter of animal
bodies, as to render contagious diseases very seldom infectious
to different species ; but experience demonstrates, that contagions
may be communicated to the same species by touching the wool-
len, linen, &c., to which the infectious effluvia of the disease had
adhered, though the two bodies should be yet a very great dis-
tance; and I verily believe, that more hundreds died from the
infection, which was carried by the intercourse that the cow^-
keepers had with each other, than single ones by the original
putrefaction.

^ The nature of contagious diseases are but little understood,
and it would neither be agreeable to my design nor useful to
the public to say more of this than what was evident; but I have
been particularly careful not to omit anything material, either
for describing the disease or manifesting the methods that were
taken for suppressing it, because it is more than probable that
the same care would be equally successful in any other species
of cattle.

'The number of bulls and cows lost by this disease, in the
counties of Middlesex, Essex, and Surrey, were five thousand
four hundred and eighteen ; and of calves, four hundred and
thirty-nine, and the money insured for them at forty or ten
shillings per cow, &c., was the royal bounty of his Majesty from
his own civil list, and though neither the four gentlemen nor I
made any demand for a reward, or for expenses, yet it amounted
to ^6674 \s. id. But the entire loss to the cow-keepers, as deliver-
ed in upon oath, was ,^24,500 (exclusive of the ^€^6674 is. id.),
though computed but at six pounds per cow, which, at a medium,
was not more than their prime cost, the dearness of keeping them
near London necessitating the cow-keepers to i)uy the very best.

History of A iiivial Plagues. ii\

^His Majesty was further pleased, on the soHcitation of the
four gentlemen, to grant a brief for the .^24,500 ; but the many
fiilse reports that were then industriously propagated to lessen
the value of these poor men's losses so frustrated that charity,
that the entire sum collected (the charges of collecting being first
paid) was but ^6278 is. 6d., which on a dividend amounted
to five shillings and three halfpence in the pound, computing
their loss as above, at six pounds per cow ; though if we consider
their contracts with brewers for grains,, their rent of grounds,
which lay useless, servants' wages, &c,, their real losses may (by
a modest computation) be allowed to be ten pounds for every
cow that died.' ^

Some observations on this outbreak in London and its
vicinity were made by Mr Bradley,^ in a treatise on the epidemic
plague at Marseilles. He imagined the bovine malady was due
to insects. Dr I^obb^ also gives it a brief notice, and Dr Short*
offers an abstract of Bates's account, and for 1715 adds: 'The
disease of the black cattle, that was so fatal last year near Lon-
don, reached Essex in January, and did great mischief.' This
may be an error, as Mr Bates says the pest was entirely sup-
pressed at Christmas, 17 14.

Every effort appears to have been made not only by the go-
vernment, but also by those intrusted with carrying out its orders,
to extinguish the disease. One of the minutes extracted from the
Privy Council Register, and dated at the Court of St James's,
22nd Nov., 1 7 14, refers to the memorial of Thomas Bates, Sur-
geon, touching the mortality of cattle, and which was referred to
a committee. ' Upon reading this day at the Board a memorial
of Thomas Bates, Surgeon, touching the mortality among cattle,
and representing how necessary it is that such cattle as die thereof
be buried deep, to prevent any infection in the air, which if

' A Brief Account of the Contagious Disease which raged among the Milch Cows
near London in the year 17 14, and of the Methods that were taken for Suppressing
it. Communicated to the Royal Society by Thomas Bales, Esq., Surgeon to his
Majesty's household and K.S.S. Philosophical Transactions, N. 538, p. 872.

2 Richard Bradley, F-K.S. The Plague at Marseilles considered : with Re-
marks upon the Plague in General, &c., 1721.

» T. Lobb, M.D. Letters relating to the Plague and Contagious Distempers,
1745. * T. Short. Op. cit., vol. ii. pi>. 12, 14.

2 22 History of Animal Plagues.

neglected may affect human bodies, it is ordered by his Majesty
in Council, that the matter thereof be, and it is hereby, referred
to a committee of the whole Council to consider the same, and to
report to his Majesty what their lordships conceive fit to be done
therein/

And at the same Court, on the 6th December, 17 14, there is
an ordinance enjoining ' Justices of the Peace to keep account
of the cattle that shall die of the infection.'

I cannot discover whither the patriot and man of sound sense,
Dr Bates, who certainly deserved well of his country in this great
emergency, had received any intimation of Lancisi's valuable
recommendations when the Roman States were suffering from
this fearful visitation, as he nowhere mentions the Italian's name.
If he had not acted on the Roman physician's prescription, he
certainly deserves all the more credit for profound acumen in
discovering at once the wonderfully contagious nature of the
malady — the undoubted agency in its diffusion, and the hopeless-
ness of all remedies save the one, as well as a promptness of de-
cision which saved Britain from a great peril. And no less credit
is due to the 'four gentlemen ' who, instead of denouncing him
as ' ignorant and barbarous,' successfully opposing his measures,
patronizing every cow-leech, urging ' several physicians' to at-
tempt ' the cure' or wasting precious time with ' one or other
who gave them hopes of a cure,' personally carried out his sug-
gestions, nor allowed the visionary success of the Hollanders to
interfere with the only feasible way of promptly quelling a dire
contagion. The conduct of Britain was held up to universal
admiration, as the first nation which had shown sufficient energy
and resolution to cope with the pestilence then ruining the States
of Europe. Professor Fantonius, writing to Lancisi in 1716 re-
garding the Cattle Plague, says: ' In former years, in a province
of the British Isles, we heard that a deadly plague had sprung up
suddenly among cattle, which destroyed them very quickly, and
truly by no other cause than a recent contagion conveyed by
suspected oxen. They expelled the disease by no other artifice
than the slaughter of infected and suspicious cattle.' The ap-
probation of the Professor at the manner in which the disease
was got rid of, is conveyed in very strong terms, and he expresses

History of Animal Plagues. 223

himsL-lt" to the effect that the English are (or rather, were) an
energetic and vigilant people {gens i'/o-i/oc i^^re/zwa), who exhibit-
ed wonderful courage and devotion during the severe ordeal.
Since that time this example of wisdom and energy has been
frequently alluded to, and nations who are always threatened
with this plague have on many occasions preserved themselves
from its ravages, by acting as suggested by Dr Bates. In a
recent French publication, the adoption and enforcement of these
measures is alluded to as follows: 'The disease having passed
into England in 17 14, the English government saw no other
t, means of arresting its course and saving the great number of
animals which were menaced by it, than immolating all those
that were infected, and following the advice which Lancisi had
given to his country. This sacrifice was about six thousand, and
the contagion was destroyed in less than three months ; while
Holland, which obstinately and uselessly sought for remedies to
cure it, had the misfortune to endure its ravages for three years.
The English are, then, as we perceive, the first people of Europe
who have given us an example of such conduct.'^

Paulet, with great truth and common sense, observes of this
emergency, — ' Les Anglois sont done, comme on voit, le peuple
d'Europe qui a donne le premier I'exemple d'une pareille con-
duite; et en effet, lorsque I'incurabilite d'une maladie scmblable
est bien constatee par des experiences multipliees, c'est perdre
un temps precieux que de chercher d'autre moyen d'en arreter
le cours. Outre les raisons politiques qui deciderent le gouverne-
ment Anglois a prendre ce parti, comme le plus prompt et le
plus siir, il y en avoit d'autres bien capables de I'y determiner:
d'une part, la certitude physique ou I'on etoit que le levain de
la maladie avoit cte apporte des pays infectes ; et de Pautre,
Texemple des mauvais succes dans les differentes tentatives mises
en usage par les autres peuples d'Europe. L'expcriencc a appris
depuis, que le massacre des animaux pestifcrcs, danscertauis cas,
est Punique moyen de faire cesser cnti<ircment la contagion.' ^

' Dictionnaire Usuel de Chirur-jie et de Medccine Vctcrinairc, p. 362. Taris,

1859.

- Paulet. Op. cit. ;F'or a long period, no irruption of any mal.idy from .ibnwd

had been noted in this country, part'icularly of the nature of ' Cattle riaj;uc.' The

2 24 History of Animal Plagues.

It has been computed that, from 171 1 to 17 14, no fewer
that 1,500,000 cattle died of the Cattle Plague in Western Eu-
rope. How many sheep and other ruminants perished from this
affection, we have no means of ascertaining, though it is a fact
that they suffered extensively.

only serious affection among cattle of previous years appears to have been the
malignant carbuncle, splenic apoplexy, or anthrax.

225

CHAPTER V.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1715 TO I745.

A.D. 17 15. In Germany^ France, and Italy, the weather
was damp and unhealthy lor mankind. Lanzoni, writing from
Ferrara, says : ' After the plague in oxen in the preceding years,
and the copious rains which so much damaged the soil, we saw
the whole ground at Ferrara vitiated by stagnant water, so that
the seeds of the future harvest were for the most part spoilt ;
whence the scantiness and high price of provisions in the year
1 7 15. A loss of health consequently ensued. In the beginning
of the month of March, a large quantity of toads and frogs were
observed ; and in the middle of spring swarms of midges, worms,
snakes, flics, butterflies, locusts, and caterpillars, from which
many people predicted disease to mankind. Hitherto the month
of May had been intolerably hot; soon, however, the air was
misty and moist. June succeeded with great heat, which

originated many fevers Many attribute the cause of the

fevers to the wine, which, on account of the inclemency of the
season, had been made from unripe grapes, and had for that
reason produced impurities and excited fevers. Not a few
attributed the calamity to the effect of the unburied bodies of
oxen killed by the plague in the preceding year, and also
from those buried. For, they said, particles, oflensive and in-
jurious, came up through the pores of the earth from tlu' corrupt
carcases, and infected living bodies. Some thought that thr in-

»5

226 History of Animal Plagues.

ternal cause of these fevers was viscid aiid tenacious humours,
hardly able to be separated ; but that the external cause was in
the impurity of the land from the copious showers and over-
flowing of the rivers, the whole country appearing flooded,
whence the herbage became noxious and injurious. From this
cause, also, diseases in animals, destruction to trees, and blight in
corn ensued; for nitro-sulphureous particles continually rose and
destroyed all growing fruits by burning them up.'^

In Spain and Portugal a great drought prevailed, which
proved very destructive to the animal and vegetable kingdoms.
Kanold writes : ' I am informed that in Portugal, in consequence
of the long winter, which was very severe, and the continued
dry east wind, which lasted until the month of February, as well
as from the scarcity of water and grass, a large number of sheep
and lambs died. The drought was so great in the provinces of
Alemtejo and Algarve, in Spain, that not only the best springs
were dried up (a circumstance which had not occurred for many
years), but in many places in the same country, the water for
the daily necessities of men and cattle was sold by measure, so
that many villages in La Mancha were totally abandoned by
their inhabitants.^ ^

The diseases of the lower animals were very prevalent in
every country, and more especially in those places where the
Cattle Plague had been allowed to spread by endeavouring to
treat it medicinally. The chief maladies, however, according
to Kanold, were due to the morbid constitution of the atmo-
sphere. In Silesia, for example, he describes a disease which
broke out there. ^ The cattle suffered most from purging, but
they also at the same time slavered much, and a foul mucus
discharge from nose and eyes was noticed. Languor, loss
of appetite, emaciation, and loss of milk, were the usual symp-
toms. Pregnant cattle aborted, but not for some time; often
not for from eight to ten weeks, and those which did so died
of the disease. As a rule, death did not take place quickly,
but the animals lingered on frequently for several weeks.
Nevertheless, in consequence of the disease being contagious,

^ Ephem. Nat. Cur. loc. cit., p. 12. ^ j^anold. Jahreshistorie, p. 253.

History of Animal Plagues. 227

many died in a short time. On opening the dead bodies, the
stomach and other viscera were found diseased, mostly from
chronic corruption ; the heart was wasted, the lungs full of
ulcers, and the omasum was loaded with matters as hard as a
stone ; the gall-bladder was a quarter of an ell long, and full of
bile; particularly, in all, the liver was observed to be full of
hydatids {egeln). Externally, however, it appeared healthv,
though internally it had many large cavities enclosed by callous
walls, and containing a clear yellow ichor; but in these were
no hydatids, they being only found in the substance of that
organ/ ^

A disease amongst horses prevailed in many countries,
especially in Montferrat and Piedmont, in Italy; also in Sicily,
in the Morea, and in Pomerania.^ Many hogs died in the coun-
try around Cologne. In the same country, and also in the
meridional provinces of France, an epizooty of gastro-hron-
chitis (or ' distemper') amongst dogs.^

The Cattle Plague had been subdued in the North of Europe ;
it continued to rage, however, in Holland, in the north-east of
Germanv, in some of the Swiss cantons, in Milan, Piedmont,
and Lucca, in Italy, and in some districts of France,

On the 24th of September, the volcano of Taal, in Manilla,
caused much devastation by an eruption. The waters of the
lake in which it stands were so impregnated with bituminous
matter, that all the fish died and were thrown on the shore, where
they gave out an insupportable odour for a long time.*

A.D. 1 7 16. The winter of this year w'as very severe through-
out Europe, and the summer was cold. During the winter the
Cattle Plague disappeared in Italy, and only the cold and some
less serious maladies caused losses in animals at Vercelli and in
the kingdom of Naples. In France, the bovine pest was dving
out ; but in Holland, Saxonv, Thuringia, and n\ the whole of
Lower Germany — above all, in Westphalia, Hanover, and iiran-
denburg, it yet continued to do innnense damage.

' In England, in January, the Thames was frozen many miles,

• Kanold. Op. cit., p. 261. - Ibid. pp. 252, 258.

" Il)i<l. lircslaucr Sammlung, 17 19.

' I/aussinann. Voyage en Chine, Sec, vol. ii. p.,249.

228 Histoiy of Ajiimal Plagues.

whole streets of booths were erected, coaches driven, sports and
diversions were used above the brido-e. Thermometers lower

O

than on December 30, 1708. Spain suffered greatly by it. Wild
beasts, forced out of the wood, made strange ravage. Most
goldfinches, beside many other small birds, were killed by it.'^
Rutty, of Dublin, writes : ' A general Rot among the sheep, as
I am w^ell assured, did also prevail here, a.d. 17 16, after the
great frost of 17 15-16, and which, indeed, is said to have been
more universal than this (of 1752), for that destroyed the sheep
even upon the best lands.-* ^

A.D. 1717. This year was generally cold, especially in the
month of February. The spring was cold and damp, the summer
warm, with heavy rains, but the autumn was mild and agreeable.
An eruption of Vesuvius began in June and lasted until the next
year. In the Roman States an invasion of locusts did much
harm. Friesland was inundated, and half the province of Gro-
ningen destroyed, while all the Lower Elbe w^as under water.
Plague in mankind at Marseilles and in Aleppo. Ergotism very
prevalent, as well as epidemic jaundice. In Silesia, there was great
mortality amongst bees and carp, and in Hungary an epizooty
amongst geese and turkeys. ' From June to July, there appeared
a severe epizooty amongst turkeys and geese, of which a large
number died in a short time under the following circumstances.
For some days it was observed that they sat moping, without
any appetite, or inclination to eat, and at last became quite
giddy, staggered, and suddenly fell dead. In numbers of them
were discovered, under the feathers, suppurating tumours or
pustules, and dry scabbed eminences, and many believed that
this was a species of variola or small-pox, but how it originated
could not be discovered. Some thought it arose from the fact
of the dead diseased cattle having been improperly buried, and
that the geese, having eaten of the grass around their graves,
were consequently attacked by a similar disease in the throat.
To the same effect we hear from Prussia, and also Branden-
burg, that not only the herbage, but the ponds were poisoned
by a noxious mist or vapour, so that the surface of the water

1 T.SJiort. Op. cit., vol. ii. p. 18. 2 Rutty. Op. cit.

History of Animal Plagues. 229

appeared quite blue; and before this poisonous element eould
be dissipated^ foals, calves, and geese which drank of the water
were killed by it. Even the fish in these waters died, and were
cast upon the banks. Crows, magpies, and ravens, which had
fed upon the fish, were often found dead.' ^

Kanold describes an epizooty which broke out among the
army horses in Finland and Ingermanland (Ingria), and de-
stroyed great numbers. From the fatigue and hardship to which
they had been exposed during the past year, it is prol)able that
the malady was glanders in an acute form.^

In England ' the weather was clear and air healthy all
October, but a fatal month to oxen and swine.' ^

The Cattle Pla2;ue ceased its ravages in this year as a general
epizooty, its cruel eflfectfi being only displayed here and there at
irregular intervals. It may be said to have terminated its devast-
ating career in Hungary, Prussia, Silesia,* and Bavaria.^ Lan-
zoni, writing from Ferrara, says: 'The gifts bestowed by Ceres,
Bacchus, and Pomona in this year were many, and there was
but little disease amongst men ; but this was not so to pigs and
cows, for Death's scvthe was busy on them. Wherefore fear
took possession of the people in the provinces, lest the contagious
epidemy of the vear 1713 should reappear in the bovine race,
and the very thoughts of such a visitation excited them to
tears.' ^

A.D. 17 18. A cold winter, but a hot summer, with great
drought. A comet was visible this year. At Wismar, in the
grand-duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, on the Baltic, a deadly
epidemic fever (enter i tic) appeared, and at the same time an
epizooty of geese and fowls. Again Kanold describes it :
' This spring the increase of the feathered tribe was very
great; but this good fortune was much hindered here and
there bv a disease which appeared among the fowls and iii^c^^c,
and which beo;an chiefly in the month of June. It was a sick-

' Breslauer Sammlung, vol. i. p. 50.

- A'a;/o/c/. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 43. ^ T. Short. Op. cit., p. 20.

* Iloffnianit. Consilium cJc Luc Bourn. Ej. Cons. Med. 1721. ^'<'l• '■ !'• "5-

5 Kanold. Breslauer .Sammlung, vols. i. p. 46 ; iii. pp. 535. 799-

» Epht-m. Nat. Cur., cent. vii. and viii. Appendix, p. 20.

230 History of Animal Plagues.

ness having, for a prominent symptom, a swelling of the head.
This occurred principally in young fowls. When so affected
they made a noise something like a thrush, and were so blinded
that they could not find their way to their food. They then
became emaciated and died; so that large numbers perished.
Geese, and especially the goslings, were most affected, and from
this month until September, frequently died in large numbers.
The principal symptoms of the disease consisted in the geese
becoming weary and languid, their feathers stood on end, and
they became poor, so that they seemed to stand on longer legs.
The crop swelled, though empty, — because nothing was eaten,
and they sank through debility. This malady did not affect
the ducks; at least not so much as the geese.' ^ This would
appear to have been an anthracoid affection.

The same epizooty broke out in Silesia, ard in the autumn
nearly all animals were affected, pigeons, even, having symptoms
of a variolous disease. Horses seem particularly to have suffered.
* The horse disease {pferd-staiipe) raged in Militschischen
(Silesia) . At Zessel there is scarcely a horse that is not affected.
At Grossberschiitz several horses have already died. This malady
consists in a disease of the tongue, which becomes ulcerated or
eaten away, so that the animals cannot eat. A good remedy
for this disease consisted in washing the tongue assiduously with
sage and rue boiled in vinegar. (Evidently glossanthrax.)

'The sheep, in many places, already in this month began to
cough badly. From Trebnitzschen we hear that the swine in
the oak forests had, in the end of October, a special malady, from
which they frequently died. The acorns, which were generally
very maggoty, and a tenth part of which were worth nothing,
had received the blame for the production of this mortality.
From Medziborschen we also hear, that, from July, a disease
appeared among the swine there. Its symptoms were a tumour
on the throat, which threatened suffocation. When the tumours
were cut into in time, many were saved. To this we may
add, that, in October, the pigeons were seriously affected with
symptoms of small-pox [hlattern).' ^

^ Kanold. Breslauer Sammlung, vol. iv. p. II75.
^ Breslauer Sammlung, vol. vi. p. 171 1.

History of Animal Plagues. 231

A.D. 1 7 19. This year an aurora borcalis was observed, which
was calculated to be no more than thirty-eight miles from the
earth. An epizooty of variola ovina in the Venetian States,^ as well
as in Bohemia. In the latter country it is thus announced :
' In Reichstadtj there has appeared for the last two months, a
disease resembling the small-pox of sheep {scliafldaticni). In
Brzesniowitz, the geese sufllered from a disease. The livers and
gall-bladders became so enlarged that at last they were ruptured,
and the creatures died. The skin of the body was yellow. In
addition to this, we may relate that a plague among certain
vermin has been noticed at Zurich ; the wasps and lizards
(salamanders) died in large numbers.' ^

A great mortality prevailed among the silkworms in Italy.^

Dogs were attacked with rabies in different countries, par-
ticularly in Silesia and France, from this time until 1721.*

A.D. 1720. Earthquakes and volcanic crujjtionsare mentioned
in this year. A deadly epidemy raged in various parts of France,
but especially in Provence, and killed an inmicnse number of
people. Miliary fever prevailed in the Lower Seine. From 17 19
to 1721, strano-e irruptions of mice are recorded. Especially was
this remarkable event observed in Transylvania, and it is thus
described : ' In the midst of so many phases of the Transylvanian
epidemy, and after the memorable drought of 17 19 had burnt
up the earth with heat niildew rendered the cro])s use-
less, and an incredible number of mice appeared. The troubled
people beheld them coming from the east, and successively occu-
pying the country, one swarm after another. There was much
diflerence in their size and colour ; most of them were like the
domestic mouse, some of them resembled moles or the lesser cat-
kind {caion/m mlnorum) ; and which you would say equalled in
size the ulpeslres mures. From the month of May until late in
the autumn, they spread through almost the whole province to-
wards the west, perforating the earth on all sides with contigu-
ous holes like those of a sieve. At first they ate only the tender
grass, then the green corn, and lastly they consuuKcl thi- grain.
Strange to relate, towards the close of the autumn, and as il cii-

• Bodani. Op. cit., vol. ii. p. 134. " Brcslaucr Samml., vol. x. p. 460.

3 Ibid. vol. viii. p. 680. * IVirlh. Op. cit., p. 236.

232, History of A7iwtal Plagues.

dowed with a providential care, having excavated a wonderful
series of subterranean passages in their own style of natural
architecture^ they stored up not only good corn as provision for
the future^ but also choice berries, grapes, and whatever else
served as human food. They carried and collected all these into
distinct compartments with admirable perseverance. Whether,
however, it was owing to the damage done to the corn and the
vines, or to the effects of the impoverished herbage, or, on the
other hand, to the presence of some hidden infection, there was
something obviously hostile not only to the breeding of cattle,
but also here and there to pregnant mares, which aborted.
Whilst it was hoped that the frosts of winter, and the snow and
floods, would suffocate and destroy these mice, their presence
hindered the anxious peasant from sowing new seed. It was
also fondly believed that as an east wind had brought them, so a
wind from an opposite quarter would drive them away. When,
however, an irregular winter, with unusual tempests, set in, and
this was followed by a very late and cold spring, these multitudes
of mice withdrew themselves into the towns ; so that there was
no work done by the inhabitants, who were banished from their
dwellings by their ungrateful guests. Things had arrived at
this pass, when there appeared, by a wonderful interposition of
nature, a great army of weasels, by which these mice were all
slain in an incredibly short space of time, and their dead bodies
lay heaped up in the fields. ^^

At the same time, an epizooty of glossanthrax in horses
and cattle seems to have been very severe in Poland, Prussia,
and Courland.^ Small-pox of sheep in Saxony.^ Scheuchzer,
speaking of the plague in man in Provence, writes : ' We are
further to notice the hot summers of 1718-19, which brought
the grapes and other fruits in Helvetia to such perfection before
the usual time, and, moreover, that the summer of 1718 caused
in October and November a variety of rheumatic fevers and pleu-
risies, as well as diarrhoeas and dysenteries. In June and July,
the destructive contagion among cattle raged in Piindten and

1 Sam. Kdliser. Ephem. Nat. Curios., cent. ix. x.

^ Fischer. Liefliind. Landwirlhschaftsb., p. 410.

' Breslauer Samml., vol. xiii. p. 622.

History of Animal Plagues. 2.;^^

the territory of Sax. Then came the very mild winter in i 718-19,
and an irregular spring, in which the vegetation was now acceler-
ated, now retarded, as the damp increased or diminished; and
thereupon came to us all kinds of fevers, small-pox eruptions,
dysentery, rebellious coughs, and diseases of a gouty character.
In March, affections of the lungs; in April, fevers and small-pox;
in May, tertiary fevers; in August, eruptive fevers on the skin,
as if one had used cupping glasses; and dysentery. The cattle
disease in Piindten, Servia, Wallachia, Bulgaria. The following
winter was again mild. In January, lung diseases, fluxes, and
affections of the limbs ; in February, dangerous small-pox among
children; in March, violent fevers, and inflammation of the
throat; in April, agues, ophthalmia, and spasmodic diseases.
In May and June, when the epidemy in Marseilles broke out,
tertiary duplices reigned. In September, all along the Rhine
there were extraordinary, and, in some cases, very bad fevers.
The whole summer was more than usually wet; so that it was
no wonder that people became weak and relaxed. We might
add to these causes the influence of several meteors, and may
draw special attention to a large fiery ball or comet, which
stood about 14 German miles above the earth., and was seen on
the 22nd February, 17 19, at seven o'clock in the evening, be-
tween Corfu and England, by nearly the whole of Europe. This
possibly diffused sulphureous and poisonous gases into our at-
mosphere. We could ourselves detect the presence of a noisome
exhalation of this kind, of various luminosities, and other phe-
nomena seen in our own country at that time. We must
assuredly not forget to mention that swarm of locusts which
devastated Provence and Languedoc in 1719/ ^

An epidemy in Peru. It commenced in 1719, at Buenos
Ayres, and extended to Central Peru. It appears to have been
a very deadly form of typhus, and was said to be highly contagi-
ous ; the lower animals were affected. ' It was observed that the
greater number of the llamas and donkeys employed in carrying
the dead i)()dies to their graves were affected with the emission of
blood from their mouths.' This disease, which was designated

' /. /. Schauhzer. Bcschrcibung dcr Provcncalischcn von A (.Vstruc).

Zurich, 1 72 1.

2,34 History of Animal Plagues.

by some a '^ malignant catarrh/ only lasted a month. It was
preceded by an earthquake and an eclipse of the sun.^

A.D. 1 721. The winter mild, but the spring-time cold and
damp, and the remainder of the year wet. Locusts in France
and the whole of Italy. Epidemic ergotism in Silesia during this
and the next year, and scarlatina in man at St Petersburg, Cour-
land, and Lithuania. So notorious was it that diseased grain pro-
duced formidable diseases in the lower animals, that while the
epidemy continued at Silesia, the King of Prussia issued an edict
forbidding the use of rye tainted by the ergot, because it seriously
effected horses and pigs.^ A curious circumstance noted at this

^ Transactions of the Epidemiological Soc, vol. ii.

" Hecker. The uncertainty pertaining to the nature of the epizootics of the Mid-
dle Ages, leaves us in doubt as to whether some of them might not belong to that
class which have a common origin with many of the epidemics of mankind. The
ignis sacer, arsura, clades seu pestis igniaria, ignis Sancti Antonii, Sancti Martialis,
Beatce Vi7'ginis, ignis invisibilis, seu infernalis, &c., would all seem to be employed
to denote the same affection, and which we have reason to believe was ergotism. It
is only by chance, as it were, that wide-spread and fatal diseases among the lower
animals are mentioned as occurring coincidently with these obscurely-named epi-
demics, and when we read that the causes of their outbreak were unfavourable
weather, which brought about a diseased condition of the crops and pastures, we
are only partially enlightened as to the nature of the affection.

'Y')^^ scorbutus of the 15 th and i6th centuries has been supposed, with much reason,
I think, to have been ergotism, and up to this period it appears to have been de-
veloped in a gangrenous form. At this time, however, it changed to the con-
vulsive type, which it has chiefly maintained to the present. A curious feature in
this disease is shown as it appears in the South and North of Europe. In the
South, the gangrenous form is the rule ; in the North, the convulsive form is par-
ticularly marked, and very rarely the dry gangrene ; while a few of the epidemics
present both characters. The same peculiarity is observable in the phenomena of
ergotism in the lower animals during the existence of an epidemy, and it has also
been shown to exist by experimentation ; the only exception would appear to be in
the case of gallinaceous birds, in which gangrene of the crest or comb is the most
constant phenomenon. It is not until the 17th and iSth centuries, that we can with
certainty find authors describing ergotism in the epizootic form in animals, and
from that time till now observers have been numerous.

It may be mentioned, however, that Traube, who has described the epidemy
of 1770, in Hesse and Hanover, declares that no ergotism existed amongst the lower
animals, with the exception of a pig, which he saw affected with symptomatic convul-
sions. Horses ate the diseased rye with impunity, and cattle fed on the rye flour with-
out inconvenience, though not without repugnance. Dogs and sheep, also, escaped
save in the little village of Lohe, where seven of the latter died in convulsions.
These creatures had pastured in a rye-field after a'harvest made in.very dry weather,
when much grain was shaken out of the ear. He did not discover a single instance
of abortion ; but in the following spring, the people in the villages where the dis-

History of Animal Plagues. 235

time, is the noise made by the storks in Silesia. ' On the 23rd
of April came the storks in a large swarm from south to north
over the city of Breslau ; this the superstitious considered as
an omen, and prophesied the arrival of strange people. From
Luzin it was said the storks at this time had thrown everybody
into astonishment, for in April, after their arrival, large numbers
of them mioht be seen in rows too;ether, so that at a distance
they were taken for a crowd of people; some estimated these
groups at 400, and noticed that they formed a circle and pecked
themselves. From Rawicz : On the 12th April came a large
number of storks in the morning, flying very high .... From
Luzin they write in May, that there was much talk of the storks,
in consequence of their pecking themselves so constantly, and
when they lay eggs, they afterwards break them and go away, but
come occasionally back again, and bite themselves very much.' ^

In the same year, and the same country, rabies in the dog
seems to have been wonderfully frequent.^

Another strange phenomenon was the generally laborious
parturitions of the domestic animals at this period : ' the sheep
in many places lambed with great difficulty, so that the shep-
herds were obliged to use force to deliver them.' ' Among the
cattle one hears of nothing particular beyond the fact that the
breeding cows and ewes brought forth their young with great
difficultv, so that force was obliged to be used to assist them.
At Strelitz three fine young cows died from this laborious parturi-
tion. They strained so violently that all their internal organs were
protruded. Such cows, however, might be saved, were these organs
bathed with warm water, gently returned, the labia of the vagina
sewn together, and the animals slung up with their hind quarters
elevated. This procedure is always necessary when such accidents

ease had been most prevalent, complained of the scarcity of chickens, the hens lay-
ing but little and not hatching. Nothing like this occurred in the localities where
there had been no ergotism. Two fowls were sent to him presenting spasmodic
symptoms; when placed on their feet they fell on their sides, struggled with their
limbs, and their heads hung helplessly down. When they spasmodically struggled
to get up, their phalanges were violently contracted. Tliey died in about four
weeks, and with severe spasmodic attacks. — Geschichteder Kriebelkrankheit, 1782,

PP- 13. 15-

' Breslauer Samml., vol. xvi. p. 436, 556. '^ Ibid. vol. xv. p. 166.

236 History of Animal Plagues.

occur.' ^ Cattle Plague was very destructive in Schoneu^
Sweden, in this and the following year.^

A.D. 1732. Plague in man at Vienna, Hungary, and in the
East. Dysentery in Upper Saxony, and epidemic pestilence at
Granada. In the Venetian States, a singular epizooty appeared.
'In the year 1722, a thanksgiving was offered in the church of
San Belli^o — a commune now united to the district of Len-
dinara, in the province of Rovigo — because of an unknown
epizootic disease which attacked every sort of quadruped, but
especially cattle and sheep. It manifested itself in the animals
by making them jump, and by rigors all over the body.'^

There was a great destruction amongst the fishes in the lake
of Constance, caused, it is conjectured, by the excessively high
temperature in the month of March, and subsequent extreme
cold in April. When the dead bodies were examined, it was
found that the swimming or air-bladders were extremely dis-
tended, and that reddish pustules were formed on all the viscera.*

Canine rabies was frequent in Silesia and Hungary, and
many geese died.^

A.D. 1723-4. The winter of 1723 was cold, the summer
damp. The year 1724 was hot, and fruits and wine were
abundant. In Iceland, there were volcanic eruptions which lasted
till 1730. Earthquake at Lisbon. Palermo nearly destroyed
by an earthquake. Yellow fever in mankind in Spain and Lis-
bon. Miliary fever at Frankfort on the Maine. The pestilence
in Spain was attributed to the use of fruit and snow water.
Epidemic catarrh amongst children in the principality of the
Asturias. In 1724, a deadly epizooty of ovine small-pox in the
Venetian States, lasting from August to December.''

In this year, M. Astruc, when treating on the plague in man,
casually mentions the prevalence of sheep small-pox in France,
and declares that not only is the disease highly contagious when
propagated from sheep to sheep, but that it can be transmitted
to other animals. He cites as a fact, that wild rabbits, coming
to eat the herbage on the pastures of infected flocks during the

' Bresl. Samml., vol. xv. pp. 163, 262. ^ Ilensinger. Op. cit., p. 202.

3 Bottani. Op. cit., vol. v. p. 94. * Didicr. Traite de la Peste, p. 540.

5 Breslauer Samml., vol. xxii. p. 646. ^ Bottani. Op. cit., vol. v. p. 137.

History of Animal Plagues. 237

night, are seized with the disease, and whole warrens were thus
destroyed. These diseased rabbits, he says, were often the eause
of the infection being carried to other flocks, by their frequent-
ing the pastures of the healthy sheep after they had been on
those of the tainted. The shepherds of Languedoc, but espe-
cially those of Cevennes, were so well aware of this, that they
took every precaution against the entrance of these creatures to
their grazing grounds. Ferrets and firearms were employed to
destroy them, and the herbage on which these creatures or dis-
eased sheep had been grazing, was burnt; the pens were purified,
and the healthy flocks were sent to pasture elsewhere. M. Astruc
adds to the symptoms already known, those of debility, drowsi-
ness, and sometimes vertigo, diarrhoea, and dysentery ; smallness
of the pulse, and subsequent eruption of pustules of different
forms. These observations were made in Languedoc, where the
disease is not unfrequent, notwithstanding the natural salubrity
of this province of France, and the favourable qualities of the
water and herbage. It was a constant and familiar observation,
though no cause could be assigned for the outbreak of the dis-
ease, and which was patent to all who had charge of sheep, that
when an infected flock had been in a pasture, those flocks which
succeeded them became affected. This was more particularly
noticed at Cevennes. In the mountainous part of this Canton
there were some excellent pastures, where all the flocks of the
neighbourhood met. In travelling to this locality, the shepherds
were particularly attentive to everything that transpired, and if
they became aware that an infected flock had passed before them,
they immediately stopped and remained where they were until
the next day. Their object in doing this was founded on the
belief, that it was necessary to allow one night to elapse, in order
that the cold, combined with the dew that fell, might destroy the
pestilential particles which were capable of connnunicating the
malady. Such was the general opinion in this part of the coun-
try at this time.^

Sheep died in immense numbers from 1723 to 1724, from the
disease termed ' rot,' in Silesia, Poland, and Prussia. The Cattle

' M. Astruc. Disscrtaliun sur la Contagion de la rcstc, chap. vi. Tou-
louse, 1724.

238 Histo7y of Ajiimal Plagues.

Plague, which had never been quite extinguished on the Polish
frontiers, made great havoc, in 1734, in Thuringia, Saxony, and
Magdeburg. At Karaschtz, in Silesia, there was an extraor-
dinary disease amongst mice. 'In the month of" April appeared
an epizooty among mice, which caused them to issue from their
holes and recesses in great numbers, and to seek the society of
mankind. They came forth staggering, and soon swelled up and
died ; so that they were found lying in heaps on the granary floors
and in chambers, and as neither cats nor pigs would eat them, they
were obliged to be buried.-' ^

A.D. 1725. Exceedingly wet and damp, and the following
winter cold and long. 'Was a year of blight, the like of which
has never before been heard of in England.^ ^ Malignant fevers
prevailed in mankind all over Europe and America. Inocula-
tion was practised on criminals as an experiment. Moles were
observed to be curiously frequent in man.^ The rabies of dogs
still continued in Silesia, and it was also discovered to affect
wolves. An observer of this fact says, ' The principal reason for
this appears to be in the atmosphere and the weather, as well
as in the constitution of the animal. Such madness seems to
be quite common in some other places.' *

An exceedingly violent form of ' grease ' in horses {impetigo
erysipelatodes) broke out at Ratisbon, and involved the structures
of the feet, as well as the skin, in putridity. ' This disease, within
two months, attacked more than four hundred horses. The first
symptoms were tubercles in the pasterns, which in a few days
suppurated, and after a time large pieces sloughed out; so that
the poor horses were much harassed, and many could not lie
down for fourteen days. It was pitiable to see them try to walk
from one side of the stable to the other : they stood full of fever
and pain, ate little, fell off in flesh; the hind feet were generally
swollen, seemed corroded, and stank abominably. From the
fore feet whole pieces usually fell out, and the wounds remaining
healed but slowly/ ^

A.D. 1736. An exceedingly dry and hot year. Honey-dew and

1 Breslauer Samml., vol. xxviii. p. 398. - FidFs Husbandry.

■5 Breslauer Samml., vol. xxxiii. p. 90. * Ibid. vol. xxxiv. p. 635.

^ Ibid. vol. xxxi. p. 261.

History of Animal Plagues. 239

rust were verv abundant on the crops and forage, and this has
been regarded as the cause of the great mortahty amongst cattle
which was observed during the summer, especially in June and
July, in Poland, Silesia, and Saxony. Indeed, the whole of Ger-
many seems to have been ravaged by this disease, which, from
the accounts of various authors, was carbuncular fever. Not
only did cattle suffer, but the deer tribe also died in numbers, and
fish perished in the ponds and lakes. ^

In Silesia and Lusatia, complaints continued to be made of
madness in dogs." Sheep small-pox very destructive in Eichsfeld
and Thuringia.'^ Wirth says : ' In the winter of 1726-27, epi-
zootic pleuro-pneumonia (bovine) spread everywhere in Switzer-
land, and to the neighbouring countries.'^ An epizooty amongst
fowls in Courland. The description is imperfect. 'An unfore-
seen epizooty broke out amongst fowls, so that they wasted away
in flesh, would not eat, and when their feathers were parted, their
bodies were found to be covered with lice. At last an uncom-
mon crrowth or carcinoma appeared between the legs near the
anus In this manner a vast number of fowls died.^

A. D. 1727-28. Ruttywrites : ' In November, in Staffordshire
and Shropshire, their horses were suddenly seized with cough
and weakness, disabling them from labour.' 'The spring vari-
able ; summer variable, inclined to fair and dry ; autumn wet;
winter mild and open. In December, both in Dublin and the
remote parts of the kingdom, the horses were seized with a
cough and shortness of breath, and sometimes sore-throat;
some bled at the nose. A large discharge of thick phlegm
from the nose, long continuing, was salutiferous. Some died
in the streets, partly through the carelessness of their masters
exercising them abroad, even during this disorder, partly through
neglect of bleeding and purging, and partly from improper medi-
cines. December 25th. The horses growing better ; coughing
and sore-throat seized mankind in Dublin/''

A.D. 1739. From 1727 till this year, the weather was rcmark-

' Brcslauer Sammlung, vol. xxxvi. p. 690 ; xxxvii. p. 54.
2 Ibid. vol. XXXV. pp. 56,' 177, 325. 3 Ibid. vol. xxxvii. p. 57.

* ^r/r/Z^ Op. cit., p. 298. * Bieslaucr Samml., vol. xxxvi. p. 556.

8 A'uUy. Op. cit.

240 History of Animal Plagues.

able for great humiditv throughout Europe, especially in the spring-
time. In Italy it was particularly wet from September, 1728, till
May^ 1729^ and the wine in the casks, it was remarked, began to
ferment a second time and changed colour. Much injury done
by the frost in Scotland, multitudes of cattle being buried in the
snow.i About this time an epidemic catarrhal fever was spread-
ing, and which travelled through Europe from east to west.^ It
was what is known in our day as ' influenza,' and was epidemic in
Spain, where it was named by Pedro de Rotundis, ^un catarro
sufocativ^o.^ It must be remembered that Rutty says the
epidemy was in Britain in December, 1728, and that horses
had coughs and colds some months previously. In this year,
its symptoms and progress were noted by Leow, who gives
us a description of the diseases prevalent amongst the lower
animals at the same time. ^ . . . . but also on account of
this pestilence, which spread among the herds in all directions,
in Italy, the Palatinate, Austria, Pannonia, Wallachia, Podolia,
Volhynia, and Poland, innumerable putrid miasmata were dif-
fused through the air, and thereby infected these and other
places with the contagion. For although some asserted, and
hence maintained, that unless they arrived at the source of
the contagion on its first appearance, yet it was only plain, on
the other hand, that a pestilence of horses must pass to horses,
that of cows to cows, and of swine to the whole race of swine
.... and in our time, the plague of herds, as in Hungary and
Austria, in the months of October and November, 1729 (the influ-
enza months), became a catarrhal fever, beginning with a disorder
of the head, and within four days, either haemorrhage from the
nostrils or per alvum would set in, and terminate in stercoraceous
vomiting. At the same time, a disease of a purulent nature, fol-
lowed by gangrene, showed itself in wild boars. Nor is there
any reason to doubt that the contagion lingered in mankind
through famine.'^ It was believed that the flesh of the diseased
swine had conveyed the malady to the human species, and that
the emanations from their bodies still further tended to spread
the disorder. The epizooty among the herds in the above-men-

' Philosophical Magazine, 1820. ^ Ghige. Influenza, p. 73.

^ F. Leow. Historia Febris Catarrhalis, 1729.

History of Animal Plagues. 241

tioned places destroyed immense numbers. Hahn speaks of a
contemporaneous epizooty, when describing the influenza.^
Wirth says the disease amongst the cattle was Rinderpest ; no
doubt a correct opinion.'

A.D. 1730. A very wet year, so that the Thames inundated
Westminster, Eruptions of Vesuvius, volcanic eruptions in Iceland
and the Canary Islands, and an earthquake which nearly destroyed
the whole of Chili. In Lancerote, one of the Canary Islands,
the atmosphere, according to Von Buch, was so tainted by de-
leterious emanations during a volcanic eruption, that all the
cattle were killed. ' Dead fish floated on the waters in indescrib-
able multitudes, or were thrown dying on the shore. The cattle
throughout the country fell lifeless to the ground, suffocated by
putrid vapours, which condensed and fell down in drops/' A
formidable epidemic disease commenced at Cadiz, named the
black vomit {' el vomito negro ') ; it was supposed to have been
brought thence from South America, and extending over the con-
tinent, continued its ravages until 1738, when a murderous dy-
sentery invaded the coast of Malaga and Seville, and, indeed, all
the sea-board of Andalusia. During the prevalence of this pes-
tilence animals were first affected, especially those that were
domesticated ; birds which fed on grains also suffered severely,
such as poultry, pigeons, &c. Numerous insects, called by the
Spaniards Margostus,^ were generated previous to the breaking
out of this epidemic disease.*

During the years 1726-7, the Cattle Plague still prevailed
in Russia, Livonia, and Courland. In the year 1728, it con-
trived to extend itself beyond these countries by being in-
troduced into the March of Brandenburg;^ and in 1729 it was
spread over that country and Austria," where it continued until
1730, when it appeared in Saxony.'' In Frankfort-on-the-Oder,
it was observed and described; and in this year, also, it was

^ Hahn. Buechner, Miscell. 1729, p. 765. - Wirth. Op. cit., p. 1S4.

' Sir C. Lyell. Principles of Geology, p. 437.

^ Dr Basconie. A History of Epidemic Pestilences. London, 185 1.
* Loriiiser. Rinderpest, p. 18.

' Gohl. Von den in der Mittclmark, 1729-31, grassircndcn Vicliscuchcn.
Leipsic, 1741.

' Bonier. Inst. Medic. Lcgalis, p. 124.

16

242 History of Animal Plagues.

pursuing its truly desolating course over Istria, Friuli, and the
Venetian States.^ This is undoubtedly the disease mentioned by
Leow for the last vear.

The most notable authorities who have treated of this inva-
sion are the two physicians, Andrea Goelicke ^ and Jean Bruck-
ner/ who studied it at Frankfort. In the preface to the work
of the first of these celebrities, its previous inroad is alluded
to ; after which he gives the following account of the plague :
On the 38th September, 1730, two diseased animals were opened,
one just slain, and the other recently dead; and on the 7th
December, he opened tv^-o other large-sized beasts, one that had
been ill for some days from the malady, and was killed, and
another that had died. From the examination of these cases, it
w^as ascertained that the disease was localized in the intestines,
which were found black and sphacelous. Other people had as-
sured the writer, that instead of bile in the intestines, they con-
tained bloody matters.

In the cow that was killed, black blood flowed from the
wound. A large quantity of yellow serosity was found in the cavity
of the abdomen, and but little alteration was noted in some of
the viscera; the gall-bladder was three or four times its natural
size, and filled with a green bile of a most disgusting odour. The
small intestines were slightly inflamed, and the lining membrane
covered with this bile; the reticulum (?) contained much food,
which looked as if baked. On the tongue were observed many
pustules containing an ichorous and fetid humour. The stench
was insupportable, and almost forbade an examination.

In an ox which had died of the malady, the small intestines
were gangrenous ; they contained a quantity of a substance simi-
lar to hog-wash or broken-up flesh. With the exception of a
little softness, perhaps, the other viscera were healthy; though the
gall-bladder was of great size, full of yellow bile, and there was a
great quantity of disagreeable matters around the mouth and the
nostrils. According to the accounts of those who took care of

^ Bottani. Op. cit.^ p. 147.

^ A. O. Goelicke. Med. de Lue Contagiosa Bovilium genus depopulante.
Francof. 1730.

•^ Hallcr. Dissertations, vol. v. p. 713.

History of Animal Plagues. 343

the animals, the disease began by a general horripilation and
dulness, with low hanging head and drooping ears, succeeded by
a corresponding febrile heat. Thirst was very great; the excre-
ments of the two first days were hard, but on the third day a
violent diarrhoea set in, which was so intense, that at each step
the animal expelled matters similar to the washings of flesh, and
everything extruded in this way had a most fetid odour; so fetid,
indeed, that healthy animals testified by their bellowings how
disagreeable they were. The eyes became inflamed and nearly
closed ; the mouth and nostrils exhaled a repulsive smell ; the
tongue began to be excoriated, and rumination was entirely sus-
pended. Some breathed as if in pain ; others were tranquil,
though the respirations were quickened ; all had the flanks
drawn upwards ; deglutition was nearly impossible. Some died
on the fourth day; others survived till the seventh day. Milch-
cows yielded no milk, and those which were in calf aborted. The
young cattle, the bulls, and all fat stock were more quickly af-
fected by the contagion, and died more rapidly than the lean, the
old, or the hard-worked beasts. The cows which aborted for the
most part escaped ; a circumstance which induced the cow-
leeches to give medicines to produce this effect, and thus to save
these creatures. The belief was a fixed one, that the disease was
propagated bv the cattle of other countries. Reviewing the dif-
ferent descriptions given by Lanzoni, Lancisi, and Ramazzini,
the Doctor then passes on to his own observations.

Going over all the phenomena which had been noticed, they
are attempted to be analyzed and explained ; and from them is
deduced the proof, that the disease is due to a miasma of a most
subtle and contagious nature, which penetrates by the nose and
the mouth, and is spread all over the body with the speed of
lightning. The blood, it was remarked, had a lesser tendency
to remain fluid than to coagulate ; and cattle when diseased and
killed by the butcher, bled very little; thus was the blood in the
same condition as in malignant fevers. Reasons are given for
naming the disease 'a fever, of a malignant and inflammatory
kind,' after the example of Ramazzini. This fever is most acute,
and animals promptly die; some were even noticed to perish sud-
denly, as if struck by a thunder-bolt.

244 History of Animal Plagues.

It was wonderfully contagious, and did not exercise its ravages
all at once, but successively, invading kingdom after kingdom.

It was transmitted in different ways; sometimes one ox gave
it to another; at other times the clothes of men carried the pesti-
lential miasma; and if healthy animals breathed the odour from
the fetid dejections of those which were diseased, they became
affected. Those people who kept their cattle shut up and per-
fectly isolated, preserved them from the contagion. The proofs
were convincing that this ferment or contagion altered, in a re-
markably brief space of time, the solids and fluids to such a
degree that they became a mass of corruption.

It was useless labour to attempt to discover the cause of the
malady in the malignity of the stars, the corruption of the air,
inundations, wars, or other similar calamities. It is asked what
kind of malady the stars were likely to produce, and why man-
kind, who lived under the same unpropitious influences, escaped
with no damage. Ramazzini laughed at these absurdities, and
with reason ; for having in his youth read the essays of Pic and
Mirandole, exposing the astrologers, he never afterwards troubled
himself to form his opinions on their studies. Those who main-
tained that this disease was due to other sources, had a difficult
problem to resolve ; and it was not easy to reconcile the different
phenomena observed, with the causes assigned by the majority of
the physiologists. For example, how was it that the malignity
of the air and unhealthy pastures only affected the bovine species,
and spared all the other animals living under the same sky
breathing the same air, and living in the same pastures ? Or
how did an unhealthy dew, which affected immense pasturages,
only give the plague to one ox, which communicated it to all
the others it came in contact with ? Solve, who can, these ques-
tions ! These so-named causes being known, we cannot hazard a
doubt but that they will produce general diseases amongst many
kinds of animals. And it has been sufficiently proved already that
this disease of cattle came by contagion. In the face of all the
various hypotheses, there was the positive fact of the existence of
a miasm or contagious ferment, which was capable of corrupting
the humours, and of giving rise to the same malady in other
cattle by communication. Those who attributed it to a para-

History of Animal Plagues. 245

sitic corruption of the blood, only sought to revive the absurd
hypothesis of Kircher, which had been for a long time abolished.
At all times the disease was exhibited with but little variation of
symptoms,, and it was indeed a real pest of cattle. With regard
to treatment, the most celebrated physicians who have thoroughly
known the nature of the disease, have freely confessed that to
this day there is no specific or certain means of cure. God only
knows, and we have too often seen, that numberless hurtful
modes of treatment have been resorted to. Add to this, that the
method employed for diminishing or driving away the disease is
entirely empirical, and founded on no sound indication; although
common sense demands for the cure of animals, as well as for
man, that the principles of medicine shall be equally followed
out. But all the difficulties experienced in human medicine are
greatly augmented by the difference in organization of ruminant
animals, when compared with that of man, or even of other crea-
tures. Although these difficulties appear very great, yet it is to
be hoped that a system of treatment may be established on a
more certain and a more reasonable basis, than that pursued
by the empirics.

The symptoms observed show that the animals take the dis-
ease by the mouth and the nostrils, and very rarely by the skin.
For these reasons, two great indications must be followed out.
The first is, that the pestilential poison admitted into the mass
of the humours ought to be thrown out as speedily as possible. The
second is, that it ought to be expelled with the greatest prompti-
tude by the salivary glands before it has had time to commit
great ravages. In the first case, benzoic and alexipharmic reme-
dies should be employed ; and in the second, medicines which
induce salivation. Much has been said for and against bleeding.
Ramazzini, in condemning it as dangerous in all epidemics, yet
believes it useful and salutary in this epizooty of cattle, for the
reason that, as at present, he recognized the inflammatory nature
of the disease, inasmuch as the poison is one of those which have
power to coagulate the mass of the blood. Bleeding, however,
is not sanctioned by experience; and it is wiser to agree with
Lancisi, who regarded it as a very dangerous mode of cure.

The disease is accompanied very often by diarrhcea, of which

246 History of Animal Plagues.

the effects are as deadly as the poison itself. ■ Purgatives^ above
all those of a drastic kind^ augment the disease ; neither is it al-
together safe to prescribe aloes and the other purgatives. Ano-
dyne injections, composed of emollient herbs boiled in milk, are
the best agents for acting on the bowels. The first indication,
which is to expel the poison, is fulfilled by using alexipharmics
not too heating, but temperate ; such as the pimpernell, angelica,
germandria, &c. Many have committed a great error in ex-
posing the diseased animals to the cold, and the wind and rain,
when they have been separated from those in health ; instead of
keeping them in well-closed comfortable stables, covering them
with sacks of straw and of hay, in order to assist them in ex-
pelling the poison.

Setons in the necks of the animals were useful, but blisters
were injurious. The most preferable treatment was to cauterize
the skin with a hot iron, and thus to form artificial ulcers by
which the materies morhi might escape.

It could not be understood why some practitioners should
employ febrifuge medicines, such as quinine, in quelling the
malady. This remedy had doubtless been maintained by Ramaz-
zini, in an elegantly-written discourse which he had delivered
in the University of Pavia on the diseases of cattle, to be the
most efficacious. Yet it was necessary to avow, that in continued
inflammatory fevers of the kind to which this epizooty undoubt-
edly belonged, this remedy did not shorten their duration. But
it was still a most useful medicine, and its beneficial action was
always the more prompt in large doses. The giving vermifuge
medicines, in accordance with the hypothesis of Kircher's living
corruption, was very wrong; and much more blamable were those
who recommended sympathetic remedies, — preservative as well as
curative. These consisted in taking a diseased animal, digging
a deep pit, throwing it in and then covering it up, with the
notion that by this means the disease, then spreading abroad,
soon loses its virulency and ceases, — a custom too absurd and
superstitious to demand a moment's consideration. Daily ex-
perience proves the utter inefficacy of medicines to cure the
disease, and we ought to put no faith in them as preservative
agents. Assuredly the best results will be obtained from extreme

Histo7y of Anivial Plagues. i^^i

vigilance in observing and enforcing sanitary laws, the effect
of which will be far more enduring and profitable than preserva-
tive remedies. Columella's injunctions should never he neglected
— separate the healthy from the unhealthy.

It is absolutely necessary that all communication should be
interdicted. No straw, hay, sacks, or other articles should be
carried from the infected regions; the veterinary surgeons, at-
tendants, dogs, and evervbody and everything capable of trans-
porting the virus, should be kept away from the healthy cattle.
Lancisi was not slow to aver, that the most certain way to
suppress the contagion was to break off all communication,
direct or indirect, with the infected. We know with what
negligence the edicts of kings and princes are treated in all
that concerns salubrity and the watching of roads. Those
who infringe these edicts ought to be severely punished, as
well as those who do not bury deep enough the bodies of those
beasts which have perished. Dogs and wolves may, in these
instances, disinter the carcases and scatter abroad the corrup-
tion; thus occasioning malignant epidemic fevers.

When the animals begin to recover, they ought always to
be left for eight days in their stables, and their diet should be
very light and plentifully diluted with water. The air should
be purified by preparations of incense, laurel, hyssop, and juniper
leaves. The walls of the stables should be thoroughly cleansed,
and the bodies of the animals should also be well washed with
vinegar before allowing them to rejoin their companions at
pasture. Time may enable us to discover more efficacious
means than those which we have proposed to avert this con-
tagion of cattle, and which has for so long a time ravaged nearly
the whole of Europe.

A.D. 1731-2. The winter of 1730-1 was cold and dry, the
summer hot and dry. In March, a severe shock of an cartli-
([uake, and in July another in China. In 1733 the winter was
mild, the spring wet, and the summer hot and damp. Pcstilcn
tial fever killed 1500 persons in one week, in London, during the
month of April. Droughts were prevalent, and during these
years the Arctia Flia^orrluea, a particular kind of moth, was so
numerous in France that people were alarmed. The oaks, elms,

248 History of Animal Plagues.

and whitethorn hedges seemed as if they had been scorched by
some burning wind. The fruit trees were also destroyed by
them, and all the fruit devoured. To such an extent did they
ravage everything, that parliament issued an edict compelling
people to destroy them ; but this measure would have been in-
effectual, had not some cold rains so cleared them away that
scarcely one could be seen.^

In February and March ' strangles ^ {morlms ang'mosus) was
very frequent amongst horses in England, and killed a good
number.^

One of the most remarkable epizootics of glossanthrax [chan-
cre volant, fliegender Zungenkrels) on record occurred in these
years. It reigned in France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy,
and was believed to be caused by the immense quantities of cater-
pillars which were observed everywhere. Scheuchzer^ puts this
opinion on record, and very ably describes the disease. 'This
consideration leads us to the caterpillars, which, it was observed,
in the past year, had in immense numbers spread themselves in
the woods and over the trees, to the great injury of the same :
their nests remained upon the trees and hedges throughout the
whole winter. It was here and there thought that the blio-ht
which fell in 1730-31, and the subsequent continual swarms of
insects, had most to do with the production of this disease. In
the Canton of Berne, they also attributed the origin of the
malady to caterpillars, and a circumstance arose which seemed
to support this opinion. A man happened to dry his shirt,
which was damp with perspiration, over a fire in which wood
covered with caterpillars' nests was burning. Afterwards he put
this garment on, but soon became swollen and died. Asa further
experiment, a dog was wrapped in a similar cloth, and this crea-
ture also died. But it appears probable to us that the disease
had made its appearance in the autumn of the previous year,
and the following remarkable circumstance is worthy the notice
of those who take the field against the caterpillars. In 1731, in
the neighbourhood of Riiti, in Lower Andelfingen, in the cow

1 Reauvrur. Op. cit., vol. ii. p. 122.

^ Huxham. Obsei^vations on the Air and Epidemical Diseases. London, 1758.

2 Scheiuhzer. Fliegender Zungenkrebs, eine Viehseuche, &c. Ziirich, 1732.

History of Aniiiial Plagues. 249

pastures, cvervthing groaned under the visitation of these insects,
which fell from the trees and covered the country around; hut
not a single one of these cattle were attacked by the plague . . ,
' Further, there is a circumstance which not unusually accom-
panies this disease, and which makes it more difficult to under-
stand. All the intelligence we can gather, tells us that the con-
tagion travels from place to place. From day to day it traverses
a distance of from three, four, or more hours (the German hour
or stund is reckoned about two miles), and reveals its presence by
a peculiar murmuring sound, or a thick stinking mist. This
curious circumstance is verified by tidings from several places,
which would lead to the belief that the attack was made after a
warning or signal of such a nature. I was assured by people,
who were certainly terror-stricken and may have exaggerated,
that a strong north-west wind blew over the whole country
on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, loth, nth, 12th, and 14th of March, and
that on the latter day the disease attacked the cattle at Meris-
hausen and Neuhausen, in the Canton of Scaffhausen; also that
the disturbance in the air was perceived at Niederweningen, in the
village of Wiirenlungen, in Baden.' A long account is given of
the various places where the peculiar noises in the atmosphere
were heard, sometimes as a loud noise, at others as if caused by
a flisfht of birds or bees ; as soon as this sound was remarked the
disease broke out. A dark cloud was noticed in some places,
but a great amount of fable and superstition is mixed up with
the whole description. The symptoms were well marked.
Scheuchzer has the following : ' Where only a few small red,
white, yellowish, or black-coloured vesicles are observed on the
tongue, the animal should not be immediately slaughtered, but
should have the origan washed with detero-ent lotions. At a later
stage of the malady, white, yellow-white, reddish-yellow, and
yellowish-black vesicles of the size of peas or beans, and which
have the appearance of pustules growing deep in the tongue and
projecting from it, are apparent; these contain, beneath a dense
skin or envelope, a thick, viscous poisonous matter, which dis-
tends them. Occasionally, there were large yellow bladders filled
with fluid material, and which, when allowed to remain, ate deeper
into the tongue; but when these cysts were opened, the yellow

250 History of Animal Plagues.

acrid liquid escaped. In some cattle, white, yellow, and black
fissures appeared towards the root of the tongue, and here and
there little hairs were observed growing in them (these were
probably portions of hay or other matters, which often lodge in
wounds of the tongue, especially in the horse). All the cattle
had the disease confined to the tongue, but horses had these
vesicles form upon their sheaths as well as on their tongues, and
the mares about their sexual organs ; not unfrequently they also
showed themselves under the mane, and towards the rectum.
It was remarked that cattle, which one^ day would have the dis-
ease on the upper part of the tongue, had it the next day on the
under surface, and that there it was far more active in its erosive
effects. In one case at DielstorfF, the cow^s tongue was covered
with vesicles or small-pox {kinder -blatter 11), and after the scraping
operation, it was black and dead-looking, but even this animal
recovered. It was generally observed, that where the disease was
neglected or improperly treated, in a very few hours it assumed the
characters of malignant carbuncle. As a testimony to the viru-
lence of the malady, it may be mentioned that in those cases
death took place in twenty-four hours, but not before the tongue
had sloughed out. Otherwise it was noticed, strange to say,
that the infected beast did not lose its appetite, but did its work,
and performed all its ordinary functions — a circumstance which
distinguishes this from all other cattle plagues.' ^ The rate of
travel of the contagion, the villages and towns attacked, and the
various kinds of animals affected, were all carefully noted. The
most striking feature of the epizooty was its uniform rate of ad-
vance, which could be calculated beforehand with certainty. In
Switzerland, it is mentioned as follows — 'The winter of 1732 was
very mild, and the spring was early in the spring, a sick-
ness among the cattle showed itself with vesicles on the tongues,
and which, if not immediately opened by means of a silver instru-
ment, and cleansed, then these organs became so corroded or
eaten away, that the animals died in twenty-four hours. This
disease passed through Wurtemberg, Suabia, Switzerland, and
into Italy, remaining but three or four days in one place. But

1 Schenchzer. Op. cit , p. 30.

History of Animal Plagues. 251

few therefore dled^ and these only the annuals which were neg-
lected.'^ Trumpy writes: 'In the spring of this year, there
came from Suabia into Switzerland a deadly disease, which was
called the 'flying cancer' [flJegendekrehs — glossanthrax). It was
a malady characterized by bladders on the tongue. If the cattle
were left without medical aid and attention^ these bladders soon
became red, then black, the tongue fell off, and the cattle perished.
With us a few died, but the measures taken to cure it were very
prompt. The disease was transmissible to mankind ; as a con-
sequence, the butchers' shops were closed, and the milk of in-
fected animals was thrown away. As the affection disappeared
from this and the neighbouring localities about the end of April,
all the strictly guarded passes were open again, and free inter-
course allowed.'''^

With regard to the progress of the disease, we find that in
the spring of '31 it was observed in Dauphine, Haut-Faucigny,
Auvergne, and Bourbonnais, and in the neighbourhood of
Moulins and Gannat it prevailed in April.^ Textor says : ' To-
wards the end of April, 1731, this disease appeared, among other
places, in Strasbourg, in the district of Gannat, belonging to the
generalite von Moulin. Two repeatedly printed decrees were
published and sent the same year to all the village officials in Al-
sace. . . . This disease is supposed to have originated in Germany
in the year 1682, and thence spread itself through the Nether-
lands; but in the month of April, 1731, it again apj)cared in the
district of Gannat, and from that place it extended to the Ne-
therlands (through various Rhine districts) ; so that the malady
travelled from south to north at the rate of four miles a-da)',
over a strip of country about forty miles in width, generally re-
maining from two to three weeks in one locality, but sometimes
entirely avoiding certain villages.'* On the 22nd of June, the
Municipal Council of Geneva published its preservative and cura-

' IValscr. Appenzellcr Chronic, p. 531.

' 'frumpy. Glarner Chronic, p. 531.

^ Observations sur une Maladic qui aUaque les BOtcs k comes, iS:c. Mercurc,
Histor. et Polilic. January, 1732.

* Textor. Versuch wie die Vichseuchcn vvohl crkannt, &c., wcnlcn kiliinen.
Tubingen, 1767.

2^2 History of Animal Plagues.

tive measures. The malady had then extended from France to
the banks of the Rhine, and was observed at Frankfort and in
the duchy of Nassau in the month of January^ ^32. On the 4th
of February it was at Wallsdorf, in the country of Idstein and
Nassau; and on the 5th was in the baihwicks of Limburg and
Wehen of that duchy. ^ At the same time it was extending in
the north of France, and indeed had become general over the
whole kingdom, where it was named maladie de la langue, vessie
a la langue, vial de langue, charhon, chancre volant, &c. At Lan-
guedoc, in the south, Sauvages noticed it : ' This plague, which
came through France, attacked and slew horses, oxen, and mules,
as well as men, atNemausi (Nismes), in 1732. Its symptoms w^ere
a carbuncle at the root of the tongue, so that the whole organ was
gradually eaten out in a few days. The attacked quickly suc-
cumbed, because, besides fever and want of strength, there was
complete prostration of functions.^ ^ This celebrated author was,
I think, the first to give it the name of ' glossanthrax.'

In the ' Maison Rustique' will be found various records of
this visitation in France. Its manifestations were similar to
those of the epizooty of 1682; consisting, first, in the appearance
of a vesicle on the tongue, occupying sometimes its base, some-
times the upper part, and at other times the sides of this organ.
This vesicle was primarily of a white colour, then it became red,
and in a very short time it assumed a livid or black hue. Then
it began to increase considerably in size, burst, and became an
ulcer of a chancrous character, which penetrated the whole
substance of the tongue, and caused the death of the animal.
So prompt was the course of the malady, that sometimes in less
than twenty-four hours from its commencement it had passed
through all its stages. There was no external sign to announce
its existence when an animal was first attacked ; nothing but an
inspection of the tongue could reveal its presence; and the most
astonishing feature of the disease was, that the creature could eat,
drink, and perform all its ordinary functions, until the tongue
fell to pieces. It was remarked in 1731, that horses withstood
the epizooty better than horned cattle. Its origin was attributed

^ Franqiie. Op. cit., p. 122.
- Sauvages, Nosolog. Methodica, ed. Daniel., torn ii. p. 249.

History of Animal Plagues. 253

in 1 73 1 J to the dryness of that year, which compelled the herb-
ivorous animals to eat the leaves of trees, and these w^ere covered
with caterpillars. The disease was very contagious, and was com-
municated not only by the immediate contact of the humour exud-
ing from the sore, but even by the instruments employed to dress
the ulcers. The most successful method of treating the malady
was to scrape, with any silver instrument, the vesicle as soon as it
appeared, and then wash the tonguewith a decoction of garlic, salt,
pepper, and asafoetida in vinegar, according to the Hippocratian
maxim : maVignorum rcmedia sunt lac, alliinn, viniim fervcf actum
sal et acetum. When the margin of the ulcer became hard and
callous it was dressed with oil of vitriol.^ In Italy, where it was
designated the cancro volaute, it extended as regularly and
rapidly as elsewhere ; and, particularly in the Venetian States,
caused much alarm. It reached Ferrara and the Romagna ; at-
tacked horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs; and altogether disappeared
in that country in 1732.^

It has been regarded as somewhat singular that the malady
did not extend more towards the north, nor towards Lower
Germany. That it did not enter the latter region, there is the
positive testimony of a contemporary writer, Engel.^

Towards the end of 1732, a very general epidemy of influenza
overspread nearly the whole of the known world, traversing it
from east to west, according to Gluge.* It was observed in
Edinburgh in December, and in England at the commencement
of January. Horses and other animals were much affected with
disease before, or coincident with, the appearance of the malady.
Dr Arbuthnot describes the meteorological conditions of these
years in the following terms: ^ There have been of late two re-
markable instances of the influence of the air in producing an
epidemical disease, perhaps over the greatest part of the surface
of the earth ; the first happened in the year 1728, the last in the
latter end of the year 1732 and beginning of 1733, which, being

^ /Jg-i:r. La Maison Rustiquc. See also Rencxions sur la Maladic ilu Ik'tail,
p. 169.

2 Bottani. Op. cit., p. 151. Muratori. Annali d'ltalia, vol. -xii. p. ic>2.
^ Riti^cl. Dc Briitoriim ^Iorbus. Rintellii, 1733.
* Gliii^c. Influenza, p. 8i.

254 History of Animal Plagues.

the most recent and remarkable, I shall give a short descrip-
tion of it, till a more particular one can be procured from the
collected memoirs of the several countries which it invaded^ of
which I have seen only a few,

'The previous constitution of the air was, in England and in
the greater part of Europe, a great drought, which may be in-
ferred from the failure of the springs, in the abatement of the
fresh water in all its usual currrents and reservoirs, which are the
best measure of the quantity of moisture falling from the clouds.
What is most generally taken notice of in the accounts I have
seen from Germany, France, and some other places, was, that
the air in the beginning of winter, especially in November, was
more than usually filled with thick and frequent fogs, the matter
of which was not precipitated on the earth in rain, snow, or any
other beneficial dispensations. Fogs are so usual in this country
in November, that there was nothing particular observed about
them that I know of. But there was hardly anything fell from
the clouds during the month of November, except a very small
quantity of snow, attended with a frost of no long duration;
and this was all the winter we had. In the northern parts of
France there was a very small quantity of snow, which lasted
from their 15th and our 4th of November, till after Christmas.
This was succeeded by southerly winds and stinking fogs, during
which there was observed, by some chirurgeons, a great disposition
in wounds to mortify. Both before and during the continuance
of the disease in England, the air was warm beyond the usual
temper of the season, with great quantities of sulphureous
vapours, producing great storms of wind from the south-west,
and sometimes liehtninff without thunder.

' As to the time of invasion of the disease, it was diflferent
in diflferent countries. It invaded Saxony and the neighbouring
countries in Germany about the 15th of November, and lasted
in its vigour till the 29th of the same month. It was earlier in
Holland than in England, earlier in Edinburgh than in London.
It was in New England before it attacked Britain; in London
before it reached some other places westward, as Oxford, Bath,
&c. ; and, as far as I can collect from accounts, it invaded the
northerly parts of Europe before the southerly. It lasted in its

History of Animal Plagues. 2^^

vigour in London from about the middle of January^ ^73^-3t
for about three weeks. The bill of mortality, from Tuesday, the
23rd, to Tuesday, the 30th of January, contained in all 1 588,
being higher than any time since the plague. It began in Paris
about the middle of their February, or the 21st of our January,
and lasted till the beginning of their April, or the 21st of our
JNIarch; and I think its duration was longest in the southerly
countries. It raged in Naples and in the southern parts of
Italv in our March. The disease, in travelling from place to
place, did not observe the direction, but went often contrary to

the course of the winds It was matter of fact that there

was a previous ill constitution of the air, noxious to animal
bodies. In autumn, and long afterwards, a madness among
dogs. The horses were seized with the catarrh before mankind ;
and a gentleman averred to me that some birds, particularly the
sparrows, left the place where he was during the sickness.-' ^ A
medical society in Edinburgh gives another account of it : ' This
epidemic distemper, above described, spread itself over all Europe,
and also infested the inhabitants of America: so that it was,
perhaps, the most universal disease upon record. The first
accounts we have of anything like it this last year in Europe was
in the middle of November, from Saxony, Hanover, and other
neighbouring countries in Germany. It raged at the same time
in Edinburgh, and Basil, in Switzerland. It appeared in London
and in Flanders after the first week in January, towards the
middle of which it reached Paris, and about the end of the month
Ireland began to suffer. In the middle of February Leghorn
was attacked, and near the end of it the people of Naples and
Madrid were seized with it. In America it began in New
Eiifland about the middle of October, and travelled southward
to Barbadoes, Jamaica, Peru, and Mexico, much at the same
rate as it did in Europe.' -

To our celebrated countryman, Gibson, we are indebted for
a really excellent description of the affection as it was observed

1 An Essay concerning the ciTects of Air on Human Bodies, by >//// Aibutlnwt,
M.D. London, 1751, p. 193.

2 Medical Essays and Observations, publislicd by a society in Edinburyli.
3rd edit. vol. ii.

2,56 History of Animal Plagues.

in the horse, 'About the end of the year 1732, there was a
very remarkable distemper among the horses in London and in
several other parts of the kingdom. They were seized suddenly
with a vehement dry, sounding cough^ which shook them so
violently that some of them were often ready to drop down with
hard straining and want of breath ; their throats were raw and
sore ; many of them had their kernels (submaxillary glands)
swelled^ and painful to the touch. For the first two days, most
of them refused all manner of food as well as water, and had so
many other bad signs, that when this distemper first broke out,
many were afraid of a mortality coming among them ; and,
indeed, the only good sign they had was the vehemence of their
cough, that both kept their blood in motion and speedily set
them a running at the nose, which generally began the third
dav; and continued in so profuse a manner for five or six days,
that some of them in that time discharged as much as two or
three pails would hold of purulent matter, which, however, was
generally of a laudable colour and good consistence. While the
running at the nose continued they would not feed much,
though their appetites were craving, because the matter mingled
so much with their food as to render it altogether disagreeable,
so that they lost their flesh exceedingly; but this loss of flesh
proved a benefit to them rather than a detriment, and as soon as
the running abated they ate voraciously and soon recovered
their flesh. This distemper, though no ways mortal, yet was so
very catching, that when any horse was seized with it, I observed
those that stood on each hand of him were generally infected as
soon as he began to run at the nose, in the same manner as the
small-pox communicates the infection when they are upon the
turn. While this sickness lasted, above a hundred of the troop
horses under my care were seized with it. I always caused the
sick horses to be removed from the sound as soon as they were
taken ill, and put by themselves, as in an hospital. And in one
troop of Horse Grenadiers we filled a stable of thirty-six standings
in three days; an infirmary of five standings, and another of
eighteen standings, in three or four days more; nevertheless,
all of them recovered in a short time. Also many gentlemen's
horses, where I was concerned, did well without any remaining

History of Animal Plagues. 257

taint from the distemper; and it was observable that some who
had been subject to a dry cough before this siekncss_, continued

more free from it for some time afterwards The horses

that chiefly escaped the distemper were those that had been kept
in constant strong exercise, or full-aged old horses, many of
which were no ways infected, though very much exposed to it.' '

A.D. 1733. Famine and swarms of locusts in Germany.
'The flights of locusts increased the general dearth by in-
vading various localities hitherto unvisited. In these places
they remained for some years. This was the case with the
Eastern locusts particularly, which in this year came from Tar-
tary and_ settled themselves in several provinces of Germany,
where they lingered until 1739.'-

A.D. 1734. Epidemic fever (scarlatina?) in England and
Scotland. In July Huxham says, 'Many birds died whilst
moulting.' For August he observes, ' Many song-birds have
perished, and cicadae are very seldom heard. The summer was
more overcast, colder, and lately more rainy than usual. Every
place was covered with water and mud.' ^

Short writes : ' In August a nephritic colic, or stoppage of
urine, was frequent among horses, of which they died in two
days, if not quickly bled and purged freely. A horse, when
near his end, ran his head against the wall or sfround with his
greatest force, and thrust till he died.' *

An eplzooty amongst horses in England and Scotland,
which Heusinger thinks may have been scarlatina, or, at any
rate, an exanthematous fever; because Huxham, for this period,
describes an epidemy which has certainly much resemblance to
an affection of that kind. Short, however, does not mention
any particular disease as present in the human species for the year.
Gibson again affords us a description of the symptoms of this
equine disorder. ' About two years after this, in 1734, another
epidemical distemper happened in the spring, that j^rovcd more
fatal than this, though by reason of its short continuance it was

• W. Gibson. A New Treatise on the Diseases of Horses. Lonilcin, 1754,
vol. i. p. 375-

* Asso. Y del Rio von den Ilcuschrccken. Rostock, 17871 P- 7-

3 Huxham. Op. cit., p. 96. * Short. Op. cit., vol. ii. p. 226.

17

258 Histojy of Animal Plagues.

much less taken notice of than the first. In the one, the
horses coughed so vehemently in the street, and many of the
hackney-coach and cart-horses that were obliged to work, had
their noses in so nasty a condition, and so much exposed to
open view, that they could not avoid being seen by everybody.
But this other distemper was not so universally talked of, though
vast numbers were seized with it, and some died suddenly.
They were seized with a very hot, burning fever, and their flesh
seemed so sore and tender that they could scarce bear to be
touched. They were generally costive, staled but little, and
that with pain and straining, and of a very high colour. They
refused all manner of sustenance, and were so extremely sick
that they would not drink, neither did I perceive any of them
offer to lie down till their distemper came to a crisis. Upon
treating them with cooling and opening medicines, with plen-
tiful bleeding, they generally recovered. I was confirmed in
this method by several symptoms that appeared upon the turn
of the distemper, some of them having very hot and inflamed
eruptions, which broke out in several parts, with blisters resem-
bling St Anthony's fire, and some of them had large bags of
water on the sides of their bellies, or towards their flanks, which
the farriers called water farcy, but, indeed, was the effect of a
very hot and inflamed blood.^ ^

In England, canine madness prevailed.^ Rutty writes :
'Spring very warm (and so in England), but followed by a
cold and nipping May, which hurted the fruits and burned the
grass. In February there was a very great rot among the hares.
In open winters there is a young spring of grass, which they
and the sheep feeding on, it proves pernicious.' ^

In October of this year, according to Albrecht, an epizootic
dysentery, accompanied by swelling of the head, attacked poultry,
especially geese, in the neighbourhood of Coburg. They died
with their bills open. In the grand duchy of Baden, gloss-
anthrax was somewhat prevalent.*

A.D. 1735. Plague in Egypt amongst men. During the
winter in North America, an epidemy affecting the throat and

^ Gibson. Op. cit., vol. i. - Websie)'. Op. cit. ^ Rutty, Op. cit.

* Wirth. Op. cit., p. 362.

History of Animal Plagues, 259

respiratory organs {angina ulcusculosa) nearly exterminated all
youno- children. The weather was cold and wet. An epizooty
was prevalent at the same time.^

A most unhealthy year in England. In July, ' this season
more like winter than summer; all garden fruits sour and un-
ripe. Scarce a grasshopper to be heard or butterfly to be seen ;
many little singing birds die in casting their feathers.' August,
' Never was a wetter season at the time of year ; many singing
birds die ; very little honey. Leaves fall off the trees as if autumn
was past. Many mad dogs run up and down.' October,
' Many were bit by mad dogs.' November, ' Several mad dogs
run about.' ^

The weather for a long time, indeed, appears to have been
most severe and trying for ruminants at pasture. For instance.
Short writes in 1734: 'June 12. Began the long wet season, and
continued mostly so to Feb. 2, 1736, viz. a year and eight
months, after two years and nine months' drought.'^

An agricultural work, referring to ' the great losses that
several farmers sustained by the most noted sheep rot of 1735'
in England, remarks : 'This rot of sheep and lambs was the
most general one, I believe, that has happened in the memory of
man, because it rotted those deer, sheep, lambs, hares and conies,
that fed on lands where rain-waters were retained on or near
the surface of the earth for some time ; and as I have elsewhere
observed, the dead bodies of rotten sheep were so numerous in
roads, lanes, and fields, that their carrion stench and smell proved
extremely offensive to the neighbouring parts, and to passant
travellers.'*

The affection appears to have been particularly severe in the
Vale of Aylesbury, where one farmer lost 300 sheep within the
year, and another sold 100 sheep in Leighton Buzzard market
for sixpence each, rather than take them home again.

Rutty, who mentions hares being affected with 'rot' in
1734, in Ireland, observes of this year: 'It may, perhaps, be
worth observing, that notwithstanding the excessive moisture

' Ilccker. Op. cit., p. 24S. ^ Iluxliam. Op. cit.

^ Short. Op. cit., vol. ii. p. 225.

^ The Shepherd's Sure Guide. London, 1749-

26o Histojy of Animal Plagues.

of the season, or rather the continued moisture of several seasons
successively^ yet that no general rot appeared among the sheep
now nor for many years past/ Therefore, he argues, that the
murrain or pestilence among cattle ' which invades sometimes
this, sometimes that species of animals, is not from mere redund-
ant moisture, but from other causes/^

In this year the Cattle Plague was again introduced into
Italy, but this time by war. The pest had not yet been extin-
guished in Poland or Germany up to this time, but was in all
likelihood maintained in an active condition during the war for
the Polish throne in 1733. Certain it is, that when Charles
Emmanuel of Savoy, in alliance with France and Spain, com-
menced the series of military operations that resulted in the
capture of the Milanese territory in 1738, the contagion was
brought into Italy, which had scarcely begun to recover from
the visitation of 1730. Austrian armies had invaded that
country, carrying with them, as usual, Hungarian or Steppe
cattle. It soon spread over the whole of Italy. A mandate,
issued at Venice on the 9th of October, shows that it was then
devastating Friuli, Bassanese, Trevigiano, and in the Coneg-
lianese." On the 3rd of December it had reached the provinces
of Verona, Brescia, and Crema,^ and on the 4th of January fol-
lowing, its dreadful presence was felt at Mantua and Milan.
From thence it spread rapidly, and was soon carried over the
Roman States, and into Piedmont, where it raged until 1739.*

Ulloa, who was a resident in South America from this year
until 1746, is the first author who has told us of the existence
of, and describes, the ^ distemper^ in dogs in that country.^ Of
its oftentimes prevailing in Peru in recent days we have ample
testimony, but according to Rengger,*^ it is unknown in Paraguay,
a fact sufficiently worthy of notice.

A deadly disease appears to have been prevalent amongst
cattle in Scotland about this period. Dr Gilchrist, a phy-

1 Rittty. Op. cit. - Bottani. Op. cit., p. 155. ^ Ibid. p. 161.

* For descriptions of this outbreak, see Mazzuchelli. Notizie Pratiche, &c.
Milan, 1736. Pascoli. Delle Risposte, &c. Rome, 1736.

5 Ulloa. Relacion Historica del Viage a la America Meridional. Madrid,
1748, vol. i. ; also Noticias Americanas. Madrid, 1792.

" Retigger. Siiugthiere von Paraguay, p. 156.

History of Animal Plagiics. 16 1

sician at Dumfries, in an Essay on 'Nervous Fevers/ notices
it casually as follows : ' One thing I would not miss to take
notice of here : the distemper so mortal amongst the cattle
in this country, is a fever of a particular kind. I know of
no medicine that has been of much service, either to pre-
vent or to cure it. The most successful method to prevent
it is, when the cattle are thought to be infected, or the in-
fection near, to change the grass, by which they are purged,
and this is the ordinary effect of new grass. We cannot think
that it is owing to the particular qualities of the grass as a
proper antidote that they are preserved, grass being much the
same everywhere; but it must be from its purging quality, for
if this visible effect does not follow, I'm afraid they will not
escape. This suggests to us the use of purgatives in this disease
of the cattle, which, amongst the many remedies handed about,
and said to do wonders, is scarce ever thought of.' ' Having
mentioned this disease of the cattle, a comparison might be made
betwixt it and some fevers that have affected human bodies, so
far as they may be found to proceed from the same first cause,
viz. the air and weatlier. For some years the seasons have not
been orderly. They have been unkindly, as they say. Warm
open winters without frost, rainy summers and harvests, have
been generally complained of. If by these a distemperature of
the fluids is brought on, it will be kept up so long as the general
course of the weather is the same.' ^

A.D. 1736-7. The weather was intensely hot during the
summer of 1736 in England, and gnats were so numerous all
over the country, but more especially in the neighbourhood of
Salisbury and Wiltshire, that they occasioned great annoy-
ance. Flying in dense clouds, they sometimes were observed
to ascend above Salisbury Cathedral spire. In 1737 there was
an eruption of Mount Vesuvius and a comet, as well as some
shocks of earth(juake. Influenza in man in England in ';j,6. ^A
pestilential distemper made sad havoc of the cattle and swine in
the south of Devonshire in October.' ^ In January, '^J, catarrh-

> Dr Gilchrist. Medical Essays and Observations by a Society in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh, 1737, vol. iv. p. 366.
2 T. Short. Op. cit., p. III.

262 History of Animal Plagues.

al fever was still prevalent in mankind. ^ Many horses had it
at the same time, and died.'^ In February, ' Ananginous cough
still among horses/^

Wirth mentions epizootic pleuro-pneumonia in oxen here
and there in Switzerland, until 1739. The Cattle Plague devas-
tated Piacenza and Lodi.^ Convulsive ergotism appeared in
mankind in Silesia and Bohemia (1736), and Antoine Soring,
the historian of the epidemy, notices that it had been remarked,
and the subject had been demonstrated by experiment, that
spurred rye produces disease in fowls and mammiferous animals,
and that when we know positively that animals are affected in
this way during epidemics of ergotism, we may conclude that the
rye is very rich in ergot, and its action very violent.

A.D, 1738. In this year the Cattle Plague had been carried
into Upper Italy.* In England, in January, great floods drowned
thousands of cattle. In July a fearful storm, of thunder, light-
ning, and hailstones, some of which were solid as ice, and from
five to nine inches in circumference. Cattle suffered very much.^

When Steller, a pupil of the great Linnaeus, was at Tobolsk,
Siberia, in this year, there was an epidemy of pestilential car-
buncles among the people ; the disease was said to be so con-
tagious, that healthy persons who approached the sick were
seized with the malady. The plague had first shown itself in
horses and oxen, and subseqently attacked the human species.
It was reported that the cattle were affected in various ways, —
some had suddenly set off running with all possible speed, and
continued to do so, till they were quite exhausted and dropped
down dead. On other cattle carbuncles appeared, which were
dressed with a thin poultice, made of an herb mixed with yeast,
whilst a large quantity of this herb was mixed with their food;
by these means great numbers were cured. The herb is stated
to have been the Centaurea, and is described by this botanist as
follows: squamis ovatis, foliis pinnatis, foliolis decurrentibus
linearibuSj serratis et integris.^ The wounds were sprinkled with

1 T. Short. Op. cit., p. 112. 2 i\^^^^ Loc. cit.

•^ Miwatori. Aniiali, vol. xii. p. 238.

* Boitani. Op. cit., p. 180. Bianchi. Relazione dell'Epidemia de' Buoi.
Arimino, 1738. ^ T. Short. Op. cit., pp. 242, 243.

^ Flor. Siberic, vol. ii. p. 89, Fab. 41. This is the same plant as that figured

History of Animal Plagues. 263

powdered sal ammoniac, and healed speedily. Human beint^s
were treated in the same way, except that they were made to
take the herb in decoction, and it proved with them equallv
efficacious.^

A.D. 1739. In the beginning of this year the first great po-
tato rot occurred in Ireland. It was believed to have been caused
solely by the intense frost that began about Christmas, 1739, and
continued until late in the following spring. 'At the conclusion
of the year 1739, there happened an exceedingly cold winter,
remarkable for a very severe frost, continuing until spring.
From this dreadful and indescribable hard frost, there arose,
shortly afterwards, not only a great destruction of all sorts of
cattle, but a lamentable blight and calamitous rot of plants
and vegetables of all kinds, for the very birds of the air and
other animals used for human sustenance perished in great num-
bers from the excessive harshness of the cold season.^ ^

A.D. 1740. An exceedingly severe winter in England. 'In-
expressible was the damage done by this frost; for the rainy
summer and harvest had caused a rot among sheep in low coun-
tries ; and this storm starved and killed many in the high moors,

so as in some parts scarce was there seed left to breed on

Many horses and much cattle were lost. . . . Spain was said to
suffer near as much that winter by deluging rains.^^ The barley
and fruit crops were destroyed, and famine raged in many
countries.

In Ireland, Rutty alludes to the severe frost of 1739-40, and
the destruction of the potatoes, vast quantities of small birds and
game, as v/ell as fish. He also mentions sheep dying from ' rot,'
and many from 'red-water' (sanguineus ascites); deer likewise
perished in such numbers, that in the King's (Phoenix) Park,
Dublin, out of 2000, 800 were lost. The rabbits suffered so
severely, that they did not reach their usual abundance for nine
or ten years after. He also says : ' The strand in the neighbour-

in the Hort. Lugdan. Batavorum, p. 89, Fab. 41, and called Cyauus FloriJns
Odoratus Turcicus, sett Orientalis Major^ flore luleo. It is collected previous to its
time of flowering, though the powder is made before the flowcr-slalk has appeared.

* Gmelin. Flora Sibcrica. Philosophical Transactions. 1753.

- O'Ccz/wc//' J Observations. ^ T. S/iort. Op. cil., p. 254.

264 History of Animal Plagiccs.

hood of Irishtown was famous for the quantities of shrimps
caught there, but the great frost of 1740 destroyed them, and the
few that are now (1776) found are neither so large nor dehcate.'^
Another authority in Ireland writes : 'March nth. We have
dismal accounts from several parts of the kingdom, that besides
the great number of sheep which die daily, the wool peels off
those that are living, and is scattered up and down the fields in
such small quantities, that it will be impossible to gather it.
April 15th. There is now as great a scarcity of provisions in
the city (Dublin) as ever was known, and it is much to be feared
all over the kingdom. Several thousand sheep have died in
Counaup-ht within the last two months.^^

During this and the two following years, great ravages were
committed by a most destructive insect in many provinces of
Sweden. This creature destroyed all the meadows by devouring
every kind of herbage, except the foxtail grass.^

Petechial fever and malignant sore-throat were rife among
mankind in England. In the month of May, Huxham writes :
' Violent cough, with sore-throat, oppressed horses and other ani-
mals in general. It often attacked a herd of neat cattle with
such effect that only a few escaped. The sheep suffered very
much from cough, and became emaciated and withered. Great
numbers died, and their livers were found to be very greatly en-
larged and schirrous ; but the gall-bladder was enormously in-
creased, and was turgid with black bile.' * The Cattle Plague
had extended or broken out anew in Hungary, and passed into
Bohemia and Bavaria.

From this period up to the end of the eighteenth century, it
may be truly said that this bovine scourge was never absent
from some part of Europe, and that the principal cause of its ex-
tension and perpetuation is to be found in the almost continuous
wars occurring during the interval. We have seen that, in
1735, hostilities introduced it into Italy. The war of the
Austrian Succession, on the death of Charles VI., in 1740,
aided largely in maintaining and disseminating it ; as the Hun-

1 Eufty. Op. cit. - rue's Occurrences.

3 Amoen. Acad., vol. vi. p. 17. * Huxham. Op. cit., p. 232.

History of Animal P /agues. 265

garians — who lent their assistance to Maria Theresa^ the
daughter of Charles — and the Austrians drew their supplies of
cattle from Hungary. The movements of the hostile armies, ac-
companied^ as they were, by infected droves, diflused the conta-
gion far and wide, and rendered futile all attempts to suppress it
at the seat of war. And at a later period, Frederick the Great,
contending repeatedly with the armies of Austria and Russia,
carried the pestilence about in his own dominions, or was the
means of importing new sources from the adjacent countries.
The principal of these irruptions will be alluded to in the order
of their occurrence.

A.D. 1 741. Very irregular seasons, and a cloudy siniimer.
A most severe winter in America, where many cattle perished
for want of food. In England, horses, cattle, and sheep died
from starvation. Huxham again writes for the month of March,
when people in England were suffering from catarrhs and an-
ginas : ' Almost all horses, unless w-ell taken care of in their
stables, were affected with a purulent cough and mange, became
emaciated and weak, so that many perished.^ ^

In Ireland, for February 17th, it is recorded: 'We hear from
different parts of the country, that numbers of people daily die
of fluxes and fevers, from want of proper food ; and that there
is great sickness among horses, of which numbers die, which
people eat for want of other victuals.' ^

'Tillage in the year 1740 was sadly deficient, owing perhaps
as much to the despair of the people as to their actual sufferings;
but whatever the cause, the effect was the same, and the year
1 741 was even worse than that which preceded it. Horses,
cows, sheep, pigs, and poultry, all were struck by the plague,
and perished; and the mortality of the j)eople must have been
increased by feeding on the diseased animals. There were, also,
it is said, shoals of dead fish cast on shore, on which the people
also fed, but it is not believed that such food was unv.holesome.
The next harvest was plentiful, and it was said that, cows being
very scarce, a sheep produced as much milk that year as a cow
would in ordinary seasons. The year 1741 was always mcn-

' Iluxham. Op. cit., p. 232. "^ Faulknfr'' s \}\\\A\\\ ]o\\\\\7i\.

266 History of Animal Plagues.

tlonecl as Bliadhain an air — ' the year of the slaughter.' ^ Dur-
ing the progress of a bill passed against forestalling and regrat-
ingj bv the Irish Parliament, it was ordered that ' the committee
be empowered to receive a clause to prevent persons from selling
distempered cattle, knowing them to be so/ ^ Hughes states
that many dogs went mad in Barbadoes during this year. ^

A.D. 1742. Two comets were seen. The winter was long
and cold. Epidemic influenza in England. For the month of
May, Huxham reports: *^Not only were these rains most grateful
in watering the fields, but also in destroying caterpillars. For
the disease in vegetation was very severe at that time. And
besides, it gently hindered the attacks on the crops of a new
race of black caterpillars, for they grew healthy and abundant.
These caterpillars came in vast crowds from the mountains like
a torrent, and threatened to devastate the whole land.' In Au-
gust there were 'innumerable wasps, tree-crickets or cicada?,
caterpillars, and many mad dogs.' *

Rutty remarks for Ireland : ' The cold and dry spring was
attended with disorders not unlike those of the two preceding
and cold springs, particularly colds, and chincoughs, and the
measles were exceedingly frequent ; the infirm, both old and
young, and particularly the asthmatic, suffered greatly, and not
less remarkably than did the vegetables during this sharp, cold
season and prevalence of N.E. winds ; and the cold aflfected
not only mankind but the horses, and was fatal to several both
here and in England, particularly at Plymouth, where Huxham
observes that, in March, almost all the horses out of the stable
had the mange and a purulent cough. The summer was more
healthful than the spring, and the fever mentioned last year was
far less frequent, and disappeared entirely in winter.'^ For April,
we are told that there was 'a most violent cold raging among
horses, which killed many of them.' ^

Upon the 26th of August, in Dublin, there occurred 'a sudden
and great shower of rain, with great lightning, which killed the
fish of all sorts in the Liffey, which came down the stream,

^ Mr Curry to Dr Petrie, in pamphlet ' Famine in Ireland in 1740, 1741.'
^ The Commons' Journal. ^ Sir H. H. Schomburgh. Hist, of Barbadoes.
^ Huxham. Op. cit. ^ Rutty. Op. cit. " Faulkner's Journal.

History of Animal Plagues. 267

floating in great shoals, and were taken up in great quantities as
they were carried to the sea.' ^

The Cattle Plague was imported into Lorraine and the
Vosges.-

A.D. 1743. A cold and wet year. Meteors, earthquakes, and
a comet. For three months before epidemic influenza began in
man, the atmosphere was dense and humid, and on the 23rd of
January there was a stinking fog. In this month Huxham
noticed that ^ very many stags died on all sides ; ' in February
there was ' loathsome mange in horses, which has already lasted
a long time;' in March, 'mange greatly disfigures horses, and
some which are affected perish from emaciation, others perish from
suffocation arising from cough and sore-throat.' ^

The whole of the sheep in the territory of Aries, France, died
from rot {pourriture)}

The Cattle Plao-ue accompanied the army from Bavaria into
Alsace, on the one side; on the other, it penetrated to France
through Switzerland, entering Franche-Comte and Dauphine.

Bovine contagious pleuro-pneumonia was prevalent in Suabia
and Switzerland, according to Wirth.^

Dr Grant asserts that the French term la grippe, as applied
to the influenza then reigning as an epidemy, was derived from
an insect of that name, which was remarkably common in France
during the previous spring, and which the people imagined con-
taminated the air."

A.D. 1744. For Ireland, it is noted: 'The autumn of this year
was uncommonly wet and cold, and much grain was spoiled in
the fields all over the North of Ireland from which this year was
called " The Rot Year." Provisions were scarce and bad the fol-
lowing spring, and a considerable mortality arose among the
cattle from the bad quality of their food.' ^

The Cattle Plague once more entered Italy, and again from
two different directions. War introduced it into Piedmont,

^ Dublin Gazette.

^ Bayard. Diction. Vettrinairc de Buchoz, article Epizootic.

^ Huxham. Op. cit.

* Iliirtrel d' Arhoval. Diction, de Med. Vetcrinairc, vol. i. p. 249.

^ Wirth. Seuchenlelire. Ziirich, 1S46.

8 An Essay on Influenza. London, 1782. '^ M'Skimtnius. Carrickfergus.

268 Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

where^ and in the adjoining countries to which it spread^ it was
most destructive; and it was at the same time imported into
Venice. Germany and Holland were also invaded by the
pestilence ; but these invasions will be noticed more fully here-
after.

269

CHAPTER VI.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1745 TO 1771.

A.D. 1745. In Januarv there was a great overflow of the
Liffey, especially about Dublin, where men and cattle were
drowned. Rutty remarks, ' In March was a famine among the
black cattle in the Co. Sligo and Roscommon ; also oats and
potatoes were very dear. In April there was a mortality among
the black cattle, which was common to us and other parts of
Europe, promoted greatly here, if not occasioned, by want of
food and by bad hay. The horses also died in great numbers.' ^

' A great fall of snow this year that smothered vast numbers
of cattle and sheep, which caused a great many farmers to sur-
render their lands.' -

A.D. 1745-71. The year 1745 is remarkable in our record
as that in which the ' Cattle Plague' was carried into England,
Ireland, and Scotland (?) from the Continent of Europe, where,
as we have already seen, it had been extending itself and causing
an immense amount of destruction among horned cattle since
the war for the Polish throne in 1733,' or since its supposed
outbreak at the siege of Prague, Bohemia, in 1740.

^ Rrtlty. Op. cit. "^Dutlon. History of Cnlway.

* In the Journal dc Tnh'oux for May 1757, there is a letter from tlie Cure of
Ypres, describing how, in 1735, a pestilential disease among cattle broke out at
Ulm, on the banks of the Danube, where for a time it made great ravages ; it was
soon, however, stamped out by the care which was speedily taken to prevent all

270 History of Animal Plagues.

In 1745, it appears to have reached Constantinople; for,
according to Dr Murdoch Mackenzie, who was then residing in
that city, there was ' a great murrain among the black cattle in
Turkey/ in May of that year ; and in the beginning of June
'there came immense swarms of butterflies, as well as caterpillars
creeping everywhere. After this the plague raged severely in
mankind.' ^

I will briefly notice what some of the English writers have
said relative to the pestilence in this country, and will then pass
on to glance at some of the statements of a few foreign authori-
ties; observing, however, that this not being a special treatise
on the disease, I regret I cannot notice the subject more fully,
and that much valuable and interesting matter pertaining to the
epizooty at this time must be omitted.

The malady was believed to have been introduced from Hol-
land to England, either by two calves which a farmer at Poplar
had sent for, in order to cross the breed of his cows, — or the
contagion was conveyed by a parcel of infected hides from Zea-
land. Perhaps the disease had its origin from both sources;
though it is certain that it first showed itself in the immediate
neighbourhood of London, on the Essex side of the river; from
thence it gradually spread through Essex and Hertfordshire,
reached London, and once there, was not long in being widely
propagated in every direction over the kingdom. It appears to
be also certain that its introduction into Berkshire was due to
two cows which had been purchased at a fair in Essex, after the
disease had obtained a footing there.

There was nothing very noticeable in the temperature, nor
were there any particular diseases prevalent in mankind when
this plague commenced. The spring and summer had been rather
wet, but the autumn was dnj and cold, and the early winter
damp and cold. The cows of the farmer who had bought the
calves soon sickened and died ; cases of a similar character quickly

communication between the infected and the healthy animals. France was then at
war with Austria, and as cattle had to be collected on every side for the subsistence
of the armies, this contagious disease was spread everywhere around. The cure
above-mentioned thought the malady resembled somewhat the ex^anthematous
catarrhal fever that he had seen attacking man.
' Philosophical Transactions. 1764.

History of Animal Plagues.

Ill

manifested themselves in the neighbourhood, and the infeetion
was carried far and near from these various and continually in-
creasing centres. It is recorded that soon after the epizootv
declared itself in London, a disease broke out among the cattle
in Argyllshire, Scotland, which killed six thousand animals.
Whether or not this was the same affection, however, I believe
there is no evidence to show.

Dr Mortimer is the first writer whom I can find dcscribincr
the epizooty as it appeared in London. His account of it is
contained in a paper read before the Royal Society on the 21st
November, 1745. He says :

' As to the distemper now reigning among the cattle, I am
Informed by the cow-keepers that a cow shall be seemingly
well, and feed heartily, over-night, or in the morning, and give
the usual quantity of milk; that in twelve hours' time they shall
all of a sudden abate in their milk near half, and entirely fall
off their stomach, so as neither to eat or drink, and then
gradually lose all their milk. As soon as they perceive this
they give them a warm mash of malt, or the following drench :
"Take two ounces of caraway-seeds, boil them in a quart of
water, and strain it ; add a gill of white wine, and a quarter of a
pound of honey." Their teeth arc commonly observed to be
loose,^ for which they lance the gums and rub them with salt
and vinegar. The very first day they have a huskiness, breathe
short, and wheeze, but have no great cough ; for which they
have blooded them (in too small quantities), and rubbed their
noses with tar, but with no success. Some hang down their
heads, and run much at the nose, for which they lay a bag of
scalding hot malt at their heads, tying it between their horns.
This has sometimes relieved this symptom, but the beasts have
not recovered. The second or third day most of them, not all,
fall into a purging, groan much, and seem to be in great pain.
The stools I have seen seem to be bilious, have cakes of jelly
come away with them, and some were streaked with blood.
They soon die after these stools come on. Those that are kept
out in the cold air seldom live beyond the third day; those that
are kept warm in houses and chjthed, live five, six, or even

' This is the normal condition of llic ox's incisor teeth.

272- History of Animal Plagues.

seven days. Many of the cows I have seen have a wild stare
with their eyes; the whites of the eye and the skin of the eyeUds
looked yellowish; their tongues looked white; they had an
extraordinary heat in their mouths, at the roots of their horns
(a place where they usually feel to judge of the heat of cattle),
or in the axilla, or armpit, if I may so call it. The mucus run-
ning from their nose is very thick and ropy; their milk is thick
and yellow. In the two I have seen opened, the flesh and blood
looked much darker-coloured than usual. The fat of the first
looked yellow; the lungs were much inflamed in many places, and
had several large blisters, two or three inches over, full of water
on their outward surface; there was no water in the thorax,
little or none in the pericardium. The heart looked well, but
the blood in it was not at all clotted, being exceedingly fluid
and dark-coloured ; the paunch was very full of food and greatly
distended ; the stomach looked well ; the liver was full of
schirrous swellings and chalky knobs ; the gall-bladder bigger
than usual ; the gall fluid, but dark-coloured ; the intestines
inflamed in many places; the fat about the kidneys was dis-
tended with air; the kidneys were sound, as was the bladder
and uterus. This cow was not with calf. On opening the skull
there was much water gushed out. In the second cow the fat
was not yellow ; the lungs, heart, and stomach were like the
former; the liver was pale, flabby, not schirrous, but the gall-
bladder was very large ; the intestines inflamed, and in some
places livid ; the fat of the kidneys in this was sound, but one
of the kidneys was mortified. This cow was about a month gone
with calf. The man who skinned and opened these cows said
these were the general appearances in most he had skinned ;
only that in some he found water in the cells of the cores of the
horns. They skin off* the hide, which they say is good to tan,
and they save the fat to make tallow of. The skinner told me
that a poor man made a hearty meal of some stakes he cut off"
one of those cows, and that he was not sick with it (I am assured
that a very sufficient experiment was made in our army in Flan-
ders last campaign in favour of this).

' From these circumstances I think it evident that this dis-
temper begins by an inflammation of the lungs, attended with a

History of Animal Plagues. 273

catarrh or flux of hinnours from the nose; that \\\ the progress
of it there comes on an inflammation of the guts and a purging,
which ends in stools tinged with blood, exciting great pain in the
bowels, and so brings on death.

' Bleeding (in small quantities) has not been found cflectual,
nor in short any of the remedies yet made use of; therefore,
havino^ a chief re2;ard to the ultimate effort of nature, which
seems to be to carry off' the distemper by an extraordinary dis-
charge of gall, I hope the use of crocus metaUorum, a me-
dicine made use of with success in horses, and a great discharger
of gall, as I have known its good effects in the jaundice of men,
mav be attended with success. I have therefore proposed to
some cow-keepers to give to a cow, as soon as taken ill, one of
the following balls (!) " Take crocus metalloruvi half an ounce
(or more, according to the size and strength of the cow, or as
the first dose is found to operate), in powder ; make it into a
ball with dough or crumb of bread moistened ; give the cow a
draught of bran and warm water after it, and repeat the draught
after every purging stool.'' f'or the running at the nose, I am
told, that pouring a pint of warm vinegar, with an ounce of
salt, into the nostrils, has proved successful in making the cow
sneeze and discharge a great quantity of thick yellow mucus
and other matter from the nose, after which the cow recovered.
For the shortness of breath, T have advised the giving " whale-
oil, treacle of sugar, each a pint ; flower of brimstone four
ounces : give it in a mash of malt, or bran and water, twice or
thrice a day." For the scouring, first give the crocus purge
above mentioned ; then give them every six or eight hours the
following draught : " Take whiting one pound, bruise it; pour
boiling water upon it, a quart or more; let it stand to settle;
pour off" the clear water and fling it away ; then put a quart of
warm water to the wet whiting, and add bole armen'tac, in
powder, two ounces, Venice treacle one ounce, English malt
spirits half a pint." These proposals being founded upon the
apjjcarauce (jf the syn)i)toms, I hope they will be attended with
the wished-for success.' ^

FuuTiiiCR Obseuvatioxs. — 'Since my former paper on this

' riiil. Trans., vol. .\liii. p. 532.
18

274 History of Animal Plagues.

subject I have had an opportunity of being present when three
cows have been skinned and opened. The lungs in all were
inflamed and blistered^ and the guts in some places inflamed,
in others livid, the gall-bladders exceedingly large. A collar-
maker's man, who has been assisting in skinning above a
hundred dead cows, assures me these are the general appear-
ances in them all, except that in one he met with a large bag
full of corruption between the bag enclosing the heart and
the back-bone ; in another he found the gall-bladder quite con-
tracted and' shrivelled up, having little or no gall in it, and in
several he found schirrous knobs in the livers.

' Nov. 26. I desired Mr Hill, an ingenious apothecary in
Westminster, to accompany me to see a cow dissected, and to
help me examine everything very carefully, having got her
drawn into a shed, to defend us from the weather. When the
skin was taken off" she appeared very fat; the muscles looked of
a darker colour than usual. On opening the abdomen, the
caul {omentum) appeared very fat; the paunch was greatly dis-
tended; on making a puncture, much wind rushed out; it had.
in it a great deal of food ; the inside looked well and did not
peel ; the second and third stomachs, or the omasum, as also the
fourth stomach, or ahomasum, were almost empty, but looked
well; the liver was firm, well-coloured, and sound, except a few
schirrous knobs about the size of nutmegs; the gall-bladder was
exceedingly large, and full of very fluid gall ; the guts were in-
flamed in many places, the colon and caecum livid. I had the
curiosity to have them measured. From the anus to the in-
sertion of the caecum there were twelve yards (the caecum was
an ell long), and from the caecum to the pylorus there were
fifty-two yards. The midriff" {diaphragm) was much swelled, in-
flamed, adhered in some places to the pleura, and almost wholly
covered with bladders of water. There was no appearance of
any inflammation on the pleura, or in either the internal or ex-
ternal intercostal muscles; the windpipe was inflamed greatly
throughout its whole course, especially its inside ; but the gullet,
which lay so near it, was not in the least inflamed. The heart
was of its natural size, the pericardium full of very fluid blood,
probably from the bursting of some branch of the coronary

History of Animal Plagues. 275

arterv, caused by the extraordinary accumulation of blood in the
right ventricle; for the vena cava and right ventricle of the
heart were turgid and full of black coagulated blood, though this
cow had been dead but twelve or fourteen hours; the lungs
were likewise turgid with blood, but little or none was found in
the left ventricle or aorta; the obstruction seemed to have been
so great in the lungs that very Jittle blood could pass through
them from the right to the left ventricle of the heart, and there-
fore evidently evinces the existence of a confirmed peripneumony.
All the membranes lining the nostrils, and the spongy bones
thereof, were quite turgid with blood, and in the highest state
of inflanmiation. The greater and lesser brain looked fair and
well, seeming in no wav distempered. I have not seen in any
I have examined any cutaneous sores or exulcerations; nothing
like the boils, carbuncles, &c., described by authors as the con-
stant concomitants of plague in men ; nor does there seem to
be any attempt of nature to fling off the distemper by any inter-
nal imposthumation or discharge, unless by the running at the
nose, and by the bihous stools, or bilious urine. The few which
have recovered have been such as have been kept within-doors
very warm ; have been blooded once, twice, or oftener; have had
warm mashes of malt and bran given them ; and warm drenches
of warm herbs, such as rosemary, wormwood, and ground-iv\',
with honey or treacle, and have neither purged at all or but
little; and when they have not purged at all, their urine has
been observed to be as high-coloured as porter's beer.

' I am informed by the farriers and cow-leeches that a horse
or cow will bear to have near two gallons of blood taken away
without fainting. One cow I have seen, within about a month
or six weeks of her calving-time, was taken with the running
at the nose and the shortness of breath ; the owner of her imme-
diately took away out of the neck five quarts of blood by measure,
and gave her a warm mash of malt once in six or eight hours;
next day he cut her tail, and let her bleed two hours ; the
day after he took away two quarts from under the tongue,
and so cf)ntinucd bleeding her at fourteen or lilti'cn hours' dis-
tance, for seven times. vShe did not ])urge at ail ; her urine
was as high-coloured as coffee at first, but grew paler and jialer

276 History of Animal Plagues.

every time of bleeding; she soon recovered^ now eats heartily,
looks brisk, and has not slunk (aborted) her ealf.

^ The concern the cow-keepers are under for the loss of their
substance, the various methods offered to them, and their want
of judgment either to choose the most rational, or their want of
accuracy in making experiments and following directions, is
quite discouraging, and is the reason why none of them have
pursued any regimen so steadily as to give one an opportunity of
making conclusions from it; indeed, several own to me they are
quite bewildered, not knowing which way to turn themselves,
or whose advice to follow, what one says being quite contrary to
the directions given by another. Some to whom I have given
ray directions have blooded once, have given the purge twice,
but have not given the oily drench, or have given this once, and
have not repeated it ; others have given the chalky drench once,
and not repeated it, and have not followed the other parts of my
instructions ; so that I am sorry to find that I can have no satis-
factory experiments made. Yet, as the state of the disease seems
to be so evidently a pcripneumony, or inflammation of the lungs,
windpipe, and nostrils, attended with a redundance of gall, I
cannot forbear urging to the public the following method :
'^ Give to all cows in general, while well, half an ounce or an
once (according to the size of the cow) of crocus metaUorum.
As soon as a cow falls off her meat, give her another dose of
crocus metaUorum, and give her warm mashes of malt, bran, &c.
When she runs at the nose, lay a bag of malt-meal, wetted with
boiling water, upon the forehead and nose, tying it to her horns,
morning and evening; pour warm vinegar and salt into the
nostrils; if a short cough or difficulty of breathing comes on,
bleed her one quart twice a day, for three or four days, and
every six hours give the oily drench ; if a purging comes on, give
another dose of the crocus metaUorum ; if it continue, jrive the
chalky drench every six hours ; and if it does not abate in
twenty-four hours, inject the same mixture by way of glysters;
and if the husky cough continues with the purging, give the oily
drench one three hours, and the chalky drench the next three
hours. ^'

'Most of the cows which have recovered from this distemper

History of Animal Plagues. 277

recover their milk again as their appetites mend, but thcv are
observed to have scabby eruptions come out in their groins and
ax'illcB, which itch much, for a cow will stand still, hold out her
leg, and show signs of great pleasure when a man scratches these
pustules or scabs for her. I am informed that some cow-leeches
had given coloqu'uitidce and salt of tartar, each one ounce, in a
quart of warm ale ; but I imagine it must be too griping a
purge, and improper where the guts are inflamed. Indeed, I
have not heard of any cows recovering which took it.

'As for the cause of this distemper, I am still at a loss. I
think it cannot be owing to the food, because the cows which
had it first in Essex eat only grass, turnips, and hay or straw ;
the cows about London eat, some grass; all, grains and hay;
some, little or no grass, but live chiefly on grains, turnips, of!-
falls from the garden grounds, and hay. I am in doubt as to the
air; the sprijig and summer were very wet and the ground very
damp, the autumn was very dry and cold, the beginning of win-
ter very damp and cold. The cows in Essex had the distemper
in summer; it first began about London in autumn; it has
spread itself equally among cows which have lain in the fields
a-nights, and those which stood in stables or sheds ; it spread
itself in Essex, at first into such farms where they bought in
strange calves, or lean cows, at market, which they did not know
where they came from, but most probably from the hundreds
where the disease first broke out; but how it got thither, whether
by importing any cattle from Flanders, I know not, for surely
there is too wide a tract of sea for any infectious miasmata to be
wafted over to that part of the country by the winds ! This is
certain, the viscera concerned in respiration are the parts chicfiy
affected. Its spreading here in England has been progressive,
ai:d therefore one may reas<)nal)ly think it is not constitutionary
in the air, for then it ought to be universal everywhere; but
that it is contagious, and propagated by infected cows being
mixed with well cows, therefore the not buying-in calves or
strange beasts, but every farmer keeping his herd by itself, nuist
be a great means of preventing the propagation of it. And
housing the c(nvs a-nights may be a proper preservative against
it.'

278 Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

A third account was read by this gentleman on January 9th,

1746.

^ During the Christmas hoHdays we sent for some milk^ as
usual, from the vineyard in St Jameses Park, none of the cows
belonging to that house having as yet caught the distemper,
though three had already died in the Park. We used part of the
milk for chocolate, and set part by for cream for the next morn-
ing. The milk had a rank sourish smell, and taste like rank
butter, the cream next morning was more so. We boiled the
milk, which did not curdle, so we used the cream with tea,
though the taste was not very agreeable. The milk boiled
curdled in the tea; neither any of my family, nor a friend who
drank of it, found any inconvenience from it. Upon sending
the morning following for more milk, the people refused selling
any, saying one cow was taken ill, and another was near dry.
This was the cow whose milk we had had, and she died in forty-
eight hours. Next day another fell ill, and was knocked on the
head by the public officer, in about forty-eight hours after her
being seized. I had the curiosity to see this cow opened, which
was done the next day but one. The inflammation in general
in this creature was greater than what I had before seen in any
of those which died of the distemper. This cow had been blooded
about three weeks before she was taken, and once as soon as taken.
The caul {omentum) was greatly inflamed, the paunch inflamed,
and the inner coat peeled off, especially that of the abomasum ;
the guts were all inflamed, the liver was much inflamed in some
parts, in others was turned livid ; the gall-bladder was very
large, and the gall was very liquid ; the lungs adhered in many
places to the pleura, were greatly inflamed and turgid with
blood, and were in many places quite black. I did not find any
of the watery bladders on the surface of these, as 1 did on all the
others I had seen opened. Here^s an instance of the most sur-
prisingly quick progress of this distemper, and to such a violent
deo^ree, that I don^t think it in the power of medicines to have
prevented death ; but I think this case is still a further confirm-
ation of the necessity of plentiful bleeding as soon as a beast
falls sick, especially if a shortness of breath ensues. This cow was
not come to the stage of purging.

History of Animal Plagues. 279

' From the distemper getting into the Park, I think there is
reason to conchide it cannot arise solely from any fault in the
food, because the pasture is always good there, and, from the
great number of horses, always kept low, and the soil never
dunged or manured, and the cows have plenty of hay in winter.
How it got into the Park is very strange, there having been no
fresh cows brought in there since Welsh fair in August. And
this is further very observable, that though this distemper seems
so very infectious among the cow kind, yet I do not hear any of
the deer have fallen ill, which is much more likely to happen to
them than to the horses, because they chew the cud, these do
not. I humbly therefore suggest whether it would not be the
most likelv means to put a stop to the spreading of the distem-
per, to forbid any cows or calves being brought to market, to be
sold alive, or that any farmers should buy in any fresh cattle for
six months, or till it is found that the distemper is entirely
ceased ; and that all fat cattle should be kept carefully separated
from the cows and calves, and that under severe penalties.^ An
Appendix to the foregoing paper. ^ Upon my reading the fore-
going paper, some gentlemen present favoured the company
with the followincr informations and remarks. Mr Theobalds, a
worthy Member of the Society, and a diligent observer of remark-
able occurrences, informed the gentlemen present, that the first
infection of this dreadful distemper among the cow-kind was
brought over from Holland, in April, 1745, by means of two
white calves, which a fanner at i'oplar, near London, sent for in
order to mix the breed ; and that the infection was got to
Maidenhead, in Berkshire, by two cows brought out of Essex,
and sold at the fair there ; that there was observable a very dis-
airreeable smell in the clothes of persons who had been very con-
versant with sick cows, and that the infection had been propa-
gated by means of sheep, who, it is presumed, carried it in their
wool. Upon the mention of this scent in clothes, I remarked
that Dr Lobb, in his late book entitled Letters relating to the
Plague and other Contagious Distempers, recommends to i)er-
sons conversant about sick cows to wear a linen garment (over
their clothes) wetted with a mixture of salt and vinegar, and he
gives many prudent useful rules to farmers for the management

2,8o History of Animal Plagues.

of their sick cattle. Dr Parsons, another ingenious Fellow of
the Society, said, that the cattle in the high grounds about
Hampstead, Highgate, MillhilJ, and Hembdon had hitherto re-
mained free from the infection, but that it had spread all about
in the lower grounds.^

' Mr Hoffman, a learned Danish gentleman present at this
meeting, said this infection was first carried into Denmark by
raw hides of cattle dead of this distemper, rubbed with wood
ashes, in order to preserve them fit for tanning, which were
brought from Flanders ; that some cows sickened in a few days
after the unpacking of these hides in Denmark ; and that they
have lost upwards of 50,000 head of cattle in that kingdom. At
another meeting, Mr Collinson, a member greatly deserving of
the Society, acquainted the company present that a farmer in
Essex, who had the distemper among his cows, invited a neigh-
bouring farmer to come and assist him in giving drenches to
some of his sick cattle j the good-natured man went accordingly,
and spent best part of the day with his neighbour, to lend him
his help in his distress, little dreaming of what ill consequence
this friendly act was about to prove to himself; for being so
many hours conversant with the diseased cows, so much of the
infectious effluvia adhered to his clothes, that, as he was walking
home, which was about a mile and a half, his way lying through
a field in which several of his own cows were feeding, he no
sooner entered the field, but the cattle all left off their grazing,
ran to the farther end of the field snorting and flinging up their
noses, showing the greatest uneasiness at their master's approach,
and endeavouring, as much as possibly they could, to avoid him,
as though they smelt something very disagreeable ; and so in-
deed it proved to them, for the very next day many of them fell
sick, and died in a few days/ ^

^ At a later jjeriod of this outbreak, it was observed that Wiltshire and a few
other places remarkable for a light, porous, and dry soil, with an elevated and open
aspect, escaped the disease altogether, or were but lightly visited.

^ Philosophical Transactions, vol. xliv. A book entitled ' An Account of the
Present Epidemical Distemper amongst the Black Cattle, &c., by a Member of the
College of Physicians, published in London in 1745, may be mentioned here for
the purpose of reference. It is full of grave errors and imperfect or erroneous
observations, especially as regards the pathological anatomy of the disease in ques-

History of Animal P /agues. 281

Dr Lobl), the gentleman to whom Dr Mortimer refers, and
who appears to have been an early observer, writes: 'The con-
tagious distemper, which has for some time been among the
laroer cattle in foreign countries, and which, as 1 have been in-
formed, appears now among that sort of cattle in Essex, in Scot-
land, and in Ireland, is a subject not unworthy the consideration
of physicians. . . . The owner of cattle in a contagious season
should have a faithful servant continually in the day-time with
his herd (as the farmers in Wiltshire, and other countries, have
shepherds with their flocks of sheep) to watch, and observe when
any of them begm to grow sick, which the herdsman may dis-
cover by the beast's falling off" from its usual feeding, and a dull-
ness of its eyes. As soon as the least symptom of illness appears
in any beast, separate it from the herd, and convey it into some
place of confinement, either into a booth of boards erected for
this service or into some inclosure. The observance of these
rules is of great importance, because little or no infection is
emitted from the body of the beast immediately in the beginning
of his sickness; but, as the distemper proceeds, more parts ot the
blood are transmuted into the quality of those which produced
it, and more infectious particles will be emitted from the body of
the sick beast, and the danger of other cattle near the sick will
daily very much increase. . . . Let the booth be erected, if it can
be, at least a quarter of a mile from the cattle, and from houses
inhabited. This I propose as a means of safety to men and to
beasts. . . . Let the persons employed about the sick beasts keep
as much as possible to the windward side of them, and carefully
avoid taking their breath ; and while drenching, or otherwise
handling the beast, keep their hands wetted with a mixture of
salt and vinegar, and let each of them wear a linen garment,
after it has been wetted with vinegar, and dried, o\er all their
clothes (like that which is used by some country carters for
keeping off'the dashings of dirt) to be buttoned close under their

lion. Like some physicians of our own day, he believed in its spontaneous origin:
'the distemper has sprung up spontaneously, about the same period of lime, in
many places which are very distant from and have no communication with each
other.' One cannot be surprised at the disease ravaging the country for so many
years, when such opinions were allowed to prevail at its commencement.

282 History of Animal Plagztes.

chins and at their wrists, while they are among the sick cattle,
and put it off before they go to any other business. ... If" the sick
beast dies, let it be immediately buried with its hide on, and
with or without quicklime, in a pit seven or eight feet deep, and
the earth filled in close upon it, that no exhalations may pass
from the dead body through the earth into the air of the atmo-
sphere. . . . Postscript. — It is a pleasure to tell you, that since
I wrote this letter, I have been informed that the mortality
among the cattle in Ireland was not propagated by any dbnta-
I gion, but was occasioned by the scarcity and badness of their food
the last winter, which therefore we may hope will soon cease, as
their food is now plentiful and wholesome.^ ... It appears to be
very prudent, in regard to the present sicknesses among the
cattle in Essex, Scotland, and Ireland, to have researches made
(according to the method proposed) in order to find out the
nature or quality of the causes that produce them, and the
proper remedies. But besides the accounts mentioned, there
should be transmitted with them a particular account of the

1 I am unable to find any particular allusion to the probable introduction of
the Cattle Plague into Ireland at this time ; and indeed the existence of
the malady in that island appears to have been altogether overlooked by recent
investigators. Besides the notice given by Rutty for 1745, in Faulkner's Journal
for August 26th, 1746, mention is further made of this epizooty in Ireland.
' A great number of cows have lately been affected with a dry, husky cough
and universal tremour, and the urine which they make is generally very pale ;
the colour of their eyes is not altered, neither is the breath so offensive, nor their
tongue so black, as last year ; some have a violent purging, others very costive,
and it has destroyed a vast quantity of cattle.' In the same Journal for 1747,
the existence is noticed of ' an epizooty in England among horned cattle ; their
removal from one town to another prevented.' Another account I have been
able to procure refers to some murrain, which may have been the one under con-
sideration, and is to be found in Button's Survey of the County of Clare. He says :
'The murrain was a very common and fatal disorder some years since. Like the rot
in sheep, it exercised the ingenuity of conjecture and quackery. It was by some
imputed to a worm with a very large head, and of very vivid colours, which, it was
said, poisoned the water that the cattle drank. By others it was conjectured that
some poisonous plant, the seed of which, it was supposed, dropped from the clouds
at that particular period, and which most fortunately asses were fond of. On ac-
count of this happy propensity they were purchased by many sagacious graziers,
and, the murrain ceasing about this period, the asses had all the honour ; and it is
still usual to keep two or three of these animals on a farm. The number of cattle
killed by this dreadful disease was inmense — many persons lost almost the entire of
their stock, and were completely beggared. However the cure of it may have
been effected, it has not been known for several years.' P. 79.

History of Animal Plagues. 283

cases of the cattle in the sickly countries, as to the quantity and
qualities of their food.' ^

There is in the London Gazette of Saturday, May 25th,
1745, the following paragraph, viz. :

' Hamburg, May 19th, N.S. The mortality among the
horned cattle has now reached within a German mile and a half
of the Balliage of Pinncnberg, contiguous to the territory of
Hamburg, which is of little extent on the side of Danish Hol-
stein. The appearance of this same distemper at Hamburg,
gives an alarm lest it should gain further on that side of the
country, proper precautions are used to prevent its spreading,
and to get the better of it in its beginning, which is attributed
to some infected cattle having passed through there. This evil
has communicated itself likewise to the Danish Islands of Zee-
land and Fuhnen.^

Dr Layard ^ gives us a very detailed description of the disease,
but drawn chiefly from other authors. His work did not appear
until twelve years after the outbreak of the pest. Its substance
will be presently given in the words of Mr Dossie.

Two years before Layard's Essay was published, Malcolm
Flemming recommended inoculation as a preventative of the
Cattle Plague. His recommendations are contained in a pamph-
let entitled, ' A Proposal, in order to Diminish the Progress of
the Distemper among the Horned Cattle, supported by Facts.'
London, 1755. See also The Gentleman's Magazine, vols. xxiv.
and XXV. for 1754 and 1755. The earlier volumes also contain
many notices on the progress of the Cattle Plague.

With reference to inoculation, for November, 1754, it says :
' Mr Dobson, a gentleman of Yorkshire, lately conmiunicatcd
to Mr Tyson, a farmer and higgler of Tottenham, in Middlesex,
a method of preserving his cattle by inoculation. This method
Mr Dobson had learned from an eminent physician in Yorkshire.
The operation was performed by an incision in the dewlap, into
which was inserted a piece of tow dipped in the morbid matter

' Dr Thcophilus Lobb. Letters relating to the Plague and Contagious Distem-
pers, 1745.

'^ Dr Layard. AnEssay on the Nature, Cause, and Cure of the Contagious
Distemper among the Horned Cattle in these Kingdoms. London, 1757.

2,84 History of Animal Plagues.

I discharged from the nostrils or eyes of an infected beast, and this
' was allowed to remain till the symptoms of the distemper ap-
\ peared.' Dr Layard, writing on the 26th of November, 1757,
to the Earl of Macclesfield, endeavours to remove all apprehen-
sions of a second attack of the disease after inoculation. 'An
/ entire conviction of the analogy between this disease and small-
pox would not permit me to omit mentioning the great advan-
tages which must arise from inoculation. ... So long as the
distemper has raged in Great Britain not one attested proof has
been brought of any head having this disease regularly more
than once The Marquis (de Courtivron) says that this dis-
temper is not communicated but from one beast to another imme-
diately. I must beg leave to say, that, to my knowledge, the
distemper in February, 1756, was carried from the farm-yard,
where I visited some distempered cattle, to two other farm-yards,
each at a considerable distance, without any communication of
the cattle with each other, and merely by the means of servants
going to and fro, or of dogs.^ ^

The disease, as we have seen, raged in all its virulency in
this country for many years. ^ We have no difficulty in dis-
covering the cause for this. Veterinary science scarcely found
the shadow of a representative in the ignorant cowleech, and
there were none but medical men at all competent to give any
advice as to the best measures to be adopted to meet the emerg-
ency. These men, able and skilful undoubtedly in their own
profession, had, in all probability, nine-tenths of them, never be-
fore given comparative pathology an hour's study; and the know-
ledge of the diseases of mankind only, without this study, would
be far more likely to mislead than to guide them, and to make
them oppose, rather than approve of or suggest, the proper pre-
ventive measures. There appears to have been no Lancisi — no Dr
Bates, to point out the incurable character of the disease, and to
suggest that as it spread by contagion alone, so it could only be
suppressed by destroying the contagious source. It is even

1 Philosophical Transactions, vol. i. p. 528.

2 Bishop Berkeley, writmgto the London Magazine in 1747, says, 'If I can but
introduce the general use of tar-water for this murrain, which is in truth a fever, I
flatter myself this may pave the way for its general use in all fevers whatever.'

History of Animal Plagues. 28

0

questionable if the true nature of the epizooty was discovered i
for a long time after its introduction. A cure by medicine was)
sought for, and with the usual result. In this way^ nearly a year\
was spent in nursing the virus, and in disseminating it over the two
or three kingdoms, until at last the public mind began to be
roused to a sense of the danger that threatened the herds, and
legislative measures were brought to bear against the desolatino-
scourge. But it was too late, by many months, for these to be
made at all efiective. ' A commission for Middlesex was ap-
pointed on the 25th of November, 1745. The Commission,
with the short experience of 1715 to guide them, appointed
various cowkeepers and butchers as inspectors of cattle, and in-
structed them — I. To inspect cow-houses, and to separate sick
from sound cows. 2. To see that all cow-houses and yards were
kept thoroughly clean. 3. To kill all sick cows and calves, to
slash their hides so as to render them useless, with several cuts
from head to tail and round the body, and then to bury them in
graves ten feet deep, with two bushels of unslacked lime to each
cow. 4. To certify to the destruction of the cows, for each of
which the Treasury gave 40,9. 5. To see that proper returns
were made by cow-keepers as to their losses.

The disease having spread beyond Middlesex, an Act was
passed and received the Royal Assent on the 13th February, 1746,
empowering the Crown to issue, through the Privy Council,
rules and directions in order to prevent the distemper spreading
amongst horned cattle.

On the 1 2th March, 1746, an Order in Council was passed
in which the incurable nature of the malady is set forth and the
following regulations appear : — i. Cow-keepers must shoot in-
fected beasts, and bury them entire with slashed hides, four feet
deep covered with lime. (The direction as to the use of lime was
subsequentlv revoked.) 2. All hay and litter used by diseased
animals must be burned. No herdsman who has attended a dis-
eased beast is to go near a sound one without changing his clothes.
3. Infected sheds must be thoroughly washed all o\vy, tlicu dis-
infected with burning sulphur, &c., again rej)eatedly washetl with
vinciiar and water, and not \\>ci\ for two months. 4. Convales-
cent animals are not to be mixed w ith sound ones for one month,

286 History of Animal Plagues.

and not then till they have been well curried and cleansed with
vinegar and water. 5. Flesh and entrails of diseased cattle are
not to be given as food to other animals. 6. No man whose
herd is infected is to be allowed to drive any cattle, whether dis-
eased or not, beyond the boundary of his farm. And even when
disease has disappeared, his herd is to be held infected for a
month. 7. Local authorities, such as churchwardens, over-
seers, constables, or cattle-inspectors who may be appointed, are
charged to see to the execution of this order. They are to report
to each meeting of Justices, and to make exact returns. 8.
These local authorities are to persuade owners to divide up their
herds into separate parts ; they are not only to see to the bury-
ing of diseased cattle, but also the burial of all infected dung.

9. Cattle travelling on roads are to be stopped and examined.

10. Houses, buildings, or yards used for cattle, sound or diseased,
are to be carefully kept clean. 11. Compensation for slaugh-
tered cattle is to be paid at the rate of 405. per head ; for calves
1 05.

Towards the end of that year, the Government found that
the local authorities had not assisted them vigorously in the exe-
cution of the first Order, and they issued a second to the effect,
that from the 27th December, for three calendar months, no per-
son shall send to fairs or markets any cattle except for immediate
slaughter, or ' buy, sell, or expose to sale any cattle except those
which are ready for immediate slaughter. Nor is this privilege
of selling fat cattle permitted to any one whose herd is infected.
Therefore all beasts going to fairs or markets must be provided
with passes from a Justice, or, failing him, from other competent
local authorities, given on the owner's oath that his cattle are and
have been for a month free from the plague. No raw hides shall
be sold or allowed to be transported without like passes, but hides
and horns of diseased beasts must absolutely be destroyed, and a
compensation of 10^. per hide is given.'

A third Order in Council was issued, proscribing the district
from the Humber and Trent, and not allowing cattle to be driven
out of it northwards from the 19th December, 1747, to the fol-
lowing 27th March.

On the 13th February, 1747, an Act to amend and extend the

Histo)')' of Animal Plagues. 287

powers of the previous Act was passed ; and this was followed,
up to 1757, by various continuing and enlarging statutes. In
addition to the measures before specified, these Statutes also
provided that sales of cattle should only take place when the
seller had had them in his possession for 40 days ; calves were
not allowed to be sold, in order that they might be preserved for
breedino; purposes, and severe restrictions were put on the sale of
the hides of diseased animals.

Various Orders were issued during the year 1747, stopping
local fairs, and empowering local authorities to do so when they
found it expedient.

The plaoue, in consequence of these Orders, was extinguished
where the local authorities acted with vigour, but lingered in
other places when these were remiss or indifferent, which was
generally the case ; so that it spread after a time as rapidly as
ever. In consequence of this, in 1749, there is a new suspension
of all fairs and markets, and of all movements of cattle, except
for slaughter, throughout the kingdom for three months. This
was modified afterwards, sound lean cattle being allowed to be
changed to clean pastures, and cows being allowed to go to bulls
when both were sound. The same result followed this new
Order as its predecessors. The disease was extinguished in
manv counties, but lurked in others where the local authorities
had been lax in looking after the execution of the Order. Hence
in December, 1749, the Council admits its ftiilurc in suppress-
ing the disease, and now again prohibits all movement of cat-
tle except for slaughter, and the place of slaughter must l)e within
two miles of the spot where the cattle are on the 14th December,
1750. The requirement that cattle should be slaughtered only
within two miles of their stalls was found very grievous by London
and Westminster, and the outcry raised against it by these influen-
tial places produced a revocation of it within a month of its issue.
. . For some time after the revocation of the Order of 1749, each
county proscribed neighbouring infected counties, and refused to
receive their cattle.^ The roads from one county to another were

' The following is from a private nicmorandum on this disease, which was
published in 1 866.

' 1754.— In the Session of 1753-4 the question of the Cattle I'lague seems to

288 History of Animal Plagues.

strictly guarded, and cattle, hides, carcases, and tallow from any
infected counties were carefully excluded.

have received much attention in the House of Commons. Papers upon the subject,
and a return of the sums paid for compensation, were presented, and referred to a
select committee, who reported certain causes of spreading the distemper, and made
recommendations, having come to 1 6 resohitions on the subject.

' These are given in extenso, as showing the opinion of the House of Commons
after eight years of the distemper.

' I. The lodging of cattle driven for sale in places where infected cattle are or
have lately been, may be one cause of spreading the distemper.

' 2. The mixing together different herds of cattle not fit for immediate slaughter
in fairs, markets, and other places for sale has been one other cause.

' 3. The mixing of infected cattle with sound on commons and common grounds
has been one other cause.

'4. Great difficulties and inconveniences have arisen and may hereafter arise
from the want of proper powers to order the lodging cattle stopped by virtue of
his Majesty's Orders in Council of March 22, 1747-8.

' 5. The laws, rules, orders, and regulations for the killing of infected cattle
upon their first being seized have not in general been punctually complied with.

'6. Certificates for cattle to be driven beyond the distance of five miles, with-
out a limitation of time beyond which such certificates shall cease to be of force, are
subject to abuse, and may have been one other cause.

' 7. All contracts and bargains between the buyers and sellers of cattle, condi-
tional upon such cattle, or any number of them, surviving a certain time, tend to
the continuing and further spreading of the distemper.

' 8. The laws, rules, orders, and regulations now in being should be reduced
into one Act of Parliament, subject to such alterations and regulations as his
Majesty, by the advice of his Privy Council, shall from time to time think proper
to order.

' 9. The notices ordered to be given of the breaking out and arising in particu-
lar places of the distemper by his Majesty's Order in Council of the 22nd day of
March, 1747-8, should be published in the Londo7i Gazette.

' 10. No horned cattle should be driven or admitted into any pasture, close, or
field where the distemper has been for two calendar months after such distemper
has ceased, nor for six calendar months where such pastures, closes, or fields have
not been cleared of all litter, dung, stones, or hay, and where such pastures, &c.,
have not been rolled, mowed, or fed bare with horses, hogs, geese, or sheep.

'11. No certificates for cattle to be driven beyond the distance of five miles,
conformable to his Majesty's Order in Council, should be of force for any longer
term than ten days from the date of such certificate.

' 12. No two or more herds of cattle, consisting together of above 20 beasts,
intended for immediate sale, and not fit for "immediate slaughter, should be driven
or admitted at the same time in the same pasture, close, field, fair, market-place,
or other place of sale whatsoever, unless such pasture, &c.. be so separated and
divided as to preserve the cattle of such different herds from immediate contact.

' 13. No horned cattle should be driven to pasture in common or common
grounds unless such cattle have been in the possession of their owners and free
from the distemper 40 days at the least before such driving.

' 14. Proper powers should be granted for the lodging [disposition] such cattle

Histojj of Animal Plagues. 289

These measures, however, had but a very partial effect.
For the next two or three years this local war against the disease
was allowed to be waged, the Government occasionally interfer-
ing when the magistrates permitted fairs in places likely to be in-
jurious to neighbouring counties. It continued up to 1756 with
considerable variations, the Plague being intense in some coun-
ties, milder in others, and absent from many, until it wore itself
out. There is no accurate record within our knowlcdsre of the
mortality produced by it. In the second year of the visitation,
100,000 head of cattle are supposed to have been lost in Lincoln-
shire ; in the third year, more than 40,000 died in Leicester-
shire and Nottinghamshire, and in about six months of that year,
30,000 perished in Cheshire. In the same year, 80,000 were
killed, under the Orders in Council, to prevent the spread of the
contagion; and in the following year, they were destroyed at the
rate of 7000 a month; but a far larger number perished by the
disease. During its course it must have destroyed several hun-
dred thousand cattle.^

as shall be stopped by virtue of his Majesty's Order in Council, dated Marcli 22,
1747-8.

' 15. All contracts and bargains between the buyers and sellers of cattle, con-
ditional upon such cattle, or any number of them, surviving a certain time, should
be void, and further penalties be inflicted upon all those who shall so offend.

* 16. Reward equal to the full value should be paid to the owner of every first,
second, and third beast of the whole stock of horned cattle upon every farm or
holding [or upon commons thereto belonging] of the same person, that shall be
seized with the distemper, and that shall be separated, killed, and buried conform-
able to his Majesty's Order in Council of March 22, 1747-8, provided such beast
or beasts shall have been the real property and remained in the actual possession of
such owner 40 days at the least immediately preceding such killing.

* These resolutions were agreed to by the House, with amendments, shown in
brackets, in the 14th and i6th, and a Bill was founded upon them, which passed
through the House of Commons, but was rejected on going into committee by the
House of Lords, perhaps in consequence of the approaching dissolution of Parlia-
ment, and a simple Continuance Bill was passed instead.'

' J'irst Report of the Royal Commissioners on the Cattle Plague, p. viii. The
remembrance of this fearful epizooty among the cattle in Britain has not yet passed
away. Mr Ceely, for example, in speaking of the epizootics (and enzootics of the
Vale of Aylesbury, says : ' In common with many other parts of the kingdom, this
neighbourhood suffered much from the contagious epizooty which prevailed so
fatally among horned cattle from the years 1745 to 1780. The places of interment
of many of its victims are yet pointed out, and the dismal tales of its ravages are
remembered by many with whom I have conversed.' — Obsen'ations on the I'lino/ir
Vaccina:. Trans. Provincial Med. and .Surg. Assoc.

19

290 History of Animal Plagtces.

In a work entitled ' Considerations concerning the Dis-
temper which still spreads itself among the Horned Cattle in
this Kingdom/ by a Physician, and published in 1749, we are
made acquainted with some of the causes which led to the ex-
tension and retention of the disease in England ; and learn
something of its contagious character, and its symptoms, as
well as a method of cure. From this treatise we will make
some extracts. Speaking of the doctrine of contagion, a sub-
ject which was then much debated, and which was for more
than a century later to furnish a bone of contention to medical
men, and to lead to oftentimes unhappy results by permitting
infectious and contagious maladies to run riot amongst man-
kind, because certain physicians did not believe in the com-
municability of special diseases, he says: ^ At present it is my
design to consider this doctrine principally as it concerns pesti-
lential contagion, and that chiefly in relation to the calamitous
distemper which has so long raged among the horned cattle in
this island, which I take to be pestilential. Nothing in my
humble opinion did so much contribute to the spreading of this
terrible distemper at its first breaking out as the belief that it was
not contagious, and the expectation of cm effectual remedy for it ;
because both those notions had a manifest tendency to lessen
the care and vigilance that were necessary to prevent it. In re-
gard to the latter of them, I am not ashamed to own I was then
an infidel ; and I am so still as to the possibility of the cure be-
fore the malignity of the distemper began to decline ; being fully
persuaded that what Virgil says on a like occasion is too applic-
able to the present as well as every other pestilence in its begin-
ning and at its height, viz, that it admits of very little relief from
the Art of Medicine. Such of the most eminent physicians as
were first consulted by the Government concerning this dis-
temper were certainly of the same opinion as to the difficulty of
curing it, and therefore very honestly advised their superiors to
employ their authority in enforcing a punctual compliance with
the most likely means to stop the progress of it — an attempt
which there was then some reason to believe as practicable as it

was desirable It has been suo:o;ested bv an in2;enious

writer, who some time ago undertook to confute the opinion of

History of Animal Plagues. 291

this distemper's contagion (see An Account of the Present Mor-
tal'itij among the Black Cattle, 1745), that the notion of con-
tagion may contribute much to the mortahty of the distemper " by
putting the dealers in cattle upon an improper method of treatino-
it/' This may possibly be true, but it is no argument against
the reality of the distemper's contagion. The same improper
method has often been deduced from the same principle in the
small-pox, and yet nobody will scruple to own that distemper to
be contagious. ... I cannot therefore but wish that, instead of
patronizing the contrary opinion, this ingenious author had
endeavoured to confirm the farmers in their notion of the dis-
temper's contagion, and to convince them of the falsity of the
inference in respect of its cure which they had been taught to
draw from it. In this case he would have contributed more to
the stopping of it by his theory, than either he or any eminent
physician upon earth could probably have done during its first
violence by any method of practice It is very observ-
able that this pestilence among our cattle very much resembles
that of Ramazzini in most of its symptoms and efl!ects, as in the
stupidity of the beginning, the flux from the nose, the looseness,
the shortness of breath, the coagulation of the blood, the crisis
which sometimes happens by eruptions (Ramazzini tells us these
pustules, which he calls Tahercula vario/arinn speciem rejerentia,
broke out over the whole body on the 5th or 6th dav, and that the
cattle generally died — as they do now— about the 5th or 7th; from
whence it is probable these eruptions were not symptomatica!
but critical, as they are in the present distemper, wherein scarce
any beast that has them dies. It appears, then, that the learned
author of the Account, &c., was mistaken in what he tells us,
" that this variolous eruption was the distinguishing mark of the
disease described by Ramazzini, and that either he was misin-
formed when he said no such eruptions are seen upon the skins
of cattle, which arc now infected, or that this symptom is one
instance of the present mitigation of the distemper's original
virulence"), and the dry hard sui)stance constantiv found in the
Omusiis or Paunch, which R;uuazzini sujiposes, but in my
opinion unjustly, to be caused by the first inij)ressi()n of the
contagious miasmata on that part. For it appears to me as if it

292, History of Animal Plagues.

proceeded merely from the violence of the fever, which causes
an entire defect of the juice that is naturally secreted there for
the moistening and lubricating the food and the paunch; for
want of which juice I can easily conceive the dry food to be
capable of being baked by the preternatural heat of the body.
.... The excessive mortality of the present distemper under
every method of cure in its beginning is sufficient to prove its
malignity, if anything can ; and from the degree of its malignity,
I think we may safely infer the species of it. For as pestilential
malignity is the most mortal of all others, and no malignity was
scarce ever more mortal than this among the cattle, it is surely
good logic to infer that the malignity of the present dis-
temper is no other than pestilential I am of opinion,

that as the pathognomonic sign of the distemper described by
Severinus was a sore-throat, so the distinguishing one of this
among the cattle is a peripneumony, or inflammation of the lungs.
Neither is this sign of a peripneumony less familiar to a plague
than any other topical inflammation is . . . I will not pretend to
say there are no aphthae in this general inflammation, they being
very common in many inflammatory disorders, where they are
not the pathognomonic; but that the general and most obvious
symptoms of this distemper are such as belong to a peripneu-
mony, will not be controverted by any physician who has either

seen it or heard any description of it I will only add one

thing more concerning the learned author^s determination, which
is, that with submission to him I think a pestilential peripneu-
mony is a more discriminating name for this disease than a
gangrenous contagious one ; for the most striking circumstance in
this calamity, the prodigious mortality of it, is not so thoroughly
implied in the author's two epithets, as it is in the one I have
given it, which likewise expresses every circumstance implied in
both those of the learned author. ... It cannot, I imagine,
be denied that to give contagion a power of infecting an animal,
there must be a disposition in the animal itself to be acted upon,
as well as in the contagion to act upon it. For if the simple
power of contagion was able to infect, it would not be possible
for any animal that lived within its reach to escape its influence;
but it is a known truth that some escape it who live in the midst

Histoiy of Animal Plagues. 293

of it, in all, even the most virulent of contagious distempers. In
what this disposition in an animal to be acted upon inmiediatelv
consists, we are not enough in the secrets of nature to explain,
any more than we can tell what constitutes the specific essence

of any contagion I never denied it to be possible in the

height of some very violent plagues (when a great quantity of
pestilential vapours are continually exhaling from innumerable
bodies — both living and dead)^ for some of the contagious effluvia
to be carried from the places of their emission, by a current of
wind constantly running in the same direction, to a considerable
distance; by which means I can easily conceive it possible for
some people, who have no commerce with the infected, to live
within the limits of the progress of these contagious effluvia, and
consequently within the influence of their power. But supposing
these facts could not be thus accounted for, I would beg leave to
ask, whether these authors do not seem to have been too hasty in
affirming there was no communication between these people
living at a distance and the infected places? For what they
affirm is a negative which cannot be proved, and therefore ought
not to be admitted. If by no communication they mean only no
communication of the same species of animals, that will not
answer their purpose; because contagion mav undeniably be com-
municated by many other ways, many of which might be practised
without falling under the observation of the persons who re-
ceived the infection. All other species of animals may carry it
without being infected by it themselves, and as nothing is known
to retain infection more than hair, it may, and doubtless has been
carried by animals who have strayed from the infected to the

sound Neither does diet any better account for this

excessive mortality. For these exclusively mortal distempers
equally destroy all creatures of the same species, however differ-
ently dieted. We cannot, therefore, but subscribe to the general
opinion concerning the principal cause of such excessive mortality,
and acquiesce in their judgment, who have imputed this effect
to pestilential contagion. It only remains, then, to inquire
whether the confessed mortality of the jiresent distcni])tr has not
always been excessive in every condition of air and diet, for a
long time after its first breaking out? And as a proof that it

2-94 History of Animal Plagues.

has been so, I need only appeal to those who have observed its
mortality in very different countries and very different seasons.
The truth of this fact would have been still more apparent but
for the early care of the legislature^ which by enabling distant
countries to guard against the approach of suspected cattle^ did
thereby for a long time prevent the infection from being carried
into many different grounds of very different degrees of fer-
tility, Butj notwithstanding all their prudence^ it has now
insinuated itself into very distant countries and very different
soils, where its pestilential contagion is even still sufficiently

evident A late ingenious writer (vide Essay on

Pestilential Contagion) has proposed the only effectual method,
if indeed anything can be effectual in the present diffusive-
ness of the contagion, which I think there is too much reason
to doubt. For if we consider how long it has now raged
among us, and how ineffectual every method enjoined by the
legislature to restrain the communication between the infected
and the sound has for a long time been, we cannot but think it
probable that some portions of infection are now dispersed in an
infinite number of places in this kingdom, and as long as any of
these infectious portions remain undestroyed (which in some that
are lodged in substances very retentive of infection, such as hair,
wool, &c., must certainly be a long time), so long it will be in the
power of every animal in whose clothes or hair they at present
lie concealed to propagate them whenever they come near that
species of animals which alone they are adapted to infect. And
when the occasions of spreading disease are become thus exten-
sive, what can a Government do ? Be it ever so disposed to
restrain any suspicious commerce between its subjects, it cannot
prevent danger where it sees it not ; and be it ever so circum-
spect and vigilant, it cannot possibly see where it is, unless it
offers some marks of itself to men's senses ; which it certainly
does not but where it meets with its object, the cattle themselves.
Wherever, indeed, it actually breaks out, from thence all further
occasion of spreading it may be prevented by the learned author's
method; but still it may be propagated from every other place
and thing where it continues unexhausted; and therefore it must
necessarily be a long time before it be extinguished. (Perhaps it

Hisioiy of Animal Plagues. 295

would not a little contribute to the accomplishment of this dif-
ficult purpose to lower the hedges and cut up all the superfluous
wood in enclosures of a dry soil, by which means not only a
freer communication of air would be obtained, but likewise a
greater degree of dryness and purity; and in marshy and fenny
inclosures, where infected cattle are known to have been, It seems
no less useful to burn wood for ^some time after they have left
them.) As to the method which was at first employed to stop
the progress of the infection in any place where it had once
broke out, viz. the indiscriminate shooting of the sick cattle,
though it was at first wisely enjoined by the legislature, yet I am
of opinion, that unless it be always executed upon the very first
suspicion of the distemper's appearance, it never was, nor ever
could be, effectual. And if nothing can justify the killing a few
but the probability arising from thence of saving the rest, what
is killing them without such probability but conspiring with the
distemper against the lives of the whole? But there can be no
such probability withouta punctual observance of the circumstance
above-mentioned, viz. a very early execution of the Government's
Order; and what chance there is for such a compliance in a
country where we are apt to prize our liberty most when it is
least useful to us, our fatal experience has already too well in-
formed us. Nor in the present extensiveness of the contagion
can even the most early execution of this Order be always success-
ful ; for though it be probable from some experiments lately
made that the cattle do not infect each other till a few days after
the very first signs of the distemper in themselves, yet it is no
less probable from other experiments, as well as the reason of
things, that the pastures in which they feed, nay, the very high-
ways through which they pass, do receive and retain some por-
tions of contagion accidentally brought into them by animals
of different species ; so that though they escape it ever so often
from each other, by the care of their owners, yet they are
every hour liable to it from many other accidents. When the
means, therefore, of communicating the distemper are become
thus numerous, and the chance for preventing its spreading from
that as well as other causes is proportionately lessened, surely it
is advisable to apply our industry to find out the means of cure.

296 History of Animal Plagues.

And this^ If I am not much deceived, the present mitigation of
the distemper^s original severity has made much more feasible
than it was some time ago. (As great havoc as the distemper
makes at present, it is very certain that many more cattle have
for this last year and a half recovered than did from its first
breaking out to that time. And this is true both of those treated
medically, and of those which are not. This difference of event
in regard to the latter, cannot be denied to proceed from a dif-
ferent degree of violence in the distemper; and I think the same
conclusion may be justly drawn in respect of the former, since
no method of treatment for some time after its first appearance
— when all kinds were tried — was able to produce the same
event.) The cure consisted in bleedings every day for three, four,
or five days, with drenches of water gruel, and afterwards warm
mashes of bran and water gruel alternately until nearly quite well,
when dry food was to be allowed in very small quantity. The
animal was to be kept in a warm house with plenty of straw to

lie on If the beast breaks out in blotches about the fifth or

seventh day, its recovery may be depended on; but a great many
do also recover which have no such critical eruptions. . . . There
may undoubtedly be some occasions where it may be useful, and
even necessary, to add some medicines; and whoever has a mind
to use them properly may find them very judiciously adapted to
the chief indications of cure in a late pamphlet styled An Essay
to fix the Judgment of the Public on the Nature and Cure of the
Distemper now raging among the Horned Cattle, c^c, which, so
far as concerns the means of cure, is the best which has yet been
published on the subject.'

Another physician, writing in 1751, remarks : '^Tis observed
in experience, that sometimes the particular distemperature of
the air infects human bodies only. Again, it shall only infect
animals, sometimes of one kind, and sometimes of another ;
and of late we have had a very fatal experience of a most raging
pestilential fever among our horned cattle, from a peculiar pollu-
tion in the air. And what confusion of advice and melancholy
destruction have we been witnesses of in the present raging sick-
ness among the cattle, except in some few instances where the
rational means of cure have prevailed For when the

History of Animal Plagties. 297

distemper is suffered to get a-head, there is little hopes of a
recovery ; this sickness among the cattle being evidently a most
inflammatory and pestilential fever^ admitting of no delay ; for
if once the inflammation be suffered to form, or fix on the lungs
and other viscera or bowels^ very little hope is then left/ ^

On the 30th of August, 1748, it was announced that the
justices of the peace in several counties where the distemper had
raged among the horned cattle, had certified to the Privy Coun-
cil that the infection had ceased. In the month of September of
the same year, however, it was declared that the distemper among
the horned cattle had broken out afresh about Burton-upon-
Trent, in Buckinghamshire, and also near Camberwell, in Surrey.
In the month of September, 1749, a report from Manchester was
published, to the effect that the plague had reached Lancashire,
and that it continued to rage in the counties of York and Dur-
ham. The distemper raged in the month of November, 175OJ.
in the Isle of Ely and some parts of Suffolk. In the month of
May, 1 75 1, it was reported that, in consequence of ' the infection
among the horned cattle raging in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and
Westmoreland, the justices of the peace of the neighbouring
county of Cumberland have, at their quarter sessions, ordered the
roads to be strictly guarded for preventing the introduction of
cattle, hides, carcases, or tallow, from any adjacent English county.
The said distemper is broke out also in the counties of Wilts
and Oxford, which has alarmed the justices of the counties of
Gloucester, Hereford, and Monmouth ; and the justices of So-
mersetshire have forbid the bringing of cattle from Wales, Wilt-
shire, and Gloucestershire, on advice that the distemper is spread
into those parts. ^ On the 26th of February, 1752, it was stated
that the justices, at their respective sessions, had announced that
the distemper was raging in the parishes of Ash Church and
Beckford, in Gloucestershire; in several parts of Buckingham-
shire, and the adjacent counties ; within the division of Holland,
and in several other parts of Lincolnshire; and in the counties
of York, Lancaster, and Derby. In the month of March, it
was declared that the disease seemed to be n)uch abated! In

' A Treatise on the Plague and Pestilential Fevers, with some ()l)servations on
the Pestilential Fever now raging among the Horned Cattle. London, I75'i.

298 History of Ani7iial Plagues.

Wiltshire it had totally ceased ; but in Somersetshire sixteen
had died in the parishes of East Chennock and Clodsworth.^
On the 9th of May it was said : ^Tis hoped the distemper
among the cattle at East Chennock is stopt, not one having
been taken ill for above three weeks. Great care has been
taken by the justices to prevent the calamity from spreading.
All fairs have been stopt for some time, and above twenty shot
by order of the clerk of the peace. The cattle were appraised,
and the owners paid out of the county stock ; and one of the
oxen in an ox-waggon which carried the soldiers^ baggage, fall-
ing down dead, the other five were immediately shot/ On the
31st of May, it was announced that the distemper was about
six miles east of Reading, Berks, where it had not been before.

Early in 1753, '"The distemper among the cattle being
broke out near Malmsbury, in Wiltshire, fifteen belonging to
one man were ordered to be shot; and the justices of the peace
this day prohibited the holding any fair or market, and removal
or sale of any, except fat cattle for immediate slaughter.' On
the 15th of October, 1753, a farmer of the parish of Shemping,
in Suffolk, was convicted, on his own confession, before two
justices of the peace, in the penalty of ^100, for buying and
driving infected cattle, contrary to law, and immediately paid
the penalty; and his servant was afterwards committed to Bury
gaol, not being able to pay the penalty of £^0 for intimidating
and preventing the inspector and parish officers from executing
his Majesty's orders and regulations, and not suffering them to
kill four beasts that were distempered, whereby the infection
was spread into several adjoining parishes. On the 26th of
October, 1753, ^^^ clerk of the peace for Ipswich received notice
of upwards of sixty parishes within the county where the dis-
temper had broken out amongst the cattle. On the 3rd of
November, 1753, '^ was reported that the distemper among the
horned cattle had broken out at Chatham, and ninety-seven had
died on the roads between that place and Canterbury. The

^ The Dud/in Gazeiie for 'March, 1752, speaking of the Cattle Plague in London,
says : ' The distemper among horned cattle rages considerably about the skirts, in-
somuch that last Saturday several cows were buried in the fields at the bottom of
Gray's Inn Lane. '

History of Animal Plagues. ic^<^

infection was supposed to have been communicated by some
droves lately brought from distant counties. In February, 1754,
it was stated that the distemper continued to rage amongst the
horned cattle in the North Riding of Yorkshire and some parts
of the county of Durham. In the month of December, more
cows died of the reigning distemper in St James's Park. The
malady continued more or less, as already mentioned, in 1755-6.
In the month of April, 1757, we find it stated that the conta-
gious distemper among the horned cattle had appeared at Lewis-
ham, in Kent, and in some parts of Somersetshire. On the 28th
of June the Royal assent was given to an Act 'more effectually
to prevent the spreading of the distemper now raging amongst
the horned cattle in the kingdom;' and in the month of October
the justices of the peace for the county of Essex, at their
general quarter sessions, prohibited all fairs and markets, in
order to prevent the spreading the disease. After this little more
was heard of the subject for some years. In 1758, it does not
appear that any cases were reported, and in February, 1759^ ^
day of general thanksgiving was ordered to be observed, because
of its cessation. The malady lost much of its virulency towards
its decline, and the proportion of recoveries was very much
larger than at its commencement. For several reasons, no
reliance can be placed upon the Treasury records as to the num-
ber of cattle that perished from it during its twelve years' reign,
but it has been roughly estimated at about 500,000.^

In 1769, the disease continuing to ravage Holland, it was
again introduced into Encrland and Scotland towards the end
of that year. On the 9th of January, 1770, his Majesty, in
his speech to both Houses of Parliament, referred to it in
these words : Mt is with much concern that I find myself
obliged to open this Session of Parliament with accpiainting
you that the distemper among horned cattle has lately broke
out in this kingdom, notwithstanding every precaution that
could be used fcjr preventiug the infection from foreign parts.' ^

' Much curious information respecting the invasion of the Cattle Plague, and
more particularly the ' cures,' will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine and the
Scots' Magazine for this period.

''■ The Annual Register, vol. xiii. p. 244.

300 History of Animal Plagues.

The outbreak in England^ alluded to in the speech from the
throne^ occurred at Stoneham, in Hampshire, in the winter of
1769, and appears to have attacked cows only; it was extin-
guished in January, 1770. Orders in Council, based on those of
1747, were issued, applying not only to Hants, but also to
Dorset, Surrey, Sussex, Middlesex, and Berks.

In the Scots' Magazine for 1770, there is a great amount
of information on this so-called Cattle Distemper. In the
March number, it is said that 'the distemper among the horned
cattle, the lamentable effects of which, in Holland, are related
in our last, having madcj its appearance in this country, the
gentlemen who have the honour to serve the King exerted
themselves speedily, and we hope successfully, to stop its pro-
gress.' The disease was first supposed to have been commu-
nicated to cattle at Portsoy, in the county of Banff, by four
packages of hay imported from Holland. Dr Cullen, writing
on the 15th of April, 1770, says: Ht is needless to mention
that the distemper made its first appearance at Portsoy, a sea-
port town situated on the Boyne, in the Moray Firth, about
eight English miles to the west of Banff and four to the east of
Cullen. In order, if possible, to eradicate at once such an alarm-
ing calamity, the justices of the peace of Banffshire resolved
to destroy every horned beast in Portsoy and the neighbourhood,
infected and not infected, and to bind themselves to see the pro-
prietors fully indemnified of the value of the sound cattle. This
was punctually executed on the 21st and 22nd of March, and
the carcases, horns, skins, and all were buried about four feet
underground. Then the dung of all the infected byres, with
the upper part of the floors, were also buried, and the byres
were thoroughly fumigated with tar and brimstone. The justices
at the same time appointed all the cattle, within two English
miles round Portsoy, to be daily visited by four of the most
respectable farmers in the neighbourhood, who were ordered to
make a report every day of the state of all the cattle within the
circle of their visitation. Orders were likewise issued to all the
Earl of Findlater's fishers on this part of the coast, prohibiting
them, in the strongest terms, from assisting, directly or indirectly,
to land any goods in a clandestine manner from any ship which

History of Animal Plagues. 301

mioht happen to arrive on the coast. This happened about ten
days before the prohibition by the sheriff and admiral appeared.
For eifht days after the Portsoy cattle were buried the inspectors
reported 'all the cattle well/ and the most sanguine hopes
were entertained that the contagion had entirely subsided ;
but, to the unutterable astonishment of everybody, intelligence
was brought to Cullen, on the 4th of April, that one of the |
cattle of my Lord Findlater's tenant at Dytach, situated at the
distance of about two English miles to the east of Cullen, three
from Portsov, and one without the line of circumvallation, was
dead, and four more very sick. A meeting of the justices was
held next day at Portsoy, when information was received that
some cattle belonging to General Abercromby, of Glasshaugh,
were likewise bad. The justices resolved to make one vigorous
effort more to root out the infection, by ordering all the Dytach
cattle, and all those belonging to the General which were kept in
the same place with his sick cattle, to be immediately knocked
on the head, and buried, like those at Portsoy. This resolution
was carefully executed on Saturday and Sunday se'nnight. The
justices at this meeting likewise resolved to enlarge the circle of
inspection, and accordingly appointed inspectors for all the
parishes of Cullen, Dcllford, and Fordyce, who were appointed
to visit and make report every day of the state of all the cattle
within these parishes, which comprise a circuit of eighteen English
miles at least. Hitherto no appearance of the infection had been
discerned, and people began again to flatter themselves with the
hopes that it is at last fundamentally rooted out. In the mean
time the vigilance of the justices and of the people in the country
is nowise relaxed. A report having prevailed here that the tenant of
Dytach intended to discharge some of his servants who had been
employed about his oxen, a positive prohibition was sent him
not to dismiss, before the expiry of a month, any of his servants,
and to keep them within the bounds of his own farm as much
as possible. In a word, every precaution has been used that)'
seemed in the least conducive to extirpate this very dangcrousj
distemper.' The malady in consequence quickly disappeared..
An Act received the Royal assent on the i6th of February, 17 70,1
for indemnifying all persons with respect to advising or carrying

302 History of Animal Plagues.

into execution his Majesty's Orders of Council, made for prevent-
ing:; the spreading of contagious distemper amongst the horned
cattle, and for rendering the same valid and effectual, and for
preventing suits in consequence thereof, and to authorize the
continuing, extending, and executing the same for a further
time. Dr Cullen's Memoir concerning the contagious disease
affecting the horned cattle, contains a notice of this indemni-
fication. 'The sheriff-substitute and justices of peace of Banff-
shire met at Portsoy on Friday, September 14th, 1770, and
made a dividend of ^799 I25. id., issued from the tenancy
upon the first certificate to the proprietors of the cattle which
had been slaughtered in order to prevent the spreading of the
contagious distemper then raging among them; as also to all
others who had been in advance of money upon the same
account.' ^

At the court of St James's, September T4th, 1770, present
the King in council, an order was issued, in consequence of the
contagion among horned cattle having broken out at a village
called Werlpen, between Furness and Newport, about four
leagues from Ostend, in Flanders, and supposed to have come
from the side of Berg St Wenon, about two leagues from Dun-
kirk, where it actually was. This order prohibited the import-
ation of any cattle, or of any manner of hides or skins, horns
or hoofs, or any other part of anv cattle or beast, from Dunkirk or
any other part of Flanders, or from any of the places mentioned in
the aforesaid order of May 26th, 1769, into the kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland.^ This aforesaid order referred to a new
outbreak of the disease in the Netherlands in 1768, and pro-
hibited the importation of cattle and hides from thence, as also
from Denmark, Sweden, Holstein, Mecklenburg, and Ham-
burg. In December, 1769, the importation of hay and straw
had been prohibited.

Towards the end of 1770, an Indemnity Act was passed, as
it appeared ' there was no legal power to give these orders ' —
alluding to those issued in February, granting compensation for
slaughtered cattle.

^ The Scots' Magazine, vol. xxxii. p. 517. J. Gamgee. The Cattle Plague,
p. 302. - Ibid.

History of Animal Plagues. 303

Dr Lavard, writing to Sir Joseph Banks, President of the
Roval Society, in 1780, mentions, amongst other matters, the
outbreak in Hampshire. ' In consequence of the essay which I
published in T756, I was called upon in 1769 by Government to
assist with my advice towards the stopping the progress of the
contagious distemper among the cattle, which had broken out in
Hampshire; and by mere accident I discovered how the infec-
tion was brought from Holland to London, and was conveyed
into that country. Speedily and effectually to extirpate the
calamity, no assistance was permitted to visit the infected
villages, lest the farmers should be induced to prolong the ill-
ness by attempting to cure their cattle ; but positive orders were
issued that all the cattle should be killed, and buried properly,
by which vigorous and salutary directions, the distemper ceased
entirely in a short time. The same Acts of Parliament and
Orders of Council, to kill the cattle and bury them deep, suc-
ceeded also soon after in North Britain ; and to the former
Acts and Orders, issued in his late Majesty King George the
H.'s reign, these alterations were made : in order that the in-
fected cattle should be killed, without effusion of blood, by
strangling; the hides to be neither cut nor slashed, but the car-
cases buried whole ; and that all the fodder, litter, excrement,
&c,, should be buried, instead of being burned. Since that time,
the contagious distemper has been brought twice into Essex,
and once into Suffolk, from Holland, and as often stopped by
the same means. His Majesty having most graciously been
pleased in April, 1770, to appoint me to hold a foreign corre-
spondence, the orders and regulations which had happily suc-
ceeded in Great Britain were communicated to the Dutch, the
Flemish, and the French, and copies of all papers delivered to
Baron Nolcken, the Swedish minister. In Flanders, and Picardy
in France, the system of killing was adopted, and succeeded.
Afterwards, in 1774, when the same contagion was carried into
the south of France from Holland through Bordeaux, many at-
tempts having failed to effect a cure, the devastation was at last
stopped by no other means than by killing the cattle, as in Great
Britain. And here I beg to observe, that Mons. Vicq d'Azyr, in
his Expose (Its Moycns Curat'tfsel Preseruat'ifs coiitrc Its Maladies

304 History of Animal Plagues.

Festilentielles des B^te^ a Comes, published by authority at Paris
in 1776, savSj p. 577 : " That the sakitary effeets of the precau-
tions taken in the Austrian Low Countries had excited the atten-
tion of the Enghsh, who by the same means got rid of the same
calamity. They have exactly and scrupulously translated and
put into execution the edicts issued from the Juntos of Ghent
and Brussels, and their undertaking has been crowned with the
most complete success." Mons. Vicq d'Azyr was misinformed,
for, on the contrary, the late Mr Consul Iivine transmitted the
Acts of Parliament, the Orders of Council, and my papers, con-
taining every necessary instruction, to a member of the Junto of
Ghent, whence they were sent to the Government at Brussels;
and it was also a long while before the Juntos could be pre-
vailed upon to adopt the system of killing, as they called it. It
originated in England in 1747 (?), and it is certain that the Court
of Vienna knew fully the obligations which the Austrian Nether-
lands had to the British Government, whose orders and regula-
tions had been implicitly followed, and which Mons. Vicq
d'Azyr says, p. 585, " He had modified and adopted to the rules
of French government.^' In Flanders, the infection was also pre-
vented from spreading a second time by the same method of pro-
ceeding; but, unfortunately, in Holland the cattle continue to be
exposed to the same disease. The half-yearly returns which
have been regularly sent me contain melancholy accounts of the
severe loss of cattle; sometimes the whole have perished; at
other times two-thirds hav^e died ; and generally above half fell
when the sickness was less violent. In a country where the ill-
ness is become general, and constantly raging more or less,
where the system of killing cannot now be thought of, and where
inoculations have met with so many opponents of all ranks, there
can be no other hope of getting rid of the calamity than by ad-
mitting into the United Provinces no other cattle than such
as are sound, or recovered from the infection. (By the last
half-yearly return from Holland, the number of infected cattle
was so small, that it was hoped no further return to the States
would be necessary.) I shall not trouble you, sir, with the returns
from Holland, or the tables of inoculation in Denmark, which
would too much increase the length of this letter; but only men-

History oj^ Animal Plagites. 305

tion, that in Denmark, • where the contagious distemper is
become naturalized and general, the Danish Government have
not only wisely adopted the orders and regulations issued in
Great Britain, but have with unwearied application pursued the
practice of inoculation. Count Bernsdorff and Dr Struensee had
all the necessary instructions, books, and papers, delivered to
them by me, when the King of Denmark was in England ; and
I am assured by Daniel Delavul, Esq., lately his Majesty's
Envoy Extraordinary at that court, that inoculation is approved,
recommended, and by authority established. Even in the first
three years that inoculation was practised, of near 300 head of
cattle which were inoculated in a Danish island, not a sixth part
were lost, notwithstanding the many disadvantages which un-
avoidably occurred. Professor Camper had before attempted to
introduce inoculation in Holland, but the learned professor's
abilities, diligence, and perseverance were so much counteracted
by the obstinacy and interruption of the peasants, the badness of
the situation, and inclemency of the weather, that out of 112
only 41 recovered, and yet that number is fully sufficient to
prove his opinion of the disease, and of the use of inoculation.
Application was made in 1770 to the Lord President of the
Council by a famous inoculator, for leave to take matter from
the infected beasts in Hampshire, and to inoculate the cattle in
the southern and western counties of England : on a represent-
ation to his lordship that by such an operation the contagion
would not only be introduced in those counties where it had not
yet appeared, but also might spread the sickness so as to become
general all over the kingdom as before, a positive and strict in-
junction was given to drop the intention, especially as by killing
the cattle there was no doubt of extirpating the contagion out
of Hampshire. The inoculator, therefore, made no attempt.
According to the several prejudices of different countries, various
opinions have arisen of the nature of this sickness. Such as are
averse to inoculation have obstinately refused to acknowledge it
was similar to the small-pox in the hunian bodv, and have very
idly asserted that the only intention of declaring the contagion
to be a sort of small-pox was purposely and with no other view
than to prtjmole inoculation for the small-pox.

20

3o6 History of Animal Plagues.

' Others have positively declared it to be a pestilential putrid
fever^ owing to a corrupted atmosphere^ and arising from in-
fected pastures; but unfortunately for the supporters of this
opinion, while the contagious distemper raged with the utmost
violence on the coasts of Friesland, North and South Holland,
Zealand, and Flanders, there was not the least appearance of it
on the English coast, from the North Foreland to the Humber,
although the coast and climate are the same. I shall not dwell
on Mr Turherville Needham's elegant discourse read at Brussels,
since he must have been convinced, when he came to England
in 1776, that the illness was of another sort than he imagined;
for such a proof of the efficacy of salt, recommended by him as an
antiseptic in this disease, has been given as is positive and deci-
sive, namely, that in Scania, a province in Sw^eden, where it is
customary to place a lar2;e piece of rock-salt, called salt stein, in
water, for the cattle housed to drink, all the cattle in that pro-
vince were seized with the contagious distemper, and not one
outlived it. Mons. Paulet, in his " Recherches sur les Maladies
Epizootiques,^^ vol. ii. pp. 25, 26, Paris, 1776, has sufficiently ex-
plained Mr Needham's opinion. M. Bergius had insisted that
the contagion was not of the exanthematous sort, and there-
fore inoculation must be of no use ; but this opinion was also
fully refuted by the late Professor Erxleben, of Gottingen, in his
learned oration on the 30th of October, 1770. From every in-
formation, domestic or foreign, and comparing the several
opinions, experience and observation plainly and completely de-
termine the dispute. The disease among the horned cattle, so
fatal in many countries, is not endemical or natural to Europe,
although it is become so in Denmark from spreading all over
the Danish dominions, and its long continuance in that king-
dom. It is an eruptive fever of the variolous kind (in a letter
from Mons. Vicq d'Azyr to Dr Layard, dated Paris, August 38,
1780, is the following declaration: " II me paroit comme a vous
que c'est toujours la meme maladie qui a regne depuis 1711 ;
et qii'elle a de grands rapports avec I' eruption varioleuse'') ; and
notwithstanding the exanthemata, or pustules, may have been
frequently overlooked, yet none ever recovered without more oj*
less eruption or critical abscesses; but these diffiir from the pesti-

History of Animal Plagues. 307

lential sort; no otherways similar to the Plague, but, like unto
the sniall-pox, it is communicated bv contact, by the air convey-
ing the effluvia, which also lodge in many substances, and are
thereby carried to very distant places. Unlike other pestilential,
putrid, or malignant fevers, it bears all the characteristic symp-
toms, progress, crisis, and event of the small-pox; and, whether
received by contagion or inoculation, has the same appearances,
stages, and determination, except more favourably by inoculation,
and with this distinctive and decisive property, that a beast
having had the sickness, naturally or artificially, never had it a
second time. Thus, sir, I have endeavoured to lay before you
and the Royal Society the result of my inquiries, experiments,
observations, and correspondence concerning this calamitous
sickness, which from my situation in Huntingdonshire in 1756, it
fell to my lot to investigate.' ^

Mr Robert Dossie,^ an eminent agriculturist and writer, in
his Mejtwirs of Agri culture gives an excellent summary of the
opinions held regarding the Cattle Plague at that time, and as
it is in many respects a valuable document, it is here repro-
duced almost in its entirety.

'The first clear traces we have of the later introduction of the
murrain into Europe commence in the year 17 10 or 17 11, at which
time there are authentic accounts that it was observed in Hungary.
Whether it was brought thither from other countries, most probably
further to the south-east, or if not, how it was originally generated
there, we have no hghts that lead to any certain knowledge. But
it was conveyed thence into Dalmatia, and propagated through that
country to the neighbourhood of Padua, whence it spread over the
whole of the Venetian state. It was soon afterwards disseminated
through the whole of Italy, and passed, in 1713, through the Tyrolese
into Germany ; whence it communicated itself to almost every other
part of Europe, as far north as Denmark and Sweden, introducing itself
also about that time into Great Britain. After this, in consequence of
more favourable seasons, the contagion abated by degrees in all the
places where it had prevailed, and in about nine years the infection
seemed to be exterminated in most of them. There is reason to
believe, notwithstanding, that some lurking remains kept their ground

' Philosopliical Transactions, 1780. y. Gam<:;ce. Op. cit.
''■ Memoirs of Agriculture. London, 1771. Vol. ii.

308 History of Animal Plagues.

in parts where the relaxation of moist air, and the debihtating effects
of putrid vapours, rendered the cattle more susceptible of all contagion.
For, in the beginning of the late king's reign, the disease revived here
to such a degree as to give occasion to the Government to make some
regulations for the suppression of it, though after a short time the in-
fection again seemed to have been extinguished. It also appears to
have shown itself in some parts of Germany even to the year 1730-

' In the year 1740 or 1741, this disease again broke out in the south-
eastern parts of Europe, and made its progress through the same coun-
tries as in its former course after 1710.

'It was brought hither in 1744 or 1745, from Holland, as is be-
lieved, and made great devastation of the cattle for several years, after
which it declined considerably, but took fresh vigour in 1756, and con-
tinued to rage with considerable violence for some time. It then
abated gradually, and, as far as appears, the infection, at length, was
wholly lost 5 as for a number of years we had not the least signs of it
before the autumn of the last year, and since, when it is believed to
have broken out afresh in two or three places of the island, though not,
as there is reason to believe, from any relics of the former, but the in-
troduction of a new contagion brought from other countries. In the
mean time, though we have been free from the murrain for a number
of years, yet it has during that period visited other places. Denmark
and Jutland, in particular, felt it in 1769, with greater severity than
has ever been known elsewhere. The United Provinces have under-
gone a yet harder fate, from some disadvantageous circumstances in the
temperature of their climate. For since its tirst introduction, in 1741^
it has never entirely left them, but maintained its ground, though with
various degrees of violence, at different times 5 and at present it makes
great ravage in the parts of those countries where cattle most abound.

' These latter invasions of several parts of Europe by the murrain,
have furnished the opportunity of making the following general observ-
ations on its effects and consequences.

' It is to be remarked that as the infection of this disease prevails
only at particular times anywhere, and acts with greater violence at
some times and in some places than others, according to the preceding
view of its migration, so it affects only part of the cattle anywhere, and
those with various degrees of malignancy. This leads us to explore in
what this difference of the cattle's being susceptible of the infection, or
exempt from its effects, when exposed to it, may lie. On examination
of this matter it will appear that where the infection does not before
subsist, it never comes but after some general cause has weakened the
habit of the beasts in general, such as very severe cold, long-continued

History of Animal Plagues. 309

want of a sufficient quantity of wholesome food, repeated alternations
of heat and cold in the weather, moist air replete with putrid vapours,
a long continuance of easterly winds, or, what is more frequent, a com-
bination of two or more of these causes together. Thus we find this
contagion invading every part of Europe after the year 171 1, when the
season had been so inclement the year before as to destroy a great por-
tion of the sheep in England ; and again in 1741, as mentioned above,
after a very intense frost, which lasted from December to April, and
by the rigour of cold and scarcity of fodder, had reduced the cattle in
general to a debilitated state, which was still aggravated by the almost
constant easterly winds that blew the summer and autumn following.
After the abatement of it, in more clement seasons, which followed
that period, we find the disease resuming its force again in various
places, since that time, by similar accidents. We see, also, that from
the same principles it has long maintained its ground in countries where
moist air and vapour of stagnated water disposes to agues and other dis-
eases that come from the laxity of the fibres, which disposition is equally. -,-'
produced by these causes, in the brute and human species. While, on ^
the other hand, it has been extinguished in places where a drier and purer ^
air gives robustness and vigour of constitution to the animals, it had
been observed, also, that the infection, when it has abated during the
summer or winter, has generally resumed fresh vigour in the spring
and autumn, when the alternations of heat and cold have disordered
and weakened the beasts.

' The same principle, with respect to the cause of the prevalence of
the contagion, holds good as to the particular beasts which are seized
with the disease, or escape the contagion when exposed to it. For
we see, in all cases, it is the weaker which are attacked by it,
and the stronger which remain free from it. It is ascertained, by
a very sufficient basis of remark on facts, that the beasts of a black,
dark, or red colour, either wholly or in mixture, are less subject to the
infection than those which are white, or of a hght mixture of colours j
and the concurrent observation of all times has established the belief
that this difference of colour is an indication of the greater or less degree
of natural strength of the beasts, as well in neat cattle as horses. It is
equally certain that bulls are less subject to the infection of this disease
than oxen, oxen than cows, cows not pregnant than those which arej
and, among all these, such beasts as appear naturally of a feebler make,
or are debilitated by any accidental suffering.

' It is inanifest, too, from an equal ground of observation, that the
same difference in strength and weakness which renders the cattle
more or less susceptible of the infection, makes them more or less liable

310 History of Animal Plagues.

to the violence of the eti'ects of it. Those which are weaker from any of
the above causes have more aggravated symptoms, and more frequently
die of the disease in proportion to the degree of such causes.

' It results, therefore, from these circumstances, that though infec-
tion conveyed from some beasts diseased with it is the etficient cause of
the murrain in cattle, yet there is a predisponent cause, or particular
state of the subject, absolutely necessary to its acting or taking effect j
and this predisponent cause is the condition of the beast with respect to
weakness of habit or relaxation. It appears, also, that this weak state
of the beast may arise from general causes, either of an epidemic nature,
affecting whole regions, such as inclemency of season, or scarcity of
wholesome food 3 of an endemic nature, affecting only particular places
or countries, such as dampness of the air, or abundance of putrid
vapours 5 and it may be produced also from some particular cause re-
garding the individual only, such as original weakness of constitution,
pregnancy, or debility occasioned by some accidental suffering.

' The susceptibility to the infection, and the predisposition to be
more violently affected by it, in consequence of the weakness of the
habit, are neither peculiar to cattle nor to this disease. It is evident,
from what offers in a very extensive field of observation, that both
mankind and brutes are liable to the attacks of most contagious dis-
orders in proportion to their defect of strength. Even were it not so
well verified by notorious facts, a theoretic proof might be drawn from
incontestable principles of physiology, and from the constant effects of
medicine administered in such cases. But this is too wide a range of
subjects to be entered on here, and would, besides, requires a previous
acquaintance with medicinal science in order to its being understood.
That beasts are liable to take the infection of the murrain, and suffer
more from it, in proportion to their weakness, is sufficiently obvious
from just remarks on the subject itself 5 and it is very necessary to be
understood and taken into consideration in all practical disquisitions on
that disease, because it constitutes a principle which admits two very
useful applications. It not only affords the means of prognosticating
when great numbers, or single particulars, will be seized with the disease,
if exposed to the contagion, and, consequently, supphes the proper
notice and warning for the use of preventive methods j but it furnishes,
likewise, the true indication of cure, and points out what tl:e regimen
should be that will counteract the disease.

' The manner in which the contagion may be conveyed is likewise
a matter of great moment in the consideration of the murrain, with a
view to the preventing its injurious effects.

* The observations already made on facts have not set everything

History of Animal Plagues. 311

relating to it in a clear and decisive light. There are some opinions
respecting it, in which all agree, because they are supported by evident
instances j but there are others which, though they have the sanction
of common assent, may yet be disputed on very just grounds. It is
unquestionably certain, that the murrain is communicated by transmis-
sion of some contagious matter from beasts which have that disease to
those which are sound j but that this is done by all the means of com-
munication generally supposed is not at present so manifest a matter.

* The etfect of inoculation in the murrain, as well as a great number
of other palpable facts, render it plain that the contagious matter
may be carried by other bodies, which receive it from the diseased
beast, and convey it, by actual contact, to the sound. This may be
performed by any substance to which the infecting particles can adhere,
but is most likely to happen, through accident, by the mediation of any
body that is of a hairy, woolly, or pilous texture,' because the matter is
much less liable to be rubbed or cleansed off from such bodies, than from
those which are denser and have an entire and smooth surface.

'But there is another mode of conveyance of the infection, which,
though it must be allowed to subsist with regard to some contagious dis-
orders, admits of a doubt with respect to the murrain, that is, the com-
munication of the contagion by the air. It is in general taken for
granted that the air is the chief vehicle of the contagion of this disease,
and several means of prevention of its action have been instituted on
that principle. But there is no clear fact which in the least proves this
notion, and the universal failure of the preventive means founded on it,
furnishes arguments against it, as far as anything at all can be thence
inferred. On the other hand, a great number of circumstances seem to
evince that the cattle are never infected but by an actual conveyance
of the contagious matter, by means of contact of a sound beast with one
that is diseased, or with some other body, which receives first the viru-

^ It has, however, been strangely made a matter of doubt by some eminent
professors in the United Provinces, whether the skin itself of a dead infected beast
would impart the contagion, and they have even asserted the negative, in con-
sequence of the result of certain experiments made for the determination of this
point. But some fallacious circumstance attended those experiments, as appears
even on the face of the relation. It would, indeed, require very strong proofs to
gain assent to such an opinion, than which a stranger paradox can scarcely be
advanced. It is evident the infection is conveyed by other substances; and nothing
can be more suited to collect and retain the matter of it than a hairy skin. The ^
matter must, undoubtedly, abound in the skin of the beast which generates it,
whether it be evacuated by the perspiration, saliva, or any other excretion. Indeed,
whatever other bodies convey it must in general receive it from the skin, which, j
if it can impart the same to tlicm while the animal is living, must, in common with'
other bodies, retain it a certain time after the beast is dead.

312 Histo7y of Animal Plagues.

lent matter from such beast. There are many instances where good
fences, and other effectual means of exclusion of whatever could bring
the infecting matter^ have prevented the cattle in particular places from
sutfering by the contagion, though surrounded on every side by numbers
of beasts seized with the disease. In some of these places the cattle
have escaped to the last. In others, after a time they have taken the
infection in consequence of knovv^n accidents, which occasioned the in-
troduction of the contagion, from the actual conveyance of it by some-
what that had received the virulent matter from a diseased beast.
Where the neighbouring infected cattle were, in these instances, all on
one side the place in which those that escaped were confined, this ex-
emption of them might be reasonably imputed, as it has been, to the
wind blowing the contrary way, and carrying off" the contagious effluvia
that might have otherwise reached them. But this solution of the
difficulty cannot hold good, when, as has been frequently the case, the
free place where the cattle escaped was surrounded by infected beasts
I on every side. The determination of this point is not merely a specu-
lative object, for it settles the proper nature and limitations of the means
to be used for the prevention of the communication of the infection,
and rightly confines them to such as regard the hindering the contact
of diseased beasts with the sound, or the exclusion of bodies which may
convey the virulent matter from the one to the other.

' From the facts which have appeared respecting the disease, there
is reason to infer that the contagious matter retains its infecting power
a considerable time. The contagion is believed in several instances, from
very strong circumstances, to have been conveyed to remote places in
bodies transported by sea, as the known intercourse with the countries
whence it was presumed to be brought palpably suggested that manner
of its introduction, which could not be otherwise accounted for. Some
of the later experiments with regard to the inoculating cattle with the
disease show this fact with greater certainty of proof. The precise
limitation of period in which the infecting matter will keep its power
is not, however, well ascertained by any observations or trials ; but
there is room to conclude that, under some circumstances, it will act
at a considerable distance of time from its being generated. We see
the variolous matter will communicate the small-pox after many months;
and there is no foundation for any doubt of the analogy betwixt the
contagion of that and of the murrain in this particular. But it is a
matter of great consequence, and this should be decided by adequate
experiments. Because the knowledge of it is of great moment, in
judging of the proper means and regulations for preventing the intro-
duction of the contagion into places free from it.

History of Animal Plagues. 313

' The space of time, likewise, betwixt the beasts receiving the in-
fection and the perceptible effects of it, is not yet precisely settled by
accurate observations. But there are well-known facts that give us
a considerable degree of information with regard to it. In general,
appearances will be found in three or four days j in some few instances
they may not come on till six or seven. We may state the latter time
as the utmost period, unless when the beasts are very slightly affected
with the disease, and then, where the symptoms may not be discernible
till it be in its most powerful state, ten days may be allowed. If a
beast, therefore, suspected to have received the infection, do not show
any signs of it in six or seven days, there will be very httle danger of
its being seized j and if none appear in ten, it may be taken for granted
that there is no infection in the case.

' The time for detaining cattle in any place to which they have
been removed, after having been exposed to a risk of the infection, in
order to prevent their spreading the disease to other parts, may be
therefore limited to a fortnight, since there is not the least hazard
after such time of their being seized with the disease, in consequence
of their having been exposed to the contagion so long before.

' These are the general facts and observations respecting the murrain
which have hitherto presented themselves. It is proper to subjoin that,
as before intimated, this disease has various appearances, symptoms, and
degrees of mortality, at different times, and in different places j as the
epidemical effects of the seasons, or endemical circumstances of par-
ticular countries, have interfered with the natural process of the disease.
In the United Provinces a profuse diarrhoea, or looseness, is a very com-
mon symptom, and generally carries oft' the beasts by exhausting their
strength 3 but, where they do not recover, it seems to be the critical
evacuation by which the virus of the disease is discharged. Eruptions
more rarely attend the murrain in that country, though they are not
always wanting. On the contrary, in Great Britain the looseness seldom
happens, and is mostly a mortal symptom, though, in some few cases, a
salutary one. Eruptions occur much more frequently, and are generally
the critical deposit of the virus when the beasts recover. In Denmark
the disease, when it made its furious attack in 1759, ^^'^'^ ^'^^ more violent
and mortal than it was ever known in England or Holland, or than it
had been when it infested the same places before. The fatal crisis
was then very rapid, the beasts dying in two or three days, and some
sooner, after they first appeared to be affected. At some periods, re-
markable blisters on the tongue are related to have been an early and
general symptom of this disease ; ' they are not near so frequent now,
' There is, as was above observed, another contagious disease of the cattle, of

314 History of A niinal Plagues.

and only found at or towards the end of the disease. Like variations
are, as above intimated, seen in other malignant contagious diseases :
and render an accurate observation of the symptoms, when they break
out fresh at a distance of time, necessary to the forming a just descrip-
tion of them, in order to the distinguishing them with certainty from
others which are similar.

' As the mortality of cattle occasioned by the murrain has been a
very great evil to many countries, means for the prevention or cure oi
it have been earnestly sought after by great numbers of physicians and
others. But this research has been made with very little success any-
where, either with regard to the interest of the proprietors of the cattle
or benefit to the public, except what relates to the introduction or
spreading of the infection into places or countries free from it.

'Among the means of prevention of the murrain, those the most
generally adopted, though the least etfectual to the end, have been the
attempts to render the places where beasts are kept, or the beasts them-
selves, insusceptible of the infection. In this intention, by an imitation
of what the ancients recommended and practised as preservatives against
the plague, fumigations, scents, and external medicaments employed on
the cattle have been almost everywhere used.

' With respect to fumigations of the places where beasts are kept, all
confidence in them must fall to the ground whenever the opinion of
the air's being a vehicle of the contagion is refuted, as they were per-
formed with a view to destroy the putrid effluvia with which it was
supposed to be impregnated, and which was considered as the matter of
the contagion. But these fumigations frequently repeated, as they were
for this purpose, in close places where the beasts were confined, were not
only inefi'ectual to that purpose, but noxious in a considerable degree as
being conducive to the prevalence of the contagion. For, being in
general made with bodies that afforded an acrid steam, such as sulphur,
vinegar, tobacco, or terebinthinate substances, they injured the respira-
tion of the beasts, and thence, diminishing the animal strength, render-
ed them more disposed to be affected by the contagion.^ A multi-

which blisters on the tongue seem, from the accoimts of it, to be a constant, prin-
cipal, and characteristic symptom ; and proper care, therefore, should be taken to
avoid confounding this disease with the murrain, either m reading or practice. It
appears to have been curable, in most subjects, solely by opening the blisters ; and
is therefore evidently of a much less malignant nature than the murrain ; in
which, as is well known, from many trials, that operation would be of very little
avail. This circumstance alone would give a sufficient criterion for distinguishing
the one from the other. (Mr Dossie is here speaking of 'glossanthrax.')

1 A free respiration of fresh undepraved air is essentially necessary to the strength
of the beasts, in order to their resisting the effects of the contagion. It has appeared,

History of Animal Plagues. 315

plicity of facts confirm the truth of this remark, as it appears from
nearly all the accounts given that the greatest number of beasts have
been lost where means of this kind have been most employed.

' The medicating the cattle externally by rubbing them with sulphur,
gunpowder, tobacco-water, and other substances does less harm than
the fiimigations, but not more good, as experience has largely evinced.
The same may be said of those extraordinary mundifications, or cleans-
ings of the hair and skin of the cattle, which have been recommended
and practised on the same authority of the ancients. There is reason''
to conclude that the contagion, in whatever part it is first imbibed, takes
effect too soon to be rubbed otf in time 5 and it is most reasonable to;
suppose, if the infection be at all absorbed by the skin, this great cleans-,
ing of it may fit and prepare it to receive the contagion rather than
defend it against its admission. All the supposedly preservative methods
of this kind, though they have the authority of many writers from an
implicit submission to the more ancient, have been found as vain and
fruitless in practice as they seem absurd in speculation, when examined
on the just and demonstrable principles of physiology.

' The use of the internal medicines, administered as antidotes to
fortify the beasts against the attacks of the contagion, have been equally
inetficacious or detrimental with the external means. Those of the
medicines that have been recommended for this purpose, which come
within the class named alexipharmic, and are proposed to combat the
virus, are entirely inadequate in their degree of power to the intention,
though some of them, by their invigorative qualities, may have a tend-
ency to oppose the effects of the contagion. Those which have been
adopted as antiseptics or resisting putrefaction, such as sulphur, oil oi
vitriol, vinegar, &c., when given as preservatives against the contagion,
must of course be administered out of season. Since putrefaction in
the fluids of the beast is the consequence, not the cause, of the contagion,
and, therefore, cannot take place till the contagion be received, nor, as
it did not before subsist, can it admit of being counteracted till then.
Moreover, the substances of this kind, which are of an acid nature, have,

from a number of observations which are recorded by the writers on this subject,
that tlie cattle which have been kept out in the air, when the weather was not in-
clement through too much cold or moisture, have been less subject to take the in-
fection, and recovered in greater numbers when seized with it, than those which
were housed. In Denmark, during the terrible visitation mentioned above of this
disease in the year 1759, many of the boors attempted to preserve their cattle from
the infection by the fumes of tobacco, which they continually smoked in the cow-
houses, even sitting up the whole night in turns for that purpose in the midst of
them. But it was remarked that scarcely any of the cattle so treated avoided the
contagion and death in consequence of it.

316 History of A nimal Plagues.

in this case, a contrary tendency to that of resisting the effects of the
contagion. For, destroying the bile, and checking, by other means, the
digestive ferment, as well as lowering the vis v'ltce from some other less
known power, they weaken the habitof the beasts, and consequently
dispose them to receive the infection more readily, and suffer, with less
resistance, its action in bringing on a putrescent state of the fluids. It
has been, therefore, everywhere found that, whenever any of these
methods have been pursued, more beasts have been lost than when they
were left to the friendly assistance of nature undisturbed, and only
secured from those accidents that would injuriously affect their health
in all circumstances.

' There is another proposed method of saving cattle from the mortal
effects of the murrain, of which some trial has been made, that properly
comes under consideration along with the preceding. Because, though
it is not, indeed, the preventing the infection, but, on the contrary, the
giving it, yet it is calculated to answer the same end, that is, the prevent-
ing the ill effects of the contagion by anticipative means. This method is
the inoculation of the cattle with the murrain, in the same general manner
as is practised with mankind for the small-pox. The fact is well known
that beasts which have had the murrain from accidental infection, like
mankind with regard to the small-pox, do rarely take it again 5 and it
being presumed on this ground that the analogy betwixt these two dis-
eases still holds good in other particulars, and, consequently, that the
communicating the murrain by inoculation would have the same con-
sequences on the cattle in preventing their receiving the infection again,
and in rendering the symptoms of the disease proportionably milder and
less fatal, it was imagined the use of this method might be, in a con-
siderable degree, a substitute for a preservative from the infection itself.
But experience has evinced that this presumption was erroneous in
point of fact ; and there is, besides, one essential circumstance of differ-
ence betwixt the murrain and the small-pox which constitutes the use
of inoculation detrimental in the former, even if it were productive of
the same consequence as in the latter, with respect to the mitigation of
the symptoms or the prevention of future infection. The experiments
made to explore the effects of inoculation in the murrain, though not
all alike in their result, have yet given sufficient lights to determine that
they are very different from those of inoculation for the small-pox, and
that it can in no degree answer the same end, even with respect to the
particular beasts subjected to it ; much less can it conduce to the re-
straining and diminishing the mortal effects of contagion in any manner
that may be beneficial to the public.

' In the first place, it is sufliciently proved from instances that the

Histojy of Animal Plagues. o^\'-j

inoculation of beasts for the murrain does not hinder their receiving the ^
infection again, as other cattle, by accident. This may seem very ex-
traordinary on the first view, because, when the cattle take the infection
by casual means and recover, they are rarely subject to have the disease
a second time, and because we see inoculation for the small-pox pre-
vents the ill etfects of future contagion in the same manner as a casual
infection. But reasons drawn from analogy, however just they may be^
in support of supposition, cannot conceal facts 5 and though the cause
of this difference betwixt the small-pox and murrain be of a dark and
inexplicable nature, yet nothing is to be thence inferred against its real-
ity as tlie subject itself is so in all respects. For there has been no
satisfactory reason hitherto assigned why the having either of these dis-
eases once, by any mode of infection, should be preventive of the future
effects of the same contagion. Whatever ditficulties may attend the
accounting for it, we yet find on a revisal of the relations of the trials |
of inoculation practised for the murrain, a considerable number in pro-^
portion to the whole are known to have actually taken the infectionl
afterwards, and that of these the far greatest part died of the disease.^

1 There are many instances of cattle taking the murrain a second time after having >
just before had it by inoculation. Noseman, and two other Dutch physicians, were
among the first who performed this operation in Holland. The beasts they inocu- \
lated were seventeen in number, and out of them three recovered, but took the in-
fection again by accidental means a fortnight after in so violent a manner that two '
of them died. Professor Grashuys inoculated six beasts, which recovered. All of
them took the infection again by accident, and four of them died. There is an ac-
count, in the experiments of the Marquis de Courtivron, of two calves that were \
inoculated twice without any apparent symptoms of the disease being produced.
But they took the infection without any operation afterwards from other cattle hav-
ing the disease from inoculation, and one of them died. In an experiment made
last year on the inoculation of cattle for the murrain, in consequence of a subscrip-
tion formed for that purpose in PViesland, and reported to the States-General of
the United Provinces by Professor Camper, it appears that out of ten which re-
covered after being inoculated the 5th of July, five took the disease again by acci-i
dental means, and all died. In the continuation of the above experiments, seven
beasts which recovered, after being inoculated July 20th, all took the infection again
casually aflenvards, and were carried off by the disease. It may seem difficult to
conceive why more of the cattle that have recovered from inoculation, and taken
the disease afterwards, should die of it than of those which have not been inoculated, ,
and are casually infected with it. But as inoculation does not, similarly to what is)
found in the small-pox, prevent the future action of the contagion with equal power,
nor render the symptoms less violent when the disease is received by that mode of
infection, than when in the natural way, there is room to conclude that the weak-
ened habit of the beast, in consequence of the injury done by the disease in tlie
inoculated subjection to it, renders the effects more fatal in the second attack accord-
ing to the principle we have above specified.

3i8 History of Animal Plagues.

We may reasonably presume, thence, that others of them might take the
infection after the accounts were written, or under circumstances which
might prevent the writers from attaining to the knowledge of it. It
must likewise be considered, that among the beasts inoculated a part
must have been such as were not constitutionally susceptible at all of
the infection by casual means, and therefore did not take it afterwards
on that score. But, if we reason on the simple fact alone, that a con-
siderable proportion of the number of the beasts inoculated have had the
disease again, and with at least equal violence and mortality as those not
before inoculated, we must grant that this practice cannot any way
answer the end proposed, which is solely that of preserving them for the
future against the bad effects of the contagion.

' In the second place, it is likewise evinced by the same testimony of
facts, that the infection communicated by inoculation is not attended
with less violent symptoms and mortality than when received by casual
means. The accounts of the practice of that operation fully justify this
assertion.^ Hence, therefore, as well as for the last-mentioned reason,
inoculation appears evidently to fail of its intended purpose.

' There are many instances, in the relations given of the trials of inoculation for
the murrain, of the beasts dying in a great proportion to the number subjected to
it. Amongst them are the following : — Noseman and his [two colleagues, as we
have before had occasion to mention, inoculated seventeen, of which fourteen then
died, and two of the others, which had recovered from that infection, took a fresh
one casually, which appeared stronger, and carried them off. So that only one
was saved out of the seventeen. Doctor Fountayne, Dean of York, had four
inoculated, and lost one of them. Doctor Layard inoculated eight beasts, of which
five died, and he killed another for inspection, which otherwise might have been
added to them for anything that appears. Four beasts were inoculated for the
murrain in the spring of the year, by order of the States of Utrecht, all of which
had the distemper with great violence and died, as appears in the report made to
the states of that province of the opinion of some eminent physicians they consulted,
and of the result of this experiment. The following numbers died from the inocu-
lation performed in consequence of the subscription mentioned in the preceding
note, made last year for that purpose in Friesland. Out of twenty-five head of
young cattle inoculated the 5th day of July, ten died, besides five others which,
thou<'h they recovered, took the disease again afterwards casually, and then died of
it, as before related. Out of twenty-five that were inoculated the 20th of July,
thirteen then died, besides the seven before-mentioned, which, having recovered,
caught the infection by accidental means afterwards, and were carried off by it.
Out of fifty-eight that were inoculated the 9th of August and took the infection,
twenty-five died of the disease then, and five more died soon after of a pulmonic
decay occasioned by it. Four other beasts were inoculated on the same 9th of
August, in which the infection failed. They were again subjected to the operation,
the iSthand 19th, in a similar manner, and, taking the disease then, two died at
the time, and a third soon after, from pulmonic abscesses brought on by it. In

History of Animal Plagues. 319

' The total insufficiency of inoculation to answer, in the case of the
murrain, the end proposed, on the score of both the preceding circum-
stances, would be a sufficient ground for exploding the practice of it.
But there is a yet stronger reason against its use, which arises from this
principle: — The murrain is, at least with respect to the European coun-.
tries, an epidemical disease, though contagious. That is, it does not, as/
we have observed before, ever reign but when certain unfavourable cir-
cumstances of season have created a predisposition in the cattle to re-
ceive the infection, and thence rendered them temporarily susceptible
of it. When the etfects of these unfavourable circumstances of season
cease the etfects of the contagion cease likewise, as far as regards accidental}
infection 5 so that when the consequences are left to the natural course
of things, this disease is only a temporary mischief, to which there is
some certain period, though that period may be different, as we have
seen above, from the various condition of different places. Now, if the
inoculation for the murrain were practised in so general and continued
a manner as to render it of any public consequence, supposing the
inoculated beasts incurred less danger from the disease by that mode of
receiving the infection, and were more secure from future attacks of it,
the contagion must be spread in proportion to the extent of the country
where the operation is practised, and must also be constantly kept up
in good as well as bad seasons. Hence all the natural means of the
contagion being exterminated in the favourable times would be wholly
taken away, and in the bad times there would be necessarily a great

these instances taken together, we find a far greater proportion of the cattle destroyed
by the murrain given by the inoculation than would have been by the infection
taken' in the natural way. Professor Camper says, nevertheless, 'That such ill
success should not discourage the future pursuit of inoculation for this disease, be-
cause the same miscarriages happened on the first introduction of this operation for
the small-pox into our parts of the world.' But I must beg his pardon for saying
that this is an inadvertent assertion, and that he is entirely mistaken in the matter
of fact. For the inoculation for the small-pox was equally successful at first as
now ; and though extraordinary stress has been lately laid on some particular
methods of treatment supposed to be new, yet, where they have not been followed,
we have two instances of a greater list of recovered patients in proportion to those
which have been lost under the same conduct, than can be produced on equal
authority by any of the pretended improvers of this practice. Some few out of
great numbers have at all times died of inoculation for the small-pox, but never in
any proportion to the beasts, which appear in the relations here cited, to have died
from inoculation for the murrain. It was the striking examples of success which
could alone have introduced and established the use of inoculation for the small-pox
here, and it would have been rejected with horror, and prohibited by authority, had
a similar failure to that which has been experienced in the murrain been founil in
the result of the first trials.

320 History of Animal Plagues.

destruction of such beasts as neglect or the casual want of opportunity
of inoculation had left exposed to the rage of it. This we see happen
at present with us, in the instance of the small-pox, from the very ex-
tensive dissemination of the infection by inoculation. But this disease
ditfers very materially from that of the murrain, with relation to that
operation. For we find no instance of the contagion of the small-pox
being ever totally suppressed in any country where it has once gained
admission ; and therefore, if general inoculation mitigate the effects, it
may be adopted for that disease without the mischief of causing a per-
petuity of the contagion, as would happen from a general practice of it
for the murrain, the contagion of which will otherwise spontaneously
cease in certain periods, as past events have incontestably manifested.

' The failure of inoculation to answer its intended purpose, as evinced
by the instances above quoted, and others, has disposed the favourers of
it not to insist on its utility when practised on cattle in general. But
Camper, De Monchy, and some others of those who have most lately
given opinions on this subject, still continue to recommend it to be
performed on calves, or young cattle. But even admitting a greater
number of them than of older cattle might recover, when subjected to
it, yet, if it be not, as we have above shown good reason to believe, a
security against future infection, it can be of no utility. The objection,
moreover, against the general use of inoculation, with regard to its
spreading and perpetuating the contagion, avails equally against the
inoculation of the calves as the adult beasts. For what will secure the
other cattle from this infection when the calves have the disease in
places near them ? Will not this universal propagation of the con-
tagion, in spite of all the care that can be taken, of course occasion its
frequently reaching some of the older cattle; and will they not infect
jcach other the same as at present, only in a more general manner? It
' may be answered that, if all the calves be inoculated, the wdiole stock
of cattle would in time be rendered insusceptible of the infection, and
therefore not subject to this mischief. But if, which is, nevertheless,
denied, for the reasons before specified, the inoculated cattle were ren-
dered incapable of having the disease again, yet the detriment arising
from the above-explained effects of such a practice, before it could pos-
sibly be extended in any general manner, and the impracticability of
making more than a part of the people conform regularly to it, would
be extremely great. This plan has, besides, the further inconvenience
of being incompatible with any supply of foreign cattle in places of
great scarcity, for the contagion being spread everywhere by the con-
stant inoculation of the calves, such foreign cattle would of course be
affected by it, which must produce such a loss to the dealers in them as

History of Annual Plagues. 321

would deter any persons from venturing on so dangerous a trade; whence
the pubHc distress would be greatly enhanced by the scarcity of all cattle
thus occasioned.

' We may, on the whole, conclude that no general effectual aid is to
be obtained against the murrain, in a preventive intention, by medicinal
means. For such as might avail to a certain degree in nature are ren-
dered impracticable from economical reasons. Whatever is done of this
kind to answer any real purpose, must be extended to all the cattle in
every stock, at least, where there are not very particular signs of strenoth,
which will be found only in few. It must also be continued, or at
least renewed at short intervals, during the whole time the infection is
in the neighbourhood, as no foresight can point out what accident may
convey it to the beasts. This must cause much expense in the pur-
chase of the medicines, and constant trouble in the administration,
which is in fact ecjual to expense. Professor Camper says, nevertheless,
that nothing affords a greater prospect of success than preparing the
humours, while the cattle are yet in health, as the contagion approaches.
But he seems aware, however, that the medicine which could be most
depended upon for this purpose, the Peruvian bark, would be too dear
to be administered in that profusion which is necessary ; and therefore
he proposes the finding some substitute for it, intimating that he con-
siders the willow bark as such. But, unhappily, it is well known that
neithi?r the willow bark nor any other hitherto discovered simple is an
adequate substitute for tlie Peruvian bark, and, though they have a de-
gree of the same power, and may be joined with it to make some sav-
ing of the quantity, yet, given alone, they are not to be depended upon
and deemed equal to the intention. The expense of the Peruvian bark,
or ot strong fermented liquors or cordials, the only efficacious means of
invigorating and keeping up the sanative strength of the beasts, would
be apparently more burthensome to the proprietors of cattle than that
ot replacing such of them as might be carried off by the disease. Since
to put a large herd of cattle under a medicinal regimen, and continue
it so for a long time, would most obviously be attended with a certain
great loss for the precarious chance of avoiding another loss that, at
worst, could not be equal to it, nor possibly incurred at all, ami would
therefore be neither advantageous, nor in general practicable, as many
proprietors of cattle could not find resources for making so considerable
a disbursement.

'The remedies which have been tried for the cure of the nnurain
have been in general as inefficacious and absurd as those employed for
its prevention ; and though some few have been better chosen w illi re-
spect to the intention, yet they never appear to have been well used as

21

32,2 History of Animal Plagues.

to die manner of administration, whence we have very few certain in-
stances of their success. The far greater part of these medicines, like
those used for the prevention of the disease, have been taken up on the
authority of the ancients and the earher writers, and consist of a jum-
bled variety of those medicaments which are deemed antidotes of
poisons or alexipharmics. Under this class have been given theriaca,
mithridate, diascordium, opium, camphor, balsams, frankincense, myrrh,
juniper berries, camomile flowers, marigold flowers, feverfew, rue, sage,
fenugreek, madder roots, grass roots, horse-radish, bay leaves, mustard
seed, snake root, contrayerva root, turmeric, savin, moth maslein,
spearmint, calamus, aromaticus, garlic, onions, leeks, testaceous powders,
sulphur, vinegar stalks, honey, raisins, figs, blood of a tortoise, and eggs.
Some present physicians on more modern, but perhaps not more just
notions, have exhibited to the beasts several of the above and other
simples, under the name of antiseptics, in another intention ; it is that
of resisting putrefaction, in which they principally place the cause of
this disease.^ The chief of the remedies of this class they have adopted

^ The antiseptic class of medicines has not much more claim of propriety and
efficacy in the cure of the murrain than that of the antidotes and alexipharmics.
Though a puti-escent state of the fluids be the consequence of this disease in the
second stage, when the effects are violent, yet it does not seem to have any concern
in the cause, nor from any marks even to come on in the first stage. The effectual
method, therefore, of doing somewhat that may resist the putrefaction is to miti-
gate the violence of the disease, which can only be effected, as far as hitherto
appears, by keeping up the natural strength of the beasts, through the use of an in-
vigorative regimen. The action of those remedies called antiseptics may be there-
fore well doubted, as we shall have occasion to take notice more particularly below,
with respect to their immediate effects in that intention in any febrile cases, and
I more especially in the murrain. Notwithstanding they check putrefaction in inani-

!' mate animal substances, yet, in living subjects, being taken into the intestines, their
nature is changed by the digestive operation, and they do not pass into the habit
I with the same qualities, but as a part of the chyle in which such qualities cannot
; exist. Those of them that contain the astringent gums which have the property of
I tanning, such as are found in the Peruvian bark, &c., may promote this intention
' indeed secondarily by invigorating the solids, accelerating, consequently, the mo-
tion of the fluids, and thence aiding the natural ferments, which are the cause why
putrefaction does not take place in the juices of the living animals. But the acid
kinds of the antiseptic medicines have even the contrary effects in febrile cases.
For, diminishing the irritability, they lower the vis vita, and they prevent digestion
by checking that particular ferment by which it is performed. Whence, in both
ways, they lessen the animal strength, and of course conduce to tlie putrescence of
the humours. These antiseptic remedies, moreover, can have no effect on the habit
in that stage of the disease where the putrescence actually takes place, because
the digestion is then totally lost, as we shall see below, and the medicines, when
taken, either remain in the stomachs of the beasts, or pass off in the colliquative
purging. . It is thence we may account for the greater mortality of beasts so treated.

History of Animal Plagues. 323

are the vitriolic acid, vinegar, verjuice, sour dough, butter-milk, com-
mon salt, and sal ammoniacus. Others, who are attached to the doc-
trines of another modern school, considering this disease as inflamma-
tory, have administered medicines they hold as emollient and sedative,
of which nitre, cream of tartar, acids, mucilages, and oils are the princi-
pal.' Merciiriahs, antimonialis, and white vitriol have also been em-
ployed in the intention of febrifuges by some of the present physicians,
who are favourers of chemical and metallic medicines.

' But alike has been the success of all the proposed remedies of these
several classes, which is, that a remarkably great number of the beasts
to which they have been administered have died, in proportion to that
of those which have been left to nature. This may appear strange, but
the fact is that all of these medicaments which have any operation,
except those which have an invigorating and strengthening quality, dis-
turb, in some way or other, the animal economy, and, thence weakening

1 How far the notion, that the mortal effects of febrile disorders in general
depend on inflammation, and that the indications of cure are to t>e thence deduced,
may be just, does not make a proper object of examination here, though, perhaps,
a medical error in this point has not only been destructive to many cattle in cases
of trials to cure the murrain, but to a greater number of mankind than were ever
saved by all the means of medicinal art. But however that may be, it is obvious
the murrain cannot be classed amongst inflammatory disorders when the symptoms
of it, that will be below investigated, are duly considered. It must be allowed, in-
deed, that when the whole animal economy is perverted by this distemper in the
second stage of it, the efforts of nature to relieve herself from the discrasy of the
fluids, produce inflammation in particular parts, the marks of wliich are constantly
found. Inflammation is not, however, in the murrain, even the secondary cause of
the disease itself, as it is in the small-pox, plague, and some other febrile contagious
distempers of mankind, but the last consequence of it in the most advanced state.
On the contrary, the symptoms of the first stage of the murrain, and frequently of
the second, exhibit no signs of general inflammation, but of general and partial
weakness. A lentor of the animal action, a stupor, and a paralysis of the head and
digestive organs, are, as we shall see below, the first visible effects. When these
are aggravated so as to prevail over the efforts of nature to perform the vital func-
tions, the disease necessarily proves fatal ; but where the animal strength is suf-
ficient to resist for a certain period, the disease terminates by a critical discharge
of the virus or morbid matter, and the beast recovers. Certainly, therefore, the
treating the murrain as an inflammatory disorder by the exhibitions which diminish
irritability, and lessen the vis vita; or animal strength, is conspiring with the efforts
of the contagion to bring on the destruction of the beasts, as tliose efforts prevail
according to llic weakness of the subjects. It must be admitted, indeed, that the
medicines administered in this intention are not very powerful in their effect, but
when conjoined to bleeding or other evacuations, they have some share in render-
ing nature unable to resist the action of the contagion. They may consequently lie
granted to have contributed in some degree to that remailcable loss of the cattle
whicii has attended the attempts to cure the murrain.

324 History of Animal Plagues.

the beasts, render them more subject to the malignant action of the con-
tagion, according to the principles above laid down.

' The Peruvian bark, strong fermented liquors, cordials, and other
medicines which have the same tendency to invigorate, and are thence,
as will be shown below, agreeable to the true indication of cure, have,
amongst the rest, been tried by some few physicians in their treatment
of this disease. But the manner in which they were used, either with
respect to the period of the distemper when they were given, the want
of due perseverance in the exhibition, the joining to them injurious
practices, or some other circumstance, has been such that i^vf in-
stances of good can be shown to have resulted from them, though enough
to confirm what may be deduced from just principles of physiology re-
specting this disease, as to their utility in the cure of it.

' Bleeding has been practised by most who have attempted to cure
the murrain. Many have done it promiscuously, in every period of the
disease 3 others have confined it to the first stage only. Whoever con-
siders the effects of bleeding on the habit and the nature of the dis-
temper, as deduced from the symptoms, cannot doubt but that this
evacuation must have largely contributed to augment the extraordinary
number of those beasts which have died when subjected to medicinal
treatment, compared to that of those which have been left to the
favour of nature. The failure of that degree of animal strength in

. some beasts which is found in others is, as we evidently see from the .
facts above-mentioned, not only the cause why one part of the cattle

I takes the infection while another escapes it, but also, why it proves
mortal to one part of those seized with it while the other recovers.

I Now it must be allowed that bleeding, when to such degree as to have
any effect, more than almost any other means, diminishes the animal
strength, or the force of circulation. Must it not, then, in proportion,

1 conduce to bring the strong cattle to that state of weakness which is

\ the cause, as we have seen above, \^'hy the disease prevails over nature
in some more than others, and to render still more weak those which
were so ?

' It is not to be wondered at, nevertheless, that physicians who have
hastily considered the murrain as an inflammatory disease ' should adopt

' The notion that the murrain is an inflammatory disease, has arisen from the hasty
conclusion of physicians of its being similar and having a great affinity to the small-
pox and plague. But it will be manifest, from moderate observations on the re-
spective symptoms of them, that there is no such similarity or affinity betwixt them
in nature. The small-pox always produces general inflammation, and consequently
signs of a strong fever in a greater or less degree in the first stage, and the excess
of that inflammation is frequently the cause of its proving mortal. The same is
seen in the plague, which begins with symptoms of strong fever and inflammation.

History of Animal Plagues. 32^5

this most effectual means of resisting inflammation, but there is not the
least ground for this notion of the nature of the disease.

'In the lirst stage the contrary of general inflammation appears, for
then the symptoms exhibit signs of languor and a disposition to insensi-
bility. Nor is there any general inflammation seen in the whole course
of the disease, except when deposits of the morbid matter are made in
the last stage, which, if they prove eruptions or tumours in the external
parts, are a salutary crisis that should not, on any account, be disturbed
or checked, or, if they fall on the internal parts, are a fatal symptom
not to be resisted, and are then, moreover, attended with such a state of
weakness in the beast that any considerable evacuation must soon be
followed with a mortal sinking. At what time, therefore, is the bleed-
ing to be practised with a view to the relieving against the inflammation ?
In the first stage, when there is a total absence of any such inflamma-
tion and the whole danger of mischief lies in that of the want of sufficient
strength, or in the last stage, when there is such a state of weakness
that the evacuation must necessarily kill the beast 5 or such a critical
eruption as, if suffered to take its course, may save the animal, but if
checked or thrown in by the diminution of the fever, which supports
it, must attack the internal parts and either cause instant suffocation or
convulsions, or, in a short time, a mortiflcation of those parts ? ^ In

Whence they may both be properly deemed intlammatory disorders, as inflamma-
tion is one principal secondary cause of the dangerous symptoms and mortality
attending them. But in the murrain no such inflammation ever appears in tl^e
first stage, but the very contrary ; nor does any great degree of heat occur till either
towards the middle of the second stage, and then only in the case of a disposition to
eruptions, when, as Dr Layard has justly remarked, it is a prognostic of a recovery,
or at the end of the second stage, when deposits of the morbid matter are made on
the viscera and soon induce a mortification. In the small-pox, an eruption is the
sole salutary crisis which nature has instituted, and through which the subject can
be saved. It is therefore, together with the preceding and attending inflammation
and fever, essential to the disease. But, on the contrary, in the murrain, though
eruptions are one mode of the crisis of the disease, or in other words, one way by
which nature discharges the morbid matter when of due maturity, yet they are
often wholly wanting, even when the beasts recover, and, therefore, not essential to
the disease, even where it has its full natural progress. For in the United Pro-
vinces, and other moist and low countries, eruptions are most frequently not found
in the beasts which do well, but a diarrhoea, or looseness, constitutes the critical
discharge, and, in such case, no great degree of heat arises in the whole course of
the disease. This proves an entire diversity in the nature of the diseases to be
betwixt the small-pox and the murrain, and evinces that the indications of cure
which are adopted from a supposed analogy of them stand on a very erroneous
foundation.

' Dr Layard, who, on the whole, has written the most sensiJjly on this disease,
says, ' Bleeding, therefore, will be found necessary only when the iaflannnation

^26 History of Anbnal PlagtLcs.

ev^ery light, this evacuation appears to be injurious in the murrain. For
if there can be a case supposed where it might tend to reheve against a

is so considerable and the fever so high that nature is obstructed and cannot expel
the morbid matter, and, whenever such symptoms are apprehended, pradence will
require bleeding to prevent this coming on, according to the constitution, strength,
or age of the beast.' But I must dissent from the doctor as to his opinion that
there are any cases which admit of a rule to be laid down for bleeding the cattle in
the murrain. That inflamniatio7i does ever obstruct nattcre so that she caniiot expel
the morbid matter is a mere hypothesis, and, perhaps, might easily be shown to be
such, as it is not consistent with the known principles of physiology ; I shall, how-
ever, waive any discussion of that kind here. It is sufficient to deny that any such
inflammation is found in the course of this disease, as no strong signs of any appear
but the shivering and heat in the earlier part of the second stage, which denote an
eruption, and are, as above-mentioned, enumerated by the doctor himself among
the prognostics of recovery ; or the violent fever, which follows the attack of the
disease on the viscera in the very last period, and is, consequently, always a fatal
symptom. But admitting there were cases when it might be beneficial to bleed the
beasts in this distemper, with a view to prevent the coming on of too much inflam-
mation, or the consequences of it when sutisisting, how are they to be certainly
distinguished in practice ? Few physicians would agree with each other in settling
precise diagnostic marks of this indication. How then are untaught owners of
cattle, on whom the task of judging on this matter must depend in the general exe-
cution of jt, to determine on a point of so complex and nice a nature ? On what,
according to Doctor Layard's intimation, is to be grounded the apprehension of the '
symptoms when tiriidence unll require bleeding to prei'ent this coming on? Some an-
swer to that difficulty is, indeed, given in another passage of his essay below, page
65, where he declares, ' If a beast be full-grown and fleshy, if a cow big with calf
and of such colour as denotes strong fibres, then take away two quarts of blood
from the neck. From a strong yearling calf, one quart : and so on in proportion
to age and strength, but neither weakly nor poor thin cows, especially white ones,
are to be bled so much, if at all.' But in the third chapter, where he treats of the
prognostics, he enumerates these circumstances among the marks by which it may be
discerned what beasts are least in danger of being attacked by the contagion and
suffering violently from it, all which marks are, in fact, the appearance of strength,
though he has not directly said so. Now, if strength be the preservative from the
contagion and its effects, what is the consequence of bleeding those which bear ■
sucli marks but, in fact, reducing them to the same state with the others which
want this strength, or, in other words, rendering them equally unable to resist the
effects of the contagion ? Is not this setting up of art founded on vague principles for
the sake of accommodating practice to the notions and hypotheses of darling writers,
in opposition to the clear dictates of reason suggested by observation on facts. In
chapter the eighth, speaking of the means to prevent infection, he is led round
again to truth by the force of such observation. For there he very justly acknow-
ledges the real fact that ' Bleeding and purging the cattle, so far from being of
use, has not prevented the disease, but rather the symptoms have been more violent
in some who were bled and purged.' The reason is obvious ; because, being weak-
ened, the beasts were less able to resist the contagion. But has the bleeding less
effect in weakening the subject when performed after the infection has taken place
than it had before ? Surely it has not. This was delivered candidly from observ-

History of Animal Plagues. 327

particular symptom, which is only when some internal part is inflamed
by the deposit of the matter, yet such case would be desperate, and the
evacuation would, in other respects, promote those effects that lead to
fatal consequences. Bleeding for prevention of the infection, though
not enumerated in the preceding view of the means used for* that end,
has yet been recommended by some physicians, and frequently practised.
But on the same principle, of exposing the beasts to the force of the
disease by weakening them, it is of the same bad tendency as when
used for the cure. Indeed, it does not in this case so generally do harm.
For when it happens not to be performed nearly at the time of the
beast's taking the infection, the cattle, except those which are naturally
weak, recover their strength again, and the evacuation has, therefore,
no consequence with regard to the distemper.

' Purging has been frequently tried as a remedy against the murrain,
in all the periods of the disease. There is evidently the same objection
to it as has made above to bleeding, since it undoubtedly conduces to
weaken and exhaust the beast, and, consequently, to render nature
less able to resist the force of the contagion. It is also from other reasons
improper in this disease by whichever of the two courses, a diarrhoea or
eruptions, nature seeks to produce a critical discharge of the morbid
matter. Where there is a tendency to eruptions, as for the most part
is found in England, this evacuation would necessarily make a deriva-
tion and endanger the stopping its progress; and, indeed, not only with
us but in Italy, according to Lancisi, " A looseness is an unfavourable
symptom and denotes the weakness of the sul:)ject." In Holland it is
frequent, and the cattle do recover with it. But where there is a dis-
position to it, or it is already begun, medicines which promote the same
evacuation are certainly not proper, as they either bring it on before the
due time or increase it, if already come on, to a degree that is beyond
what the strength of the beast can bear. This, though not, perhaps, in
every instance, must yet be the case in the greatest part. The most
judicious observers agree, moreover, in condemning the use of purges in
this disease, from an actual experience of their bad eftects, and the
adopting it has been certainly one source of the ill success which has
resulted in the attempts made to cure the murrain.

' Blisters have been also tried in this disease, but not in so extensive a
manner as to afford the means of determining how far they may be of

ation on the real phenomena. What we have before quoted was the result of
theoretic reasonings founded on presumed principles, and the sup])osed authority
of Sydenham, &c., in points where in reality no just analogy subsisted. Professor
Camper wholly disapproves of bleeding in this disease from an extensive observation
of its effects.

3^8 History of Animal Plagues.

any avail in it. By the apparent tendency to a paralytic state, which is
shown in the first period of the murrain, there is room to conclude
that such a stimulus might come within the intention of cure. But
whether it would be adequate to the indications, or trivial in its effects,
can only be known from a large basis of observations. At all adventures,
the difficulty attending the application of blisters to the diseased cattle
by such persons as must have the treatment of them in general, ren-
ders their use a very unfit means of relief in the murrain.

' Rowels, setons, pegging, and caustics have been in their turn vainly
employed in tlie murrain. It must be admitted, nevertheless, that nature
sometimes throws the morbid matter on a part already diseased by a
wound so made, and in that case renders it the means of a critical
discharge, as we see happen in other contagions. But this will rarely
be the case, and where it may there is always a sufficient degree of strength
to produce an eruption, which would answer the same end. In any
other circumstances, the discharge from these drains can be of no serv-
ice towards the cure of the murrain. For they must know very little
of physiology and the history of diseases, who imagine a purulent dis-
charge can be of any consequence in them, unless at the due period it
be converted into a critical one by a deposit of the morbid matter on
the part. In all other views this kind of evacuation rather impedes
than promotes the cure of the murrain, as it tends to weaken and ex-
haust the subject, and consequently to promote the prevalence of the
contagion over nature.

' Mundification, performed by extraordinary cleansings and rubbing
the skin of the beasts, has had great stress laid upon it by some who
have undertaken the cure of the murrain. But it is admitted by Pro-
fessor Camper and others, who have seen it much practised, to be of
no avail. Indeed, the effects must be too minute to have any material
consequence in a disease of so violent a nature, and if such laborious
and constant cleansings, rubbings, &c., as are recommended were service-
able, the performing them would be impracticable where there are a
great number of cattle infected, without more trouble or expense than
the chance of benefit from them would countervail.

'The inefficiency of the above-enumerated various supposed remedies
for the murrain are less to be regretted, because a great part of them
would be attended with such expense and trouble as would render the
general use inexpedient. And indeed the same may be said of all of
them according to the manner they have been prescribed by those who
have recommended them, in which several always, and for the most part
many of them, have been combined together. Whatever method of cure
is proposed to be actually serviceable in this disease, it must be practicable,

History of Animal Plagues. 329

with a moderate share of expense and trouble, or it will never be put
in practice by the proprietors of cattle so generally as to save a sufficient
number of them to be of any moment to the public. Very liltle regard
has, nevertheless, been had to this consideration by the ph}sicians who
have taken in hand the discovering means of relief against the murrain.
They seem only to have sought after what might be efficacious in nature,
and directed the use of what they thought so without calculating in the
least whether the consequence of its use could be lucratively of any
benefit to the private persons who might adopt it, or reflecting, that if
it were of no benelit to them they would not adopt it, nor the public
therefore reap any advantage from it. Even the most able of those
who have been engaged in this pursuit, have seemed to forget wholly
this circumstance, which is indispensably requisite to the forming an
etfectual plan for the saving any material number of the cattle, as it
would be more profitable to abandon them to the effect of the disease
than to incur a greater expense in attempting it than is balanced by the
value of the chance of saving them.^

^ In calculating the advantage that is to be received from any remedy for the
murrain, the expense incurred by the use of it for the mumber of beasts actually
saved must not be considered alone, but that of all those with which it has been
used, in order to the saving such number, must be included likewise. In order,
therefore, to determine the value of the chance of saving the cattle by any
means of remedy com[)aratively with the cost of such means, it is proper to
state the circumstances in this manner : — It appears that at present in Holland
somewhat less than half the beasts which take the infection recover without the aid
of any medicinal assistance, and in our country, where, as we have before observed,
the beasts are stronger, we may safely reckon at least that proportion. But as it
is impracticable, when the signs of the distemper first appear, to distinguish with
any certainty those beasts which would die without aid, it is necessary all those
that are seized with the disease should be subjected to the curative treatment. Let
us further, in order to bring the whole matter into this point of view, sup]:)ose a
method proposed that would save one-half of the beasts which would die without
the aid of it. It will then result from these premises that, on the whole, to save
one beast the expense of the medicinal treatment must be incurred on four, as one-
half would recover if they were left to nature, and only one-half of the other is to
be saved by the medicinal aid. For a method which could effect that must be
justly deemed highly efficacious. In the methods which have been recommended,
and particularly that by the latest and best writer on this subject in our own country,
the expenses of labour, medicaments, the extraordinary diet would amount in the
treatment of each beast to at least one pound five shillings, and, according to some
prescriptions, they would rise to double that sum ; so that in any of these methods,
according to the manner of computing here laid down, the saving each beast would
cost at least five pounds, and in some of them ten. This great expense would not
only take away all inducements, in the view of gain from the owners of the beasts
to employ such means for saving them, but the greatest part of such owners would
not be able to make the disbursements necessary to it in proportion to their stock

33 o History of Animal Plagues.

'The knowledge of the symptoms, which are easily discernible and
best distinguish' the murrain from other disorders incident to cattle, and
of the peculiar appearances that are produced in the inward parts of
beasts which die of it, make by far the most important object of the
communication of what regards this disease. It is extremely requisite
that all owners of cattle should hav'e a moderate acquaintance with
these matters, in order they may as soon, and as certainly as possible, be
able to inform themselves whenever their cattle appear to be out of
order or die in a suspicious manner, whether they be infected with this
disease or not. Without such means of judging, they may either in-
advertently suffer the contagion to spread in their own herds or to those
of others, if it happens to be introduced to any of their beasts, or other-
wise be led, from a mistake of other distempers for it, to be at great
expense and trouble in trying to prevent it when there is no real occa-
sion. It is of equal consequence, both with respect to the public and
to themselves, that a certain degree of intelligence of the criterions by
which the murrain may be known from other disorders should be pos-
sessed by magistrates, constables, parish-officers, and inspectors of cattle,
particularly those near sea-ports, that they may, in some measure, be
enabled to put the Acts of Parliament and Orders of Council concerning
the disease into execution j as those Acts lay a task upon them, should the
occasion of their being enforced present itself, of a very nice and com-
plex, as well as momentous nature. I shall, therefore, first give an enumer-
ation of those symptoms of cattle diseased with the murrain, and a de-
scription of those appearances it causes in the inward parts of the bodies
of beasts that die of it, which are so simple and strong that they may be
readily perceived and distinguished by any persons, however little versed
in the observation of diseases or other subjects of medical concern. I
shall afterwards, for the use of others who may choose to carry their
speculations further and attempt the study or cure of the disease, point
out those more latent and less perceptible symptoms and effects of
it, which require a previous knowledge of physiology to their being
properly observed, and which are rather useful for investigating the
nature and kind of the disease, and the best method of curative treat-
ment of it, than for distinguishing it, by sensible marks, from other
disorders of cattle. I shall proceed also to apply the whole to that
purpose of examination, and to explain whatever can be at present
collected of the physiological principles of the disease, in order to as-

of cattle. As the whole must be provided and laid out in a short space of time,
it would therefore be more to their interest to submit to the present loss and
recruit their stock by future resources.

History of Animal Plag7ics, 331

certain thence the best means of prevention of the contagion, and the
proper intention of cure to be adopted in the medicinal treatment of
such as are already infected.

' The lirst apparent symptoms of the murrain are : a dry cough 5 a
shivering and gnashing of the teeth coming on at considerable distances
of time J shaking the ears and hanging down of the head as if from weak-
ness ; stretching out of the neck as when there is a difficulty of swal-
lowing 5 moving often slowly from place to place seemingly in a con-
stant state of uneasiness 5 decrease of appetite j diminution or, on the fourth
day, total loss of milk in cows which are in a milch state, attended with a
lankness of the belly and udder -^ and sometimes costiveness. During
the time these symptoms only appear, the cattle will eat, chew the cud,
and at some times look brisk and lively ; but after the third or fourth
days, the following symptoms come on gradually but quickly, except
in those beasts which have the disease in a very mild and gentle man-
ner : — A constant heaviness and stupidity ; a general weakness 3 a great
decline of the appetite and chewing the cud j a frequent trembling ot
the whole skin, or of particular parts of it, especially about the flank
and buttocks 5 a purging in some, or a discharge from the nose and
earsj and a total loss of the milk in milch cows, if it has not come on
before.

* Where the disease is not slight, the above-specified symptoms are
soon succeeded by these others : — A refusal of all food, and ceasing
entirely to chew the cud; an increase of purging; the excrement be-
coming of a very yellow or of a dark green colour, stinking, and, in
some cases, coming away of itself from the fundament, which seems
continually open and moving ; a difiSculty and shortness of breathing,
accompanied with groaning, and an extraordinary distention and widen-
ing of the nostrils ; a scabbiness of the nose and lips ; a great swelling

1 Doctor de Monchy, city physician to Rotterdam, in his ' Remarks on the
Mortality among the Horned Cattle,' mentions a decrease of milk and a lankness
of the belly in milch cows, and a drowsiness and cough in young beasts, as suffici-
ent signs to discover this disease in the cattle. But though they may be good
reasons for suspicion of it in places where the contagion is already in the neighbour-
hood, yet they are by no means alone just grounds to determine that cattle so
affected are seized with the murrain when there is no likelihood of the infection
having been conveyed to them. The decrease, or even loss, of milk in cows,
and the consequential lankness of the belly, are attendant on any consider-
able feverish disorder, and the drowsiness and cough in young beasts may arise
from colds or other epidemic disorders. I have mentioned this, because Doctor de
Monchy's dissertation has lately been translated into Englisli, and such a passage
in it may mislead and occasion false alarms respecting the introduction of the con-
tagion into our country.

^^2 History of Animal Plagues.

of the belly j a restlessness, uneasiness on lying down, and defect of
power, through weakness, to stand, whence the legs are extended out-
wards, as it were, to prop the body j eruptions on various parts of the
body, but particularly about the flank and udder 3 miscarriage in preg-
nant cows 5 and, where the beasts are strong, hard tumours, like boils,
especially along the back on each side the bone felt under the pannlcu-
lus carnosus, or outward skin, which frequently break and discharge
matter very fetid or stinking.

' These symptoms go on, most of them augmenting, till the turn or
crisis of the disease. They then begin to decrease, and some degree of
appetite and chewing the cud to return, if the beasts recover. If other-
wise, the purging becomes greater, or, if there were none before, begins
with violence, and the dung passes off involuntarily, not only the anus
but the tail seeming to lose all power of action. The eruptions, if there
be any, flatten ; or the tumours, like boils, under the skin grow soft ;
and the strength seeming to be spent, the beast dies suddenly without
any other previous signs ; or, in some cases, is violently convulsed, roars
loudly, throws out a large quantity of foam or froth from the mouth,
struggles hard, and tosses about the head with great force.

'The second stage of the disease is seldom continued longer here
than three or four days, reckoning it, as above-mentioned, from the
fourth day after the first signs of the infection. So that the general
period of the distemper, from the first attack which was perceived to
the crisis or turn, according to the course of the distemper as it sub-
sisted here, may be accounted about seven or eight days.^

' The time of appearance of the first signs, after the infection is re-
received, is five or six days, rarely more, unless where the slightness of the
disease renders the symptoms so gentle that they do not become per-
ceptible till in an advanced period of it j but this cannot carry it beyond
the ninth or tenth day.

'It is not to be understood, nevertheless, that in every beast which
has the murrain, all the above-enumerated appearances will be found.
For as difi'erent parts are aff'ected in different subjects, the symptoms

' In Holland, the period of the murrain from the first sensible marks of it to the
crisis or turn, is much longer than it appeared to be with us, and is most generally
found to be about twelve days. The reason of the variation of the disease in this
point betwixt Holland and here, lies in the superior strength of our cattle, which
enables nature in them to bring the disease to a crisis in so much less time. This
greater degree of strength in our cattle manifests itself, as we have remarked else-
where, in their more frequently throwing out eruptions in this disorder here than in
Holland, and in their not being susceptible of the infection, except after very bad
seasons, though less injurious epidemic causes render them so in that country.

History of Annual Plao^itcs. 333

vary accordingly, particularly in the last stage ; and the natural or casual
habit of the beast, as to strength, age, and pregnancy, makes likewise a
considerable alteration, both as to the kind and the degree of the etfects of
tlie contagion. The symptoms of the first stage, except the costiveness,
constantly attend, however, in a greater or less degree ; and the greatest
part of those of the second stage follow in a more or less violent man-
ner. The discharge from the nose and eyes is very general ; and
scarcely ever wanting in those beasts which recover. The purging and
swelling of the belly are also very frequent; and almost always occur
in those beasts which die. The eruptions and hard swellings like boils
are likewise very common here ^ in those which recover.

' On the whole, 'therefore, by a due observation of the manner in
which beasts seem affected, when several are seized with an unknown
disease at nearly the same time and place, it may be determined, on
very good grounds, wheu the contagion has been introduced. The
hanging down of the head and stretching out of the neck, with other
signs of weakness, coming on in the first stage ; and followed by the
insensibility, tremblings, eruptions in the flank and udder, or hard
swellings like boils along the back, and breaking out or scabbiness
about the nose and lips, in the second stage ; may be looked upon as
peculiar symptoms which characterize the disease, and leave little
room to doubt of its presence where they appear.

' In order, nevertheless, to obtain a more positive certainty in any
case where there is reason to apprehend, from beasts having died in the
manner and with the symptoms above described, that the infection has
been brought to any place, it may be further proper to examine the
carcases of such beasts by opening them ; and if it be as supposed, the
following appearances, or most of them, will present themselves. This
examination must, however, be confined to such as die from the natural
course of the distemper ; and not extended to such as are killed, or have
been subjected to medicinal treatment; because the disease has not

' Though eruptions were very frequent in the murrain while it prevailed here,
yet they are much less common, as has been above intimated, in Holland, and other
low and damp countries, where the cattle are habitually weaker. When they do
appear there, they are also different, for the most part, from those found in our cat-
tle. For instead of being on the back, and large like other boils, they arc generally
about the flank and udder ; and are less, flatter, and softer. The general crisis of
the disease, in such case, is not by eruption, but by diarrhtca or looseness, which
was found here, on the contrary, to be mostly a l)ad symptom. This is not, how-
ever, constant. For there are instances of beasts which do well in Holland without
a diarrhoea ; and there were some here of those which recovered with il. lUit tlic
crisis, nevertheless, is here by far the most frequently an eruption, cither on the
back or about the nose and lips ; and in those countries a diarrhoea.

334 History of Animal Plagues.

then had its due and full effect on the parts j and the state in which
they will then be must proportionably fail to answer the description
above given.

' A very stinking air, and sometimes matter, rushes out on piercing
the skin, or making an opening into the cavity of the belly; particularly
if there be swellings on the back, and the skin be pricked or cut in that
part. The mouth, throat, and gullet are red; and full of small specks,
or ulcers, attended with the appearance of what is called the thrush in
children. The lungs are red, ulcerated, speckled with blackish spots,
and sometimes fraught with small bladders of fluid-like water. The
liver is swollen, full of dark yellow gall, and rotten, so as scarcely to
bear the touch ; and the gall-bladder is stretched to a large size by
greenish gall. The cud-bag, or paunch, is red and discoloured with
blackish spots, puffed up with air to a very great magnitude, and void
of any fluid, but containing a hard mass of cud, which has remained
there and is become dry, instead of passing to the other intestines to be
digested. The honey-comb, manifold, and curd-bag are in much the
same state with the cud-bag, except as to the various degrees of hard-
ness and dryness of the cud in the two first, and that the curd-bag is
empty. The smaller guts are spotted with red and black; and the
end of the rectum or last gut, for some space above the anus or funda-
ment, is black, rotten, and foul with clotted blood on its surface. The
womb is red and enlarged in cows that are not pregnant, but in those
with calf it is blackish. The fat, where any can be found, is of a high
yellow colour and soft consistence. Collections or gatherings of matter
are frequently met with in the cavities of the horns and head. When
the greatest part of these appearances present themselves m the respect-
ive parts on opening the beasts which have died after the principal of
the above symptoms have been observed in them, there can be no room
to doubt but that they have had the murrain. Even where any accurate
information may be wanting of the nature of their illness, there is a very
strong ground of conclusion that it was this disease, if, on the examina-
tion of the carcases soon after the beasts are dead, the eruptions, par-
ticularly the hard boils along the back, the scabbiness on the nose and
barbs, the puffing up of the skin or belly with stinking air, the gathering
of matter in the horns and head, the dry mass in the cud-bag, the black-
ness of the womb, and the rottenness of the gut next the fundament, or
most of them, are found.

'The symptoms and effects of the murrain, which may be deemed,
less properly than the foregoing, the subject of the examination of per-
sons not conversant in medicinal subjects, and less apparently the cha-
racteristic marks of the disease, but which may yet afford material lights

Hisfoiy of Animal Plagues. '^'^^

for discovering the true nature and the indications of cure of it, are
those %\'hich follow.

' In the first stage, heat, but not great, in the head, and particularly
at the roots of the horns, attended with a coolness of the body and the
extremities ; hot and stinking breath 3 deafness 3 pulse quicker than in
health, the strokes being from sixty to seventy, but irregular, though
without stated remissions.

' In the second stage, signs of sickness : ' breath more hot and stink-
ing 3 fetid steams from the skin 3 respiration ditficult, particularly ex-
piration laboured and performed with groaning 3 urine high-coloured
and turbid, but generally without any deposit of sediment, or any bad
smell, and retained longer than in health, though not in the whole
much diti^erent in quantity 3 dung acrimonious or sharp to such a degree
as to leave a visible irritation for some time after in the anus 3 blood
florid 3 seeming exacerbations of pain in the evening 3 a constant dis-
position to lie, but attended with such uneasiness in some that they
stand almost continually, though with great ditficulty on account of
their weakness 3 an absence of thirst throughout the whole disorder,
though with a willingness to drink in moderation 3 pulse increasing in
quickness, according to the progress of the disease, from seventy to
ninety, and having periodical diurnal remissions as in the paroxysms of
fevers, but irregular, intermitting, and growing smaller as the velocity
becomes greater.

' On opening the carcases of beasts dead of the murrain, these ap-
pearances will occur, together with those before enumerated : — In the
brain, the blood-vessels are found turgid and very red, and clots of

1 Doctor Layard has mentioned, along with the sickness, the tluowing up of
bile as one of the symptoms of the murrain. He does not intimate that he has
seen it himself, but refers for it, in a note, to Aretasus 'De Morbis Acutis.' The
notion of such a fact was a most palpable error in the first broacher of it, whoever
he were ; and it is a gi-eat inadvertence in the Doctor to adopt it ; as he has him-
self, in more than one part of his treatise, insisted on the impossibility of neat cattle
vomiting at all, on account of the formation of their intestines. Professor Camper
has, indeed, seemed to contradict this opinion by the relation of a fact. F'or he
declares that giving a decoction of camomile has made the beasts vomit. If that
did happen, however, it cannot be supposed to be any other vomiting than the re-
turning the fluid into the mouth from the cud-bag only, by the same action as the
cud is l)rought l)ack thither in order to rumination 3 which could have no effect
towards forcing up bile. Whoever considers that the bile must pass through all
the four stomachs in its way from the duodenum to the mouth, must be satisfied
that it is next to an impossibility any such thing should happen. It is most rational
to believe that if a discharge from the mouth of anything resembling bile, on a
slight inspection, has been observed, it was only of some yellow cud mixed with a
large proportion of fluid, and mistaken for bile in default of stricter examination.

^2^ History of Animal Plagues.

grumous blood, as well as a lymphous fluid, show themselves frequently
in the substance. On the membranes of the cavities of the nose, and
the whole extent of the frontal finus, the large glands, and the medul-
lary substance of the horns, marks of inflammation and excoriation will
be seen. The kidneys and bladder are inflamed and void of urine.
The flesh in some beasts is livid, in others of a lively red for a short
time after the death of the beasts, but soon changing to a green colour.
Appearances are found of emphysema, or vesicles of air, in the lungs,
mesentery, and cutaneous membranes in various parts of the body.

' From the whole of the symptoms and appearances of the murrain,
we may draw these conclusions as to the nature and effects of the dis-
ease : — It is communicated from one beast to another by a contagious
matter or virus, that, acting as a leaven, produces a ferment in the
humours of the parts into which it is introduced, and either reduces the
nerves of such parts to a paralytic or inactive state, or renders them too
irritable and active, at the same time counteracting those natural fer-
ments in such humours which are requisite for the due support of the
animal economy. But when, from the strength of the solids giving
due motion to the fluids, the natural ferments are duly powerful, it
cannot prevail over them, and therefore has no morbid eft'ect, as we
see in those beasts which escape the infection, though exposed to the con-
tagion. In those subjects where there is a default of such strength, it
goes on by the above-specified means to weaken the force of the circu-
lation and deprave the secretions ; whence also that putrescence or putrid
ferment to which all animal substances have a natural tendency, when
not superseded by the vital ferments, is at length brought on, and if no
critical expulsion be made in due time of the contagious leaven by the
fever induced by its etfects, destroys the vital economy, and necessarily
causes the death of the beast. But if, by the inflammation produced,
the force of circulation, and consequently the power of the vital ferment,
be so increased as to overcome that of the contagious leaven, the morbid
matter in which it resides is expelled, either in eruptions on the surface
or by a discharge from the intestines.

' The progress and the manner of the action of the contagious virus
in the murrain may, from the symjitoms and the appearances in the
dead beasts, be deduced to be as follows : — The first etfects of the con-
tagion appear principally in the head and the upper parts. It produces
a certain degree of nervous weakness or paralytic disorder in those
parts, as is shown by the deafness, dulness of the eyes, debility of the
neck, and shaking of the head. This disorder atfects also gradually the
glands which secrete the saliva and lymph of the stomach, as there is
found, in a more advanced stage of this disease, a total want of those

History of Animal Plagues. 2)2)1

fluids, the cud tbrmiug a dry concreted mass. At the same time,
nevertheless, the glands of the nose and eyes are rendered more irrit-
able, and the humours are secreted in them much more copiously than
the natural degree. The paralytic disorder of the salival glands, and
the glands of the stomachs, extends itself frequently in the first stage to
those of the small guts, as may be inferred from the costiveness observed
at that time. But this often changes afterwards into a great irritability
in the second stage, as is evinced by the profuse diarrhoea attending.
On the other hand, the irritability of the glands of the nose and eyes
seems to be continued to the membranes of the lungs by the cough,
which is almost a constant symptom. The stomachs seem also to par-
take of the paralysis of the upper parts, and this appears to be in pro-
portion to their nearer situation to those parts, as may be inferred from
the retention of the cud in the cud-bag and honey-comb, and the
emptiness of the cud-bag. There is an early etfort of nature to make
an expulsion of the morbid matter by the external parts of the head, as
may be collected from the signs of topical inflammation which show
themselves, and particularly about the horns, where abscesses are after-
wards frequently formed. But this alone rarely proves a critical dis-
charge.

* After the first four days the contagion dilFuses its eflfects much
more generally, and fretjuently attacks the liver and the lower intestines,
which then become very irritable ; a great discharge of bile, and the
other humours secreted in them, ensuing. But the inactive or paralytic
state of the salival glands and those of the stomach yet goes on increas-
ing, till all secretion by them ceases. Hence the appetite and digestion
are entirely lost ; and the inanition, caused by the want of a due supply
of chyle to the blood, conspires greatly, with the nervous debility above
specified, to bring on a great languor of the circulation and other vital
action. This necessarily induces a putrescence of the juices j whence
new sensible effects are produced, which may be deemed secondary
symptoms; being not the immediate consequences of the action of the
contagion, but the effects of the putrid ferment suffered to prevail by
the suppression of the animal ferments, which counteracted it while
they subsisted in the due degree. In this difference of the cause of the
symptoms, principally consists the difference of the first and second
stages of the disease ; the first exhibiting those alone which result from
the action of the contagion on particular parts, and may, therefore, be
called primary ; the second displaying not only a further extension of
such symptoms, but those others also that are caused by the general
depravity of the fluids, and the consequential disorder of the vital
economy, which arise Irom the putrescence that prevails from the weak

22

^^8 History of Anivial Plagues.

action of the solids in giving due motion to the fluids, and from the
defect or perversion of the glandular secretions. In this advanced state
of the disease a final period is soon brought on, either by a salutary
crisis or the death of the beast. The morbid matter faUing on some
particular parts, and the general depravity of the humour causing ob-
structions in others, topical inflammations and a general irritation follow j
whence, necessarily, a fever rises in a greater or less degree. By this
means the force of the circulation is increased, so that, where the habit
is strong, the natural ferments, being again revived by the accelerated
motion of the fluids, prevail over that of the leaven of the contagion ;
and the morbid matter is either thrown on the superficial parts, in case
of great strength, where it forms eruptions and tumours 3 or discharged
by the glands of the intestines, in case of a less degree of strength.
This constitutes a salutary crisis, in consequence of which the beasts
recover from the murrain, at least considered as an acute disease j though
they sometimes die afterwards of the ulcerations or abscesses produced
then by it in the brain, lungs, or other viscera. But if the natural
strength be so defective that the irritation and consequential fever can-
not produce a sufficient force of circulation to give due power to the
vital ferments, the contagious leaven and putrescence overcome them ;
and an excessive evacuation is made by the liver and the glands of the
small guts, which exhausts the remains of that power on which animal
action depends j while the external and weaker parts suffer a gangrene
from the deposit of the morbid matter, and the want of due motion of
the vitiated and putrid humours.

' This investigation of the progress and manner of action of the con-
tagion, according to the state of the subject in the murrain, affords a
clear view of the indications of cure. It is evident that the struggle
here betwixt health and the disease lies, in fact, at first, betwixt the
vital ferments which support the animal economy and a preternatural
ferment which tends to destroy them ; and that consequently, if the
latter prevail, it introduces the putrid ferment to which all animal sub-
stances have a disposition when it is not controlled by the vital. It is
certain, also, that the vital ferments depend on the due commixture
of the several humours and their constituent parts by the circulative
motion of the blood, and those other motions of the animal juices
which are performed by nervous action, and that these motions are
more or less strong in proportion to the nervous strength of the subject,
or, in other words, that they are rendered vigorous or languid as that
strength is augmented or diminished. Whatever, therefore, increases
this nervous strength or gives tension to the fibres, increases those mo-
tions, and whatever adds to the force of those motions proportionately

History of Animal PlagiLes. 339

increases the vital ferments, and consequently resists the action of the
contagion, which cannot take place while they maintain themselves in
their due power. Hence it follows that the way to assist nature against
the attacks of this disease, is to keep up the animal strength by such
invigorative means as are compatible in other respects with the salutary
economy.'

* To invigorate and strengthen by the administration of such medi-
cines as give force to the action of the nerves and tension to the fibres,
is the principal absolute intention of cure, which is dictated by the
general nature of the contagion and its mode of operation. But there
is, moreover, a palliative or secondary intention, which arises from the
consideration of a peculiar symptom. It appears from what is above
laid down, that the state of the parts subservient to digestion denies the
performance of that office on such food as requires the aid of saliva and
of lymphous juices secreted in the stomach, whence the power of the
contagion is increased by the weakness resulting from the inanition, and
the depravity of the humours in consequence of the want of a supply
of fresh chyle to the blood. It is, therefore, a just subservient inten-
tion to furnish a proper quantity of such food, of a fluid consistence or
divided texture, as can be digested under these circumstances, and
thence to support the strength of the subject, which must, otherwise,
sink from the concurrence of this additional cause of weakness with the
etfects of the contagion and putrescence.

' The primary intention of cure in the murrain, according to these
principles, is to be executed by the administration of such corroborative
and cordial medicines as give due tension to the fibres and vigour to
the nerves, removing the spasmodic insensibihty or impediments to their
action, or their too great irritability, whence an irregular mode of action
is produced.

* There are various kinds of medicaments which have these powers.
But experience in the case of similar diseases, and the consideration of
general fitness to the peculiar circumstances of this, point out two
species, which are more peculiarly proper as well as efficacious. These
medicaments are the astringent, febrifuge, gummous parts of vegeta-
bles, and vinous liquors.

' The same intention of cure, as is here proposed for the murrain, is now pur-
sued by all able physicians in the contagious and other diseases of mankind that
induce a putrescence, experience having shown that it is the only means which
avail in such cases. It is, therefore, demonstrated to be the proper method of
treatment of cattle in the murrain, not only by reasons deduced from the symptoms
of the disease and the observations of the cause why amongst the cattle left to nature
some escape and others are carried off, but also from analogy on comparison with
the facts respecting similar diseases.

340 History of Animal Plagues.

'It is found that various vegetable substances containing the astringent
gums, and bitter juices, which possess the property of tanning leather,
have the quality of bracing the fibres in the living animal, assisting to
the due tone of the nerves, and thence checking the putrescence which
would otherwise prevail in consequence of a certain degree of weakness.

' The Peruvian bark is the principal simple of this kind which has
been hitherto used, and experience has not yet evinced any other to be
in all respects an equal substitute for it. The efficacy of this drug in
intermitting fevers has been long known, and, more lately, its utility in
some contagious disorders, and all others where the weakness and re-
laxation of the fibres aggravate the effects, is equally ascertained. Nor
are there wanting sufficient trials, as was above intimated, to show that,
what might be well presumed from analogy, holds good in observation
on facts, as to its avaihng in like manner in the murrain, though it has
never, as far as appears from any reports made to the public, been used
with those advantages as to the collateral circumstances which would
most have contributed to render it effectual.

' There is, nevertheless, a great obstacle to the giving the Peruvian
bark alone to the cattle in such quantities as might be requisite in the
murrain. This is the high price of it, which would render the admin-
istering it, for the time and in the quantities necessary, a considerable
expense ; and it is absolutely requisite to the using any remedies in this
disease with benefit to the proprietors of the cattle, that their cost on
the whole should be moderate. It has, therefore, with great reason,
been thought expedient to spare a part of the bark, and substitute for
such part some other cheaper simple more allied to it in its properties.
The white willow bark has been selected by some for this purpose, and
has, indeed, the tanning property in a considerable degree j but there are
other simples which have that in a still greater, and also possess at the
same time additional qualities which materially conduce to the invigor-
ating effects. The tormentil root is peculiarly adapted to this intention,
as it has not only the due astringency, but the warming and cordial
properties of bitters and aromatics, whence it may check the profuse
diarrhoea, which, when it comes in the early period of the disease, so
frequently carries off the beasts by exhausting their strength before
nature can perfect a mature crisis. This simple may, moreover, be
easily obtained even at the slightest expense, being one of the most
common and general of the herbs which grow wild in these parts of
Europe. It may therefore be well substituted for at least one-half of
the bark where no early purging comes on, and for three-parts in four
where it does, as the quantity of it may then be increased with advan-
tage. It may be proper, likewise, to add a proportion of some warm

History of Aiiimal Plagues. 341

aromatic simple of the kind called carminative, and the carroway seed
is extremely well suited in all its qualities to that purpose. This will
invigorate the action of the stomachs, which appears evidently languid,
the stomachs themselves, as was above observed, participating in the
paralysis of the upper parts.

' By vinous liquors, which are the other species of invigorating
medicines proper in the murrain, is meant any kind of fermented
liquors that contain vinous spirits. The late-acquired knowledge of the
efficacy of this kind of remedy in contagious and other fevers where
putrescence prevails, has furnished the means of aiding nature to resist
such diseases when the natural strength could not otherwise support the
vital economy against the effects of them. The giving wine in our
country to the beasts in the murrain, would, however, be impracticable
on account of the expense, and perhaps good fermented malt liquor is
better adapted, on the whole, to the intention than wine. A proper
quantity, therefore, of ale that is not too new, or of that kind of malt
liquor called strong beer, should be given twice a day, and to render it
more cordial where greater symptoms of weakness appear, a proportion
of some distilled spirit should be added to it. The kind called geneva
is the most cheap and easily obtained, and the ingredient, besides the
vinous spirit, being terebinthinate essential oils, are by no means im-
proper in this case.

' The secondary intention of cure above mentioned, by the supply of
diet suitable to the disordered state of the digestive faculty in the mur-
rain, may be thus provided for : — The beasts may be fed on hay. so long
as it appears to agree with them. Though, as there is always a defect
of the saliva, and the lymphous juices of the stomach, as well as a con-
sequential weakness in the digestive ferment, it may be proper to mix
some proportion of green herbage with the dry fodder. But when the
hay or herbage cannot any longer be digested, as will be indicated by
the beasts' refusal of it, and their ceasing to chew the cud, it will be
requisite to have recourse to such other food, as is either fluid, and
consequently does not demand the dilution of the saliva and lymph, or
such as is of so divided a texture and so yielding to maceration, that it
may not need the strong action of a digestive ferment to its resolution,
or reduction to that state of chyme which tits it to pass into the smaller
intestines. Milk is the most nutritive of any fluid which can be ad-
ministered in this case, and, if its coagulation be prevented by the
addition of alkalies to counteract any accidental acid in the other
stomachs that might otherwise have that eflect, it will of course pass
forward to the curd-bag, which, from its emptiness in the dead beasts,
appears not to have lost its action as the higher stomachs, but to pro-

342- History of Animal Plagues.

pel duly the chyme or digesting matter into the lower guts. In order
to make a saving in the quantity of the milk which, if used alone,
would be considerable, it may be expedient to add some water and a
proportion of solid food of the nature above prescribed. The most tit
kind of such solid food is corn in a farinous state — that is, reduced to
meal 3 which may be of any sort that is cheapest and most conveniently
to be obtained. This will be macerated so as to mix with the fluid
given with it if the digestive ferment be ever so weak, and will pass
with it forward into the small guts, if the action of the stomachs be
ever so slight. By these means proper alimentary matter will be con-
veyed into the lower intestines and there digested, as they and the
curd-bag are not, at least in the earlier stages of the disease, so disordered
and rendered incapable of their office as the three upper stomachs, the
default of the action of which will, nevertheless, in this method, be
made of much less consequence.

' The nutrition of the beasts in the latter stage of the murrain will
be thus provided for, notwithstanding the impediments which the effects
of that disease otherwise produce to digestion, and the inanition thence
resulting, which conspires powerfully with the other causes of weakness
and putrescence to render the disease fatal, will be, in a considerable
degree, prevented.

' The alkalies, which may be used to hinder the coagulation of the
milk given as food to beasts in the murrain, may be a small proportion
of soap or chalk. ^ The latter of these may be used more copiously
where a looseness comes on too early or too profusely, as it will check
such an evacuation without the danger of stopping it in case it be
critical.

' By a proper use of these medicines and regimen it may be presumed,

1 The use of alkalies has been exploded by some eminent writers in all cases
where a putrescent disposition prevails from the notion of their promoting it, and
some of the most sensible of those who have treated of the murrain have adopted
the same opinion. But this objection to alkalies is not justly founded, as they have
not, when taken in moderate quantities, such an effect in the habit. The propor-
tion of them given medicinally is far too small to have any immediate action of this
kind on the whole mass of fluids, and in their consequence, from the operation they
may have in the intestines, they produce often the contrary effect. For by destroy-
ing the acescent ferment which prevails in cases of weak and disordered digestion,
they promote the proper digestive ferment, and prevent that increase of debility
and general injury to the habit which the faulty digestion would produce. It may
seem a paradox according to the effects of experiments made on the relative sub-
stances out of the body, but it is, nevertheless, absolutely true that alkalies check
also the putrid ferment of the digesting matter in the intestines, as is plainly evinced
by their removing almost constantly that species of heart-burn which arises from
the putrescence of animal food in weak and depraved stomachs.

Histoiy of Animal Plagues. 343

on the justest ground of trial and observation, as well as of speculative
reasons, that a considerable number of the cattle, which would die of
the murrain if left to the natural course of the disease, would be saved.
It is not to be uiiagined, nevertheless, with the least shadow of reason,
that there is any method of cure which would avail in every instance,
the very weak or disordered habit of part of the beasts subjecting them
to the violence of the distemper in a degree beyond the pow er of those
practicable means that can support their strength. But if such a num-
ber be preserved from destruction as overbalances, on the whole, in any
material proportion,' the expense of the treatment of the cattle by the
method proposed, the proprietors will find an adequate inducement to
put it in practice, and the public will in several different manners
reap great advantage from it if extensively adopted.

' I have, for more than one reason, omitted, at present, the giving
formal prescription for the medicines or rules for the regimen, as there
will be a more proper season for it if the occasion for the practice of
them should ever again occur in our country. The knowledge of the
symptoms and appearances by which the disease may be distinguished
are alone all that is necessary to be generally taught now, but that
knowledge certainly ought to be diffused as universally as possible. The
explaining at this time a method of medicinal treatment, in such a way

^ On a modern computation, the treatment of a beast conformably to the means
of cure above recommended would not, on an average, cost the owners of cattle
above eight shilUngs in the course of the disease. So that if, according to
the principles above premised, it were necessary to practise it on four beasts in
order to save one, the actual expense incurred for each beast so saved would
not amount to above thirty-two shillings, which is not more than one-third of
the price of neat cattle, taken one with another, at a time when the disease pre-
vails. But the advantage to the public would be in much greater proportion
than merely this gain, from the effect the saving one-half the beasts that otherwise
would die would have in keeping up the national stock, and preventing the scarcity
from becoming greater, the mischiefs of which, when it goes beyond a certain de-
gree, augments in much larger than an equal proportion to the scarcity itself. To
the proprietors of cattle, moreover, the advantage of every beast so saved would be
far beyond the common price of one in other respects equal. For after the disease
has had some duration in any place the value of the cattle which have had it rises
very considerably on account of their future security from the infection. In the
latter part of the time when it last raged here a cow, which could be well certified
to have had it, was deemed to be worth sixteen pounds, near London, and the
same holds good now, as to the price of such a cow in Holland. Tliis circumstance
not only yields an additional motive to the proprietors of cattle to pursue an cflica-
cious method of cure, but it is pregnant with great advantages to the community,
as the recovered cows must here, where a fresh supply cannot be had by land, as
on the Continent, make the principal dependance for breeding to keep up tiie stock
and for obtaining milk.

344 History of Animal Plagues.

as to render it easily practicable by the common owners of cattle, would
be rather injurious than beneticial in its etlects to the public. What
constitutes the great object of care and attention at present is the ex-
cluding the contagion from our country by the immediate slaughter of
the beasts infected or exposed to the hazard of being so, and not the
attempt of cure.^ Reason and the legislature both decree that measure j
and in order that what is ordained by authority respecting this slaughter,

1 As the means which ought to be pursued for the national security, according
to the present circumstances, in case the murrain should break out anywhere with
us again, are the killing immediately the cattle infected, and the preventing the
removal of those exposed to be so, or of anything that can convey the contagion,
the publishing at present directions for the cure of the cattle in so explicit and
familiar a manner as might be easily put in practice by the common owners of
them, would probably have injurious consequences to the public, as it might pro-
duce motives to neglect destroying the beasts under the hope of saving them by
cure. It is, therefore, more proper while the disease is confined to one spot only,
or to a few with narrow limits, to furnish every assistance to the quick and certain
discovery of the disease if it should be brought over to us, in order to suppress it
instantly by those means which are ordained by law, than to encourage any en-
deavours to save such beasts as are infested with it. If after these means of extir-
pating the contagion have been duly tried, they should be found to have failed of
success, so that the infection has been spread over a large extent or diffused into a
great number of places, as happened in the former invasion of our country by it,
the case would be quite altered, and the supplying then as extensively as possible
the best means of saving the cattle by medicinal aid, would be a great benefit to
the public, because the destroying them under those circumstances would be very
detrimental instead of advantageous, as it could not possibly produce the intended
effect, but would co-operate with the disease itself in causing a scarcity of cattle.
The continuance of the orders for destroying the cattle after the murrain was ex-
tensively spread over the country had a very apparent bad effect the last time it
raged here. The visible constant decrease of the cattle as well from the number
slaughtered as from those which died of the distemper, the great room which it was
found the bounty offered at large gave for impositions and frauds, and the heavy
expense on the public in providing for the bounty, afforded therefore the strongest
reasons for retracting the orders for killing the cattle. This instance, as well as
obvious deductions from the subject itself, evinces it is only when the murrain first
breaks out, and the infection is confined to narrow bounds, that the means and
regulations at present provisionally ordained by Act of Parliament can possibly
avail and be proper. For afterwards the killing those beasts which might other-
wise recover would be a palpable loss, not only of so many cattle, but of those that,
as we have seen before, are, from their future security against the infection, of far
greater value than others, and the restrictions with regard to the driving and remov-
ing the cattle, the prohibitions of fairs and markets for the sale of them, &c., would
cause such a defect in the supply of the capital city as would be attended with very
embarrassing and distressful circumstances. There is another reason why I have
deferred giving a formal description for the medicinal treatment of the cattle. It is
that though I am convinced from trial and observation the piactice recommended
is good in a general view, and I could point rules for the conducting the particulars

History of Animal Plagues. 345

and the other regulations for the keeping out and stopping the progress
of the infection, may be rendered more etfectual, I shall here subjoin a
few hints relative to some defects and errors in the present plan of
measures which, as they now stand, may prevent its being etlectual to
the purpose.

' The first and greatest defect attending what is ordained by the
Government for the suppressing the contagion of the murrain, in case it
should be brought hither again, is the general want of due knowledge
for discovering the disease early on its first breaking out, or distinguish-
ing it with some degree of certainty in each particular beast from other
disorders incident to cattle. It is in vain that private persons should be
enjoined by the Government to destroy their cattle and magistrates to
compel them to it, and return them a satisfaction, provisionally the in-
fection be actually in the place, if they be wholly ignorant of any cer-
tain signs by which they can distinguish it. Yet this is almost univers-
ally the case at present, there being scarcely any but persons applying to
medical speculations, and some few others, who may remember what
they observed during the time of its prevailing here formerly, that are
in the least acquainted with the nature of the disease or its appearance.
Moreover, the far greatest part of those \\'ho may be desirous of acquir-
ing a due information in this matter are almost entirely destitute of the
means, as there is no method generally known of gaining any satisfac-
tory intelligence relating to it ; and such lights as might be obtained, if
the means were better known, could not be procured occasionally in
case of an alarm in any particular quarter before the opportunity of
their being serviceable was over, and either the contagion, if it had been
really brought, was propagated too widely to admit of a suppressive
remedy or a needless expense incurred by the neighbourhood if any
other disorder of the suspected beasts had been mistaken for it. Many
important acts are by the late statute required to be done by the magis-
trates, inspectors, &c., conditionally that they shall believe the distemper
to be in any suspected place, or within a certain distance of it. But on
what shall they ground such a belief on a subject of which they have

which would be efficacious, yet there are several circumstances with respect to which
it is not hitherto ascertained by a sufficient field of experience what precise degree
or mode would be most effectual and best. Proper measures are therefore taking
for having such trials made in Holland, where a too fair opportunity is at present
afforded, and the result of them when they are completed will afford the means to
lay down hereafter with more certainty those rules and directions as to each par-
ticular, which may be most effectual with regard to the cure, and advantageous
with regard to the expense. In the mean time the generals here iiresenled may
enable any person versed in medicinal subjects to give direction for liic putting the
cattle under the due regimen if a just occasion should demand it.

34^ History of Animal Plagues.

no means of judging ? or who shall be qualified to certify sufficient
matter of evidence to them, when everybody around them are equally
in the dark with themselves as to those principles which furnish such
means ? This seems to be a difficulty in the due execution of the
Orders of Council for destroying the suspected cattle, and laying restric-
tions on the removal of those probably exposed to the contagion, which
renders their operation extremely uncertain, and may cause great in-
conveniences from conscientious and zealous attempts to enforce them
where the facts on which the right determination of measures wholly
depends are so easily to be mistaken. The method to remove this dif-
ficulty is suggested by the very nature of the subject itself. It is ob-
viously the providing the proper means of information of the character-
istic signs of this disease, and circulating the intelligence of them as
generally as of the Orders of Council themselves, in the doing which the
following manner seems most easy and effectual according to the pre-
sent state of things :■ —

' A brief account of the most discernible and peculiar symptoms of
the disease and of the appearances in the inward parts of the beasts
which die of it should be procured. This account should be drawn up
in the most clear and simple manner, and expressed in the most clear
and simple language, divested of all terms of art, and accommodated to
persons of ordinary capacity. It should then be transmitted to every
parish, and disposed of there in such manner that all the inhabitants
may be apprized oi, and have easy means of recourse to it whenever
they may have occasion, and more particularly those who are officially
concerned in the execution of the Orders of Council. In order to do
this most conveniently, it may be proper to follow in some measure the
same method which is taken to promulgate the late Act of Parliament
and the Orders of Council. It is ordained by that Act, a printed copy
of the same, together with any Orders of Council made in pursuance of
it, shall be provided by the churchwardens, &c., of every parish with
intent that they may be read by the minister the next Sunday after the
receipt of them, and afterwards on one such Sunday in every calendar
month as he shall think proper; and also that they may be kept by
him in order to his permitting every person residing in his parish to
read the same during the time tlie respective Orders of Council may be
in force. Now it would be expedient to join a printed copy of the ac-
count of the signs of the disease with those of the Act of Parliament
and Orders of Council, that it may be always ready to be consulted
along with them, or separately, by all persons who may have any need
of such information.

' It would likewise be very expedient, in order to the rendering

History of Animal Plagttes. 347

more general a due knowledge of this disease, to have a copy of the ac-
count of the signs of it, being printed on an open sheet of paper, hung
up in a proper frame in the market-house, town-house, or any other
public building in each parish, where the people may constantly have
recourse to it, without troubling the minister, which would induce
them to take more readily the pains to obtain the requisite information
from it. Another copy should be always in the possession of every
magistrate, inspector, or other person who has any otficial concern in
the execution of the Orders of Council, that they may have the neces-
sary means at hand of enabling them to judge how far, in any suspici-
ous case, there is just ground to conclude the actual presence of the
disease.

' As the greater or less success of the injunctions or regulations or-
dained by the Government for the preventing the bringing into our
country the contagion of the murrain, or for suppressing it if brought,
depends on their being more or less generally known, it seems that the
present means of publication of them are defective, as it is certain that
by such means only a small part of those, whose conformity to them is
requisite to the end, can be possibly thence apprized of them. A pro-
clamation of all Orders of Council respecting the disease is inserted in
the Gazette ; and the last Act of Parliament directs them, as above-
mentioned, to be read one Sunday of every month in the parish church,
or other place of public devotion. But few of the common people, and
perhaps even the magistrates, &c., constantly read the Gazette in tlie
country ; and there are many parishes into which it never comes at all.
Numbers of persons, being of other sects of religion, do not go to the
parish church at any time ; and others are very liable to be absent on
the particular days when these Orders are read. The churchwardens or
other officers, moreover, who are to provide the copies of them, not
having an opportunity of seeing the proclamations in the Gazette, are
sometimes entirely uninformed of them, and therefore do not provide
the printed copies of them as directed. For these and other reasons
the reading them duly in the church is often neglected, and conse-
quently the whole or a great number in every parish are left ignorant
of what is ordained. It is necessary hence that some more etlectual
method of publishing the contents of the proclamations should be pur-
sued ; and it would be, therefore, right that the contents of them
should be printed in the manner before proposed for the account of the
signs of the disease, and hung up with it in the most public place in
every parish, which could not fail to make them much more generally
and perfectly known than they can be at presciil. This should he,
under the circumstances now subsisting, particularly attended to with

348 History of Animal Plagues.

regard to the seaports, and parishes adjacent to them, of the eastern and
southern coasts of the island, where the danger is by far the greatest of
the distemper's being now conveyed to us from the shores of the op-
posite countries, where it rages with great violence. To obtain the
greatest security, it would be expedient that the printed copies of both
these kinds should be actually sent to every such parish to be disposed
of as above advised, and the procurement of them not solely intrusted
to the churchwardens, by whose ignorance of the proclamations, or in-
advertence, it will be frequently omitted. Or at least, notices ot the
Orders of Council, &c., and the injunctions on the churchwardens to
procure them on each occasion, should be advertised in all the principal
newspapers, as well in town as country. In order that the whole of
this should be duly executed, it seems further requisite that some proper
officer should be appointed by the Crown to take the charge of doing
it on him, and to see that what is ordained may be duly complied
with.

' Some measures of the kind here pointed out are indispensably
necessary to give us any hopes of the good effects of the ordinances of
the late Acts of Parliament respecting the prevention of the murrain,
which can yield but little safety from it unless generally complied with.
For if, from want of due conformity to them, the disease should hnd
its way into this island in any one place, and spread itself thence widely
to others, as may in such case quickly happen, it will not be of the
least avail that the strictest observance of them has been practised in a
thousand others, since the dreaded mischief may as well diffuse itself,
with all its calamitous consequences, over the whole of our country
from one single original source as from any multiplicity whatever.

* There seems to be a very material error in the regulation ordained
in the late Acts respecting the prevention of the removal of such cattle
as may possibly have been exposed to be infected by the murrain, or to
contract contagious matter on their skins from being near other beasts
seized with the disease, which error may be productive of great incon-
veniences if the regulations be duly observed, or raise motives in those
whom it concerns for not paying due obedience to the ordinance. This
is the too great length of time required when the infection is supposed
to be in the neighbourhood, for the purchasers of cattle to keep them
before they sell them again. Forty days is the time prescribed, and
when all the facts from which the determination of the proper period
must be deduced are duly weighed, it will appear to be at least two-
thirds longer than is necessary. The only reason that can be assigned
for the expedience of a restriction as to the time of selling cattle in these
cases is, that the seller may be able to give such a certificate to the

History of Animal Plagues. 349

buyer as affords the best assurance possible that the beast has not taken
the infection, nor is hkely to convey the contagion by any infectious
matter adhering to its skin, though not alfecting itself, from any diseased
beasts it may have approached to others which may come near it. This
p)eriod of forty days is allotted because such a certificate could not be
made by the owner unless the beast had been long enough in his pos-
session to show it had not been infected before it came into his hands,
and to afford time for the infectious matter, if any had been contracted
by its skin, to have lost its virtue or been worn off, and because it was pre-
sumed a less space of time would not have been fully sufficient for this
effect. As to what respects the having actually received infection, forty
days' possession is much longer than is needful to manifest whether or
no such infection was taken by the beast before became into the seller's
hands, since the symptoms would have shown themselves, and the beast
would have died of or recovered from the disease long before half that
time was expired.' As to what respects the contagious matter that
may be contracted by the skin of the beast from others infected, the
time in which such matter may lose its contagious power, or the skin
become free from it, canncjt possibly be ascertained, and there is
reason to believe it might go much beyond forty days, but there are
easy means to be employed of taking away the hazard of conveying
the disease to other beasts in that way, with far greater certainty than
can result from the waiting even a much longer space than forty
days without the use of such means.

' The time in which the symptoms appear to come on in the murrain
after the taking the infection is, as we have above observed, almost
generally on or before the fifth day.^ But as there may be, though

^ It appears, from the experiments made at Utrecht in 1769, as above mentioned,
and from others, of the inoculation of the cattle for the murrain, that the longest
period in the case of beasts so treated betwixt their receiving the infection and their
death was not more than fourteen days. The observations on the same period,
with relation to such beasts as have taken the disease from others without inocu-
lation where it could be ascertained by the known time of their coming within the
reach of the infection, show the longest extent of it in such cases to be about seven-
teen days. But this must be understood to be according to the course of the disease
in Holland. For in our country the death of the beasts taking the disease naturally
was found to happen almost always within twelve or thirteen days after the infec-
tion, the crisis or turn of it, as we remarked before, being about four or five days
earlier here than in the United Provinces. It must be comprehended, also, that
this period of death regards beasts which are carried off by the murrain, considered
as an acute disease ; for where they die, after their recovery from the ]5ro]icr symp-
toms of the distemper, of ulcers or abscesses in the viscera produced by it, no
regular period can be fixed on, as those accidents or their consequences differ in
every subject where they happen.

"^ There is a remarkable uniformity in tlie operation of the contagion of the

35 o Histo7y of Aniinal Plagues.

rarely, a variation that requires some latitude, we may rate the longest
time to be the seventh day. In a very few beasts, however, which
have the disease in the most mild and gentle manner, we may also allow
time for the aggravation of the symptoms, till they become strong enough
to be so clearly perceptible as to leave no room for doubt, and suppose
in those instances they may not be very observable till the tenth day.
But this is the utmost concession as to the extension of the time in
which the infection can lie concealed without sensible effects, that facts
will admit us to make ; and if no appearances of the disease be found at
or before that period, it may be very safely concluded the beast had not
taken the infection before the commencement of such time. If, never-
theless, we should go somewhat further to satisfy all scruples as to the
inaccuracy of these observations, and stretch our caution to the utmost
that can be deemed reasonable, the keeping the beasts twelve days after
they are purchased is fully sufficient to determine with the most
positive certainty that they were not infected before such purchase.
There cannot be the least reason, therefore, to keep the beasts longer
than twelve days before they are sold in order to avoid the hazard of
their having received the infection before they came into the hands of
the owner.

' The other more specious reason for restraining the sale of cattle
during so long a period has not, at the bottom, a more solid foundation
in the reality of facts than the preceding. No precise limits can be
assigned to the time that beasts, having the infectious matter of the
murrain lodged on their skins in consequence of having come near
beasts seized with disease, may communicate it by that means to
others.

murrain as to the time it produces sensible effects when communicated by exterior
infection. In the above-mentioned experiment made at Utrecht, twelve cows were
put to six others that were inoculated, and kept with them in a confined place from
the time of inoculation. The twelve were all seized with a cough and gnashing of
their teeth the seventh day after the inoculation of the six, and did not exhibit the
least difference in the period of their being affected by the infection, which may be
concluded to have been taken five days before, as at that time, though it was but
the second day after the operation, febrile symptoms began to appear in some of
those inoculated, one of which, indeed, was so weak on the third day that she fell
down, and had not strength to rise again. The same uniformity is not in the least
found in the inoculated beasts, but in most of them the symptoms come on with
much more celerity and violence than in those which have the disease by casual in-
fection. Many other facts confirm this observation of the almost constant equality
of time in which the visible effects are produced in the cattle which have the mur-
rain by natural means, and they leave us no room to suspect that the infection ever
lurks after it is taken without revealing itself more than six or seven days, even
where its action is the weakest.

History of Animal Plagues. 351

' The contagious matter will preserve its infecting quality for a long
space of time, as we have reason to conclude, as well from facts respect-
ing the transmission of it into distant countries, and some experiments
regarding inoculation with it, as from its analogy to the variolous matter
of the small-pox, which retains its virulent power for many months.
There is room to conclude that the contagion of the murrain has been
conveyed by the raw hides of beasts in particular, to places where it has
taken effect at a considerable space of time after its production ; and if
it can be so preserved in the skins of dead beasts, why not in the hair
of those which are living ? It must be granted, indeed, that in the skins
of the living it is more exposed to be accidentally carried off than in those
of the dead 5 but there is no certainty, nevertheless, that it will be entirely
cleansed away thus under a long time. Even forty days, therefore, do
not give a security against the danger of a conveyance of the infection
that way, where beasts are removed from the diseased cattle to the sound.
I am aware it v/ill be advanced, in contradiction to this, that the skin
of a living beast being exposed to the air, the contagion will be dis-
sipated in the forty days, and not preserved, as in the parts of the hides
of dead beasts, to which the air may not have had a like access. But
I deny the truth of the principle on which this conclusion depends. It
has, I grant, been a prevailing notion, borrowed from ancient writers,
and delivered down by those of succeeding times without any examin-
ation of the relative facts, that the contagion of the febrile diseases
resided in volatile effluvia, which exhaled in the air, and flew off in a
short time from bodies that had received them. There is not, how-
ever, in reality a greater error subsisting than this established notion.
Many experiments on the variolous matter have evinced the contrary
by showing that it will keep its virtue, and serve for the purposes of in-
oculation, for a great length of time, though exposed to the air,
provided it be defended from excessive cold, and such moisture as
would render it mouldy. A less extensive field of observation, but
sufficient to verify the principle, confirms to us that the analogy
holds good as to this point, on the contagious matter of the murrain,
and others of a similar nature. If, therefore, the virulent matti'r will
not with certainty be taken oft' by accidental means from the skins of
beasts, nor lose its infecting power l)y exposure to the air under a long
time, the preventing 'for forty days the communications of cattle \vhose
skins may have some share of it on them, with any others, is not a full
security against their conveying the infection, if afterwards they be suf-
fered to mix with the sound. The establishment of this species of
quarantine or prohibition of removal for forty days is consecjuenlly in-
sufficient to the end in that view. But, besides the uncertainty of its

352- History of Animal Plagues.

effects, and the great inconveniences to particulars it may produce, it is
less proper and expedient in this intention, because there is another
method by which the same end may be answered in a much more easy
and etfectual manner. The method I mean is the cleansing the beasts
by artificial means, which should always be practised where there is
the least danger of their transmitting the contagion from those infected
to the sound without having taken the disease themselves. This may
be commodiously and efficaciously performed by scouring the skins of
the suspected beasts by a proper brush with fine sand and water, and
afterwards thoroughly washing off the remainder of what may adhere
by water and a mop. By these means the skin of any beast will be
more perfectly freed from infectious matter that was lodged in it than
by the accidental wearing otf in a very long space of time ; and if it be
duly executed there can be no reason to put the sale of cattle under
any restriction on this score. The practice of it should, however, be
strictly enjoined by authority, if the time of restriction of sale be reduced
as proposed, and the performance of it should be also made a part of
the matter of certification.

As twelve days appear, from the above-given reasons, to be fully
sufficient to show that beasts have not received the infection before,
and as the keeping them much longer is not so effectual a means of
taking away the hazard of their transmitting the disease by contagious
matter adhering to their skin as artificial cleansing, the term of forty
days' restriction from sale ought most evidently to be changed to that
of twelve days, which saves more than two-thirds of the time. This
shortening the term will be found a matter of very great moment, if
ever the occasion 'for such a restriction shall again ofi'er. The great
inconveniences and embarrassments that would attend the obligation to
keep cattle, however detrimentally to the owner, for so long a time as
forty days, would, if it were largely extended, besides the injuring in-
dividuals, conduce, along with the other necessary regulations respect-
ing the removal of cattle, to the causing a scarcity of them in the
London markets, and others which are supplied from distant places.
But, what is of still greater consequence, the loss and trouble that would
result from it to individuals in some cases would furnish such motives
for a non-compliance with the injunction as would in all probability
defeat the intention of it. It therefore highly merits the consideration
of those on whom the direction of this matter depends, to weigh well the
premises, for a few failures of obedience to the Orders of Council respect-
ing this restriction may render them wholly inetfectual.' There is no

1 It may be speciously said that in a case of so much moment as the prevention

i

History of Animal Plagues. o^i^o^

maxim more true than that a law of this kind should be void of every-
thincr strongly repugnant to its own operations, or it will prove a dead
letter.

'To evince more forcibly the extreme great consequence of guarding
against the introduction of the murrain into our country, I will here
subjoin an account of its late etf'ects in the United Provinces, whence the
deplorable havoc it makes there will appear in the most striking man-
ner. The source of the information respecting the facts I shall advance
is the registered lists' of the cattle in the south and north divisions of

of the murrain, the interest of particulars must give way to the good of the pubhc,
that it is best to err on the safe side by taking a full scope of time, which has been
deemed forty days, to render the matter entirely clear, and that if the cleansing be
a further security it should be added to the restriction of sale for that term. This
way of reasoning must be allowed to be right as to the general principles, and ought
to be adopted where the facts give just occasion for it, but it fails in that point to
be applicable to the present case. The extending the length of time of the restric-
tion so much as forty days, does not render the effect of the prohibition more cer-
tain, but evidently the contrary. It is shown above, that if the cleansing be put in
practice along with it, twelve days will be as effectual as forty, and there is a
great probability, when the time is not required to be longer, it may be complied
with, there being few cases where it would there be considerably detrimental to
the owners of the cattle. Whereas there is the strongest reason to apprehend the
longer term would not be generally complied with, and therefore the ordaining
it must counteract its own purpose, as the security proposed from it wholly
depends on a general conformity to it. When obedience to any matter or-
dained is enforced by a penalty, such penalty will ever fail of its full effect
when the gain accruing from disobedience is more than equivalent to the
risk of the forfeiture, as we daily see in the 'great multiplicity of contraband
trade. But this principle must hold good still more strongly here, where num-
bers of persons are unavoidably subject to loss without disobedience, than where,
as in the case of smuggling, the occasion of it arises only from a voluntary pursuit
of profit. The obliging people to keep their cattle so long as forty days, when the
injunction suddenly and unexpectedly takes place in cases when they are not pro-
vided with fodder to maintain them, nor possibly may be able to procure it without
the most distressful difficulties, or where they may lie under a necessity of selling
the beasts to raise money they instantly want, will of course create temptations to
risk the penalty that can scarcely be withstood by the weaker part of those who
may lie under these circumstances ; whence it is both against reason and observa-
tion to form expectations of a' general conformity to such an injunction. But if the
chance of the loss and inconvenience that may casually attend the keeping the
cattle be almost wholly taken away, by reducing the forty to only twelve days, the
motives will be proportionably removed for running the hazard of incurring the
forfeiture by a non-compliance with what is required, and there is just ground to
hope that the regulation would be then fully effectual.

*" The copies of these lists did not come to my hands till after most of the fore-
going part of this dissertation was printed, otherwise I shoukl have made use of
the contents of them in support of several matters I haveadv.uiced there, wliicli the
inferences to be drawn from them greatly tend to confirm.

23

354

History of Animal Plagues.

Holland, which I shall incorporate, and these provinces taken to-
gether are nearly equal to one-half of the whole United Provinces.
In order to give this account in the most clear manner consistent
with brevity, I will enumerate all the particulars of the state of
the cattle for the nine months preceding the ist of July last, be-
cause they are completely exhibited in the registers during that term.
To this I will annex the total numbers of those that died and recovered
in one year, commencing the ist of April, 1769, and also the number
which died and recovered in each of the three succeeding months, as
this latter detail leads to some as well curious as useful conclusions : —

' Persons keeping cattle in South Holland and North Holland

during the term of nine months, commencing the ist

of October, 1769

Cattle in the possession of those persons during that term

„ infected with the murrain

„ died of the murrain

„ recovered after taking the infection^

„ escaped the infection

„ died of other diseases and casualties

,, remained ill of the murrain at the end of the term

17.379
224,999

141.273
98,995
39,613

77,850
6,488

25,53

Cattle infected in the term of a year commencing the ist of

April, 1769 210,819

died of the disease during that term
recovered in that term

infected in the summer season of that term, com-
mencing the 1st of April and terminating the 30th of
September, 1769 . .
died in the summer season
recovered in the summer season

159,128
61,691

86,423
63,281
32,142

^ It may be inferred from this account, that considerably more than half of all
the cattle in the United Provinces took the infection of the murrain in nine months,
and that almost two-thirds of those which were infected died. The number, both
of those which caught the disease and of those which were carried off by it, is pro-
portionably far greater than was found here, while the disease raged most, and
even than has been usually known in Holland, at least one-half of the infected
having generally recovered. This evinces the present excess of power in the pre-
disponent cause, or disposition of the cattle to be affected, and verifies by glaring
facts what I ventured to assert relating to it, from theoretic reasons, in the fore-
going part of this dissertation, which was printed some months ago, before I had
any particular information respecting these facts, and, indeed, before the report
of them could be made and registered.

History of Animal Plagues. 2)hS

Cattle infected in the winter season ; ^ commencing the ist of

October, 1769, and terminating the 30th of April, 1770 134,696
„ died in the winter season . . . . . . . . 95,947

„ recovered in the winter season . . . . . . . . 38,749

„ infected in the term of three months preceding July,

1770' 3>9^2

^ The numljer of cattle infected in the winter is, in this account, above two-
fifths more than in the summer. The reverse of which appears with respect to the
plague in the eastern countries, where the contagion of it, for the most part, ceases,
or at least greatly abates, in that season. But the principle whence this seemingly
great variation arises does not, nevertheless, lie in the nature of the diseases, nor
even in that of the predisponent cause of infection in the subjects, which is in fact
the same in both, but in the local difference of circumstances with respect to the
production of that cause. It is the weakness of the subject in both cases that con-
stitutes the susceptibility of infection, and that weakness is induced in different sea-
sons from each other by a diversity in the climate and other circumstances attend-
ing the places in which the respective disorders, as here compared, prevail. In
those eastern countries where the excess of temperature lies in the heat of the sum-
mer, mankind, the subject of the plague, are in a too relaxed state, and the juices
so putrescent in many individuals as to render them much weaker than in the win-
ter, which is there mild and salutary. In the United Provinces, on the contrary,
the excess is in the cold of winter, which, being attended with great moisture in the
air, makes the cattle, the subject of the murrain, much weaker than in summer, to
which the housing them, as is there practised from necessity during that season,
much contributes. Tlie increased violence of it in winter and remission in sum-
mer, did not subsist here while the disease prevailed in our country in any pro-
portion to what it now does in Holland, the less damp state of the air, and the
keeping the cattle more out in the fields, having prevented them from being weak-
ened by the inclemency of the winter, as there. On the contrary, this was so far
from being the case, that Dr Legard says : ' This disease being a contagion of the
pestilential kind, is susceptible at all times and seasons. In autumn and summer
it will rage most, in spring and winter least, according to the alterations commonly
happening in those seasons.' He carried it much too far, as is evident by the facts
here exhibited, in saying generally the disease will rage most in summer and least
in winter, but he spoke from theory only. For supposing, as he intimates, the
murrain to be analogous to the plague, he concludes the same effects would always
attend the contagion of both witliout considering the predisponent cause on which
the operation of it depends may vary in different places. A more close inquiry,
perhaps, into the course of the distemper here would have prevented this error. The
whole, however, concurs to demonstrate there is no intrinsic difference in this point
betwixt the contagion of the plague and that of the murrain, but that the variation
of the effect of them depends on the variation of circumstances respecting the pre-
disponent cause in different places.

^ The number of cattle infected in these three months is only in the proportion
of about an eighteenth part of those in the winter season, and yet of them near four-
fifths died. These beasts may, therefore, be presumed to be such as laboured under
some constitutional or other peculiar cause of weakness, from which tlie favourable
temperature of the weather could not free them. In June the number infected was

2S^

History of Animal Plagues.

Cattle died in that term . .

■ 3.048

„ recovered in that term . .

864

,, died in April of that terra

• 1.254

„ died in May

. 1.325

„ died in June

469

„ recovered in April of that term

452

„ recovered in May

303

„ recovered in June . . . . ■. .

109

' It appears from the finance accounts that the province of Holland,
if the two divisions of north and south, from the separate lists of which
this account is formed, be taken together, may, as was before intimated,
be considered as one-half of the Seven United Provinces, at least with
respect to the cattle. So that if we admit the supposition, for which
there is good ground, that the ravage made by the murrain was nearly
the same in the other six provinces as in that, we may conclude that
the loss of cattle destroyed by it in the whole was not less, in one year
commencing April ist, 1769, and ending March 31st, 1770, than three
hundred and eighteen thousand beasts. And there is little room to
hope from appearances that the disease will be less violent this year
than it was the last.

' If we reflect that this immense loss is, in some degree, annual at
present in the United Provinces, we cannot but deem the being
afflicted with the murrain a most deplorable calamity, and this uncom-
monly strong prevalence of the contagion there ought to be equally an
object of our dread as of our compassion. It shows a very great pre-
disposition in the cattle to be affected by this disease ; and that predis-
position is owing to causes which, from their very nature, are extended
over all the neighbouring countries in some proportion, as is further

not one-sixth part of that of either of the two preceding months, nor consequently
in the proportion of so much as one-hundredth part of those of the winter season;
the number which died were, nevertheless, still more in proportion than in two pre-
ceding months. This evinces that the heat of the weather, though favourable to
the beasts in health as to preserving them from infection, was injurious to those
whose weakness made them take it, which may be easily accounted for from the
greater tendency that the animal fluids have to putrefy in hot seasons. Whence it
may be inferred that it is not a greater disposition in the humours to putrefy inde-
pendent of weakness, which causes the susceptibility of infection, but weakness
only ; and that, therefore, unless the degree of this disposition be such as induces
weakness, it does not contribute to the reception of the contagion, though to its
stronger operation when received. This confirms what I have above advanced,
that putrescence has not primarily any concern in the cause of the murrain, but in
the consequences of it ; as, being either before subsisting or produced by the opera-
tion of the infection, it aggravates the fatal effects as a secondary cause.

History of Animal Plagues. 2>S1

manifested by die actual progress the contagion is now making in parts
where there is no epidemic or local cause in the cattle of the suscepti-
bility of the infection. We see, by his Majesty's late proclamation,
that it has passed into Flanders, and is now spreading thence to ihe
adjacent countries of France,^ where there are no unfavourable circum-
stances, as in tlie United Provinces, for the beasts to be more particu-
larly subject to the disease, unless, in common with those of the neigh-
bouring countries, from the accidental influence of bad seasons. This
cause subsists alike with us, and we are equally exposed to all the mis-
chievous consequences of the contagion if it be introduced into our
island 5 which, without the greatest care in the exercise of due preventive
means, is extremely liable to happen from the proximity of the place
where the infection now prevails, conspiring with the susceptibility of
it that attends the cattle at this period. It therefore highly behoves
every individual to exert his utmost endeavours, according to his situ-
ation, to avert tills impending danger of one of the most heavy calami-
ties that can befall any European country, and more especially our own,
where the luxurious habits of the common people, the ditflculty of ob-
taining a supply of cattle from other places, and the high prices of the
necessaries of life, would render the ^fleets of a scarcity of horned
beasts, and consequently all other provisions, peculiarly grievous and
intolerable.' ^

^ This rapid progress of the contagion, and extending of its effects into places
where it spontaneously extinguished a considerable number of years ago, and has
never before revived since, is, together with the great epidemic prevalence of the
disease in Holland, displayed in the above-given account, a strong confirmation of
the truth of the principles, whence I formed a judgment d. priori of the present
susceptibility of the infection in the cattle throughout all these parts of Europe. As
my prediction relating to the consequences of it, given in the foregoing part of this
dissertation, is verified by these facts, which have happened since the printing it, the
certainty of those principles ought to excite tlie greatest apprehension of our danger
from them, and the most powerful motives for our very earnest attention and care
to guard against this menacing evil.

* R. Dossie. ' Observations on the Murrain or Pestilential Disease of Neat
Cattle.' Memoirs of Agriculture, vol. ii. 1771. Dr Darwin, writing in 1796, thus
speaks of the Cattle Plague : ' The pcstis vaccina, or disease amongst the cows,
which afflicted this island about half a century ago, seems to have been a contagi-
ous fever with great arterial debility ; as in some of them, in the latter stage of the
disease, an emphysema could often be felt in some parts, which evinced a consider-
able progress of gangrene beneath the skin. In the sensitive inirritated fevers of
these animals, I suppose about sixty grains of opium, with two ounces of extract of
oak-bark, every six hours, would supply them with an efficacious medicine ; to which
miglit l)e added thirty grains of vitriol of iron, if any tendency to bloody urine
should appear, to which this animal is liable. 'Phe method of preventing the in-
fection from spreading, if it should ever again gain access to this island, would be

358 History of Animal Plagues.

We have already traced the disease on the Continent of
Europe. In 1740, Hungary and Bohemia were suffering from
it, and the whole of Germany participated in the invasion;
through the south it passed into Switzerland, Piedmont, Tranche
Comte, and Dauphine ; northwards, it spread from Poland to
Courland, Livonia, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, and England.
In 1742 it was imported into Lorraine and the Vosges, and, ac-
cording to Courtivron, it follow^ed the army in 1743 from Bavaria
into Alsatia. The same year it again entered the Dauphine and
Franche-Comte from Switzerland, and continued to commit
great havoc among the herds in France during the years i745j
1746, and 1747. The Plague entered Italy both through Pied-
mont and through Venice. It passed into Piedmont during the
war of 1744, and led to terrible losses in Upper Italy. Speaking
of the misfortunes of war in 1745, Muratori says: ^ And they
w-ere not all the misadventures of Piedmont. In the preceding
year the Cattle Plague had penetrated in these parts, and it was
calculated that about 40,000 oxen and cows had died. A potent
means of spreading any pestilence is war, which breaks through
everv precaution or measure suggested by human prudence. It
was owing to this that the malady extended its deadly influence
in the preceding year, through Monferrato and other parts of the
Sardinian kingdom, and thence passed to the districts of Milan
and Lodi, reaching Piacentino, beyond the river Po, winding its
course along the rivers in the Bresciano, and spreading alarm
through Lombardy. The destruction was beyond description ;
and what may be the consequences of so serious a catastrophe, I
need not teach those countries which have been desolated, and
which have been at the same time oppressed by the weight of
war. It has been estimated that 18,000 head of cattle perished
in the States of Milan.^ ^

immediately to obtain an order from Government to prevent any cattle from being
removed, which were found within five miles of the place supposed to be infected,
for a few days, till the certainty of the existence of the pestilence could be ascer-
tained by a committee of medical people. As soon as this was ascertained, all the
cattle within five miles of the place should be immediately slaughtered, and con-
sumed within the circumscribed district, and their hides put into lime-water before
proper inspectors.' — Zoojiomia, vol. ii. p. 249.
1 Miimtori. Op. cit., vol. xii. p. 345.

History of Animal Plagues. 359

In the month of October^ I745? the Steppe murrain penetrated
the Tyrol ; from Carinthia it once more travelled to Venice, and
only ceased in that State in 1749. In Northern Germany,
Prussia appears to have suffered most severely; but it did not
appear in Saxony, it seems, until 1746.^ In Prussian Lithuania,
according to Gallesky, more than 145,000 cattle were swept
away in 1750. It passed through Germany to Holland in
1744, and in two years destroyed in that country upwards of
200,000 head of cattle. The faculty of medicine at Leyden was
at this time consulted as to the means wherebv the Plao-ue miirht
be abated, and its report was published in Dutch by Lucht-
mans. In 1745, Professors de Haen, Ouwens, and Van Velse,
and Dr Weiterhof, wrote a dissertation on the subject, which
was published at the Hague, and M. Engleman contributed an
essay to the Seventh Volume of the 'Acts of the Society of
Haarlem.' From 1745 to 1749 it killed 280,000 animals in
Denmark. 'The 14th of January, 1746, was appointed a day
of public fasting and prayer to be observed all over Denmark on
account of the mortality among the cattle through that king-
dom. It is reckoned to have carried ofl' no less than 60,000
before the middle of December. It advanced likewise in Jutland,
and the apprehensions of it engaged most people to kill their cat-
tle.'^ It entered Sweden, and, according to Linnieus, in the
province of Schonen alone 32,584 oxen and cows died, leaving
alive only two per cent, of tiie entire horned stock of the pro-
vince.'' In the little island of Oesel, in 1750-51, no fewer than
20,000 cattle succumbed. From Holland the disease penetrated
Austria and French Flanders, reaching Laon, and in Artois and
Picardy destroyed 11,000 animals.*

Between 1740 and 1748, it was estimated that Western
central Europe had lost no less than three millions of cattle.

The Continental authorities who have observed and described
the disease at this time, as will be seen by a reference to the
foregoing essay, are very numerous, and much difficulty is ex-

' RiiDipelt. Beitrage zur Gcschichtc der Vicseuclieii. Drcsilcii, 1776. Vol.
i. p. 117.

- Scot's Magazine, vol. xvii. p. 605.

•* Linitceus. Schonenschc Rcibc. ^ y. GuDi^ce. Op. cit.

360 History of Animal Plagiies.

perienced in making a judicious selection from among them to
illustrate what was then believed to be the pathology and nature
of the plague, or the measures, medical and legislative, most
appropriate for its cure or prevention. However, a brief notice
will be offered of some that now come to hand, and the student
desirous of learning more can refer to the works, the titles of
which are given.

We will commence with Holland.

The physician Clerc,^ who was in that country when the
disease raged there in 1744-5, and at the commencement
of ^46, informs us as to the character presented by it at that
time.

The symptoms were : staring of the coat, universal shiver-
ings, the eyes red or yellowish, and looking as if buried in their
orbits. Tears ran from them, and mucus from the nostrils, which
were in many cases swollen, and in others constricted and very
red, without discharge; sometimes convulsive tvvitchings were
noticed about them. The upper lip appeared tumified, the under
one pendant, the gums were often red and inflamed, and the
veins in them enlarged ; there were also small yellowish pustules,
ulcers, and aphthae over the gums and palate as well as the
tongue ; these increased before death. There appeared buboes
or inflammatory swellings about the dewlap and the flank. The
hind quarters could not support the least touch, they were so
painful. The throbbing of the arteries was strong and frequent.
The labia of the vulva were tumified, and secreted a virulent mat-
ter. Towards the end of the second day, the respiration became
diflficultj this difficulty increased rapidly. The animal gave
utterance to deep sighs and groans, and saliva flowed from the
mouth. This matter became bloody on the approach of death.
The animals never slept; and they died on the fourth, the fifth,
or the sixth day, as if they been slain by the stroke of a poleaxe.
The urine was not much altered, but the faeces were yellow-
coloured, purulent, and fetid shortly before they perished. Un-

^ Le Clerc. Verhandeling van de tegenwordige, &c., door vier Geneesheeren.
Hague, 1745- Essai sur les Maladies Contagieuses dii Betail, avec les moyens de
les prevenir et d'y remedier efficacement ; par Clerc, ancien Medecin des Armees
du Roi en Allemagne. Paris, 1766.

History of Animal Plagues. 361

like Boerhaave, he could not perceive any difference between the
milk of a healthy and diseased cow.

These symptoms agree with all those which were noticed in
cattle in the neighbourhood of Haarlem^ and those described by
the physicians of Konigsberg, In ordinary cases, it was only
necessary for some of them to be present to warrant the steps
which he reconnncnds, and he begs of every one who mav read
his work to be persuaded that every contagious poison, although
transmitted in a very small dose, yet produces rapid and murder-
ous effects in destroying the organs essential to life.

A large portion of the book is taken up with hypothetical
reasonings on the phenomena observed.

Seventy animals which had died of the disease were examined
by him. These are the results. The eyes were spread over by
livid and brown-coloured veins. The matters in the nostrils, the
mouth, and elsewhere, were bloody and very putrid. The rigidity
of the limbs, the hind ones especially, was very great. The
subcutaneous cellular tissue was black, dry, and inflamed; the
flesh brownish-coloured. There was little alteration in the brain :
its vessels were often v^aricose, and its membranes offered traces
of inflammation, especially in those which had been continually
comatose. The lungs were not always healthy, but often red,
livid, or gangrenous, and covered with black patches. The
membrane lining the windj)ipe was easily detached. The heart
bore traces of the contagion. The diaphragm, pleurae, and peri-
cardium were always inflamed or gangrenous. The cavities of
the heart were always filled with a burnt-looking blood or a
brown sediment. The liver and spleen were of a black colour,
and distended with blood like ink. It was dangerous to ex-
amine too closely the stomachs and other viscera, for the stench
would induce syncope. The bile was caustic and burning. The
stomach was inflamed, and the third compartment contained
black dry food, looking as if it had been baked. Its lining
membrane was very easily separated. The fourth compart-
ment was of the colour of red k'ad, and contained \ellow
matters having a most offensive odour, iioerhaave found ex-
travasated blood of a black colour, and ijurning and fetid. The
intestines were much distended with "as, and varie(j;ated bv livid

362 History of Animal Plagues.

spots. Clerc has observed inflammation of the uterus, and re-
marked that even the foetus contained in it had not only the in-
testines diseased, but that the thorax and abdomen were filled
with a bloody-coloured humour of a bad smell.

With regard to treatment, it is here, says the author,
that art is rigorously limited, and is obliged to confess that it
possesses no certain remedy for the contagious poisons. Their
elements are so subtle that they have escaped analysis. It is
this which opposes our discovering a preservative or an efficient
specific. But treatment might nevertheless be tried on reason-
able principles. Plentiful bleedings should be resorted to before
the third day, after which they were useless, if not mortal.
Purgatives were of little service, in general doing more harm
than good. The diet shoidd be barley-meal boiled in skimmed
milk. No hay was to be given. As the animals recovered the
gruel was to be increased in allowance. The diseased were to
be currycombed twice a day. The stables were also to be
cleaned out twice a day, and perfumed every six hours with
vinegar thrown on hot bricks. Gunpowder was also to be burnt
in them. Setons he much lauded, especially when put in the
dewlap. The simplest means of treatment were the best, and
far to be preferred before the irritating, acrid, hot, and incendi-
ary remedies so much in use. Animals are composed of the
same elements as men, therefore do the same curative principles
apply to them.

In the precautions taken to prevent contagion, it is expressly
laid down that all communication be immediately cut off be-
tween the infected and the healthy. Setons should be em-
ployed in the healthy animals, and they should be currycombed
every day. Horses should be kept in the cow-houses, as the
soil of these animals prevents the contagion reaching cattle.
The dew is regarded as a mass of vapour, which, raised from the
earth, is condensed by the cold at night and descends again.
The plants which then become charged with it may transmit
deadly principles. Animals must not, therefore, be sent to the
pasture when there is dew, but only after it has been dissipated.
Above all things, it is necessary to kill the first beasts attacked
with the plague J then to take them to a place altogether

History of Animal Plagues. 2)^2)

apart, and burn them. But if a great number are attacked
at the same time, this means of smothering the disease will
be no longer practicable. It is then necessary to separate the
animals \-et healthv, and keep them as far as possible from
the diseased; and no intercourse of any kind should be per-
mitted.

He founded his medical treatment of the malady on the sup-
position that it was due to the presence of an animated or ver-
m'tnous matter in the blood, similar to that which P<^re Kircher
had asserted to exist in the plague of man, and Cogrossi and
Valisnieri in that of animals.

Grashius wrote an excellent treatise on the Cattle Plague, in
which he asserted that he knew of six cows whicli had recovered
from the disease for more than fifteen days, and yet four of
them were attacked a second time and died.^

Mauchart writes from Tubingen in 1745 : ' Until this time
the disease has abated but little. It appears to be confined to the
bovine species alone, and does not afl'ect goats, horses, pigs, sheep,
or fowls; at least, very few examples to the contrary have occurred
in our locality; indeed, the only exception I heard of occurred
at Tubingen, where it is said the disease was communicated
from a cow to a goat which was stabled with it, and which, after
a violent death, on being dissected, exhibited the gall-bladder
enlarged and very much distended. A certain man named
Respondens, remembers a similar incident which occurred at
Reutlingen. Some fowls died in a very short time in one
house, and on their being examined it was reported that they
had <i;reatlv-distendcd "all-bladders. In the beech forests of
Wyliae, in a former winter, when the Cattle Plague raged there,
a certain man having slain his cows, which were seized with the
disease, threw the corrupted intestines to his pigs ; these likewise
became affected, and died of the disease. While this malady
raged, we were informed by credible authorities that wild beasts
had been found dead from this disease in the neighbouring
woods. Wild boars, and, indeed, some of the deer tribe, were

' Grashius. Uitgezote Verliand. uit de nieuwste werkun van de Socielcilcn
van Wctcnschappcn, 1758.

364 History of Animal Plagues.

also observed to have perished.^ During almost the whole time
of this plague amongst cattle diseases were very rare in man-
kind, and neither by endemic nor epidemic maladies were they
increased whatsoever. Only here and there one or two died
from various sporadic affections. Strange to remark, of all the
men who were engaged in tending and nursing the sick cows dying
from the epizooty, and of those employed in moving, flaying,
and burying them, and breathing the thick, foul-smelling vapours,
each and all remained safe and healthy.^ ^ This was written at
Tubingen, where the disease raged.

The same author, in another work,^ has given a good de-
scription of the maladv. He alludes to goats being susceptible
to its influence, and recommends their separation from the dis-
eased cattle.

The physician Ens* gives a description of the Cattle
Plague as it appeared at Halberstadt, in Lower Saxony. It
differed slightly from the disease elsewhere in being more acute,
and accompanied by more inflammation. It manifested itself at
first by an acute fever, marked by a hard pulse, an ardent heat, and
excessive thirst ; the breath was fetid, the urine high-coloured
and in small quantity, the blood fluid and black, the nose dis-
charging mucus, and all the body agitated ; the walk unsteady,
and the limbs vacillating. The animal carried its head low, and
bellowed frequently. The secretion of milk was suppressed in
the cows. The diseased creatures died tranquilly on the third,
fourth, fifth, or sixth day; some few in two or three weeks. A
small number had dysentery. This author appears to have
established the prognosis of the malady principally on the
nature of the intestinal discharges. If the evacuation of the
excrements, which diminished always at the commencement,
became established again, all the symptoms ceased in a short
time; but when dysentery complicated the symptoms, the result

^ This disease of the porcine tribe may have been an epizooty of inflammatory
fever or anthrax— not the Cattle Plague.

^ Haller. Disput., vol. iii. p. 846. ^ B 11 card- Alaiic hart. Med. de lue

vaccarum Tubingensi. Tubingen, 1745.

* Abraham Ens. Disquisitio Anatomico-Pathologica de Morbo. Boum. Hal-
berstadt, 1746.

History of Animal Plagues. ^i^t^

was always fatal. It was remarked that all the cattle attacked
were fat, in good condition, and vigorous, and that the lean and
feeble were seldom affected.

The examination of twelve oxen which had died proved that
it was an inflammatory disease, in which the digestive passages
were principally attacked. The omentum was found inflamed ;
the first and second divisions of the stomach were full of food
slightly moist; the third w^as more inflamed and distended than
the two first; the leaves were black and sphacelous, and between
them the food was found hard and dried; the fourth division was
empty, contracted, and inflamed; the intestines in the same state;
the rectum, in some cases, contained mucus mixed with blood.
Tn general, all the viscera connected with the intestines par-
ticipated in their inflammation, particularly the gall-bladder. The
viscera in the thorax were scarcely altered. In the brain there
was congestion of the vessels; the eyes were inflamed; neither
the integuments, the tongue, nor the mouth exhibited any
eruption of vesicles, pustules, or tumours ; but the tail was
rotten, for as soon as its enveloping skin was removed, it broke
in many portions.

Ens, in seeking for the cause of this outbreak, remarks that
the pastures in the neighbourhood had been flooded in August
by great quantities of rain-water from the adjoining mountains,
and which was charged with mud that corrupted the herbacre ;
besides, the pastures contained manv poisonous weeds. In the
month of September a sharp frost suddenly set in, accompanied
by a blight of rust on all the plants. The cattle which had
passed the night in their stables were turned out in the mornings
hot and perspiring, and fed on the tainted herbage, which, he
maintained, was assuredly the cause of this very acute inflam-
matory epizootic fever.

In the North of Europe, the Danish physicians gave the dis-
ease their serious attention. In the Memoirs of the Roval
Scientific Society of Copenhagen for 1746, we find the results of
their observations in curious, but vet interesting, details. From
the moment, it is recorded, that an ox was attacked, it carried
its head low, and its horns were cold; the tongue and the |)alate
became blanched; the respirator\' movements precipitous and difti-

366 History of Animal Plagues.

cult; the appetite disappeared, and rumination became suspended;
and if death did not suddenly take place, the symptoms be-
came more serious ; the breathing became more troubled, the
prostration more marked; the extremities began to experience
nervous twitchings and spasmodic movements, which appeared
to be accompanied with pain, and prevented their free extension.
The thirst was sometimes intense, and when so the animal often
had a suppression of urine and faeces. Usually, however, there
was diarrhoea, and the matters were tinged with blood.
Some moments before death the animal fell as if apoplectic, and
lay without feeling or without movement; a thick, adhesive
mucus flowed from the mouth and the nostrils ; an aphthous-
like appearance showed itself about the tongue; and those
animals which resisted the violence of the early symptoms, towards
the third week became covered with an eruption of jiustules
about the neck and the back, which degenerated into mange.

On opening the dead bodies, gangrenous patches were ob-
served in the abdominal viscera, and particularly on the spleen
and the third stomach [pmams). Traces of inflammation, of
putridity, and of gangrene were always present. The blood con-
tained in the spleen was darker than in health; the gall-bladder
was always full of bile, and in it were frequently found calculi
of various sizes ; in some cases small worms were lodged in the
biliary canal ; in others the brain was softened, and the surface
of the lungs speckled with livid gangrenous spots. What was
reckoned the most extraordinary circumstance in these examin-
ations, was the great quantity of black bile constantly found in
the gall-bladder, and the calculi which they contained. In the
third compartment of the stomach there was nearly always pre-
sent a hard, arid, brown mass of food, looking as if it had been
baked and hardened by the intensity of the malady. The heart
was sometimes filled with polypoid concretions.^

For France, out of the many writers at this period who de-
scribed the malady, I will only select a few.

Chomel" regarded the disease as a malignant, pestilential, and

^ Acta Havniensia, vol. ii.

^ Lettre d'un Medecin de Paris a un Medecin de province sur les Maladies des
Bestiaux. Journal des Savans. 1745-

History of Animal Plagues. 367

Ex-\NTHEMATOUS {pourprcuse) fever, in f'aet, a true pest, mani-
fested by gangrene, livitlity of the viscera, and a dreadful
stupor. He believed it to have taken its rise in Bohemia, while
that country was the seat of war. From thence it passed to
Hungary, Bavaria, the Tyrol, Alsace, and Upper Burgundy,
Flanders did not escape, and it is truly fearful, he says, to
think of the immense numbers of cattle these different countries
have lost.

The symptoms were heaving at the flanks and hurried breath-
ing. On making; pressure over the loins, a crackling was heard,
as if of dry parchment. They died at various periods — three, four,
five, or eight days. Some were seen to die in four hours which
had no external symptom of the disease, and yet when opened
they exhibited all the pathological evidences of its presence —
such as gangrene of the true stomach and the viscera covered
with purple spots. The signs which preceded death, and which
this writer had ample opportunity for observing, were as follows:
the fever had been latent for a number of days before it
showed itself, this period varying according to the disposition
of the animal; indeed, it was observed that in some cows which
the country people thought quite healthy, and which gave their
usual quantity of milk, an attentive examination could discover
considerable fever, with the heart's action doubled in movement
and intensity, and often a slight cough. The symptoms de-
veloped all at once were : tremblings recurring two or three
times during the day, the eyes red and tearful, the horns and the
ears cold, the head hanging low, a thick and glutinous nmcus
flowing from the mouth and nostrils; rigors over the whole
body, or conllned to the thighs; the secretion of milk diminish-
ing; frequent cough, heaving deep sighs, and a melancholy and
languid appearance, accompanied by great insensibility. In the
excrements, which were fluid, were seen, even during the first
days of illness, streaks of blood. There was considerable diar-
rhoea, and sometimes the ejection of these matters was accom-
panied by colic. Sometimes there was remarked a convulsive
tvvitchins: extending; from the head to the termination of the
spine. The paroxysms of fever resembled those of intermittent
fever in man. While the exterior of the body was cold, the breath

368 History of Animal Plagues.

and the interior appeared to be burning. The rumination en-
tirely ceased. In cows the hps and the vulva were swollen, and
from them came a virulent humour. On the teats appeared
purple patches. Pustules often appeared in the mouth and on
the tongue. The animals which recovered passed through several
periods or stages. At first their eyes lost their redness, and the
tears ceased. Their backs were covered with scabs or scales ; the
udders and teats were covered with small tumours or houtons.
About their necks there were a great number of these pustules
covered with scabs, which fell off' after some days, and the beasts
began to lick their nostrils and skins. This was particularly
observed at Paris^ in Burgundy, and in Franche-Comte, and was
only noticeable in the few which recovered, and these were only
oxen, or emaciated cows. The hair grew stronger and smooth,
the milk returned, the faeces were more solid, and never any of
those recovered had a relapse. Some had pustules on their
tongues, which were scraped to the quick and then dressed with
vinegar and salt.

The post-mortem appearances were : in the rumen a great
quantity of moist food, possessing a disagreeable odour, although
the animals had not eaten anything for three, four, and even
eight days. The leaves of the third section of the stomach
were black, gangrenous, and easily torn. The alimentary
matters between them were hard, and similar to peat ready
for burning ; the fourth division of the stomach {caillette)
was throughout of a reddish purple, mixed with patches of
a deep or bright violet tint. Pus was also found in it. In
many subjects there were dark spots on the liver, with hydatids
and traces of gangrene in the lungs. The udder and adjacent
integument had also livid blotches. The gall-bladder was
generally full, and the contents were very fluid, though the
colour was not altered. The rectum was frequently noticed
to contain a little black blood. Sometimes the heart was
dotted over with these patches ; the uterus was affected in the
same way, and if it contained a foetus this was found suffocated
bv the blood. The larynx, the pharynx, the base of the tongue,
the oesophao'us, and the trachea had like stains of ecchymosis;
the cavities of the nose were filled with a purulent matter.

History of Animal Plagues. 369

In some dead bodies no palpable alteration was discovered
in anv of the viscera, — nothing save extreme distention of the
gall-bladder.

The maladv was excessively contagious, and it was in vain
that the magistrates could prevent its diffusion by the wisest
measures; the greed of gain of some, and the poverty of others,
broke through all the bounds which had been made to restrain
the pestilence. The remedies employed became impotent against
so violent a disease; suspected animals were sold at a low price,
and consequently those which were diseased spread the malady.
It was a true plague, which, after passing from province to pro-
vince, at last entered the capital. The magistrates of Paris, learn-
ing that, notwithstanding all the precautions taken by the police,
the disease appeared at the same time in different parts of the
city, held a meeting; at which, being determined to know every-
thing concerning the nature and treatment of the affection, it
was resolved to consult the faculty of medicine. Many doctors
were sent to the infected quarters, and there beheld the awful
ravages wrought by the plague. Day by day it increased in
violence, and no one can imagine the number of dead and dying
seen every day in Paris. Well known and well characterized,
every effort was made to cure the scourge. But what obstacles !
what difficulties ! There were two principal indications to
fulfil — unload the stomach of the enormous quantity of aliment
it contained, and prevent the inflammation or arrest its pro-
gress. To meet the first indication, it was necessary that the
diet should be of the most trifling kind — that which could never
be enforced, however. Lastly, it was observed that all medicines
such as brandy and gunpowder, and all the cordials, were injurious
in this malady, though the proprietors of cattle always flattered
themselves that marvellous results would ensue by giving large
doses. In this way people have expended 350 bottles of wine
on five or six cows in a very short time. Medicines were of no
avail. External remedies, such as setons and the use of the actual
cautery, were in most request, and were believed to have done
some service in effectino; cures. It was thouiiht to be a oood
sign when these critical depots, as they were termed, suppurated
freely. Bleeding usually acconqianicd these remedies. In llic

24

37° History of Animal Plagues.

mouth was put, twice a-day, a masticator {masticadour), composed
of salt, peppercorns, and a little garlic and honey. The ears
and nose were rubbed many times a day with aromatic vinegar.
The stables were fumigated with burning junipers, sage leaves,
and rosemary and absinthe. The nourishment was light ; a few
herbs, bran, or barley, or rye meal were given in very small
quantities.

Sauvages, a celebrated physician of Montpellier, is the next
authority who has written on the disease, as he saw it in Lan-
guedoc.^ The pest having been carried by Forez and Dauphine
into Velay and Vivarais, the Archbishop of Narbonne, fearing
lest it should spread to mankind, sent Sauvages to inquire into
its nature, and to suggest means for preventing or curing it.
His description is as follows: — The syn)ptoms were nausea, loss
of appetite, and no desire to drink. Some of the cattle about
the third day refused water, or drank very little. There was an
extreme degree of uneasiness or heaviness, which made the
affected beasts hang their heads and look troubled. But on the
third day they wandered about here and there, as if to get out of
their stables, and seemed pleased when allowed to go at large.
When they were prostrated by the malady, they lay down from
lassitude, and often got up again. The cow-men said that this
disease made the cattle imbecile. Nearly all of them had shiver-
ings over the body, but especially at the flanks and thighs.
The hair was upright from the head to the croup. The roots of
the horns were cold, but the rest of the body was of a natural
temperature. The eyes were tearful, and at last purulent, and
the effusion from them traced a furrow over the skin, from the
eyes to the nose. There were worms between the eyes and the
eyelids, but the cow-herds assured him that these had been ob-
served long before the disease appeared. The nose was purulent,
and as if suffering from glanders, the discharge being often
mixed with blood. This was supposed to come from the mucous
glands; the saliva was abundant, and streaming to the ground;
the tongue whitish, and without pustules. The stench from the
stomach was insupportable when the animals breathed. The

^ M. de Sauvages. Memoire sur la Maladie Epid. des Boeufs du Vivarais.
Montpellier, 20 Decembre, 1746.

History of Animal Plagues. 371

breathing was very uneasy, especially about the third day. The
diseased beast sighed, and breathed with a noise which coidd be
heard twenty paces off. When the flank was watched, it was
found that the respirations were jerking. The sort of vertigo
which sometimes caused the animals to run about, and which
was observed by Lancisi in 171 1, was also observed by Sauvages.
The most constant symptom wiis the purging, which began
between the second and fifth day. It was preceded by straining,
and very often the matters were ejected for some distance, and
were of a'decp green colour with a very bad odour. This odour
did not prevent other cattle from seeking and sniffing the faeces
of the diseased, and dogs and pigs licked them up when permit-
ted. This diarrhoea was, about the fifth or sixth day, mixed
with blood, and on the surface looked like thick oil enclosing
bubbles of air. This flux generally carried the animals off" in the
first week. Entire stables have been depopulated the same day
on which the malady has appeared.

The unfavourable symptoms were: an invincible loathing,
a copious discharge from the nostrils, and, above all, the diarrhoea
largely mixed with blood, or even simple diarrhoea. The favour-
able symptoms were: the disease continuing till the second week;
the animal eating and drinking a little, and the skin of the nose
peeling off, or the hair of the croup being shed, and pustules in
the mouth. If an abscess appeared in the dewlap or on the limbs,
it was accompanied by another symptom : the dorsal spine became
so sensitive, that a little pressure with the hand woidd make
the beast fall on its knees, and if more forcil^le make it run
away. Emphysematous swellings, very painful and diffuse, but
not mucli elevated, formed at the flanks and thighs; these dis-
charged a quantity of air when incised. When these swellings
occupied the genital regions the prognosis was unfavourable.

There was not much derangement noticed in the viscera of
those animals which were examined after death, especially if the
disease had lasted for three or four days only. There was no-
thing carbuncular about them. That which passed for anthrax
{(Itdrl'on) was marked by great emphysematous swellings. True
anthrax had not n)anifcsted itself in a single ox during this
ej)izooty, neitlier had it been seen for three or four years. The

37^ History of Animal Plagues.

rumen was filled with a great quantity of stinking, yellowish,
and very dry food ; and the second, but above all the third, com-
partment contained the driest matter, which was of a dark
colour and like a cake. The lining membrane was livid, but this
lividity was not accompanied by any softening which could be
construed as marking gangrene. The fourth compartment, with
its velvety lining membrane, was of a rose colour and slightly in-
flamed; and from thence to the rectum the contents were liquid
and tinted from green to black. Livid stains were observed in
the rectum. The gall-bladder was two or three times larger
than in health. Nothing was observed in the spinal cord. The
lungs were the organs most affected; for besides some redness of
the lobes, their texture was sometimes so distended that they oc-
cupied after death the whole capacity of the chest. Air had
filled up the interlobular space to such an extent that the veins
were as large as the little finger. Microscopic examination of
the blood did not show any insects. Nothing unhealthy was
noticed in the brain.

This mortality amongst cattle, he says, had ravaged Europe
for thirty-four years before it had got so far as Vivarais. Sau-
vages was one of those deputed to examine into the nature of
the disease, and to propose means for its cure or prevention. It
had depopulated in Aunonay more than forty-three parishes.
One in particular had lost a hundred and thirty-four cattle in
fifteen days. It was communicated from one cow to another.
A butcher of Villeneuve de Berg had brought to Beage in Upper
Vivarais some infected cattle, and these left the infection in the
stables in which they had halted when on the road. Some of
them died, but he slaughtered the remainder, and sold them as
food to the inhabitants of Villeneuve. The dogs and pigs
which had eaten portions of the carcases and the excrements
were not affected, neither were the people who had eaten the
flesh.

Sauvages solemnly assures us that it is useless to seek in
vitiated pastures, in the air, or in stagnant water, for the
causes of this epizooty, when we see it spread step by step, but
only amongst those animals which had communication with the
diseased. Different seasons, or a diversity of climates, do not

History of Animal PlagiLCs. 373

appear to exercise much, if any, influence on it. The poison
weakens the movement of the blood, as in scurvy and the plague.
The disease itself has a great resemblance to the dysentery pre-
valent in camps, and which the soldiers acquire from the exhala-
tions of latrines. In like manner cattle contract the disease by
inhaling the stench from the excrements, healthy animals having
a great tendency to smell these. The two affections present
somewhat similar symptoms.

It followed from the observations of Sauvages, as had been
already noticed by Lancisi, Ramazzini, and others, that eigh-
teen animals died out of every twenty attacked ; that there had
been found no specific remedy to cure the epizouty; and that
the only means of guaranteeing the safety of the unaffected was
not only to prevent the conmumication of the contagion from
one beast to another, but also to hinder the approach of dogs
which had been in infected neighbourhoods, and also the men
who had been in charge of the diseased.

In Aunonay, as before mentioned, the disease had cleared
out every parish ; but in Vivarais, by the extreme precautions
which the people took to prevent communication, not so many
were destroyed, and it soon disappeared there. In Italy it was
observed that the fat animals suffered most ; in Vivarais this
distinction was not observed, but a dozen oxen became affected
very quickly, and the cows not for a month afterwards. In Dau-
phine the disease was remarked to be latent for a month, but in
Vivarais it showed itself on the day of communication.

The human plague does not attack animals, Sauvages re-
marks, neither does this of cattle extend beyond the bovine
species; at least, he adds, I cannot altogether think that the
disease actually raging amongst small animals in the neigh-
bourhood of Lunel can be quite the same as that afl^ecting the
cattle.

A most notable circumstance observed by Sauvages at this
time, however, was the fact of goats and sheep suffering from a
disease very similar to, if not identical with, that of the cattle.
Paulct remarks on this in the following words: ' Whether it was
that the disease in cattle in France had passed by communication
from these animals to others of a different species, or whether it

374 History of Animal Plagues.

was that another special cause was in operation; certain it is that
a malady accompanied by dysentery, and all the symptoms which
characterize a putrid, pestilential, and exanthematous fever, such
as that which had prevailed among horned cattle, was observed
in Languedoc at the same time by M. de Sauvacres^ in the goats
and sheep. The most favourable crisis for these animals was an
eruption of small pustules about the nostrils and the other parts
of the head, which became converted into scabs. As in the
cattle, after death their lungs were found emphysematous, and
their viscera bore the same marks of disease. It appears that
these animals were treated in the same manner as the cattle,
modifying, however, the doses of the remedies according to the
age, the natural feebleness of the creature, and other circum-
stances. In general, the moiety of a dose of medicine suitable
for an ox was that which sufficed for a sheep, if the remedy was
not a violent one; when it was, a third, or even a fourth part
was sufficient. M. Hastfer, in his" Instructions for the Improve-
ment of Sheep," p. 154, strongly recommends a preservative
powder for these animals, in all cases of pestilential or epizootic
diseases; it consists in taking two ounces of crude antimony,
the same quantity of nitre, four ounces of sulphur and laurel
berries, mixed with ten pounds of common salt. This mixture to
be put in the mangers so that the sheep may lick it at pleasure. ^^

Amongst the precautions taken by the States and the Parlia-
ment to arrest the spread of the infection, it was ordained that
the dead should be interred in their skins; but they did not sus-
pect the cupidity of the merchants, who purchased at a low price
the hides which the farmers could smuggle away, and thus was a
most important object frustrated.

Much that is interesting will be found in the Journal of the
Marquis de Courtivron^ some of whose observations have been
already alluded to.^ He saw the malady in Burgundy, Eastern
France, in 1747.

Blondef* thought the disease was due to bad food and a low

^ Nosologia Methodica, vol. v. p. 88. ^ Paiilet. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 256.

^ De Coiirtivron. Journal sur la Naissance, le Progres, et la Terme de la

Maladie du Gros Betail a Is-sur-Tille, ville du Duche de Bourgogne. Paris, 1747.

^ Blondd. Dissertation sur la Maladie Epidemique des Bestiaux. Paris, 1749.

History of Animal Plagues. 375

temperature. The symptoms indicated by him have nothing
worthy ot remark. On opening the dead animals small tumours
were found beneath the skin, and on the breast abscesses or
lari2;e tumours like carbuncles. The skins of those which re-
covered were disfigured by a kind of miliary or scabby eruption.
He named the disease an ardent, pestilential, eruptive fever.

Camper^ reports an outbreak of the disease in 1768 and
1769 in the province of Groningen, Holland; he imagined it
to have become naturalized in the country, the same as small-pox
in mankind. The symptoms are very accurately given; and from
their perusal it is obvious that the lungs were somewhat severely
implicated. The duration of the malady was from twentv-four
hours to eleven days, though the last-named period was very
rarely attained. In some cases the body was covered with spots,
especially near the flanks, a symptom to which the peasantry
gave the name of 'mange,' and which some of them regarded as a
favourable jirognostic. Camper, however, remarks that the
buboes and the eruptions some have observed are uncertain cha-
racteristics. Nearly all cows in calf aborted. Passing over the
post-mortem appearances of the abdominal viscera, which are re-
markably well described, the respiratory apparatus is next ex-
amined. The lungs were found in a reddened, livid, inflammatory
condition, flecked with purple spots, one lobe being usually more
aflected than the other; when incised, they were observed to con-
tain black blood, which concealed their structure. In many in-
stances air was found in the cellular tissue, between the lobules,
which produced an emphysematous condition of the lungs. The
lining membrane of tlie trachea was red, purple, and gangrenous,
and this conduit was filled with a white frothy mucus, which ex-
tended to the bronchial tubes; this state accounted for the plain-
tive groans of the beasts. The fauces and back part of the throat
was inflamed in all, but most in those whicli had the air-pass-
ages choked with mucus. The nasal apertures and the tongue
showed sometimes traces of inflammation. In its nature the
malady was thought to be a contagious putrid fever, which caused
a great inflaiiunation in the viscera of the chest and abdomen, the

' P. Camper. Le9ons sur I'Epizootie C[iii rcgna dans la Piuvincc tic Gionin-
gen en 1769. raris, 1803.

37^ History of Animal Plagues.

throat, the tongue and nostrils, and at times even the brain.
The third compartment of the stomach was always particularly
affected. The disease never varied in its character in attacking
one part of the animal more than another, and it was always ac-
companied by very great prostration of strength. It differed from
the measles and small-pox of man, and Camper asserted that it
should always be treated as a putrid fever. It was not a simple
* inflammatory fever ; if it were, soothing remedies would be salu-
tary. Bleeding was always injurious. A singular circumstance
noted, was that cattle which had recovered were not a<raiii
affected by it.

The only means of averting the contagion was to prohibit
the introduction into the country of diseased or suspected cattle
from those regions where the malady prevailed, as well as hay,
straw, or other matters, and even men and animals.

Inoculation was extensively resorted to by Camper, and
many able men have asserted that to the adoption of this remedy
and the other experiments by which this physician undertook to
cure the disease, Holland was longer in getting rid of the plague
than any other country.^

It may be remarked that Engelman, in Holland in 1763,
treats of the malady in a similar manner to Camper, and the
fact that sheep and goats were liable to the contagion did not
escape him ; so that we have three observers at this period
who mention such an occurrence. He says : Mt is not with-
out danger that we allow sheep and goats to run about the con-
taminated stables or pastures, because these animals themselves
can readily be affected, and at any rate the virulent element
may attach itself to their wool and hair, and in this way be
transmitted to the herds of cattle.^ ^

In Franche-Comte the disease was named miirie^ (murrain).
Each writer designated it after his own ideas as to its nature.

1 Some excellent letters on this invasion of Cattle Plague appeared in the
French Newspapers during the progress of the disease. 1 wotdd particularly re-
commend to the attention of the student those which were inserted in the Meraire
de France for June, 1745, April, 1747, and at other times.

- E7igelman. Verhandlung uitg. door de Holl. Maatsch. van Wetenschappen,
1763, p. 280.

2 Registres de la Faculte de Paris,' 1745.

History of Animal Plagues. 377

Some thought and named it a mahguant fever, or a pestilential
and e.xanthematoLis fever; others as an ardent or eruptive fever;^
and others again as a simple dysentery."

There were so many points of resemblance between this
malady and that of 171 1 and 1714, that all those who com-
pared them were unanimous in saying it was the same pest
which had broken out anew, or had not ceased to ravage Eu-
rope and Asia, and had only been roused again by some cause to
renewed fury.'' Paulet, writing in 1775^ remarks: ' If we atten-
tively compare the symptoms one with another, we will find that
the diagnosis, prognosis, the progress, and the crisis, are all nearly
the same; there is the identical pestilential character, and the
same unsuccessfulness in treatment. If there is little difficulty in
pronouncing a certain judgment in this comparison, there is more
in deciding affirmatively as to the identity of the symptoms of
1745. Although it is evident that the disease is the same, never-
theless we can distinguish many symptoms which were not equally
apparent in all the places where the epizooty was observed,
either because each author has his particular manner of seeing
and describing such things, or that the difference of climates and
seasons has a real influence in modifying these symptoms. It is
certain, for example, that the epizooty in cattle observed in
Denmark, Franchc-Comte, Burgundy, and Paris presented nearly
the same characters; while that of Holland and of Vivarais
differed from these, and appeared to have a great resemblance
between them. MM. dc Sauvages and Leclerc scarcely mention
a slight pustular eruj)tion observed in the interior of the mouth
and about the muzzle of the cattle; whereas all the other
authors speak of a general eruption of pustules [ioulon.s), which
rendered the skin quite mangy, and on whose appearance were
founded all hopes of a cure. The pestilential buboes in the
groins and in the glands of the neck, which M. Clerc mentions,
scarcely (ind a place in the descriptions of the other authors,
unless we acce|)t the natural or artificial depots of which M. de
Sauvages speaks. In this way we may say that the epizooty

^ AI. Bloiuld. Dissert, sur la Maladie l4)Kloini([iic ties licsliaux, p. 20.
^ Nosologia Methodica Sauvagii, class ix. p. 89.
^ Mem. dc 1' Academic de Berlin, 17C8.

378 History of Animal Plagues.

in Holland approaches nearest to that of Vivarais; and that the
others resemble each other in a great many respects. It would
be superfluous to seek the reason for this.

'There were two opinions with re2;ard to the origin of the
disease. Some people pretended, and especially the Danish phy-
sicians,^ that after having taken its rise in Tartary, where it
committed twice the damage of an ordinary plague, it at first
penetrated Russia, from whence it extended on the one side
into Poland, Livonia, the Duchy of Courland, Prussia, Pomera-
nia, the Duchy of Mecklenburg, and Alsace, and afterwards
passed to Holland and England; while towards the east, having
penetrated Turkey, it spread into Bohemia, Hungary, Dalmatia,
Austria, Moravia, Styria, and at length, by the Gulf of Venice,
to Italv, Spain, and France, from whence it was carried to Ger-
many, and finally to Denmark, where it was seen in 1745- ^"^
the opinion most generally entertained in Europe was, that after
having broken out in Bohemia during the siege of Prague, it ex-
tended on the one side into Hungary, Bavaria, Styria, Carinthia,
the Tyrol, Italy, and by the Alps into Provence ; and on the
other side it penetrated Alsace, Luxembourg, Franche-Comte,
Lorraine, Flanders, the Low Countries, and Picardy, from
whence it came to Paris, and from thence to many provinces of
France. Whatever may have been its primary cause, it was gen-
erally attributed in Europe to nothing else than the use of rotten
leaves of trees, which the cattle of Bohemia were compelled to
eat during the siege of Prague, for lack of the forage which had
all been taken possession of to feed the horses of the French army.'
M. Paulet continues his summary of this malady to the follow-
ing effect: — 'There are few epizootic diseases the symptoms of
which have been described with so much care and sagacity.
Writers of the highest merit, such as MM. de Sauvages,
Chomel, Blondel, Le Clerc, and Randot, employed their pens in
this work. Notwithstanding the rule that we imposed on our-
selves not to deal in any hypothesis, we are unable to resist the
temptation of citing two brilliant theories to which the disease
has given rise, and which are capable of throwing much light on
the treatment.

^ Acta Havniens, vol. ii.

History of Aiiiinal Plagues. o^^jg

' On one side, it is said, a virus of a caustic, acrid, and in-
flammatory nature, received into the air and digestive passages,
corrupts the juices and infects the chyle; this milky liquid,
carried into the mass of the blood, can only reach it by passing
throusrh the principal channels which nature has destined for
the Ivinph; these necessarily contract the taint, from whence
the engorgement of the vessels which contain it, as well as the
coni!;lomerate dands, See. If this virus is of a character to become
thickened and consolidated, the engorgement augments, the
lymph becomes depraved by its ceasing to flow, and irritates
and inflames the tunics; when carried in this state into the
mass of the blood it corrupts it; and from this arises the general
depravation of the humours, and the swelling of the glands; a
symptom which always indicates that the mass of the humours
has received the leaven of contagion. If the action of the virus
is limited to the digestive tract, it produces different symptoms
throughout the whole of the intestinal canal, such as colic, spas-
modic tensions, a contraction in the mouths of the lacteal ves-
sels, diarrhcea, dysentery, &c., symptoms which arc oftentimes
observed at the commencement of the disease; and dead bodies
have been opened in which all these viscera, with the excep-
tion of the third division of the stomach, have been found
healthy; in this part the poison appeared to have concentrated
its effects. In other subjects, no sensible alteration was found save
excessive distension of the gall-bladder. But this often sufficed to
produce death ; a circumstance which proves the malignity and
the subtilty of the contagious ferment, which was capable of de-
stroying vitality, even before it perceptibly infected the humours.
All observers agreed that its deleterious action on the nerves,
and on their origin, was the first and the most dangerous efl^ect
it produced in the animal economy; it is that which is always
the characteristic of the most dreaded diseases of men and
animals, and which often decides their nature.

' On the other side, according to Boerhaave's theory of in-
flammation, it was admitted that the indirect as well as im-
mediate cause of the disease was the arrest and stagnation of
the blood in the extreme capillaries of the vessels, followed by
sudden inlLuuuiation and raj)id gangrene. 'I'lie blood engorging

380 History of Animal Plagues.

the extremities of the arteries caused their contractions to be-
come augmented by reason of the obstacle opposed to the cir-
culation, then the lymphatic vessels became dilated, and received
the red portion of the blood; this blood, thus conveyed into
vessels having an extremely delicate texture, stagnated, dilated
them, and caused a true inflammation. If this inflammatory
condition is not promptly remedied the circulation becomes more
embarrassed, the principal viscera are involved, and particularly
those which have a thin and delicate texture, which causes them
to give way more easily to the impulsion, and to the disturbance
of the fluids. The digestion being troubled and deranged, only
furnishes imperfect chyle, that, mixing with the blood, aug-
ments still more the depraved condition of that liquid. The
humours, in becoming stagnated, contract a putrid fermentation.
In this state of universal engorgement, all the functions languish;
the glands no longer separate their customary secretions from
the mass of the fluids, and become swollen ; the liver secretes
an excessively acrimonious bile, a part of which is retained in
the gall-bladder in consequence of the inflammatory engorge-
ment of the biliary canal, while the remainder enters the blood, but
only to augment the heat and burning. The inflamed intestines
are so irritated that their capillary vessels are ruptured, and permit
the blood to escape, which thus constitutes a true dysentery.

^M. Randot^ especially patronized this theory, which he
thought he had verified in the results of his examinations of
dead cattle. In these he always found traces of inflammation,
suppuration, or gangrene; and he sought to prove that a general
inflammatory condition being the most constant in these
animals, which always died of inflammation or its degenerate
stage — gangrene, the principles of treatment should be solely
directed to remedying this state. This author differed from
De Sauvages on the prognosis founded on the presence of
diarrhoea; that physician declaring that a simple purging, once
established, was always unfavourable; whereas Randot pretended
to have observed the contrary result ; but he acknowledged that
the dysenteric flux was always mortal.

'The symptoms having been explained in so clear a manner,
1 Randot. Dissertation sur la Maladie Epid. des Bestiaux. Dijon, 1745.

History of Animal Plagues. 381

there was no want of modes of treatment founded on the best
principles. But unfortunately, in order to combat with advantao-e
a disease the effects of which were so rapid and so dangerous,
and the care of whicii was chiefly confided to the country people,
who were but little adapted to receive these truths, there was not
always the time nor the power to follow these indications. In
France nothing was neglected which was likely to preserve such
useful animals. The Faculty of Montpellier having been consulted
on this subject, and having before them the report of M. de Sau-
vages, gave it as their opinion that it was best to ward off'the at-
tack of the malady by preservative remedies before it declared
itself, than by curative measures when it had already involved
the vital principles. To this effect, they wisely concluded it
was necessary to treat healthy cattle which had cohabited with
the diseased as if they were already infected. ''We must begin,
then, to separate the healthy from the unhealthy. Every day
they ought to be cleaned and wisped, and not allowed to stand
in the humidity of their excrement, as was allowed in Vivarais.
Every day their litter should be changed frequently, and the
stables ought to be perfumed by burning in them juniper-wood,
laurel, and odoriferous herbs, but above all, by throwing vinegar
on a red-hot shovel, &c." Notwithstanding all the re-
medies proposed and tried, M. de Sauvages came to the conclu-
sion that no specific could be found, no certain remedy could be
discovered for this disease, and that out of every twenty infected
cattle nineteen would die.^ ^

From 1750 to 1769, the pestilence was not so deadly nor so
generally diffused over Europe, and the afflicted countries began
to recover from its terrific effects; but towards the termination
of this interval, it re-assumed its former virulency and mortality,
as it spread far and wide over the old, as well as comj)arativcly
new, tracts of territory. This resuscitation, liowever, will be re-
ferred t(j hereafter; in the mean time we may, I think, accept as
worthy of credence the conclusion arrived at by a com|)ctent au-
thority, to the effect that, from 171 1 to 1769, this awful scourge
could not have destroyed less than 200,000,000 head of cattle in
the various countries to which it had been carried.
> Paula. Op. cit.

382

CHAPTER VII.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1 746 TO 1 774.

A.D. 1746. In Beauvais, sheep small-pox did great mischief
among the flocks.^ The two following years were very dry, and
locusts were causing considerable damage to the crops in Poland,
Silesia, and Brandenburg, extending their ravages even as far
north as Sweden. In 1749, these creatures were so numerous as
to stop the army of Charles XII. of Sweden, which was then re-
treating in Bessarabia after the disastrous battle at Pultowa.^ Every
country was desolated by them, and Europe suffered severely.
In England, in 1748, they were observed in considerable num-
bers all over the land, ' but providentially they soon perished
with propagating. These were evidently stragglers from the
vast swarms which did such infinite damage in Wallachia, Mol-
davia, Hungary, and Poland.^ ^

Rutty noticed their arrival in Ireland, where, he tells us,
' In May several inflammations and abscesses in ears occurred,
and chincoughs were very epidemic among the children. There
was also among the horses an epidemical cough, which proved
fatal to them.' *

A.D. 1747- r^ot in sheep in England, after a wet spring suc-

* Barbaret. Maladies Epizootiques, p. 16. For a detailed and very interesting
account see also Paulet. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 267.

2 Z. Figuier. Les Insectes, p. 366. ^ j^iyj,y a^d Spence. Entomology.

♦ Rutty. Op. cit.

History of A nitnal Plagues. 3 83

ceedinga very mild winter. The rain began to fall at the bcsrin-
ning of May, and continued, with but few intermissions, throui;h-
out the month, as well as in June and part of July. * From all
which, I would observe to n)y readers, that a midsummer rot
ensued, and great numbers of Vale (Aylesbury) sheep became
tainted by it, as did many also in the Middlesex grounds.' ^

A.D. 1748. The summer was intensely hot, and the ther-
mometer was higher in Paris than it had been for a hundred
years previously, 'Some horses dropped down dead by means
of the violent heat.'^

A.D. 1749-53. These years were remarkable for the great pre-
valence of disease affecting the animal and vegetable kin2:don)s.
For 1749, Rutty observes : 'There was no rot among the sheep,
notwithstanding a like wet winter and cold spring succeeding
(as in 1735); so that it should seem that wet seasons, though
they may promote, do not, for the most part, generate this dis-
order, but that it is owing to some latent causes.'^

A physician at Caillan, in the Gulf of Forez, says of the year
1750 : 'The majority of vegetables and of animals have par-
ticipated equally in the unseasonable weather; the leaves of the
trees have faded and become yellow before the autumn set in;
those of the mulberry trees were stained by black patches, which
proved a real poison to the silkworms, these nearly all dying.
The wheat crop was an utter failure because of the blight of
rust, which, fastening itself on the stalk, completely withered it
before the grain was ripe. Fruits were very dangerous to those
who did not eat them \\ ith discretion ; and the greater portion
of the flocks died from a disease of an equally putrid nature as
that which affected all things.'*

At Toulouse the seasons presented the same unfavourable
character, and silkworms perished in great quantities. 'Sheep
have been attacked in the months of January, February, April,
and November, with a disease which is named Photie [variola
ovina). Many of them, especially those attacked in the month of
January, died.' ^

' Shepherd's Sure Guide. London, 1749. ^ i?«//j/. Op. cit. ' Ibid.

* Dartiic. Journal de Medccine de Vandermonde, vol viii. \i. 56.

* MarcordU. Ml-in. de I'Academie des Sciences, vol. ii. j). 622.

384 History of Animal Plagues.

Scbnurrer, for 1754, writes: 'The diseases in corn, which
had been observed in the few past years, were now also noticed
in Switzerland. There was seen on the ears a grey and rough
substance, from which a yellow-coloured sap exuded ; this black-
ened the whole plant within eight days.' ^ A very extensive
epidemy of ergotism prevailed in France, nearly approaching in its
ravages those of the Middle Ages. It began at Sologne, its tra-
ditional birth-place, and spread through the Llandes, Flanders,
and Artois. The ergot was so abundant that it formed one-
third of the rye. The animals fed on it contracted the same
gangrenous diseases as afflicted the human species.^

For 1752 it is recorded : ' In our time, the year 1752, there
was observed a plague among fowls here at Vienna, by which
an immense number were destroyed.'^

Epizootic anthrax was prevalent in Switzerland, coinci-
dently with gangrenous sore-throat* and malignant pustule® in
mankind ; and epidemic diseases, such as small-pox, scarlatina,
and anginas were common in the human species.

A.D. 1750. In Ireland the spring was dry and backwards.
' Summer, except a few excessively hot days, cold, moist, and
winter-like/ but some days in June were the ' hottest in the
memory of man.' The same was recorded of July, when
Fahrenheit's thermometer, as on the former occasion, rose to
76°. A memorable fall of snow occurred on the 23rd of October.
November cold. ' About the middle or latter end of December,
the most epidemic and universally-spreading disease among
horses that any one living remembered, made its appearance in
Dublin, which seems to have been nearly analogous to the in-
fluenza and catarrhal fever which seized mankind in the years
1737 and 1743, but now particularly attacked the horses in
their turn, as may appear by a comparison of their respective
histories. It had appeared in England in November, and spread
through all England almost in an instant, and towards the end

1 Schimrrer. Op. cit., vol. ii. p. 316.

2 Verheyen. Diet, de Med. &c., Veterinaires.

3 Plenciz. Opera Med. Phys., vol. i. p. 15.

■* Hecker. Geschichte d. Neuern Heilkiinde, p. 259.

® Langhans. Beschreibung Versch. merkwiirdigk. d. Siementhals. Zurich,
1753-

History of Animal Plagues. 385

of the month began to abate. It raged in Denmark at the
same time, but it did not reach our horses in Dul)Hn till its de-
cline in England at the time before-mentioned, having probably
been imported, and was nearly of the same duration here as in
England; however, it affected the horses in Munster and Ulster
almost, if not quite, as soon as in Dublin, and there was scarce
an instance of a horse in town or country but had it.' It seized
the animals ' like a violent cold, with heaviness, loss of appetite,
cough, and laborious breathing, and then a profuse running at
the nose and mouth of a digested, or thick, yellow, greenish
matter, upon which they grew better. In England, as well as
here, it did not prove very mortal, though some died of it. The
death of our horses in the city was imputed rather to the use of
medicines and too high a diet, than to any malignity in the dis-
ease; for it was observable that very few died in the country,
and, particularly, none that were kept at grass. It vanished
about the middle of January, 1751.'^

Osmer,^ who wrote a treatise on the diseases of the horse
shortly after this period, alludes to the epizooty of 1750. ^Va-
rious were the symptoms, and different the degrees of illness
amongst diflx^ent horses. Some had a discharge of matter from
their eves, nose, and mouth; others had none; but in all there
were great tokens of inflammation, attended with a fever and a
violent cough. . . . Most of those horses which had a plentiful
discharge of matter from the nose, &c., lived ; and where such
discharges did not happen, nor a critical abscess fall on some
part, most of them in London died. . . . On many of these I
made several incisions in the skin, on various parts of the body;
and wherever an incision was made, I found in all of them
a quantity of extravasated serum lodged between the skin and
the membranes. . . . Since the year 1750, this disease has visited
by turns each shed and stable, has fallen on horses of all ages at
various seasons of the year, and in different shapes; wherever it
comes I believe none escape ; and when it falls on sucking foals,
they are generally stunted and spoiled.'

' RkIIv. Op. cit.
* A Treatise on the Diseases and Lameness of Horses, 3rd edit. London,
1766.

25

386 Histo7y of Animal Plagues.

In a later edition (the ^th), he devotes much care in describ-
ing the ^ maHgnant fever and epidemy/ or 'distemper/ among
horses. He says : ' From the close observations I have possessed
the means of making on the various diseases of horses for many
years, and taking into consideration the nature, sameness, and sim-
phcity of theiryoorf, I was long inclined to think that horses were
not subject to malignant disorders as men are ; but the epidem-
ical disease that has occasionally raged amongst them for several
years, and which still shows itself at short intervals, has taught
me the contrary. For I notice, in this disease which, I own, is
new to me, since the publication of my second edition, that the
horses so seized are attacked with a variety of symptoms that re-
quire each a very different treatment from every other. The
symptoms: The commencement of the disease is marked by great
debility of the limbs, so much so in some cases, that the weak-
ened patients reel and stagger about when led along, and that
almost as soon as they are taken ill. Loss of appetite comes on
a:enerally with a short dry cough ; the eyes become suddenly
dim and glazed, and lifeless; they are also particularly free from
all inclination to drink. Besides those general symptoms of the
distemper, some of which prevail more than the others, that are
otherwise indicative of the disease having fixed on particular
parts of the animal, I shall endeavour to distinguish them as
near as I can for the reader's further guidance when this distem-
per again makes its appearance among us. First. — Besides the
symptoms already described, some horses are seized with coldness
of the external parts, are chiefly affected with a weakness behind,
but have no fever or other tokens of inflammation : there seems
to be a tendency towards a general stagnation of the fluids.
Second. — In this class are great tokens of inflammation, the
fever is high, and the external parts are hot and burning; the
sight is affected, and the head generally so. Third. — The disease
falls mostly on the throat in the third species of attack, with
manifest tokens oi great soreness there. These seldom have any
feverish heat, are not so much affected in their limbs or sight as
thoseof the frst and second classes; their appetite and inclin-
ation to eat, also, seems better than in these two classes. Before
this soreness goes off, however, the patients become miserably re-

History of Animal Plagues. 387

duced, thouo;h this falling away ought not to be imputed solely
to their fastinsr, because all horses in this disease that are at-
tacked severely, are thereby reduced, in a very few days, almost
to the degree and leanness of a dog-horse. Fourth class, or the
mild attack. — These are seized at first with a cot/gh only, and
show little or no symptoms of illness, nor of any unusual heat
or cold, in general a discharge of a serous Jiuid from the nostrils
comes on, as in the inflammatory fever. As the patients of this
class are the least affected, so they recover soonest of any, and
that, too, with little or no assistance. Fifth. — Along with the
cough of the last description, some are troubled with a phlegmon
or boil on some part of the head or body. In such cases, if the
heat of the patient's body and strength be sufficient, the tumour
comes on to ripeness, when its bursting, or being let out with a
lancet, is crit'icnUy a cure of the disorder. But in some poor
creatures, whose system may be in a low state, the vital heat is
so little that their lives are manifestly endangered before the
tumour can be brought to a head sufficient to open by the usual
assistance of poultices and cherishing diet. Fital heat, however,
upon which depends the spontaneous termination of a large
class of distempered horses, deserves a moment's consideration
here, inasmuch as the different progress of the critical boil or
tumour in different horses, is owing to difference of their fluids,
and the more brisk or languid circulation thereof, as they happen
to be more or less viscid. If this be not the true cause, I beg to
ask from whence should arise the two extreme sensations of cold
and heat in different horses affected with the same epidemical
disease in the same stable, and, of course, under the same man-
agement? It may also* be here instructively remarked, that
those horses are most afllected with cold and shivering (the pres-
age of death) in whose blood is found the least proportion of
serum.' '

A.D. 1 75 1. In Ireland, about December, ^ there prevailed
again among the horses an epidemic catarrh, being attended with
a running at the eyes and heaviness, with a tumour of the head,
limbs, and sometimes scrotum, not so general as last year, though
some few died.''^ The spring had been stormy and cold ; sum-

' /r. Osrncr. A Treatise on Horses, 5tli eilit., ]). 103. - Kutly. Op. cil.

388 History of Animal Plagues.

mer wet, except some days in June. ' The bad weather in July
and August was common to us and England and Germany.'^
Autumn variable ; winter open and foggy.

h.vy. 1752. In Ireland, ^ spring cold and dry, except a moist
May. Summer extremely wet, the herbs were remarkably larger
than usual, from the excessive moisture of the season. Several
of the grains were lean and poor, but the potatoes were good.
A rot appeared among the sheep at the latter end of the season,
and became general in the low and moist lands through most
parts of the kingdom/ "'

A.D. 1753. In Ireland the weather had been very wet, and
caused great destruction of sheep throughout the island.

A.D. 1754. In this year glossanthrax, or a form of gangren-
ous sore-throat, presented itself as an epizooty among animals
in Hanover. 'In the year 1754, during the winter, the sheep
and swine, and also the geese and ducks, were attacked by dis-
ease and died. Their flesh was found black and loosened from
the bones. The intensity of the cold, which only lasted for two
days, was, by some people, blamed for this ; others, however,
blame the grass of the previous year, which the geese ate equally
with the cows, and the latter died in great numbers at that time.
The ducks certainly ate little grass, and perhaps in their case the
cold was the immediate cause. ^ ^ In Manilla, there was a severe
eruption of the volcano of Taal, accompanied by an earthquake,
which inflicted an immense amount of damage. The whole
country was enveloped in darkness, and there fell alternately
quantities of water and showers of calcined matter, which de-
stroyed plants and trees. Animals suffered greatly, and it was
reported that the monkeys which were not destroyed took
refuge in the villages.''

A.D. 1755. Earthquakes in various parts of the world. In
Peru, the city of Quito was destroyed in April. In May, the
islands of Mitylene and Madeira were much damaged, and in
November the great earthquake at Lisbon took place, the

■> Rutty. Op. cit. 2 ibifj

3 Hannov. Gen. Anzeig., 1754, also /^^j-r/z^'r. Lieflandisches Landwirthschafts-
buch, p. 625.

* Hatissmami. Voyage en Chine, &c., vol. ii. p. 251.

History of Annual Plao-iccs. 389

distant effects of which were perceived five thousand miles
away. In December other shocks were felt, and in the follow-
ing January these were repeated.^ From 1754 to 1757 locusts
swarmed in Portugal and Spain. There appears to have been
an epizooty among horses in Austria. 'A plague here, in
Austria, amongst horses, but particularly at Vienna, increased
during this year. It was a kind of suffocative catarrh and in-
flammation of the lungs, and killed a prodigious number of
horses.' " In this and the following year, a cattle epizooty
was prevailing in Croatia and Krain.^ From the month of
May until the month of September 'ekzema epizootica,' or
aphthous fever, was present amongst all the domestic animals
in Franconia. ' For several mouths — July, August, and Sep-
tember— an epizooty raged among the cattle in Bamberg, Nu-
remburg, and their neighbourhoods. To all appearance it was
not infectious. The exciting causes appeared to be general,
each animal being attacked independently. This malady not
only affected horned cattle, but also horses, swine, and sheep.
This was specially remarkable : the feet of the affected animals
became swollen, and the hoofs sloughed off'. The feathered
tribe was not free from this malady; the turkeys had their feet
so diseased that they could not walk ; they were obliged to crawl
on the backs of their legs. By the use of soothing remedies,
the feet which were before deformed and sore, so far recovered
that these creatures began to walk ; they regained the flesh which
they had lost while so crippled, notwithstanding their feeding
with undiminished appetites.'* There is another description of
this disease. ' The first marked symptom in the affected beast
was a lameness or halting in the fore or hind feet, and on ex-
amining these the hoofs were, so to speak, under-run by matter,
ulcerated, hot, and swollen. The same appearances were ob-
served in the nKuith, both sides being covered with vesicles
which became confluent, and left them swollen and ulcerated.
The tongue was covered with what seemed to be a large blister.
Besides these symptoms, there was marked internal fever, a great

' Plcnciz. De Tcrrx- Motu. Vienna, 1762.

* Ibid. Opp. Phys. Med., vol. i. p. 15. Do Contagio ad finem vergcnlc.

' Bottani. Op. cit., vol. vii. pp. 8, 9. ' Frankisclic Sammlunjjcn, vol. i. p. 349.

39° History of Animal Plagues.

inclination to drink frequently, and profuse salivation. The
lameness and the other symptoms disappeared as the contents of
the vesicles was discharged, and the ulcerated surface had grown
healthy. Where the disease became more virulent, there also
appeared on the udders of some cows vesicles and abscesses,
and these animals recovered more slowly than the ones which
had been less severely attacked in the feet and mouth. The
most favourable circumstance connected with this disease lay in
the fact that no animals died from it.' ^ From the same source,
we learn that the inflammatory symptoms were more urgent than
usual, pigs in particular suffering severely, and frequently losing;
their hoofs. ^

At Bale, in Switzerland, sheep small-pox was prevalent.
' From autumn until winter a pestilential disease .of sheep in-
creased in the village of Reichen. By inoculation, such as is
practised as a prophylactic in the small-pox of the human
species, a flock much exposed to the contagion could be rescued
from danger and destruction.' ^

This is the first time, I think, that we have a notice of
inoculation being employed to mitigate the efl^ects of ovine
small-pox. Gasparin,* however, writing in 1821, remarks : ' In
Languedoc, where this malady is common, the people have
resorted to inoculation from time immemorial, to prevent exten-
sive epizootics. To this end, in September of every year, when
the hot weather is nearly over, and the temperature is most
favourable for the purpose, they take the skin of a sheep that
has died from small-pox, and hang it in the sheep-fold. All the
year's lambs, already six or eight months old, and in a condition
to withstand the disease, acquire it by rubbing themselves
against this skin; and by this means the whole flock is insured
from the malady in future.

It may here be noted, that the value of inoculation was at a
later period frequently and carefully tested, Venel, Professor of
Medicine at Montpellicr, Chretien, Thorcl,'^ Tessier,^ Coste, and

' Hoffmann. Frankische Sammlungen, vol. i. p. 384. - Reiiss. Ibid. p. 462.

•* Zitinger. Acta Helvetica, vol. iii. p. 301.

* Gasparin. Des Maladies Contagieuses des Betes a Laine.

= Avis au Peuple sur le Claveau. ^ Mem. de la Soc. de Medecine, 1786.

History of Animal Plagues. 391

Lullin,^ had given tlieir attention to it in the eighteenth century;
and Chaptal, Pessina, Hohnaister/ Barbangois/ Voison, Gucri-
neau/ and Grognier/ in the beginning of the nineteenth century,
had fully demonstrated the usefulness of this practice in certain
circumstances. When vaccination was introduced as a preventive
of human small-pox, the resemblance between the two diseases
led many experimenters to try its effects on sheep. Godine
the Younger/ and Husson/ Gohier/ Brugnone/ Valois/*^
and Chancey," all conducted careful experiments which de-
cisively proved the inutility of this operation as a prophylactic
measure.

A.D. 1756. Anthrax declared itself over a large extent of Eu-
rope. The winter had been mild, and the spring and summer very
dry and hot. In June heavy storms had been frequent. ' About
the middle of the past June (in Franconia) it was reported from
Culmbach, that in that neighbourhood a disease had appeared
among the game, and also extended to horned cattle. The ac-
counts which soon after were sent in by the local medical men,
conveyed the information that the cattle sickened suddenly in the
pastures; in some, timiours appeared in the feet, flank, neck, and
breast, and spread rapidly ; in others, however, swellings upon
the head manifested themselves, and these died in six or eight
hours; the others died in from twenty-four to thirty-six hours.
The game, horses, and swine had all the same disease. Although
the malady had rapidly destroyed the stock, yet one could not
say with certainty whether it was contagious or not.' ^^ ' It was
not alone the game, such as deer, roes, wild boars, or hares that
died, but four hundred of the larger venison were found, some
in ditches, others in corn-fields, and some in spinnies. I have

' Bibl. Britann. art. ' Sciences,' vol. ix. p. 398.

^ Ibid. vol. xlv. p. 189. ^ Annales d'Ayriculture, vol. xlvi. p. 187.

* Ibid. p. 193. * Ibid. p. 319.

* Bibl. Britann. vol. viii. p. 204, or/. ' Agriculture.'

' Apnales d' Agriculture, vol. xxi. p. 73, ' Rapport de la Soc. Centrale de
Vaccine, 181 1.'

" Mc'moire sur la Vaccination, p. 94. 'Memoires,' vol. i. p. 40.

" Mcmoria della .Soc. Agraria di Torino, 1812.

1" Annales d' Agriculture, vol. iii. p. 60.

" Bibl. Britann. art. ' Agriculture,' vol. x. p. 216.

''■* Wagner. Frank. Samml., ii. p. 102.

392- Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

myself opened one of these dead roes, and found nothing very
particular besides a swelling in the left hind foot or leg. These
animals had been known to bellow loudly and go away from the
forests^ seeking ditches and morasses, where they lav down and
remained from sheer exhaustion. With the wild boars this was
a common occurrence, and fourteen have been found dead in one
place. The hares were stricken by the pest in the midst of their
course, and fell and died. Horses had the same symptoms as
the horned stock, the swellings appearing upon the thighs
and flanks, the breast and the head. The disease has gradually
disappeared, and for five days (on the 2ist July) we have not
heard of any loss among the cattle.^ ^ This author speaks of a
carbuncle in a peasant. Another writer mentions what he con-
siders to be the causes of this epizooty. ' To my knowledge, the
causes of the disease may be ascribed to the perturbations in the
physical world. Immediately after the first thunderstorm and
the succeeding rain, of which there had been a dearth for some
weeks, this plague very generally declined, and at last disap-
peared The said disease spread itself from Culmbach to

Coburg, but' did not visit all the villages. From Coburg I am
credibly informed that a person there was attacked on the fore-
head by a large tumour or carbuncle, and his life was barely
saved by the immediate opening of the swelling.' Many people
were affected, and some authorities thought the malady was
originated by the bites of insects.^

At Suhl, in the forest of Thuringia, it also caused much de-
struction among wild and domesticated animals.^

The Cattle Plague appears to have been introduced into
Eichsfeld this year, if we may judge by the following account.
^ The second misfortune for the burghers was in 1756, when a
destructive cattle plague {e'lne starke Fiehseuche) broke out, by
which most of them lost their cows. There were some who
lost from ten to a dozen head. The homebred cattle were in-
fected by beasts from Friesland which the people are accustomed
to purchase in the autumn. It raged until Christmas ; and to

^ Wagner. Op. cit., p. III.

2 Schmiedd. Act. Pliys. Med. Colleg. Onold. Onolzbach, 1754.

3 Glaser. Die Knotenkrankheiten, p. 10.

History of Animal Plagues. 393

prevent its spread, all infected cattle or those which were sus-
pected, were killed immediately and deeply buried/ ^

Sheep small-pox was prevalent in Saxony. It was noted as
a curious circumstance, that a flock affected with the disease was
turned into a garden and kept there to prevent the contagion
from reaching other flocks; in this garden grew a quantity of
pepper plants {capsicum Ind'iciim), and the diseased sheep feed-
ing on these, all recovered."

In the island of Minorca, in the Mediterranean, an epizooty
appeared among the cattle, which caused much loss. Large
numbers of cows and oxen had been carried thither from Au-
vergne, in France, and landed in the burning months of July and
August. Obliged to drink tei)id brackish water, these animals fell
into a languid and feeble state, and became rapidly emaciated ;
their breath felt hot, and they had sanguinary emissions with
their urine. When their bodies were opened, nearly all the
viscera of the abdomen were found in a state of inflammation or
gangrene. The majority of the shepherds who had charge ot
these herds were sick ; but those who had the imprudence to
eat the flesh of the diseased animals were attacked by a malig-
nant fever, accompanied by gangrene, which manifested itself on
the second day at the elbows and heels. ^

A.D. 1757. A long and cold winter, succeeded by a wet
spring, abruptly ushered in an unusually hot summer. An
earthquake was felt in the island of Malta. Dysentery and
putrid fevers were very common in mankind in many countries.
In this year a small beetle, named the 'Bostrichos typographicus,'
made its appearance in the Hartz forests, and it is calculated
that, up to 1783, it destroyed a million and a half of trees — a
destruction of timber which nearly ruined all the inhabitants.
Cold damp seasons setting in, however, these insects were soon all
swept away.*

In Saxony, in this and the two following years, ovine
sniall-pox was yet very common and fatal ; loss of the eyes

' y. Wolf. Geschichte u. Besclireib. dcr Stadt Duderstadt, p. 207.

- Pauld. Op. cit., p. 289.

^ Barbcrel. Mcmoirc sur les Malad. Epizootiqucs, p. 27.

* Latreilk. Nat. Hist., ch. xi.

394 History of Animal Plagues.

and the lips from gangrene were quite frequent concomitants.^
According to Camper/ the French army operating in West-
phalia introduced the Cattle Plague to Minden. Avery peculiar
carbuncular epizooty appeared in France, in the province of Brie,
at the end of the summer and commencement of the autumn,
among horses, cattle, deer, asses, hogs, dogs, and fowls, and even
in fish.^ The malady appears to have arisen in the marshy forest
of Crecy, and to have raged in its vicinity to such an extent that,
from the 15th of June to the 31st of July, 490 animals were
attacked, of which 390 (162 horses, 80 oxen, 38 asses) died.
Many flocks of sheep perished in various cantons of Brie. Hu-
man beings were also affected by the disease being transmitted
to them.

In some places asses, in others horses, and in others, agam,
only cattle were affected. At one place the reporter, M. de
Chaignebrun, observed that bulls were more commonly affected
than cows; and that usually in the stables or cow-sheds where
the people were not careful to separate the diseased from the un-
affected, these became ill. The premonitory symptoms were a
heaviness of the head, the eyes somewhat closed, heavy, and
dull ; pain and difficulty when at work, or in walking ; suddenly
stopping in progression ; a particular way of turning the head ;
feebleness of the limbs; lassitude; a diminution of milk in cows;
difficulty in breathing ; the cessation, partial or complete, of
rumination, &c. The disease when fully declared was marked
by stupor; the eyes were extremely sunken, dull, purulent, and
tearful ; the ears more or less drooping, the head carried near
the ground, and the body unsteady and sinking. They
flexed the thighs; pawed, and appeared uneasy and in pain.
The respiration was hurried ; the flanks beat violently ; they
either lay down or attempted to do so ; the beatings of the heart
were loudly heard ; some had symptoms of colic, moaned, and
refused to eat their food. The most remarkable symptom, and
that which characterized this disease in particular, was the form-

' Fink. Pockenkiankheit d. Scliafe, p. i.

- Camper. Von der Viehseuche, p. 67.

^ A. de Chaignebi'uii. Relation d'une Maladie Epidemique et Contagieuse,

&c. Paris, 1762.

History of Animal Plagues. 395

ation of large swellings or tumours — two, three, four, five, or six,
and even more — on different parts of the body. These tumours
either adjoined each other, or communicated by a kind of cord.
They ordinarily appeared on the throat, the neck, the breast, or
the inferior parts of the chest and belly, the scrotum or sheath,
or within the thighs. They also appeared about the eyes, the
jaws, on the lips, the shoulders, the haunches, and on the
sides of the chest and abdomen. They were more or less indo-
lent, and so little endowed with sensibility that in handling them
the animals exhibited no pain. The impression of the fingers
remained on them for some time, and when they were opened a
serous fluid, more or less abundant, and of a reddish yellow or
bloody colour, escaped. The subcutaneous cellular tissue was
spongy and distended with a yellow glairy matter resembling old
and rancid lard. It was also sometimes of a pale red tint, similar
to the feeble granulations of certain ulcers; and showed hydatids or
small vesicles. The cellular tissue, and with it the adipose layers,
were the textures chiefly aflected, and after them the glands. This
accounted for fat animals being more commonly attacked than
lean ones, and for the tumours appearing so often in certain situ-
ations ; it was not because the humour gravitated to the depend-
ent parts, as the vulgar and the farriers supposed, but because the
cellular tissue contained more fat, was more elastic, and less
compact and resisting than other textures; this also explained
the sudden formation of these tumours, as well as their metastasis
from one part to another. After the excision of these swell-
ings, the flesh, of a bright red colour at the time of extirpation,
became in some days yellow, then dead livid, blue, or black, form-
ing a large eschar without caustic. They were regarded as buboes
if they attacked the glands, and as carbuncles when they appear-
ed elsewhere. The blood drawn from the animals attacked, or
even from those bled as a precautionary measure, bubbled more or
less, and was thick and viscid ; its colour varied much. The dis-
tress the animals manifested was very great; notwithstanding
their violent throes, they yet seemed, by their agony, their moans,
and their docility, to ask assistance. The majority of them in-
dicated the seat of j)iiin l)y turning their heads towards the af-
fected side. Sonic of the attacked died all at once, or in less

39^ History of Animal Plagues.

than twenty-four hours. The result of numerous autopsies
showed that in those which had been diseased in the breast and
which had died^ the greatest changes were found in the chest;
that in those which during Hfe had been affected on the exterior
of the abdomen, about the generative organs, or inside the thighs,
the interior of the abdomen exhibited these alterations more par-
ticularly; while in those animals which had succumbed, but in
which no tumours had been visible, engorgements and effusions
in different cavities were discovered. The author of this report
very sensibly draws a distinction between this epizooty and the
Cattle Plague. The majority of the creatures aflfected by this
malady did not cease eating or drinking until they were very
ill, or nearly dead; usually there was no discharge from the mouth
or nostrils, and these parts were in their natural condition ; there
was no diarrhoea nor dysentery ; no fever was perceptible until the
malady was far advanced and death near; sometimes the urine
was high-coloured and bloody.

The causes of the epizooty were supposed to be these : The
winter of 1756 was boisterous and long; the spring of 1757 was
very wet; and when the disease showed itself in the summer, the
heat had been sudden and excessive, the water in the ponds warm,
muddy, and corrupted. It manifested itself in the parishes
nearest to the forest of Crecy ; this forest is very marshy and full
of insects. Saddle-horses were less exposed to attack than others.
The hay and oats of 1756 were bad. The disease first showed
itself among the animals depastured among the ponds, marshes,
and stagnant waters in the forest, which was regarded as the
primitive source of the pest. The real or exciting cause, how-
ever, was not so easily made out.

The remedial measures adopted do not offer anything worthy
of notice. The preservative ones were those applicable to a
contagious disease.

The same kind of maladv which had reig;ned in Franconia the
preceding year had disappeared very suddenly in this; neverthe-
less, this class of epizootics appears to have been very frequent
during the year. Esthonia and Livonia were so visited. ' In the
middle of July, intelligence was received from the circle of Dorpat
that there, as well as in the circle of Revel, a virulent disease

Hisfory of Anivml Plagues. 397

among horses had shown itself, and which in the Dorpat district
alone had destroyed 1500 horses in the course of eleven weeks.
After rain had fallen the malady ceased. What is more, about
the beginning of August the cattle there began to suffer, and
soon after we had tidings from the town of Riga, and from the
district of Kirchholm, that a cattle plague had broken out there,
but it differed from that of 1748.' ^

Finland was also subjected to the ravages of a similar malady,
though the reporter confounds the disease with the Cattle Plao-ue ;
but the description of the symptoms, as well as the fact that many
men were infected by the sick animals, shows this opinion to be
erroneous. ^ There died, apparently from the intolerable heat of
the weather and from the dry summer, an incredible number of
horses, and some cattle, especially around Tawastehuus, as also
in the parishes of Janacala, Wana, Huttula, and Sekmake, where
many hundred head perished in each. Here around Abo it was
most severe amongst the cattle, particularly in the parishes of
Vehmo and Virmo. The greater the drought and heat of the
summer, so the more deadly was the malady. If the cattle were
deprived of water in the fields where there was no shelter, and
exposed to the heat of the sun, or kept on marshy pastures where
the water was corrupted, and where their food was covered with
mud or slime, then the plague was all the more dangerous.
When healthy cattle were put on pasture where others had died
and lay exposed or were improperly buried, they became stricken.
It has been observed, that on those pastures which for some parts
of the year are submerged, and have afterwards been dried up, the
herbage is covered with mud ; this is very obnoxious to health,
and causes dysentery in the animals eating it. It is also well
known what a stench meadow-caterpillars [grasrmipen) cause, and
they were very common here ; besides, it is a matter of observa-
tion that myriads of vermin take uj) their abode in marshes and
quagmires, which in long-continued drought are dried up and
leave all these creatures to rot on their surface, and to taint the
air as much as the stagnant water does. In addition to all this,
such creatures as aphides and caterpillars, which so increase

' Fischer. Op. cit., p. 447.

398 History of Aimnal Plagues.

in dry hot summers, exaggerate the general unhealthiness. This
accounts for the plague not being in all places a contagious dis-
ease; for it was proved that cattle were not attacked where they
had shelter, good pasture, and good water, of which this year
in many places there was a great scarcity.'^ It was most severe
in July, the hottest month of the year.

The malady passed from Finland to Russia. Its contagious
properties, in passing from one animal to another of the same
species, were very marked ; but still more so was the facility with
which it could be transmitted to beings of quite a different
species. Hartmann enters fully into details concerning cases
in which men who had imprudently come in contact with the
diseased beasts, or wore articles which contained the virus from
them, were seriously affected.

A.D. 1758. In England the winter was very severe, and
a comet was visible. A shock of earthquake was experienced
in the Azores. On the Continent the winter was mild, and the
summer damp in Germany and the South ; in northern countries
the same season was very hot. Mankind suffered from catarrhal
and petechial fevers, and in France and Ireland from 2;angrenous
sore-throat. According to Albrecht, in Cobur'g and Franconia
an epizooty of gastro-enteritis appeared in the bovine species,
caused, it was surmised, by the bad quality of the forage.^ The
previous year a cattle epizooty had appeared in Austria, and on the
26th of April this year glossanthrax was announced in Verona,
from whence it soon spread. The Sanitary Council of Venice
notices it as follows : 'This disease, which is alwavs preceded by
the formation of one or more vesicles at the internal orifice of
the anus, demands the inculcation of the strictest attention on
the part of the villagers, in order to avert fatal consequences,
such as have followed its appearance in the Valley del Sole,
Pieve di Ossana.' On the 22nd of June it had reached Ge-
novesato. For the i6th of December it is noticed : 'The diffu-
sion of the carbone volante, or " black disease " [vial nero), called

1 Hartmann. Abhandlung die Kon Schwed. Akad., vol. xx. p. 47. A brief
notice of this epizooty and Hartmann's observations will be found in the Annitai
/i egister for 1761, p. 122.

2 Albrecht. Nov. Act. Nat. Cur., vol. ii. p. 2S9.

History of Animal Plagues. 399

also morl'ino, has extended to the distriet of Borgo Taro, 011 the
borders of Parmegiano and Piacentino. Should there be ob-
served at any time the slightest sign of lameness, or if the disease
should manifest itself along with this symptom, it may be the
more readily recognized by a swelling which soon spreads, and
in the middle of which is discovered a tumour the size of a nut,
soft to the touch, and disappears on pressure;' On the 29th of
March, 1759, there is mention of its presence. 'A joint notice
has been given to every town and village in the Valley of Telina,
and latterly the district of Tirano, that there has manifested
itself a disease similar to that of 1733, and which consists in
vesicles or ulcers above and below the tongue of the cattle, and
which malady is named cancro volante (or flying cancer), be-
cause of the velocity with which it travels from one re2;ion to
another. Should it appear, with the help of Providence it may
be made to pass lightly by ; for if not able to prevent its attacks,
we may at least, by judicious treatment, cure that which, if
neglected, would produce the most sinister effects.' ^

The reindeer in Lapland appear to have suffered from a kind
of aphthous disease in the feet. *The reindeer have at this time
(July) suffered from a disease which is called '^Slubbo/' and
which showed itself during the whole summer, but not so gen-
erally. The feet become enlarged, swollen, and suppurate. The
disease is not in itself very deadly, but it is dangerous, inasmuch
as the animals are so lame that they cannot escape from the
destructive claws of the wolves.''^

But at this time, another more deadly pestilence appears to
have decimated the herds of these most useful animals, and
which there can be no doubt was the Cattle Plague, transmitted
from the bovine to the cervine species, as that contagion was
then raging in Sweden and Norway. The coincidence of the
two diseases — ekzematous fever and Cattle Plague — as we will
see hereafter, has been often observed. Among the Lapps, the
Plague was named ' Radok tauta' or ' Radok nia'ine.' Tt spread
over the whole south-western portion of the countrv, and caused
such ha\()c, that nianv of the people, who ])rcvi<)uslv were very

' Boltaiii. Op. cit., vol. iii. p. 12— 14.
2 IVcj^lius. Abhandl. der Schwed. Akad., vol. xi. p. 226.

400 History of Animal Plagues.

wealthy in possessing immense herds of these creatures, were
reduced to extreme poverty. The writer who describes it was
perfectly convinced that this reindeer plague was the same as
that which attacked the cattle in 1750-51, and which came by
infection from Norway to Jemtland. He gives the following
account of it: 'The symptoms are — the head is drooping, the
mouth feels dry, the horns are cold, and sometimes there is
oreat shivering or nervous twitchings; the eyes are watery,
and the tears flow; there is a watery mucus discharge from
the nose; the saliva is viscid, profuse, and dribbling from the
mouth, which is covered internally with dark-blue or black
spots, and its whole lining membrane is of a dusky colour.
The animals have constipation. When the disease has reached
its heio-ht the eyes begin to suppurate, and the mucus is viscid,
purulent, and foul-smelling, and sometimes tinged with blood ;
the mouth becomes perfectly black, with spots, bladders, and
pimples, and the odour from it is very offensive; the breath-
ing is slow and heavy, and the desire to eat and to ruminate
is lost; they stand trembling upon their feet; the eyeballs be-
come green, and the beasts stagger and drag themselves along
the fields without eating or drinking; they cough and snort a
good deal, until at last, after a few weeks, they die. On an
examination of those which perish in this way, the throat,
bowels, liver, and other viscera are found black and red-
coloured, from gangrene. The lungs are observed to be
wasted.'^

Its contagious properties were undoubted, and it sufficed to
put a healthy reindeer in the harness of a diseased one, or to
milk a female deer, yet unaffected, with the same hand which
had milked a sick one, to produce the malady. Even those deer
which happened to smell at the urine or the excrement of the
infected were promptly attacked. It was then important, accord-
ins; to this author, to keep apart the healthy, and to burn around
them juniper branches, taking care even to exclude the people
who looked after the sick animals. It was also necessary to inter
the dead in deep pits without skinning them, and to have these
graves far from the roads pursued by reindeer yet unaflfected.

- Gissler. Abhandl. der Sclivvcd. Akad., vol. xxi. 286.

History of Animal Plagues. 401

Influenza appeared in Stirlingshire, and in the north of
Scotland, in the months of September and October, and horses
seem to have been affected ' with a cold and a cough ' at the
onset of the attack in man.^ Vast numbers of horses died
during this year in London and neighbourhood, from an epi-
zooty.'- Probably it was this ' influenza/

It has been remarked that in these years the Cattle Pla2;ue
was repeatedly imported into the Prussian States, but without be-
comino; o-eneral.''

A.D. 1759. Three comets were seen this year, and an earth-
quake was reported, which was severely felt at Balbek, and
destroyed Tripoli, in December, An epidemy in Peru, com-
mencing in the same way and place as that of 1720. 'Dogs
partook of the disorder, and they might be seen stretched in the
streets without ability to stand on their feet; yet it was observed
of them, as of well-con stitutioned men, that though many
suffered, few died.'^

From the 3rd of September of this year to the 9th of April,
1 761, an epizouty appeared amongst cattle in Austria, and
gradually extended through the whole of the provinces of the
State of Venice.^ Heusinger thinks that it was in all probability
a pulmonic aflcction.^

A.D. 1760. An eruption of Mount Vesuvius and an earth-
quake in Syria. The winter was extremely cold, especially in
the north, and the summer was very hot and dry. Pestilence in
mankind raged in Carthagena in the form of tertian fever. The
Ottoman empire also suffered severely from plague. In the river
Dive, in the department of Calvados, France, an epizootic dis-
ease was observed amongst the fish. ' Since the year 1760, there
have been observed two or three kinds of epizootic diseases amongst
the fish in the river Dive. The mortality has not been general,
it is true; but besides those which have perished, the greater
portion were sickly and weak, and floated on the surface of the

* R. Whytt. Medical Observations and Inquiries, vol. ii. p. 192.
2 Bascome. Op. cit., p. 128.

* Beitragez. Geschichte d, Viehs. in d. Mark. Brandenburg, p. 31.

* Dr Unaniie. Sobre el Clima dc Lima. Trans. Epid. Soc, vol. ii.

* Bottani. Op. cit., vol. iii. p. 21—64.

* Heusinger. Rcchcrchcs, &c., vol. ii. p. 234.

26

402 History of Animal Plagues.

water, where they were easily captured. Their gills were pale,
and the flesh of those which were cut up was of the same colour.
This epizooty may have occurred oftener than once without at-
tracting much attention. It was manifested at the end of the
summer over a space of from four to five leagues from Hoflfotj in
Auge, to Froarn, and exclusively below that village; there were
found dead salmon here and there, as well as pike, and the banks
of the river were covered with plaice and other fish. It was easy
to find the cause of this mortality in the bad quality of the water,
which, after having lain stagnant in the neighbouring marshes,
and having become corrupted, communicated its bad qualities to
that in the river. For it is worthy of remark, that this diseased
condition of the fish only takes place in those years when, in the
month of August, there are abundant showers, and when the
superabundance of water causes the Dive to overflow its banks.
In addition to this, the surface of the adjoining prairies is very
low, so that when thev are flooded the plants growing on them
become macerated, and the heat of the season adds to these cir-
cumstances a new intensity ; it is not to be wondered at, then,
that this putrid liquid should communicate to the waters of this
river unhealthy qualities when it begins to flow back to its original
channel, and render them so poisonous as to occasion the death
of the fish.^ 1

In Switzerland, an epizootic disease of a carbuncular nature
appeared amongst cattle and horses, and which the people termed
*Louvet' or 'Lovet.' It caused much loss. Whenever an ox
was seized with the disease it lost its strength, began to tremble
and lie down, not seeking to rise but very rarely. The head
was carried low, and the ears were pendulous ; there was great
dulness; the eyes were red and tearful; the skin hot and dry;
respiration was quickened and difficult, accompanied with heav-
ino- at the flanks when the disease had made considerable pro-
oress ; there was a frequent cough ; the pulse accelerated and
strong; the breath fetid ; the tongue and the palate arid and in
the latter stages black ; the thirst considerable. Cessation of the
appetite and of rumination : the urine scant, and when passed,

^ Adam ; Chabert, &c. Instructions and Observations, vol. iii. p. 331.

History of Animal Plagues. 403

which was but seldom^ it was reddish-coloured ; the faeces were
hard and blacky though at the beginning they were sometimes
liquid and bloody. Cows gave no milk. , In many of the
animals inflammatory tumours formed now on the chesty now
on the udder and the generative organs^ and at other times an
eruption of boils accompanied by pustules appeared all over the
body. It was rare to witness all these symptoms in the sam.e
subject, but the more numerous they were the greater was the
danger. Usually recovery or death was decided by the fourth
dav. When this day was passed and the seventh reached, if the
animal still looked cheerful it generally recovered, although the
convalescent stage might not be arrived at before the fifteenth
dav. Then the urine, when retained in a vessel, was found to
deposit a white sediment : the excrements were more abundant
than in the natural state, softer and less fetid, the skin moist
and relaxed; the tumours became filled with a white pus; the
appetite returned, rumination was resumed, and depilation of the
skin — all these were the happy signs of rccoverv. When the
result was to be otherwise, the abdomen began to swell, the ani-
mal groaned loudly, the debility increased, tremblings set in,
with convulsions ; and there was retention of the urine, diarrhcea,
and dysentery. On opening the dead bodies, there were found
black tumours full of a yellow serosity, which effervesced with
acids; the flesh was livid and approaching putrefaction; the
Iun2;s withered-looking and full of tubercles or small abscesses,
particularly in beasts which had died on the fourth day; the
stomach and the intestines were spotted by red patches and full
of viscid mucus. Opening the tumours with a razor, and scari-
fying them around their margins, was the most advantageous
local treatment.^ In Caldiero, in Italy, an epizooty of glossan-
thrax, or perhaps ekzcma cpizootica." The latter disease mani-
fested itself in Upper Lausitz.'^

In Cleveland, in the county of York, in the months of
February and March, scarlatina, complicated sometimes with
malignant sore-throat, was epidemical in the human species.

^ Rci^jiicr. Paulet. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 228.
"^ Bottani. Op. cit., vol. iii. p. 38.
' Ruvipelt. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 272,

404 History of Animal Plagues.

At the same time an epizooty manifested itself" amongst horses,
which aft'ected, it is supposed, every animal in the locality, and
with symptoms very similar to those observed in mankind. The
malady only remained in the neighbourhood for from eight to
ten davs. It was remarkable for its brief duration, and for its
not having extended beyond the district, according to Heusinger
and Verheyen.

Its localization is, however, a mistake, for It appears it was
wide-spread. For instance, it was prevalent and very fatal among
horses in London in January, as the Chronicle of the Annual
Register for that month says, ' A distemper which rages amongst
the horses makes great havoc in and about town. Near 100 died
in one week.^ A good description of the Cleveland epizooty is
given by Bisset.^

Rutty, in Dublin, records that ' It was one of the wettest
autumns in the memory of man, and yet remarkably healthy.
Ophthalmia prevailed during the N.E. winds in April, and an
epizooty among horses at the same time, of the nature of an epi-
demic catarrhal fever, which took its rise in the winter,and was also
common to other parts of Europe.' ' It raged in London and other
parts of England in January, February, and March, and seized our
horses in Dublin at the end of March, moving westward, as
other epidemics frequently do, and on the 4th of April it was
become general in this city, and continued till the end of that
month, when most of our horses were recovering, although some
remains of the disease appeared in June, and even July the 17th,
in the coughs and broken wind attending some of them in con-
sequence of the disorder. The distemper is said to have been
more severe in the north than in the south. The mules also
received the infection.' Rutty, tracing this epizooty to an epi-
demic constitution of the atmosphere, and apprehending a connec-
tion between it and influenza and other human epidemics, writes,
' In 1727 there was an epidemic catarrh among our horses here,
which also travelled hither from England, and, moreover, preceded
a like disorder, viz. a cough and sore-throats among men, eveii
as at Edinburgh before the catarrhal fever in 1733 5 their horses

^ Bisset. Med. Constitution of Great Britain, p. 237.

History of Animal Plagues. 405

had l)ecn previously affected. Again in the cold and dry spring,
1742, was an epidemic catarrh among the horses at Plymouth
and here. In Mav, 1746 (the preceding part of the spring cold),
was an epidemic cough among horses, and chincoughs and
tumours of the parotids among men. In December, 175°? ^^^^
an universal catarrhal fever among horses, rather more severe
than this of the present year, 1760, which also travelled from
England; and the like in December and January, 1751^ ^^^'^
among mankind, coughs and inflammations of the face, eyes,
and gums, at the same time. And (subsequently) many of the
labouring horses who had this disorder suffered so much in their
eyes as to have become blind.' ^

A.D. 1761. In the month of April, volcanic eruptions and a
great shock of earthquake in the Azores, Plenciz observes :
' The winter was mild and damp ; with the departing wintry cold,
frequent and abundant rains fell, such as to overwhelm not only
Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Styria, Carinthia, and Bavaria, but
other countries, with inundations and overflowings of rivers, lakes,
and streams. Great heat and drought followed this rainy
weather, which lasted for the whole summer. At length a very
moist autumn succeeded, accompanied by dense and perpetual
clouds, till about the beginning of December, when a very hard
and severe frost set in in the region of the Danube.' ^ In the
Northern States of America, a severe epidemy of catarrh or in-
fluenza raged in the spring, and this malady, towards the sum-
mer and autumn, changed its character to, or was succeeded by,
malignant yellow fever, which extended itself to the West Indies.^

In Boulonnais, France, rot in sheep m.anifested itself as
a consequence, apparently, of the inundations in the winter
and spring-time. The physician Desmars writes : 'Animals and
vegetables were not exempt from the influences of the air; it
was remarked that calves and. lambs were fewer, feebler, and
smaller than in ordinary years; oviparous creatures also experi-
enced the vicious effects of the atmospherical constitution, for the
broods of partridges were a failure, and game was not plentiful.
The crops were very indifferent, the ears of corn being blighted,

1 Kntty. Op. cit.
'■' riciuiz. Ojj. cit., vol. i. p. 206. ■' Bascomc. Op. cit., p. 130.

4o6 History of Animal Plagues.

and there were hardly any raisin fruits. The disease in sheep
began towards the end of October of the year 1761, and con-
tinued during the winter and until the middle of the spring-time.
Its ravages were greater in the months of January and February
than in those preceding this period^ and they gradually dimin-
ished in March and April. In the low, damp, marshy cantons,
such as those of Bainctun, Carly, Esques, and in general in all
those which were inundated till the month of May, 1761, the
greatest losses were suffered ; while in those localities which are
elevated, dry, and sandy, such as the Dunes of Camiers, Danes,
and Ambleteuse, the flocks usually escaped the disease. The
lambs were much more liable to it than the ewes. Of all those
which were manifestly attacked, but few, if any, escaped. They
died from dropsy and rot {pourriturc). Water was often found
between the skin and flesh of the head. The malady announced
itself by bags full of water beneath the lower jaw. The belly
was also filled with a similar effusion. The principal viscera
of the abdomen were corrupted, and the liver offered the
strongest indications of the affection, being filled with a great
quantity of flat worms which the country people called dogues.
It was noticed that the sheep continued to eat and drink
heartily enough, and that they licked the walls of their sheds,
and ate the earth. Their bulk did not diminish much, but
their flesh was pale, and had lost its ordinary flavour ; and in
general all the mutton which had been eaten during autumn
and winter was very insipid. The other beasts, such as horses,
cows, and pigs, were not attacked by this disease, but abortions
were very frequent amongst them, and obstinate inflammations
{feiix opinidtres, erysipelatous affections?). With regard to the-
human species, the mortality was no greater than in the preced-
ing years, although the autumn had been remarkable for the
great number of tertiary fevers which occurred in the damp
cantons.' ^

In some districts of France, ovine small-pox broke out;
and in Lower Normandy glossanthrax destroyed many thou-
sands of cattle ; while in Austria an epizooty appeared amongst

^ Desmars. Mem. siir la Mortalite des Moutons en Boulonnais. Epidemiques
d'Hippocrate. Paris, 1767. V. 2S9.

History of Animal Plagues. 407

horned beasts^ and in some places even attacked horses and
sheep. Plenciz thought it was Cattle Plague, but Heusinger at-
tempts to show that this was a mistake; and that, according to
Plenciz's own description, it was more than one disease, and con-
sisted in an epizooty of anthrax, and another of 'ekzema epizoo-
tica,' or of glossanthrax.^ The usual symptoms were loss of
appetite, and sometimes an unappeasable thirst; the eyes were
didl and heavy; the tongue and all the interior of the mouth ap-
parently ulcerated; bad smelling discharges from the nostrils; no
rumination, and absence of milk in cows. The majority were
attacked by diarrhoea, and the dejccture were not unfrequently
mixed with blood. Others had constipation, followed by a tym-
panitic state of the abdomen. The tongue became black and
dry ; the respiration difficult ; gangrene attacked the back parts
of the throat, and an apoplectic seizure usually preceded death.
The autopsies were badly made ; the author speaks of having con-
stantly found vomicae and abscesses in some of the viscera of the
cJiest or abdomen, or in the brain — a result of metastasis. The
disease, or rather diseases were supposed to be due to the ingestion
of animalculae, or their germs, which had been swallowed on the
herbs the animals had eaten and in the water they drank. These
germs became developed in their bodies and produced the disorder.
To support this view, the hypotheses of Italian and Danish
physicians arc referred to, and numerous examples are given ;
by means of the microscope, Desmars thought he had discovered
these germs and animalcules in an abscess newly opened. He
strongly insists on thecontagious character of the malady and the
dangers of infection. ' Sana animalia caveant a pascids, aqua,
fano, stram'me, item ah omni supellectili, quo lue affecta animalia
utehantur.' Dogs and men were liable to carry the v-irus from
the diseased creatures, and this was a most important matter.
' Quotidiand constat experientid tarn ah hominihus quam a canihus
cum hohus lue affectis commorantihus, facilb ad hoves et asinos
idem contagium transporlari ct iisdem communicari posse, indejlt
ut ah illis qui sanitali puhlicce invigilare deb cut, hoc in casu certce
capiantur cuutclcc.' ^

^ I/eusiitgo: Op. cit., p. 237.

^ Plenciz. Medici Tractus de Contaglo, seu Jc Luc Eovina ad fincm Vcrgente,
17G1, Epidcmice grassaiUe. 1762.

40 8 Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

' This is probably the distemper mentioned as prevailing among
horned cattle in Germany in the Medico-Philosophical Memoirs,
wherein it is noted, that, in consequence of people having died
from drinking the milk, the magistrates had interdicted the use
of that article during the prevalence of the epizooty. We are left
in much doubt, however, as to the nature of the malady described
by Plenciz, and altogether perhaps incline to the opinion that it
was the Cattle Plague affecting oxen and sheep, occurring coin-
cidentlv, as in 1745, with some epizooty in horses.

Anthrax was prevalent in Kitzingen, Franconia, amongst
cattle; and in Livonia and Esthonia the same disease attacked
cattle and horses.^

In this year, there began a great epizooty amongst dogs,
which appears to have been what is since vulgarly termed ' dis-
temper^ [muladie des cliiens, morve des chiens, in France, and
in Germany liimdestaiipe, and Jiundeseiiche). Before this period
it appears to have been very rare, or almost unknown, and
since its outbreak at that time it has lingered amongst the
canine species to this day. It seems to have been first noted in
Spain, ' In this year there was observed at Madrid a deadly
epizooty amongst dogs, which spread over the whole kingdom,
but without affecting any other species of animals.^ ^ In 1763,
according to Webster,^ nine hundred dogs had died at Madrid
alone, and in this year it is supposed that the malady had reached
England, where, many years after, it was studied by Mr Darwin
and Mr E. Jcnner. The latter, writing in 1809, says: 'It may
be difficult, perhaps, to ascertain the period of its first appearance
in Britain. In this and the neighbouring counties I have not
been able to trace it back much beyond _the middle of the last
century. .■ . . I knew a gentleman, who, about forty- five years
ao;o, destroyed the greater part of his hounds, from supposing
them mad, when the distemper first broke out among them, so
little was it then known of those the most conversant with dogs.'*
As Heusinger remarks, it is very probable that, in its commence-

1 Fischer. Op. cit., p. 462.

2 Villalba. Epidemiologia Espafiola, vol. ii. p. 219.

3 Webster. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 412.

* Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. i. p. 265.

History of Animal Plagues. 409

ment, the malady may have been mistaken for rabies, as Mr Jcnncr
notices; and if such be admitted, then it is most hkclv that this
distemper was in London as early as 1760, which would show
that it extended from west to east; for according to Layard,
* in the year 1759 and 1760, madness raged among dogs in
London and its neighbourhood, in consequence of the mild
winter and early spring.' ^

It appears to have reached Ireland at a later period, as
Dr Rutty in 1764 notices this plague among the dogs at Done-
raile, County Cork. ' The symptoms are a great discharge
of a gleety humour from the nose and eyes; a difficulty of
breathing; a violent beating of the heart, also convulsions, and
great weakness in the back and hind legs. It is infectious, and
seems to resemble the late murrain among the black cattle in
England.' 2 The disease appears also to have manifested itself
near Dublin. ' Several dogs in and about the city and county
of Dublin have been seized with the disorder, which proved fatal
to manv of them.' ^

And in America, about the year 1760, a disease was observed
in dogs. 'About twenty-five years past an epidemic distemper
prevailed among dogs, and occasioned a great mortality.'^ In
1763 it broke out at Eoulonnais, in France, in consequence, it
was said, of its having been carried from England ; and towards
the end of the year it had shown itself in the royal kennels at
Versailles, and, indeed, over the whole of France, where it con-
tinued during the three following years. Desmars^ witnessed its
effects at Boulogne, and described its symptoms; but the veter-
inarians "who investigated the nature of the epizoiJty in the roya'
kennels at Yanville, in France, give us a much better account
of it. 'At the end of the year 1763, and during 1764, there
appeared in France and the neighbouring countries, an epidemic
disease affecting every variety of the dog species. It had begun
in England. Two maladies, or two forms of the one disease,

' Layard. An Essay on the Bite of a Mad Dog. London, 1763.
2 Letter from .Surgeon Wetherall to.Dr Rutty in the ' Repository.'
^ Letter from Dr James to Dr Rutty, also in the * Repository.'
* Memoirs of the American Academy of Sciences, vol. i. p. 529.
' Dcsinars. Lettre sur la Mortalite de Chiens en 1763. Epidenii<iiics d'llip-
pocratc, p. 316.

41 o History of Animal Plagues.

were distinguished. The first^ attacking the throat, was accom-
panied with a very bad cough and fever; after coughing, the
animals vomited a quantity of white mucus by the mouth, and
purulent matter was discharged from the nostrils. The second
was the worst and most dangerous : the dogs were seized with a
violent fever; their heads seemed so heavy that they could
scarcely carry them ; they all at once lost their ability to move,
and they were unable to raise themselves on their straw ; they
discharged much sanious matter from their nostrils, and had
convulsions similar to those of epilepsy. They seized and bit
their straw as if they had been mad, and the moment after they
fell into a lethargy; convulsions followed, and at last they died
between the alternating attacks of convulsions and prostration.
Some were so quickly and violently seized, that they perished be-
tween the morning and the evening without its having been pos-
sible to administer to them either nourishment or medicine. Of
the small number of those which were cured some became blind,
the others were paralyzed in their hinder extremities ; some reeled
as if intoxicated, and, with the exception of a very small pro-
portion, these have remained feeble in their limbs How

is it possible to find remedies for a malady which is unknown,
and of which we have never heard speak? It is only when the
dead animals are opened that it has been remarked that the
blood is altered and the lungs full of pus. This contagion was
very deadly. For six weeks it abated, then for a year it raged
severely. It destroyed entire packs of hounds. In the kennels
of the King more than 300 dogs, old and young, perished. Out
of 120, which formed a small pack, one day only 32 could
be mustered for the hunt; all the others were dead or sick.
The huntsmen flattered themselves that in buying dogs from all
quarters the malady would not reappear, yet it manifested itself
at three different times. Only 15 dogs were lost at each of
these attacks. A year after there was another visitation, which
killed more than 60 hounds of the large pack; and out of 140 on
the list, only two were unaffected. Very many of those which
did not die were useless for hunting, and at the most only about
70 were saved. This last attack did not last long, but it was so
severe, that in less than three days 30 dogs were lost. The

History of Animal Plagues. 411

animals^ on becoming sick, discharged blood by the nose and
mouth, and so dreadful was the odour given off by them, that
the stench from their kennels was insupportable; indeed^ they
were rotten before they were dead.

^At our suggestion, in 1768, the kennels were paved,
thoroughly repaired, cleansed, and washed with quicklime, and
thrown open for three months. After that time, other hounds
were kept in them; and so well did they thrive, that in 1769
there were more than 100 in good health. It was then imagined
that at last the means of preserving them in fine condition had
been discovered; but at the end of the month of Jane following
the disease reappeared, and destroyed the whole in less than six
weeks. The kennels remained empty during the year 1770, and
they were again whitewashed with lime; at the commencement
of 1771 the bitch hounds were put in them to pup, and although
since that time the puppies have been more fortunate than in the
preceding years, yet more than a fourth of those born there die
before they are four, five, or six months old.' ^

In Gatinais, during 1763-4-5 it was observed and described
by Duhamel in a scientific periodical, published in France; we
read for 1763: 'Some cats have been attacked by a malady
which resembles a good deal this in dogs.' For 1764 it is re-
marked : ' The disease in dogs continues, and has killed many.'
In 1765: 'The disease amongst dogs and cats has continued
throughout the year, though not so extensively as in last year,
but with the same accidents. Some cats have been attacked
by itch, which has made them blind.' "

In 1764, during the month of December, this distemper
appeared in Bohemia, according to Sagar.^ In Franconia it
was observed in the month of April in this year, and at the
commencement of September in Italy. Heusinger gives a list
of the great number of works which contained notices of this
memorable epizooty, some of which I give below.*

' Journal Pratique dc Med. Vet., vol. iv. p. 6io.

^ Memoirs del' Acad. Royale des Sciences, 1764-5.

'^ J. M. Sugar. Do Morbo Sing. Ovium Vindob. 1765.

* For Burgundy, in 1763: Nic kolas Fonriiier. Observations sur la Nature,
les Causes, et le Traitement de la Maladie des Cliiens. Dijon, 1764, 1775. For
Paris, in 1763-4: Audoitin dc Chaii^ncbrun. Relation de dilTereulcs Maladies

412, History of Animal Plagues.

In Scotland there was a remarkable destruction of cows.
^ At Cumbernauld, in Scotland^ they have lately had a violent
storm, attended with thunder and lightning, which have done
great damage to the planting, and killed above looo cows.
Upon examination, it appeared that their bones were all broken,
and their flesh quite black, and when offered to the hogs they
refused to touch it.'^

A.D. 1762. In this year a comet was visible, and there was
great heat and drought in the United States, which induced
bilious remittent fever in the autumn. Similar weather was
prevalent in England, Ireland, and France. In consequence of
the great prevalence of caterpillars of a very destructive species of
lepidopterous insect in Britain, this year is known as the^ wormy
3^ear.' The whole of the herbage on the hills near the sources
of the Ettrick and Yarrow was destroyed by it.^ ' Great hurricane
and fall of snow in England. Much damage done; many men,
sheep, and cattle perished.^ ^ Catarrhal fever or influenza was
epidemic throughout Europe.

Rutty, writing in Dul^lin, remarks: Mn May, 1762, the
effects of the epidemic catarrh among the horses, which began
in Dublin in March, 1760, are yet felt among the labouring
horses; and it has been computed that one in ten of those
were so affected in their eyes as to be blind to this present
time.'*

In Beauvais, and some other provinces of France, sheep
small-pox was wide-spread. Anthrax [loiivet, lovat) was very
prevalent in Switzerland. Glossanthrax appeared as a very
deadly epizooty amongst cattle in Lower Normandy, and
amongst sheep in Lorraine.^ In the month of March, the same

Epidemiques, &c. Goiilin. Memoires Litt. et Crit. 1775. Brasador. Mem. de
Mathem. et de Phys. presentes a I'Acad. de Sciences, vol. vi. p. 216. Verrier!
De la Conferie Venerie Normande, 1778. For Franconia, in 1764 : Frankische
Samml., vol. vii. p. 542. For Italy : Merli. Lettere Concern. I'Epidemia Sofiferta
in Napoli. Naples, 1764. Sarcone- Istoria Ragionata dei Mali Osservati in
Napoli. Naples, 1764.

' The London Magazine, 1761, p. 441.

"^ The Farmers' Magazine, vol. i. p. 124. ^ The Annual Register.

* Rutty. The Repository.

* Pa^det. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 248. Schiinrra: Chronik der Seuchen. Part

n. p. 325-

History of Animal Plagues. 413

disease was very destructive in the Valley Canionica, in Italv,
and in the month of April it manifested itself in Istria.^ In
Sweden and Denmark cattle and horses were attacked by an
epizootv, which was erroneously supposed to be the Cattle Plague,
but which Heusinger thinks was probably an influenza, com-
plicated with an aphthous affection. It was remarkable for
the formation of depots of unhealthy matter at the two last
articulations of the tail. The Royal Agricultural Society of
Paris was furnished with an account of it by one of its members
at the time, and from this the following extracts are made :
' The contagion spread with great rapidity. The youngest,
most robust, and best-conditioned animals were soonest seized,
and died most promptly. It was remarked that, in the majority
of cases, a cough was the first symptom of the disease. The
eyes became dull, watery, and muco-purulent, and tears flowed
from them. In one or two days after the first symptoms, the
milk, in cows, began to fail ; this was one of the surest indications
that the animals w^ere attacked by the disease. At the com-
mencement, the beast looked cold, and it shivered in something
the same way as a human being at the onset of a fever. A high
temperature was soon perceptible, which continued for many
days ; it was most apparent about the neck, and by the increased
beats of the pulse. The appetite became suppressed, but the
animals drank willingly so long as the inflammation did not
prevent their swallowing fluids. A spumy saliva, accompanied
by an insupportable odour, flowed from the mouth and nostrils ;
in many the teeth became loose; constipation was not uncom-
mon, but usually there was diarrhcea from the commencement,
the excrement being like water. Towards the termination ot
the malady, the two last articulations of the tail became gan-
grenous and softened ; and if the skin covering them was re-
moved or punctured, a fetid purulent fluid escaped. The gan-
grene extended upwards, step by step, until it reached the horns,
which then became cold ; when it got as far as the cars and
the nostrils, which usually occurred about the sixth or seventh
day, the animal died. 'J"be blood al)stractc'cl during life was of a
bright red colour, and soon exhibited a high inflannnatory state;
' Bottani, Op. cit., vol. vii. p. 68.

414 History of Animal Plagues,

but on becoming thoroughly cold, it was quite solid, of a pitchy
black colour, and could be cut like a piece of jelly. The ex-
amination of those that died showed the gall-bladder excessively
large and full of a liquid more like urine than bile ; in some
three pounds^ weight of this fluid was found. In many creatures
the stomach and intestines were full of worms, which were yet
alive when these organs were inspected. In some of the blood-
vessels certain insects were met with which were named ^ plaice,'
on account of their resemblance to that kind of fish. Sometimes
the brain has appeared to be entirely resolved into pus and
water ; many had the veins filled with dark blood ; the neck in
others was inflamed; while in others, again, the inflammation
appeared to have concentrated itself in the intestines, and these
have been found more or less gangrenous. The stomach was full
of undigested food, which was so dry and compact that it could
scarcely be broken. The membrane lining the stomach and
intestines was marked by livid or black spots, evidently indicating
gangrene; with some the liver and the spleen were covered
by small tumours resembling grains of sand, and so hard
that they could not be crushed ; the substance of these organs,
however, was so soft that it could be easily broken up by slight
pressure. Other animals, again, exhibited no pathological
alterations when opened after death.' ^ This epizooty was very
deadly in Sweden, and extended even to the frontiers of Ger-
many.

About the same time an epizooty belonging to this class of
maladies broke out among the cattle in Auvergne, Moulins, Li-
mousin, the province of Bugey, Champagne, Forez, and other
places in France. The appetite and rumination were in abey-
ance ; the hair was dry, upright, and harsh ; the head was carried
low, tears streamed down the cheeks; the flanks heaved very fre-
quently; the mouth, horns, and ears were extremely hot; con-
siderable pain was manifested along the course of the spine, and
when the fingers were passed over this region, a crepitation was
heard like to that made by dry parchment. Indistinct tumours
began to rise over the whole surface of the body ; when these disap-

* Patilet. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 359.

History of Animal Plagues. 415

peared suddenly, which they often did, it portended a fatal tcrinin-
ation. There was great prostration of the strength; an excessively
cold staffc succeeded the early. hot one; the helly became tense;
the pain increased along the spine, or it disappeared, either owing
to some internal cause or by the effects of remedies; continual
moans preceded death. The dead bodies, when opened, exhibited
evident marks of gangrene and putrefaction. The diagnosis of
the malady consisted chiefly in the presence of the crepitation
along the back, which, although only symptomatic and ac-
cidental, formed, nevertheless, a very striking feature, and was
sufficient to distinguish this affection from others of the same
class. The absence of mucus discharges from the nostrils and
mouth, the high temperature of the ears, the horns, and the
mouth, and the presence of tumours, constituted, in the opinion
of the authorities of those days, a particular and pestilential
disease of the gravest character.^

An epizooty of gangrenous sore-throat {ang'ino gavgrenom) oc-
curred in the parish of Mezieux, in Dauphine. It affected cattle,
horses, and mules, and was very destructive. The llustrious veter-
inarian, Bourgelat, founder of the French Veterinary Schools, was
deputed to investigate its nature and suggest remedies. The symp-
toms as detailed by him were : ' Refusal of all kinds of food, solid
or liquid; the head hanging low and ears drooping; tearful eyes,
and hair erect and harsh ; decided constipation ; a painful swelling
in theregionof the lower jaw and along the neck; a pulse more firm
{concentre) than frequent; and a copious discharge of frothy mucus
by the nostrils and mouth of some, were the signs which were
exhibited during the first twenty-four hours, and which remained
for the space of two, three, or four days, about which time hurrici!
heavino-s of the flanks and extreme feebleness announced a
prompt and inevitable death.' The lesions after decease were
found to be very marked. Putrefaction set in rapidly, and ' there
was manifested in the back part of the throat, in all the muscles
of the pharynx and larynx, in the cellular tissue enveloping or
separating these, and in the oesophagus and trachea, a great
amount of gangrene ; the membrane envelojMng the base of the

- Mcmoire dc M. Baibcict.

41 6 History of Animal Plagues.

tongue and the soft palate was black, livid^ and gangrenous,
and covered with ulcers which had destroyed and gnawed away
the base of the tongue. On a section being made across the
muscles of this part, they were found to be pale, bloodless, and
sphacelous ; the pituitary membrane, thicker than in ordinary
circumstances, was black, studded with ulcers, and the fluid with
which it was gorged resembled very thick ink rather than blood.
There was caries of the ethmoid bones and the cartilages of the
nose, the enveloping membrane of which was also destroyed.'
The external tumefaction was not always confined to the imme-
diate region of the throat. '^ Often it extended to all the in-
termaxillary glands, the neck, and the bronchi ae, forming con-
siderable external tumours, there were some instances

in which the throat was not in so diseased a state, but tumours
appeared in an indistinct form in every part of the body. In
some dead animals they were in the omentum, in others in some
portion of the intestines ; in others, again, the spleen was
greatly engorged ; in a fourth class neither liver nor lungs
were in their natural condition, but their margins were swoll-
en, black, turgid, inelastic, and verging on gangrene. In all,
the digestive apparatus was in that depraved state which is usual
in serious diseases.^ Further on, in describing the alterations in
the parts of the throat affected, — their red, brown, and sometimes
black colour, and their softness, he says that ' they were the
consequences of a violent inflammation, neither phlegmonous nor
erysipelatous, which excites less fever and pain than these, — an
inflammation of a heavy dull kind arising from an engorge-
ment produced by the stupor of the parts. -"^

The principal causes of the disease were supposed to be the
excessive heat of the weather, bad herbage, and more particularly
the extremely unhealthy stagnant water the animals were com-
pelled to drink. The malady was conjectured, and perhapsjustly,
to be contagious j so that every care was taken to prevent com-
munication between the healthy and the suffering animals,
and disinfection was sedulously resorted to wherever the epizooty
appeared.

A.D. 1763. The seasons of this year were very dissimilar in
^ Notes au Memoire de Barberet.

1

History of Animal Plagues. 417

their character in difi'erctit countries, but nearly everywhere the
summer was moist and sultry; the harvests were bad, the cereals
being damaged. It is noted that the olives suffered from the un-
favourable weather at Montpcllier. ' It is even thought that the
olives have been much injured by a fog which the country people
call "neble," and that they have been all gnawed and perforated
by a worm ; this insect has grown insensibly, and it becomes very
much developed in all those trees which have been preserved a
very long time ; the oil extracted from them is pungent and
very bad.'^ The human species suffered much from epidemics
of a serious character. Schnurrer reports that glossanthrax ap-
peared in the summer of this year in the western parts of
Switzerland, and spread to the eastward, always following, how-
ever, the course of the Alps.

The maladies amon2:st animals were o'enerallv numerous and
fatal. Rutty and other English writers thus summarize them : —

'Last year we had an account from Denmark, of an epidemic
catarrh among horses, and that the dogs were infected by lying
in the stables among them ; and from Madrid, May the 5th, that
900 dogs died in one day; and from Genoa, of a mortality among
the poultry; and Mav 19th from Calais a like account, and that
the disease was fatal chieHy to hens.^ ^

'An epidemic among the horses in France characterized by
a defluxion from the nose,'"

' Many epizootics raged in Europe among horses, swine,
horned cattle, sheep, dogs, game, and poultry.'*

In the marshy region of Brouageais, Rochelle, in France, ma-
lignant anthrax attacked cattle and sheep, and numbers of horses,
pigs, dogs, and fowls perished at the same time. This malady
also existed inother provincesof France, and from the dcscri]itions
given of the disease as it was observed m horses and cattle, it
would appear to have been glossanthrax. ' There arose suddenly
towards the besrinninfj: of the month of June, a disease amonost
horses and cows, which attacked nearly all the animals of the
various villages in three or four days; it came from high Gatinois
and connnenccd in this locality soon after the fair of St Peter.

' Fonniicr. Richard de Hautesierck. Rccucil d'Obscrvations, vol. i. ji. 39.
- Rutty. Op. cit. * /Vrtvwrt'w'j- Journal. ' Webster. Uj). cit., p. 412.

27

4i8 History of Animal Plagues.

It manifested itself by a small white blister above or below the
tongue, and sometimes, though rarely, both above and below it ;
the progress of the disease was so rapid that in about twelve hours
the little vesicle or tumour became as large as a man's hand and
assumed a violet colour ; notwithstanding this, the stricken
animals did not lose their appetite, but the gangrenous eschar was
not long in eating through the tongue, which fell oft'when remedial

measures were not adopted The malady has run through

all the villages one after another, and nearly all the beasts in a
village have been attacked at one time/ ^

Dr Nicolau gives a most excellent, but lengthy, description of
the outbreak in Brouageois. The parishes in which it exerted
its greatest fury were situated in the neighbourhood of the
marshes, which were often covered by the waters of the sea,
introduced by a canal. In summer, when these marshes are
crowded with flocks and herds, the putrid exhalations engen-
dered by the heat of the sun give rise to intermittent and putrid
fevers among the human inhabitants of the villages. The year
1763 had been very rainy, and there was abundant pasturage;
but the hay was spoiled by the wet. Sheep, horses, and even
pigs were equally attacked, and other domestic animals were
not exempt: — the dogs, for example, which were nourished on
the flesh of the dead cattle suffered, and in the hamlet of St
Symphorien fowls died. In the month of May, the cattle had a
disease of the tongue, which, however, did not make much pro-
gress. In June and July, the anthracoid disease broke out among
the sheep, which died nearly as soon as they were attacked. The
oxen and the mares suffered most in July, and the malady lasted
until September. The earliest symptoms were a refusal of all
food ; dulness ; drooping head, cold and hanging ears ; horripil-
ation ; the flanks drawn up and beating quickly ; the abdomen
distended and tense; the muscles of the body twitching, and the
animal standing as if making eflTorts to urinate; the urine as
clear as water; no rumination; the evacuation of excrements
less frequent than that of the urine. Some hours after these first
symptoms set in, if tumours did not make their appearance on
the surface of the body, shiverings and tremblings ensued, the
^ Duhamel. Mem. del' Acad, des Sciences, 1764.

Histoiy of Animal Plagues. 419

eves looked haggard and tearful; a tenacious mucus flowed from
the mouth and nostrils ; they lay down and died tranquilly, or
in convulsions. These symptoms often ran their course so
rapidly that the animals died without any one having seen
them ; they were even ohserved to drop down and perish in the
voke. The cattle and sheep had never looked healthier than
in this year, and the best and fattest were the most likely to be
first destroved bv the epizooty.^

The epizooty described as reigning in Denmark and Sweden
in the preceding year, \vas still prevalent in those countries, and a
similar affection had shown itself in Prussia.' Mention is made
of an extraordinary epizooty amongst fowls. Bascome and
Rutty notice it as occurring at Genoa in this year, and Villalba
speaks of its appearance in Spain : ' In this year there appeared
another epizooty amongst the fowls, and which only affected this
species of animal ; it killed very many, and no one was able to
prevent its ravages.'^ In the same year it had invaded the
South of France, for M. la Berthonye mentions his having made
a dissection of two fowls which had died at Toulon in May;
the appearances presented by these he enumerates as follows :
' The examination of the first showed all the parts, internal and
external, in a natural and healthy state, with the exception of
the liver, w hicli was adherent; but in exposing the whole length
of the canal which conducts the food from the crop to the giz-
zard, in the second fowl, I perceived that the extremity of the
latter organ was humid, livid, and corrupted to the extent of a
finger's width ; in detaching this substance from each side, it
exuded a purulent and abundant matter, full of white globules,
which left no doubt as to the presence of a fully-formed abscess.
On again inspecting the first fowl, which had not been opened
in the same manner as the second, the same phenomena were
presented, and pus globules were observed. I then had no
doubt whatever tliat the disease which harassed this species
of animal was nothing but an inflammation, terminating in sup-
puration ; and I imagined I could trace the remote cause to the
barley and bran on which the fowls had been i'ctl during this

' Bdrliari't. Memoire sur Ics Maladies Ei)i(li''miques dcs Bcstiaux. Paris, 1765.
- aicditsch. Abiiandlun^', vul. i. ^ Villalba. Op. cit., vol. ii. p. 219.

42 o History of Animal Plagues.

year; for the great inundations which so troubled the whole
kingdom, both before and after the harvest^ had made this
aliment not only bad but scarce/ ^

In Bohemia in 1763-4, Tarn notices its prevalence,^ and Sagar
writes of the disease in Moravia in 1764.^ In a journal of those
days published in Germany, we learn that the maladv was not
very prevalent in the north of that country, nor yet in other
northern regions. ' In Spain, France, and Italy, for some time
past, a disease among the feathered tribes, but especially hens, has
caused great destruction and loss. In Cremona alone 5000 have
died within two months ; many were opened in order to discover
the cause, but nothing was found in the interior of their bodies,
except a large quantity of acrid fluid, which arose, it was supposed,
from bad nourishment. Among the dogs, also, was a distemper,
which sooner or later ended in madness. Hence in Asti, Alex-
andria, and other places, all dogs, no matter who their owners
were, were slaughtered by the authorities. Nine hundred of
these animals were killed in Madrid in one day.'^

An epizocity of aphthous fever [ekzema epizootica) in
Moravia, is recorded, which attacked cattle and sheep. Doubts
have, however, been expressed as to the disease being the
one named. The most exact accounts we have are those of
Michael Sagar,^ and the malady may have become altered in its
type from what we are accustomed to see now-a-days, though
doubtless it is the same disease. The vesicles do not seem to have
been analogous to those observed in modern times, and this author
says that the ulcers which succeeded the eruption were pale and
of a dirty-grey hue, of a very repulsive aspect, and sprinkled over
with red points ; that their margins were hard, that they extended
rapidly and deeply; and also that they secreted a sanious humour
which was fetid, acrid, and corrosive, and possessed contagious
properties to a very high degree. He adds, that from the
time desquamation took place the animals began to be lame,
and that this lameness was caused by tumours of a greater or
less size developed all at once, and full of ripe pus, which showed

^ Richard de Ilantcsierck. Recueil d'Observations, vol. i. p. 169.
^ Tarn. Horn-, Schaf-, Pferde-, und Federvieh-Arzneikunst, p. 543.
3 Sagar. Op. cit. * Hannoverisches Magazin. 1764.

5 M. Sagar. Medic. Libellus de Aphthis recorinis. Viennse. 1765.

History of Animal Plagues. 421

themselves in some parts of the feet ; that the aphthre were found
in the nostrils in sueh quantity that the passage of the air was
intereepted, and that this was the cause of death to many ani-
mals. The milk communicated the disease to dogs^ cats, and to
people who used it as food. When put near the fire, it separ-
ated quickly into butter and cheese; it had neither its usual
sweetness, nor yet its natural consistency. The oxen were the
first attacked, but when these and the bulls were vigorous scarcely
any died; some of them lost their hoofs. Sheep were worse
affected, for nearly all that were attacked cast their hoofs, and
they had to limp about until new ones grew ; but few, however,
died. Goats suffered in the same way. Pigs, of all animals, were
the most severely attacked, and many perished. All those which
escaped death shed their hoofs. The men who were infected by
the disease experienced a great difficulty, amounting to impossi-
bility sometimes, in swallowing, owing to inflammation and
tumefaction in the back part of the throat. Sagar attributed the
cause of this epizooty to an eclipse of the sun, and to the red
blight or ' rust^ which affected the plants, as well as to the intem-
perature of the air.

At the same time, this aphthous fever was prevalent in the
neighbourhood of Paris, and in Perigord and Auvergne, attack-
ing horses as well as cattle.^ M. Huzard remarks: ' It appears
that during the year 1763, and at the commencement of 1764,
aphthous diseases form the essential characteristics of the epizoo-
tics which have reigned amongst horses and cattle over nearly
the whole of France.' ^

In the public papers of the time, it is also mentioned that in
Holstein, and at Nordhausen and its environs, a contagious disease
which attacked the horned cattle, and horses, sheep, and pigs, had
been observed. A putrid and purulent matter was seen to issue from
their feet; the skin on the surface of the hogs' bodies and their
flanks was observed to peel off'. None of the affected animals died.^

In Switzerland, and also in Suabia, erysipelas [rotldaiifes)
was epizootic amongst swine, and killed a considerable number."*

' Iliirlrd a'Arhoval. Diet. Vet., i. p. 1 1 6.

2 I/uzard. Instructions and Observations.

3 J'auhi. (J\). tit., vol. i. p. 397. ■* IVir/k. Op. cit., p. no.

4^2, History of Animal Plagues.

Ill the autumn of 1763, the Indians on Nantucket and else-
where in that region were attacked by a bihous fever, which
killed a large portion of their number. No white people were
attacked, though they mixed freely with the Indians ; though
persons of mixed blood were affected, but recovered. Im-
mediately after this pestilence had disappeared, a species of large
fish, called ' blue fish,' thirty of which would fill a barrel, and
which previously had been caught in great numbers on every side
of Nantucket, suddenly disappeared, to the immense loss of the
inhabitants. Whether they perished or migrated is not known. ^

A.D. 1764. The year was mild, but rainy; in December,
Lisbon was shaken by an earthquake and a comet was seen.
Pestilence in mankind w^as very fatal in Spain, in the form of
miliary fever. 'Salvarisa supposes the epidemic fever of 1764 at
Cadiz was occasioned by the old and corrupted corn ; amongst
the poor the disorder was most violent. In this year the animals
were first affected, and the mortality was principally observed
amongst birds fed on grain.' ^

Suabia was severely visited by a similar malady ; Austria was
no less troubled; and Scotland and Ireland had much disease
raging amongst their populations.

Rutty says of the weather in Ireland: 'Spring — moist, dry,
and cool; summer — cool and moist; autumn — variable; winter —
warm and moist. The excessive moisture of the winter this
year, succeeded by a dry and healthful spring, may show how
the mischiefs of one extreme may be corrected by its contrary
succeeding, and indicate the expediency of a retrospection upon
these occasions.'^ He adds: 'To the instances of mortalities
among other animals mentioned last year, it may be proper to
add that this spring we had an account of a mortality among
swine and horses in Italy ; and in June from Provence, in France,
of a mortality among their horses and mules; and in August,
from Sweden, that there was a mortality among horned cattle,
the horses, sheep, goats, and swine. These accounts seemed to
be somewhat alarming, and are here recorded and recommended

' Webster. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 412.

^ Hancock. In Cyclojjjedia of Practical Medicine.

^ Rutty. The Weather and Seasons.

History of Animal Plagues. 423

to further observation, how far such mortal epidemical diseases
among the brutes may or may not be a prehide to the pestilence
among men, which by the divine poet is described as walking in
darkness. Psalm xci. 6.'

^ A mortal pestilence among horses and mules in Provence ;
and among poultry in England/ ^

The aphthous disease mentioned in last year as showing itself
in the lower animals in certain regions continued this year, and
extended itself to other countries. In some of these it appears
to have differed somewhat in its features, though it was general
in ncarlv all the domestic animals. It was observed in Holland,
and in Holstein, at Nordhausen, to affect horses, cattle, sheep,
and pigs, &:c. ; - and it was prevalent in Henneberg and Thur-
ingia,^ in Saxony,* in Westphalia, in the Rhine provinces, and
in Wurtemberg,^ where it was known as the zungenkrebs or
nmndfaide. In Franconia and Suabia its appearance had been
remarked from the month of July. ' The horned cattle were
attacked by a great fever in the head ; they began to sputter and
to run from the eyes; the nose and mouth began to swell, and
— especially on the palate — white, and in the nose vellow, pus-
tules showed themselves ; these after a time scabbed over and
fell off, and the tongue became quite sore. Similar eruptions
showed themselves between the hoofs, and in cows even upon
the udders ; so that in milking the scabs were rubbed off, until at
length they ceased to give milk if the sickness lasted long. Some
cattle continued to eat well, but others lost their ap])etite. The
same kind of pustules manifested themselves on sheep, pigs, &c.' "
' All the cattle, those at pasture as well as those kept in stalls,
and those also in process of fattening, have the following
symptoms: between the claws, both before and behind, the skin
is quite white, and cracks appear, which suppurate ; some, how-
ever, have not this symptom. Those people who wash these
abrasions too much keep the cattle longer lame and sick ; but
those who let nature have its course may use them again in nine

1 The Repository. • Paitld. Op. cit. , vol. i. p. 397.

3 Glaser. Abhandlung. v. d. Knotenkrankheit, &c., \>. 133.

* Clams 7iud Radius. Beitriige, Vol. viii. p. 325.
' Casselcr. Poliz. und Commerz. Zeitschrift, 1764.

* Frankische Sammiung, vii. p. 544.

4^4 History of Animal Plagites.

or ten days. These cattle^ generally speaking — some sooner,
some later — after they have been lame^ get bad mouths. Saliva
flows in large quantities^ and when the disease assumes a serious
aspect, it chokes them, or makes them appear as if they had
something in their throats. When one draws the cow's tongue
through the hand, the skin peels off, and whenever the mouth is
affected the animal gives bad milk; the first attempts at milking
show the milk to be of a reddish or purulent hue, but after
this it comes away in its usual colour; this milk has been given
to swine, and they have died from it. To-dav I have been in-
formed that such milk was given to a dog yesterday, and now it
is dead. The cows suffered most, although the larger number
attacked were oxen. The sheep also were affected, and though
none of them succumbed, yet they were very sick.' ^ In Switzer-
land, pneumonia was prevalent in some districts."

A.D. 1765. The winter of this year was cold, and the summer
damp. In the Tyrol, gangrenous inflammation of the lungs
affected cattle.^ In Moravia, great numbers of sheep died from
an epizooty which, from the symptoms described by Sagar,* may
have either been rot or a malignant catarrh (Heusinger). The
Cattle Plague was imported from Turkey to Bruck, on the river
I-,eitha, Hungary, in the month of February, and it remained there
until the autumn ; from thence, according to Koczian, it was car-
ried to Upper and Lower Saxony.^ Might not the ovine disease
described by Sagar be the Rinderpest, transmitted from the cattle ?

In India an earthquake was felt along the banks of the
Ganges, and much sickness prevailed in that country. Animals
shared in these troubles, especially in Madras. ' James Anderson
says that, in 1765, he observed twelve days in one season and
fourteen days in the other, when the heat and vitiated state of
the atmosphere was such that sometimes the men, without any
previous illness, fell down dead at roll calling. Various birds of
the forest took shelter in tents, and drank water when offered to
them, as if they had been domesticated. A hare came into the

1 Friinkische Sammlung, p. 549. - Tnimpy. Glamer Chronick., p. 647.

3 BottcDii. Op. cit., vol. vii. p. 72. ■* Sagar. De Morb. Singul. Ovium.

^ Kockzian. Piiif. d. urs. die Ilornviehseuche. Vienna, 1769. Paulet. Op.
cit., vol. i. p. 295.

History of Animal Plagues. 425

tent of Adjutant Gee, and drank water oat of his hand; several
antelojies were easily taken by dogs/ ^

Wirth remarks that erysipelas {rothlaiifes) was present in an
epizootic form in Switzerland and Suabia, and was very fatal."

A.D. 1766. Eruptions of Vesuvius and Hecla, and two comets
visible this year. Earthquakes were prevalent. The winter was
very cold, the spring rainy with inundations, and the summer
hot and dry all over Europe and America ; so that vegetation
was hindered, and in many countries it was blighted with honey-
dew and rust, more especially the barley and oat crops. Malig-
nant catarrh in man swept over Europe. Horses and horned
cattle died in great numbers in America, especially in New Eng-
land and New Jersey.^ The Cattle Plague was raging in Austria,
in Prussia, the March of Brandenburg, and in Holland, where it
continued in 1767-8, and in 1769 it was carried into Belgium.^
It only ceased in 1770, after destroying in Holland alone more
than 395,000 head of horned cattle.

In England, rot in sheep appears to have been prevalent.
' Too rainy a season is very prejudicial to sheep, as was remark-
ably experienced all over England in the summer of 1766, when
whole flocks perished with the rot.' *

The eruption of Mount Hecla, in Iceland, caused much loss
among cattle." Some lingered for a year, and when opened
their stomachs were found full of ashes.

A.D. 1767. A cold winter and a wet summer in England.
An eruption of Vesuvius. In December, a catarrhal fever or
' influenza' broke out in mankind at Madrid, and spread over the
greater part of Europe. Scarlatina was very prevalent in France,
and puerperal fever in Normandy. In due course the influenza
reached England, but before it attacked the human species, dogs
and horses were afl^ected, and the vegetable kingdom appears to
have been diseased as well. ^ The 30th June: a blight of fruit,
feverish complaints, and jxiins in face and teeth very epidemic.
All Saints' day : two disorders have been very universal among

> Annesley. The Diseases of India. - IVirf/i. Op. cit., p. no.

3 Bascome. Op. cit., p. 133. ■ ■« Lorinscr. Die Riiiderpcsl, p. 25.

^ Mills. Treatise on Cattle, 1766.
^ Sir Joseph Batiks. MS. Journal. Jloo/ar. Tour in Iceland, vol. ii. p. 117.

426 History of Animal Plagues.

horses ; one a violent swelling of the legs and eyes, the other a
cough with which horses were taken this day, and, what is very

remarkable, scarce either a day before or after In the year

1767, a dry cough became prevalent in Essex among horses, about
Allhallowtide, which continued through great part of November,
and then subsided. In the neighbourhood of VValthamstow very
few horses escaped it/ ^

Mumsen says: '^ When I was in England, in 1767, there
raged a severe winter with a cold, dry, north-east wind until late
in May. Then there came a disease in dogs and horses, such as
is observed often to precede deadly human plagues ; it was called
the " horse cokP^ {pferde-schnupfen). It did also visit mankind
without inducing any very serious consequences.'^ The London
Evening Post notices this outbreak : ' There is scarcely a stable
in London in which there is not a horse suffering from inflam-
matory catarrh. This disease could not be so general if there
was not some special vapour in the air to produce it.' ^

The Annual Register (p. 151) for this year also remarks:
'This autumn has been fatal to the horses in America, as well as
England and Holland. The distemper there has been attended
with fatal effects ; in the province of New Jersey, it has carried
off almost all their vouno- horses and colts; and in New Eno-land
the havoc it has made is very ruinous.' 'Diseases amona; horses
were also very prevalent in New England and New Jersey.' *

The distemper in dogs was so violent in Louisiana, that the
greater part of them died.^

In Hanover, there was a great mortality amongst the geese."

In France, the lower animals seem to have suffered equally
with mankind. Menuret, of Montpellier, writing of this year
says : 'The mortality which has manifested itself amongst dif-
ferent kinds of animals seems to merit a place in our observa-
tions, and ought to arrest our attention in many respects ; but
chiefly because of its relation to the constitution of the seasons,
and also because it is a phenomenon which may some day assist,

' T. Forster. Op. cit, pp. 6, 168.

^ Mumsen. Kurze Nachricht von der Epid. Sclinupfenkrankeit.

3 The Evening Post, Nov. 10, 1767. * Webster. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 417.

^ Ulloa. Noticias Americanas. ^ Hannov. Magazin, 1767.

History of Animal Plagues. 427

bv wav of analogy, in clearing up the causes of disease in man.
It is necessary to remark that the violence of the cold has been
excessive during the winter, so that animated beings have been
scarcely able to resist the energy of its attacks; we can now
perceive that this extreme cold has penetrated deep into the
bowels of the earth, and has destroyed — even to the ultimate root-
lets— the warmth and the life of the vegetable kingdom, and
which nature has ordained shoidd be concentrated there. Those
trees and shrubs which seemed by age to have acquired most
consistence and durability have been precisely those which have
most readily succumbed ; the oldest vines have been devastated.
And so it has been with the human species. The aged, worn
down by years, have been deprived of the remains of their animal
heat which kept them alive ; the cold, an enemy to motion,
has succeeded in arresting the blood which flowed but tardily in
the shrivelled vessels, and soon they ceased to live. It was ob-
served in the course of the preceding year, towards the month
of May especially, that a warm dew {i-osee cliaude), which is
termed manna, fell in great abundance, and that the trees, the
vines, and the difl'ercnt vegetables had suffered a marked change.
The silk-worms were the first to experience the bad effects trom
the leaves of the mulberry trees being thus altered, and they be-
came very ill; from that time the turkeys, which form such a
large portion of the agricultural wealth in this country, and the
other fowls, have been variously affected until the end of the
winter. Before the severe colds, the horses paid their contril:)u-
tion to the epidemy which ravaged the animal kingdom ; they
died in large numbers from vertigo, a kind of contagious frenzy
which destroyed them in a few days; neither profuse nor moder-
ate bleedings, enemas, nor any of the other means at the disposal
of our hippiatrists, could arrest the course or ameliorate the
furious rapidity of this affection, which quickly terminated in
death. So virulent was the contagion, that, from the moment a
horse was attacked in a stable, not only were the others which
stood in the same building quick in receiving it from the diseased
one, if they were not speedily removed, but the infection lingered
in it for many weeks afterwards, and was not slow in attacking
horses which might be stabled therein duriu!::; this time; so that it

4-8 History of Animal Plagues.

was necessary to leave these stables empty for a long period, in
order to have them well aired and disinfected, and even white-
washed repeatedly, when this malady had left traces of its fury
and subtilty in the walls. At the same time, many dogs were seen
to participate in the influences of the general disaster. They
became dull and heavy, and their ears and tails were drooping;
their eyes were hidden by muco-purulent patches, and they lost
their vivacity and playfulness; they became sick, vomited, and
cough and hurried respiration were the usual symptoms of their
malady ; these becoming augmented in intensity, quickly led to
the common end of all terrestrial beings. The sheep in the whole
of Lower Dauphine, and in a part of Vivarais, were apparently
the choice victims, and at the same time the most numerous, of
the epidemic pestilence. The bad qualitv of the forage, and the
violence of the cold, which would not admit of their leaving their
sheds and seeking fresh pasture and a pure air, no doubt favoured
the invasion and the subsequent progress of the disease. They
were emaciated, withered, and weak, so that they could scarcely
stand on their feet ; then they have become swollen, and towards
the end struggled convulsively against the violent destruction
of their being. On opening the dead bodies, the abdomen has
been found full of water, the liver enlarged and of a greyish-
white colour, and thickly covered with ulcers and indurations ;
some people say they have even seen worms. The lungs pre-
sented abscesses more or less mature, and ulcers and tubercles;
this alteration of course favoured very much the propagation of
the disease, because it infected the air and charged it with a con-
tagious ferment ; for, being expired from an organ destroyed by
rot, the morbid matters became for the other animals inhaling
them the germ of a disease which was all the more potent be-
cause it was received into the bodies of those unfortunately already
predisposed. The blood-vessels were flaccid, and half filled with a
watery blood which had almost lost its colour.' ^

In the month of March, 'aphthous fever' broke out at
Guastala and other places in Italy. ^ There was rendered more
manifest every day in Guastala and other prefectures of Mantua,

>^ ^ Richard de Hautcsioxk, Op. cit., vol. ii. p. 233. «

History of Anivial Plagues. 429

a disease amongst cattle^ which consisted in vesicles about the
tongue, and which left raw places; it was so mild, that it easily
gave wav to simple remedies.'^

A.D. 1768. In this vear the seasons were very irregular, and
damaged the crops verv much. Swarms of caterpillars made
their appearance in America,in Northampton, and Massachusetts,
and destroyed all herbage. The summer was hot and rainy, and
disease prevailed in that part of the world amongst the human
species. Hydrophobia was alarmingly frequent; in Boston and
other places, at the same time, ' horses were generally affected
with a disorder of the head and throat, which proved fatal to
manv, and much injured the serviccableness of those that sur-
vived.''- In this and the two following years, the Cattle Plague
prevailed in Lower Austria, coincidently with anthrax ; ^ it was
verv severe in Brandenburg and other provinces of Prussia.

A.D. 1769. The year was rainy, and a comet was seen. The'
harvest was indifferent, the corn and wheat being much de-
teriorated. Those diseases which, in mankind, could be attributed
to the use of unwholesome bread, were frequent. In the month
of Januarv, a prodigious and unheard-of quantity of fish was
taken in the Baltic.^ There was an epizooty amongst fowls at
Genoa.^ Over a wide extent of the North of France, an epizooty
was doing much injury to cows and horses. It was named in
Franche-Comte Mia-'ie. In Hainault and Champagne it was
particularly noticed. At Avesnes, it first broke out amongst the
horses of two regiments of dragoons stationed there — those of
Autichamp and Rochefoucault; and from thence it extended
amongst the cattle in the Election of Joinville. Cough, high
fever, and prostration were the first symptoms; after these ap-
peared nausea, suspension of rumination (if in cattle), the
breath fetid, the mouth hot and drv, discharge by the nostrils of
thick, foul-smelhng matters; but a continuous cough, feebleness,
great difliculty in breathing, redness of the eyes, dryness of the

' nollani. Op. cit., vol. vii. p. 7$.
- Tufts. Memoirs of the American Academy, vol. i.
' Adami. Geschichte der Viehseuchen, p. 74.
* Creplin. Eckstriim fischc von Morko, p. 35.
'' Fianck, Syst. dc Med. Poliz., vol. vii. p. 150.

430 History of Animal Plagues.

tongue and mouth, loud rales in the air-passages, the breath
becoming more fetid — all indicated the approach of death; their
absence G;ave tokens of a favourable recovery. An autopsy revealed
congestion, lividity, 'and ecchymosis of the lungs, with abscesses
and gangrenous spots on their surface, and flakes of gelatinous
matter of various colours. In the texture of the lungs were
found purulent infiltrations, which broke up the structure of the
lobes. These organs adhered to the pleurae, which often looked
thickened, inflamed, suppurating, or gangrenous. Considerable
effusions of reddish, putrid, foamy fluid were found in the thorax,
and sometimes pus, &c. It was thought that the origin of the
epizooty was due to variations in the atmosphere, cold and
heavy rains, the sudden transition from hot stables to the
cold air, or exposure to these rains. It was termed an acute in-
flammatory fever, or false malignant peripneumonia. 'This dis-
ease,' it is added,' though annual and familiar in our climate — often
even epizootic — is scarcely believed to be contagious; prudence,
nevertheless, should make us act as if it were. The ventilation of
the stables should be well attended to ; sudden removal from heat
to cold should be avoided, and the sick animals ought to be kept
in an equable temperature, and have only tepid gruel to drink. ^^
The symptoms were supposed to indicate a gangrenous in-
flammation of the lungs. The Veterinary School at Alfort was
consulted, and some of its pupils were despatched to the districts
where the disease was most deadly. The measures they pro-
posed had the happiest results, for whereas, before the arrival of
these men, the animals were dying in crowds, they were now
able to save 140 out of 160.

Froni the autumn of this year till the end of the year
1 78 1, the Cattle Plague ravaged Holland and Ostfriesland most
cruelly. "-^ We read the following facts relative to 1769, in
the Gazette de France for August 24th, 1770. 'During the

1 M. Bourgdat. Notes au Memoire de M. Barberet. Paidd. Op. cit., vol.
i. p. 407. Lafosse (Traite de Pathologic Veterinaire, vol. iii. p. 616) positively
asserts that this ' murie ' was the bovine contagious pleuro-pneumonia ; but surely
he must be mistaken. Horses, as well as cattle, were attacked, and the proportion
of recoveries by medical treatment in this epizooty is never reached in the deadly
lung disease of our days.

- Wdss. Von der Viehseuche, p. 119.

History of A niinal Plagues. 43 1

course of the last year, 9800 cattle died in the province of
Friesland. In South Holland, since the ist of April, 1769,
until the last month of the year, 115,665 head of cattle are
dead, and 40,454 have been cured. During the month of April,
669 have died, and 221 have been cured. In June followino; 309
deaths, and 67 cures have been reported. In West Holland,
since the 1st of April, 1769, until the last month of the year,
43'5^3 died, and 21,237 were cured. The number of those which
perished in April is ^^^, and those cured 231 ; in May 443 died
and 90 are cured; in June 160 deaths took place, and 423 were
cured. The total shows that 162,276 cattle died, and (>2,^^^
were cured. ^^ Dossie's statements, already furnished (page 354),
refer to this period.

Vice] d'Azyr, alluding to the prevention of this terrible disease,
makes a reference to the state of Holland — a reference quite as ap-
plicable to that country in 1865 and 1866. He says : ' In these
epizootics, we may resort to the most vigorous means, without
doing any injury to the duties and the qualities of a good adminis-
tration. We fail when we do not employ them. i. When we
have discovered a specific treatment, it is impossible to cause it to
be universally adopted over the country. 2. In a great number of
districts it is exceedingly difficult to induce the farmers to separ-
ate the healthy from the diseased. 3. If the communication
between the cattle cannot be prevented, we cannot expect to
keep away men, dogs, and other animals; their coverings neces-
sarily escape the vigilance of the administration. 4. The sale of
cattle, which is always effected in a clandestine manner, is also an-
other means of communication. 5. The slaughter [dssoimnc-
mcnt) of diseased cattle does not always succeed, because it is
necessary to wait before all the animals on a farm arc attacked
before we can kill them ; this requires a very long time — a circum-
stance which propagates the contagion and very much increases
the expenses. 6. It is well known that as soon as the contagion
reaches a farm, all the cattle are successively attacked, and that
scarcely one escapes. It is evident that once the law of killing
all the animals is brought into operation, it docs not much

' Cured here means recovered.

432. History of Animal Plagues.

matter to the proprietor whether he wait until all are attacked
with the disease or are killed at once. This urgent measure is
of advantage to him^ because he is then paid the full value ;
whereas he only gets a third when the malady has developed
itself. This severe law^ however^ requires great care in its exe-
cution^ if a government has not the courage to carry it out
everywhere at the same time. If not, then it becomes a vexatious
and onerous measure. 7. It is also established that the best
method of treatment, if we view it from every point, never cures
more than one-third of the cattle attacked. And while we are
trying to cure the cattle in one stable, the malady, perhaps be-
nignant in a village where it has first appeared, is communicated to
another in a very deadly form. 8. Everywhere, when the system
of killing has been followed on the largest scale — in England (in
1 8 15), in Austria, and in the eastern provinces, for example — the
malady has been altogether destroyed; it exists, on the contrary,
wherever people obstinately persist in medically treating the cattle,
because then the infected centres become so extensive and so nu-
merous that it is impossible to purify them all. Holland furnishes
an example. After the expose of the terrible destruction in that
country, the truth of which there can be no doubt, it is evident
that the most certain course to adopt is that of the slaughter of
not only the diseased cattle, but also the healthy ones which
have had communication with them; and to disinfect not only the
stables where the sick have been, but also those where the sus-
pected ones have dwelt. This strong measure stifles the pesti-
lential germ in its birth, and does not allow it to be developed
anew.^ ^

In this year, according to Wirth, the contagious pleuro-
pneumonia of cattle appeared in France, causing much loss.^
He alludes, I imagine, to the ^murie' in Franche-Comte, just
described.

The same writer informs us that the 'rot' [der Fdu(e) ap-
peared in calves and other herbivorous creatures in the Canton
Zurich, and great destruction resulted.^

A.D. 1770. In this year the sugar ants made their first appear-

' VicqiVAzyr. Expose des Moyens Curatifs et Preservatifs, &c. Paris, 1776,
- IVirt/i. Op. cit., p. 300. » Ibid. P. 1 23.

History of Animal Plagues. 433

ancc in Grenada, West Indies, having been carried thence by
smuirohng vessels from Martinico.^ An eruption of Vesuvius.
The harvest was very bad, the crops being damaged by the heavy
rains which fell during the year. Famine was severe in Germany,
Poland, and Russia, and disease of a very fatal character ap-
peared in mankind in Bohemia and Constantinople. Ergotism
was very prevalent; it had commenced in the past year, was more
severe in this, and yet more so in 1771-2. At the same time, in
many countries, the lower animals were suffering from disease.
Weikard notices this circumstance, as it presented itself to him in
Germany. 'About the end of the year 1770, horses, and especially
those kept in stables, were dreadfully afflicted with a certain putrid
disease. This fatal sickness amongst them continued throughout
nearly the whole year, and killed fifty of our very best. The putrid
epidemy [ep'idemia piitr'ida) was then unknown to us, but we
gradually became acquainted with its character. At first we
learned its nature by the morbid appearances exhibited after death;
for the most part the lungs were found gangrenous and corrupt,
evidently distinguishing it as a peripneumonic disease. It was
erroneously believed that it could be cured only by bleeding and
refrigerant remedies. It was also observed that a quantity of
fluid and mucus filled the mouth of the sick, that the abdomen
was swollen and tense, and the faeces very foul and more fluid
than usual. Post-mortem examinations of the intestines dis-
covered them to be inflated, and a yellow bilious matter abound-
ing m them, and from this we thought it bore at the same
time some resemblance to bilious fever. The happy realiz-
ation of a method of certain cure fevoured this opinion, for it
was found that by the use of purgatives and antiputrescent
remedies many could be saved. About the year 1771, also, the
same thing happened to wild creatures, for they were attacked,
as I believe, with an identical disease. In conijiarison of all the
others their destruction was noted as being more severe in the
most spacious menageries of our Prince.

'Some years, too, were fatal to the sheep; nor did birds
escape, for geese, as I remember, were killed by this malady,

^ B. Edwards. History of the West Indies, vol. i. p. 397.

2S

434 History of Animal Plagites.

which first attacked many pheasants reared In a beautiful garden
near Fulda, some of which I found when they were nearly
dead. When the diseased were examined, their gall-bladders
were found greatly distended with yellow bile, which passed
through its pores, and tinged the neighbouring tissues; if the
game-keepers speak true, the whole of the body was saturated
with bile after death. Behold an argument for the disease being
a putrid bilious aflTection 1 behold the harbinger of the putrid
epidemy of the human species now made known to us !^ ^

Wirth evidently traces some connection between this out-
break and the 'murie' observed in France in the previous year,
for he says: 'The horse-plague, which prevailed in 1770 at
Champagne in France, and at Fulda in Germany, was an inflam-
mation of the lungs, or a typhus disease with lung compli-
cations, which destroyed a great njultitude of horses.^

A contagious epizooty appeared in France amongst cattle,
which has been described by Bourgelat. It was apparently gan-
grene of the throat, but differed from the epizooty of 1762.
The disease appears to have concentrated itself chiefly in the
nasal cavities, and the upper parts of the respiratory and di-
gestive passages. Externally, nothing unusual was observable.
Bourgelat thus writes of the symptoms : ' The first day a very
great heat is felt in the horns, the ears, the extremities, and
nearly the whole of the body ; the pulse is quick and very
strong, the eyes sufflised and discharging tears, and the con-
junctivae inflamed. The animal eats, but less than usual ; the
blood drawn in this state is covered in a short time after ex-
posure to the air by a pellicle of a rose colour, and about a line
in thickness. This becomes re-covered and hidden by thick
blood of a deep red hue.

' On the second day there is a dry cough ; the pharynx and
the nasal cavities are slightly inflamed; the flanks are agitated;
the pulse announces a violent fever, and beats from sixty to
sixty-five and seventy times a minute; the heat becomes dry
and sharp ; the milk is cloudy and thicker than usual ; nausea
and loss of appetite are noticeable.

^ Wcikard. Observations Medic, p. 5. ^ Wirth. Op. cit., p. 156.

History of Animal Plagues, 435

'On the third day the disease is at its height, and perfectly de-
veloped bv reason of the augmentation of all the foregoing
symptoms: the cough is more frequent and harassing; the re-
spiration is very laborious; the beating of the flanks greatly
quickened ; a frothy saliva dribbles in an abundant stream from
the mouth ; the pituitary membrane is excoriated and puficd up
in such a way as to prevent the passage of air into the nasal
cavities; the parts at the back of the mouth are highly iiiflamed ;
a spumous yellow matter flows from the nostrils; the rumination
is performed at a longer or shorter interval than in health; the
excretion of faecal matters and of urine is considerably re-
tarded; the milk is thicker and yellower; the appetite always
more depraved ; the blood black and thick.

' On the fourth day, the disease being in its last stage, all the
parts which were before so hot are now cold ; this change comes
on in such a way that the extremities of the horns and the ears
exhibit it first, the cold insensibly creeping towards the roots of
these parts; the animal shivers, and there can be observed, par-
ticularly along the sides and the flanks, horripilation everywhere
over the paimiculus carnosits ; the pulse is scarcely perceptible ;
continual moans are emitted ; respiration is greatly impeded ;
the pituitary membrane is gangrenous; the discharge from the
nostrils is thin, fetid, and tinged with blood; the eyes are bleared
and nearly always closed; all the excretions are interrupted, and
the faeces from the rectum have an insupportable odour; the milk
is very thick, rusty, and ichorous; the cough is heard no more; no
appetite, no rumination ; lastly, mortification and a collu]uative
diarrhoea, which succeeds rapidly to the shivering, announces
the end of the animal, who dies without any violent cllort on
the fourth, or at the latest the fifth, day of the disease/ ^ The
causes could not be positively ascertained.

In Italy an epizocity amongst cattle. ' In 1770 a contagious
malady appeared in the bovine species, but did not extend
beyond the towns of Gognano and Costa, in the district and
province of Rovigo. The disease consisted in a diarrhcea, the
discharges being composed of a greenish matter often mixed with

' Boiirgdat. Mcmoire de 1770.

436 History of Animal Plagttes.

blood and very fetid, and causing the death of the animal in
from four to five days/ ^

The Cattle Plague was yet raging with renewed violence
in Holland/ in Belgium, and the North of France. Some of the
best authorities believed it had reappeared in Holland, and that
its origin could be traced to the commerce in fresh hides which
existed between that country and Hungary and Dalmatia. In
Holland alone, it was computed that 600,000 head of cattle
had perished. It is not improbable that the disease just de-
scribed by Bourgelat and Bottani was this fearful malady. In
1771, it was exceedingly fatal in Brabant; from thence it ad-
vanced to Flanders, and thence to Picardy, Artois, Boulonnais,
and Laonnais. The physician Dufot, in an excellent treatise,^ tells
us how it spread from infected districts, and penetrated the last-
named province. ' This epizootic disease,' he says, ' is conta-
gious in the strictest sense of the term. A cow brought from
Flanders communicated the disorder to other cows. The shep-
herds who, in these cantons, had been imprudent enough to
enter those villages where the disease was prevailing in all its
fury, carried it back to their own. The pestilential miasms at-
tach themselves to everything solid and palpable, and the mere
contact of these corpuscles gives rise to and perpetuates the
malady.^ It was so disastrous in its effects that the French Go-
vernment was obliged to give it their attention, and to solicit
the framing of precautionary measures by the Alfort College.
The symptoms enumerated give no new features to the malady
already so well known. Dufot observes that sometimes tumours
appeared under the skin; these sensibly augmented in size. He

1 Bottani. Op. cit., vol. vii. p. 78.

2 P. Camper. Brief aan den Hooggel. Utrecht, 1770. Leseen over de
Veepest. Vorles. liber das heutige herumgehende Viehsterben, aus dem Holland.
Von I. E. Lange. Copenhagen, 1771. Much that is valuable and interesting will
be found in the following works, published in Holland during the previous five
years : — Alia. Verhandelingen, &c., 1765- Noodige raadgevingen aan over-
heden en ingezetenen, &c., 1769. Forsten. Kort onderricht voor den Veehouder,
1767. Van Doevcrett. Raadgevingen om de inentinge der Ziekte van't Rundvee,
&c., 1769. Vink. Lessen over de herkaauwing der Rundern en de tans
woedende Veeziekte, 1 769.

^ Dr Dufot. Memoire sur la Maladie Epizootique du Pays Laonnois. Laon,
1771.

History of Animal Plagues. 437

named It a putrid-malignant fever, similar to that which attacks
mankind. The rumen contained much food, covered with a
tenacious and fetid mucus, and a hlackish humour lined its in-
ternal tunic. The other compartments were speckled by black
spots, and their lining membrane, which was easily detached, had
a livid colour. There were some points of suppuration in the
liver, and the gall-bladder was greatly distended. The lungs were
collapsed, and covered with gangrenous-looking patches. The
same kind of stains were noticed here and there on the pituitary
membrane, the oesophagus, and in the intestinal canal ; showing a
gangrenous dissolution of these textures. His remedial measures
are very silly; but with regard to those of a preservative kind, he
counsels, as the most certain and the only safe proceeding, the
sacrificing the first diseased beasts, and to take all other precau-
tions to destroy or avert the contagion.

In Austrian Flanders Dr Le Cat, physician to the Empress,
and residing at Ghent, was ordered to investigate the malady.
The chief value of his labours consisted in the convincing testi-
mony he produced to show that there was no other cause for the
extension of the plague in that country than the communication,
direct or indirect, of the virus from one individual to another, and
from one place to another. He lauded all kinds of remedies for
the cure of the sick, and among others sulphur acid in the water
given them to drink. He came to the happy conclusion, how-
ever, that there was no other recourse to put an end to the con-
tagion than killing all the diseased cattle ; and the orders given
on his suggestion were rigorously carried out in some villages
where the disease had shown itself; four hundred animals were
killed, and the epizooty disappeared.

The erysipelas of pigs {rollilaufes), a form of anthrax, was
very prevalent in Germany. Wirth testifies to the repeated ap-
pearance of this peculiar malady in Switzerland during the last
century.^

Orraeus says : ' At a later period, we made our general resid-
ence at StofVeln, a village some distance without the city, and in

* Wirth. Op. cit., p. no. Schciblcr. SammUinij mcikwiirdigor Tliicikrank-
heiten, p. 179. This writer terms the affectiuii the Brown disease of Swine [_Die
Brdiine der Schweine).

438 History of Animal Plagues.

the midst of those vast vineyards which surround the metropolis
of Moldavia ; and at the first I collected a good many specimens
of insectSj but after a little while some infection came and drove
them all away. Two years later I revisited Jassy, at the same time
of the year, but under more favourable auspices; I then saw plenty
of all kinds of insects. I believe in the truth of the following ob-
servation, which is altogether curious, and which is derived from
the pharmacopeia of Moscow, and is worthy of belief. For many
years back, swarms of small ants crept into the receptacles where
syrup was kept every summer, and they could never be extirpated
by any artifice ; but during the whole time of the plague not one
appeared, though in the year after it had disappeared they all
came back again. With regard to birds, it is related that the
smaller song-birds which lived in caves died of the disease in
their abodes, and that mice and dormice, however numerous
they may have been in former times, had now vanished ; for the
truth of this, however, I cannot vouch. But concerning many
birds, such as ravens, crows, magpies, and others, I am able to
affirm, that I observed a multitude of them at Moscow as usual,
but during this particular time, they became much scarcer, and
I have rarely been able to see any flying about. ^ ^

In India great clouds of flies were remarked, and in North
America a strange invasion of black worms occurred. These
were about an inch and a half long, and devoured corn and
grass. They were generated suddenly in the Northern States,
and so numerous were they that they covered a surface of
country equal to two or three hundred miles. These creatures
moved nearly all in the same direction, and when intercepted by
deep furrows in ploughed land, they fell into them and formed
great heaps. They disappeared all at once towards the end of
June.^ Rabies in dogs commenced in this part of the world at
this time.^ A tremendous shock of earthquake was experienced
in the month of June at St Domingo, which caused much havoc,
and destroyed a great part of the island. Famine followed this

1 Orrcsus. Descriptio Pestis, &c., p. 63.

2 New England Farmer, a7-t. ' Infection.'

3 IVcbste?: A Hist, of Epid. and Pest. Diseases, 1800.

History of Animal Plagues. 439

accident, and the hardship and misery ensuing was very terrible.
It is said that during the earthquake innumerable fissures were
opened in the ground throughout the island, from which mephi-
tic vapours emanated, and that these produced the disease which
followed.^ An cpizoiJtv of anthrax was a result of these misfor-
tunes, and the unfortunate slaves of North St Domingo expe-
rienced a most awful famine; for the cod fishery entirely failed,
and the Spanish Colonists, to provide sufficient food, were com-
pelled to salt or smoke the flesh of all their cattle — dead or
dving from the anthracoid malady. The consequence was, that
acarbuncular epidemy appeared, and in less than six weeks more
than fifteen thousand black and white people had perished. The
plague did not cease until the consumption of the poisonous
flesh or ' tassau ^ was interdicted."

Pallas mentions that the Siberian anthrax {Yasv(i) was very
prevalent among the cattle, and even attacked the camels, in 1755
and 1767, in the province of Isetsk. In 1768, it was wider spread
than in any former period. With the Baschkirs of this province,
the epizooty attacked the camels before it visited the other
domestic animals, and so destructive was it with them, that the
breeding of this useful creature had to be discontinued. They also
lost the greater part of their cattle. In 1770, during the visit of
Pallas, the maladv was raging in all its fury in the southern and
eastern part of this province, especially where the country was
open, and had marshes, salt lakes, or lakes of sweet water. The
disease was almost annual, but in this year it was more than
usually mortal. Pallas states that, at the same time, an epidemy
raged in mankind. The disease usually manifested itself during
the hottest months, especially when south winds prevailed ; it
ceased when those from the north began to blow ; if these arc
late the plague may last until the end of the autumn. The
mortality is then very great; all the horses and cattle perish at
the same time; though the ravages are greater in some districts
than in others, it is rare that men or animals arc attacked in the
interior of towns or fortresses. Men do not usually feel its efiects

> Lyell. Op. cit.

2 riaciJc-'Justin. Ilistoire dc I'lle (I'llnyti, p. 120.

440 History of Animal Plagues.

until they go into the country, and particularly to damp regions,
and the majority of animals are attacked at pasture. During the
expeditions of the Russian troops against the Kirghis^ it was dis-
covered that in the low-lying deserts where lakes were, the disease
lasted nearly the whole period of the summer heat. The day
after passing through one of these places a number of horses
were certain to die of the epizooty, and then the whole began to
experience its cruel effects. Pallas thought the epidemy reigning
in winter in many places was a different one; it manifested itself
by boils and ulcers in man and animals. He saw a disease of
this kind near the Irtisch, in winter. The people called it the
Moravaia-Yasva, or plague; but it was only a gangrenous esqui-
nancy.

He imagined the principal cause of the plague was due to an
insect flying in the air, and probably imperceptible to the eye.
The disease attacked, by preference, men, horses, oxen, and cows,
— sheep being safe, owing to the thickness of their wool. There
were countries which, though near those most visited by the
scourge, yet escape; they owed this immunity to the purity of the
soil. It is rare that a year passes without an invasion on the
Irtisch ; whereas at Barabin, near Bourla, about a hundred versts
from that river, it has never been seen, owing to its fresh air.
All the horses from the fortresses are sent here to pasture. The
symptoms were better noted in man than in animals. The dis-
ease showed itself, all at once, in the healthiest subjects of all ages,
and of either sex. At first the skin became slightly reddened,
and then appeared a small, inflamed, hard pimple, as if produced
by the sting of a gadfly. These tumours appeared on covered, as
well as uncovered parts, but most usually on the face in man, and
the flanks and bellies of animals. They increased in size and
hardness with remarkable rapidity, and in such a manner that a
needle might be buried in the swollen part without any pain being
felt. Externally, there was seen in the centre of the tumour a red
or bluish spot, similar to that produced by the sting of an insect.
If a remedy was not promptly applied, gangrene set in, and much
injury resulted. Animals usually died, because the people were
careless, and the tumour was late in making its appearance; but
people, in consequence of timely treatment, nearly always re-

H

History of Aiiinial Plagues. 441

covered. From the symptoms, and the success of particular
kinds of remedies, Pallas was confirmed in his opinion that the
disease was due to a venomous insect abounding in these humid
regions during the summer's heat, and which might have some
affinitv to Linnajus's Fi/ria Infenicdis. The same means for keep-
ing away insects also sufficed as a preventive of this plague; these
were burning fires in the pastures, which the horses and cattle
instinctively drew near as the evening set in, the time when
they were most incommoded. Fires were lighted in pits near
the doors through which these animals had to pass on their way
to the grazing grounds; but it was superstitiously believed that
these should be lighted by the living fire (Tchivoi-ogon), or that
produced by rubbing two pieces of stick together. These fire-
holes were seen along the borders of the Oui and Siberia, and
were looked upon with great veneration, fires being kindled in
them wherever the epizooty or epidemy declared itself.

In 1 77 1, one of Pallas' companions travelling beyond the
line of the Irtisch, remarks that the horse-epizouty was prevalent
at Oustkamenogorsk, and that large numbers had perished. He
thought, nevertheless, that much of the mortality was due to
the worms engendered in their stomachs, and which were seen
in the posi-murl on examinations; the best remedy was to make
the horses drink, in the month of May, very salt water.

At Tschoumliazk, a large number of horses were attacked by
the epizooty, in which, says Pallas, they had a large and deep
ulcer under the skin of the back, which contained a worm, but
from the description given he did not believe this coidd be the
cause of the Siberian disease.

The peasants of Obi used to be well off in possessing large
droves of excellent horses and cattle, but during some years the
epizooty so common on the Irtisch showed itself in their country,
and for five years had caused great destruction.^

A tremendous flood occurred in Virginia, wliich entirely
Rwei)t away Elk Island, on which were seven hundred iiead of
anin)als — horses, oxen, sheep, and hogs, and nearly one hundred
houses.^ About this time, according to Sinclair, ' began the dis-

^ Voyages dans Plusieurs Provinces de I'luiipiic de Russic, vols. iii. iv.
'■* Scots' Magazine, vol. x.wiii.

442- History of Animal Plagues.

ease among potatoes in Scotland, which for many years infested
them/ In America, anginas and catarrhs prevailed.^

A.D. 1771. The epizooty of rabies, which was noticed as
having commenced last year in North America, was this year
very prevalent in dogs and foxes, particularly in Boston and
its neighbourhood. An epizooty also began in the same local-
ity amongst horned cattle, which did not cease until 1785.
These events are thus noticed : '' About 25 years past there was
an epidemic distemper among dogs causing a great mortality.
In 1768 horses were generally affected with a disorder of the
head and throat which proved fatal to many, and much injured
the serviceableness of those that survived. About theyear 1770,
there were some instances of the rabies canina ; happily but few
dogs were affected, and but few persons were bit ; their rage
principally fell upon swine. In 1771, a mortal distemper pre-
vailed among foxes, and greatly reduced their numbers; about
this time, or not long after, a distemper appeared among neat
cattle, which destroyed many, and has continued to this day.
The distempers that befell these several kinds of animals were
said not to have been known in the country before, more espe-
cially that which has affected neat cattle, and which has gen-
erally been considered as a new disease. It is commonly called
the horji-d'istemper, and cows are more especially subject to it;
oxen but seldom; bulls are said to be exempt from it, also steers
and heifers under three years of age. It is a disease that affects
the internal substance of the horn, commonly called the pith,
insensibly wastes it, and leaves the horn hollow. The pith is a
spongy bone, whose cells are filled with an unctuous matter; it
is furnished with a great number of small blood-vessels, is over-
spread with a thin membrane, and appears to be united by
suture to the bones of the head, and is projected to a point.
This spongy bone, in the horn-distemper, is sometimes partly,
and sometimes entirely, wasted. The horn loses its natural heat,
and a degree of coldness is evident upon handling it; when it is
only in one horn (which is often the case) a manifest difference
between the one and the other will be perceived^ and in all cases

1 T. Forskr. Op. cit., p. 169.

I

History of Animal Plagues. 443

a want of natural heat will be apparent; wherever this is found,
there is no room to doubt of the disorder being present; yet it
is seldom suspected without a particular acquaintance with other
symptoms that commonly attend this distemper, and for want of
knowing these, the farmer has often lost his cattle, not even
suspecting the evil. The symptoms are — a dulness in the coun-
tenance of the beast, a sluggishness in moving, a heaviness of
the eyes, a failure of appetite, an inclination to lie down, an
aversion to rise^ and, when accompanied by an inflammation of
the brain, a giddiness and frequent tossing of the head; besides
these, the limbs are sometimes affected with stiffness like a rheu-
matism, and in cows the milk often fails, the udder is hard,
and in almost all cases there is a sudden wasting of the flesh.
(Neat cattle are subject to a disorder commonly called the tail-
sickness, which is a wasting of the bony substance of the tail,
and if not cut off or dilated as far as the defect reaches, often
proves fatal. It frequently accompanies the horn distemper.)
From the number of cows seized with this distemper in the space
of a fortnight, a suspicion arose that the distemper was infec-
tious; time, however, has shown that it is not so, at least, in any
great degree, for it frequently happens, that among many cattle
herding together, one of them shall have the distemper and the
others remain in perfect health.'^ The disease was cured by
boring a hole in the substance of the horn, opening its cavity,
and allowing the accumulated matter to escape. This malady
resembles to some extent a disease which is frequent amongst
draught oxen in France, where it is called Cdtarrhe des Comes, but
its usual cause is an injury. In this epizooty it appears to have
had no such origin, and I am unable to find another instance of
this peculiar malady occurring in a general manner in any
country.

After the pestilence in man at Moscow and in Wallachia, the
' distemper ' of dogs is noticed for the first time in these countries.
It is described by Orraius: ' I am inclined to believe that it is not
incongru(nis to suppose that the plague amongst hunting dogs,

1 Col/oii Tufts. Memoirs of tlic American Academy of Arts aiul Sciences.
Boston, 17S5. Vol. i. p. 529.

444 History of Animal Plagues.

which, so far as I can leariij was never before observed, followed
the plague of men, and for many years, especially in the autumn,
increased at Moscow and in this vicinity, and perhaps elsewhere,
though there is little notice of it. The disease generally ran its
course in this manner: respiration was difficult, with panting and
protrusion of the tongue; the food was rejected, the eyes were in-
flamed and projecting; afterwards the animals became languid,
and the white of the eyes was then scarcely visible. The glands of
the neck, and even the head itself, were swollen ; in other cases,
the subaxillary or inguinal glands were involved. These swollen
glands suppurated either spontaneously, or by the speedy applica-
tion of emollient and maturating remedies; or there was a dis-
charge of mucus, analogous to pus, from the nostrils in those
which recovered; in others which had not these symptoms, death
took place in three or four days. In some instances there was
diarrhoea instead of these swellings, and the animals were unable
to stand ; if raised up, they immediately fell down again on their
sides. When they became convalescent, they were often afflicted
with paralysis of the hinder extremities, and either at last died of
marasmus, or if young, after a long interval, gradually became
well. This disease was so contagious, that if one was affected
all the others were seized in a very short space; while other
dogs readily carried it from these to other places. Men, how-
ever, were never affected by it, though they handled the sick
animals. Also in Wallachia, after the serious plague of mankind,
this plague of dogs was observed, as eye-witnesses informed
me.'^

An epizooty showed itself arnongst fowls in Germany, coinci-
dently with ergotism in man. Taube says: 'When, in the spring
of 1 77 1, 1 was continuing my journeys through the villages where
there were still unfortunate sick people, I found such a general
dearth of voung poultry as had not been known since the French
war. On the other hand, in those neighbourhoods where the
ergotism [Kriehel-krankhc'it) was unknown, one heard nothing of
this scarcity, or at least it was not so general. I will draw no in-
ferences from this circumstance, but only add that every house-

^ OrrcBHS. Op. cit., p. 155.

History of Animal Plag2ics. 445

wife complained that her hens would not hatch, and that they
laid but tew eggs. In most localities where ergotism raged, I
know nothing for certain beyond the fact, that, at mv request,
two fowls were sent to me from the vicinity of Hankensbuttel, in
both of which had been observed symptoms of spasms. They were
really so afl'ected, for at one time they would crouch down, and
at another fall on their side, droop their heads, and scratch with
their feet. After a time they would get up, but then they ap.
peared cramped, and would stretch them selv^es out again. They fed
well for fourteen days, and afterwards lived for eight days
longer, but refused their food, became ill, and died on the fourth
week.-'^ In Saxony, great numbers of geese died from epizootic
pityriasis. * The weather in the early part of the year 1771
favoured the production of innumerable varieties of insects. The
geese in many places suffered most, and there were great com-
plaints, especially in Saxony, regarding the general mortality
among these creatures. On close inspection of their skins, one
found swarms of small lice which differed much from the so-
called goose-louse, being of quite a distinct and more, minute
species.^ ^

Epizootic aphthous fever appeared in Paris. Lafosse, jun,,
writes : ' On the 12th of January, 1771, I was called by a man
named Antoine Louvet, living near the Barri^re-Blanche, to see
some cows which had been attacked by an epidemic disease, and
which had already killed all those it seized. I opened some of
the dead animals, and found the pharynx, oesophagus, and trachea
covered with aphthae. I also found the intestines gangrenous and
full of liquid, which was of the same nature as the dysenteric
dejections they had been passing five or six days before their
death.' ^

Pallas speaks of ovine small-pox as prevalent in Siberia.'
A.D. 1772. An epizooty among cattle and sheep in Saxony.
Anthracoid diseases in Auvergne and Champagne, as well as in
Dijon, France. In the West Indian Islands, at St Domingo,

' Tattbc. Gcschichte der Kriebel-Krankhcit.

* Rohlwcs. Die Federviehzucht. Berlin, 1821.
' Diclionnaire d'IIippiatri(|uc, (7;'/. 'Aphtlies.'

* Voyages dans I'lusicurs rrovinces, &c., vol. iv. p. 19.

44^ History of Animal Plagues,

an epizooty broke out which was at one tUTie supposed to be the
Cattle Plague, at another gangrenous sore-throat ; and Heusin-
ger thinks it might have been a new outbreak of the anthrax
disease, which may have lingered from 1770 to this year. 'A
very afflicting case of destruction amongst cattle has occurred to
augment those which have arisen since 1772; it is an epizooty
that, if we may so speak, has attacked all animals in succession,
and has inflicted the most dreadful destruction on our colonies ;
these ravages are all the more cruel, because they have given rise,
in some instances, to those suspicions which oppose the adoption
of proper remedies for a disease that has already desolated entire
countries in Europe,' ^

Franque^ shows that in the Duchy of Nassau, from this
year until 1830, bovine epizootic pleuro-pneumonia was scarcely
ever absent.

A.D, 1773. This year was remarkable for the great numbers
of mice observable everywhere.^ The Cattle Plague still afflicted
Holland, and scarcely had Flanders and Picardy begun to repair
their losses in cattle, than the embers of this scourge, which had not
in all probability been thoroughly extinguished inthe twopreceding
years, or were, perhaps, stirred up by some fresh importation from
Holland, blazed out anew, and with all its dreaded fury, in this
vear. It desolated a large portion of Flanders, especially all the
district of Lille, and quickly the generalities of Soissons and
Amiens were involved in the same unhappy fate; above all,
however, the districts lying along the banks of the river Oise
suffered most severely. The malady did not differ much, in its
essential features, from the varieties and phenomena it presented

in 1745-

In this year, the immortal Haller published his investigations
into the nature of an epizooty which had several tinies been
observed in Switzerland. The great physician thought it was
the Cattle Plague, but no one can read his description of
this Swiss malady without surmisinsr that it is a different disease

1 Morcau de Saint Alery. Chabert. Instructions, &c., vol. iii. p. 261.
- Franqice. Geschichteder Hausthierseuchen im Herzogth. Nassau. Frankfort,
1834.

^ Walter. Forstphysiographie, p. 159.

History of Anivial Plagues. 447

and in all probability the bovine contagious plcuro-pneunionia.
Such an authority needs no apology tor being quoted here,
especially as his preventive measures are worthy of notice^ and
would have saved this country a great loss had they been
adopted in recent days.

T.

^The first thing necessary to know is the nature of the
disease. This knowledge is not easily acquired^ for often it
does not manifest itself by any perceptible symptoms for a
long enough period. The veritable cause of death is the work
of nothing but corruption^ which often affects the intestines;
— corruption which is the consequence, and not the cause of the
disease. It is necessary to attribute, without doubt, to the diffi-
culty of recognizing this disease, the great ravages which it has
made amongst the cattle of the most enlightened nations, before
they knew its terrible character or the means to prevent its pro-
gress. In a general way, it is described as manifesting itself by
a violent fever, by shiverings, by staring of the coat, by loss of
rumination; but all these symptoms do not appear until the
malady has already made deadly advances in the interior of the
animal. We are told that, for a certainty, a beast taken out of
an infected stable and transported to a perfectly healthy atmo-
sphere, does not become sick until a month after it has been
removed from the diseased locality, and that it perishes from the
veritable contagion which, without doubt, had been concealed
during the whole of this month in the body of the animal. It
is also a fact that the diseased cattle jump about for some weeks
with vivacity ; that they give their usual (juantity of milk ; that
they eat their forage with avidity ; that they work .in harness,
and yet that they carry death in their intestines. The only
sign of pneumonia (^^ pulmonic ^^) which is to be noticed from
the commencement, is a slight cough, which aflfects the animal
notwithstanding all the ai)parent signs of good health. It is
not for some days or weeks after the beast has become infected
that fever shows itself by shivering and erect hair. The cough
now augments, the animal moans, its strength dinnnishes, it
cannot stand, and lies very often; it has a difficulty in breath-

448 History of Animal Plagues.

ingj the pulse is frequent; the heat and the fever become in-
tensified. It is now that it ceases to eat and to ruminate. The
disease prevails during some days ; the fever augments from day
to day; the veins (?) beat with a force and a quickness which is
astonishing ; a gluey foam runs from the nostrils and the mouth
of the creature; the tongue is hot; the breath is heavy and
gurgling, and its odour is insupportable ; the eyes are buried in
their orbits ; the horns become cold ; a diarrhoea of a bad odour,
and sometimes tinged with blood, and a thorough total sinking,
terminate the beast's days. This diarrhoea does not always take
place.

2.

'When we open the cattle after death, we find the lungs con-
stantly and infallibly attacked. We might know this from the
cough and the difficulty of breathing which precedes death. In
all the contagions which have reigned at Sulens, Grandson,
at Grassy, and elsewhere, the lungs have always been inflamed
and attached to the pleurae, and an aposteme often formed be-
tween the lungs and this membrane. I find the same observation
in the best authorities who have written on the contagion, and
particularly in the writings of M. Bourgelat, who has made the
curing of these animals a particular study. In many cows the
lungs are found gangrenous ; in others they are filled with
abscesses; and in others, again, there are vesicles filled with water
mixed sometimes with pus; it is more rare to find tartarized or
cretaceous matter. There is constantly inflammation and gan-
grene in the pleura, and we have never yet killed infected animals
and found the lunijs in the natural state. The couffh being; the
first symptom of this disease, it is present in every animal affected.
The lungs being constantly altered, it is clear that the disease of
these is the essence of the contagion, and that it is with perfect
justice the people term it, both in France and Germany, pneumo-
nia. The alterations in the other viscera are not so essential as
those in the lungs. It is common, nevertheless, to find the
stomach Inflamed and gorged with food. It is scarcely altered
when the animals are killed shortly after the commencement of the
disease; but when they have been slaughtered in the last stages.

History of Animal Plagues. 449

or when they have died, the first compartment is inflamed, the
food is found little affected by digestion, or it may he even rot-
ten. The second compartment is equally inflamed, and filled
with forage which is undigested. The third compartment suflers
the most, and it is very often found inflamed and gangrenous,
the food in it being extremely compact and dry, and sometimes
rotten {pourri). The fourth, or true stomach, is frequently inflamed
and gangrenous, but the food is not hardened.

' From the first days of the malady the beast has eaten and
ruminated, and as it would not be able to maintain cither of
these functions if the stomach had become inflamed, it is very
evident that the corruption of the stomach is a consequence of
the fever and the putridity of the juices of the beast, and that it
is not the cause of the disease. The animal has been infected,
and the stomach has maintained its health for a number of days,
and it is only by a corruption of the humours that it is found
vitiated. M. Bonrgelat has found the stomach in the same
state of inflammation, and the same engorgement of forage, in
every beast mortally attacked, no matter what acute malady it
may have been.

' It is the same in the intestines, which are often found in-
flamed, and even gangrenous; and this corruption appears to be
the efiect of the rotting of the food which the stomach has
passed into the intestines, and which attacks them.

3-

' An extraordinary dilatation of the gall-bladder is frequently
met with, and yet it is only a somewhat constant accident of the
contagion. It may arise from a retention of the bile in the cyst,
because the stomach having lost its function, the bile is not
evacuated. We may infer that this is the cause, for men who
have died of hunger, or were so injured by some violent disease
that they could not take food, have usually the gall-bladder
dilated. Sometimes, also, we have observed an emphysema
under the skin, often on those parts on which the animal has
lain; this is only an cfli;ct of the putrelaction {[xiiirrUtirc). We
have the same eflljet exhibited in the fat, which is often in a corrupt
state in those animals that have died of the contagion; yet

29

45 o Histoi'y of Animal Plagues.

the flesh of those beasts cannot be constantly vitiated, for in
those countries where measures of police are neglected, the poor
people eat the flesh of infected oxen. We have scarcely observed
the odour of the skins, but they have been found of a softer
texture than in an animal in health. In other countries, ab-
scesses have been scattered under the whole surface of the skin,
and some doctors have regarded them as a salutary evacuation,
but nothing similar has been observed in the contagion of this
country. It is more common to find a yellowish fluid in the
cavity of the chest, but this is not constant; and we have opened
cattle which had one side filled with this fluid, and none on
the other. The country people have distinguished two kinds of
pneumonia, the drij and the humid, but there is no foundation
for this distinction.

4-
' The true nature of a disease is known by the accidents which
accompany it in its duration, and by the changes which we ob-
serve on the autopsy of the animal, when compared with the
organs of the body in health. But the essential features of the
disease ought to consist in the symptoms which are manifested
from the beginning, and which have continued during life ; and
in the marks of corruption in the interior which are the actual
causes of these symptoms, it requires care not to be deceived by
these accidents, which are a consequence of the corruption of
the humours, and are only most apparent in the later stages of
the disease. It is believed that the contagion amongst the cattle
is an inflammatory fever; a malignant fever; a fever accompanied
by an eruption on the skin; as well as an inflammation of the
stomach. The ancients have got very near the truth, and the
vulffar have known the nature of the disease better than the
learned. It is evident that it is a disease of the lungs, which
commences by an inflammation, running often into gangrene,
at other times into abscesses, and which terminates in phthisis.
It is very astonishing that amongst the number of modern
doctors who have written on a contagion existing for so many
years, scarcely one has observed that the seat of the disease
exists in the lungs, or even that these were attacked.

History of Animal Plagues. 451

5-
'The doctors have established their remedial measures to cure
this disease, on the notion that they knew its nature. Those
who look upon it as an inflammatory fever recommend bleeding,
and remedies of a soothing and cooling kind ; those who admit
a corruption of the blood have ordered febrifuge and stimulating
remedies, and those who consider it a putrid fever counsel the
administration of acids, and in Brandenburg wild apples have
been recommended as a specific. Others, again, have proposed
quinine, and others mercury, while the people have recourse in
general to incongruous compositions, and to old-fashioned
recipes. The ancients looked much to setons, to the root of
hellebore passed through the skin, so as to establish a long
suppuration. But it has been discovered by sad experience
in Holland and in England that these remedies are impotent ;
all hope of curing this disease has been lost, and people are con-
tent to mitigate it by inoculation. We pass in silence the pre-
tended preservatives by which it is supposed animals arc insured
against the contagion, and to which no man of sense would give
any confidence, seeing that they are useless against the plague,
the small-pox, and other contagious diseases.

6.

' A long experience has taught us that remedies arc useless
acrainst the contagion. The beginning of the disease is nearly
imperceptible, and when the symptoms are manifested the cure
has become almost impossible. The use of remedies is otherwise
dangerous, for the infection is really communicated by the
breath and the exhalations ; we have a proof of this in the foul
smell attaching to the clothes of people who look after the dis-
eased beasts. We cannot hope to cure in a day a disease of so
serious a character; and thus the diseased creature which lives
in the same stable with other cattle, and feeds and drink with
them, may infect tlieni during the time we are unsuccesshillv tr\-
ing to cure it. 1"hese same exhalations may also lodge in the
clothes of those who go about them, and thus become danger-
ous to the animals vet in health.

452- History of Animal Plagzies.

' We cannot, then, hope for any good from remedies. For
more than two thousand years, an infinite number of the most
learned men have given their most constant attention to observ^-
ing the eifects of medicines on mankind. We know well enough
the value of simples, the properties which they have of stimulat-
ing or evacuating, and their dose. But we have not nearly the
same knowledge to guide us when we deal with animals : few
talented persons have observed their diseases ; the art of curing
them has been left to men of low condition, who have no know-
ledge of the anatomy of the lower creatures, and who have not
informed themselves by the study of nature, or of good authors.
The cattle-doctors invariably follow the same routine traced by
the ancient veterinarians, and their science consists of divers
receipts, which they have found amongst the papers of their pre-
decessors.

'The structure of the stomach of cattle is very different from
that of man ; in general the envelopes of their nerves are much
more thick, the sensations less active, the pulse less frequent, the
arteries more hard, and the heart less irritable. All these pe-
culiarities change the effect of remedies in animals, in a way
quite different to man; and it is only within a few years that
convincing proof has been afforded of the difference between the
effect which a remedy has on man and animals. The safran
of metals is a violent emetic for human beings; in the horse it
only increases the transpiration ; a dose of the glass of anti-
mony, which produces violent vomiting in mankind, simply
purges the horse ; no poison will make a horse or a cow vomit.
Because the effects of medicines, therefore, on the lower animals
are so little known; because scarcely any one has observed closely
enough the diseases of cattle, or given certain rules for the ex-
hibition of proper remedies; because the use of remedies can
only tend to spread the contagion — for all these reasons it is
prudent to abstain from a dangerous tentative which promises
but little, and which may have the worst effects; and it is in-
finitely preferable to oppose the disease by means which are more
certain and commendable.

History of Animal Plagues. 453

'We begin by disabusing the public of the idea that the
pneumonia {la Pulmonic) is not a contagious disease. This out-
rageous idea even comes from some savants; there are those, too,
who rob the plague of its contagious power. I do not pretend
to say that the skin of an infected beast preserves its contagious
properties for a long time after death ; experiments on this
matter, which deserve attention, have been made in France. It
is necessary, nevertheless, to remember that the plague attaches
itself by preference to the wool and the hair of animals, that it
may be transported by these matters, and that they will spread
the contagion to other towns and countries free from the con-
tagion. It is, then, possible that the empoisoned exhalations of
the diseased beast attach themselves to the hairs of the animals
which go near it. It is at least certain in our country, that as
often as the disease is manifested amongst cattle, and when it
has been traced to its source, it has been found that a beast
which had been purchased in the market of some suspected
place, or which had been brought from some infected locality,
has carried the contagion with it to the new centre. Sometimes,
also, the cattle of our regions have been depastured with those
of a neighbouring infected country. It is very probable that, at
other times, the air of the infected mountains has spread the dan-
gerous exhalations over our country. We believe we have ob-
served that the healthy cattle which had smelled those that were
diseased have shown, a few hours after, traces of the contagion.
It is known that the ship from Sidon brought the plague to
Marseilles, and that the bull which was taken from Hungary to
Padua in 171 1, took with it the fearful contagion which first
ravaged Italy, and then nearly the half of E^urope. It thus
appears that the plague of man and the Cattle Plague take
their origin in hot countries, that they can infect temperate
regions, and that they are gradually destroyed during the cold
of some rigorous winter. That which is yet a better proof
that the pneumonia is perpetuated by infection, as the plague is,
is the manner in which we can confine it in suspected places,
and by cutting uiX all con)ii)unication between the stables in-

454 History of Animal Plagues.

fected and those which are not. If this malady was generated
spontaneously^ like the ordinary fevers of man, we would in vain
barricade the infected stables, in vain we would slaughter the
cattle of a village, and it would be useless to isolate the moun-
tains by barriers and by guards. All these precautions would not
keep away a disease which has its origin in the blood itself of the
healthiest cattle.

^This contagion, however, does not spread very far, and it
does not infect a column of air for any great distance. If the
air were infected — if it was able to carry afar the poison of the
disease, the barriers and other precautionary measures of man
would be unavailino;. In this there is the greatest resemblance
between the disease of cattle and the plague of man. The
monks and nuns of Marseilles were preserved because they kept
their convents closed. The air was not, then, the cause of the
disease, else the closure of the convents would not have pre-
vented the pestilence from entering. The police have often con-
fined this disease of cattle to a stable, or a small number of
stables, and so prevented others being attacked.

8.

'It follows from all this, that, on the one side, the disease arises
from infection, and on the other, that there are no hopes of a
cure. There only remain, then, those resources which we may
employ to prevent infection, and for confining to the smallest
limits the loss which might happen when animals are first
attacked by this poison. These efforts should be directed to pre-
vent the infection being communicated from other countries to
ours ; or if it should have penetrated, then to stop its spreading
from the diseased to the healthy. Above all things, then, we
ought to hinder the entrance of cattle from a country where the
pneumonia nearly always reigns, sometimes in one district, some-
times in another; and these precautions ought to remain in force
at all times, and be perpetual in regard to those countries
where the police is not strict, and from which the disease might
be carried to ours. The danger will be always great if the
trade in cattle is carried on without inspection. This precaution
is all the more necessary against the countries vvhosc rulers care

History of A iihnal Plagues. AtSS

little for the welfare of the people, and in whieh the people have
no confidence in the administration. I'he poor people of a
country, despairing of being aided by the government, conceal
with extreme care the existence of the contagion; to evade more
onerous consequences, they even inter the cattle in their stables,
and it is very natural that thev should endeavour to sell at a
modest price those beasts which incur great danger to their
neighbours. In the countries where the ruler has a paternal feel-
ing for his subjects, where he is always disposed to soften their
losses, where he generously takes into account the expenses
necessarily attending precautions, and where he gains the con-
fidence of the people, the inhabitants at once denounce the dis-
ease, submit to the necessary restrictions, and rely on the wisdom
of their king for their preservation, and the amelioration of their
hardships. A wise government ought to prevent the contagion,
and not wait until it has invaded the country, but check it at its
frontiers, where it is easy to do so. The police ought, then, even
in times of the greatest apparent security, to take care that no
animal shall become diseased without responsible people being
informed. Even in ordinary times every animal purchased or
sold ought to be vouched for, and should be marked on the horn
with a particular stamp for each village, which mark ougjit to be
renewed whenever it becomes efikced ; so that, by this proof, we
may know \\ hat village it comes from, and assure ourselves of the
health of that village. For the same reasons, no cattle should
be admitted to fairs or markets, sold or exchanged, without a
voucher being given of perfect health, impressed and signed by
the authorities, testifying to the health of the animals and that
of the place from whence they have come. For this purpose in-
spectors are necessary. They should destroy cattle which are
brought without attestations, and give the flesh to the poor ;
there are but few cases when less rigorous measures are needed.

9-

* Notwithstanding all these precautions, the extent of the

frontiers, the want of care of our neighbours, the exhalations

from the infected iTiountains where the disease is raging, the

greed of gain, and the desire to purchase at a low price, as well

45 6 History of Animal Plagties.

as the other failings of a police so difficult to enforce in human
society, are all causes which may aid the contagion in insinuat-
ing itself into some village or on some mountain. In this un-
fortunate cascj it only rests with us to smother the flame in its
first commencement, and to prevent its extension. Every per-
son who may have any knowledge of the disease, or even any
suspicion of its existence among cattle, should be held liable to a
heavy penalty if the nearest magistrate is not at once informed;
also when a non-suspected beast becomes diseased or dies, the
proprietor or other instructed persons should give information,
and the proper authorities should then pass on the tidings.
Whoever conceals any suspected case should be severely pun-
ished. Every precaution should then be made to extinguish the
disease.

lO.

^The first of these precautions is the prompt separation
of the diseased beast. So long as it is suspected it ought
neither to be allowed to drink, feed, pasture, or dwell with the
healthy. It should be kept in a separate stable, or in an en-
closed paddock, and those who attend it should wear clothes
appropriate for that purpose — never ev^en approaching healthy
animals. The trough out of which this animal drinks ought not
to be used for the healthy, the dung should not be spread on the
ground or carried away, but should be buried in deep pits and
well covered with earth, and these places should be surrounded
by palings, so that no healthy beast may be able to smell it.

' When the infected animal has been killed, or when it has died,
it is necessary to aerate the stable for three months at least, and
remove and burn the thatch and all the wooden moveable articles;
to dig up the ground to the depth of a foot, and replace it with
other earth, and cover the whole with lime. The healthy should
not go near the forage which the diseased may have been eating,
and which might be infected by its breath, — though it may be
given to horses. Every animal dying of the disease should be
opened in the presence of proper persons skilled in the veterinary
art, and a report of the post-mortem appearance should be made.
If the disease is made out to be a non-contagious one, the owner

History of Animal Plagues. 457

may be permitted to use the flesh and remove the skin. But if
there is found the shghtest cause for suspicion in the hmgs, the
skin ought to be cut crosswise, and bnried in a grave six feet deep,
which should then be filled with lime. Palisades should be fixed
around it, so that no animal may come near. If the disease is really
a pneumonia, it is preferable not to doctor it, but to kill without
delay the first animals which, from their cough, would lead one to
suspect the disease, or those which have been in the same stable
with the sick; because we may set down as lost, without excep-
tion, every animal which has been in a house with a pulmonic
beast. Experience has only too often demonstrated that they take
the disease one after the other, and all die. This operation shall
be performed in the same way, and with the greatest care, when
animals have perished from a suspected disease without its being
decidedly contagious. Their flesh may be used, and the skins pre-
served, provided they are at once carried to the tanners. The skins
of the really diseased must be cut and buried with the bodies in a
deep pit full of lime. When the loss is considerable, the Sove-
reign usually causes a collection to be made for those proprietors
whose cattle have, for the sake of security, been sacrificed for the
public good.

II.

'When many stables are infected in the same village, the
danger is yet greater, and it is here that it is necessary to re-
double our efforts to prevent the spread of the contagion. All
the infected stables should be carefully closed, and excluded from
all communicatiou with the watering-places and the pasturage;
and in serious cases, to make more certain, we should kill all the
animals which have been in the infected places, no less those in
apparent health than those in which disease is manifest. We
are driven to this severe recourse, because we never can be assured
that those animals which have come out of suspicious places
have escaped the contagion. This apparent cruelty is the only
means to be employed for preventing the contagion from pene-
trating into other stables and into neighbouring villages, and
from spreading over the whole of a country.

' The case is vet UKjre dau'ierous when the coutauion mani-

45 8 History of Animal Plagues.

fests ItselF on a mountain where a certain number of cattle find
their subsistence during the winter. It has happened that the
cattle of the plains have remained in health, but that those on
the neighbouring mountains have been infected, and thus the
herds of the republic have been encircled by the contagion.
This has occurred sometimes on the mountains of Petite Bour-
gogne; and though we have admonished the inhabitants of the
Valley of Lake Joux, they more than once have been found in
the midst of the infected villages of Bourgogne. In these un-
happy circumstances, it is to be recommended that the moun-
tain-passes should be closed, and all communication cut off
from the infected pasturages. Inspectors ought to make a visit
every fifteen days to the mountains where the cattle belonging
to the subjects of the State are kept, in order to examine with
great care if any beasts are in a suspicious condition, or if, with-
out exception, they are in health. When the time arrives that
these animals should be brought from the mountains after thev
have passed the summer in Bourgogne without being infected,
the proprietors should be compelled to keep them for six weeks
on the lower hills — which are isolated, and separated, so as to
prevent their mixing with the cattle of the country. These
places should also be visited every fifteen days, and it is only
after this quarantine, and according to circumstances, that they
be permitted to enter the valleys when we can assure ourselves
there is no danger.

^ In those instances where the infected mountains of our
neighbours abut too closely on our own, these last should be
most strictly guarded, and it should not be for less than a year
after the disease has disappeared that any communication be
allowed ; as experience has amply demonstrated that cattle not
suspected of disease have been attacked by the contagion by
grazing on mountains in the neighbourhood of those infected.

13.

'When, unfortunately, this contagion has penetrated from
the neighbouring mountains to our own, the danger is extreme.
The number of cattle which pasture on a mountain is much
greater than in a stable, and by these all mixing; in search of

History of Animal Plagues. 459

food, we have not the power to separate them. They often drink
at the same pond, assemble at the same ehalet, or at anv rate in
a number of chalets, and there is every facility for their roaming
from one mountain to another; in this wav they may spread
the infection. The poisonous breath of the diseased attaches it-
self to those in health, clings to their hair, and empoisons the
pasturage. It is absolutely necessary, then, to act with a moun-
tain where there is disease as we would a stable in whieh the
contagion existed ; but it is to be remembered that it is more
easy to close and barricade a stable than a mountain. There re-
mains nothing to be done in these unhappy circumstances, than
to kill all the cattle on the infected pasturage, — those yet in health
and those in which^the disease is recognizable, — in orderto keep the
adjoining mountains safe. It is the measure which has been prac-
tised more than once with success ; the loss has been doubtless
considerable, but the subscriptions gathered in the country, added
to the bounty of the Sovereign, have contributed to solace the
unfortunate owners. There is to be observed in the performance
of this melancholy duty a natural difference between the cattle
in health and those diseased : we take the flesh and the skins of
the first, and bury the latter entire and in lime. Sometimes we
are obliged to exercise a greater degree of severity by destroying
the ho2;s which, according; to the custom on the mountains, feed
with the cattle. The contagion which destroys the oxen does
not aflfect either pigs, sheep, or horses; but it is always to be
apprehended that these may carry some of the contagion or the

infected breath to these animals, and may thus spread the
disease.

13-
*It is only by these precautions, which should be constantly
in force, that it is possible to confine the contagion to a village
or a mountain, and to keep the country free from infection ; from
time immemorial no contagion has ravaged more than a very
small district of our land. It is not doubtful, therefore, that
the same measures would suffice equally in stopping the pro-
gress of the contagion in other countries ; and they might be
yet more easily enforced, because in these kingdoms there are
troops who might be usefully emplovcd in cutting olf com-

460 History of Ajiimal Plagues.

plete communication with the infected regions. But it is es-
sential that all these measures should be taken at the very com-
mencement of the contagion, — without delay, without hesitation,
and without stint or reluctance. When an entire country, such
as Holland, is infected in thousands of villages and stables, no
human power can suffice to root out the contagion.

'Even now it reigns in Holland, notwithstanding the inocu-
lation and the many remedies employed. The milk necessary is
furnished by the cows which have had, or are proof against, the
disease. It really appears that the malady diminishes, and as if
it would cease of itself, like every other foreign disease; the
plague, even, dies out after a certain time.

14.

' The glossanthrax [surlangue), or ulcer of the tongue, is yet
more contagious than the pneumonia ; the cause of this abscess
is carried even by the air, and the disease traverses an entire
country in a few days. It is truly a mortal affection when the
necessary precautions are not enforced, but it is easily cured. It
suffices to rub the tongue with a spoon, the edges of which are a
little sharp, and to wash the abscess with wine. The glanders of
horses is contagious, and is often seen in this country. There
are employed against it the same measures as are used for the
pneumonia ; the diseased horses are destroyed, and the stables
are closed.

' Splenic apoplexy (maladie de la ratte) makes great ravages
in very hot summers ; it is a burning fever accompanied by gan-
grene of the heart, but it is not contagious, — no more at least
than dysentery [flux de sang).

' The manner of replacing the cattle in a country where the
contagion has destroyed all, does not enter into our plan ; we
have never been reduced to that unfortunate state, and we refer
the reader to the wise counsels which Lancisi had published.-' ^

It has been already stated that the disease described by

'^ Von Herrn. Alb. Haller. M^moire sur la Contagion parmi le Betail. Ab-
handlung Von der Viesuche. Berne, 1773.

Histoiy of Aninial Plagtics. 461

Haller as existing in Switzerland, was in all probabilitv the con-
tagious pleuro-pneunionia, to whose ravages at the present time
we are so painfullv accustomed. Nevertheless, the existence of
this maladv, concurrently with the Cattle Plague in different
countries, has been remarked on several occasions, and has not
unfrequently given rise to pathological mistakes of a serious
kind. It is also worthy of notice that Switzerland, owing
greatly, no doubt, to its physical configuration and geographical
position, as well as to the intelligence of its people, has been
largely exempted from the desolating visitations of the Cattle
Plague, which was at this time thinning the herds of Flanders,
Picardy, Soissonnais, and Champagne. Hainault was the first to
experience its ravages. It appeared at La Grosier, a village in the
neighbourhood of Landrecy, in the domain of Bouchain. It de-
vastated a part of Flanders, particularly about Lille, and soon all
the generalities of Soissons and Amiens participated in the de-
struction ; more particularly were its dreadful effects remarked on
the banks of the river Oise. It appears that in Hainault, as well
as in Picardv, there were many vague conjectures as to what had
caused the malady ; but the prevailing opinion was that it had
been brought by a sick cow which had come from the Low Coun-
tries, where a similar malady was then raging. According to
M. Dufot, this was the way in which it had been conveyed
to Soissons. In these provinces, it offered the same varieties,
and the same phenomena as the epizooty of 1745 did in differ-
ent parts of Europe, with some few exceptions.

The different authors who wrote on the Cattle Plague of
this year describe its symptoms and spread very accurately.
In Hainault, where it was observed by M. Raulin, it was
remarked that the skin eruption was more frequent than else-
where. 'The morbid matter of the disease is sometimes thrown
out on the skin, in the form of inffannnatory pustules {hoiitons).
This eruption appears from the fifth to the seventh day, and
particularly about the ears, the neck, the udder, and the inner
sides of the thighs: that is to say, on those parts of the skin
where there is least resistance, and where its texture is thin-
nest.'

The most striking proofs of its contagiousness were afforded.

462 History of Animal Plagues.

and the curious ways in which the poison could be carried about
were often reported. For example, at Morcourt, a village near
Paris, the dog of a labourer followed some coachmen who were
driving their carriages to the village of Fonsomme, In passing
by the farms of Courcelles, where nearly all the cattle had
perished, but had not been deep enough buried, this dog stopped
when he perceived the smell of their flesh, scraped the earth
away, made a repast off them, and then returned to his master.
Pressed by thirst, he drank some gruel intended for calves, and
then went to sleep on the dungheap. Some days afterwards the
calves became ill and died. The contagion was communicated
to the cows, who shared the same fate, and the malady soon
spread over the whole of the village. Only one farm, belonging
to a labourer, and containing twelve cows, escaped ; but this in-
dividual took every precaution to keep away man and beast
from his stables, and did not allow his cows to leave the
premises.^

Paulet says : 'If we examine all the symptoms enumerated by
the various authors, and compare them with those reported for
the epizooty of 17 14 and 1745, there can be no difficulty in
establishing their identity, even with their variations. The
lachrymation, salivation, and nasal discharge; the prostration,
stupor, dulness, refusal of food, and apathy ; in some cases an
eruption on the skin, in others none at all, as Lancisi and Cour-
tivron remarked ; in the majority, a cough preceding all the
other symptoms; emphysematous tumours appearing in large
number towards the termination of the disease ; a perceptible
alteration in the dejections, which were sometimes liquid, and
nearly at all times sanguinolent and fetid ; in all, without
exception, a hard and dry mass of aliment in the stomachs, par-
ticularly the third compartment; lastly, the same course in com-
munication, the same violence in the symptoms, the same periods,
the same phenomena in its progress, and the same difficulty in

^ Besides M. Raulin, whose Memoirs are only to be found in various journals,
the writers who have best described the epizooty at this time are : ]\I. Dufot. Me-
moire pour preserver les Betes a Cornes de la Maladie Epizocitique, &c. Soissons,
1773. The Memoire du Sieur Maillard sur la Maladie Epizootique, &c. Amiens,
1773. Nocq. Observations sur la Maladie Epizootique que regne dans plusieurs
Paroisses de rElection de Saint-Quentin. St Quentin, 1773.

History of Animal Plagues. 463

treatment — all prove it to be the one maladv. If there is any
advantage, any light to be derived from the different obserxations
of the authors, so as to remedy the inroads of the scourge, which
in consequence of the climate, the season, the seat of the virus,
the state of the humours, the circumstances in which the animal
was placed, and perhaps, also, from treatment, was some-
times eruptive, sometimes catarrhal, at other times dysenterical ;
— if there is any real benefit to be derived, we repeat, it is par-
ticularly that which may make us acquainted with the earliest
symptoms of the disease, so that wt may either promptly protect
the healthy, or treat them before it shows itself.

'This primary condition is difficult to discover, even for ob-
servant eyes, as M. Dufot remarks. Nevertheless, the general
apathy, as well as the dulness, announce the disease; and if we
add to these two signs the diminution of milk, the flaccidity of the
udder in the cow, and particularly a cough, with acceleration of the
pulse, we will have the principal signs which precede the malady,
and which are essential in every case for its recognition. With
regard to the prognosis, this is always directly related to the
svmptoms. M. Dufot remarks, that when the intestinal ex-
cretions were abundant (without being bloody), the animal did
not die. The morbific matter has only three favourable issues
to escape by, — either from the nostrils, the intestines, or the skin j
and these two last being the most proper to the advent of a
favourable crisis, they are the more or less fortunate according as
the humour is removed by them in a great or small quantity,
in whole or in part, and of a good quality. The issue by the
skin is always the most advantageous for a critical movement,

brought on either by nature or art The e])izooty in

Picardv offered some minor features relative to the conmumica-
tion of the malady, and to the general and particular care neces-
sary to preserve the cattle. In such circumstances, there is a
class of men in the country who areas dangerous as the nialady;
these are the petty cattle-dealers, who run from one farm to
another nearly all their time, with suspected beasts which spread
the disease. Every means should be taken to expose abuses
of this nature. It was proved that one of these men wiio drove
about two beasts ia a diseased condition, halttd with thcui in

464 History of Animal Plagues.

the pastures of a farmer who was from home, and so infected
the place that the owner saw all his cows die in a short time
after they had been in it. It was by similar means that the
scourge was carried from one province to another. As a rule,
too much attention cannot be paid not only to cattle-dealers,
but also to all those who visit the diseased animals and handle
them. The disease passed in this way from Picardy to Cham-
pagne, and extended to Charleville. A farmer in this town, it
was said, only saved his stock by opposing a vigorous resistance
to the entrance of those who had been visiting at suspected
places. Whether this was really the case it would be diffi-
cult to decide ; but it is certain that, in guarding his cattle from
all external communication, he w^as the only one who escaped
the ravages of the malady. It is not yet decided whether, in
certain cases, the advantages to be derived from the visits of
scientific men, amateurs, and farriers, &c., are capable of coun-
terbalancing the dangers to be apprehended from their carrying
the contagion. On the one hand, it is essential to know how
many animals are affected, in order to treat them or to stay the
progress of the contagion; and on the other, it is not less essen-
tial to reckon on the danG;er of visits and infection.' ' It ouo-ht
to be particularly noted that this question is only applicable to a
disease like the present, which is recognized as very contagious,
very deadly, nearly always incurable, and for the suppression of
which we must depend but little on the resources of art. In other
cases, — those of diseases springing up amongst us, and whose
progress we can arrest by care almost as soon as they mani-
fest themselves, — it is the interest of the State, as well as of in-
dividuals, that specially educated men be directed to the infected
places to give prompt and convenient assistance, or to issue in-
structions for the guidance of the country people, and to form
a good sanitary police to take precautionary measures/ Some
excellent examples are given by Paulet, showing that, by simple
precautions, several parishes escaped the contagion. He adds:
' They were not so fortunate in Artois, for the malady there
attacked successively fifty villages, so that in 1774 four-fifths of
the diseased cattle were lost.-*

465

CHAPTER VIII.

PERIOD FROM A.D. 1 774 TO 180O.

A.D. 1774- In Sej3tember, a severe earthquake was experi-
enced at Altdorf, in Switzerland. Epidemic convHilsions were
prevalent in France, and an analogous disease was very general
in America. In Scotland, the crops were mildewed, and America
sufiTered in a similar manner. At Cape Cod, a bed of oysters
perished from disease; and at York Island, in the United States
of America, the lobsters mysteriously disappeared.

The epizooty of anthrax which broke out at St Domingo in
1772, extended itself this year to Guadaloupe, and attacked not
only cows, but horses and other animals; people were even
affected with it by inoculation from the cattle.^ An epizooty
appeared among geese on the banks of the river Meurthe, Lor-
raine, where in a very short time six hundred of these crea-
tures died from diarrhoea and vertigo.^

In Brittany, during the sunnner, anthrax was common, and
in December it prevailed in Gevaudan. In many instances it
was transmitted to man.^

The Cattle Plague still prevailed in Holland, owing to the
attempts to cure it; so that that country was a standing danger
to all those whicli had any dealings with it.

' Berlin. Relation do Quclriucs Accidens Exlraordinaires observes u la
Guadeloupe, &c. Paris, 1775. Paulet. Op. cit.

2 GazeUe de Sante. February, 1774. ^ Pauld. Op. cit.

30

466 History of Animal Plagues.

In the month of June^ the Cattle Plague, which, during the
preceding year, had entered Flanders and Picardy, broke out
rather suddenly in August amongst the bovine species in the
South of France, a short distance from Bayonne. It was uni-
versally believed to have been introduced in fresh hides that had
been imported from Zealand, in Holland, or from Artois, and
w^hich were discharged at Bayonne. These were conveyed by
carriages to the place where the maladv began, and which was
near some tanneries. Since the visitation of 1740, the southern
provinces — then, as now, containing numerous herds of cattle —
had been spared from its devastations. But now it obtained a
serious footing,'and from Bayonne, as from a centre, it extended;
and soon, meeting with the diverging circles from the other
centres, it occupied almost the whole of France from the south
to the north. The provinces in the west — La Vendee, Brittany,
and part of Normandy — alone escaped. In some of the southern
provinces, the number of cattle destroyed was so great, that after
the epizooty had disappeared,there were scarcely sufficient left with
which to cultivate the soil. The number that perished was estimat-
ed at 150,000, and their value at 152,000,000 francs. The disease
has been well described by the physicians Vicq-d'Azyr and
Doazan, by the veterinarian Bellerocq, and by others. To
notice the writings of all these would occupy too much space,
but to those interested in the subject, I subjoin the titles
of the various works; they will be found to contain much in-
formation and attentive research.^ In the mean time, it may

^ Secondat. Memoire sur les Maladies Pestilentielles des Boeufs, 1775*
Observations sur I'etat actuel de I'Epizootie aux environs de Toulouse. Journal de
Physique, 1775. Consultation sur le Traitement qui convient aux Bestiaux
attaques de I'Epizootie. Journal de Physique. Grignon. Histoire de la Maladie
Contagieuse qui s'est declar^e au Hameau de la Neuville en Champagne, 1776.
Bacherat. Dissertation sur la Maladie Epizootique du Betail, 1777. Memoires de
la Societe Royale de Medecine. Annee 1779. Pazdet. Maladies Epizootiques,
vol. ii. p. 117. I have not thought it necessary to analyze all the reports which
were made on the disease in this part of France. The following are the principal :
Doazan. Memoire sur la Maladie Epizootique regnante. Bordeaux, 1774. Vicq'
(T Azvr. Observations pour Preserver les Animaux Sains de la Contagion, &c.
Bordeaux, 1774; and Recueil d' Observations. Paris, 1775. Also, Instructions sur
la Maniere de Desinfecter les Villages. Paris, 1775 ; and Expose des Moyens
Curatifs et Preservatifs qui peuvent etre employes contra les Maladies Pestilen-
tielles des Betes a Come. Paris, 1776. Bellerocq, Recherches sur la Maladie

History of Animal Plagues. 467

be useful to glauce at the results of Vicq-d'Azvr's investijiia-
tions. The disease spread rapidly in Agenois, Condomois,
the country of Auch, Bordelais, Medoc, Guyeune, Gasconv,
and elsewhere, and its ravages were particularly severe during
the years 1774 and 1775. Its resemblance to the malady
which, since 171 1, had successively decimated the cattle in Italy,
France, Germany, England, and other countries, was complete,
and the relative differences of climates, seasons, or temperament
had apparently but little influence on its character. Vicq-d'Azyr,
nevertheless, thought he had discovered some varieties. For
example, in the country of Auch, tumours were often observed
along the spine ; in and around Boulogne the skins of the af-
fected cattle were covered with a kind of mange; in Condomois,
aphthous eruptions were sometimes manifested in the mouth ;
lastly, sometimes, and without any perceptible causes, the dis-
ease was much less diffiised in some villages than in others often
only a league distant. The disease was nearly always beyond
the resources of art, and the best-devised remedies had only
effected a small number of cures. And these cures had not
been made without danger; for Vicq-d'Azyr was a witness to
the fact of a calf that had been saved by careful nursing, and
which, after its cure, had communicated the disease to many
cows, which perished after it was quite well. To the dangers,
then, of a disease nearly always incurable, were added those of a
malady highly contagious, and the transmission of which it
was nearly always impossible to prevent. In these unhappy
circumstances, recourse was had to an extreme measure, in order
to destroy the contagion, and with it the malady. All the dis-
eased and suspected cattle were killed. This measure, which
had been proposed by Lancisi, enforced in England in 1714,
and in 1771 in Austrian Flanders, and had been recommended
in 1773 by Dufot, was carried into execution in 1774 and 1775,
in consequence of the recommendation of V^icq-d^Azyr and the
veterinary professor Bourgelat. A decree of the i8th of De-

Epizootique, &c, Bordeaux, 1744. Avis rcdige sur les Memoires du Directeur
de I'Ecole Vetcrinaire. Pau, 1744. Faur de Beau/or t. Consultation sur la Ma-
ladie Epizootiquc qui rcgne en Guyenne. Bordeaux. Prat. Gazette dc 1' Agriculture,
February 28, 1775. Consultation dc I'Universitc dc Mcdccinc dc Montpellier,
1775-

468 History of Animal Plagues.

cember, 1774, and another of the 30th of January, 1775,
ordained that one-third the value of the beasts sacrificed should
be reimbursed to the owners.

During the course of this epizooty, Vicq-d'Azyr made a
great number of experiments and observations, the chief results
of which should not be overlooked. From these it was Inferred
that the disease could scarcely be communicated by means of
fresh hides taken from the diseased beasts, as these had been
used over and over again on the backs of eight cows at four dif-
ferent periods without inducing the malady in them; and skins
steeped in lime did not communicate the contagion. The in-
fected clothes of men, and which had been worn in veterinary
infirmaries, had given the disease to three animals out of six.
The gases from the intestines, — collected when dead cattle were
opened, — enclosed in bladders and introduced into the nostrils of
many healthy animals, have caused the manifestation of the dis-
ease in about ten, twelve, or fifteen days. Bread steeped in
the blood or the bile of an infected animal has communicated
the malady in five, six, or eight days. Attempts to transmit
the infection by means of frictions, either with the hands impreg-
nated with virus, or with hay, or infected skins, were ineffectual.
Inoculation had been attended with unfavourable results, as
nearly all those experimented upon died, and those in which it
was most successful were young animals. When the disease as-
sumed a less deadly form, then inoculation was more satisfac-
tory in its effects. Inoculation had been tried by Layard, in
England; Camper had before-times largely practised it in
Elolland, and the doctors Koopmann and Sandifort had re-
peated these tentatives in the same country. The operation,
of course, was employed with the intention of communicating to
the cattle a more benignant form of the disease than that which
is developed naturally, and thus to secure them against the
chances of another attack. But, as we have seen, inoculation
was far from being successful in any country in which it has
been tried, and with Vicq-d'Azyr nearly all those inoculated
succumbed to the disease thus induced in them. Camper
and Koopmann were perhaps not so unlucky, for it is said
that the former managed to save forty-one out of one hundred

History of Animal Plagues. 469

and twelve which he had inoculated, and the second experi-
mentalist, out of ninety-four, was able to keep alive fortv-five
animals. But in Holland it was generally believed, as has been
said, that Camper's experiments in inoculation tended very
much to keep the disease longer in the country, and often to
transfer it to other districts which might have escaped.

Vicq-d'Azyr has steeped pledgets of tow which had imbibed
the virus of the disease, in oils and aromatic fluids, and he has
exposed others similarly contaminated to the action of sulphure-
ous acid and to gaseous hydrochloric acid, as well as to liquid
ammonia, and yet found that these substances did not destroy
the contagious properties of the poison ; for when the pledgets
were brought into contact with the body of an ox or cow, they
developed the disease as easily as they would have done before.
The same physician has attempted, though unsuccessfully, to
produce the malady by puncturing the skin in several places with
a scalpel dipped in the pus from sick animals ; and he came to
the conclusion that the affection was not communicable by this
means. Permanent cohabitation with the diseased beast appeared
to favour the propagation of the cpizooty, and he observes that
it was useless to attempt to ward off the disease by rubbing over
the skins of the healthy cattle with oil, with a view to cover the
pores against the entrance of the contagious particles; for the
disease attacked them just as promptly as if they had not been
so dealt with, because the poison entered the system by the
lungs. He saw, in Condomois, the oxen of a pious charitable
lady, who deemed it not only a pleasure but a duty to till the
ground for those unfortunate people who had lost all their stock
by the epizijoty, and was informed that these useful creatures had
resisted the contagion, which was raging on every side of them,
and against wiiicli no j)recautions had been taken. It was
imagined that a most likely means of savin ij a larjie number of
animals would be to export all the healthy from a country where
the disease raged to another where infection had not existed for
a long time ; and with a view to put this supposition to the test
a great quantity were driven from Condomois to Montrcab
where they were kept for many months ; but as the stables had
had not been disinfected, or were inqierlectly so, they were

470 Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

attacked by the epizooty towards the end of 1775. He cites,
nevertheless, many examples which would go far to prove that
the migration of healthy animals from a region in which the
disease is prevalent into one in which it has ceased may be at-
tended with favourable results ; but he adds, that if we transport
animals having the germ of the malady already in them, they
will all die some days after their arrival in their new country.
Experiments proved that it was impossible to communicate the
disease to horses, mules, asses, dogs, cats, pigs, sheep, and goats ;
and also that those oxen which had recovered from its effects
were no longer susceptible of infection.

While the disease was playing havoc in the southern pro-
vinces of France, it broke out, notwithstanding the severity of
the winter, in Normandy, showing itself first in the village of
Maisoncele ; from thence it passed to Grandcour, to Melincant,
and to many adjacent parishes. Its progress was absolutely the
same as in the southern provinces. The post-mortem inspections
revealed the same pathological changes; and its malignity as-
sumed the greatest intensity in some districts; for example, at
Melincant, every beast attacked died in a very brief space. At
the same time, or rather before the cattle were affected, there
was a disease in dogs, cats, and pigs, and it was for a time be-
lieved that the dogs had primarily infected the cattle. The
svmptoms were said to be analogous. So deadly was the bovine
epizooty, and so rapid was its progress, that it was feared it could
not be arrested until it had destroyed all the cattle ; but wise
legislative and sanitary measures soon dispelled this alarm ; the
infected districts were encircled by troops to prevent communica-
tion with the healthy ones ; all the diseased and suspected
animals were killed and buried deeply in the earth, and the
stables and other places were carefully disinfected ; by these means
it was finally subdued.

In 1775 and 1776, the same disease, as already noted, gave
rise to serious losses in the generality of Amiens, in maritime
Flanders, in Soissons, Artois, Champagne, Franche-Comte,
Orleans, and other places, where at first its destructiveness was
terrible, and threw fear and consternation over every one. But
already the benefits to be derived from Veterinary Science were

History of Animal Plagues, 471

beginning to show themselves, and the energv veterinarians dis-
played under the tuition of Bourgelat, and the wise and vigor-
ous measures they recommended the government to adopt, then,
as on a recent occasion, had the happiest results for France.

An excellent memoir on this irruption, written by De Berg,
is to be found in the Memoirs of the Royal Society of Paris for
1778. Some of the remarks to be found in it are far too valua-
ble, in a historical point of view, to be lost sight of when tracing
the several inroads of the mighty cattle-destroyer. This author
certainly makes a mistake in not attending to the pathological
anatomy of the maladv, if he made any autopsies at all, for this
guide in establishing the nature of the pest was thereby lost.
But there can be no doubt as to its being the same malady de-
scribed by the other writers at this period, and which was then
prevalent over nearly the whole of France. He regarded it as the
plague of cattle {gros hetail); as a strange or new disease; and as
having come from Great Tartary. The symptoms common to
the other bovine affections — such as dulness, stupor, heaviness
of the eyes, the cold pendant ears, the shiverings and tremblings,
the staring coat, the restlessness, the drooping head, the fever,
the loss of appetite, and the suppression of milk, did not charac-
terize the disease, as they were observed in other affections.

The particular symptoms were : profuse lacrymation, which
almost obscured the vision ; the lining of the eyelids of a red or
black hue; the mouth hot and inflamed; the tongue covered
with saliva; on the palate were discolourations, and red or dark-
coloured pustules. The nostrils and the mouth discharged a
yellow thick matter; a bilous diarrhoea, accompanied by a most
offensive odour, manifested itself; tumours [houtons) appeared
on the skin, or emphysema in the dorsal region ; there was great
weakness in the loins. When the animal became very uneasy,
continually getting up and down every few seconds, death
was imminent. Dc Berg noticed that the symptoms varied
much in this malady, and many mistakes were made by men
who pretended to cure the diseases of cattle, and who imagined
they were treating different maladies; whereas they differed no
more from each other in their nature than the luir'tola d'tscreta
and the variola conjiuens of man, u hich are dcjK'ndcnt on the

472- History of Animal Plagues.

same cause. There are no characteristic signs of the malady,
and the author was confident of this; for he had seen animals
in an infected stable which only ceased to eat, or appeared to be
unwell, for some twenty-four hours, and which recovered in two
days, although others in the same place exhibited the malady
by the most marked symptoms. All those standing in the same
stable were sure to be infected within a month. If cattle of dif-
ferent breeds and various ages did not always manifest the same
symptoms when attacked, yet each of them showed some un-
mistakeable token of the disease.

The remedial measures which were opposed to the malady,
in considering it as an epizocity, were entirely without effect; but
the measures which were employed, when viewing the disease
as more contagious than the plague of mankind, were at-
tended with success, and especially in proportion to the activity,
the care, and the vigilance of those who were entrusted with
their execution.

The author believed that the poisonous germs existed in the
body of the animal ; that they adhered to the hair of the skin ; that
they lurked in the excretions and the exhalations ; and that they
could be carried in the air, where, however, if in time they did
not find a body susceptible of receiving and nourishing them,
they perished. These pestilential vapours attached themselves to
spongy substances, to plaster, to cobwebs, or to wool. As a
result of this, all the cattle which had not yet been infected or
cured contracted the disease if they came in contact with a sick
animal, or with bodies impregnated by these vapours. It sufficed
that an infected beast remained but an hour, or even a few
minutes, in a stable, in order to contaminate all in the place; the
disease would manifest itself before a month, even were the cattle
driven to a distant pasture. Every animal which had contracted
the disease in this way retained its health for fifteen days. It
was only after this period that it began to refuse its food, and
the plague announced its presence by unequivocal signs. Such
an animal might yet, while preserving the appearances of good
health, communicate the malady to another, or to many which
had not been affected previously. It was not always a mortal
disease, and appeared to lose its dreadfully destructive properties;

History of Animal Plagues. 473

but its contagious qualities were never lost at any time. All the
animals which had not been cured, and which stood in the same
stable, contracted the infection. De Berg witnessed a thousand
examples of this truth, and never met with anything to the con-
trary. In general, nine-tenths of those attacked died ; at other
times three-fourths, or two-thirds, or one-half the animals of a
village or canton perished.

It always happened that if a portion escaped bv recovery,
their deliverance was ascribed to the remedies administered. This
pretended success was announced in the public papers and in
the journals ; but the deceit was soon discovered, for the in-
ventors of these panaccae, on being called upon to emplov their
medicines in another village in the neighbourhood, signally failed;
and perhaps all the animals seized with the malady perished
except a twentieth or thirtieth part. It was remarked, that its
disastrous effects were far greater in districts or villages which lay
low, or were near marshy localities, thaji in those ivhich ivere situ-
ated on high or dry ground. It was rare for more than a moiety of
those affected to be saved ; it was much rarer for the whole of the
cattle of a stable to perish, or for less than a fifth or a tenth part
to escape. Two-thirds of the number sometimes recovered. All
these were exempted from a second attack ; if there existed ex-
amples to the contrarv, which have been duly confirmed, then they
were even more rare than those of the small-pox in man having
been contracted a second time. An animal which had recovered
could be sold for twice the amount of one which had not
had the malady. It was a disease most difficult to arrest in
communes ; it extended with great rapidity in the cantons
where cattle were at pasture when it broke out. Unless animals
were kept in closely-confined and isolated stables, widely apart
from each other, it was probable that in two or three months the
contagion would spread from one extremity of Europe to the
other. It gained, step by step, the prairies covered with cattle ;
it f(jllowed the direction of the great roads, and that of the winds;
it attacked the cow-sheds of proprietors in districts the most
distant from each other, but who were allied by tics of relationship;
hence it was said that the disease junii)ed from one place to an-
otlier, just because these family connections were not taken into

474 History of Animal Plagues.

account. It made yet greater progress in the cantons where
trade was not rigorously watched, and where animals were sold
at any price because they had communicated with the infected.
The dealers then took them to the different villages, which could
not fail to be infected in their turn. Here, again, it was con-
cluded that the malady jumped, and that it was not contracted
by contagion. We ought to regard an infected stable, he asserts,
as a centre which exposes all those around it to an infinity of im-
minent dangers from communication.

De Berg thought the disease a new one in Europe, and
altogether unique ; differing as it did from all other epizootics in
only disappearing from a place when thoroughly extirpated, and
bidding defiance to the seasons. When recoveries took place,
they were to be attributed more to nature than to the remedies
employed, and the same might be said of the preservative
remedies.

A curious fact is noted. The pious, but little enlightened
I zeal of some individuals, in 1773, caused all the cattle in the
village of Tumaide, in Hainault, to be collected in the cemetery,
with the exception of eleven, which stood in a cow-shed some
distance apart. The number assembled amounted to two hundred
and thirteen, amongst which only three or four infected beasts
were recognized ; though they only remained together for an
hour, yet they all contracted the disease, which was manifested
in the space of a month, and the eleven kept in the isolated
stable alone escaped.

The principal symptoms observed did not vary in any par-
ticular from those already recorded. Bellerocq noticed that, in
some, the mouth was open and gasping, and that sometimes the
anus was relaxed and the rectum protruded. The directors of
the Veterinary School remarked, in the first stage of the malady,
a peculiar agitation and shaking of the head, which was carried
close to the ground; plaintive sighs were frequent; and if some
blood was drawn from the animal, it looked black, and did not
yield any serosity after standing a while. About the fourth or
fifth day the flanks began to beat very irregularly; the pulse
became feeble and inconstant, and the strength quickly disap-
peared. The discharge from the nostrils was thick and fetid j

History of Animal Plagues. 475

the excrements were li([uidj and sometimes mixed with blood,
and had an insupportable odour; subcutaneous emphysema
appeared, and tremblings, shiverings, coldness of the horns, ears,
&c., preceded death.

M. Faur, of Beaufort, observed that the tongue, the palate,
and the whole cavity of the mouth, appeared white, from a pecu-
liar secretion, and that these parts, as well as the nostrils, were
often covered with pustules (hufons) and ulcers; the urine was
scantier and deeper-coloured than in health.

M. Prat, of Montauban, having followed up the symptoms,
day by dav, in an ox which he cured, gives a most interesting and
detailed description of them. This ox, aged six years, strong,
vigorous, and in good condition, after having worked and fed as
usual on the 13th of December, was found at four o'clock on the
morning of the 14th away from its manger, carrying its head low,
and trembling. This shivering lasted till four o'clock in the
afternoon ; then the ears, horns, and the rest of the body became
hot ; the pulsations of the carotid arteries were very strong, and
the spine became so sensitive that the slightest touch made the
animal crouch. The white of the eyes was inflamed, and the
whole extent of the neck erysipelatous. It refused food and
water, and seemed nnich distressed. The blood abstracted at
eight o'clock in the evening was very thick, and did not yield
any serum. Near the umbilicus a tumour appeared, about
the size of a finger, which being deeply incised yielded a
quantity of black, sanious, and stinking iluid. On the 15th oi
December, the second day of the malady, it had a long and vio-
lent exacerbation of all the symptoms, accompanied by con-
vulsions; on the i6th the fever had abated, and it passed a quiet
night; on the 17th, the fourth day, the convulsive movements
had disappeared, and the dejections were very fetid ; on the i8th
and 19th they were the same. By the 20th the fever had disap-
peared ; on the 22nd the ears and horns were cool, and the
animal had recovered. The authors of this period had remarked
that the symptoms usually enumerated were not all to be seen
in the same animal. The most constant were the extreme sensi-
bility at the beginning of the disease, the dulness, weakness, and
absence of rumination; the alternations of heat and cold, similar

47^ History of Animal Plagues.

to those of intermittent fever; the continued acceleration of the
pulse^ and the diminution of milk in cows; towards the fourth or
fifth day diarrhoea or dysentery, with symptoms of gangrene
or putridity, manifested by the extreme foetor of the matters
escaping from the eyes, nostrils, mouth, or anus; or by general
or partial emphysema, betraying gangrene of the cellular tissue.
The next most constant signs were the black blood, deficient in
serum ; the paleness of the tongue, and sometimes its flaccidity ;
drooping ears; an alteration in the eyes, either in their form,
colour, or inflamed condition, and their tearfulness ; the twitch-
ings of the muscles, especially when the animals were touched ;
the plaintive cries; the difficulty in respiring; the corrugation of
the skin and its adherence to the ribs ; the harshness of the hair,
and a tenseness in the left lumbar region. The less constant,
equivocal, and variable signs were the dryness of the mouth, the
changes in its interior, especially about the tongue, where were
sometimes observed pustules the size of a pin's head and exulcer-
ations; tumours on different parts of the body; tension and
hardness of the belly; the fulness and hardness of the pulse, Sec.

Vicq-d'Azyr, seeing the difficulty of diagnosing the disease,
proposed inoculation as a means of discovering its existence,
which could be ascertained in six or eight days afterwards. But
in producing the malady in another animal, says Paulet, the
diagnosis is no clearer; we may certainly assure ourselves that it
is contagious and communicative, like a hundred others ; but
we should not forget that eight days and a healthy animal are
lost. M. Doazan thought that the earliest symptom was stag-
gering, and as soon as this was noticed he recommended prompt
separation. He thought the milk of infected cows altered al-
most before anything else was noticed. It was less white than
usual, and a little more salt and slightly bitter; when put on the
fire it did not froth up like healthy milk, but became decomposed
and grumous. M. Guyot, of the Veterinary College, remarked
that before the disease declared itself, when he passed his hand
into the rectum, it felt very hot, and the arteries beat stronger
than usual. There was no eruption on the skins or tumours
seen.

Paulet remarks : ' If vc^e compare all these symptoms with

History of Animal Plagues. 477

those which manifested themselves in the epizooties of 17 11 and
1745, and especially with the non-eruptive variety of the last,
observed in Holland, Vivarais, and Bourgogne, we cannot doubt
but it is the same malady which has been renewed many times
since then, and of which the symptoms, essential or pathogno-
monic, either from the circumstance of climate, pasturage, or
season, have been somewhat changed, but yet not marked enough
to constitute a new kind of disease. In fact, if we consider its
duration of seven, eight, or nine days, the continuity and nature
of the fever, the depression of the vital powers, the diarrhoea or
the dysentery which constantly appears towards the termination
of the disease, the emphysematous tumours, the signs of putridity
or gangrene, the variations in the fever, the results of the au-
topsies, the character of the prognosis, and the difficulty of treat-
ing it successfully ; — all proves that it is the same malady which
is alwavs appearing either from the same sources as the preced-
ing invasion, or is renewed or reproduced without ceasing in
some part of Europe where its germs have not been completely
stamped out. Otherwise, it appears to be limited in its attacks to
a single species of animal. But the most striking resemblance
is that which exists between the means unsuccessfully employed
at every period, and which we have recourse to now. In 1711
and 1 71 2, bleedings, all the alexipharmics, cordials, febrifuges,
sudorifics, and the mercurial and antimonial preparations, were
used without benefit; in 1745, ^46, and ^48, nearly every known
method was brought into operation, but in vain. The physicians
have frankly avowed that all the cures were due more to nature
than to art, and the greatest doctors make the same confession
now-a-days. We have seen the most celebrated physicians con-
demn, one after another, nearly all the internal remedies employed.

In 1712, Lancisi and Gazola, a physician at Verona,

seeing the inutility of remedies, advised the slaughter of all the
diseased beasts; this counsel was followed in Kngland in 17 14;
in 1771, all the diseased were killed in Austrian Inlanders; in
1773, M. Dufot gave the same advice; in 1774, the Veterinary
College of Paris, M. Bourgelat, Vicq-d'Azyr, and others only
repeated it, and an order to that effect is given and executed in
I77j.' Speaking of inoculation, he sa)s, ' \'ic()-d'A/yr made

47^ History of Afiimal Plagues.

some experiments in 1775 on animals of the same and of a dif-
ferent species ; the symptoms and the danger were the same in
oxen ; three sheep died after 'inoculation without taking the dis-
ease, in consequence of the gangrene which ensued where the
wounds had been made. The only difference between the results
of all these experiments is that the Marquis de Courtivron tries
to disabuse the public mind of an opinion which has already
cost the world so much — the belief that when an animal has once
had the disease it is safe afterwards ; whereas Vicq-d'Azyr en-
deavours to assure them of its truth. What is, then, the con-
clusion to be derived after so many experiments and researches
conducted with so much labour and cost? Have we no re-
sources against such a pestilence? It is only too true that
we have few ; but we have acquired a precious truth notwith-
standing, and that is the inutility of employing any of these

means The actual malady is a species of pest, which has

not perhaps its exact analogue in the human species (dont il n'y
a peut-etre pas d^exemple semblable, a la rigueur dans Pespece
humaine). It is an acute, pestilential, putrid, and gangrenous fever,
or, if we like it better, an ardent malignant fever, fomented by
a deleterious and contagious principle, of an erysipelatous nature,
capable of producing an inflammation or gangrenous phlogosis
in cattle, and infecting their humours, and whose chief seat is the
upper air and digestive passages, the brain and the spinal cord,
and generally the whole nervous system, particularly at its origin ;
and which is proved by the extreme sensibility, especially about
the spine, the loss of power, and the state of the viscera. If it
were permitted to draw an analogy, we might compare the acci-
dents that the animal experiences to the effects of certain poisons,
which, while they act directly on the tracks they are in contact
with and cause a gangrenous inflammation, carry their action
at the same time to the nerves, causing stupor, tremblings,
convulsive movements, apoplexy, &c. ; while others infect the
blood, lymph, and the nervous fluid without sensibly injuring
the digestive canal.^

It is supposed, as already noted, that this last attack of Cattle
Plague cost f'rance 150,000 animals, valued at about 150,000,000
francs.

History of Animal Plagtces. 479

During this unhappy period for the French acrricultural
community, amongst all the precautions and instructions pub-
lished, nothing was more spoken of or appreciated than the cir-
cular of De Brienne, Archbishop of Toulouse, which was
addressed to the clergy of his diocese. This enlightened and
worthy man clearly perceived the great necessity for keeping the
cowhouses in proper ordcr^ and that preventing all communica-
tion between the healthy and diseased animals was the first duty
to be attended to ; — a duty which did not interfere with prayers,
and even became an act of piety, agreeable^ as he thought, to the
Creator; he insisted chiefly on this measure, and on the danger
of pilgrimages and assemblies. These were most important
points to enlighten the peasantry on.

' Alitur vitium, vivitque tegendo
Dum medicas adhibere manus ad vulnera pastor
Abnegat et meliora Deos sedet omina poscens.'

This truth is applicable to all time^ to all countries, and to
all religions.

It is somewhat remarkable, that, during so many invasions of
'Cattle Plague' over nearly the whole of Europe during this cen-
tury, Spain should have escaped a visitation of the dire scourge.
This exemption may be readily accounted for, however, if we
remember that Spain has never been a cattle-importing country,
and that her commercial transactions in this respect have been
confined to cxportations. Its distance from the usual sources of
animal contagions, the very efficient police that has been main-
tained to prevent their introduction, its geographical position,
and its natural salubrity, appear to have insured that kingdom
against the destructive plagues which harass other countries.
But the appearance of the pest in the south-west of France was
a grave danger for Spain.

Within a month after the contagion had been carried by the
raw hides to Bayonne, which lies near the Pyrenees, and not far
from the jealously-guarded border land, it by some means got
carried across the Spanish frontier to St Sebastian, and IVom
thence spread rapidly over a wide surface, causing sad losses.

480 History of Animal Plagues.

For the history of this remarkable invasion of Spain, we will
refer to the account given by Villalba.^

^On the nth of July, 1774, the Marquis de Bassecourt,
General-commandant of Guipuzcoa (a province of Spain), re-
ported to the supreme Board of Health, that in the province of
Labourd, in the Kingdom of France, a region adjoining that
which was under his command, there was spreading a grievous
sickness of a contagious character, and which was every day
sweeping off large numbers of cattle ; so that there was every
reason why the introduction of these French beasts should be
absolutely prohibited, and that even the importation of sheep
should be forbidden by new and stringent measures. In conse-
quence of this notice, the supreme court, looking wisely at the
aspect of affairs, and being desirous of defining precisely what-
ever was necessary for the preservation and welfare of the people,
urged upon the mayors the adoption of the most important
measures ; and there were despatched, by virtue of their orders,
Ignacio de Michelena, Juan de Ordoi, and Martin de Lorz,
chief veterinary surgeons, to the vicinity of San Sebastian, to
investigate and report upon the malady. These men having
done so, certified before a commission that the disease consisted
in a dissolution or ramollisment of the brain, and they founded
this opinion on the happy results which had attended the inunc-
tion of strong ointments on the top of the neck, and also because
able anatomists had observed that after death there was ob-
served in the brain a greenish or bloody fluid, as if there had been
suppuration or gangrene; and also that the medullary substance
of the horns, which was much wasted, contained a yellowish
matter. The use of aquafortis, and other remedies which they
prescribed, produced tolerable results sometimes ; but in other
instances thev were entirely useless ; so that to prevent the dis-
ease spreading, or its introduction into other places, these au-
thorities most energetically endeavoured to persuade the au-
thorities that the only certain, just, and equitable remedy for
extirpating the contagion was to kill the animals, and to
inter them deeply in pits In such a way, that if in

} Villalba. Epidem. Espaiiola, vol. ii. p. 229.

History of Animal Plagues. 481

everv place this salutarv measure had been put in practice,
the epizooty which was introduced into Spain in 1774 would
soon have been suppressed, and there would have been avoided
the great mortality and suffering that occurred, inasmuch as
in many towns and villages there perished every head of cattle
without a single one remaining, — as happened, for instance, in
Andoin in the province of Alva ; neither did the contagion work
much less ruin in its progress through Navarre, Guipuzcoa, Ar-
ragon, the mountains of Santander and those of Pas. Notwith-
standing the precautions taken to destroy everything obnoxious,
as had been recommended by Dr Ortiz during the epidemy at
Pampeluna (a citv of Spain), so great had been the ravages of
this epizooty in the kingdom of Granada, that but few cattle
remained ; and despite the enforcement of the measures of bury-
ing the dead animals in deep pits, it was impossible to prevent
the stinking particles from rising into the air, though large
quantities of lime had been used over the burial-places, and with
much care. Escovar has made mention of this vaccineepizootyand
its origin ; according to him, it was notorious that the contagion
could be communicated from one to other animals, and be again
produced in them ; from these it could be carried to other pas-
tures, and for a long time it had inflicted suffering on many
kingdoms, without any ground for suspicion having been laid as
to the contagious particles being disseminated by the air since
1708; from wliich cause it has become so universal in Europe,
and has so frequently and persistently induced such mortality
amongst animals.-'

An epizoiity, supposed to be Cattle Plague, appeared at
Laxfield, in Suflblk. It would a])pear that it was con lined to
this parish, if not to one herd of cattle. Its suppression was
supposed to be due to the enforcement of the measures con-
tained in the Orders of Council, which were similar to those
already noticed as in existence in thi^^ coiuitry. Malignant
pneumonia prevailed in the provinces of lirescia and Crema,
Italy, during this and the preceding year.^

A.D. 1775. The winter was very cold, and the sunnner

^ Bottani. Oj). cit., vol. vii. p. 7S.
31

482 History of Animal Plagues.

much wanner than usual. In September an earthquake shook
Wales and its neighbourhood. In October there were great
thunderstorms in England. From March until January^ 1766,
epidemic influenza travelled across Europe. Animals were
affected before, during, or after man, and with analogous symp-
toms. In Britain this was especially noted. Dr Fothergill says:
' During this time horses and dogs were much affected, those
especially that were well kept. The horses had severe coughs,
were hot, forbore eating, and were long in recovering. Not
many of them died that I heard of, but several dogs.'^ Imme-
diately before it set in, Dr Gumming writes : ' After the middle
of August, I have heard from good authority, that a disease

amongst horses prevailed very generally in Yorkshire

About the latter end of October, I remember to have heard that
one gentleman had lost six dogs, in the usual manner that these
animals are seized — a giddiness in the head, an inability to eat,
with a paralytic affection of the hinder extremities.^'

Drs Glass and Pultney make similar observations; the
former asserts that in September many horses and dogs suffered,
and the latter that these were affected before mankind.^

In France, Lorry writes in a like manner: '^The year 1775
had begun with misfortunes for the poor. The scarcity of grain
had aflhcted a large part of France ; and even in the capital the
use of rye-bread, until then unknown to the artizans, became an
article of daily consumption amongst the poorer classes. Dogs
and fowls had experienced an epizootic malady of a different
kind : that of the dogs was evidently an inflammation of the
pituitary membrane and a catarrhal angina ; that of the fowls
had some analogy with the gout ; they both appeared to be con-
tagious.'* In 1776, according to Huzard, epizootic catarrh in
horses succeeded the epidemic influenza of man in the spring.*^

A remarkable mortality among the finny tribes appears to

^ Dr Fothergill. Med. Observations and Inquiries, lay a Society of Physicians
in London, 1764.

2 Dr W. Cummijig. Letter to Dr Fothergill, 1775.
2 Annals of Influenza. Sydenham Soc, \>. 112.

* Lorry. Mem. de la Societe Royale de Medicine, vol. i. p. I.

* Huzard. Journal de Medecine, vol. liv. p. 333.

Hhtory of Animal Plagues. 483

have been observed during the month of November at Sumatra ;
the sea was covered with their dead bodies.^ In France, an
epizootic ophthahiiia amongst fowls was observed and com-
mented upon bv Huzard. ' I have observed, at the termina-
tion of the springtime of 1775, that the fowls, and more
particularlv those which had been hatched the preceding year,
have had inflammations {jiux'ions) of the eyes, which have de-
stroyed all attacked. The humour of this inflammation, which
was of an albuminous nature, was exuded in successive layers
over the cornea, forming a kind of secondary globe of a white
or yellowish colour, and projecting very much outwards, so that
the real eye was entirely hidden and buried in the bottom of the
orbital cavity, where it diminished in volume in proportion as
the external growth increased in size. This disease never affected
more than one eye; when it reached its last stage, and death
was approaching, on pressing the outer circumference of the
orbit, this mass of foreign matter became detached. It was
of a very firm consistence, resisting even the cut of a scalpel,
and there flowed from the eye a fetid sanious matter. The cavity
of the orbit was black and gangrenous-looking, and the crest of
the bird was shrunken and dry. The fowls leaned their heads to
the side which was not diseased, and gave vent to a dull cry,
like a rattling or gurgling sound, which only ceased with life, on
the fifteenth or sixteenth day.'^

Small-pox in man, according to Professor Darluc, was very
prevalent at Aix and its vicinity ; and at the same time, and
in the same places, small-pox was making great ravages amongst
sheep.^ In Istria and Dalmatia, epizootics of malignant peripneu-
monia were frequent from 1774 to 1776.* In France, the Cattle
Plague yet continued its devastations, and is described by Grig-
non.''^ At Minden, in Westphalia, it also raged ; and its eruption
here was supposed to have arisen from the pastures being tainted,
in consequence of animals which had died froni this malady some

* Philosophical Transactions, vol. Ixxi.

2 Hazard. Instructions et Observations, vol. iv. p. 315.
' Hist, de la Societe Roy. de Medecine, vol. i. p. 250.

* Bollani. Op. cit., vol. xi. p. 229, 273, 379.

* Grignon. Observations sur les EpizoiJlies Contayicuscs. London ct Paris,
1776.

484 History of Ajiimal Plagues.

years before having been buried in the fields and meadows. In
France, anthrax destroyed many horses and cattle in Beauce/ In
Finland the same disease appeared^ and was attributed to the evil
workings of the infernal furies. ' The summer of the last year
(1774) was unusually warm and dry, and caused in Finland, to-
wards July, a severe plague in cattle, which destroyed many. The
disease was very different from that which in a former year raged
in Schonen, for it did not affect the animals over a large district,
but remained in certain parishes and villages. On the other
hand, it had this special and sad characteristic : it attacked
many people who incautiously went among the sick and dead
beasts, and some of these perished. Many of the cattle died
quickly and unexpectedly ; in others, however, the disease was
not so virulent. The following symptoms were noticed: hang-
ing ears and head; watery and red eyes; hot and dry mouth;
nostrils expanded ; laboured and snuffling breathing ; head and
horns hot; the tongue rough and hard ; the palate white; sus-
pension of the secretion of milk, and absence of rumination ;
many had diarrhoea, others had it not. On the neck, and also
on the flanks and under the belly, hard tumours arose; these
were moveable, and often swelled and burst, discharging a sharp,
acrid matter; after being emptied they commenced to form again.
The disease was of so putrid a character that the animals fell to
pieces after death ; indeed, in such a way, that if cords were tied
round their horns to drag them away, these appendages broke off".
Towards the end of September the malady gradually disappeared.
After it had killed many horses and cattle, it began to show
itself in mankind. Those who had been engaged about the
sick or dead animals were attacked at first with a pustule on the
face, hands, arms, or legs ; which pustule itched a little, became in-
flamed, swelled, and increased so much that, if report be true,
the head looked like a two-gallon measure. The tumour became
covered with bladders or vesicles; these burst, and gave exit to
a red and yellowish fluid, which at last became black and
encrusted. They who had the tumour opened and dressed with
tar or oil of tobacco, recovered. It was not noticed that people

' Barrier ; Chabert. Instructions et Observations sur les Maladies des Animaux
Domestiques. Paris, 1813. Vol. i. p. 208.

History of Animal Plagues. 485

infected one another.^ In Sweden this disease was known as
the ' skott-sJLikan/ and was beheved to be caused by a small
worm. It will be alluded to at anotlicr time.

In this year, from some unknown cause, a large bed of
oysters in the harbour of Wellfleet, Cape Cod, which had pre-
viously furnished large supplies, sickened and perished ; they have
never grown since. At the same time, the oysters on the shores
of Connecticut were in an unhealthy state, and sometimes ex-
cited vomiting in those who ate them. In 1776 the lobsters
in the vicinity of York Island all disappeared.- Other author-
ities give the previous year for these events.

According to Lafosse,^ glanders in horses assumed an
epizootic character, and became widely spread over the southern
parts of France. This author, in observing that it succeeded
the Cattle Plague, asserts that it doubtless originated, to some
extent, through the excessive labour imposed upon the horse
species, consequent on the working oxen having been destroyed
by the plague; and also probably to some diseased horses having
been introduced among the large numbers purchased in other
countries, to repopulate those provinces from which the bovine
race had nearly disappeared.

A.D. 1776. An earthquake at Audries, in Italv, in July.
The Hessian fly [t'lpula trillci) appeared for the first time in
North America. The canine species are mentioned as suflering
much. An observer in Africa, in the neighbourhood of Bonny,
describes a malady among foxes and wolves. 'We have observed
during two years (1776 and 1780), that even the animals
which live in the forests were attacked with a particular epidemic
malady. The roads were, if we may so speak, strewed with
wolves and foxes, dead and dying. Their disease appeared to
draw them to the high-roads, and the stricken creatures seemed
no longer to dread the presence of man. Wc even heard it
said that these creatures threw themselves in the way, as if ask-
ing for assistance and remedies against their maladies. This

* Odhdiiis. Von dcr Viehseuche, &c. ScIiweJ. Abliaiullung, vol. xxxvii.

* Webster. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 429.

3 Traite de Pathologic Vetcrinaire, vol. iii. p. 968.

486 Histoiy of Animal Plagues.

disease^ which was the same as that observed among dogs, con-
sisted in a weakness and trembHng in their extremities; they
staggered in walking, and showed the greatest aversion for food ;
they vomited glairy matters, and even bilious-looking fluids;
they had fever and diarrhoea, sometimes stercoraceous, at other
times lienteric, at others bilious, and even dysenterical ; they
nearly all died. This disease appears to have a great resemblance
to intermittent fever/ ^ The French West Indies were visited
with epizootic rabies from 1776 to 1778. '^ It was believed for
a longtime that the Antilles were exempted from rabies, because
until now no mad animals had been seen; but from 1776 to
1778, it has reigned almost continuously. At Guadaloupe, the
dogs were at first attacked with dumb madness, such as we had
observed many years before, but without any other consequences.
To this dumb madness succeeded that of a furious character :
many cattle have been bitten and have died of rabies ; we have
also seen many people perish from this malady, negroes as well
as white people. Numbers of dogs which have been bitten died
only with symptoms of dumb madness {rage muet) ; but others
have become really mad, and bit whoever and whatever came in
their way.' ^

In the autumn, an epizooty destroyed many deer in the
forests of St Germain, in France. It did not affect the bucks
or the roebucks. Its cause was supposed to be due to the
great drought during the months of August, September, and
October, and to the animals being obliged to drink corrupted
stagnant water.^ Anthrax was prevalent during the summer in
Lower Austria, and at Wilna, in Poland, and was frequently
communicated from animals to mankind.* In Holland,^ 'in
many provinces of France, and in Corsica, the Cattle Plague con-
tinued its ravages. In Austria 'ekzema epizootica' was very
common. ' In the same manner as the anthrax [milzseuche)

^ Famel. De Flnfluence des Marais, &c., p. 221.

2 Des Moyens de Conserver la Sante des Blancs et des Negres, &c. St Domingo,
1786.

^ Histoirede la Societe Royale de Mcdecine, vol. ii. p. 150.
* Adaini. Vieseuchen in den K. K. Erbliindern, pp. 70, 82.
^ Geert Rinders. Waarneminger en Proeven, &c., 1776.

History of Animal Plagues. 487

had attacked the woody and mountainous districts, so did the
mouth disease {maidwek) show itself ahnost generally in low and
flat districts, and it lasted from the spring until the autumn of
1776. In some neighbourhoods oxen alone were affected; but
in others, however, oxen and cows suffered, the latter with less
severity. In manv localities and sheds it attacked nearly the
whole of the stock in one day, but in most cases the animals
were attacked one after another. Here and there this disease
accompanied the anthrax; and in some woody neighbourhoods
the oxen were attacked with the latter disease after they had re-
covered from the former/ ^

In 1776, glanders continued to rage in an epizootic form in
France.^

A.D. 1777. An earthquake in England. Scarlet fever was
epidemic in many countries, and in England and France was
complicated with malignant sore-throat or diphtheria. In the
month of May in the preceding year, glossanthrax had appeared
among cattle at Fossano, near Turin ; and in March of this year
'angina gangrenosa' developed itself among the horses of a regi-
ment of dragoons at Dora, near Turin. Brugnone describes it :
' This malady began in a single horse on the 29th of March, and
this animal died in the space of thirty hours; the following day
it attacked two more, and these died — the one in eighteen and
the other in thirty-four hours; on the 31st ten more sickened,
four of which were cured, two in four days, one in five, and the
other in eight days; all the others died, one in nine hours, one
in twelve, one in thirteen, and one in twenty-one hours, another
died in three days, and the sixth horse in four days. On the
first of April other three became imwell, one of which was cured
in five days, and the other two died, — one In nine hours, and the
second In three days; on the 2nd of April only one was attacked,
which died In two days; on the 3rd three sickened, of which two
died in two days and one in three; on the 4th two others be-
came ill, and one recovered in three days; the other, after being
sick for four days, was killed when apparently recovered ; lastly,

' A(l(vni.\ jViehscuclien iii'dcu K. K. l^rljlandcin, p. 105.
* Kinhncr. Magazin flir Tliicrhcilkuiidc, 1SO5.

488 History of Animal Plagues.

on the ^t\\, three horses were seized with the same symptoms,
and these died — two in two days and one in three days. So
that out of thirty-six horses, twenty-five were diseased and
eighteen perished, while eleven remained unaffected/ The
symptoms were, ' a slight beating of the flanks, a loss of appetite,
a want of vivacity in the eyes and the whole physiognomy, an nn-
common slowness and unwillingness to move; there was but little
sensibility when struck, and no heed taken of the voice; the head
was carried low and drooping; the skin over the whole body
rough and dry; the ears and the extremities, as well as the en-
tire surface of the trunk, alternately hot and cold ; there was a
great inclination to lie down ; a dry, but not excessive, heat in
the mouth and about the tongue, which disappeared at times,
and gave place to another temperature with a pricking sensation
(fonniculamento) ; a great quantity of viscous saliva flowed from
the fauces ; the pulse was small and slow, and easily compressed
in the majority of cases in the early stages of the malady.
In a few hours all these indications became increased ; the beat-
ing of the flanks was very strong; and if the back of the hand
was placed against the ribs, there was immediately perceived
a tumultuous and extraordinary action of the heart. In all those
which died suddenly there was no fever, no beating of the
flanks, and no palpitations. There flowed from the nostrils a
matter which was at first white, then afterwards of a viscous
consistence and yellowish tint, which adhered to the nostrils, and
formed clots or scabs around them and the lower part of the
face; the whole extent of the pituitary membrane as far as
could be seen, instead of being of a uniform rose-colour, was
either very pale or livid ; the horse moved but little, and that
very unsteadily, and continued lying down sometimes on one
side and sometimes the other, getting up and down every
moment; suddenly breaking out into a tremor, either in one
fore-arm, or both, or over the whole body. From beginning to
end there was obstinate constipation ; the small quantity of
faeces that was passed by the intestines was hard, shining, and
fetid ; when it happened that there was an inextinguishable thirst,
the faeces were as in health, solid, of their proper form, neither
too hard nor too soft, always of a yellow colour and shining.

History of Animal Plagues. 489

sometimes accompanied by a multitude of small worms {Jumlnc'i) ;

the uriiie was abundant, turbid, yellow, and stinking

Not only was the difficulty in swallowing very slight, but, as has
been said, the obstruction to the respiration did not produce
much injury; compression of the upper part of the windpipe by
the hand did not make the animal evince anv pain, neither did
it make it cough ; in a word, if the opening of the dead bodies had
not shown the seat of the disease, there would not have been the
slightest suspicion of strangles, or that which has been named by
veterinary surgeons escjuinancy {angina). A post-mortem ex-
amination then showed that the fauces, — that is to say, the ton-
sils, and from thence to the soft palate, and all around the pillars
and the chief parts of the pharynx, to the openings of the eus-
tachian tubes — were of a black colour similar to soot, and truly
sphacelous ; where this sphacelated appearance terminated there
began a soaked condition of the membranes, which were filled
with a yellow gelatinous substance, occupying the soft palate
and the cellular tissue of the circumjacent parts, and extending
a long way on the exterior of the trachea and the oesophagus.
The pituitary membrane lining the air-passages of the nostrils was
black and gangrenous ; minor lesions were commonly met with in
the larynx, but not in its ventricles ; w ithin the canal of the trachea
there was at times a small quantity of viscid mucus in a frothy
state, which also was noticed in the lungs and the bronchia?/'

A curious epizooty was noticed in Germany ; cows and breed-
ino; sows aborted in lart^e numbers.^

In Hanover there was an epizo(3ty among geese. Diarrhoea
was the most prevalent symptom during life. The appearances
after death were as follows : * The stomach and intestines were
much inflamed, and the e^all-bladder was full of a dark-ii-reen
and stinking bile. In the intestines were found many polypi
formed by the aggregation of small coaLrula of Kmjih, some of
them half an ell long, the thickness of a finger, and of a brown-
'sh-red colour. In the rectum was a (juantity of white excre-
ment which bad a most offensive odour.' ^

' G. Jhtignone. Storia dclla .Sc[uinan7.ia Cancrcnosa, &c. Turin, 1777.

^ Chahcrt. Instructions, &c.

3 Kuli)ii;. Med. Ucsclircibung dcr Sladl Norlheim.

490 History of Animal Plagices.

A.D. T778. An earthquake at Smyrna in July. Scarlet fever
and epidemic angina in mankind were very prevalent in many
countries, but particularly in England and Holland. From
July to September, an epizooty of anthrax showed itself in
Thuringia and many other parts of Germany. Cattle, horses,
asses, goats, pigs, and deer of all kinds were affected ; many
hundreds of the latter died.^ After this epizooty had ceased in
September, an epizooty of 'ekzema-' appeared.^ In Austria the
two diseases reigned at the same time.^ In Limoges, France,
anthrax was epizootic ; * and in Picardy, that peculiar form of
skin disease in sheep called noir-museau was very common.^

According to Kausch, bovine contagious pleuro-pneumonia
prevailed as a veritable plague in Upper Silesia from this year
until 1790." It prevailed at the same time in the kingdom of
Wurtemberg; the commonalty of 7\ittlingen, in 1777, had lost
about 150 cattle from the njalady.^

A.D. 1779. In the district of Belluno, in Italy, it was reported
that a number of people and domesticated animals had been bitten
by a mad wolf in the month of March, and that many of these
died of hydrophobia.^ At Bourges, in France, in the same
month, a mad wolf bit a child, and this manifested symptoms of
rabies.^

At Philadelphia and Maryland, in America, rabies canina
was very common.'"

In Istria, bovine epizootic pleuro-pneumonia prevailed from
this year until 1780."

In Switzerland, glossanthrax was observed/^

In the marshy districts of Picardy, in France, an ' epizootic
typhoide,' as it has been termed, appeared among cattle. It was
described by Vicq-d'Azyr, and at that time seems to have been

^ Glaser. Von der Knotenkrankheit. pp. 3, 7, 32. ^ Ibid. p. 132.

•^ Adami. Beitriige zur Geschichte der Viehseuchen. Vienna, 1781.

* Gazette d' Agriculture, 1778.

5 Hist, dela Soc. Roy. de Med., vol. i. p. 251.

^ Kausch. Originalbemerkungen iiber die Rindviehsterben. Leipsic, 1790.

■^ Wirth.' Op. cit., p. 299.

^ Odoardi ; Bottani. Op. cit., vol. xi. p. 328.

^ Journal de Medecine, vol. liv. p. 398.

^° Richkr. Chirurg. bibl., vol. xiv. p. 278.

" Orus ; Bottani. Op. cit., vol. liv. p. 380. i- Schnwrer. Op. cit.

History of Animal Plagues. 491

looked upon as a typhoid fevers accompanied by inflammation
and gangrene of the abdominal viscera, and of the lungs. Bv
many, however, it was regarded as identical with the Cattle
Plague, which yet lingered in France, and which also prevailed in
many provinces of Austria during this and the following year.

As Vicq-d'Azyr's celebrated Memoir on this outbreak has
always been considered a model report, and as it is now ex'ceed-
ingly scarce, a translation of it may not be uninteresting to the
student. It is particularly worthy of notice how closely the
symptoms correspond with th(jse of Cattle Plague, and it might
have been that careful investigation would have revealed a con-
tagious origin for it, and have established the identity of the two
maladies.

'The epizootic disease which is the subject of this Memoir,
although very deadly and contagious, has been arrested in its
progress, without having recourse to the extreme measure that
necessity sometimes renders indispensable, and that the nature of
the malady demands in certain cases. ^ The treatment which
has been adopted at my suggestion has, in the majority of in-
stances, been followed by success; these two circumstances, then,
are sufficient to make the description of this epizoutv interesting.
I shall show, in diflerent articles, all that which concerns it : the
topography or situation of the localities in which it has reigned ;
its local causes; its origin and increase; its symptoms; its ac-
cidental features; the internal lesions which have been observed
in animals that have died from it; its connection with other
analogous disorders; the curative measures and those of a pre-
servative kind ; the manner of disinfecting ; the disposition of
the military cordons and other auxiliaries; and the general
tableau of the numbers of animals which have died and those
which have been cured : — all these will be shown in succession.
Besides the advantage which will result from this method, there
will be manifested, in these details, to those medical men who
may undertake similar labours, a just and precise idea of the ob-
jects they will have to kecj) in view.

'That ])ortion of the generality of Picardv in which this epi-

' The Slaiu'lilcr of llic Catllc.

492- History of Animal Plagues.

zooty has reigned^ is situated beyond Abbeville, and near
Montreuil-sur-Mer ; it consists of a very humid valley v^^hich is
watered by the Autie. Although horses are chiefly employed
there for labour, yet large numbers of cattle are reared ; cows
are very numerous, and form the principal wealth of the farmer,
whose subsistence is principally their milk prepared in different
ways. The river which flows in this valley is retarded in its
course by a mill called Tigni, situated but a short distance from
the sea, whose waters cause a reflux that extends much beyond
the mill. The position of this building is such, that if it was
built in the usual manner, the water-wheel would not be turned
more than twelve hours at most out of the twenty-four, in conse-
quence of the tides. The greatest eflbrts have been made to render
this mill independent of the marshes, and this has been efl'ected
by raising the flood-gates and embankments of the Autie very con-
siderably, and in such a way that the water has more than ten
feet of a fall, and the mill-wheel never ceases revolving. Asa result
of this arrangement, the course of the river is retarded, and it often
overflows its banks, flooding all the low ground in its vicinity. In
that part of the course of the Autie which is on this side of the Tigni
mill, the water is on a level with the banks ; but on the other side,
on the contrary, it is rapid and many feet below its boundaries.
The pastures, too often submerged by the overflowing of the river,
produces herbage of a bulky and rank nature, such as is found
in marshes; while on the ground situated between the Autie and
the sea grows herbage of a good quality. This inundating and
the vapours to which it gives rise, acts alike on men and animals.
The human species is very liable to intermittent fevers, and other
creatures to be attacked by inflammatory or anthracoid fevers,
and sometimes other very serious epizootics at certain seasons of
the year. The heat was very intense in the months of June and
July, 1779; the damp soil was nearly dried up; the putrefying
plants and insects exhaled a foul odour, and those people and
cattle inhabiting the vicinity of this morass were generally af-
fected. The first cow was attacked on the 12th of July, in
the marsh of Roussan. In a short time, another died in
the parish of Maintenai, after being ill for seventeen days. It
is necessary to observe that the cattle of Maintenai had been

History of Aiiiinal Plagues. 493

mixed up in the same pasture with those of Roussan. The 20th
of July saw eight cows affected at Roussan. llie parishes of
Montigni and Preaux soon experienced the attacks of this con-
tagious disease. Nampont-Saint-Firmin was afterwards attacked,
and the disease extended to Nampont-Saint-Martin on the 6th
of August ; at the end of this month Noyelles has heen infected?
owing to a certain person pasturing his cows in the communal
meadows of Nampont-Saint-Firmin. Vron and Avenues were
the last villages into which the epizouty was allowed to penetrate.
It is most noticeable that the progress of the disease has been in
direct relation to the communications, and to the imprudences
without number which took place ; the marsh of Roussan, which
is the most unhealthy, was the birthplace of the epizootv, and
the contagion, which had arisen in a low and damp situation,
was propagated by communication, and in this way penetrated
to the parishes of Vron and Avennes, which are more elevated,
more salubrious, and in a position which renders them less sub-
ject to diseases of every kind.

'The cattle in general coughed a long time before being ill ;
the cough has continued in some, but in others it has been but
rarely heard. The first symptom was a grinding of the teeth with
a considerable noise; soon the milk became lessened in quantity,
or at other times was suddenly suppressed, the udder becoming
flaccid and less pendant; the belly appeared drawn up; the
hair of the back became rough and erect ; the eye began to in-
flame; in pinching the animal about the throat it winced, and
when pressure was made on the xiphoid cartilage of the sternum
the back was raised like that of a aimel, — a symptom, however,
on which much reliance cannot be placed, because it is often
observed in healthy animals ; the ears and the horns were some-
times hot, sometimes cold ; the pulse was at this time full, a
little hard, and rather slow than quickened. 'I'be animal did
not appear any more dull than usual; and often, even after the
suppression of the milk, the appetite was greater than before; in
a short time afterwards the rumination became unfrcquent, and
at last ceased altogether. These incidents belonged to the first
stage.

'■ In the second, the milk had disa|ijicared, and the cattle re-

494 History of Animal Plagues.

fused all solid aliment; many, however^ yet drank. There was
a very remarkable dulness present ; the head drooped ; the eyes
looked dry and inflamed, but soon began to be watery and puru-
lent; this was very much so in some cases. A slight discharge
from the nostrils began to be perceived ; the pulse was smaller
and more quickened ; in many diarrhoea appeared, even from the
period of the cessation of milk. Other cattle were constipated,
and voided very hard excrement; we have seen four which never
had an evacuation during the whole time of their illness, and
have not even ejected the enemas given them, although some of
these were emollient and others purgative. This obstinate con-
stipation was followed by death. In the second stage many con-
tinued to cough ; the muzzle was cold, and there flowed from the
mouth spumy white saliva. In those animals which gave hopes
of a cure being effected, the number of the pulse was sustained
and preserved its strength; setons caused a considerable swelling,
the nose did not become too cold, and there was less dulness. But
in those cattle in which the disease, so far from being diminished,
because aggravated, all the symptoms acquired a higher degree of
intensity. The pulse became small and hardly perceptible; setons
produced no effect ; the animals yawned much ; some remained
lying without being able to get up ; others did not lie down at
all, and appeared very anxious. The eyes were dim and covered
with a glutinous matter; the nose was usually cold; the horns
and the ears were in the same state, and the head was carried
low ; many, however, carried it constantly round to the side,
especially in the last stage of the malady. The respiration was
then very laborious ; the majority kept their mouths open as if
gasping ; in some the tongue was protruded at each expiration :
the diarrhoea was then most fetid, and consisted of a thin,
purulent, and even sanious matter, consisting of debris and
mucosities, vulgarly called raclnrcs de hoyaiix (gut-scrapings).
In all those which had diarrhoea, this was the nature of the
faeces. At last the affected animals died quietlv, their heads
resting on their sides.

' Many variations were observed in this disease ; its usual
course was run in from five to eight days ; beyond that period
there were hopes of a recovery. Death has been known to take

History of Animal Plagues. 495

place in one or two davs, and even in from ten to twelve hours;
some have had the neck covered with small tumours {boiitoiis),
and this usually indicated a fortunate termination to the disease.
Beasts that were fat perished most promptly ; cows which were
in low condition, or lean, seldom died; but these were in small
proportion. According to the reports of the oldest agriculturists
in the country, thirty-five years before this period there reigned in
the same locality a similar disease, which carried oft' nearly all the
cattle ; this epoch corresponds to the years 1744 and 1745, which
were deadly to the horned stock over nearly the whole kingdom.
'The dissection of the dead gave the following results : — i.
The abdomen was usually distended like a balloon. The ex-
tremity of the rectum was everted, forming a kind of violet, mush-
room-like tumour containing purulent and putrilied fluid ; the
epidermis was easily removed in those animals which had been
dead for twelve or fifteen hours. The eyes were covered with
mucosities; the nose was excoriated, and the mouth, as well as the
tongue, was covered with a foul matter; the body, indeed, was very
fetid in all its parts. 2. The brain did not present anything
remarkable, except in some animals which had been examined,
when its ventricles were found filled with an abundance of lymph.
The posterior parts c^f the mouth were very little inflamed, but
this region was filled, more or less, with the same kind of fluid
that was discovered in the bronchial tubes. The commissures of
the nostrils were in a healthy state; the parotid, maxillary, and
sublintrual o-Uinds were a little inflamed, and looked as if they
had been macerated in serum. 3. The only observation made
in the reoion of the neck, showed that the vesicatory setons
passed through the dewlap, did not, as a rule, operate well in those
animals which died; the cellular tissue in their neighbourhood
was in a relaxed and infiltrated condition, and this extended to
the anterior aspect of the thorax. 4. The axillary glands ap-
peared to us infiltrated like the parotids. 5. The trachea always
contained a large (juantity of foamy mucosities, in which con-
cretions similar to brokcn-uj) ineml)ranc were nnxed. 1 he
iinino- membrane appeared to be inflamed in many instances.
6. The lungs were distended as if with air; the large lobes were
usually but little aflected, but the -mall anterior lobes were

496 History of Animal Plagues.

gorged with blood, of a livid colour, and often sphacelous. On
being cnt into, a puriform matter, similar to that which filled the
trachea and flowed from the mouth, exuded. The bronchial
glands, like the axillary, the inguinal, and the mesenteric, were
infiltrated. 7. The pleurae participated, in many cases, in the in-
flammatory state, 8. The epiploon {omentum) showed oftentimes
patches of inflammation and gangrene. 9, The rumen was very
much distended by an enormous mass of food, which we have fre-
quently found hot and as if fermenting. In nearly all the sub-
jects, the lining membrane of this viscus was detached, and
covered the alimentary matters in the form of a brown pellicle,
which was without consistence and easily torn.^ The reticulum
was often in the same state; the lining membrane which covers its
meshes was sphacelous, and could be removed at the slightest
touch. The third compartment [feuillet) was gorged with dry
food; in some cases this was excessively hard, and in many parts of
the viscus we perceived, on examining it closely, that the dryness
was very considerable. The internal membrane was separated
and remained attached to the food, where it appeared brown, like
bronze. The leaves of this division were also very soft and easily
torn; but the hardness of this organ was not always the same.
The fourth compartment [caiUette) was always very inflamed;
many of its plicatures were livid; that portion which was nearest
the pylorus was the most aff"ected, and was not unfrequently
swollen and looking as if ulcerated. This cavity was filled with
a very fetid greenish fluid. 10. The inflammation reached its
highest degree in the small intestines ; the blood-vessels were
gorged with blood, and the intestines themselves were filled with
a putrid matter and mucus concretions which covered their walls,
while the lining membrane itself was in a very unhealthy state.
The inflammation was less severe in the large intestines, where
the mucosities, however, were in greater abundance. We have
once found the rectum excoriated in many places, and covered
with a glutinous white substance like pus. ii. The gall-bladder
was very distended; on opening it bile of a dark-green or yellow
colour escaped, which in some cases had the consistency of olive
oil ; there always remained in this viscus a considerable sedi-
^ This is a normal condition.

History of Animal Plagues. 497

incnt. 12. The liver was softer than usual, and was easily torn.
The whole of the muscles, and the heart itself, were in this state.

13. The majority of the cows opened were in calf, and in all of
them we perceived that the foetus had been dead for a long time.
The other viscera of the abdomen were in a healthy condition.

14. The cellular tissue was in many places swollen, and as if dis-
tended by gas. Among these different alterations there was
much variety. 15. The mammary glands were retracted; on
cutting into them a small (juantity of yellowish-coloured milk
was found. In one case the milk appeared to be little altered.
The inflammatory engorgement of the small anterior lobes of
the lungs, the inflammation of the stomach, — above all, that of the
fourth compartment and the small intestines, — have been con-
stantly found in all the cattle which have died from this epizooty,
and have been examined with care.

'This disease had much analogy to that which reigned in the
southern provinces of France in 1775 and 1776. The eruption
that appeared in many animals; the state of the stomach, the
intestines, and the gall-bladder was the same; the course of the
svmptoms — which differed very little in these two epizootics, —
and the non-ccpiivocal existence of contagion; — all combine to
establish a great degree of similarity between the two epi-
zootics. But the thorax was particularly afl'ccted in that of
Picardy ; the cough and the gangrene of the small lobes of the
lungs, — symptoms which never failed, — formed a distinction be-
tween them. In the epizooty of the southern provinces, the
lungs were certainly sometimes attacked with sphacelus, but
not always. The animals experienced tremblings and convulsive
twitchings, which were scarcely noticed in Picardy ; and the
rapiditv of the contagion was incomparably greater. Malignant
pleuro-pneumonia often gives rise to the same lesions in the
lungs; but in this case the abdominal \iscera arc not con-
stantly involved. The disease, then, which 1 ha\c dcscribcil i)cars
a few features in common with the epi/.ootv mcntioncil by
Lancisi and Ramazzini, and with malignant pUnro-pncunionia ;
but it differs from them in other respects. It might be regarded
as a putrid contagious fever, which exercised its ravages at the
same time on the viscera of the abdomen and chest.

32

498 History of Animal Plagues.

' The first stage was announced by the cough and grinding of
the teethj by the diminution or suppression of the secretion of
milkj or by a hard and full pulse. It was only then that we
might hope for success from proper treatment. The beginning
of the second stage was characterized by the total loss of appetite
and by diarrhoea, without great depression or dulness. Towards
the close of this stage, and during the third period, these two
symptoms were very marked, and everything betokened a state
of putridity, which, towards the termination of the disease, be-
came extreme.

'■ The indications which it was proposed to follow in treatment
were these: — i. To diminish the general inflammation, and,
above all, that of the viscjera contained in the chest and abdomen,
and to dilute the alimentary matters which gorged the stomach.
2. To attempt to arrest the progress of the putridity which always
existed in the last stage of this malady.

' The first indication was met in the following manner : — No
food whatever was given to the animal from the moment it was
suspected to be ill. It was often rubbed and wisped, and a
blanket was put over its back. When the ventilation of the
stable was imperfect, new openings were made. The diarrhoea,
which was always present, and was very fetid, demanded this
measure, and also that the stables should be often cleaned.
When called in at the commencement of the attack, it was
necessary to take advantage of this and to abstract blood from
the jugular vein. Several pounds of blood were withdrawn if
the animal was an adult ; if the disease was little advanced, and
the beast was robust and vigorous, this was repeated ; but if one
of these conditions was absent there was only the single bleeding.
When the malady had reached the second stage, venesection
was altogether abstained from, especially if there was an eruption
about the neck, and if the suppurative process set up by setons
w^as well established ; this, however, did not apply to those
animals yet in health, and in which setons had been used as a
preservative measure. Five or six hours after blood-letting, if
setons had not yet been applied, they were to be inserted under-
neath the skin of the dewlap by means of a needle; the tape
was to be well smeared with some vesicatory ointment, and its

History of Animal Plagues. 499

ends were to be loosely tied, so that it might be moved back-
vvards and forwards, in order to make the necessary drcssinirs
more convenient and complete. The ointment was to be com-
posed of two parts of cantharides- with a sufficient quantity of
laurel oil. With the design of favouring the suppuration, the
tape was to be afterwards frequently smeared with digestive oint-
ment. Hellebore root was also frequently emplovcd in order to
excite the formation of an abscess in the dewlap; this was
opened, when fully formed, by means of a needle carryino- an
epispastic tape. The congestion of the lungs was attempted to
be relieved in the following manner : Angelica root, an ounce and
a half; sal ammoniac, two ounces, and camphor one ounce; all
were to be pulverized and mixed to the consistence of an electuary
with a sufficient quantity of simple oxymel, and then rolled up in a
linen cloth and fastened in the mouth of the animal. The use
of this h'lllot was most salutary towards the end of the second
stage, because it contained antiseptic substances, the employ-
ment of which was then indicated.

■^The ordinary beverage allowed was thin gruel, prepared,
when possible, with flour or oatmeal. When nothing but
bran could be obtained, care was taken to have it well steeped
in difit'rent waters and then filtered, in order to se[)aratc that
portion which is not soluble, and which is of a very septical
nature.

'There was also given, at the most four times a day, and at
equal intervals, a bottle of the decoction of turnips in which was
infused the flowers of mullein, and to which was added two or
three drachms of nitre in powder. Nitre was also dissolved in
the gruel, and a little vinegar added.

' Kmollicnt enemas contril)uted to fulfil the same indication.
Thev were prepared with the leaves of mallow and linseed. The
mallow, mullein, and the turnips grow very abuiulantlv in the
parishes where this epizoiity raged, and it was for that reason
that I rcconmiended their use.

'The nasal cavities were irc(|iicntlv cleaned out bv injections
of a decoction of barlev, to which was added a suHicieiit (jiiaii-
tity of vinegar and honey.

'The use of the following preparations fuHlllcd the second in-

500 History of Animal Plagues.

dication. They were had recourse to when the symptoms of
putridity became manifest, and when the pulse lost its tone,
became weak, and the artery flaccid.

Nitre, in powder one pound.

Cream of tartar ...... four ounces.

Camphor two ounces.

Pulverize the whole, and give half an ounce four times a day in
the gruel.

*Takealsofour ounces of Peruvian bark, put it in three bottles-
ful of water, and decoct until there are only two, and give this
in two doses. Sometimes this is sweetened with honey, and two
drachms of camphor dissolved in a small quantity of Rabel
water were added,

' One or other of these preparations was resorted to, ac-
cording to necessity.

* When the animals became convalescent they were always
very weak, and their strength had nearly gone; they have been
even seen to die at this period for want of care. This unhappy
termination was guarded against in giving a draught of infusion
of junipers, or in mixing the extract of juniper with their drink.
The dose of berries was an ounce to two pounds of gruel ; that
of the extract of juniper was an ounce and a half or two ounces.

'The treatment was terminated by a purgative prepared as

follows :

[ Senna leaves one ounce.

Boiling water one pound.

Infuse the leaves in the water; afterwards dissolve an ounce of
Socotrine aloes in it; allow it still to infuse, and when done
enough give it in a tepid state to the animal.

'The cattle which it was desirous to preserve from the
epizooty were treated as follows : They were shut up, or kept as
far from any dangerous communication as possible; one person
only looked after them, and he never went near either infected
stables or infected beasts. All doo-s and other animals were
carefully prevented from communicating with the cattle so
guarded. The stables were kept well and properly aired, and if

History of Animal Plagues, 501

necessary new openings were made. The quantitv of their food
was much diminished; they got green herbage to eat, and their
drink was thin gruel, sometimes nitrated. The person who
looked after them brushed and wisped them often. A seton of
hellebore or medicated tape was inserted in the dewlap. Some-
times an appliance was fastened in the mouth, to which a piece
of linen tied in a knot was fixed. This contained some stimu-
lating substance, such as assafoetida, in a dose of one or two
ounces. These simple and ready precautions sufficed to maintain
a great number of dairies in a good state, and kept away the con-
tagion.

'Besides these, the different precautions demanded by the
law were carefully enforced. The syndics of the several parishes
remitted to the siib-delea;ate a very exact account, containing the
names and residences of the various parties whose cattle were
attacked by the epizootv, with the view of enforcini>; disinfectant
measures, and preventing fraud and deception with regard to
these.

'The dung and straw were removed from these stables or
cow-sheds. The first was buried beneath a layer of earth as
deeply as possible. If the straw was only in small quantities it
was entirely burnt, but if there was a great deal of it, only that
lying uppermost was burnt.

' The buildings were thoroughly cleansed ; every corner was
washed out — the walls, mangers, racks, and all woodwork were
scraped, and the ground was dug up to a certain depth. Every-
thing was freely washed, and plentiful use was made of boiling
water in which lime or vinegar was mixed. For the same pur-
pose a strong lye, made from the cinders of new wood, was em-
ployed ; and this was sprinkled in all the angles, holes, and most
out of the way corners. Brasiers full of red-hot charcoal were
put in these habitations, and at intervals sulphur and nitre were
burnt in them. The doors and windov/s were then left open,
and some days afterwards all the walls throughout were white-
washed with lime. No persons except those engaged in the dis-
infection were allowed to enter the stables.

'Among the necessary measures employed, some were of a
purely medical character, the others belonged to the legislative

502 History of Anwial Plagues.

department. I divided the infected country into three districts,
in each of which a veterinary surgeon [artiste vet^rinalre) was
stationed, to see that the treatment of the cattle was conformable
to the plan which had been traced.

'The. disease being contagious, and the locality in which it
reio;ned bcino; in the immediate neio-hbourhood of Mercantere, —
a canton very rich in cattle, — the district of Hesdin, and the valley
of Conche in Artois, I believed it to be indispensable to have
cordons of troops to prevent the epizooty from spreading into
them. With this view, detachments of soldiers were lodged in
the localities yet unaffected, and within half a league of the
suffering districts. The sentries on duty marched continually
backwards and forwards in communication with each other, and
prevented all dangerous communication. Rivers, and other likely
places, were taken advantage of to intercept intercourse; no
cattle were allowed to enter these cordons, neither were any per-
mitted to come from the interior of those districts where the
epizooty was prevalent. When it made further, progress, the
cordons fell back to the proper distance in the yet healthy dis-
tricts. There were also detachments of troops in all the infected
or suspected localities. Their duty was to make a particular
enumeration of all the cattle; to visit these twice a week, but
yet not to touch them ; to give timely notice to the veterinary
surgeons, or other inspectors empowered to carry out the orders
of the king, when there was an animal affected ; and, above all, to
watch that the numbers of the cattle in these places were neither
diminished nor increased without being duly reported to their
superiors. They were also to see that all graves were at least
eight feet in depth, and that there was one for each dead beast ;
that these were to be covered with firmly-trodden earth; they were
also to inspect the old graves, and to have them filled up when
sunk below the level. The disinfection of the stables, though
under the direction of the veterinary surgeon, was to be carried
on in their presence. They were to prevent cattle from travel-
ling or stopping on the highways or in the communes; all dogs
were to be shut up, or if found at large, or even in the yards of
their owners, they were to be destroyed, and the masters' names,
if discovered^ were to be reported. When necessary, they were

History of Animal Plagues. 503

to resort to severe measures^ in order to carry out the orders of
the king. In giving these orders to an officer who was to have
command under such circumstances, it was easy for him to dis-
tribute his men in such a way as to prevent the transmission and
the deadly effects of the epizootic contagion.

' I thought that the best way to make known the danger of
this epizooty would be to find out how many head of cattle had
died in a district of eight parishes, and how many had been cured
from the loth of Julv, the date of the outbreak, till the 7th of
September. In consequence of this, the syndics of these parishes
ordered an exact statement to be prepared, and it is from these
that I have been able to draw up the following table.

Animals which Animals cured . • , Animals

Parishes. have died of of the Animals ^^^

the epizooty. epizooty. ^"' * ^ healthy.

De Rossan 68 61 — —

De Maintenai .... 41 20 10 151

De Nampont-Saint-Firmin 95 99 10 57

De Montigny .... 43 20 2 4

De Preaux 56 27 — 22

De Nampont-Saint-Martin 33 4 — 187

De Noyelles 36 31 33 16

De Vron 13 i 13 390

Totals . 3S5 263 68 821

' The results of this enumeration are as follows : from the
loth of July to the 7th of September — i. 385'Jicad of cattle died,
and of these 298 succumbed before help could be given ; 2. 263
animals were cured, out of which 207 had been treated according
to the method laid down in this Memoir; 3. 68 cattle remained
sick, of uhich number 51 have been cured; 4. 821 beasts re-
mained unaffected. In this statement it is seen that the total of
those which died surpasses the number cured; but it is necessary
to observe — i. That the majority of the cattle perished before
my arrival. 2. 'I'hat the peasants had killed a innnber in
having recourse to a regime truly incendiary. As a proof of
this, I may mention that 13 cows at Vron succnnibed in a
few days to the treatment of a shepherd, who achniiiistered
to them a decoction of the uK^st irritating kinds ol liLrbs, such

504 History of Animal Plagues.

as hellebore and others. 3. That when skilled people have been
called in in good time they have succeeded in curing nearly two-
thirds.

^The various measures I have indicated, and which were
carried out by an enlightened and active magistrate (the Count
d'Agay, intendant of Picardy), conformably to the views of a
minister whose memory will always be dear to the French nation
(M. Necker), and by whose orders I went to this district, have
had the greatest success. Mercantere and the neighbouring
districts of Artois have been preserved, and the contagion has
ceased towards the middle of the month of September, 1779.^ ^

At Steyermark, in Austria, according to Adami, 10,000 head
of cattle perished from the Cattle Plague alone.^ In Styria,
nine-tenths of those attacked died, and Belgium was nearly
robbed of the whole of her herds.^

A.D. 1780. The winter of this year was very severe in Europe
and America, the spring-time cold and damp, the summer dry
and in some places very hot, and the autumn cloudy and heavy.
There was an eruption of Mount Vesuvius and Mount Etna,
apd a tremendous earthquake at Tauris. Catarrhal and other
fevers were very common in mankind. Spain was ravaged by
locusts. In Saxony a disease or ' rot ' affected the eggs of bees
(couvain pourri) from 1780 to 1783. Catarrhal fever or influ-
enza^ among horses occurred at Paris;* and at Lille epizootic
ophthalmia attacked horses and cattle.^ Anthracoid maladies
w-ere very frequent over the whole of France, particularly in
the provinces of Paris, Provins, Bas Berry, in Sologne, Poitou,
Orleans, Franche-Comte, Champagne, and Dauphine ; affect-
ing all the domestic quadrupeds, and even the geese, fowls,
and turkeys. Heusinger calls attention to the fact that gloss-
anthrax broke out this year in France, and that in the preced-

^ Vicq-d^Azyr. Precis Historique de la Maladie Epizootiqiie qui a regne dans
la generalite de Picardie en 1779. Memories de la Societe Royale de Medecine.
An. 1779.

'^ Adami. Beitrage zur Geschichte der Viehseuchen, &c. Vienna, 1781.

^ Wirth. Op. cit, p. 185. See also Zaz/ii/cr and Weiss. Ueber das Ansteken
der Viehseuch. 1 783.

* Huzard. Journal de Med., vol. liv. p. 337.

5 Chabert. Instructions, &c., vol. i. p. 391. See also p. 379.

History of Animal Plagues. 505

ing epizootics of this malady its origin could be gencrallv traced
to this part of Europe, from whence it spread with its usual
celerity and distinct characteristics. It connnenccd in April,
and advanced regularly and progressively from Forez to Lyons,
and on the Rhone to Dauphinc ; as well as on the hanks of
the Saone. It was supposed to have been caused bv the heavy
fogs and dews prevailing on the pastures, as all the animals kept
in stables and fed on dry forage escaped.^ In the spring-time,
the same malady was affecting cattle at Mantua.^

Previous to this period, the sugar-eating ants [formica sac-
charivora, Linnaeus) appeared in such numbers in the Island of
Grenada, as to put a stop to the cultivation of the sugar-plant,
and a reward of ^^^20,000 was offered to any one who should
discover an effectual method of destroying them.^

A.D. 1781. The summer was very hot. Locusts in Germany.
A great epidemy of influenza commenced in September ot last year
in China, and travelled through Asia in this year; in December
it was at Moscow ; and in February, 1782, it arrived at Revel and
Eastern Prussia ; still spreading over Europe, it was in Spain and
Italy in the months of August and September.* In the spring
it was in America. In England, an epizooty was fatal to horses
and horned cattle ; of one hundred and sixteen horses located in
one barrack stable, all but tiiirtccn were attacked, and seventy-
eight died.^

The bovine epizootv appears to have been the Cattle Plague,
or what was then named the ' distemper.' The Annual Register
savs, for March: 'At the beginning of this month the distem-
per among the horned cattle broke out in the Isle of Thanet. It
began at Mrs Cowell's, at Salmston, near Margate, and is sup-
posed to have been brought over from Ostend by two sheep-skins,
which being thrown on the beach were taken up with some sea-
weed, and laid on a dunghill. At these a cow smelt, and rolled

^ Brcdin. Ibid., p. 379. - Volpi Tax^S. Ferdciizy. Ibid., p. 212.

^ Castle. Philosopliical Transactions, vol. xxx. p. 346.

* Gluge. Influenza.

* Bascome. Op. cit., p. 138. This author's accounts arc exceedingly brief
and unsatisfactory, and in consequence of his not giving his authorities, are almost
worthless.

5o6 History of Animal Plagues.

on them. Six other beasts died at Manston ; five more were
shot thcre^ and buried on the 9th ; several others died ; some
were shot. On the I2th^ an Order of Couneil was issued (as
usual) prohibiting the removal of distempered cattle, and or-
dering them to be killed, and buried at least four feet deep,
with their hides slashed. Sec, Two more were seized with it at
Minster on the 16th, and inmiediately killed and buried. By
the above and other precautions, it is hoped that it will spread
no further. Some had been previously removed to Ash and
Chislet, thouo-h nothino; seems easier than to confine them in
this island, there being only three outlets, viz. at Sandwich, Sarr,
and Reculver,^^

A communication in the same volume refers to this con-
tagious distemper, and makes the following remarks : ' Farmers
have no need to be informed how important a matter the pre-
servation of their cattle is. The considerable advantages they
reap from them when free from accidents, and the losses they
suffer when distempers spread among their herds, are suflRcient
motives to make them feel the interest they have in preserving
their cow-houses, stables, &C., from the infection, and in using
all possible means to prevent its progress. But as fatal experience
has proved that the use of medicines, with the powers of which
they are not well acquainted, has been frequently more prejudicial
than salutary in the epizobty, and that country people, by placing
an unlimited confidence in pretended specifics, purchased at a very
high price, have very often been drawn into a double loss, by
the death of their cattle, as well as the expense of such drugs ; it
is thought the communication of an efficacious and cheap man-
ner of treating cattle when attacked by this distemper,^ Sec,, the
treatment being bleeding and giving drinks,^ Epizootic oph-
thalmia appeared among cattle in Flanders; it was attributed
to the hot weather, and to the use of foraiie full of insects.

A.D. 1782, The brown-tailed moth occasioned such alarming
devastations in the vicinity of London, that rewards were offered
for collecting the caterpillars; and the churchwardens and over-
seers attended to see them burnt by bushels.^

1 The Annual Register, vol. xxiv. p. 168. ^ Ibid. p. 99.

3 Kirby and Spouc. Entomology, vol. i. p. 209,

History of Animal Plagues. 507

Influenza was epidemic in many countries, and remark-
able for its bilious characteristics. Forster says for 1781 : ' In
spring prevailed the influenza in America, and next year in
Europe. . . . Clouds of sand martins in London. Beetles and
cockchafers this year were numerous ; hornets in plenty, wasps
few or none.^ For this year: 'Earthquake in Calabria, contem-
porary with great fall of barometer in Scotland. Early pj)ring
severely cold, with April floods. In March the memorable influ-
enza prevailed all over Europe ; in England its particular range
was very easily to be traced ; effects of this epidemic were sudden,
and it was among the most recent striking proofs of the atmo-
spherical nature of these peculiar morbific stimuli. Theepidemy
assumed more of a violent nature towards May.^

An epizobty of influenza in horses appears to have prevailed
in Europe at the same time as the epidemy in man. Huveman
observed and reported upon it, as it manifested itself in Ger-
many ; and Abilgaard, the talented founder of the Veterinary
School at Copenhagen, has left an admirable monograph on the
disease, which he had ample opportunity for studying during the
period it affected the King of Denmark's stallions.

The Annual Register says for Mav, 17H2 : 'The weather
was unconmionly severe, not in England only, but almost all
over Europe. At Vienna the frost continued so rigorous, that
the vines were thought to be materially injured. In Italy such
a fall of snow as has never been remembered. In Russia manv
thousands have perished of a sickness owing to the rigour of the
season. In Sweden men and cattle have perished for want of
food. In the Highlands of Scotland cattle die, or are killed, for
want of fodder. In short, the severity of the weather has been
generally felt.' -

In Germany, Metzgcr mentions a bilious disease affecting
horned cattle at the same time as influenza in man.^ From this
year until 1785, at Bray, in the Seine-Inferieure, France, epi-
zootic f)j)hthalmia, c()mi)Iicated with * albugo 'or ulceration of
the cornea, was observed in cattle.' In the arroiidisscminit of

' Forster. Op. cit., p. 171. - The Annual Register, vol. xxv. p. 207.

3 Mctzi^er. GeschiclUc tier Friihlings-epidemie, p. 35.

* Cloqud ; Chabert. Instructions Vetdrinairc, vol. iv. p. 312.

5oS History of Animal Plagties.

Chartres, from this year until 1784, Barrier witnessed ' distemper'
in dogs prevailing as an epizobty. There was also an epizooty
among cats at this period, which was thought to be of the same
nature as the distemper in dogs : ' The cats are also subject to
this disease (distemper). We have had occasion to see many
farmers in the neighbourhood of Chartres, who have usually a
score of cats on their farms, lose the whole of them by this
disease during the winters of 1782, '83, and '84.' ^

The Cattle Plague was so severe in Holland in the last and
this year, that more than 300,000 head of cattle were lost.^

With regard to the epidemic influenza prevailing in England
at this time, Dr Darwin has the following remarks, which I think
worthy of reproduction. *The catarrhus contagiosus is a fre-
quent disease amongst horses and dogs; it seems first to be dis-
seminated amongst these animals by miasmata diffused in the
atmosphere, because so many of them receive it at the same
time, and afterwards to be communicable from one horse or dog
to another by contagion. These epidemic or contagious catarrhs
more frequently occur amongst dogs and horses than amongst
men, which is probably owing to the greater extension and
sensibility of the mucous membrane which covers the or^an of
smell, and is diffused over their wide nostrils and their large
maxillary and frontal cavities. And to this circumstance may
be ascribed the greater fatality of it to these animals.

' In respect to horses, I suspect the fever at the beginning to
be of the sensitive, irritated, or inflammatory kind, because there
is so great a discharge of purulent mucus; and that, therefore,
they will bear once bleeding early in the disease, and also one
mild purgative, consisting of about half an ounce of aloe and as
much white hard soap mixed together. They should be turned
out to grass both day and night for the benefit of pure air, unless
the weather be too cold (and in that case they should be kept in
an open airy stable without being tied), that they may hang
down their heads to facilitate the discharge of the mucus from
their nostrils. Grass should be oflered them, or other fresh
vegetables, as carrots and potatoes, with mashes of malt or of

^ Barrier. Ibid. ^ Hcusinjer. Op. cit., p. 261.

History of Animal Plagues. 509

oatSj and with plcntv of fresh warm or cold water frequentlv in
a day. When symptoms of debilitv appear, which may be
known by the coldness of the ears or other extremities, or when
sloughs can be seen on the membrane which lines the nostrils, a
drink consisting of a pint of ale with half an ounce of tincture
of opium in it, given every six hours, is likely to be of great
utility.

' \\\ dogs I believe the catarrh is generally joined with symp-
toms of debility early in the disease. These animals should be
permitted to go about in the open air, and should have constant
access to fresh water. The use of being as much as may be in
the air is evident, because all the air which they breathe passes
twice over the putrid sloughs of the mortified parts of the mem-
brane which lines the nostrils and the maxillary and frontal
cavities — that is, both during inspiration and expiration — and
must therefore be loaded with contagious particles. Fresh new
milk and fresh broth should be given them very frequently, and
they should be suflered to go amongst the grass, which they
sometimes cat for the purpose of an emetic; and if possible
should have access to a running stream of water, as the con-
tagious mucus of the nostrils, both of these animals and of
horses, generally drops into the water they attempt to drink.' ^

A.D. 1783. The winter was mild; the spring and summer
damp ; but the latter season was particularly hot and stifling.
Early in the year, singular atmospherical phenomena were ob-
served in the kingdom of Naples, and on the 5th of February a
series of earthquakes began at Calabria, which lasted until the
28th of March. Eruj^tions of Vesuvius were continuous. On
the 5th of February a dense black cloud hung over Calabria,
which necessitated the lighting of candles at mid-day, so much
did it obscure the daylight; and at the same time the odour of
sulphur and asphalt was insupportable. This vapour or smoke
spread over the whole of Italy, and even to Tunis, in Africa, and
had not disappeared in September. ' On the 9th of February, a
tog having the odour of burnt leaves spread over New England,
the ground there being under snow. A famine in the Carnatic

1 G. Darwin, M.D. Zoonomia, or the Laws of Organic Life. London, 1 796.
Vol. ii. p. 230.

5IO History of Anhnal Plagues.

followed. On the night of the 29th of March, a splendid lumen
horeale in America. In England it appeared January 13th, and
in February the marshes of the Lea were under water for 10
days. There was much mistiness, which began to overspread
Europe in June, during the eruption of Hecla ; and previous to
it, Ireland was covered with blue vapour, and the springs dried
lip. On the 31st of May, a large meteor was seen in Virginia.
On St Helen's day, Monday, i8th August, in England, was
observed the great and memorable meteor, which crossed Eu-
rope from NN.W. to SS.E., blazing and leaving coruscations in
its train. It was seen about half-past eight, by Mr B, M.
Forster, at Walthamstovv, who was so amazed at its magnitude
that he jumped out of a window to ol)serve it better from the
garden, and he describes its course as attended with noise. The
same year, in October, tremendous gales and high tides occurred.
In some parts great rains fell, and in others earthquakes were
felt. Great fog at Amsterdam in December. The disorders of
health kept pace with these convulsions of nature. Distemper
among cattle began in England at Derby. Greece, Smyrna, and the
Crimea were subject to the plague, and that disease produced
the most dreadful ravages in Egypt, where it continued all the
next year. In various parts of Europe and America the scarla-
tina and the measles were epidemic.'^ ' A distemper among; the
cattle in Derbyshire; a royal proclamation issued to prevent the
spread of the disease.^ " In the month of May volcanic erup-
tions took place in Greenland, and an island was thrown up
from the bottom of the sea, between that country and Iceland;
while a heavy black cloud hmig over the latter place, which, on
the 24th of May, was observed at Copenhagen. On the ist of
June there were frequent shocks of earthquake felt in Iceland,
and on the nth a tremendous eruption of the volcano Skaptar
Jokul. These eruptions and earthquakes lasted until Novem-
ber, and more than 20 villages were destroyed ; 9336 human
beings perished, with 28,000 horses, 11,461 cattle, and 190,488
sheep. This loss of life and property was caused partlv by the
noxious vapours which impregnated the air, partly by the depre-

' T. Forster. Op. cit., p. 172. - Webster. Op. cit.

History of Animal Plagues. 511

dations of the lava, and, in part, hv the famine resulting from
the showers of ashes throughout the island, and which destroyed
the vegetation; and also hy the desertion of the coasts hv the
fish,^ A hlack smoke covered the island, and was ohserved
throughout Europe during the whole summer, espeeiallv towards
the end of June was it ohserved in the most distant regions
when the wind hegan to hlow from the north. In Germany we
have the effects of this terrestrial commotion noted as follows :
' This vapour arose first in June, and lasted the whole of July
and August almost without cessation. It caused a sensation of
warmth, and the weather was often excessively hot; the sun
was not quite obscured, but had generally a fiery red appearance,
which was noticed bv night as well as by day. I observed no
particular smell, but the haze was of a dry nature, and it did not
prevent rain or storms, though it appeared injurious to the
plants; I well remember that most of the trees lost all their
leaves from it. . . . Since 1783, I have never again seen such a
dense wide vapour with all its peculiarities; all those I have
since observed have been the usual fogs.' '^

The best description of this serious catastrophe in Iceland
is that given by a competent oi)server, the Etatsroed Stephenson,
who was present during the latter part of the calamity. From
this description we will make the following pertinent extracts.
'After the first breaking out of the fire (after the 1st of June),
a great quantity of ashes, sand, and sulphureousdust was thrown
over the adjacent districts, particularly those of Siden and Fliotsh-
verfet. The long continuance of westerly winds, too, drove the
sandbank away from Skaptarlungen to the place just mentioned;
and the vast quantity of burning sand falling around scorched up
all the trrass in the fields about Fliotshverfct to such a degree,
that there were no means of support for the cattle, and the in-
habitants fled from all the farms in this district, cxce])ting the
most easterly one, called Nupstad, which, together with the
neighbouring farm of Haudaberg, remained uninjured by the hot

' Lyell. Principles of Geology.

- Finke. Naturhist. beincrk. iiber flen Moordampf., p. 26.
3 Kort Beskrivclsc over den nyc Vulcans Ildspiudniug i Vcslci-Skaplcriclds
Syssel paa Island i aarct, 1783. Copenhagen, 17S5.

512 Hisiojy of Animal Plagues.

ashes It will be easily conceived, that, in proportion

as the air became more and more filled with ashes, sand, sulphur-
dust, and the smoke and aqueous vapours arising from the burnt
districts, it must likewise become more fetid and unwholesome;
and, indeed, even intolerable to those who, at such a time, could
scarcely draw their breath. The presence, too, in the atmo-
sphere, of this mass of extraneous particles, obstructed in some
measure the light and warmth of the sun, and caused to prevail,
even at the height of summer, a most piercing and unnatural
cold; in addition to which, what was still more unseasonable, a
heavy fall of snow took place on the nth and 21st of June. It
was, however, soon melted. Almost all the new eruptions were
accompanied by showers of hailstones, of an extraordinary size,
equalling that of a sparrow's egg, These caused much damage
and destruction to the grass, and nearly killed both men and
cattle ; but the mischief occasioned by these was trifling, in
comparison of what was caused by the heavy rains,^ which, mix-
ing with the sand, ashes, and sulphur, that had before fallen in
immense quantity, incrusted the fields with a kind of black coat,
somewhat similar to ink, but thicker, which poisoned the grass,
and rendered the water stinking and unfit for use. Even the
rain itself, in descending, became impregnated with sulphur and
ashes, which sorely affected the eyes, caused a giddiness in the
Jiead, and was attended with pain as often as it fell on the naked

body I have already hinted that the damage which the

pastures have sustained from the torrents of rain are incalculable,
for these, accompanied with the most dreadful peals of thunder,
have not only in many places rendered the surface of the earth
for ever unproductive, by dislodging from the neighbouring
eminences great fragments of rock, but have elsewhere materially

1 During one of the heavy falls of rain, it is stated by Holm, that ' there was
observed at Drontheim and at other places in Norway, and also at Feroe, an un-
common fall of sharp and salt rain, which' was so penetrating, that it totally de-
stroyed the leaves of the trees, and every vegetable it fell upon, by scorching them
up and causing them to wither. At Feroe, there fell a considerable quantity of
ashes, sand, pumice, and brimstone, which covered the whole surface of the ground,
whenever the wind blew from Iceland ; and the distance between these two places
is at least eighty (Danish) miles. Ships that were sailing between Copenhagen and
Norway were frequently covered with ashes and brimstone, which stuck to the
sails, masts, and decks, besmearing them over with a black and pitchy matter.'

History of A nimal Plagues. 5 1 3

injured veaetation bv covering the ground with i)laek dust, mixed
with the hair-hke raveUngs, ashes^ sand, and sulphur ; thus
poisoning the animals, and consequently cutting oft' the verv life-
springs of the inhabitants. The feet of the poor cattle, and their
heads, as far at least as their eyes, and the inside of their mouths,
became changed, by their going into these pastures, especially
such as are damp and niarshv, to a sul])hurcous yellow colour,

and were filled with wounds and boils The volcano

likewise affected the fisheries in the year 1783; as the thick
clouds of smoke and dust, which continually covered the land,
rendered it too dangerous for the lishermen to put out to sea.
In the district of West Skaptcficld the fire had a still greater and
more destructive elTect on the trout-fisheries, in the fresh-water
lakes; for a larger quantity of volcanic ashes and sand had naturally
fallen here than in other parts of the country, and these imparted
an unusually blue colour, sometimes tinged with yellow, to the
waters, which at length became so foul and putrid, that great

numbers of the fish were driven dead upon the beach

Exclusively of the damage and loss occasioned to the fisheries bv
the fire, this calamity has likewise driven from the country vari-
ous kinds of birds that used to build their nests there, among
which the principal were the s\\;ans. The inhabitants were well
acquainted with the time that these birds cast their leathers,
which was in the month of August, when the people used to
climb the rocks and take a great number of them ; but the sul-
phureous smoke and stench effectually banished them all; and
the few eirojs that were found in the deserted nests were so

CO

thoroughly impregnated by the smoke, as to be \.\\\{\K. for eating.
.... What influence the volcanic eruption has had on the
growth of the grass, and the miserable conse(juences that have
ensued from the failure of the latter, cannot be described in few
words. It is easy to conceive that the progress of vegetation, in
the district of Skaptefield, where the fields were immediately
covered by the poisonous black substances, must unavoidably be
sto])ped. Hut the misery was far from being confiiicci to this
])lace alone ; for, even out of the district, w here the xolcanic
sand and sidphureous ashes did not lall in any considcr.ible
(juantities, the growth of the grass, which, until the eruption

11

514 History of Animal Plagiies.

took place, was in a most promising state, was after this time
totally prevented. Plants of all kinds withered, and became so
brittle, that the mere treading upon them reduced them to
powder. The first that felt the baneful influence were the But-
tercup {Ranunculus acris), in Danish called Sraorurt, and the
Fisilen [Leontodon Taraxacum). The Elting [Kquisetum fluvia-
tile) was the last to suffer. The same poisonous dust also
attacked the cabbages and other vegetables in the gardens, totally
checking their growth; and having thus extended itself over the
whole country, caused a general failure of the crops of grass.
Not, however, equally in all places ; for the want was particularly
experienced in the northern district, where, according to report,
the united produce of several farms at Langanaes was not more
than sufiicient to feed a single cow. It is true that the number
of horned cattle and sheep was already greatly decreased, previ-
ously to the eruption ; a circumstance which was partly occasioned
by a succession of bad years, and partly by the infection that had
recently prevailed among the sheep, and had induced a necessity of
destroying great numhers. But still the loss was most severely
felt; for, in the autumn of 1783, the natives were obliged to
kill more than a third, nay, in some parts, even the half, of their
remaining stock of cattle, for want of fodder. What is further
remarkable is, that in the summer of 1783, the pastures in many
places swarmed with little winged insects, of a species hitherto
unknown in Iceland. These were of blue, red, yellow, and
brown colours, and appeared nearly to resemble the earth-fly.
They were particularly troublesome to those employed in secur-
ing the hay, who were soon covered with their unwelcome
guests. Many people have assured me that they even found
numbers of them still living among the hay, in the depth of the
ensuing severe winter; and, what is yet more extraordinary, that
they left their quarters after a day or two of thaw or mild wea-
ther In consequence of the deficiency in the pastures,

and particularly of the poisoned state of the herbage, a great
mortality naturally ensued among the cattle. In the district of
West Skaptefield, where the fields were entirely covered with the
infectious sand, ashes, and sulphur, mixed into a pasty consist-
ency by the heavy rains; where the showers of red-hot stones

Histoiy of Animal Plagiics. 515

and pumice had totally destroyed the foce of vetretation ; where
a stinking and suffocating smoke, accompanied by tempests, con-
tinual liLihtnings, thunder, and noises in the air, heavv subter-
raneous reports and dreadful shocks of earthquakes, obscured the
atmosphere; where a terrific stream of fire, a melted mass of
lava, had urged its impetuous course; in short, where all the
most fearful phenomena in nature had concentrated themselves,
as it were, in one spot, it was common to see the animals run-
ning about the pastures as if in a state of madness; and I am
credibly informed, that many of them, unable to find food, or
even shelter to defend themselves from the surrounding horrors,
in a fit of desperation, plunged into the fire. The cows were in
many instances secured and fed in stalls, but the sheep and horses
were dispersed in such a manner, that scarcely half of the original
number could again be collected. All the quadrupeds of the
island had thriven wonderfully, and gained strength, during the
mild winter and beautiful spring of 17H3, but this did not prevent
them from dying off in considerable numbers during the week or
fortnight immediately subsequent to the eruption, with inllam-
matory diseases caused by the poisonous quality of the food.
Such was particularly the case with the sheep, of which, in the
district of Skaptefield, it was remarked that, whereas in Iceland
they generally walked facing the wind, they now regularly turned
away from it ; naturally anxious to avoid the strong sulphureous
smell, which the infected breezes brought along with them.

^ As the cold, too, at a distance from the fire, was unusually
piercing, they instinctively approached the current of lava, by
which many of them were overwhelmed and destroyed, in spite
of all the exertions that were made to save them. Nor was the
situation of the cows and horses much better; for, although the
disease was to them not equally fatal, yet they became excessively
lean, and, even in the best season of the year, the cows gave
scarcely any milk. It was the same beyond the West Ska])tefiel<.l
district, and indeed nearly throughout the whole island. It was
still further remarked in diflercnt parts of Iceland, during the
summer of 1783, that the sheep, in direct opposition to the ex-
perience of the inhabitants, and to the supposed natural pro-
pensity of the animals themselves, avoided the dry elevated places,

^i6 History of Animal Plagues.

and even the heaths and commons, which most abounded in
rich grass ; and, as soon as they were driven up to the heights,
snuifed at the earth and searched among the grass, but without
tastino- it : then immediately turning round, ran to the morasses
and wet places. The cause of this I attribute to the circumstance
of the ashes and sulphureous dust having had a more permanent
influence upon the elevated pasturage, than upon the herbage in
moist and low situations, where a proportion of the ashes and
sand must have sunk into the water, and where, besides, the
grass, when rain fell, must have been much purified and re-
freshed. It may possibly be objected to this, that the rain
would naturally also produce the same beneficial effects in the
higher grounds ; but it is, on the other hand, to be remarked that
the grass and herbage on heaths and commons, where sheep
principally delight to go, is small and short. Consequently, as
often as a heavy rain fell upon the ashes and sulphureous dust
here collected, these were converted into a kind of paste which
could not penetrate the soil ; so that all vegetation was covered
with it : whereas, in the morasses, this paste was gradually dis-
solved in the watery soil, and, as the grass in such situations
generally rises to a considerable height, the mixture of ashes only
affected the lower part of it. This I therefore consider to be the
cause why the sheep, during the summer of 1783, uniformly
sought the moist places ; and it may further be added, that they
there in some degree found a shelter from the penetrating cold
and frequent tempests, which are much more prevalent in the
hilly country than down in the valleys.

' In addition to the inflammatory disease just mentioned as so
fatal to the sheep, so early as the commencement of autumn,
1783, when they were collected from the hills, several of them
were found to be attacked with a distemper hitherto unknown
to the natives. The poor animals could neither walk nor stand:
their teeth were loose, so as to prevent them from chewing their
food; their cheeks were full of swellings; and their joints were
contracted. Towards Christmas the sickness began to show
itself in a still greater degree, even among the stall-fed sheep,
and also among the horned cattle, which rendered it necessary
for them to be slaughtered. Manvj however, fell victims to the

History of Animal Plagues. 517

distemper much sooner than was expected, when the disease
attacked them internally. Thus it was often found that the
heart, liver, hmgs, and kidneys of these miserable animals were
covered on all sides with boils and ulcers. They were in some
cases much swollen, in others quite destroyed and hollowed out ;
one of the kidneys was frequently greatly enlarged, while the
other was proportionately shrivelled. The jaw-bones were per-
forated, as if they had been bored with an instrument, and the
ribs were knit together in a most extraordinary manner. The
bones were reduced to a substance resembling gristle, and even
the hardest became so tender at the joints, that they might easily
be separated from each other. When the entrails that had been
diseased were boiled, they shrivelled very remarkably, and, if
merely rubbed between the fingers, turned at once to powder.
Of these particulars I was an eye-witness ; for, when we arrived
in Iceland, in the middle of the month of April, 1784, this
plague was in its full vigour, and I can with truth assert, that
the greater number of the cattle then alive on the island fell vic-
tims to the distemper during my stay there. Having said thus
much concerning the sickness of the quadrupeds, I will only
add, that it has been generally more destructive among the
sheep than the horned cattle, and that there arc some parishes,
amongst which are Muhle and Rangervallc, and others in the
west country, where the latter have been comparatively but little
affected.

'According to information that we have received, the disorder
has in some degree made its appearance in the districts of Guld-
bringue and Kiose, and likewise in various places in the west
country; but still its greatest ravages have been in Skaptefield,
Aarnes, Borgefiordc, Myhrc, and Hnappedal, and, indeed, through
the whole of the north of the island. From the east no intelli-
gence has yet been received of its having broken out there. In
some horses, which I had the opportunity of seeing during my
journey to the place of the eruption, the distemper exhiijited the
same external appearances as in the other cattle; but the teeth in
those I examined were not yet become loose. It was a nu-lancholy
sight to sec the miserable and deplorable state to which these
poor creatures were reduced. In one instance in particular, it

5i8 History of Animal Plagues.

was really astonishing how the wretched animal could walk, or
even stand upon its legs ; and yet its owners, in the confusion
and distress occasioned by their flight from the spot, were under
the necessity of laying a burthen upon it. No strikino- external
marks of the disorder were perceptible among the horses out of the
district of Skaptefield, but it has nevertheless prevailed there, if
not as the sole cause, yet certainly in union with others, to pro-
duce a general destruction both among them and the horned
cattle; many having died suddenly when they had a plentiful
supply of hay; others when in pastures where there was a suffi-
ciency of grass, of which they were never deprived either by ice
or snow. To our utter astonishment, we saw horses in the most
miserable state of leanness in the richest meadows, and even
actually starved to death, having preferred eating substances the
most injurious, such as the wood of houses, the hair from each
other's coats, or whatever else was within their reach, rather
than touch the grass of last year's crop, still remaining in the
pastures. This appears to me to be a sufficient proof of the
poisonous state of the herbage during the year 1783 ; and,
although the circumstance has not yet been investigated, I am
fully convinced that the internal organs of the horses have been,
equally with those of other animals, infected with the dis-
temper. The few inhabitants who had still left them some of
the old hay in the year 1782, preserved their cattle in a healthy
and good condition; but even here, when the new hay came
into use, the disease began to appear among them,

' I have further to remark, that during the last summer
several of the younger beasts were recovered by feeding upon
the new grass.

' It might seem contradictory were I here to assert that the
whole destruction among the cattle is to be considered merely
as an effect of the volcanic eruption; because I have before
stated that, in certain districts which were within the operation
of the fire, no particular distemper has yet made its appearance.
I must, nevertheless, still maintain my opinion, that the fire has
mostly contributed towards it, since this was, beyond a doubt, the
cause of the unwholesome air and frequent tempests, as well as of
the failure of the crops of grass and hay, in the summer of 1783.

History of Animal Plagues. 519

The cattle had, at the close oF that season^ become remarkahlv
lean, and consequently were rendered unlit to withstand the
rigours of the ensuing winter, one of the most severe hitherto
known. The inhabitants had not by any means a sufficiency of
provender for them, nor were they aware at first of the unwhole-
some and poisonous quality of that which they did possess. It
may be easily supposed that the inclemency of the weather
greatly contributed to the destruction, although the fire itself

was the principal and original cause of it That the

eruption had likewise a powerful effect on the human frame is
certain, and is the less to be wondered at, as the unwholesome
and pestilential air, operating together with the noxious water
and food, and with the want and distress occasioned by the
destruction of the cattle, must naturally be productive of sick-
ness and distempers. Diseases of the most inveterate kinds, in
the form of scurvy, broke out in sundry places, and those even
far distant from the fire; as, for instance, in the districts of
Guldbringue, Borgefiorde, and Myhre, especially in the first. The
district of West Skaptefield was, however, the chief seat of this
distemper; and ,in only six parishes there, no less than one
hundred and fifty persons were carried off between the com-
mencement of the new year and the month of June following,
but some of these perished by famine. The same symptoms
showed themselves in this disorder in the human race as among
the cattle. The feet, thighs, hips, arms, throat, and head were
most dreadfully swelled, especially about the ankles, the knees,
and the various joints, — which last, as well as the ribs, were
contracted, 'i'he sinews, too, were drawn up with painful
cramps, so that the wretched sufferers became crooked, and
had an appearance the most pitiable. In addition to this
they were oppressed with pains across the breast and loins ;
their teeth became loose, and were covered by the swoll-
en gums, which at length mortified and fell off in large
pieces of a black or sometimes dark-blue colour. Disgusting
sores were formed in the palate and throat, and not uncom-
monly, at the termination of the disease, the tongue rotted
entirely out of the mouth. This tireadful, though apparently
not very infectious, distemper prevailed in almost every lann in

520 History of Ajiimal Plagties.

the vicinity of the fire during the winter and spring It

is necessary for me here to remark, that the disorder principally
attacked those who had previously suffered from want and
hunger, and who had protracted a miserable existence by eating
the flesh of such animals (not even excepting horses) as had
died of the same distemper, and by having recourse to boiled
skins and other most unwholesome and indigestible food. (I
have been assured, in the district of Skaptefield, that the flesh
and milk of sick animals had a remarkably unpleasant taste?
and that, in particular, the milk was of an unusually dark and

yellow colour.) The loss of the horned cattle 'and sheep

was very severely felt by the Icelanders; but that of the horses
was equally so, especially bv the inhabitants of the interior of
the country, who thus found themselves deprived of their last
resource, the means of having provisions and other necessaries
conveyed from the coast through long and tedious roads. Nay,
many who are totally destitute of horses, are under the necessity
of carrying everv load of hay into the outhouses upon their own
backs, and frequently from a very considerable distance; nor is
there any prospect of these invaluable anima|s being soon re-
placed.^ ^

In this year ^rabies canina^ was epizootic in the Island of
Jamaica, and, it is asserted, for the first time. Moseley says :
'During my residence in the West Indies, I never heard any-
thing of this disease; and from the most particular inquiries, I
am fully convinced that, before 1783, the rabies had not ap-
peared upon many, if any, of the islands.' ^ It appeared in the
spring in Hispaniola, and in June in Jamaica, where it continued
until March, 1784. It was supposed to have originated spon-
taneously, and it became general. Many negroes were bitten
and died ; and swine, goats, and horses were also wounded and
perished with symptoms of hydrophobia.

The epizooty of malignant anthrax which has been noticed
as prevailing in the French West Indies, or Antilles, for some

^ Hookej: Tour in Iceland, vol. ii. See also BrKgmans. Verhandeling over
een Zwavelagtige nevel, p. 11. Knobloch Sammlung, vol. ii. p. 522. Lord D it f-
ferin. Letters from High Latitudes, p. 113.

^ Llosdcy. Von den Krankheiten zwischen den wendezirkcln, p. 29.

History of Animal Plagues. 521

previous years, appeared this year in the Island of Grenada in a
most severe form. We are indebted to Mr Chishohii for a de-
scription of it; and, as Heusinger remarks, this description is not
only important with regard to the epizooty itself, but to veterinary
surgeons and others it is most worthy of notice, from the fact that
it may serve to explain the famous ' milk disease ' of modern days
which has appeared in the United States of America, and also
because it is the only epizooty of this kind in which the con-
comitance of malignant angina in man can be placed bcvond a
doubt. Chisholm says: Mn the year 1783, in the Island of
Grenada in the West Indies, a very singular coincidence took
place. Late in that year the cynanche maligna appeared in
several parts of the island, for the first time observed, I believe,
by the oldest inhabitant in that or any other of the West Indian
islands. The symptoms of this disease were most violent, and
its rapidity to a fatal termination most alarming. But the cir-
cumstances which gave the greatest singularity to this disease
was its concomitancy with a contagious distemper of a very ex-
traordinary nature, — an epidemic among the cattle and mules in
the same parts of the island wherein the cynanche maligna ap-
peared. Both were new and unknown, and both were concomi-
tant, insomuch as to render it difficult to perceive whether they
proceeded from a cause connnon to both, or whether the cy-
nanche was an effect on the human race of an imported con-
tagion, which seemed peculiarly, in the first instance, to affect
the horned cattle and mules. These animals whilst feeding, and
apparently in perfect health, in the pastures, suddenly fell down
dead. The malignity of the disease had so rapid a progress, that
seldom could other symptoms, or rather any symptoms, be ob-
served : — sometimes a few minutes before death the animals were
languid, lay down, and neglected their food. Sometimes a swell-
ing of the glands of the throat formed a large tumour, which
might be perceived for some days before death ; but though this
swelling sometimes suiipiu-atcd, and though tiie matter was dis-
charged, it never proved critical. On dissection, the w hole course
of the trachea or oesophagus, the stomach, and greater part of the
intestines, were found in an inflamed or gangrenous state. \'ariou3
modes of cure were adoj)ted, but, except iu a few cases, always

522 Histoiy of Anijnal Plagues.

without effect On those plantations where care was taken

to burn the carcases of the diseased cattle^ no further conse-
quences resulted. But they unhappily were few. On those
where this precaution was not used, and, indeed, it is surprising
that it should be used in any, seeing that the disease was new,
and its effects unknown, the flesh of the cattle that died being
dug up and eaten by the negroes, proved most dreadfully septic,
producing a pestilential carbuncle, attended by a malignant fever.
There were not wanting instances of the iniquitous practice of
offering the flesh of the diseased cattle for sale, and on these
occasions, such was the highly septic nature of this poison, that
even touching the flesh, in such manner as that part of the sanies
adhered to the finger, produced the same fatal consequence. . . .
It will be considered a very extraordinary fact that the cynanche
maligna disappeared a short time after the lues bovina. My
friend, Dr John Stewart, who had the best opportunities of see-
ing both diseases, for it was chiefly within his practice they oc-
curred, writes to me: ^' I went to Grenada early in 1774, but_ I
neither witnessed nor heard of any instance of the cynanche
maligna in that island until the end of 1783, nor did it appear
after 1786, until I finally left the island in 1797.^^ .... The lues
bovina, I have said, is a very rare disease within the tropics. I
have been assured by a gentleman long resident in Jamaica, and
owner of considerable cattle-pens, that nothing of the kind has,
to his knowledge, occurred there; and it is certain neither
Brown nor Ling have noticed it in their valuable works : it has
appeared in Barbadoes only, as far as I have been able to learn ;
and there it seems to have assumed the same alarming aspect,
and to have produced the same devastation among the horned
cattle, and, in many instances, to have given rise to similar con-
sequences among the human race we have found it marked by
in Grenada. Tlie learned historiographer of Barbadoes, the
Reverend Mr Hughes, gives no information relative to the origin
of this distemper in that island, but he thus describes it :
"^ Among the distempers which infect the horned cattle, there is
one of a very contagious and pestilential kind, for a beast shall
seemingly, by his feeding heartily, and in appearance, be other-
wise well, yet in a few hours, without any symptom of a pre-

, History of Animal Plagues. 523

vious disease, drop down and die. These, when dead, are by the
most judicious planters immediately buried, and often there is
a watchman appointed to prevent the new-bought negroes and
others of the poorer sort from digging up the carcases and feed-
ins; upon them; for when this happens it generally costs them
their lives, especially if thcv eat the liver, or any part of the en-
trails. In this case the distemper breaks out in the shape of
plague-boils, near the armpits or temples." He adds : " I have
known one very extraordinary instance of its virulency — a negro
woman was carrving upon her head, in a wicker basket, a piece ot
this flesh that had been newly cut off from a dead distempered
carcase, and a few bloody sanious drops fell through the basket
upon her breast. In a few hours she was swelled all over, and
was not able to move a limb, and in about two days there ap-
peared mortifying ulcers in every part where the drops fell, and
though speedy methods, &c., were used, the whole breast and
adjacent affected parts were taken off close to the bones.". . . .
A distemper equally fatal prevailed in some districts of Barba-
does in the year 1795. In the month of April of 1796, I made
a tour of the island, and at the plantation Apcshill, near Hole's
town, had the following very curious information from our host,
Mr Cummins, a very intelligent and respectable planter. The
malady was fatally epidemic on this plantation, and carried of?
more than 50 head of cattle, and the number of negroes who
died in consequence of eating the flesh of the diseased animals
was also considerable. The description which Mr Cunmiins
gave of it, proved its identity with the Grenada distemper of
1783-4, but he could assign no cause for it. A very singular
instance of the excessive virulence and diffusive power of this
poison occurred in his own family. One of his children, a girl
of three years old, during the prevalence of the epidemic, took
for her breakfast one morning so large a portion of milk as to
leave a very scanty allowance to the other children. This milk
was taken from a cow which unfortunately then laboured under
the distemper. At the end of four days, the child was seized
with all the usual symptoms of tiie plague, sore or malignant
carbuncle, which had been observed to take place in the negroes
who ate of the flesh of the diseased cattle. She recovered with

5^4 History of Animal Plagues.

the utmost difficulty, but the deep mark left by the carbuncle on
her arm still remained.' ^

After the great heat of the summer at Wetzlar, in Germany,
cattle were observed to die very suddenly, probably from the dis-
ease we have just been describing.^ The same malady (anthrax
— here called Fenyu) was very frequent in Dutch Friesland in
the month of September.^

The same afi'ection was remarked in France in August,* and
Brugnone tells us that it committed dreadful havoc among the
horses of some regiments of dragoons at Fossano, near Turin. ^
Gangrenous pneumonia was observed among cattle at Limousin
by Bourgelat,'' and this author says that glanders (which may
have only been catarrh) was general among horses at Paris
in the spring and summer.'' A malignant and contagious form
of dysentery, which may have been the Cattle Plague, appeared
among the cattle in the Venetian provinces of Friuli, Padua,
and Verona, from the month of September, 1783, until March,

1784-^

A.D. 1784. The winter was long and cold. In Siberia the

Yasva, or anthrax, was calculated to have destroyed more than
100,000 horses.^ * In July, 1784, at Chalons and in its neigh-
bourhood, the cows and mares have nearly all aborted.' ^^ Ac-
cording to Bottani, in February glossanth rax prevailed at Bergamo,
Italy.^''

It is recorded in the Russian Agricultural Archives, that the
Cattle Plague passed from Flungary into Italy in this year.
This probably refers to last year's invasion. Wirth says it ex-
tended to Germany.

A.D. 1785. Canine madness raging all over the Northern

^ C. Chisholm. On the Lues Bovina Intertropica. Edinburgh Medical and
Surgical Journal, vol. vi. pp. 33, 36.

2 Held. Anweisung das Rindvieh zu behandeln. Wetzlar, 1783.

■^ Cafiiper. Krankheiten welche Thieren und Menschen gemein sind, p. 23.

* Chabert. Op. cit., vol. iv. p. 259.

^ Britgnone. Instructions, &c., voLWi. p. 227.

® Journal de Paris, 1785. '' Beitrage z. Thierarzneik, vol. i. p. 226.

* Bottajii. Vol. iii. p. 97.

s Annal. de Med. Vet., 1854.
^° RIoiscaii. Instructions, &c., vol. vi. p. 130.
' 1- Bottani. Vol. iii. p. 113.

History of Animal Plagues. 525

States of America, concurrently with measles in the human
species.^ The Gazettes of this year abound with accounts of its
dreadful effects.- It continued during the following year. Many
cases of hydrophobia were observed in the Southern States of
America, and in July, in that country, the weather was so hot
that the thermometer in the shade stood at 103".

In the summer, glossanthrax broke out in the duchy of Nas-
sau. Mn the year 1785 a long and severe winter was followed by
a wet and cold summer, in which the disease spread itself over
this district for the third time, and this epizooty appears to have
continued in other districts during the years 1786-7. In April
of the year 1785, the malady broke out at Nassau, and till May
and June of the same year it ravaged the district between the
Rhine and the Lahn. It was the general opinion at that time
that hairs grew out of the tongues of the animals, and these
were supposed to be the cause of the disease. In a report it is
stated, that at the root of the tongue these sprung up so strong
as to be like thorns, injuring the palate, and producing putridity
of both these parts, whereby at last the cattle lost their tongues
and died. In this epizootv, however, but few animals appear to
have perished. From that time anthrax of the tongue has never
been seen in the dukedom ; whether it be owing to altered con-
ditions for developing the malady in this neighbourhood, or
whether it will again appear at. another time, are questions
beyond the power of answering.' ^

White, in his Natural History of Selborne, mentions in this
vear a remarkable visitation of aphides, or,' smother-lly,' in his
village on the ist of August.*

A.D. 1786. Anthrax was very prevalent and severe this year
in many countries. In the country of Lippe, for instance, it
rei""ned at the entl of this and beginning of tlie next year, among
horses and cattle. Mn a cow attacked by tlie disease, where the
pustule will break, vou will (irst perceive a redness on the fra>num
of the tongue, and w ithin six hoiu'S a hard swelling wdl appear.
In some animals, eitlier at once or soon alter this enlargement

' Courant. Aug. I, 1785. - Webster. Op. cit., vol. i. \,. 455.

^ I'raiK/iie. Op. cit., p. 122.

* G. IV/iiti:. 'I'lie Natural llibtory of Sclboinc. Jardiuc's Edit., para. 5J.

52,6 History of Animal Plagues.

shows itself, there will be seen a small vesicle about the size of a
pea; in others only a yellowish-brown spot. Hereupon — often
within six hours — you will find a hole about two inches in diameter,
which, in many instances, is from three to four inches deep, and
appears as if eaten out of the organ. The interior of these cavities
looks like a yellowish-grey fringe, or as if covered with short hair
of that colour, and smells very foul. The tongue begins to swell,
a ropv mucus flows from the mouth, and in bad cases the cattle
have a painful tumour under the jaw.-' ^

At the end of August, the disease entered by the frontiers of
Suabia and Franconia into Bavaria, and attacked not only cattle
and horses, but also sheep and pigs.^ In Italv, it passed into the
States of the Church by the frontiers of Ancona, and continued
to spread, in 1787, in Piceno and other places. Its svmptoms did
not vary much, but in some quarters its ravages were very severe,
and possibly in various localities where Cattle Plague prevailed,
the destruction caused by that scourge may have been attributed
to the glossanthrax.^ Maliguant anthrax also attacked animals in
many countries : in Transylvania, in Schonen, and in Sweden
horses, cattle, and pigs suffered ; ^ in Hanover gangrenous ery-
sipelas (a variety of the same disease) destroyed many pigs : to
such an extent, indeed, did they perish, that in some provinces
one-third, one-half, and even two-thirds of their number disap-

^ Lippische Verordnung. Beitr. z. Thierheilk, vol. iv. p. 133.

- Will. Kurzer Unterricht liber den jetztherrschendenZungenkrebs. Miinchen,
1786.

•^ The following works contain a description of this serious epizooty. Bonsi.
Istmzione Veterinaria sulla presente Epidemia Contagiosa. Venice,' 1801.
G. Fantini. Siill Epidemia Contagiosa insorta nel Piceno. Jesi, 1787. P. Orlandi.
Sulla vera Origine del Cancro Volante, che produsse Grave Mortalita de' Buoi
Nello Stato Pontificio. Rome, 1787. L. Petnni. Memoria dell' Epizoozia
Bovina del 1786. Loretto, 1786. Heusinger admits that the history of this epi-
zooty of glossanthrax is incomplete, and his observations on the disease are very in-
structive. History shows us that all the great invasions of the malady have origin-
ated in sub-alpine France — in Uauphine or Auvergne, and have spread from
thence as from a centre, sometimes but a short distance, at other times a long way
in every direction, and generally by Germany into Poland, though never reach-
ing England. Of this, however, we cannot be quite certain. It is remarkable that
the invasions of ekzema ('foot and mouth disease'), when on a large scale, have
always followed an exactly opposite course — from east to west — from Russia even
to England. See that for 1838-41.

* Flonnaiin. Neue Schwed. Abhandlung, vol. viii. p. 209.

History of Animal Plagiics. 527

peared.^ In France anthrax appeared at Monlins, and in Dan-
phine," but, perhaps, most notably in the month of July., in the
province of Oucrcv, department of Lot, where it was propagated
over a wide extent of country ; it only broke out among cattle,
but it was in many instances transmitted to men and mules.^
In Savov epizootic croup was prevalent. ' Although the croup
was not coritagious, yet it was sometimes epizootic. In the
latter case, it was surprising that the animals of every age should
be observed in the year 1786 to suffer in a few communes of the
department of Sesia. The greater portion of the bovine species
was attacked by the disease.^ ^

In some parts of Bavaria pneumonia seriously affected cattle,
and rot also prevailed among sheep.^

Arquinet observed the catarrhal fever or ' distemper' of dogs
in an epizootic form at Pezenas, in the month of July. He also
complains of the dreadful ravages it had caused among dogs
in that neio;hbonrhood for upwards of twenty years."

A.D, 1787. The epizootics of glossanthrax and pneumonia
continued this year in Italy and Germany. In February, on
the banks of the Iser and the Danube, in Bavaria, an epi-
zootv of sheep small-pox broke ont, and was very deadly.'' This
attack lasted for many years ; the disease has, indeed, been sup-
posed to prevail there more or less since that time.

In Ireland, 'The wetness of the season excited apprehension
of disorder among the sheep — particularly the murrain;'^ which
was characterized by ['listers upon the mouth. Was this a mild
form of the glossanthrax so prevalent on the Continent ?,

A.D. 1788. 'J'he weather in this year was very irregular, the
chamres of temperature being very sudden and severe. The
winter in England was long and hard. The sunniier tempera-
ture was very high, and storms were fretjuent. Inlluenza was

> Ilannov. Magaz. 1786, p. 1207.

2 Chaberl. Instructions Vetcr., vol. ii. p. 279.

3 Dcsplas. Sur la Maladie Cliarbonncuse qui a attaque les Bcsliaux <lu Quercy
en 1786. Instructions, &c., vol. ii. p. 283.

* Toi^i^ia. Mai. (Ic Buoi, vol. i. p. 31.

s Plank. Veterinar-lopographie von Baicrn, \>. 137.

« Wirth. Op. cit., p. 215.

^ Laubcndcr. Op. cit., p. 1 33. " Dublin Clironiclc.

5'28 History of Animal Plagues.

observed in mankind. During and after the heatj anthrax ap-
peared so suddenly in some parts of Germany, that in the small
districts of Pfaff'enhofen, Neustadt, Vohburg, and Krandsberg,
247 horses, 389 oxen, and 201 pigs died before any assist-
ance could be obtained.^

The same malady raged in Silesia during the summer, and
in the month of August it made great havoc among cattle in the
marshy country of Villeneuve-les-Cerfs, department of Allier, in
France.^

A.D. 1789. The winter was cold in Europe, and the long and
severe frost did much damage; the summer was wet, and the
autumn cold. Earthquakes were felt in Iceland in July, Sep-
tember, and November; the latter shocks were experienced in
Scotland and in Italy. A remarkable circumstance was observed
in this year: the codfish did not appear at the usual fishing-
ground at Newfoundland, neither did it visit the English coasts
or the Baltic at the usual time. In the month of July, however,
great quantities were observed about the coasts of Norway, Lap-
land, and Archangel, dead or dying.^ It had been remarked in
1788, that almost all the codfish taken on the Banks of New-
foundland were thin and sickly, and when dried were little better
than skeletons, and scarcely saleable in foreign markets. Mildew
destroyed much corn in Scotland.* In America, in the month
of October, an almost universal darkness overspread the land,
and diseases were very prevalent in the form of anginas, croup,
and bilious fevers.^ In this year the crops failed, and cattle also
perished in considerable numbers in North America. In that
country, dogs likewise suffered much from rabies, and in the
State of New York a man died of hydrophobia, induced, it was
■supposed, from his having skinned a cow that had died of that
malady. Influenza was very severe in New York and Philadel-
phia, and over a large tract of that continent ; at the same time
there was great mortality among the horses in Maryland.^
Canine rabies was epizootic at Miinstcr, in Westphalia."

^ Laubcndcr. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 134. - Instructions, &c., vol. iv. p. 256.
3 Abbs. Philosophical Transactions, 1792.

'* Sinclair's Scotland. ^ Bascome. Op. cit., p. 140.

6 Courant, Dec. 31, 1789. ' Wirth. P. 236.

History of A nivial Plagues. 529

There was a great eplzooty among fowls in Upper Italy,
which has been described by Dr Baronio. It was contagious
and very deadlv. Baronio says : ' The disease manifested itself
by an universal dulness, which was accompanied by a grave
diminution of strength ; the combs were perceptibly flabby and
pendulous ; the interior of the mouth was covered with a viscid
matter; the anus was very red, and the feathers looked soiled
and shrivelled. To these phenomena there succeeded fever,
which was revealed by the sudden and great heat that could be
felt under the wings and in the limbs. The fowls looked ex-
cessively dull; they drooped their wings, and their crests became
livid ; the feathers became curled up under the head ; they refused
all food and water, and death soon ensued.^ Examinations of
the dead bodies of these fowls were made by Monteggia and Pcr-
lasca; the lungs were perceived to be more or less inflamed, and
often covered with a great exudation of plastic lymph; the liver
was healthy; in the crop and the stomach grains of oats were
found blackened, but not otherwise changed ; the intestines were
filled by a large quantity of greenish mucus, but sometimes this
was of a reddish tinge like the mucus of dysentery; in all those
opened after death round worms {ascarides), in great numbers,
were found in the intestines. The dead bodies soon passed into
a state of putrefaction. The mortality began to show itself in
the beginning of September, 1789, around Pavia, and from thence
northwards in Lumcllina, Casale, Vercelli, and other places to-
wards the mountainous districts ; while southerly, it advanced
to Milan and the lower Milanese territories. In August, 1790,
it was still reigning, and a trcmcMulous loss of fowls liad I)cen
the consequence of its visitation ; in a single village, for example,
in a few days three hundred fowls had been destroyed by it.
Its propagation by contagion was jirovcd by many and {rc(]uent
observations, and it was undoubtedly demonstrated that those
fowls which were kept entirely apart from diseased ones
escaped.^

^ G. Baronio. Sulla Correntc EpidcmiadcIIc Pollastre. Milan. 17S9.

2 See also ToxX'a. Sloria dclla Costituzionc Vermin, cd Epizoiitica dei Polli,
in the 'Giomale Scientifica ct Letterar. di Torino.' 1798. Ih-iiy^iioiic. Dcscrizione
deir Epizoozia dell Galline scrpcy^'iante in (juesta cillii. Milan, 1790.

34

53 o History of Animal Plagues.

In Wurtembcrg, in this and the following yt'ars^ many cattle
and sheep died from rot and flukes in the liver. ^ In the past
spring, one had, at Klein Glattbach, frequent opportunities of
verifying the following observations : many of the pregnant
ewes suffering from flukes in the liver brought forth lambs, all
of which, although they had no other sustenance than their
mothers' milk, nor had been ever driven to the meadows, or
drunk water, yet after a short time died from the malady their
parent had; in all about thirty-five perished. On examination,
flukes of a small size were found in their livers, the gall-bladders
were much enlarged, and half a measure of water was found in
the cavity of their abdomens.' ^

In Croatia, Krain, and the Tyrol, an epizooty of what was
said to be malignant dysentery was very deadly,^ but Heusinger
is of opinion that it was probably the Cattle Plague.

Enzootic anthrax killed many cattle in Auvergne, France.^

At Cairo, during the plague in man, cats died in large num-
bers.^

Drought and death of cattle in Antigua, West Indies. ^ In
the year 1789, there was no fall of rain for seven months, where-
by there was not only no crop of sugar, but 5000 head of
horned cattle perished for want of water.' ^

A.D. 1790-1. In America the winter was very severe; the
spring and summer was cold, but dry, and catarrhs and yellow
fever prevailed. Blight destroyed the fruit and other vegetable
productions, and caterpillars and other parasites ate up the grass
and corn, especially in Maryland.^ In April, 1790, was a pro-
digious draught of shad fish at New York, which was said to
forebode the pestilential fever that began in autumn.^ In Ger-
many every species of clover was covered with honey-dew blight
{mehlthau). In many provinces of France rot, dropsies, and dis-
eases caused by vermin were prevalent. From May until Sep-

1 Bilhuher. Ueber die Egelkrankheit unter dem Rindvieh und den Schafen.
Tubingen, 1791.

- Bottani. Op. cit. , vol. iii. p. 124 — 140.

^ Instructions, &c., vol. ii. pp. 268, 2S0.

'^ Enrico di Volmar. Pest., p. 178.

^ B. Edwards. Hist. West Indies, vol. i. p. 485.

^ Bascomc. Op. cit., p. 141, '' T. Forster. Op. cit., p. 174.

History of Animal Plagues. 531

tcmbcr, the several varieties of anthrax were frequent, and in
Normandy small-pox in sheep was rilc.^ In Bavaria and Siiabia
anthrax appeared in the month of June; and in Saxonv ha^Mna-
turia in sheep, whieh was supposed to be caused by the larva; of
the curcidio p'lsU' In Bavaria, pleuro-pneunionia was epizootic
among cattle.^

Huzard describes the appearance of the same maladv, which
prevailed for a considerable distance around Paris in this year
and in 1794.^ Up to 1789, according to Lafosse, this most de-
structive disease had been nearly ahvavs, if not entirely, confined
to the Jura and Swiss Alps, the mountainous districts of Dau-
phine, the Vosges, Piedmont, and Upper Silesia. Towards the
end of the century, however, it is very probable that the wars
following the French Revolution were the cause of the extension
of this plague : the requirements of the various contending
armies necessitating droves of cattle being drawn from the regions
where the contagion reigned enzoiJtically; and these, attached
to the commissariat parks, and travelling into other countries,
would convey the germs of the disease among hitherto untainted
herds. Neither the altitude, piivsical configuration, geouraphi-
cal position, meteorological conditions, nor geological character
of a countrv, appear to have exercised any palpable influence in
the diffusion or vitality of the contagion ; neither does the na-
ture of the food, plants, stabulation, or race afford exemption
from its attacks when once introduced. As we shall see here-
after, this is one of the most wonderful maladies, in these re-
spects, with which we are ac(|uainted, and its history afl'ords a
most interesting study.''

In Townson's Travels in Hungary, mention is made of an
epizooty of an anthracoid nature, which attacked the horned
cattle in that country, Servia, and the Bamiat of Tenieswar, in
the year 1790. This attack, acccording to Kirby and Spence,
was caused by a minute fly or gnat; for, concerning its true
genus, they tell us there is some doubt amongst entomologists —

1 Chahi-rt. Instructions, &c., vol. i. p. 399.

'- lauhender. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 160. ^ lliitl. p. 161.

* Wirth. Op. cit., p. 300.

'■^ Lafosse. Traitc de Pathologic Vutorinaiic, vul. iii. p. 616.

532- History of Animal Plagues.

Fabricius calling it a ^Rhagio' {Rhagio Columlaschense); while
Latrielle^ a more modern and perhaps better authority, sets it
down as a 'Similium;^ but to whatever genus it belongs, says
Kirby, it is certainly a most destructive little creature. In
Servia and the Bannat of Temeswar, it attacks the cattle in
infinite numbers, and penetrates, according to Fabricius, their
generative organs; but according to another account, their
noses and ears, and by its poisonous bites destrovs them even in
the short space of four or five hours. ^

On the authority of Chabert, we are informed that the Spanish
sheep foot-rot (the pedero of the Spaniards), a contagious ma-
lady, was imported into the Pyrenees, and was particularly pre-
valent on the banks of the Gironde and Lower Medoc.^

A.D. 1792. The year was damp and rainy. In May and
June locusts devoured the grain in New York, and the wheat
insect caused great destruction to the crops in Long Island and
in Maryland. The lime-trees at Philadelphia were destroyed
by a kind of caterpillar.^ Rot in sheep caused great destruction
in England.*

Pneumonia was epizootic among cattle in Franconia,^ and
what was called malignant fever (but which may have been the
Cattle Plague) raged in the Tyrol and in the province of Pole-
sine.^ Abortion v/as epizootic among cows in Italy. Toggia says :
' It was most difficult to successfully prevent pregnant cows from
aborting in damp or wet localities, where the heavy fogs at the
end of the autumn had been very chilly, and had lasted for many
consecutive days; for to all these influences the animals had
been exposed. On account of this, abortions were very frequent
in mares and cows around Mantua and Lumellina, and more
especially was this accident inevitable if the cow came from a
dry climate, and passed all at once into a damp or rainy atmo-
sphere, particularly if it were also cold. This was what hap-
pened to the cows from the mountainous regions of Lanzo,
and also to those from Cuorgne, which chiefly in the month of
October descend to the plains and meadows to pasture; and it

^ Entomology, vol. i. p. 150. - Chabert. Op. cit.

3 Bascome. Op. cit., p. 142.

* E. Harrison. An Inquiry into the Rot in Sheep and other Animals. 1804.

^ Journal von undliir Franken., vol. vi. p. 710. "^ Bottani. Op. cit., p. 144.

History of Animal Plagues. ^2>2>

not unfrequentlv happens that the autumn is very rainy and
accompanied by thick fogs and cold winds when they are de-
pastured there. From a similar cause, this accident was very
prevalent towards the end of November, 1792, and, indeed,
became epizootic among the cows belonging to the farmers of
Lanzo. So serious did it become in the pastures around Turin,
that the number amounted to about seventy.' ^

Epizootic dysentery caused great destruction among the
horses and cattle lodged in the casemates, during the siege of
Mayence. It was supposed to have been induced by insuffi-
cient or improper food, and a neglect of cleanliness and ventil-
ation."

A.D. 1793. The winter was cold, the spring dry, and the
summer one of the hottest on record for a hundred years. A
curious incursion of lemmings []\hjodes Norvegicus) took place in
a district of Lapland. ' In August, 1793, an incredible number
of mountain-mice, called lemmar, descended upon Enontckis, and
in the following summer some were still seen scattered here and
there ; whereas, during forty years nothing of the kind had ever ap-
peared before, nor have any of them been seen since.' ^ Dysentery
and yellow fever were severely felt as epidemics in America, and
the last-named disease was very deadly in the West India is-
lands. In Europe, dysentery was very prevalent, and at the same
time anthracoid diseases destructive in the lower animals; more
especially was the latter class of diseases common in France,
according to the statement of Gilbert. 'The extraordinary and
sudden heat in the summer of 1793, developed the germs of this
destructive pest. In addition to this, the damp mouldy fodder of
the previous year iiad jiredisposed those which fed on it. At the
commencement of the hot weather, carbuncular diseases appeared
in the departments of the Nievre, of the Upper and Lower
Rhine, Vienne, and of the Indre, as well as other of the south-
ern departments. Citizen Godin treated this disease in the
districts of Belac and St Innien with much success, and jnib-
lishcd an excellent treatise on his experience of it. lie remarked

* Togf^ia. Malattie dei Ruoi, vol. ii. p. 313.
" Nouvcau Diet. &c., Vctcrinaires, art. ' Dysenteric'

' C/ark. Travels in various Countries of Scandinavia, cS:c. London, '•'^.v'^. vol-
i, p. 410.

534 History of Animal Plagiies.

that the animals which were first attacked with the disease, and
which nearly all died, had heen fed during the whole winter
with mouldy, muddy forage of the very worst quality.

' This is confirmed by the statement of Lacroix, veterinary
surgeon of Poitiers, who, in an excellent description of the disease,
indicates the best treatment to control it. I myself have had a
hundred opportunities of observing this malady and its causes in
Argenton, in the department of Indre, where I also had occasion
to treat it. It raged there fearfully; attacked all animals without
distinction, and destroyed nineteen-twentieths of those affected by
it. It was only transmitted to mankind by the sting of those insects
which had sucked the blood of the diseased beasts. I have con-
vinced mvself that all the cattle which took the complaint spon-
taneously, and not by contagion, had been kept on bad, mouldy,

and spoilt forage After the small-pox of sheep, I know

no disease of animals more contagious than this putrid gangren-
ous fever. I do not know a single species which is exempt from
attack, and it passes with extreme facility from one to another.
It seldom prevails that it does not cost the life of some selfish or
imprudent men, who contract it either when removing the skin
from the dead animal, or emptying its rectum with the naked
arm when alive.

' When I arrived, in 1793, "^ ^^^ district of Argenton, to
combat this malady, a great number of citizens had already been
affected with veritable carbuncles, and many had died. I had
the satisfaction of saving all those who had any confidence in
my advice. When opening an ox that had died from the
malady, a drop of blood which had got through the texture of
the glove I usually wore on my hand sufficed to induce a small
ulcer, which I only checked on the spot by burning it deeply
with a red-hot iron. The horse I rode was also attacked, not-
withstanding my precautions for preventing him touching, im-
mediately, any diseased animal ; it was cured in the same manner.
I have seen a sow and eight young ones die nearly all together,
after having smelled the bloody traces left by a cow when
dragged away to be buried. Fowls, turkeys, geese, and even
blackbirds and starlings, died after having pecked at the blood
of animals affected with the disease. In a dairy belono;ino; to

History of Animal Plagues. ^'^^

the citizen Godeau, owner of the forges of Ablon, the manager
havino; lost some cows, was advised, in order to stop the mahidv,
to burv one in the cowshed. The carcase was soon interred,
but the two animals which stood nearest to the spot were quickly
affected. I could not disinfect this stable until the little soil
that covered the dead beast was removed and replaced bv a large
quantity of lime; then a small hillock of earth was raised over
it, in order to prevent the escape of the putrid emanations. A
farmer of Saint-Bcnoit-du-Sault, district of Argenton, after hav-
ing lost all his cattle from the malady, had them replaced by others
which he had brought from an estate twenty leagues off, where
the disease had not been seen. But about fifteen days after their
occupation of the same cowshed these also were attacked, and
owed their preservation to my assistance.

' Nothing contributes so much to the dissemination of these
kinds of maladies as the shallow pits in which the dead
bodies are interred. Dogs, wolves, and bears disinter them, and
in doing so nearly always perish ; but, frequently, not until after
they have communicated the malady to other animals, and have
sometimes carried the virus to very great distances. I have seen
two bears and a wolf perish in one day from eating the flesh of
a horse that had died of the malady. After having been assured
that the flesh of an ox that had died from this affection had
caused the death of several dogs, I was anxious to know if the
cooked flesh would possess this deleterious property ; the dog to
which I gave it was not affected. This experiment, however,
does not suffice to allay apprehension with regard to the danger
of eating the flesh of diseased cattle ; for I have also observed,
though rarely, that dogs could eat tbe raw flesh of animals that

died from anthrax with impunity I have seen a horse

attacked with a carbuncular tumour on the haunch some hours
after having carried on its croup the fresh hide of a diseased
beast enveloped in a sack.'^

In Bavaria, anthrax was dreadfully fatal among horses and

' /'". //. Gilbert. Rcclierchcs sur les Causes dcs Maladies Cliarbonncuscs dans
es Animaux, &c. Paris, 1795. ^rnoioX^o Gilbert ami Lacroix. Instrucliun sur les
Moyeii-s de guerir la Maladie que Kt'gne sur les liesliaux dans les Depart, de la
Haute Rhine. Vienne, 1793.

53^ History of Animal Plagues.

cattle from July until October, after the great heat of the wea-
ther, scanty forage, and scarcity of water.^

In this year, the events of war again made that terrible scourge,
— the Cattle Plague, known to many countries. It was imported
into Lombardy by Russian and Austrian troops, who drew their
supplies of cattle and oxen from those regions in which the disease
is indigenous, or the cattle of which are liable, when exposed to
certain exciting causes, to develope it. At the end of the year it
was introduced into Piedmont by Hungarian cattle destined for
the supply of an Austrian army, and which communicated it to
the cattle of Lomeline, and of Alessandria, Novara, and Tortona;
it was soon spread all over Italy, where it prevailed until j8oi.
The Italian epizooty has been ably described by the undermen-
tioned authors.2 Sheep were said to be attacked by it in Friuli,
as well as the horned cattle. In 1795, it was carried into
Southern Germany, and it raged with great fury in Bavaria, Sua-
bia,^Baden,IWurtemberg, Franconia, Hesse, and Nassau, being
brought or maintained there by the continual passage of droves of
Hungarian cattle, which traversed those countries to reach the
Austrian army on the Rhine, or by the passage of troops who took
with them infected cattle as their supplies. The German writers
have left us exact descriptions by which the disease may be easily
identified; those of Walz for Wurtemberg, Ackermann and
Will for Bavaria, Stoll, Metzler, Reich, and Megele maybe here
mentioned, as well as Albert, Reich, and Schaller for Erlangen.^

^ Laulejider. Ueber den Milzbrand. Munich, 1814, p. 163.

"^ Bimiva. Memoire sur I'Epizoutie Bos-Hongroise, &c. Turin, 1793. Ibid.
Mem. cont. le provvidenze contro I'Epizoozia nelle Bovine. Turin, 1797. Ibid.
Raggionamento sull'.,Eccidio, &c. Turin, 1798. Moscati. Compendio di Cog-
nizioni Veterinarie. Milan, 1795. This work contains also the observations of
Deho, Gherardini, and Bonvicino. Bottani. Voh vii. pp. 149—217. Adinolfi,
Sanseverino, and Zacckiroli. Compendio di Osservazioni, &c. Spoleto, 1801.

2 The principal German works on the epizooty at this period are the following :—
C. G. Fred. Albert. Historia Pestis Bovillne, by Gothfredus Fleischmann. Erlan-
gen. De Lues BovilLx. Origine et Natura. Erlangen, 1797. Kausch. Kame-
ralprinzipien iiber das Rindviehsterben. Berlin, 1793. SchalUrn. Deutliche An-
weisung die Loserdiirre zu erkennen und sicher zu heilen. Baireit, 1797. Reich.
Richtige und gewissenhafte Belehrung fur den Landmann liber die Rindvieh-
seuche und Inoculirung derselben. Numberg, 1798. Stoll. Beobachtungen
iiber die Rindviehpest far Thierarzte, Physiker und Polizeibeamteten. Zurich,
1800. Frank. Ueberadie Rinderpest und die Mittel sie zu heilen und auszurotten.
Berlin, 1802. Walz. Natur und Behandlung.sart der Rinderpest, &c. Stuttgart,

History of Animal Plagues. $2>1

In the vear 1796 it was brought to France, entering by the eastern
departments. Here it was, as usual, attentively observed by Hu-
zard/ Brassier, and Guersent,^ and in Holland, where it also ap-
peared in this year, it was reported upon by Forsten. From
1798 until 1801, it prevailed in Switzerland, and in 1799 '^ ^^'^^
causing great destruction in Bohemia, Westphalia, Poland, and
other regions in that part of Europe.^ The various authors
who have written on this epizooty, as will be observed, are too
numerous to be quotetl in our brief chronological history; it
may therefore suffice to say that it was neither so general nor
so deadlv as the visitations of 17 11 and 1745, owing perhaps
to its nature and the means for suppressing it being better un-
derstood. Its prevention, and not its cure, was discovered — or
rather once more proved — to be most profitable. It is calculated
that it destroyed more than a hundred thousand cattle before it
was extinguished in 1802. The descriptions of the symptoms,
the facts of its contagious and deadly nature, and the inutility of
attempting to cure the infected, are but repetitions of what was
written by observers in the previous invasions of the plague.

A.D. 1794. An earthquake at Naples, and an eruption of
Vesuvius, which destroyed the city of Torre del Greco. In
Britain, during the month of January, rains were frequent and
heavy, and as a consequence floods did much damage. The
summer was very hot, and anthrax was again very deadly in
Bavaria.* In the Tyrol and Verona 'ekzcma epizootica ' was
prevalent among cattle.^ In the south of France, the horses and
mules of the French army were affected with ' mange ^ to a very
serious degree ; the disease was transmitted to, and propagated
among, the soldiers."

1803. Sauter. Beitriige zur Kenntniss und Ileilung der Rindviehseuche. Ulm,

1804. IVill. Bemerkungen iiber die gewohnlichsten Entstehungs- und Verbrei-
tungsursachen der sich in Baiern so selir vermehrenden Viehseuchen alier Art.
Miinclicn, 1799. Benckendorf. Abhandlung von verschiedenen Seuciien des
Rindvichs. Berlin, 1791.

' Instruction surles Maladies InflammatoiresKpizoiJtiqucsct particulicrumcnt siir
cellc qui afiecte les Betes i Comes des dc'iiartemenls de I'Kst, &c. By MM. lliizard
and Di'splas, Veterinary .Surgeons, Paris.

* Guersent. Essai sur les Epizoilties. Paris, 1815.
3 Loriiiscr. Op. cit. , p. 29. Ncbel. Op. cit. , p. 9.

* Laiiliendcr. Op. cit., p. 165. * Bottani. Op. cit., vol. vii. p. 148.

* Lon^champs. Mcmoirc sur la Maladie Galcusc qui affccte cu cc moment Ics

S^S History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 1795- The winter was cold and the summer hot^ damp,
and rainy, after a late spring. Fruits were destroyed by blight,
and disease caused great loss among vegetables, especially pota-
toes and cabbages. Paper hangings and other furniture were
destroyed bv the universal damp, which generated a white
mould. Anthrax yet very common and fatal in Bavaria; and
in France small-pox committed great ravages among sheep.^
An epizooty appeared among horses in Bavaria which was named
' epizootic catarrh/ but which Plank says was acute glanders
[akuter rotz) ; it was believed to have been imported from
Austria.^

In this year^ and also in 1811, Despallens describes the dis-
ease in calves due to the presence of filaria in the air-passages,
as being very prevalent.^

A.D. 1796. The summer was hot and dry. A severe earth-
quake destroyed the whole country between Santa Fe and Pana-
ma, including the cities of Cusco and Quito. 71ie seasons were
intemperate in the United States, and bilious and remittent
fevers were common among mankind.* Malignant anthrax
appeared among cattle in Lombardy.'^ The Austrian troops in-
troduced the acute glanders mentioned last year as prevailing
among horses in Bavaria, into Franconia; one author, however,
(Pilger) asserts that he had already observed this disease in 1795,
and from that time until 1797, on the banks of the Rhine. It
destroyed many horses. The Military Train horses particularly
suffered from the malady, which was transmitted to very many of
the solipeds in the towns and villages, and caused great damage."

From 1796 to 1803, but especially in the years 1797 and
■'98, the egg rot was very destructive among bees in Saxony.
'The disease showed itself in 1796, after the bees had suffered

Chevaux, Mules, et Mulcts de I'Armee Francaise, du Midi, qui s'est propageesur
presque tous les Chevaux des proprietaires, et atteint les particuliers qui les soignent.
Castres. During the Crimean war, I was in medical charge of a large number of
horses which were severely affected with mange, and had ample opportunity for
observing that the Turks who attended to them, rode them, and slept beside them,
using the saddles as pillows, suffered greatly from itch.

1 Gilbert. Op. cit. • Plank. Op. cit.

^ Despallens. Proces-Verbal, &c., a I'Ecole Vet. de Lyon, 1812.

* Bascome. Op. cit., p. 144. ^ Bottani. Op. cit., vol. vii. p. 144.

^ Laubender. Op. cit., p. 241.

History of Animal Plagues. 539

much from the severe and long winter, and an unusually cold
and hungrv spring. It continued during similar springs, when
the irregular weather and the severe storms damaged the vines.
Not a single vine was spared, and this misfortune spread as far as
the Elbe, lasting for seven vears.^ ^ A great mortality among
geese and fowls occurred in America; death was very rapid. ^'

An epizooty among cats in Holland. '^The excellent phy-
sician and naturalist, 1^-ofessor Schacht of Hardcrwyk, wrote to
me in May, 1796, that the cats of that neighbourhood had been
attacked with a peculiar skin disease, which had the appearance
of scabies. They had also an acrid, stinking discharge from the
eyes, which at last blinded them. It was observed that in the
previous months, from February to April, they were excessively
lascivious and their night cries were particularly loud.^^

In this vear Dr Darwin of Derby writes: 'The parotitis sup-
piirans, or mumps with irritated fever, is at times epidemic
among cats, and may be called parotitis felinn ; as I have reason
to believe, from the swellings under the jaws, which frequently
suppurate, and are very fatal to those animals. In the village
of Haywood, in Staffordshire, I remember a whole breed of Per-
sian eats, with long white hair, was destroyed by this malady,
along with almost all the cats of the neighbourhood ; and as the
parotitis or mumps had not long before prevailed amongst human
beings in that part of the country, I recollect being inclined to
believe that the cats received the infection from mankind,
though in all other contagious diseases, except the rabies canina
can be so called, no different genera of animals naturally com-
municate infection to each other; and I am informed, that vain
efforts have been made to communicate the small-pox and
measles to some quadrupeds by inoculation.' *

A.D. 1797. The winter was long and cold, and the siunmer
rainy. Catarrh in England in the spring. ' Was also a year ot
great blight.' ^ The same epidemics that were noticed last year
were causing much mortality in America. ' In Quito, so destruc-

^ Die Faulhrurodcr Bienenpcst. Dresden, 1804.

"^ IVdbstCf. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 520. ^ JSlumciibiuh. Voigt Magazin.

* Dr Datiuiii. Zoonomia, London, 1791, vol. ii. p. 229.

* Sir y. Banks. On Diseases in Corn.

540 History of Animal Plagues.

tive were the gases given out from the lake Ouilotoa, that whole
herds of cattle on its shores were killed/^ In Saxony, during this
and the next year, small-pox was very fatal in sheep, and inocu-
lation was attempted by Fink,^ Rabies canina was epizootic in
Rhode Island, North America.^ In the kingdom of Wurtem-
berg anthrax was very severe, and people were frequently affected
by transmission of the poison.*

In Bavaria, according to Wirth, there appeared an epizooty
among the horses ; it was a putrid disease, accompanied by
malignant quinsy and nervous fever; all the thoracic organs
were involved.^ It was probably the malady alluded to in 1795.
An extraordinary epizooty among cats, remarkable not only
for its prevalence in many countries, but also for the peculiarity of
its origin and spread, is recorded for this year. It appears to
have been developed in America about the same time as the
epidemic yellow fever of the preceding year. Such may be
inferred from Erdmann's account of it.*'

' Shortly before the commencement of the yellow fever in
1798, there was a great disease among the rats and cats, from
which many hundreds died. This was also the case here in
Philadelphia before the breaking out of the yellow fever in the
past year 1797, and in 1796 at New York. As far as we can learn,
the symptoms of this disease have not been sufficiently observed.
The animal, however, usually lost its appetite, but drank a
great deal, slept much, looked very ill, and many began to
grow emaciated. Some died in a kind of stupor ; others, on the
contrary, towards the termination of the disease, became mad,
vomited, and foamed at the mouth. Also amone; the doffs,
at the beginning of the yellow fever, there was a sickness of
which many died. This disease among the domestic animals has
often been observed to precede the breaking out of yellow fever,
and now it is looked upon by many as a certain forerunner of

' Humboldt. Voyages, p. 317.

^ Fink. Beschreibung der Pockenkrankheit, p. 22.

3 New York Medical Repository. * Wirth. Op. cit., p. 86.

6 Ibid. p. 136.

® With regard to the commencement of this feline epizooty, however, we must
not overlook Blumenbach's mention of a somewhat analogous, if not identical,
malady in Holland, in the middle of 1796.

History of Animal Plagues. 541

this epidemic^ and this fact is adduced to favour the opinion of
those who assert that it is not hrought here bv contagion, but is
generated spontaneously. In the months of March and April,
a remarkable disease appeared among cats in London and other
parts of England, and it rs said that in three parishes of London^
within fourteen days, above five thousand died. This was
probably the same disease i which had raged among these
animals in nearly all the towns of New England and New York
in this year. It seems to have been confined to the towns,
as nothing has been heard of it from the country. In France
the same happened in this year, as we learn from the Bordeaux
newspapers. As, however, in these years no yellow fever was
present in anv of these places, except Philadelphia, the opinion
that that malady always follows the sickness in cats is seriously
shaken.' ^ It was calculated that five thousand eats perished
at Philadelphia, and four thousand at New York.'^ 'This cat
distemper appeared in Philadelphia as early as June (1797), and
proceeded northward and eastward, like the catarrh of 1789. In
August it was very fatal in New York, and in the course of the
summer and autumn, it spread destruction among those animals
over the Northern States.' ^

In London, the cat epizooty manifested itself during the
months of March and April, 1797. 'In England a pestilence
amono- cats swept away those animals in thousands. It seems
that this disease began as early as April, and succeeded an epi-
demic catarrh among the human race. The same cat-plague was
soon after epidemic in France.'* In Ireland it was also observed.
'The feline race in this country are dying in numbers by a mere
murrain similar to that which sometimes seizes and spreads among
the black cattle; for some of the skins of the cats which died of
the disorder now prevalent among them, being dried,'and the hair
taken offby lime, appeared full of small holes caused by numbers
of worms or insects that thus penetrate ; when seized with the
distemper the poor animals appear to be in the greatest agony.'*

From the commencement to the end of Se])tember, seven

• Erdmann. Das Gelbe Fieber zu Philadelphia, &c., p. lo.

2 New York Medical Rcpositor>', vol. i. "' IVebsier. Op. cit.

1 Iljij, ' Hibernian Magazine.

542. History of Animal Plagues.

thousand cats died of this epizocity at Copenhagen.^ In the next
month, October, it was prevailing at Bordeaux.^

In Stockhohn it was also observed in this year,^ and in
Lusatia in the month of December.*

In 1798 it showed itself in Holland/ and has been briefly
described by Schelver, probably in the following year. ' The
disease in cats, which has lately raged in so many countries of
Europe, had also spread itself over the diocese of Osnaburgh and
the neighbouring districts. For a year past it has now been gra-
dually disappearing."^ At Lyons it does not appear to have mani-
fested itself until 1798. ' An eruption of itch {gale) similar to that
of 1762, has shown itself at Lyons among the cats, and has nearly
destroyed them all.^ '' In Piedmont it was observed by Buniva in
1 798 ;** and in the same year in Lombardy,by Brera, it was remark-
ed in the summer months.^ At Vienna, according to Penada, the
disease killed more than twenty-five thousand cats; from this
locality it spread by Carinthia and the Tyrol, into Friuli, Venice,
and Padua, in which place Penada saw it in the spring of '98.
It appears also to have extended to the Island of Zante, one of
the Ionian Islands to the south of Cephalonia, in the Mediter-
reanean, as it was noticed there by Rhuliere in this or the suc-
ceeding year.^** The authority whom we have so often named — •
Heusinger — is of opinion that the dates of these various attacks
may lead us to infer that the direction taken by this singular epi-
zobty was from the north-west to south-cast; and the accounts of
it by Caldwell, Erdmann, and others would permit of the hypo-
thesis being received as at least plausible, that this malady was

^ Iliindiits. Dissert. Morbi Epizootic! Felibiis an. 1797 fatalis historia. Viteberg,
1800, p. 6.

- Journal de Sante de Bordeaux, vol. ii. p. 247.

'■* Electriska Kraftens marbardige starka rorelse ocli verkan or 1797, iifoer
anmarkd sosom fonnodad orsak til Katta Slagtes besynnerliga Pest i Hufvudstaden.
Stockholm, 1798.

* Knebel. Lausitzische Monatsschrift. Miirz, 1799.

^ Seftsirom. Ny Journal uti hushollningen. 1 799.

'' Wiedemann. Archiv. fiir Zoologie und Zootomie, vol. i.

■^ Ozanam. Hist, des Maladies Epid., vol. v. p. 371.

** Buniva. Sedillot. Recueil per. de la Societe de Medecine, vol. vii. p. 273.

® Brera. Memoria sul attuale Epidemia dei Gatti. Pavia, 1798.

^" Hundius. Op. cit.

History oj Animal Plagues. 543

developed among cats during the yellow fever, and that it had fol-
lowed a route similar to that pursued by the distemper in dogs in
1 761. The descriptions given by the various observers are very
much alike, especially those of Brera and Bimiva. The latter says,
' Citizen Dumas, professor of medicine at Montpcllier, has rightly
said that the symptoms of the disease are dullness, loathing,
debilitv, rigidity of the members, drowsiness, frequent yawn-
ing, alteration of the voice, and trembling of the head and ex-
tremities. We may observe that in the succession and the
nature of the svmptoms there arc great difi'erenccs. Here are the
results of our experiences in this matter. A few days after the
animal has imbibed the contagious principle, it appeal's to be un-
easy and unwell; it loses its vivacity and nimbleness, manifests
no desire to seek for food, its winning graces are gone, and so is
its courage. In proportion as the disease advances it becomes
timid, melancholy, restless, and feeble; it evades its master, and
drags itself along with slowness and difficulty ; it withdraws to
the most secret places in the house, and neither eats nor drinks
with its accustomed avidity; its claws are less active and move-
able ; the Valeriana, manim, and the vepeta catarla no longer
excite it. Quickly the feebleness and the stupidity augment,
and the creature becomes sleepy ; it can scarcely maintain itself
on its feet, the tail is drooping, the head bent down, and the
neck looks as if longer than usual ; the cars hang flaccid and
arc cold, the eve is diminished in size, sunken, and tearful, while
the pupil is narrowly contracted ; the tongue is dry, and covered
with a yellow mucus; the mouth dribbles forth a frothy saliva
of a whitish tint deepening down to green.

' In the commencement of the disease there are rarely any
faeces passed ; the respiration is laboured and very short, the
pulse small, quick, and frequent; the heat of the skin is very
intense, 'i'he animal becomes insensible to the voices of those
who tend it. The belly becomes tympanitic; there are frecpient
tremblings and violent convulsions. An universal cold ensues, and
the sick beast makes ineffectual efforts to\<)n)it. Citizen 'I'uffet
lias nevertheless remarked that in the jirison at Stapleton, near
Brist(<l, Kngland, in the month "germinal" of the year 7
(March, 1799), of twenty cats which were in that jirison eight

544 History of Animal Plagues.

perished from this disease, and two of these he particularly ob-
served threw up, by repeated and severe retchings, a yellow fetid
matter. The bodies of these animals, as death began to approach,
assumed more and more of a yellowish tinge. (The epidemics
in man, in America and elsewhere, at this time, were remarkable
for their bilious complications.)

' Lastly, it was after this succession of symptoms that the cats
affected by the epizooty perished, — an event which ordinarily
took place on the fourth or fifth day after being attacked. A
personal remark we may here make is, that from the second day
of the disease it was very difficult to draw any electric sparks
from these ^animals by frictions on the back. The post-mortem
examinations have revealed gangrenous patches in the whole of
the viscera, but particularly in the stomach and intestines. The
nostrils, the mouth, the oesophagus, the trachea, the lungs, and
also the intestines, were full of a serous and mucus matter,
which was sometimes white, sometimes yellow, and at other
times blood-coloured. 1 shall not mention the many other
alterations that I found after death in those I opened. Professor
Halle has found a purulent mass of matter at the base of the
brain, near the ethmoid bone, and the gall-bladder very distended,
in a cat which he opened. This disease has been observed in
the department of the Lower Seine by citizen Cioquet; it has
also reigned at Bordeaux, Strasburg, and other places.^ ' The
past year (1798), as I was walking through the forests in the
nei2:hbourhood of the menaoerie of the National Venerie (at

Co ^

Turin), I came upon the dead bodies of two wild cats which
appeared to have died recently. So far as I could judge by the
foam and saliva about their mouths, by the discharge from their
noses, as well as from the alterations observable in their viscera,
I was of opinion that they had been the victims of the same
malady which had destroyed the domestic cats. My conjectures
acquired yet greater probability after I had questioned a sports-
man on the subject, for he assured me that the mortality was
then very great among wild cats. The Society of Agriculture,
and also that of Medicine at Paris, was informed that the
epizooty, which is the subject of this memoir, so far from hav-
ing disappeared, had recommenced its ravages in some depart-

History of Animal Plagues. 545

mcnts, and even in the cities. These societies have invited Pro-
fessor Hiizard to gather information on this subject, and to
make any researches he may deem necessary. The Society of
"Medicine has likewise authorized the citizen Bouvier to pursue
his investigations conjointly with M. Huzard. This epizooty pre-
vailed during last year in the Island of Zante. I am informed
of this by citizen Rhuliere, who was then intrusted with certain
functions by the French Government at that place.' ^

From the description afforded us by Hundius, it appears that
vomiting was a most prominent symptom in a great many
countries."

Brera, in his post-mortem examinations, discovered that ' the
cavity of the stomach did not show anything except a greenish
mucus, which was also found along the whole course of the in-
testinal canal. ^^

A disease in fowls in the United States is described by Dr
Wicscnthal, Professor of Anatomy at Baltimore. He says :
' There is a disease prevalent among the gallinaceous poultry in
this country called \\\q. gapes, which destroys eight-tenths of our
fowls in many parts, and takes place in the greatest degree
among youns: turkeys and chickens bred upon established farms.
Chicks and poults, in a few days after they are hatched, are
found frequently to open their mouths wide and gasj) for breath,
at the same time sneezing and attempting to swallow. At first
the affection is slight, but gradually becomes more and more op-
pressivc,and ultimately destroys. Very few recover; they languish,
jxrow dispirited, droop, and die. It is generally known that
these symptoms arc occasioned by worms in the trachea. I have
seen the whole windpipe completely filled with these worms,
and have been astonished at the fowls being capable of respira-
tion under such circumstances.^^

' Biiniva. Op. cit., pp. 273, 286, 292.

- Iluudiiis. Op. cit., p. 9. •' Brcra. Op. cit., p. 12.

* Since the clays of Dr Wicscnthal, this worm or parasite has been receiving
some attention. In scientific classification it has obtained tlie honoural)le title of
Sclerostoma Syni^ainus. Dr Spencer Cobbold informs us that * this parasite has
been found and recorded as occurring in the trachea of the following birds, namely,
tiie turkey, domestic cock, pheasant, partridge, common duck, lapwing, lilack

35

54^ History of Animal Plagues.

A.D. 1798. Catarrhs^ anginas, and pleurisy were frequent in
mankind. The epizooty in horses, which has been remarked
as prevalent in Bavaria and Franconia in 1795 and 1796, had
extended in this year to Eastern and Western Prussia.^ Glan-
ders prevailed in an epizootic form in Piedmont.^

Mr White, of Exeter, speaks of 'influenza' affecting horses
in this year, but I have not the work containing his reference to
hand at present. The epizooty appears to have been attracting
some attention, for two years previously Dr Darwin, in his
philosophical treatise, 'Zoonomia,^ devotes some space to its
consideration, and designates it as a conta^i'ious disease, as we
have already noticed for 1782.

A.D, 1799. The winter was cold, the summer humid. The
former season had been very severe and destructive to cattle in
Sweden. In the month of November appeared the influenza
in man in Russia, which in January, 1800, had reached Prussia,
and soon thereafter became epidemic throughout Europe. In
Morocco, famine and pestilence arose, and were said to be due
to elemental disturbance. Plague raged in mankind in that
empire ; and it was remarked that birds deserted their former
abodes while it lasted.^ Jackson says: 'Before the plague, in
1799, t'^^ f^ce of the earth, from Mogador to Tangiers, was
covered by locusts. The whole region, from the confines of the
Sahara, was ravaged by them ; but on the other side of the river
El Kos not one of them was to be seen, though there was nothing
to prevent their Hying over it ; till then they had proceeded north-
ward, but on arriving at its banks they turned to the east, so that
all the country north of El Araiche -was full of pulse, fruits, and
grain, exhibiting a most striking contrast to the desolation of the
surrounding districts.'* In November and December of this
year, and in the following year, an epizooty of aphthous fever

stork, magpie, hooded crow, green woodpecker, starling, and swift. I do not
doubt that this hst might be very much extended if our British ornithologists would
favour us with their experience in the matter. Hitherto I have been surprised to
find how few of those to whom 1 have mentioned the sul:)ject appear to be acquainted
either with the nature of the parasite, or with the various methods to be adopted in
curing the disease to which its presence in the windpipe gives rise.'

1 Amnion. Tennecker Zeitung, vol. iii. ^ Toggia. Op. cit.

3 Bascome. Op. cit., p. 145. * Jackson. Travels in Morocco, p. 54.

History of Animal Plagues. 547

[ekzema epizoutica — foot and mouth disease) manifested itself
in Piedmont among cattle. ' This disease broke out so rapidly,
that when one animal in a stable became affected, it was com-
municated with incredible rapidity to the whole of the cattle with-
out distinction of race or sex, and no place escaped. It was ac-
companied by a slow fever, and at the same time there might be
observed an eruption of pustules [piisfulettc) occupying the outer
and inner surfaces of the lips, the fauces, palate, and especially the
tongue, though more rarely the eruption appeared upon the
udder. This eruption soon degenerated into ulcers, which were
not long in healing up.^ ^ From the month of January this
epizooty had been present in the Venetian States, and in Lom-
bardy ; but in these countries it appears to have been designated
'cancro-volante^ (glossanthrax^). Not long after this the
terrible Cattle Plague was introduced, and ' contemporaneously
appeared an epizooty which destroyed a great number of dogs,
especially those of a sporting kind.^ ^ fn the same region sheep
suffered much from small-pox.* With reference to the epizooty
among dogs, Chabert alludes to the great prevalence of canine
distemper in and around Paris during this and the following
year.^

In England, this year, a contagious disorder among horned
cattle had broken out in the neighbourhood of Frostenden,
Sufiblk, which was believed to be the ' Cattle Plague,' as an
Order in Council, dated April 25th, applied the provisions of
the Order of 1747. All fairs and markets for. cattle within ten
miles were stopped, and compensation to half the value was
offered for all animals slaughtered and buried to prevent the
disease spreading.

In the county of Orkney, a most malignant and contagious
distemper als(j broke out among cattle, particularly in the ixu'ish of
Sandwich, and a similar Order to thatalread\' noticed was issued
by the I'rivy Council on the 15th of January, iiSoo. We may
remark that some oi' the later outbreaks of what was supposed to

' Toq:^ia. Mai clci IJuoi, vol. ii. p. 346.

^ Faf^j^iiiiti. Topografi.-i di I'adova, p. III. ^ Ibid. p. 112.

* Ibid. ]). 113. * Op. cit.

548 History of Animal Plagues.

be 'Cattle Plague' may have been other diseases. At any rate I
can find no sufficient proof that these alarming eruptions were due
to that malady; and it is not improbable that some of the local
diseases, assuming a more virulent character than usual, may
have been mistaken for this scourge of horned cattle.

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ORIGINAL EDITIONS.

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OLD CURIOSITY SHOP& REPRINTED PIECES 36
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BLEAK HOUSE

LITTLE DORRIT

DOMBEY AND SON

DAVID COPPERFIELD

OUR MUTUAL FRIEND

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PICTURES FROM ITALY & AMERICAN NOTES

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CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND

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43 lllustrns., 2 vols.

16

0

39

2 vols.

i5

0

40

, 2 vols.

16

0

36 .

, 2 vols.

16

0

36

, 2 vols.

16

0

40

, 2 vols.

16

0

40

, 2 vols.

16

0

38

2 vols.

16

0

38

, 2 vols.

16

0

40

2 vols.

16

0

39

, I vol.

8

0

24

, I vol.

8

0

17

, I vol.

8

0

16

I vol.

8

0

8

, I vol.

8

0

8

, I vol.

8

0

8

, 1 vol.

8

0

8

, I vol.

8

0

12

, I vol.

8

0

&c. 14 ,

I vol.

8

0

PICKWICK PAPERS 8 Illustrations

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NICHOLAS NICKLEBY 8

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OUR MUTUAL FRIEND 8

BARNABY RUDGE 8

OLD CURIOSITY SHOP 8

A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND 4

EDWIN DROOD and OTHER STORIES 8

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SKETCHES BY "BOZ" 8

AMERICAN NOTES and REPRINTED PIECES ... 8

CHRISTMAS BOOKS 8

OLIVER TWI.ST 3

GREAT EXPECT.VnONS 8

TALE OF TWO CITIES 8

HARD TIMES and PICTURES FROM ITALY ... 8

UNCOMMIlRf'IAL TRAVELLER 4

THE LIFE OF CIIARLICS DICKENS. Numerous Illustraiions. 2 vols
THE LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS „ 2 vols,

4 o

4 o

4 o

4 o

4 o

4 o

4 o

4 o
3

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23

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MR. DICKENS'S READINGS.

Fcap. %vo, sewed.

CHRISTMAS CAROL IN PROSE.

IS.

CRICKET ON THE HEARTH, is.
CHIMES : A GOBLIN STORY, is.

STORY OF LITTLE DOMBEY. is.
POOR TRAVELLER, BOOTS AT

THE HOLLY-TREE INN, and

MRS. GAMP. IS.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL, with the Original Coloured Plates,
being a reprint of the Original Edition. Small 8vo, red cloth, gilt edges, 5s.

24 BOOK'S PUBLISHED B\

DICKENS'S (CHARLES) WORKS— Co?i fin iicd.

THE POPULAR LIBRARY EDITION

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In 30 Vols. , large crown 8vo, price £6 ; separate Vols. i^s. each.

An Edition printed on good paper, containing Illustrations selected from
the Household Edition, on Plate Paper. Each Volume has about 450 pages
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SKETCHES BY "BOZ."
PICKWICK. 2 vols.
OLIVER TWIST.
NICHOLAS NICKLEBY. 2 vols.
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 2 vols.
DOM BEY AND SON. 2 vols.
DAVID COPPERFIELD. 2 vols.
CHRISTMAS BOOKS.
OUR MUTUAL FRIEND. 2 vols.
CHRISTMAS STORIES.
BLEAK HOUSE. 2 vols.
LITTLE DORRIT. 2 vols.

OLD CURIOSITY SHOP and
REPRINTED PIECES. 2 vols.

BARNABY RUDGE. 2 vols.

UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVEL-
LER.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS.

TALE OF TWO CITIES.

CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENG-
LAND.

EDWIN DROOD and MISCEL-
LANIES.

PICTURES FROM ITALY and
AMERICAN NOTES.

The Cheapest and Handiest Edition of

THE WORKS OF CHARLES DICKENS.

The Pocket-Volume Edition of Charles Dickens's Works.
In 30 Vols, small f cap. %vo, £2 5s.

Ne7v and Cheap Issue of

THE WORKS OF CHARLES DICKENS.

In pocket volumes.
PICKWICK PAPERS, with S Illustrations, cloth, 2S.
NICHOLAS- NICKLEBY, with 8 Illustrations, cloth, 2s.
OLIVER TWIST, with 8 Illustrations, clolh, is.
SKETCHES BY " BOZ," with 8 Illustrations, cloth, is.
OLD CURIOSITY SHOP, with 8 Illustrations, cloth, 2s.
BARNABY RUDGE. with 16 Illustrations, cloth, 2s.

AMERICAN NOTES AND PICTURES FROM ITALY, with 8 Illustrations, cloth,'is.ed.
CHRISTMAS BOOKS, with 8 Illustrations, cloth, is. 6d.

SIXPENNY REPRINTS.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL and THE
HAUNTED MAN.

By Charles Dickens, Illustrated.

READINGS FROM THE WORKS OF
CHARLES DICKENS.

As selected and read by himself and now published for the first time. Illustrated.

THE CHIMES: A Goblin Story, and THE
CRICKET ON THE HEARTH.

Illustrated.

CHAPMAN 6- HALL, LLVITED. 25

List of Books, Drawing Examples, Diagrams, l\/lodels,
Instruments, etc.,

INXLUDING

THOSE ISSUED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE SCIENCE
AND ART DEPARTMENT, SOUTH KENSINGTON, FOR THE
USE OF SCHOOLS AND ART AND SCIENCE CLASSES.

CATALOGUE OF MODERN WORKS ON SCIENCE

AND TECHNOLOGY. 8vo, sewed, is.
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PRINCIPLES OF THE SCIENCE OF COLOUR.

Small 4to, cloth, 15s.

MANUAL OF THE SCIENCE OF COLOUR. Coloured

Frontispiece and Illustrations. i2mo, cloth, zs. 6d.
BRADLEY {THOMAS), of the Royal Militayy Academy. Woolwich—

ELEMENTS OF GEOMETRICAL DRAWING. In Two

Parts, with 60 Plates. Oblong folio, half-bound, each part i6s.

Selections (from the abovi;) of 20 Plates, for the use of the Royal Militarj-
Academy, Woolwich. Oblong folio, half-bound, i6s.

BURCHETT—

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PRACTICAL GEOMETRY. Post 8vo, 5s.

DEFINITIONS OF GEOMETRY. Third Edition. 24mo,

sewed, sd.
CARROLL (JOHN)—

FREEHAND DRAWING LESSONS FOR THE BLACK

BOARD. 6s.
CUDLEY {W. H.)—

A SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY DRAWING. With

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DAVISON (ELLIS A.)—

DRAWING FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. Post

8vo, 3s.

MODEL DRAWING. i2mo, 3s.

THE AMATEUR HOUSE CARPENTER: A Guide in

UuildinK, Making, and Repairing. With numerous Illustrations, drawn on Wood
by the Author. IJcmy 8vo, los. 6d.

26 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY

DELAMOTTE [P. H.)~

' PROGRESSIVE DRAWING-BOOK FOR BEGINNERS.

i2mo, 3S. 6d.
DYCE—

DRAWING-BOOK OF THE GOVERNMENT SCHOOL

OF DESIGN : ELEMENTARY OUTLINES OF ORNAMENT. 50 Plates.

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INTRODUCTION TO DITTO. Fcap. 8vo, 6d.

FOSTER [VERE]—

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(b) Forty-six Numbers, at 3d. each. The set l> includes the subjects in a.

DRAWING-CARDS :

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ILLUSTRATIONS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE

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JACOBSTHAL [E.)—

GRAMMATIK DER ORNAMENTE, in 7 Parts of 20

Plates each. Unmounted, ^3 13s. 6d. ; mounted on cardboard, ;{;ii 4s. The
Parts can be had separately.

JEW/TT—

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cloth, IS. 6d.
KENNED Y (JOHN)—

FIRST GRADE PRACTICAL GEOMETRY. i2mo, 6d.
FREEHAND DRAWING-BOOK. i6mo, is.

LINDLEY [JOHN]—

SYMMETRY OF VEGETATION: Principles to be

Observed in the Delineation of Plants. i2mo, sewed, is.
MARSHALL—

HUMAN BODY. Text and Plates reduced from the large

Diagrams. 2 vols., £1 is.
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CAT, DUCK, AND CODFISH, being a Catalogue with Comparative De-
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OLIVER [PROFESSOR]—

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.

109 Plates. Oblong Svo, cloth. Plain, i6s.; coloured, ^i 6s.
POYNTER [E. y.]. R.A., issued under the superintendence of—

ELEMENTARY, FREEHAND, ORNAMENT:

Book I. Simple Geometrical Forms, 6d.
„ II. Conventionalise t^Floral Forms, S:c., 6d.

CHAPMAN if HALL, LLUITED. 27

FOYNTER [E. J.), R. A.— Continued.

FREEHAND— FIRST GRADE:

Book I. Simple Objects and Ornament, 6d.

„ II. Various Objects, 6d.

„ III. Objects and Architectural Ornaments, 6d.

,, IV. Architectural Ornament, 6d.

,, V. Objects of Glass and Potter}-, 6d.

,, VI. Common Objects, 6d.

FREEHAND— SECOND GRADE :

Eook I. Various Forms of Anthermion, &c., is.

,, II. Greek, Roman, and Venetian, is.

,, III. Italian Renaissance, is.

,, IV. Roman, Italian, Japanese, &c. is.

THE SOUTH KENSINGTON DRAWING CARDS,

Containing the same examples as the books :
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First Grade Freehand Cards. Six packets, is. each.
Second Grade Freehand Cards. Four packets, is. 6d. each

REDGRAVE-

MANUAL AND CATECHISM ON COLOUR. Fifth

Edition. 24mo, sewed, gd.
ROBSON (GEORGE)—

ELEMENTARY BUILDING CONSTRUCTION. Oblong

folio, sewed, Ss.
WALLIS (GEORGE)—

DRAWING-BOOK. Oblong, sewed, 3s. 6d.; mounted, 8s.

WORNUM (R. N.)—

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF STYLES: An Intro-

duction to the Study of the History of Ornamental Art. Royal 8vo, 8s.

DRAWING FOR YOUNG CHILDREN. Containing 150

Copies. i6mo, cloth, 3s. 6d.

ELEMENTARY DRAWING COPY-BOOKS, for the Use of

Children from four years old and upwards, in .Scliools and Families. Compiled by
a Student certificated by the Science and Art Department as an Art Teacher.
Seven liooks in 4 to, sewed :

Book I. Letters, 8d.
,, II. Ditto, 8d.

,, III. Geometrical and Ornamental
Forms, 8d.

Eook IV. Objects, Sd.

„ V. Leaves, 8d.

,, VI. Eirds, Animals, &c., 8d.

VII. Leaves, Flowers, and Sprays, 8d.

*»* Or in Sets of Seven Books, 4s. 6d.

ENGINEER AND MACHINIST DRAWING-BOOK, i6 Parts,

71 I'latcs. Folio, jCi 12s. ; mounted, ^3 4s.

PRINCIPLES OF DECORATIVE ART. Folio, sewed, is.
DIAGRAM OF THE COLOURS OF THE SPECTRUM,

with Explanatory Letterpress, on roller, los. fid.

28 BOOR'S PUBLISHED BY

COPIES FOR OUTLINE DRAWING:

LARGE FREEHAND EXAMPLES FOR CLASS TEACHING. Specially
prepared under the authority of tlie Science and Art Department. Six Sheets.
Size 60 by 40. gs.

DYCE'S ELEMENTARY OUTLINES OF ORNAMENT, 50 Selected Plates,
mounted back and front, iSs. ; unmounted, sewed, 5s.

WEITBRICHT'S OUTLINES OF ORNAMENT, reproduced by Herman,
12 Plates, mounted back and front, 8s. 6d. ; unmounted, 2s.

MORGHEN'S OUTLINES OF THE HUMAN FIGURE, reproduced by Herman,
20 Plates, mounted back and front, 15s. ; unmounted, 3s. 4d.

TARSIA, from Gruner, Four Plates, mounted, 3s. 6d., unmounted, ^6..

ALEERTOLLI'S FOLIAGE, Four Plates, mounted, 3s. 6d. ; unmounted, sd.

OUTLINE OF TRAJAN FRIEZE, mounted, is.

WALLIS'S DRAWING-BOOK, mounted, 8s., unmounted, 3s. 6d.

OUTLINE DRAWINGS OF FLOWERS, Eight Plates, mounted, 3s. 6d.
unmounted, 8d.

COPIES FOR SHADED DRAWING:

COURSE OF DESIGN. By Ch. Barc-ue (French), 20 Sheets, £2 gs.

ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES. By J. B. Trii'ON. 10 Plates, ^i.

MECHANICAL STUDIES. By J. B. Tripon. 15s. per dozen.

FOLIATED SCROLL FROM THE VATICAN, unmounted, sd.; mounted, is. 3d.

TWELVE HEADS after Holbein, selected from his Drawingsin Her Majesty's
Collection at Windsor. Reproduced in Autotjpe. Half imperial, £z i6s.

LESSONS IN SEPIA, gs. per dozen.

COLOURED EXAMPLES:

A SMALL DIAGRAM OF COLOUR, mounted, is. 6d. ; unmounted, gd.
COTMAN'S PENCIL LANDSCAPES (set of g), mounted, 15s.

„ SEPIA DRAWINGS (set of 5), mounted, £1.

ALLONGE'S LANDSCAPES IN CHARCOAL (Si.x), at 4s. each, or the set, £1 4s.

SOLID MODELS, &c. :

*Box of Models, £1 4s.
A Stand with a universal joint, to show the solid ircdels, &c., £1 iBs.
*One Wire Quadrangle, with a circle and cross within it, and one straight wire. One
solid cube. One Skeleton Wire Cube. One Sphere. One Cone. One Cylinder.
One Hexagonal Prism. £■! 2S.
Skeleton Cube in wood, 3s. 6d.
18-inch Skeleton Cube in wood, 12s.
*Three objects oi/orin in Pottery :
Indian Jar, \
Celadon Jar, ViSs. fid.
Bottle, )

*Five selected Vases in Majolica Ware, £2 iis.
*Three selected Vases in Earthenware, iSs.

Imperial Deal Frames, glazed, without sunk rings, tos. each.
^Davidson's Smaller Solid Models, in Box, £-2. containing-

2 Square Slabs.

9 Oblong Blocks (steps).

2 Cubes.

Square Blocks.

Octagon Prism.
Cylinder.
Cone.
Jointed Cross.

Triangular Prism
Pyramid, Equilateral.
Pyramid, Isosceles.
Square Block.

Models, S:c., entered as sets, can only be supplied In sets.

CHAPMAN ^ HALL, LIMITED. 29

SOLID MODELS, ^c— Continued.

* DaviJson's Advanced Drawing Models, iCg. — The following is a brief description
of the Models : — An Obelisk — composed of 2 Octagonal Slabs, 26 and 20 inches
across, and each 3 inches high ; i Cube, 12 inches edge ; i Monolith (forming
the body of the obelisk) 3 feet high ; i Pyramid, 6 inches base ; the complete
object is thus nearly 5 feet high, A Market Cross— composed of 3 Slabs, 24, 18,
and 12 inches across, and each 3 inches high ; i Upright, 3 feet high ; 2 Cross Arms,
united by mortise and tenon joints ; complete height, 3 feet 9 inches. A Step^
Ladder, 23 inches high. A Kitchen Table, i.s,% inches high. A Chair to corre
spond. A Four-legged Stool, with projecting top and cross rails, height 14 inches,
A Tub, with handles and projecting hoops, and the divisions between the staves
plainly marked. A strong Trestle, iS inches high. A Hollow Cylinder, 9 inches
in diameter, and 12 inches long, divided lengthwise. A Hollow Sphere, 9 inches
in diameter, divided into semi-spheres, one of which is again divided into quarters ;
the semi-sphere, when placed on the cylinder, gives the form and principles of
shading a dome, whilst one of the quarters placed on half the cylinder forms a
niche.

•Davidson's Apparatus for Teaching Practical Geometry (22 models), £$.

■*Binn's Models for Illustrating the Elementary Principles of Orthographic Projection as
applied to Mechanical Drawing, in box, £1 los.

Miller's Class Drawing Models. — These Models are particularly adapted for teaching
large classes ; the stand is very stron?, and the universal joint will hold the
Models in any position. ]Vood I\Iodels '. Square Prism, 12 inches side, 18 inches
high; Hexagonal Prism, 14 inches side, 18 inches high; Cube, 14 inches side:
Cylinder, 13 inches diameter, 16 inches high ; Hexagon Pyramid, 14 inches
diameter, 22}^ inches side ; Square Pyramid, 14 inches side, 22J.2 inches side ;
Cone, 13 inches diameter, 22J4 inches side ; Skeleton Cube, 19 inches solid wood
lyi inch square ; Intersecting Circles, 19 inches solid wood -1% by -1% inches.
Wire Models : Triangular Prism, 17 inches side, 22 inches high ; Square Prism,
14 inches side, 20 inches high ; Hexagonal Prism, 16 inches diameter, 21 inches
high ; Cylinder, 14 inches diameter, 21 inches high ; Hexagon Pj-ramid, 18 inches
diameter, 24 inches high ; Square Pyramid, 17 inches side, 24 inches high ; Cone,
17 inches side, 24 inches high ; Skeleton Cube, 19 inches side; Intersecting Circles,
19 inches side ; Plain Circle, 19 inches side ; Plain Square, 19 inches side. Table,
27 inches by 2iJ^ inches. Stand. The set complete, £\j, 13s.
Vulcanite Set Square, 55.
Large Compasses, with chalk-holder, ss.

*Slip, two set squares and T square, 5s.

*Parkes's Case of Instruments, containing 6-inch compasses with pen and pencil leg, 5s.

*Prize Instrument Case, with 6-inch compasses pen and pencil leg, 2 small compasses,
pen and scale, iSs.
6-inch Compasses, with shifting pen and point, 4s. 6d.

LARGE DIAGRAMS.

ASTRONOMICAL :

TWELVE SHEETS. By John Drew, Ph. Dr., F.R.S.A. Prepared for the Com-
mittee of Council on Education. Sheets, C-i 8s.; on rollers and varnished, £\ 4s.

BOTANICAL :

NINE SHEETS. Illustrating a Practical Method of Teaching Botany. By Professor
Henslow. F.L.S. £,z; on rollers and varnished, .^3 3s.

/^Thalamifloral
J Calycidoi

Dicotyledon .. . J Angiospermous ■ - j ^•";j;nX''ral

/ \, Incomplete

V. Gymnospermous . .

I Pctaloid . . . . ( Superior
Monocotyledons ..\ t Infcri'jr ..

I Glumaccous

2 & 3
4
S
6
7
8
9

• Models, &c., entered as sels, can only be supplied in sets.

30 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION:

TEN SHEETS. By William J. Glenny, Professor of Drawing, King's College.

In sets, ^i IS.
LAXTON'S EXAMPLES OF BUILDING CONSTRUCTION IN TWO

DIVISIONS, containing 32 Imperial Plates, £,1.
BUSBRIDGES DRAWINGS OF BUILDING CONSTRUCTION. 11 Sheets.

2S. gd. Mounted, 5s. 5d.

GEOLOGICAL :

DIAGRAM OF BRITISH STRATA. By H. W. Bristow, F.R.S., F.G.S.

A Sheet, 4s.; on roller and varnished, 7s. 6d.

MECHANICAL :

DIAGRAMS OF THE MECHANICAL POWERS, AND THEIR
APPLICATIONS IN MACHINERY AND THE ARTS
GENERALLY. By Dr. John Anderson.

8 Diagrams, highly coloured on stout paper, 3 feet 6 inches by 2
feet 6 inches. Sheets ^i per set ; mounted on rollers, £2.
DIAGRAMS OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. By Professor Goodeve
and Professor Shelley. Stout paper, 40 inches by 27 inches,
highly colouixd.

Sets of 41 Diagrams (52_^ Sheets), £6 6s. ; varnished and
mounted on rollers, £\\ lis.
MACHINE DETAILS. By Professor Unwin. 16 Coloured Diagrams. Sheets,.

£■2 2S. ; mounted on rollers and varnished, ^£3 14s.
SELECTED EXAMPLES OF MACHINES, OF IRON AND WOOD (French).

By Stanislas Pettit. 60 Sheets, £2 S^- \ 13s. per dozen.
BUSBRIDGE'S DRAWINGS OF MACHINE CONSTRUCTION. 50 Sheets,
I2S. 6d. Mounted, £1 5s.

PHYSIOLOGICAL :

ELEVEN SHEETS. Illustrating Human Physiology, Life Size and Coloured from
Nature. Prepared under the direction of John Marshall, F.R.S., F.R.C.S., &c.
Each Sheet, 12s. 6d. On canvas and rollers, varnished, £\ is.

1. THE SKELETON AND LIGAMENTS.

2. THE MUSCLES, JOINTS, AND ANIMAL MECHANICS.

3. THE VISCERA IN POSITION.— THE STRUCTURE OF THE LUNGS.

4. THE ORGANS OF CIRCULATION.

5. THE LYMPHATICS OR ABSORBENTS.

6. THE ORGANS OF DIGESTION.

7. THE BRAIN AND NERVES.-THE ORGANS OF THE VOICE.

8. THE ORGANS OF THE SENSES.

9. THE ORGANS OF THE SENSES.

10. THE MICROSCOPIC STRUCTURE OF THE TEXTURES AND ORGANS.

11. THE MICROSCOPIC STRUCTURE OF THE TEXTURES AND ORGANS.

HUMAN BODY, LIFE SIZE. By John Marshall, F.R.S., F.R.C.S. Each
Sheet, I2S. 6d. ; on canvas and rollers, varnished, £\ is. Explanatory Key, is.

5. THE SKELETON, Side View.

6. THE MUSCLES, Side View.

7. THE FEMALE SKELETON,

Front View.

THE SKELETON, Front View.

2. THE MUSCLES, Front View.

3. THE SKELETON, Back View.

4. THE MUSCLES, Back View

ZOOLOGICAL :

TEN SHEETS. Illustrating the Classification of Animals. By Robert Patterson.
£1 ; on canvas and rollers, varnished, £■;, los.
The same, reduced in size on Royal paper, in 9 Sheets, uncoloured, 12s.

PHYSIOLOGY AND ANATOMY OF THE HONEY BEE.

Two Diagrams. 7s. 6d.

CHAPMAN ^ HALL, LIMITED.

^gjistorg of Jlvt in ChaliiiM&^BBiiriiT.

Bv GEORGES PERROT and CHARLES CHIPIEZ.

Translated by Walter Armstrong, B.A., Oxon. With 452 Illustrations.
2 vols, royal 8vo, £2 2s.

" It is profusely illustrated, not merely with representations of the actual remains preserved
in the British Museum, the Louvre, and elsewhere, but also with ingenious conjectural repre-
sentations of the principal buildings from which those remains have been taken. To English-
men familiar with the magnificent collection of Assyrian antiquities preserved in the Uritish
Museum the volume should be especially welcome. We may further mention that an English
translation by Mr. Walter Armstrong, with the numerous illustrations of the original, has
just been published by Messrs. Chapman and Hall." — Times.

"The only dissatisfaction that we can feel in turning over the two beautiful volumes in
illustration of Chalda;an and Assyrian Art, by MM. Perrot and Chipiez, is in the reflection,
that in this, as in so many other publications of a similar scope and nature, it is a foreign narne
that we see on the title page, and a translation only which we can lay to our national credit.
The predominance of really important works on Archaiology which have_ to be translated for the
larger reading public of England, and the comparative scarcity of original English works of a
similar calibre, is a reproach to us which we would fain see removed ... it is most frequently
to French and German writers that we are indebted for the best light and the most interesting
criticisms on the arts of antiquity. Mr. Armstrong s translation is very well done. '—BnUdcr.

"The work is a valuable addition to archaeological literature, and the tlianks of the whole
civilised world are due to the authors who have so carefully compiled the history of the arts of two
peoples, often forgotten, but who were in reality the founders of Western civilisation."— C^-rt/Zz/V.

By GEORGES PERROT and CHARLES CHIPIEZ.

Translated from the French by W. Armstrong. Containing 616 En-
graving.s, drawn after the Original, or from Authentic Documents.
2 vols, imperial 8vo, £2 2S.

" The study of Egy^jtology is one which grows from day to day, and which has now reached
such proportions as to demand arrangement and selection almost more than increased collec-
tion of material. The well-known volumes of MM. Perrot and Chipiez supply this rcciuirc-
ment to an extent which had never hitherto been attempted, and which, before the latest
researches of Mariette and Maspero, wonld have been impossible. Without waiting for the
illustrious authors to complete their great undertaking, Mr. W. Armstrong lias very properly
seized their first instalment, and has presented to the English public all that has yet appeared
of a most useful and fascinating work. To translate such a book, however, is a task that
needs the revision of a specialist, and this Mr. Armstrong has felt, for he has not sent out his
version to the world without the sanction of Dr. Birch and Mr. Reginald Stuart Poole. The
result is in every way satisfactory to his readers. Mr. Armstrong adds, in an appendix, a
description of that startling discovery which occurred just after the French original of these
volumes left the press — namely, the finding of 38 royal mummies, with their sepulchral furniture,
in a subterranean chamber at Thebes. It forms a brilliant ending to a work of great value
and beauty."— /"a/i? Mall Gazette.

The Saturday Iiez<icw, speaking of the French edition, says : " To say that this magni-
ficent work is the best historj' of Egyptian art that we possess, is to state one of the least
of its titles to the admiration of all lovers of antiquity, Egyptian or other. No jirevious

work can be compared with it for method or completeness Not only arc the best

engravings from the older authorities utilised, but numerous unpublished designs have been
inserted. M. Chipiez has added greatly to the value of a work, in which the trained eye of
the architect is everywhere visible, by his restorations of various buildings and modes of con-
struction ; and the engravings in colours of the wall paintings are .a noticeable feature in a
work which is in every way remarkable, 'i'his history of Egyptian art is an invaluable
treasure-house for the student ; and, wc may add, there are few more delightful volumes
for the cultivated idle who live at case to turn over— every page is full of artistic interest."

32 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY CHAPMAN &- HALL, LIMITED.

THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW.

Edited by T. H. S. ESGOTT.

'T^HE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW is published on the ist of
every month, and a Volume is completed every Six Months.

The following are among (Ji^ Contributors : —

SIR RUTHERFORD ALCOCK.

MATHEW ARNOLD.

PROFESSOR BAIN.

SIR SAMUEL BAKER.

PROFESSOR BEESLY.

PAUL BERT.

BARON GEORGETON BUNSEN.

DR. BRIDGES.

HON. GEORGE C. BRODRICK.

JAMES BRYCE, M.P.

THOMAS BURT, M.P.

SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL, M.P.

THE EARL OF CARNARVON.

EMILIO CASTELAR.

RT. HON. J. CHAMBERLAIN, M.P.

PROFESSOR SIDNEY COLVIN.

MONTAGUE COOKSON, Q.C.

L. H. COURTNEY, M.P.

G. H. DARWIN.

SIR GEORGE W. DASENT.

PROFESSOR A. V. DICEY.

RIGHT HON. H. F.\WCETT, M.P.

EDWARD A. FREEMAN.

SIR BARTLE FRERE, B.\rt.

J. A. FROUDE.

MRS. GARRET-ANDERSON.

J. W. L. GLAISHER, F.R.S.

M. E. GRANT DUFF, M.P.

THOMAS HARE.

F. HARRISON.

LORD HOUGHTON.

PROFESSOR HUXLEY.

PROFESSOR R. C. JEBB.

PROFESSOR JEVONS.

ANDREW LANG.

EMILE DE LAVELEYE.

T. E. CLIFFE LESLIE

SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, M.P.

THE EARL LYTTON.

SIR H. S. MAINE.

DR. MAUDSLEY.

PROFESSOR MAX MULLER.

G. OSBORNE MORGAN, Q.C, M.P.

PROFESSOR HENRY MORLEY.

WILLIAM MORRIS.

PROFESSOR H. N. MOSELEY.

F. W. H. MYERS.

F. W. NEWMAN.

PROFESSOR JOHN NICHOL. ,,

W. G. PALGRAVE.

WALTER H. PATER.

RT. HON. LYON PLAYFAIR, M.P.

DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI.

LORD SHERBROOKE.

HERBERT SPENCER.

HON. E. L. STANLEY.

SIRJ.FITZJAMES STEPHEN, Q.C.

LESLIE STEPHEN.

J. HUTCHISON STIRLING.

A. C. SWINBURNE.

DR. YON .SYBEL.

J. A. SYMONDS.

THE REV. Edward f. talbot

(Warden of Kep.le College).
SIR RICHARD TEMPLE, Bart.
' W. T. THORNTON.
HON. LIONEL A. TOLLEMACHE.
H. D. TRAILL.
ANTHONY TROLLOPE.
PROFESSOR TYNDALL.
A. J. WILSON.
THE EDITOR.

&c. &c. &c.

The Fortnightly Review is published at 2s. 6d.

CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED, ii, HENRIETTA STREET,
COVENT GARDEN, W.C.

CHARLES DICKENS .\ND EVANS,]

[crystal PALACE PRESS.

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